Meet the father-in-law [Comprehensive]

-washington dc-

For all members of the bau team, a weekend without a case and spent with family and friends is the best weekend in the world.So in Elide's Saturday plans, there was only one person named "Alf".

That's right, her so-called "friend" is not the "male friend" that Emily and Garcia imagined, but the British gentleman who gave her a new surname.

In the past ten years, Bruce has been steadily carrying out his "East Coast Media Acquisition Plan". The negotiation between the Wayne Group and the "Daily Planet" is nearing completion, and he naturally started the next step.Afu also arrived in Washington with Bruce, but Bruce was here to discuss business, and Afu just wanted to spend the weekend with Elide.

To paraphrase the old British gentleman's self-mockery, "I also want to enjoy the good life of not having to serve my wayward master once in a while!"

Early in the morning, Elide got up and cooked an authentic English breakfast with Ah Fu. After enjoying this delicious brunch leisurely, the two spent a day or two in a nearby large shopping mall In an hour, I bought a lot of dinner ingredients.They ate a light meal at one or two in the afternoon before setting off for a nearby park.

The size of the park is not small, all kinds of facilities are complete, and there is a very beautiful lake.Elide noticed it when she first moved here, but because of bau's abominable working hours, her idea of ​​running there never had a chance to come true.

On this rare weekend, bring Aff's unique black tea and baked biscuits to enjoy a leisurely afternoon...it's much more fun than running.

After a harmonious discussion, the two decided to stay at the picnic area by the lake, where the view is wide, the air is fresh, and the scenery is also very good.There is also a children's activity area not far away, where there is a football match, and children scream and laugh excitedly from time to time.

"People my age like this kind of environment, Xiaoyi," Afu looked kindly at the children running around not far away, "at this distance, you can fully feel the children's Lively and lovely, and the vigorous vitality in them, but they don’t have to endure too harsh screams, and many too willful inappropriate behaviors.”

"You're so demanding," Elied couldn't help laughing. "I don't remember doing anything that gave you a headache when I was a kid. I've always been good, haven't I?"

"Actually, it's too good." Afu's expression was still kind, but he looked at Elide with meaningful eyes, "You are as 'headache' as Bruce when he was a child. In comparison, Dick It's more lively and cute."

"Oh, don't mention him, Aff, he caused me a lot of trouble when I was a child!" Elide protested angrily, "He always likes to say that I am a sister, but he is just causing trouble I only remembered this when I—”

Elide was talking excitedly when she suddenly heard someone calling her name behind her, with a hesitant tone, but the voice was very familiar.

The moment she heard the voice clearly, Elide's expression froze, as if her heart was being pulled by a rope, she suddenly lifted into the air, trembling unsteadily.

It was Hodge's voice.

The young woman took a deep breath and turned her head with a decent smile. Before she could speak, her eyes widened in surprise.

Behind her is not only Hodge, but also a lovely lady with blond hair - that must be Hodge's son Jack.

"Hey, good afternoon, is this your son, Hodge?"

"That's right, this is Jack." Hodge looked a little nervous, which was quite a rare emotion for him.

Avoiding Elliott's gaze, he knelt down and supported Jack's arms, and said in an encouraging tone, "Little guy, come and say hello to them, this is Elliott, and this is Mr. Pennyworth. "

"You can just call me Alfred," Alfred, who was sitting on the other side of the picnic table, corrected him gently, "Hello, little Jack."

Elliott on one side also smiled and squatted down halfway, looking straight into Jack's eyes: "Hi, Jack, I'm Elliott, which means skylark in Welsh. Do you know this kind of bird, little guy?"

The blond-haired little Zhengtai naturally had never heard of this kind of bird, so he had to open his eyes wide and ask for help from his omnipotent father.Hodge smiled and motioned for Jack to sit down first. After both of them sat down, the man explained to Jack softly what a "skylark" is.

The doubt was resolved, and the little guy's attention immediately shifted to the baked cookies on the table. After Hodge nodded, Afu took out the prepared wet tissue and asked Jack to wipe his hands first, and then gave him a piece. biscuit.

"It's delicious!" Jack exclaimed excitedly, and he immediately stuffed the biscuit in his hand to Hodge, asking him to taste it with a persistent expression.Amidst the good-natured laughter of the two people next to him, Hodge took a small bite following Jack's intention, and immediately praised him sincerely.

Children of Jack's age are full of curiosity about new faces, and he soon chatted with Afu with great interest, and the old and young chatted very happily.On the contrary, Hodge and Elide at the dining table didn't speak much for a while.

Several days have passed since the incident in Gotham, and Hodge has yet to give his answer, and the atmosphere between the two is a little ambiguous and awkward.Elide saw his uneasiness, pondered for a moment, and found a topic that would never be cold:

"What are you here for...?"

"Jack has a football match here. It just ended not long ago. I didn't expect to meet you here." Hodge's always steady and calm voice revealed a bit of joy when he mentioned his dear son.

"Bruce has business to discuss here, and Alfred just came to visit me, so I went out with him. How was Jack's game?"

"His age group doesn't emphasize the score, but he scored two goals in the game." Speaking of Jack's performance, Hodge's smile became brighter, and his voice was full of deep pride.

For Elide, this was another Hodge she had never seen before. The young woman had a smile on her lips, rested her chin on her hand, and stared at the other's face calmly.Hodge talked on and on for a long time before he noticed Elide's expression, and he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

"Sorry, I was so excited."

"It's nothing, Hodge, like the rest of the group said, you're a really good father—Bruce ain't going to play football with Dick."

He would only accompany Dick in fighting training, and when he had the upper hand, he would complain about Dick, and Elide silently added the second half of the sentence in his heart.

"I'm not a model father, Elliott. You know our job. Normally, Jack's aunt Jessica is taking care of him. I can only take time out to play with him occasionally."

Hodge said with a bit of shame on his face.Elide was about to say a few words of comfort when she heard Afu's voice.

"Two, why don't you take Jack to another place to play? A kid his age won't like to stay with me all the time. Besides, I want to feed the pigeons over there."

Afu's posture is still elegant and calm, and his tone is very polite, but Elide always feels that she can smell something different when looking at the smile on his face-oh, that's for sure, Afu has nothing to say. Know everything.Whether it's her, Dick, or even Bruce, it seems that there is no secret in front of Alfred.Often as long as a look, A Fu knows their inner thoughts.

There were so many hints she could give... Fu would be damned if he couldn't see anything.

They quickly accepted Afu's suggestion, and the two took Jack to a nearby entertainment area.Even after just two games, Jack still has boundless energy, screaming with excitement, heading straight for the slide in the bunker.

The two adults standing on the sidelines stared at Jack intently, and were relatively speechless for a while.Before Elide racked her brains to find something to talk about, the man next to her coughed unnaturally.

"Are you free tomorrow, Elide?"

"Alf will go back to Gotham with Bruce tomorrow morning, I—wait, you ask me if I'm free?!" Elide's originally calm voice suddenly rose, and the ending even brought a little tremor, "You ,you are at……"

Hodge pursed his lips and smiled, his brows and eyes were softly curved, and his light brown eyes were full of teasing and shyness, and the rest was a gentle and tender smile:

"I'm asking you out, Elied."

The dark-haired young woman opened her mouth in shock, and didn't recover for a long while.

Hodge's voice immediately carried a bit of exaggerated disappointment: "Hey, are you trying to reject me?"

"No!" Elide immediately came back to her senses, and categorically denied the man's statement, "I just... Anyway, I'm free tomorrow, I'm very happy... Well, I'm also looking forward to it."

The woman spoke incoherently. Before Hodge could finish the sentence "Then I'll call you tomorrow", she jumped into the sandpit and said "I'll go find Jack", almost in despair. Fleeing, he staggered halfway.

Hodge laughed heartily, Elide turned her head and glared at him, turned her head angrily, and never looked at him again.

After accompanying Jack for a while, the three of them returned to the picnic table. Elide took out the wet wipes prepared by Aff and gave them to Hodge, asking him to take care of the sweaty Jack, while she took out a hair tie , with her hair tied up - just like in Bludhaven.

After Elide sat down, Jack, who was wiping his sweat, suddenly stopped what he was doing, opened his eyes wide, and stared at her for a moment.

"What's the matter, little guy?" Hodge noticed Jack's behavior and asked a little strangely.

"Have I met you? I've met Elied before, haven't I?"

"Eh, this—?"

Not to mention Hodge, even Elide was taken aback. The two couldn't help but look at each other, with doubt and surprise in their eyes.Just as Hodge was about to ask a question, a mobile phone rang between the three of them. A few seconds later, Elide's mobile phone rang too.

The two people who were originally looking at each other immediately saw the same helplessness on each other's face, plus a little regret and dissatisfaction.

Elide pouted involuntarily, stretched out her hand and knocked heavily on the table:

"An unknown annoyance who dares to ruin my date—I'll make him regret it!"

Elide's tone was decisive, Hodge could only shake his head with a helpless smile.

"You really..."

When the man sighed, Elide had already picked up the phone. It was Garcia calling, with a short and concise voice.

"Irid, I'm sorry, a very bad serial murder happened in Central City, Missouri, please rush to the team as soon as possible."

"I see, thank you for the notice, Penelope. Also, you don't have to call Hodge anymore, I'll pass on to him—we'll be there right away, see you."

"Oh ok—huh?! Are you—"