GS Note: Hehe, another part. I guess I left pt3 on a bit of an edge. Ops! Lol, read on my little readers! It's not the best but it'll have to do!

Oh, you guys must know, the bottom section of the Church has been greatly influence by my own Church. It is bigger, has a second story, it better kept and more sophisticated but I love both of them! I've only attended masses at two other Churches and St Timothy remains my favourite! Sorry to all you non-Catholics but I really do love it and Father Brian! He's so cool!

EXTRA: I am drawing on my own experiences with the cold. I only live on the edges of Southern Ontario in Canada so I am fortunately not in the coldest parts. I have been outside when it has been under minus 20 with a wind chill of 40 or 50 with minimal clothing so I like to humour myself in saying that I know somewhat what cold is. So to those of you in Florida and other various paradises, un-gloved hands swell and get very, very sensitive. Any part of the body in fact. I'm sure if you look it has a name but that is irrelevant. So in one of those fics where they bring in a frozen pilot and rub him to get him warm, it HURTS to do that! It might just be me, but damn, I hate it when my friends do it to me! There are less painful and less hentai (that what fun would it be?) methods of warming up!

Chapter 4

Welcome

So here I was, standing in front of a bundled up boy with all the comforts in the world, snug in his jacket, mitts and hat. I was still nervous. There was that old guy behind the kids who was looking at me and smiling kindly. But how could tell, I had never been in touch with the better part of humanity for a long time. I locked eyes with the old guy and it broke my trance. I hurriedly wiped my swollen hands on my ratted jeans, embarrassed.

"I was'js goin'…" I said quickly, ashamed that this boy was witnessing my failure. I turned to run away when he grabbed my hand again. I almost yelped as he squeezed too hard. He let go quickly but I held my throbbing hand under my armpit, letting the surrounding warmth of my body slowly start to restore the blood flow.

"You don't have to," the old man said and smiled reassuringly. I looked at both of them like they were crazy. They were, from my point of view. Who just said that? Who? Not normal people, that who! Normal people would have chased me down or something and given me to the police.

There was a voice from inside the house. The two looked inside the open door and gave me time to turn and I was about to run, when a musical voice stopped me.

"What are you two still doing here? You are going to miss the- Who is that?"

I winced as the voice turned on to me. I lowered my eyes to the ground and stiffened my back as I felt all three pairs of eyes on me. That voice had been so lovely, I so desperately wanted to see the face. I didn't look though, what did I have to offer someone like that? I know, I know, I'm getting all unworthy and pathetic sounding but at the time I really did think there was some angel behind me.

"Oh, this is some guy that was coming into the Church," the young boy said happily. "I don't think he has a family either, can he stay too?"

"How do you know if he has a family or not, young man?" the beautiful voice said again. At those words, my stiff posture became even more rigid. This wasn't the boy's family? "Look, you are letting all the cold air in, you and Father Maxwell go to the park and see that thing you wanted to see? I'll get this guy clean up and you can talk to him when you get back. Is that all right?"

That last question has been directed at me. I turned my head slowly, eyes glued to the ground. I half-turned my body too, scared that I would be taken into the building and also afraid of not. I shrugged non-committingly.

"Good. Go on you two, I promise one our guest is clean up you can talk to them."

The boy and man waved good bye and left, but I still started at the ground, still half-turned to run if she decided to change her mind.

"Well, come on! The Church is getting cold," she said sharply. I kept my eyes trained on the ground as I slowly walked past her and into the building. It was a shock. Outside had been my home, the temperature had been getting into the negatives and the wind chill had been high for the past few weeks. I hadn't noticed the weather change to much extreme so when I walked into a heated room for the first time in about six months, I gasped. It hurt, my hands, bare arms, legs, face, cheeks, teeth, lungs, everything, in that one instance, erupted into a large roll of pins and needles that flashed through my mind for a bare second. The woman walked in front of me, but I was too involved with the sudden, unexpected feeling of heat to notice when she knelt in front of me.

"Are you okay?"

That sweet voice brought me out of my haze and right into her face. She had light blue-grey eyes what looked upon me with concern. She was dressed in a full habit that covered her hair and most of her body so her eyes were her most prominent feature. I froze.

She looked at me for a moment longer before sighing and standing up. "Let's get you a bath."

She walked off down through the second set of doors but I stayed to looked around. There was a front hall with a ragged carpet that had been trampled until part of it had given way to hard wood floor. Faded pictures of past religious figures hung on the wall. A green bulletin board held yellowed paper. There was another set of wooden door (this time with a slightly more modern design) that stood open. There was a long hallway beyond that.

"Are you coming?" she appeared in the second doorway, hands on hips, a curious expression on her face. I nodded and ran the short distance to catch up. She led me through a door to the right of the entrance. She opened a small door off to the side of the room in a corner.

Duo peeked around her to see a set of spiral, old-fashioned metal and wood stairs. The woman easily picked up her habit and started up.

"Well, come on," she called over her shoulder. "I won't bite."

Duo looked at her wearily but started up slowly after her. Upstairs was slightly better then down but the floor was scattered with broken glass, boxes, clothes and old junk that was layered with thick dust. Once you passed the front room, which was actually quite long and narrow, there were three doors. She went through the one on the left. Inside was a general living area with a couch and table. It was the same size as the room we had just left.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" the woman turned, looking very apologetic. My face dropped and I started to shuffled back to the door. Damn, I knew this was too good to be true. My heart suddenly felt very heavy. "I forgot to introduce myself!"

I looked back at her, hope sparking again. She smiled cheerfully, like a young girl. "My name is Sister Helen! Welcome to Maxwell Church!"