Stay the night

After dinner and the third beer they were back in the living room from the kitchen. Sara insisted on helping Sofia clean the kitchen and because she had tonight off too, she could have beer too.

"Shall we give the movies another try?"

"I promise I won't fall asleep after ten minutes again." Tonight she was rested and wanted to be awake while Sara was around.

"Good. What happened to your tiger? I haven't seen him today."

"He's scared."

"I buy food for him, feed him and he's scared?"

"Yes…he had…some less nice experiences with human…Justice? Come here, Baby, come to mommy." A few seconds later her kitten peeked around the corner, suspicious looking at Sara.

"Come on, you met her yesterday, she petted you, you know she won't hurt you. Come here, baby, come into my arms." Making a little detour around the couch table Justice got onto Sofia's lap. "Good boy, you can't let me sit here alone, I need you on my lap." She kissed him on the head.

"He's like a dog, you call him and he comes. Very good trained."

"I never trained him, he does this because he wants it, like to be with me. Like I said, he had some less nice experiences with human, I found him in a dumpster, covered in his own blood. Somebody pulled off most of his claws, burnt his fur, kicked him and broke a rip. The vet needed some time to fix him, almost lost him twice and since he's here with me, he stays away from people. This is his safe haven, he can be sure nothing happens to him, that I take care of him. Letting you pet him yesterday was more than he let anybody else do. Give him a few more minutes and you might be allowed to pet him again."

"I wait until he's ready to come to me. People can suck, can't they Justice? Your mommy will make sure nobody will ever hurt you again."

"And he thanks it with unconditional love. Do you want some sausage later? I bought some, your favorite brand."

"Does he also have a favorite movie?"

"No, he can sleep with any kind of movie. Did I tell you that I love you?" Sofia kissed the kitten again.

"Not lately." Sara grinned.

"Uhm…" Sofia swallowed. She talked to Justice even when these words also fit on the brunette. But she'd never dare to say them out loud.

"Yeah, you meant Justice, I got you. Where are your potato chips?"

"Kitchen, I get them."

"Stay here with the tiger, I get them and a new beer for us."

"Thanks." Sofia pulled Justice in her arms and whispered in his ear. "Is my face very red? It feels like it's on fire. Do you think she knows it? If I weren't such a coward I'd tell her but I can't. Not today. I don't want to blew it, I blew so many moments with her, today is supposed to be good. How am I doing so far?"

"Are you talking to Justice or yourself?" Sara came back with a big bag of potato chips and two bottles of beer.

"To Justice, he's a really great listener, the problem is, whenever he answers, I've got problems to get him. We need to work on this, buddy."

"Maybe you have to listen more carefully when he answers. Usually cats are very specific in what they want."

"They are and they know what they want. Can I ask you something? Even when the question is a little bit…weird?"

"You can give it a try."

"Okay…uhm…I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything like that, I'm just wondering, how comes you're here? Why did you come along yesterday? You've got two days off, why do you spend them with me? Before yesterday you've never been here and I had no idea you want to spend any time with me."

"Let me turn the tables on you: Why did you let me in? You opened the door although you weren't in a mood to let anybody in. And you turned your place, that looked like a dump yesterday into a clean and nice spot today. Why?"

"I asked first." And you don't like my answers.

"I came here because I worried about you. The last times I saw you, you looked like you're in a bad condition, I wanted to make sure you are fine. And frankly, when I saw you yesterday, I thought I was right. You looked like hell and it weren't the clothes. Greg worries too but he was sure, you're more likely to open the door to me, didn't say why."

"He's right…I'm…like I told you yesterday, there were…are a few things in my life, that aren't the way I'd like them to have, but I'm working on them and…it was good to have you here yesterday, even when I fell asleep so fast…but it helped to have you here, talk with you. And the food. I really needed to eat a little bit."

"You did."

"You really worried about me?"

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"Well…you didn't seem to be very interested in anything than your cell phone…that hasn't rang so far. Is it on mute again?"

"Yes. And just because I had a few things going on beside work, it doesn't mean I'm blind to what's going on."

"You're a smart woman."

"So are you usual, when you eat and sleep. Can I do anything to make you eat and sleep even when I'm not around? Because tomorrow I've to work again."

There were a lot of things Sara could do to make her happy, make her eat and sleep very good. The problem was, she couldn't tell her about them. Or should she? Was it worth a try? Her song lyrics of the day told her to try, try, try. But what if she ruined everything? There was a chance Sara came back to her place for more food and movies, one wrong word, a wrong comment and all she built up in the last twenty-six hours was gone.

"Sofia?"

"Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts. No need to worry, I'll be fine. I promise."

"Good." That was Sara, not asking any question if you didn't talk about what was going on voluntary.

"How did you go home last night?"

"I called a cab, why?"

"Do you want to stay?" Wow, she managed to say these words without stutter.

"Stay?"

"Yes…there's no point in taking a cab, not only my kitchen and living room are clean, there are also clean sheets on my bed. You can have my bed and I sleep here, since last night I know, this is a very good place to sleep. Stay, save the money for the cab." She saw the surprise in Sara's eyes, surprise not…decline or anger.

"We see about it when it's time, it's no problem to take a cab, I did it a few times."

"Like there's no reason to leave, but yes, we see about it tomorrow morning. Hey, why don't we watch all three parts of Lord of the rings?" Change the topic, don't beg, don't push. You were so brave, you asked her to stay. One step closer to tell her what you really feel. But maybe it was better to wait with this until she was sure, Sara was fine with such…declaration. At the moment she was fine, she was sure she could sleep better and go back to normal eating. She had to, Sara wanted her to do exactly this and how could she not fulfill a wish of the brunette?
"Sure, why not. Do you need anything for Justice before we get comfy here?"

"I get him his sausage, a new beer for us, a bottle of water in case we get thirsty for something else than alcohol and chocolate. I need my daily chocolate." Actually, chocolate was the only thing she were able to eat all the time.

"Anything I can do?"

"Like Bourbon?"

"Who doesn't?"

"See the bottle over there? Get it, two glasses and I organize some ice for it. We are having a party night while they fight for the ring…it will be a long night. Wake me up in case I fall asleep."

"No, I let you sleep."

"Don't. I need to keep my rhythm just like you do."

"Okay, we make sure we're both awake."

And Sofia had a lot of ideas how to stay awake all night without watching movies. Something else she better kept to herself. Anyway, a night with Sara lay ahead, didn't it sound like a dream come true?