Baaahhhh. Too many stories to update! Not enough time to do it! (Or enough patience…) Anyone else experience Fanfic's wrath yesterday? Anyone? No? Yes? Maybe?

The Body in the Shed – Chapter Seven

Pitch tucked the siblings into bed that night. In response to Emma asking if he'd be sleeping with them, he said maybe tomorrow, and gently brushed Jack's bangs from his face. Looking at the sleepy kids, he leaned forward and placed a kiss upon both their foreheads and left them.

The moment he was outside the door he placed his hand over his eyes. Good, God, this was becoming more and more dangerous by the second. He was growing so attached to these two little kids. And it was obvious, they were attached to him- Hell, Emma had called him Dad. He couldn't do this. They needed to be somewhere they could be safe. If he grew too close, it would hurt him to have to send them away.

Biting his lip, he tried to wrestle his problem in his head. If he didn't treat them kindly, he wouldn't grow attached to them, but how could he treat them with anything but kindness after what they've been through? If he cared too much for them he'd never want to let them go. But they'd have to go. He was too close to the camp. Too close to all the people who ran the camp. His house wasn't safe for them. Meetings with the generals would compromise the two of them. They could be killed if they were found here.

At least they'd be safer if they were with someone else. Although, that wasn't entirely true, either… Because he was so beloved by the generals, they never suspected him of anything. So he could keep the charade up and protect the children. But if they were ever caught, he couldn't live with himself.

He groaned unhappily at himself- there was no real way out of this mess.

Going downstairs to his living room, Pitch rested himself on his couch. Whether or not he would actually get some sleep was still to be seen. He was having such a hard time dealing with all this.

As he lay there arguing with himself over what to do, Pitch distinctly remembered hearing his clock chiming for midnight. Still not asleep… He sighed in agitation and wondered if there was a way he could be sure they would be safe.

The tiniest noise alerted Pitch to the fact that one of the children had woken up. Lifting his head, he smiled when it was actually both of them. "Everything alright?" he asked, sitting up a little.

Emma was looking straight down, and Jack was rubbing her shoulder. "Emma had a nightmare," he whispered. Pitch quickly sat up all the way and motioned for the two of them to come closer.

He wrapped his arms around the shivering girl and looked at Jack. "It's alright," he whispered, stroking her hair, "It's alright, it's alright…" Sighing softly, he asked, "Would the two of you like me to sleep upstairs with you?" Emma nodded against his chest.

Getting up, lifting little Emma into his arms, Pitch walked back up to his bedroom. He set her down first, helped Jack climb back into bed, and then waited until they were settled. He was prepared to sleep on the floor, but when he moved away Jack actually asked him where he was going. Sighing, he turned back around and said, "Nowhere…" He lifted up the blankets and climbed into bed beside them. That was all he was planning was to just lie down with them. Instead, both of them crawled over and snuggled up against him.

How was he supposed to distance himself if they were constantly making him get closer?

Exhaling slowly, he allowed the two little ones to nuzzle their heads into his chest. "Thank you," Jack whispered after a little while. Pitch smiled softly at the tiredness to his voice.

Ruffling the boy's white hair, he said, "Just get some rest…"

When the sunlight barely made its way through the drawn curtains, it didn't wake them. What did was the loud knocking on the front door. Pitch slowly blinked his eyes open at the sound and lifted his head to see if he was dreaming or not. The knocking came again.

Jolting upright, waking both the siblings, Pitch listened to hear if there were the voices of army men outside. Both pairs of eyes blinked around nervously. He carefully lifted Emma into her brother's arms and told them not to move a muscle. He then hurried downstairs to see what was happening.

He slowly opened the door, feigning having just woken up. He was met by the face of one of the townspeople. It was a young woman. She looked up at him pleadingly and asked if he had any food he could spare. The troops had stolen all of hers.

He hurried her inside for a moment, allowing her to warm her frozen feet, and he went and grabbed her several items of food. He also gave her a blanket to wrap around her shoulders, and then let her sit inside and drink warm tea for a while. He was sure the children were worried, but he knew that they were okay up there. Once the woman was healthy enough to return to the outside, she thanked him profusely. He was sure she had said those two words at least a dozen times.

He didn't want to make her leave, but he already had two little refugees upstairs. Having another wouldn't be as easy to hide.

Once she was gone, he hurried back up to his room. He smiled at the two pairs of scared eyes. "It's alright," he said, "It was just a woman asking for food…"

"Did you give her any?" Emma asked, almost looking mad. He nodded and she chewed her lip. If he had to guess, she had probably developed a food related territorial side while being practically starved to death in that camp. Jack probably did too, but he was better at hiding his disdain.

"I'm sure you two are hungry," he whispered, moving toward them. They nodded eagerly and he lifted them both out of bed one at a time. It wasn't as hard as it should have been to lift Jack- he was a bony little thing for his age.

Smiling at the two of them, he helped them down the stairs to the kitchen, where they all tried their best at making pancakes together. This probably wasn't the best way to keep from getting attached to them, but Pitch just couldn't bring himself to stop loving them dearly.