Chapter Three – Wait, Did He Speak?

v

"Okay… It's okay… Let's just get you cleaned up."

She spoke calmly as she gently rubbed his hair with the soapy water. He kept purring, as though he liked what she was doing. She cupped some water and poured it over his head. He shook his head rapidly, sprayed water in every direction, like a dog. Annie laughed as she fell back off of the stool and onto the bathroom floor. Travis looked over the edge and crawled out cautiously; worried she got hurt or something. Annie blushed as she got a glimpse of his fully naked being, and quickly looked away again. Travis looked confused and crouched near her, water dripping off him onto the floor. She quickly grabbed a towel and held it up and out.

"Here… Stand up…"

He slowly and wobbly stood; the warm water had relaxed every muscle in him and he now felt rather weak. She slowly stepped forward and began to dry him off. He held arms out and she went around him drying him off. He held the towel as she let go and went to grab his clothes. She turned and went out the bathroom; he followed, still carrying the towel.

"I have some other clothes you can wear until these ones are clean…"

She said as she threw them into the washing machine and turned it on. The loud made Travis flinched and back away step. She giggled and went into her bedroom. He slowly stepped cautiously past it and went into the room she did. She grabbed a t-shirt of her fiancés and a pair of baggy sweatpants that should fit him. He glanced around, noticing that the whole room smelt a lot like Annie. She turned around, she saw Travis crawling around the room, sniffing everything. He crawled near her bed and sniffed around it a lot.

Geez, he is a dog! How strange can he get?

"Travis…?"

He stopped and responded. She felt a motherly-warmth almost hit her when he responded to the name she'd given him.

"Here, put these on."

He slowly crawled towards her and rose slightly, grabbing the clothes. He fell back and sat of the floor, struggling to put the pants on first. She rolled her eyes and knelt down.

"Here, Travis… Let me help you…"

She grabbed the waistband and tugged them up. He fidgeted and kicked his legs like a child and it made her smile.

"He-he; hey, stop it…!"

He growled slightly while smiling a small smile and flipped over, crawling away and hiding under the bed.

"Oh, are you shy…?"

She said sweetly and she stepped towards to bed and lifted the blanket up to see his gleaming cat-like eyes staring back at her.

"Come on, Travis…! You need to get dressed…"

He grinned slightly before rapidly scrapping to get out the other side and dash to the door. Annie quickly grabbed his tail before he could rush out the door and heard him yelp as he came to a dead stop.

"Hey, you need to get dressed…"

He glared slightly back at her and sat down looking down like a spoiled little kid. She frowned slightly at his sudden childish behavior and crossed her arms after letting go of him. She raised an eyebrow down at him and he slowly turned back into the room and hesitantly crawled past her feet towards the t-shirt lying on the floor. He grabbed it and put it on. Annie stepped over to him and placed her hand in his half-dry hair. He flinched but didn't try to run away or anything. He really liked it when she would pet him and he didn't really know why he liked it; he just did.

"Th-Thank you…"

Annie froze and slowly stepped around him and knelt down to eye level with him.

"Did… Did you just say 'thank you'…?"

Baffled that he could even speak, let alone English, she stared wide-eyed at him and saw his golden eyes calmly glow into hers. He nodded his head.

Why hasn't he ever spoken before now? He's so quiet… Maybe that's the way he was taught…

"Travis… you can tell me anything you want… Okay?"

He stared confused for a moment, but then nodded and leaned forward. She put a hand up, not sure what he was going to do. He stared at it and slowly raised his hand. He placed it to hers and it immediately made Annie think of the movie 'Tarzan' from when she was little. He held his hand to hers for a long moment before slowly closing his fingers over hers completely. She was amazed by how much smaller her hands were compared to his, or just how big his hands were compared to hers; depends.

"Travis…"

He opened his mouth slightly to speak, but for a second, didn't, then suddenly, he quietly said,

"Annie…"

He remembered my name…!

She smiled at him and his face lit up immediately. She slowly pulled her hand away from his and stood.

"Come on; let's get something to eat… It's getting late…"

She walked to the door and headed to the kitchen, with Travis following right at her feet, half-crawling and half-walking.

v

"He-he; you hungry…?"

He licked his lips, biting down slightly as he could already smell the food in the fridge. He was starving, or at least that's how he felt. She laughed and heated up some more steak. She gave it to him and he grabbed it and began devouring it like crazy, just like before.

"Geez… I didn't know you were that hungry…!"

He finished it within seconds and looked up expecting more. She shook her head.

"No, Travis… No more… I have to save some for the rest of the week…"

He gave her an almost devastated looking look and slumped down all sad.

"Awe, don't worry, you'll more tomorrow… but it's getting close to bedtime…"

She said as she bent down and gently ruffled his hair. He didn't quite understand, but he was hopeful to just watch what she did and just do the same.

"I'm going to eat and then I'm going to get ready for bed…"

She looked over at the clock on the wall.

"It's already almost nine o'clock and I haven't even had supper, yet… Good grief…"

She turned and heated up some rice and veggies for herself, figuring to save all the meats for Travis. She went and sat at the kitchen table and began eating. She suddenly saw the chair opposite of hers start to move out and then Travis popped up and sat on it. She giggled and continued eating as he sat and watched her. She felt his feet rub near hers.

Gosh, he's legs are really long… One must be almost the height of me alone…!

She thought as she continued and soon finished after having to take care of this big baby all afternoon. She placed the dishes in the sink and began to wash them. Travis got out of the chair and strolled over slowly to watch as she washed the dishes. She couldn't stop smiling at the way he watched everything she was doing.

It's like he's trying to learn…

After she finished that, she went to the bathroom before she'd head for bed. Travis tried to follow, but she stopped him from entering.

"No, Travis… Just wait here; I'm just going to shower real quick…"

He confused and almost irritated by not being able to go in with her, tried crawling around her feet, but she just kept blocking him.

"No, Travis… Be patient, okay… I'll be right out, I promise…"

He sat and muttered,

"O-Okay…"

She smiled at the fact that he was now starting to speak up more often. She closed the door and began to undress. He sniffed under the door and tried to see under to see what she was doing. He saw her feet and a piece of clothing drop to the floor. He then saw the rest come off at the ankles and she stepped away from them and stepped into the shower.

Travis didn't know what she was doing but he did put together that she had taken her clothes off. Maybe she was cleaning herself like she did for him earlier. He wanted to help her for helping him but didn't want to break the door down to get in. how did she do it? He stared at the doorknob and figured it had something to do with that. He slowly stood and grabbed it gently. He gave it a slight tug, nothing; he pushed, nothing; but then saw that it jiggled slightly. He turned his hand while holding it and saw that it turned with his hand. He kept turning it until he heard it click. The door cracked open and his eyes widened. Not because he was able to get into the bathroom, but because he figured it out all by himself. It was a strangle feeling; to feel self-accomplishment. It was something he never felt.