The next four days went by in a blur, with David continuing to help out around the farm and checking in on Sarah and making sure she got enough to eat. Mrs. Hendell checked in on her periodically too, asking how she was doing and whether she would feel up to moving around soon.
On the beginning of the fifth day, David privately but openly called Sarah out on playing up the illness card to continue lounging around the barn without really doing anything. With Mrs. Hendell's permission, she ended up taking a nice long shower and changing into a fresh set of clothes.
Shortly after that, Sarah began to help Mrs. Hendell out in the kitchen and, begrudgingly, helped out in other areas of the house by cleaning the bathroom and cleaning up a couple of the long-neglected bedrooms. After that, though, Mrs. Hendell awarded her with a chance to stay in her daughter's former bedroom for at least a couple of days.
That left Sarah in a much better mood… until she found out in passing that David had already been given one of the other bedrooms of the house two days prior.
Sarah didn't say much of anything, though she had slightly prissy and aloof attitude throughout dinner, despite being invited to join the Hendells and David at the dinner table. After dinner, when she and David helped clear the table and take the dishes into the kitchen to wash, David confronted her about her attitude while the Hendells stepped out to check on something.
"Alright, what's the matter, Sarah?"
For a moment she tried to ignore him, turning her full attention to washing the dishes and making a bit more noise than necessary with the water and clinking of dishes, but she couldn't tune him out forever. He had offered to dry, and he wasn't going to budge.
"Sarah, if you are going to function out there in the world, you can't keep acting like this. If you have a problem, let's hear it."
She finally looked at him, half-turning his direction as a few soap suds oozed onto her shirt. "Why is it that you were offered a room in the house yesterday, and this is the first I've heard about it? And why you and not me?"
David answered, "Because Mrs. Hendell said that she felt I have proven myself as a steady worker, and she felt yesterday that she could trust me not to steal anything. A standard precaution, as I am a stranger. In addition to that, she felt I deserved guest accommodations since, unlike her farm hands, I am not being paid and I will be leaving very soon.
"And," David went on, "I did ask yesterday if you could stay in the house, but she insisted she wanted to wait one more day to see if, ah, your illness seemed better. Let's just say she has a health condition that weakens her immune system and makes her more susceptible to illness. We also agreed that if you were feeling better today, you should be given a chance to do a few things to help out before being granted a room."
Sarah seemed to process this as she finished washing the rest of the dishes. When she handed David the final plate to dry, she drained the water and grabbed another rag to dry off her hands. "Any reason why I couldn't just have a room? I thought the reason I'm here is to get better."
"You already have gotten a lot better. Besides," David put the final dish away and closed the cupboard, "you need to remember this isn't a resort, Sarah. We are leaving in a couple of days… at least I am." He cast her a meaningful glance, allowing the impact to hang between them.
"Does that mean you don't care if I stay behind or not?"
"Well, you haven't exactly told me what you intend to do from here, Sarah," David pointed out, placing one hand against the counter and looking her in the eye. "I've given you as much time and space as I can, especially since I know you have needed some time to adjust to everything that has happened. I know that the news of your mother's passing hit you hard, too. But we cannot ignore reality any longer, and I can't talk to you if you won't tell me your plans or goals.
"Therefore," David concluded, "you have at least two options right now. You can either stay here for at least a couple more days, and allow Mrs. Hendell to give you a chance as a house maid with some training from her included in the deal, where she will keep you on and pay you if it works out. Or, you can come with me when I leave… for at least a while, and I can do my best to help you learn how to focus and discipline yourself to keep the wolf inside of you."
"Did you discuss this with Mrs. Hendell?"
"She has taking a liking to you, Sarah, and she thinks you could do good housework." David folded his arms. "I will be honest and say I would prefer it if you came with me, at least until I can be sure you can control your wolf side a bit more, but that isn't my decision to make. If you would like to give this a try and take your chances, you may do so. Just keep in mind that you may need to move on eventually if you do end up changing into the wolf… the people here do not know that part about you, and they may not be as understanding as I am if they were to find out."
He could see the weight of his words drape over her like a heavy cloak as she took in everything that he said. "Here, let's sit down in the living room," he gently urged, guiding her into the next room.
"Is… this what you have to do, move on every time you change?" Sarah asked once they were seated on the couch.
"Yeah."
"How do you do it?"
"I do it because I have no choice."
"I'm not staying here," Sarah declared. "These people are nice, but they're strangers and they don't know anything about me other than they think I was sick with the flu or something." She looked rather unnerved, reality finally setting in a bit more. "David, you're the only person I can really talk to who knows and understands. Please don't leave me here."
"Alright." He took her hand, trying to soothe her panic mode before she became more anxious. He was used to this kind of life, after all, and he only knew what worked for him… such as his life was at this point. "I think it would be better if you come with me for now, too. I will help you in any way I can for at least a few more days, assuming we can find a place where we can have plenty of space and privacy. I might be able to help you get a little more time to adjust to your current circumstances if you need it, and maybe we can run a few exercises where we work on controlling your metamorphosis.
"But," he held up a finger, "with the understanding that I can't help you forever. I am going to help you learn how to help yourself, but you must also be willing to help yourself."
Sarah hung her head for a long moment, tensing as though momentarily overwhelmed by the prospect of having to learn how to function like this alone eventually. There would be no house rented by Tasha to come to anymore regardless of whether she wanted to run off into the woods or return and use the spare bedroom as a reclusive sanctuary.
Right now, she had David… but she would be gently pushed into another direction until she could operate a certain way on her own… in a way where she could blend in with society and follow its rules and general flow a lot better than she was currently used to doing.
David gave her sort of a half-hug. "We'll take it slow," he told her. "I'm not going to leave you anytime soon," he promised, "you just need to do your best, okay? I won't just leave you on the side of the road somewhere until you're ready."
She seemed to perk up a little at that, though she said nothing. Yes, she was used to the easy life for the most part… and since then, she had gotten used to the terrible treatment at the hands of Esben and his lab assistants… just to get used to acting like a wolf quite a bit of the time in the woods near that house Tasha had rented.
All of this… would just take some time to get used to, a period of adjustment. Hopefully, with David's help, she would discover a new normal.
"W-when do we leave?" she finally asked.
"I think you should get to bed," David said. "I will tell the Hendells we will be leaving in the morning."
"Do you… know where we will be going?"
"North."
Somehow, that simple answer did everything to tell her nothing and tell her everything she would need to know about how the next few days were probably going to pan out.
"North, then," Sarah nodded, and sighed.
David regarded her for a long moment. "It's not too late to change your mind, if you would prefer to try it here..." He made an off-hand gesture. "A comfortable bed for at least a few more days, a job of sorts, nice people..."
"No." She looked at him again. "I would rather stick with you."
David nodded gravely. "Alright." Even if he didn't say anything further, there seemed to be a wordless sentiment that somehow passed from him to her anyway.
Welcome to my style of life...
The End
A/N: This is the start of a series. Stay tuned! I will be taking a bit of a break from writing while I plan out what is going to happen next, but please feel free to tell me what you think of this story if you'd like. :) Also, I would once again like to thank MissBrooklyn80 for helping me so much with this story. She has been my encoungager, idea bouncer, and helped me out a lot whenever I got stuck. This story wouldn't exist without her! Thank you very much again :)