The More, The Merrier

The next day.

Lake was packing his luggage.

After a while.

Skye walked down the stairs.

Lake confirmed with Skye again, "Are you sure you don’t want to come with me to Los Angeles?"

"No."

Skye yawned and shook her head, "Remember, you signed me up for several tutoring classes, and I just received a gift yesterday. I made plans with Alexis to study it in the car."

Lake shrugged, "Alright, I’ve already spoken with Cassel. Remember, call me if anything comes up."

Skye nodded.

Lake didn’t say anything else. If Skye didn’t want to go to Los Angeles with him, then so be it. At worst, he’d take Skye to Hawaii for a separate trip during Christmas.

After a while.

Lake took a taxi to the Homeland Building first.

His assistant, Tiffany, had already compiled information on several car-scrapping organizations located on the West Coast, whose business operations also extended to New York, by accessing the databases of several law enforcement agencies on the West Coast.

After Lake received the information, he briefly spoke with Deputy Director David before taking another taxi to New York JFK International Airport.

When Lake went through security with his credentials.

Rachel, who had flown in from Washington D.C. earlier, and her daughter Josie immediately waved at Lake, "Over here."

Lake walked over, "Sorry, I had to deal with some last-minute matters."

As he spoke.

Lake patted the head of Josie, who was eight years old and resembled Rachel, looking like a little ice princess.

Josie said, "Uncle Lake, you’re late."

Lake apologized to Josie again, "I promise this is the last time, okay?"

Josie nodded adorably.

Rachel looked at Lake and said, "It’s okay. Did you find the car?"

Lake was stunned and looked at Rachel. He hadn’t told her about this.

Rachel smiled, took off her backpack, and handed the newspaper she had just seen on the plane to Lake, "You didn’t know your car was stolen and it made the news, did you?"

"What the heck?"

"See for yourself, second page, on the left."

"…"

Lake flipped through the Bugle Daily in his hands. Good grief, although it wasn’t the front-page headline, it still dedicated a significant portion of its space to describing the theft of a vehicle belonging to the New York State Director of Homeland Security. It also linked the car-scrapping organization with the group that carried out the silencing in Hell’s Kitchen.

The Bugle Daily connected three seemingly unrelated incidents and, in a passive-aggressive tone, questioned whether the safety of New York State citizens was truly secure with such a director protecting them.

They still haven’t learned their lesson.

Lake thought to himself. Years ago, when Lake was first played by S.H.I.E.L.D., many newspapers had used the hammer of racial discrimination to attack him.

Lake had noted down the names of the most vocal reporters at the time. After things gradually calmed down, he made time to deal with them one by one.

Among them, three reporters from the Bugle Daily were the most problematic.

Lake had initially thought that after the inexplicable execution of three reporters, the Bugle Daily would have quieted down. However, they had unexpectedly resurfaced, bothering him in this passive-aggressive manner.

How bold.

Lake silently noted down the name of the reporter who wrote the article, then smiled, folded the newspaper, and looked at Rachel, "Not yet, but I should be able to find it."

I must find it.

Among the car-scrapping organizations found by his assistant Tiffany, one was the most suspicious. Coincidentally, that organization was located in Los Angeles, Lake’s destination.

This was good.

Lake planned to pay them a visit that evening.

After a while.

Lake led Rachel and Josie through the security gate, down the stairs, and directly into a hangar.

Boarding the plane.

"Wow!"

Josie, at eight years old, was flying on a private jet for the first time. She adorably asked Rachel why their plane hadn’t looked like this when they arrived earlier.

Rachel answered her daughter, then turned to Lake, who was already pouring wine, "Is this considered using public resources?"

Lake handed her a glass of red wine, "Will you report it?"

Rachel thought for a moment, then looked at Lake with a smile, "Maybe, but only if you can convince me."

Lake smiled.

"Sir."

The co-pilot, specifically hired by the Department of Homeland Security, emerged from the cabin and said to Lake, "We’ve received clearance to fly and are about to take off."

Lake nodded, scooped up Josie, who was standing on tiptoe looking at the wines in the cabinet, and placed her beside him, buckling her seatbelt. "The plane’s about to take off. We can play once it’s stable. There’s a bedroom inside, too."

Josie turned her head toward the door leading to the plane’s bedroom. "Can I sleep?"

Lake nodded. "Of course."

Josie yawned, looking very sleepy.

Rachel had taken the earliest flight from Washington to New York. Lake had previously offered to pick her up at the Washington airport, but Rachel said it wasn’t necessary.

New York was on the East Coast, and this time their destination was Los Angeles, on the West Coast. Looking at the map, it was essentially a cross-country journey.

Even with Lake using his private jet, it took nearly four and a half hours of flight time to reach the skies above Los Angeles. They estimated another twenty minutes before they could begin the landing procedures.

Lake and Rachel were holding each other, watching Josie sleep soundly on the bed.

Rachel gazed at her daughter on the bed and said to Lake, "What do you think she’s dreaming about?"

Lake looked at Josie, who was sleeping in a surrender pose, and chuckled. "You’re making it difficult for me. I can guess what boys dream about, but what do girls dream about? Maybe she’s dreaming of a house made of marshmallows?"

Rachel looked at Lake. "A house made of marshmallows? I’ve had that dream."

Lake said, "Betty had that dream too, and I teased her about it. Ever since then, Betty hasn’t told me what she dreams about."

Rachel gave Lake a look. "So, do you prefer boys or girls?"

Just as Lake was about to say "either," he raised an eyebrow, as if he had just thought of something, and looked at Rachel.

Rachel smiled without saying a word.

Lake’s eyebrows twitched, and he involuntarily glanced at Rachel’s flat stomach.

"…Are you pregnant?"

"Guess?"

"…"

Seeing the expression on Lake’s face, Rachel smiled and took something out of her pocket, handing it to him. "I was going to tell you on vacation, but I couldn’t wait."

Lake took the item Rachel handed him and looked at it, his expression unreadable.

Good grief.
Am I really this potent?

Lake thought back. He hadn’t used protection with Emilia either, but Emilia thought she couldn’t get pregnant, and yet she conceived.

This time, it seemed he hadn’t used it either?

Is my sperm that resilient?

Wait.

Lake suddenly remembered Seifer, who had come to see him a while ago. It seemed he hadn’t used protection then either.

No way.

Lake couldn’t help but calculate. If Seifer really had conceived, then good heavens, wouldn’t he already have three children?

No.

It should be four. Skye, at least in a legal sense, was also his daughter.

Wow.
What?
Calculating it this way, am I still missing one?

No, I’m not missing any.

That rebellious son doesn’t count. As I said, if Emilia hadn’t protected him, Lake would have already planned to humanely eliminate that rebellious son.

Rachel looked at Lake’s expression and frowned, saying softly, "You don’t want it?"

Lake snapped back to attention. "No, how could I not?"

Although Lake had grown accustomed to Western ways of thinking, his soul was still rooted in Yanhuang culture. In a word, having many descendants had always been the persistent pursuit of Yanhuang people since ancient times.

Children, well.

The more, the merrier.

Rachel then hugged Lake and whispered in his ear, "Actually, there’s something about Josie I haven’t told you."

Lake smiled. "I know."

Rachel looked at Lake curiously.

The corners of Lake’s mouth curved upward. "I control one of the most powerful intelligence agencies in America, after all."

Josie was adopted.

It’s just that…

Lake didn’t explicitly state this matter, after all, children are innocent. Moreover, Lake himself was adopted, so he understood the feelings of children who knew they were adopted.

Look at Lake.

Look at Skye.

Alright.

Lake confessed, he indeed knew about this beforehand before choosing to find Rachel that night. If Rachel really had a child with her ex-husband, to be honest, although Lake said he didn’t care, he actually cared a tiny bit.

Rachel looked at Lake and said, "So…"

Lake smiled and said, "I love you, no doubt about it. So, yes, just like you, I’m looking forward to the day our love bears fruit."

Soon.

Josie, who was groggily asleep, was woken up.

Even with her seatbelt on, her little head was bobbing up and down as she dozed off.

After a while.

The plane slowly taxied into the hangar.

After getting off the plane.

A Homeland agent from California was waiting nearby. After Lake disembarked, the agent handed Lake the car keys for the car that had just arrived. "Director Edwin."

Lake nodded at the Homeland agent and took the car keys.

The Homeland agent said something, then turned, got into another agent’s car, and left.

"I thought he would drive us to the hotel."

"Haha."

Lake opened the car door and looked at Rachel, who was sitting in the passenger seat, smiling. "I did intend to, but this is our vacation, isn’t it? I don’t think you’d want them involved, so, did I do the right thing?"

Rachel didn’t answer, but kissed Lake amidst Josie’s laughter in the back seat.

Lake started the car.

The car roared to life and drove directly out of the hangar, beginning their month-long Los Angeles vacation.