On second thought.

Willow claps her hands together, excited to get started. "Wonderful!"

Her excitement should scare me, but I'm sure the tension inside me is overwhelming the fear of what could or would go wrong.

"It's a suit that my team has been working with the help of smaller scientists to create it," Willow says like a giddy child. She pulls off the lid and sets it aside. "It's easy to put on with the nanotechnology we've created in the last few years. It was in the last stages when I first joined prodigy. The group just needed an extra brain to give them one last big push."

Willow puts her glasses back on her face, grabs a pair of tweezers from a cup holder and reaches into the box to pull out a small rounded silver band. "Slip it on your wrist and the bracelet will adjust to fit the wearer. It's that easy."

She holds out the bracelet that's held between the tweezers. It's a simple silver medal band that doesn't look like much. Willow did say they were working on nanotechnology which is that stuff from an old Marvel movie back in the 2010s if I remember. It's funny to see some of the stuff in the old superhero movies come to life.

I slip my hand through the silver bracelet and it shrinks down to fit my wrist. My mouth falls open. "Woah."

Willow giggles at my amazement. "I know right, and that's not even the best part. There's a glass pad on the band. Put your finger on it. You'll feel a prick but it won't hurt."

The back of my hand faces up and I put my thumb on the pad. An orange light comes on and scans my thumb. A small prick breaks the skin. I accidentally bite my tongue when pulling my thumb away. Even with the warning it still hurt.

I frown looking at the tiny red dot on my thumb. "Ow."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the bracelet blink red.

"Um... is it supposed to do that?" I ask pointing at the red blinking.

Willow squints to see what I'm pointing at on the bracelet. "Yes, it's scanning your DNA and locking itself to you."

"So what does that mean?" I ask.

"That means the bracelet is yours now and only you can use it." Willow says.

I look at the bracelet. "What does it do?"

Willow smiles showing off white teeth as she speaks. "Tap it."

My face scrunches up with confusion. Just one tap? One tap and that's it? This is definitely one of those old Marvel movies. Who was the one that had this type of tech? T'challa or Tony? Was it both? I can't remember, it's been too long since I last saw those movies.

I tap the pad and a burst of tiny black bots grow out of the bracelet effortlessly. They build themselves under the jacket and shirt, luckily the bots grow over my bra and not under it.

It crawls down my legs and covers me all the way to my ankles. The bots tighten up and I gasp. They had made their way under my cast and the tightness feels like I have a large hand wrapped around my shin, giving it an unpleasant squeeze.

I slap the wrist and the bots draw back into the bracelet. I breathe again like a hand has let go of my throat.

Willow leans in close to see what's wrong. "What happened? Is something wrong?" She takes a second glance when she sees my hand clutching my cast. She then sighs. "Maybe I should have waited for you to make a full recovery before letting you try out the bracelet."

"Yep," I say raspily. "definitely should have thought about that."

Willow winces, realizing "It didn't hurt you too badly, did it?"

I shake my head. "No, it's not too bad."

"I'm sorry about that, Caesar. Some times the young scientist in me jumps out and I forget the safety of others." Willow explains.

"No, you're fine," I say, still rubbing my cast. "It's okay to get excited about things."

A small side smirk creeps up on Willow's lips. "You seem to have this odd balance of kindness. You don't like it when people apologize, likes it's no big deal to make mistakes, but you've got this horrible stubbornness inside you."

Willow's words make me scoff, but it's with a smile. "Damn right. I am a Taurus after all."

"Mmm. Does that mean you love to eat too?"

"Yes," My mind wonders to the many diligence foods I could be eating right now. "Speaking of food, would you mind helping me get something to eat. Samantha and I were gonna go out on a date... well I wouldn't call it a date, it's more like hanging out, you know. No date, nothing like that."

Willow rests her elbows on the desk, her fingers laced together and a coy smirk on her lips. "Someone's nervous."

"I'm not nervous," I protest. "We're going to get lunch and that's it, nothing else."

Willow doesn't buy it. "It's okay to be nervous about going on your first date especially since it is a date with my daughter."

I flinch, realizing that I'll have to explain to Willow what's going on between the two of us. Is it bad to be terrified? To be afraid of Samantha's mother? She's kind-hearted and strong-willed, but kind hearts can hide a dark side and one can be on the wrong end of strong will.

"It is odd," Willow speaks up. My heart beats faster, scared to hear what the older woman has to say. "I thought Samantha would one day meet a nice man and they'd settle down, get married, live on a private sandy beach in Hawaii, have a few children and live out her life in happiness."

I drop my head knowing I can't do any of things for Samantha. I can barely give her a hug, so how the hell am I supposed to any of those things with her? I can't. It's that simple. I can't make her happy and we probably won't move to a beach.

A finger comes under my chin and lifts my head up. "But she's accidentally stumbled upon someone much better for her than anyone else."

I scoff and pull my head away. "You're just saying that to make me feel better,"

Willow shakes her head. "I'm not. I have been out of Samantha's life for a while and I've seen many of her happy moment play out as well, I've never seen her happier than that moment when I walked in."

"How do you know?"

"I'm her mother. I know a lot my own daughter even if she may not know that I do." Willow sounds so philosophical. "She doesn't know it, but I've been keeping a close eye on her since I left."

I blink and cock my head to the side. "So how much do you know about her? In the last four years that you've been gone that is."

"More than she realizes." Willow's chirpy toon from earlier fades into a more somber tone. "The relationships she's had with a few girls and boys is not something I've ignored. I'm fully aware of who she hangs around with and who she chooses to date. It's a good thing she has friends that look out for her."

Thoughts and questions swim around my head. "How do you know about this?"

"I have eyes, Caesar. All the people who work in this house, work for me and I always check in every week or so to make sure my daughter was okay until I got back."

That makes sence. I knew Willow cared about her daughter, I just wish Samantha would see that.

Willows hands comes back again and pick me. "Can you promise me one thing, Caesar? It's a simple promise, but it may not be easy."

If a mother is asking you to promise something then you better keep that promise or you'll be damned to hell.

"What kind of promise?" I ask hesitantly.

"Please watch over my daughter. Samantha hasn't found enough trust in me yet, but she trusts you and you're always around her so can please... please make sure my baby girl is safe." Willow pleads.

It's a mother's plea to protect her daughter. I can't turn down this promise. I won't turn down this promise! I'll face it head like I always do!

"I will, Willow. I'll make sure of it."