(8) Alone

Taking off her skirt and top she changed into a baggy tee-shirt given to her by Greg, Greg, he had been her best friend. Her first partner, in more ways than one, but those days were gone along with the child she lost. Picking up some pyjama bottoms she padded downstairs to the pasta bolognaise her Pops had made while she had been reading the letters.

"You okay Hun?" "Yeah Pops" she spoke quietly wishing she was, that all was well, but it wasn't she was worn out and at the same time had so much energy to burn. She ached to hold a child in her arms and not have to hand them back, but knew in herself that children so young was a bad idea, but the ache wouldn't go away. And she didn't think it would any time soon. "I want to ask you something" Sherman said quietly, unsure as to how to go about this, "What?" she asked but didn't look up "Are you happy living here with me? Or would you rather live alone?" there it was out, he had asked her Surprised by his question she looked up and asked him in return "do you want me to move out?" "I want what is best for you, the choice is yours, you can continue to live here or I could make other arrangements..." "I couldn't bear to be alone, I have never been alone" she rambled out afraid that she would be alone "I'm not kicking you out, I just want you to have a choice to live independently if that what you want" upset by the look of fear on her face. "No no no, I can't live alone." Walking around the table he put his arms around her and pulled her up into a hug, she was absolutely shaking with fear, and that concerned Sherman, why was she so afraid of being alone? "Sssh you don't have to, you can stay as long as you need, I promise sssh don't cry you're safe" Stepping back out of the hug she wiped her face, put on her 'its okay' mask and sat back down to eat her food. "There's cheesecake for after" he told her hoping to see a smile emerge on her face instead she just nodded and continued to eat.

She cleared her plate put it into the dishwasher and stood by the back door, focusing on the tree line she looked for wolves or at least a rabbit she could chase but she couldn't see anything, turning and about to walk back in she heard rustling within the garden, looking towards a bush she saw a small tomcat, cleaning himself. Laughing gently she growled lowly, just enough to startle the cat and make him run, wanting to give chase but decided against it and walked indoors. He had seen all of this from where he sat in the hollow, heard her laugh, then her sigh, he could already tell that something was bothering her, even though he had only met her at the party, he could feel himself falling hard, pushing himself up out of the hollow he watched her light turn on then off and only the flicker of candles illuminated her bedroom window. Turning away he walked slowly in the direction of his house.

Sitting quietly in front of his fire, Sherman was deep in thought, so deep he didn't notice John come in through the door and sit beside him in his pelt, before transforming into his skin and grabbing a nearby throw over to cover himself with, "Sherman" "What, huh?" "What's up, the amount of fear and worry coming form this house is scary" said John looking at Sherman "Kerri," "What about Kerri?" "she got some stuff from her dad today which put in a bit of a mood, Presley wont back off either, and when I asked her if she would rather live independently she got scared and started crying begging not to be alone," "Ruby said she thought something was bothering her when we were talking earlier today" "Yeah?" "Yeah, umm, Ruby thought that part of her was missing," "I don't know, I'm just going to let her do things her own way, I'm here if she needs me, she knows that "Sherman said, sighing and going to the front door he locked it turned back to John "ask Ruby to keep an eye on her if she sees her, Kerri needs a female role model and I think Ruby would be a good person for Kerri" "I will do" and with that he shifted into his pelt and ran out the back door Sherman locked the door behind him and made his way to bed.