Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Wolfblood.


Comfort

"Rhydian," Maddy said as gently as she could, leaning on the door frame. "Rhydian, just talk to me."

Nothing.

She was standing outside his bedroom door in the Vaughan's house; he had gone inside and locked her out. Literally.

When Maddy had arrived at the Vaughan's house ten minutes ago, Rhydian had been in his room already and Mrs Vaughan had warned her that he was upset over something and she wasn't sure what it was. As Maddy had walked up the stairs, Rhydian obviously heard her coming because he shut the door in an instant and locked it behind him, leaving Maddy on the other side, thoroughly confused.

"Rhydian." Maddy said, a little more firmly now. She reached down to the door handle again, just in case it had magically unlocked itself, but it hadn't. She still couldn't get in.

For a moment, she pressed the side of her head against the door and listened carefully. She could've sworn she could hear Rhydian sniffing lightly, and then she heard the window open in his room.

Maddy frowned. "Rhydian, don't you even think about climbing out of that window."

And then she heard Rhydian chuckle wetly. He had stayed where he was; she knew that when she heard the window shut again.

A few minutes later, Maddy heard footsteps on the stairs and then Mrs Vaughan appeared, a sad smile on her face.

"I think we'll leave you guys to it, if that's okay," she said softly. "See if you can get through to him. He might open up more if we're not in the house. We'll take the boys out for ice cream."

Maddy nodded, offering Mrs Vaughan a sad smile. She looked worried for her foster son; a genuine look of sadness was behind her eyes and her forehead was wrinkled.

"Of course. That's fine…I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks, Maddy. I'm sure he'll talk to you eventually. He always does."

"Not always," Maddy laughed sadly. "But I'll try."

Mrs Vaughan offered her another rueful smile, touching her arm sympathetically before turning back around and walking down the stairs.

Maddy waited a few moments, listening to the closing of doors and sound of multiple footsteps leaving the house, before she was sure the Vaughan's car had left the driveway.

"Rhydian, it's just you and me now, so open the bloody door, or I'll break it down."

He chuckled weakly again. "And how are you going to do that, Mads?"

Maddy growled slightly and frowned. "Open the door, Captain Sarcasm."

Finally, she heard the slow padding of footsteps and then door to Rhydian's bedroom opened slowly.

Rhydian turned around as soon as she stepped inside and went back to sit on the seat that ran along under the window.

Maddy watched him from behind, closing the door behind her and slowly walking over to him. She sat next to him, a few inches away so she could look at him properly.

"Rhydian, what's wrong? What happened?"

Rhydian didn't look directly at her, but she could still see his face. The remnants of tears were sitting on his cheeks and his eyes looked red, bloodshot and lost.

Tentatively, Maddy scooted closer and brought her small hands up to each of his cheeks, turning his face towards her. For a moment she looked his face all over, taking in the way he was trying to avoid her eyes and make it look like he wasn't crying. And then she wiped away the tears with her thumbs, her forehead wrinkling.

"Rhydian," she said again, her voice gentle but still firm. "You can talk to us."

Sniffing, Rhydian brought his own hand up and wiped his nose. Maddy removed her hands from his face, putting one on his shoulder comfortingly and entwining the fingers of her spare hand with his.

"It's my aunt," he finally said after a long moment of silence.

"Your aunt?" Maddy asked, confused.

Rhydian nodded. "My mum's sister, yeah. Mum tried to introduce me to her today – she came to visit the wild pack and mum came back to get her to meet me – but she…" Rhydian tilted his head up, willing himself to calm down, and exhaled loudly.

"What happened?"

"She hated me."

"What? How can she hate you?"

He shrugged. "She didn't realise I was a 'tame', as she calls it. She always thought I was still living with mum in the wild pack," he explained. "Mum told me about her before but I never thought I'd meet her. And now that I have…she really, really hated me, Maddy. She practically spat on me. I didn't even want to meet her in the first place because…"

"…you were scared." Maddy finished for him when his words trailed off.

Ashamedly, Rhydian nodded, looking down at his lap. "But mum convinced me to meet her. I wish I hadn't now."

Maddy reached up with both of her hands and moved his face back up again so he was looking at her.

Her hands came away and she took his hands in hers.

"Did your mam say anything about it?"

"She was shocked," he shrugged. "But she didn't put up a fight or anything. I thought she'd at least defend me."

"I'm sorry, Rhydian." Maddy said sadly, squeezing his hands.

Rhydian looked down again, wiping his eye and then looking to his right out the window.

And then the things his aunt said to him just came back to him like a flood, and his eyes were filled with tears again and he had looked back down, his body now jerking as he cried.

Maddy hated seeing him like this. Not only was he crying but he was also clearly embarrassed that he was crying so much, and Maddy just wanted to make it all go away. She didn't want to watch him be in so much pain.

"Sorry," Rhydian said, bringing his hand up to rub his eyes and then cover his face.

"You're sorry for hurting?" Maddy asked lightly, her voice soft. "Don't be silly, Rhydian." She ran her hand through his hair gently and then leaned forward to kiss the side of his neck.

"I didn't think anything like this would affect me so much."

"Family can hurt us sometimes more than anything."

"I guess you're right."

"Come here." Maddy leaned in and wrapped her arms around him. He turned around so he could hug her properly and he buried his head in to her neck, breathing in her familiar scent and feeling a tiny bit of peace run through him.

Maddy soon felt tears hitting the skin on her neck and she held him tighter, tears stinging in her own eyes because of how much he was hurting.

"I love you." Rhydian's voice came up, thick with tears and muffled from being against her skin.

"I love you too." She brought her hand up to his hair again and smoothed it comfortingly, making a little more peace run through Rhydian as she touched him.

They spent a good half hour sitting on Rhydian's windowsill seat, their fingers entwined together as they talked through what had happened. Talking, for once, was making Rhydian feel better and he loved that he had Maddy here to help him through this.
They didn't only talk about serious stuff, though; they had a laugh, too. And that was just what Rhydian needed.

A beat of silence passed over them for a moment.

Rhydian's head was leaning against the wall behind him and Maddy was looking out through the window, her mind wandering off somewhere else.

"Mads," Rhydian said, breaking her out of her own little world. She turned her head to face him with a small, expectant smile on her lips. Seeing her face – so caring, true and sincere – just made him smile too. He squeezed her hand. "Thanks for making me talk things through."

Maddy shrugged. "It's alright. No one else was gonna get through to ya, were they?"

Rhydian chuckled lightly. "I guess not." For a moment he looked away from her, but then his face turned a little more serious. He suddenly realised what a mess his life would be without Maddy; what a mess he would be without Maddy. He would never have found his own pack, never have found who he belonged with, and he would never have found himself. Without Maddy, he was nothing. Without Maddy, he would still be a scared and lonely foster kid who thought he was the only person in the world who turned in to a wolf on the full moon.

Rhydian turned his gaze back to Maddy slowly and steadily, his head still resting on the white-painted wall behind him. "I couldn't live without you," he said.

His eyes were flicking from her eyes to her lips, back and forth, and her forehead was now slightly wrinkled as she saw the look of hurt in his eyes. The thought of losing her scared him.

He continued, "…I don't want to live without you." And before Maddy could even take a breath to speak, Rhydian had leaned in and cupped her face in his hands. He kissed her passionately and she couldn't help but kiss back.
He kissed her like he needed it; like he needed her. Also like he needed her to know just how much he loved her and how thankful he was that she was in his life.

Rhydian could truly not live without Maddy.

And Maddy realised that she felt the same for Rhydian as he kissed her, his mouth open and hands finding their way around her neck and in to her hair.

They pulled away a few seconds later, completely and totally out of breath.

"That was random," Maddy breathed, slightly stunned. They both chuckled.

"Sorry. I just…"

"I'm not complaining." She cut him off. Her voice was soft and he pulled back slightly so he could look her in the eyes. When he saw the sparkle behind the familiar brown eyes, he grinned and leaned back in to kiss her again.

Things were always better with Maddy around.


A/N: I don't even know what this is. Like, seriously. It's so random, and I don't really know where it came from. I just wanted to write something with Rhydian needing comfort because I love angsty Rhydian and I love Maddian supporting each other. So, you know...that's where this originated from.

Despite its randomness and such, I still hope you liked it :') Do let me know what you thought.

Thank you for all your wonderful reviews; I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this one-shot/drabble series! :) Keep a look out for the next update. It'll hopefully (emphasis on the "hopefully" :P) be one of the episode requests/ideas.

Love :* xxx