S2/01. Trash Talk

1.3 Frank Cage
Spring 1998, Frank's home, Oasis Springs

Linda’s confession bothered Frank all the way home. He wouldn't have thought either Linda or Mae were the type to have an affair with a married man. Both women seemed as if they had a good head on their shoulders and strong principles. Still, he'd have been less surprised if it’d been Mae instead of Linda.

Linda, in particular, never seemed to be a very passionate person- at least not sexually passionate. Yes- she’d had a boyfriend, but they were so sterile with each other, Frank had never clocked them as lovers. He was floored that Linda would ignore all reason and act purely on physical desire.
Or that she had physical desires. 

At all. 

Frank shook his head, amused at how blind he’d been.
Linda seemed alien sometimes, but she was human, too.
Of course she must have feelings and desires, and Frank would be the last to blame her, God knows he’d made his own mistakes too.

Maybe it was how cold Linda was about the whole thing that bothered him. It made him wonder if he'd ever really known her – or if he actually wanted to know her that well.
Frank stopped and took a deep breath.

  

Maybe he’d taken it worse than it was.
Linda's affair must have been a while ago, probably even before they met, before she dated this Brian guy. Maybe she was just trying to justify it to herself – justify it to him.
Damn.
He hadn't held back on her, either. He never would, always spoke his mind.
Of course she would be defensive.
And who knew? Maybe she was ashamed to admit she’d fallen for one of those jerks.
Maybe she’d just made a mistake and learned from it?
Frank hoped that wasn’t wishful thinking.

  

Diana was already at his house, dressing her daughter for bed before she'd leave for the night shift.
Lana squealed when she saw Frank and wrestled herself out of her mother's grip to jump into his arms.
The little girl was the result of another asshole taking advantage of careless women – like Diana.

But Frank's frustration faded quickly as Lana bounced in his arms and demanded attention.
"Pace ship! Fwuuuuuuuu!" she babbled. 

Her mother sighed in discontentment. "Great- now she's all riled up again. You have to stop tossing her all around the moment she sees you." 

Frank couldn't help the wide grin spreading on his face. "If you be a good girl now," he said conspiratorially to his niece, "we’ll play space ship when mommy's gone – but shhh," he put his finger on his lips. Lana giggled and covered her mouth with her tiny palms.
Diana dramatically rolled her eyes. "I give up." 

A few minutes later, Lana was tucked into bed on the promise of playing with Frank later, but there was no doubt she'd be fast asleep before Diana left.

"What's wrong, did Marcus not get the position?" Diana asked while she poured herself another cup of coffee. She still had half an hour before work.

"What? No, that's still up in the air," Frank said.

Diana sat down and just looked at him. With those inquisitive eyes. Of course she’d noticed his bad mood when he got in. Frank sighed inwardly. It was about time he said something to her too.

"It's shitty how you're all treating Linda," he said,then told her about the scene with Dina.
Diana laughed, it was gloating and ugly, but she stopped quickly when she noticed he didn't find it amusing at all. 

"Oh come on," she huffed. "I’m shocked you're still seeing Linda after what her sister did to Rosa. I couldn't believe it when Mae crapped on their friendship like that."

Frank didn’t remember Rosa and Mae ever being friends, she’d always treated the redhead with hostility. Not as if that mattered now.

"I can't believe you’re still hooked up on Rosa's bullshit," he retorted. "Are you that desperate for some gossip?"

Diana glared at him. "What other explanation do you have then?" she shot back.

"I dunno – coincidences do happen, y'know."

And they were back to that discussion again. Frank about had enough.
At last, he noticed a glimmer of doubt in Diana's eyes. She'd hopefully come to her senses soon. 

"At least leave Linda out of this mess," he said firmly.

Diana shifted uncomfortably. "Do you like her so much?" she asked, a much softer tone than before. "Aren't you worried she'll do the same to you as Mae did to Herbert?"

"What?"
Now it was Frank's turn to laugh.

"Hey, we're all worried about you," Diana complained. 

"Oh man... you all got this wrong." Frank grinned. "Linda and I are just friends, that’s it." Though he wasn't too sure, honestly. If she was only a friend, he probably wouldn't have been so freaked out by her affair. And her cold reasoning. Okay, yes, he’d grown pretty protective of her over time, but he never wanted to date her. And Linda sure hadn’t shown any interest of that kind either.
Frank was content, and it was probably better like that. No need to complicate things.

Diana didn't look very convinced - God knows, maybe his attention for Linda was suspicious after all. "It's not every day you can find someone as excited as her about finding water on Europa," he explained, "and the possibility that it may be much more common in the universe than we thought."

As expected, Diana rolled her eyes and finally dropped the subject.

Frank smirked. No one wanted to talk to nerds except other nerds, because they wouldn't stop talking about nerdy stuff.

"Fine," she said. "Just don't get burned.” 
Frank tousled her hair in response. 

Diana stayed quiet for a while. She took another sip of coffee, then leaned onto him.

"I'll miss being here," she said. 

Right. In just about two weeks she'd move to San Myshuno to continue her work education in the university clinic where she'd have much better opportunities than in the small local hospital she worked now. She was thrilled when she got accepted at first, but the closer the moving date came, the more her excitement cooled down and was overshadowed by worries.

"You won't have time to miss it with all the new stuff you're gonna learn," Frank assured her.

Diana pulled a face.

Frank would miss her too, for sure. He wished she could stay at least another two months, until he had to leave for his own mission to Sixam.

"Hey, you're gonna be fine. You're a big girl now," he said, not hiding the pride in his voice. She'd come so far and gained so much confidence since she'd moved here. He was sure moving back to San Myshuno would not set her back again.

 She groaned. "As long as I don't run into them."
"San My is huge," Frank said. "It's unlikely you'll run into the Wolves. If they even still exist. Or into Martin. Or anyone else you don't wanna see."