Darling,

They pick up another job after the Prismatic job, and then another after that. It’s usually business oriented, or otherwise politics. It’s stealing ideas from rivals, unearthing dirt about opponents that will doom their campaign. It’s all done very secretively, of course, but after quite a few consecutive successes, Mal, Dom, and Arthur become rather well known within the dreaming community. They start receiving more job offers than ever, many of them from extremely well-paying clients.

They try to pick jobs that will allow them to stay as close to home as they can for as long as possible, ideally only requiring to fly out for, say, a day or two to perform the actual Extraction. Mal and Dom don’t want to leave Phillipa for too long too often (Mal especially is uncomfortable about this), but it’s starting to get to a point where they have to make a choice. They can either take easier jobs that are closer to home but pay less, or they can take on the more challenging jobs, the ones that pay more but necessitate leaving the state, or sometimes even leaving the country, for weeks at a time. They try to avoid it, but eventually, they begin taking on the bigger jobs.

-

When they’re not working, Arthur spends an ample amount of time with Mal and Dom, helping them look after Phillipa. Dom especially is almost always busy sorting through calls and emails and letters as a result of the influx of job offers that have been coming in. Mal divides her time between taking care of Phillipa and making sure Dom isn’t too overwhelmed. Arthur is more than happy to help, and, to be quite honest, he really kind of likes Phillipa.

Phillipa is two now. She’s running around and chattering away (sometimes nonsensically, sometimes in a barely understandable jumble of words and sentence fragments) about everything and simply bursting with energy. She really does look almost exactly like Mal, the nose and eyes and that petulant little pout. She’s got Mal’s spitfire temper and Dom’s stubborn streak and a charming little laugh that’s all her own. Her hair is long and straight and falls somewhere between blonde and light brown, Dom’s color, and sometimes, when she’s trying to make a point, she’ll look you in the eye and do this adorable little squint that is so reminiscent of her father that it makes Arthur ache a little bit.

Mal and Dom have begun sending Phillipa to a daycare so she can make some friends and have something to occupy herself with while mommy and daddy are working. She’s getting along well with the kids and learning new things, and they’ve been hearing a lot lately about a certain girl at the daycare who goes by the name of Blythe.

“Is Blythe your friend?” Mal asks Phillipa one day.

Phillipa nods vigorously. “Yes,” she insists, squinting determinedly to get the gravity of her point across.

Mal smiles and goes back to braiding Phillipa’s hair.

-

“Could you pick Phillipa up from daycare today?” Mal asks Arthur as she makes lunch perhaps a week or so after she first asked Phillipa about this Blythe girl. “Dom and I are going to meet with someone today. We might have a new job coming up.”

Arthur nods. “Of course,” he agrees.

Mal smiles thankfully at him. “You’re an angel,” she says and touches his cheek lightly, affectionately.

He smiles at her and catches her hand before she can pull it away, pressing a feathery kiss to her knuckles. He lets her hand go without lingering and goes to get himself a glass of juice. Mal laughs delicately and returns back to her cooking, shaking her head at him.

“Oh Arthur,” she sighs, only half-serious, “If only you’d show this romantic side of yourself to others. You’d have men and women alike falling at your feet.”

Arthur rolls his eyes at this joke and scoffs. “I hardly think I’m the romantic type, Mal,” he says. “And besides,” he adds, “I’m perfectly fine being on my own. I don’t need someone else to make me happy.”

Mal looks at him amusedly. “Whatever you say,” she accedes.

Dom comes in then and Arthur can hear the soft hum of the laundry machine starting up down the hall. What a strange mix of criminal and domesticity they all are, he thinks quietly to himself.

They all eat lunch together and then Mal and Dom leave to meet with people who are looking to employ their services (that, Arthur thinks, sounds so shady, which it is, but still). As they get ready to go, Mal reminds Arthur to pick up Phillipa from daycare.

“She has a play date today,” Mal says as she slips on her coat, “So make sure you pick up Blythe as well.”

Arthur nods and assures her that he won’t forget, shooing her off with a wave of his hand. Mal smiles and turns to follow Dom into the car. Arthur watches them drive off and then goes back inside to catch up on some reading to pass the time until he has to go get Phillipa.

When he arrives at the daycare, it’s loud and brightly colored, and there are kids running around everywhere. Arthur smiles a polite hello to the daycare teacher and goes to find Phillipa, who he spots over in the corner playing dolls with another girl, who Arthur assumes is Blythe. She’s a brunette girl with chubby, rosy cheeks and striking blue eyes, and she’s laughing as she and Phillipa dress up their dolls in colorful clothing.

Phillipa looks up as Arthur approaches, and her expression lights up. “Uncle Arthur!” she exclaims and jumps up to latch onto his legs.

Arthur smiles fondly at her and presses a kiss to her forehead. “Hi, Phillipa,” he says (she’s the only one Arthur really bothers to spare formal hellos to on a regular basis). “Ready to go?”

“Yes!” she cheers.

Arthur smiles and greets Blythe as well, introducing himself, and takes the two girls home, where they request to watch Cinderella. Arthur sits them in front of the TV with some juice in sippy cups and a plate of sliced pears, and he himself sits back on the sofa, reading his book and watching them out of the corner of his eye, making sure they don’t get into any sort of trouble.

Mal and Dom come home a while later, and Phillipa jumps up screaming, “Mommy! Daddy!”

She gets very excitable at times because her parents are gone so often. It’s really endearing, actually. Mal hugs her daughter and says hello to Blythe. She plays with the kids and Dom makes a teasing comment about how the domestic life suits Arthur, and Arthur just scowls.

But it really is true; the way they settle into this average, utterly normal life, it is a little unnerving how well it fits. They can come off a plane after spending hours in some guy’s mind conning him into handing over secret information, and come right home and Mal will fix up dinner and they’ll all talk and laugh and listen to Phillipa tell them about her day as if their profession isn’t completely illegal.

It’s this weird duality in their lives that somehow just seems to work, and Arthur couldn’t imagine life without either component. It would be too odd.

Later that night, after Blythe has been picked up by her aunt and Phillipa is tucked away in her bed, Dom tells Arthur that they’ve got a new job. It’s slightly more complicated than anything they’ve ever done, and they might need to recruit some people to join them, not to be a permanent part of the team, but just for this one job. Arthur nods as Dom explains the basics, and when he returns back to his apartment that night, he’s already beginning to compile background information about their mark.

He sighs softly as he leans back in his desk chair. His eyes burn from hours of staring at a computer screen and his body is screaming at him to get some sleep, but he feels better than he has since they completed their last job. Arthur shakes his head at himself. Domesticity might seem to suit him, he thinks, but he’s not sure he’ll ever be able to fully settle down. He’s far too much of a workaholic. Restless. A little obsessive compulsive. The epitome of a Type-A personality.