Chapter 11: Adjusting to Life on the Inside

The next morning, Kira woke up to the sound of Gloria knocking on her bedroom door asking if she was up and would like some breakfast. At first, Kira's sleep fogged mind couldn't figure out just where she was or why the woman sounded so far away. Stretching until her feet came to rest at the end of the rather large bathtub, Kira suddenly remembered going into the bathroom the night before after not trusting just one locked door in her new temporary home. Instead of the spacious and comfortable bed, she had opted to sleep with as many barriers between herself and the outside world as possible. She figured that if anyone tried to enter the bedroom while she slept that the extra lock would buy her time to be ready for them; though she never did figure out what she'd do if she was walked in on.

Calling out to tell the woman that she'd be out in a minute, Kira crawled out of the tub and stretched the kinks out of her shoulders. Sleeping in a tub was easier back when she was smaller. Or was that healthier? She then headed back into the bedroom and went directly to the chair that she'd moved in front of the door the night before. Without realizing just what she was doing, Kira checked to see if it had moved at all since she'd left it. If it had then it would have confirmed her fear of being visited in the night. Instead, the comfortable yet heavy chair was still pushed flush up against the door. After taking the time to push the chair away from the door enough to slip out, Kira began to try to retrace her footsteps from the night before in an effort to find the kitchen in the large house. Fortunately, Gloria hadn't gone very far after she had left Kira's door and helped her find her way.

Down in the small corner where breakfast was being served, Ben was already drinking a cup of coffee while reading the morning paper. As she sat down across from him, Ben asked her how she had slept. Kira shrugged her shoulders rather than answered and accepted a plate of bacon and eggs. She then listened as Ben told her that he'd asked his partner's wife to take her clothes shopping after breakfast since he figured that she'd be more comfortable with her rather than trying on clothes with him around. A part of Kira was relieved at knowing that she wouldn't have to model any clothes for the older man while another part of her felt apprehensive about spending the day with a complete stranger. Still, she knew that she needed some new clothes.

Once Kira had her fill of breakfast, she waited in the library for the woman who would be the one to take her shopping. When she arrived, there didn't seem to be much about her that would make her really stand out. She appeared to be in her late forties, perhaps, with an easy smile. Kira was introduced to Michelle and the two of them left out for a small, high-end, clothing store in town.

Michelle tried to engage Kira in idle conversation but quickly learned that the young teenager wasn't one for small talk. Fortunately, she also seemed to be easy going; at least in the way that she wasn't picky about the clothing that was chosen for her. Kira only seemed to have two mandates in regards to her clothing; one, none of it could be pink of any shade. That was simple enough since Michelle didn't really think that the color would have flattered the girl anyway with her red hair. Two, Kira didn't want any skirts or dresses. Instead, only long pants were bought for her.

When Michelle took the teen to go buy some shoes, she noticed that while Kira would accept a wide variety of shoes to try on, she was drawn to the most practical ones. When the two left the stores, Kira had chosen a pair of hiking boots to wear. With them, Kira was wearing the warmest clothing that she could remember ever owning. The winter days were still quite bitter and were made worse by her cancer treatments. Along with her new clothes and shoes, Kira was also sporting a warm hat to cover her completely bald head. Even though she had never thought of herself as vain, it felt good to not feel as if everyone that she passed was staring at her lack of hair covering her head.

As the two walked through the door back at Ben's house they could hear that he was back from the office but he wasn't alone. When Michelle heard Shawn's voice she asked Myra to help Kira upstairs with some of her packages while Chuck fetched the rest of them. She didn't think that Kira really needed to meet her new foster-brother while he was obviously upset over his father's decision to bring her into the family home.

"It wasn't enough for you to spend an hour a day on that piece of street trash, now you've decided to bring her and only the Lord knows what else with her here of all places! I can't believe this!"

"Lower your voice, Son. I'll not have you scolding me like a child." Ben crossed his arms as he stared down his son. "This is my house and I'll do as I please. If I want to take in a foster child, then I'm goin' to damn well do it. Besides, its nice to have someone around who will actually appreciate everything that I've done for them."

"The only thing that you've done is show that you are a feeble old man who has lost his mind!" Shawn gritted his teeth at the knowledge that his father had taken in a street urchin and now he had expected him to be happy about it. "Can you imagine what the media will do when they hear about this?"

"To be honest, I couldn't care less. I didn't do what I did for the press. Now, since you've made your position on all of this known, you can go ahead leave. The last thing that girl needs is to meet you in the mood you're in."

Michelle watched at Shawn stormed out of the office and waited a moment before taking his place inside. When she took a seat in front of Ben.

"I see that Shawn took it well, all things considered." The sarcasm was dripping from her words as she spoke. "I'm surprised I didn't hear him from garage."

"If you didn't, then you must have missed most of his visit." Ben stood and went over to his liquor cabinet and turned as held a glass up to offer Michelle a drink. She shook her head so he only poured him a small amount in his own glass. "At least you had the girl out of the house for Shawn's tantrum. How did Kira enjoy her day out?"

"It's hard to tell. She doesn't show much emotion. I tried to find something that she could be excited about but she just seems so... hollow."

"I know." Ben took his seat once more before taking a sip of his drink. "I'll have to see if I can find something that can create some sort of spark in her. Maybe once it gets warmer there will be something going on to give her something to focus on. In the meantime, I supposed that the best thing to do is to just try to find some way to connect with her."

Ben sat in the small waiting area as he waited for Kira's treatment to be completed for the day. He knew that she preferred it when he didn't sit with her during it so instead he sat out in the waiting room.

There were a variety of magazines and fliers around the room and while he was reading one in particular he saw that there was an event scheduled in a few weeks that looked interesting enough. He supposed that there wasn't any reason to not at least go and see what it was all about. Even if he was only able to convince his young charge to go for but a little while at least it would get her out in the fresh air for a little while.

Since he'd gotten Kira a tutor to help her with her studies rather than sending her to school, she tended to only leave the house for her medical appointments. Ben had tried to find things that she could get involved in but between the exhaustion that came with her treatments and the fact that nothing ever sparked an interest in her that didn't involve books Kira rarely left her room.

At times, he wondered if it really had anything to do with any particular want or need being left unfulfilled but rather the sense of safety that she had while behind closed doors. He'd heard the furniture being moved at night and Gloria had told him of finding it rearranged when she'd go up to clean each day. He also knew that even after all of this time out at the house, she rarely slept in the bed. A few times Gloria had found evidence that Kira had slept in the tub, other times she was either under the bed or in the closet. He hoped that she'd be more comfortable in his home by now but he sensed a lot of bad memories for her that seemed to haunt her at odd times.

The stadium was full of both racers and fans in the area as each prepared for the first amateur races of the year. There were stock car races as well as Motocross and more than enough excitement to go around. So much in fact that it felt almost catching for those who attended. Off to the side lines, a young sixteen year old Jebb Duke caught the sight of a girl that he'd not seen around the area before. Always ready to impress a pretty girl, he couldn't just walk by her without at least giving her a smile. Usually that was all it took to bring a girl over to talk. That wasn't the case today. The girl wearing a ball cap just turned and walked away; leaving him to check his bike out instead of flirting liked he'd hoped he could be doing right now.

"Ouch," his cousin Luke chuckled as he walked up to his cousin after seeing him getting the brush off. "Guess you ain't her type."

Jebb shrugged, she was pretty enough and he'd like to talk to her but right now he had a race to win. "I reckon not." Jebb then tried change the subject fast so his cousin wouldn't rub in the fact that he'd gotten shot down without a single word being said. "I still can't believe you are goin' to let Bo drive your car."

As the racers all approached the line, Benjamin Kyle had to smile as he watched the young girl beside of him show an interest in something other than books for the first time since he'd met her this past Christmas. He'd read about the races this weekend and thought that it just might be worth checking out. Kira would be going back to the hospital tomorrow for another round of treatments so this would be the last chance she'd get to be up and about for a while. Ben hoped that by the time she was back up on her feet again the adoption papers would be pushed through so they could have a proper celebration. Not just celebrate the adoption but (he hoped) that the cancer that the young teen had been fighting had finally been beaten back. True, she'd have to continue to go in for maintenance treatments but that was far more preferable to the more regular ones she was taking now.

While the racers gave their bikes and cars a final check he'd seen not just one but two of the teenaged boys try to flirt with Kira; as inexperienced as she was though she never even noticed. Of course Ben also saw that she did seem to watch one of the boys in question a bit closer than she did the rest of the racers in the first two Motocross races. With the next race about to start, once again it didn't take long for Ben to see which of the racers had caught her eye.

Smiling, he figured that dating and flirting was one part of his young charge's life that wouldn't take long to become part of her normal life once the rest of the hazards of her life were settled.