Chapter 4

As they were heading towards the cafeteria, Melisa was holding Desmond's hand while smiling happily. They found empty sits and took it while he went to grab the food in the kitchen, Prim noticed both of the girls were quiet "Is there something bothering you two? Been awfully quiet lately" she asked worryingly "Oh well...we just don't know what to say right now" Melisa said sheepishly making Emily giggle "No wonder he liked you" she said making her blush "Shut up Emily" she continued to giggle from Melisa's embarrassment. He came out of the kitchen with different kinds of dishes "Sorry for the wait, hope you guys like my cooking" he said while carefully carrying the food. Each serving was different and he decided to cook their favorites "Pearlpea Risotto for Emily, Pancakes for Melisa and Bacon and Eggs for me and Prim" he said as he placed it on the table.

After enjoying their meal, Desmond washed the dishes while Prim was getting Melisa to bed after saying goodbye to Emily. She then went to the kitchen and saw him almost finish with the plates "Am I staying here?" she asked getting his attention "Well it depends if either you want to or not" he replied while placing the last of utensils "Just so you know, your mom wanted me to take care of you" he said as he grab a piece of cloth to wipe his hands "I'm not forcing you anything, just wanted to know what you want" she thought for a moment "Well I liked it better if you could read me a bed time story" she said as he smiled "I could do that" then she quickly hugged him "Looking forward for it" she grabbed his hand and both of them left the orphanage.

After Emily's bedtime story was done, he decided to wander off at town to see if there's anything suspicious. The town was quiet lately but he felt something wasn't right, it's a little too quiet and nothing happened after the hostage situation at the orphanage. Thought he might be paranoid or maybe there were waiting for him somewhere in shady areas, pondering for a while he saw a pink snugget in a box near the alley. It's resting and waiting for someone to adopt it, went towards the box and gently picked up the snugget. Gently stroking it as it nuzzled him "Don't worry little fella, I'm bringing you home" he said as he went back to his apartment, got home and making sure the door was locked then went to sleep on the couch while placing the snugget on his lap.

When morning came, he got up early and cooked breakfast for Emily. She woke up just in time for it and noticed him sitting onc the couch with a pink snugget on his lap "Where did you find that and when?" she questionably asked "Found it in a box just at the alley middle of the night, so I decided to bring it home" he said as he pet it. After breakfast she went to the bathroom while he washed the dishes with the snugget right next to him on the kitchen counter, the weather was alright so he decided to plan on bringing both Emily and Melisa someplace for kids to enjoy themselves. Half an hour later, all of them were together and already at the place "We're here" he said as both of them took a good look at it "Kids Playground...never been here before" Emily said as for Melisa she knows this place "I been here before! This is the place where me and my parents hangout together!" she smiled and started to drag him quickly inside "Come on let's go already!" then all of them went in. Inside the building were many game corners, both of the girls wanted to try it and went to the counter to get some game coins "Welcome, how may I help you today?" said the female purple Novakid "I want to buy some game coins please?" he said nicely and she gave him a pouch of it "20 pixels sir" he gave pixels while thanking her and gave it to the girls "Just don't break anything okay you two?" both of them nodded and Melisa showed Emily all the games.

For Desmond he decided to know the snugget "Let's just find a place to sit down a bit" the nuzzled him in approval and found a bench next to the gaming corner "So...what's your name little fella?" he asked making it confused "Uh...why should I tell you? I'm a snugget" it said with a soft tone making him chuckle "Hehe...well I for one can understand you snugget" he said playfully while it's eyes went wide as saucers "Wait what?! You can! But how?!" it said to him startled and surprise knowing someone can understand creatures. The snugget tried to comprehend on how he managed to understand it "Tell me that I'm not going crazy right now" he petted it to calm down "Let's just say I...have experienced a lot of things back then, now your name please" the snugget calm down a bit and it's name "Okay then, the name is Fluff and I'm a female snugget" she said it with pride making him chuckle "Well nice to meet you Fluff, and I'm guessing you know me already" she nodded and proceeded to nuzzle him more "Now that's out of the way, let me enjoy myself thank you very much" Fluff endlessly nuzzling him.

Meanwhile, both girls were still playing their games and Emily wasn't really that good "Come Emily you can't be that terrible at this game! Just shoot them!" both were playing a run and gun game booth while trying not to lose half way of the stage "Do I look like I played games before?! This is my first time here!" she yelled while trying to shoot an hostile npc "I know that but it can't be that hard!" Melisa yelled back shooting much better than her "Easy for.you to say!" with that both of them continued to play.

For Desmond and Fluff, there were getting to know each other better "Wait, so you're saying that her dad killed her mom? That's messed up and at the same time good for helping her" both of them been having a conversation for a while "Can't just leave her, made a promise with her mom to take good care of her" he said while petting Fluff. The two of them kept knowing each other while waiting for the girls to finish their game, conveniently there were already out of coins "I don't know how you do it but you're good at this" Emily said a bit impressed by Melisa's gaming skills "It's called experienced, you learn it when you know it" she said feeling prideful while Emily playfully punch her "Yeah, yeah keep that up and you might end up challenging someone more better than you" both of them giggled and noticed Desmond talking to the snugget which made them felt odd "Uh...why are you talking to a snugget?" Emily oddly said it "Oh, just uh...felt kinda lonely that's all! Right little fella?" Fluff just played along and nuzzled his hand "Right, so anyone feeling kinda hungry?" at the right moment and ironically Melisa's stomach growled which made her embarrassed while the rest chuckled.

Regardless, they ordered some food and waited for about 10 minutes for it to arrived. Emily went to restroom to wash, while she was there and oddly enough felt a bit lightheaded "Oh no...not again" she said as she holds her head in a painful manner "Its not real...none of it's is real!" tried to calm herself while seeing everything around herher turning into her old home "Get the hell...out of my head!.." she yelled as tears running down from her eyes "Just...kill me already" then Desmond came running in "Emily! Are you-" cut off mid sentence and saw her crying, quickly comforted her "Hey, hey its ok! Nothing here just me!" she quickly hold him "Please don't send me back! I'll promise to be good just don't send me back!!" she cried while tightly him "I'm not going to! Just tell me what's going on, please?" but she refused to say anything besides crying even more, so he decided to wait for her to stop. Few minutes later, she stopped crying "...We talk when we head back to the apartment if that's okay for you" she nodded "Then its settled, come on our food is waiting at the table" with that said, they went back to their table.

When they were done, Desmond decided it was time to leave even though he haven't told Melisa what happened in the restroom. They arrived at his apartment and all of them sat on the living room "So Emily mind telling us in what the heck happened in the restroom?" Melisa spoke out but she kept quiet for moment "...you wouldn't believe me if I tell you" she said feeling depressed, all Desmond could do is comforting her "It's okay if you won't tell us, let's just go to bed okay?" all of them went to bed but Emily was afraid to sleep alone for the night, so she decided to wait until everyone is asleep. As planned, she went to find Desmond for comfort while trying to navigate in the dark. He was sleeping on the couch but Fluff wasn't with him "Where did that snugget go? Maybe its with Melisa" she assumed and continued on her plan, climbed on to his lap and position herself comfortable. She then started to hold him "Care to explain..?" this startled her greatly which nearly made her fell "Desmond! I-I can explain t-this, just don't hurt me!!" she was hyperventilating and started to tear up in fear "Calm down...why in the world would I hurt you for?" he gently pulled her into a hug "B-b-because...I'm afraid" she confessed while crying a bit "I-I thought you might hate me like my dad do" she sniffles a bit trying to stop crying "I'm nothing like him and I never do that" he reassured her "You promise you won't?" she said hopefully "I promise" she smiled and tightly hugged him "Thank you...dad" this surprised him a bit and slowly smiled "You welcome" he said as both of them slept peacefully together.