Author's Note:
TW: Descriptions of miscarriage and somewhat trauma. Reader discretion is advised!
I am so glad you all are enjoying the story! Thank you to Isiah R, babycakes420, SunnyPopsicle, and Zaystars for reading and reviewing. Another fun fact about this fic in particular: I was originally planning on starting this story directly after Onesies, but I figured the plot would blend in more smoothly if it was told in the 'present' rather than pure flashbacks.
Also, I am revamping the older chapters because I have gotten a couple of notices in PMs over the drastic changes in POVs. I'll be editing them to make them flow much easier on the website, as I tend to post on the app! Expect small updates to previous chapters (nothing more than fixing small vocab and typos). Thanks for letting me know :).
It's also appropriate to mention the release of Pokémon Scarlet/Violet, I figured it would be for the best if I published at least one chapter before going dormant for at least two weeks because I love Sprigatito and Fidough.
Anyway, thank you for reading/reviewing and happy reding!
Time was quick and seemed to pass endlessly, leaving nothing but disaster in its path; rarely did anything good come from time itself. Two months later, Bandit and Bruce had made themselves quite comfortable in Brandy's flat, and things seemed too quiet.
"So, you decided not to leave the city? Great, because I'm getting the month off on the second!"
"Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't tell you; it slipped my mind. "Brandy's flat's just 8 minutes away from my old one," Bandit held the phone, chopping some lettuce to make a salad. "And you are? Great, I've been missing you. Where will you stay?"
"I'm not sure, probably with you," Rad answered. Bandit cringed, looking back on his girlfriend who was napping on the couch and Bruce who was busy watching the new hit show, SpongeBob on the TV. It's already a bit crowded, not counting Brandy and me. "Stripe doesn't have his own place does he? Still living with Mum and Dad?"
"No, he doesn't, so he's still living with them," Bandit said honestly. "Still, he's finally looking into university. That might change things a bit once he lands a job at Domino's."
"Ah that's good to hear," he continued. "But he'll probably play it safe and not get a flat yet. I'll likely stay with you; is that okay?"
Once again, Bandit stared at Bruce digging for gold in his left nostril, belly laughing every time Patrick was on screen. Brandy and Bandit shared the room and Bruce slept on the couch...where would Rad go then? Brandy would welcome Rad in with a smile on her face, but even she would hesitate to let him in for a month. "It's a bit crowded here, but we can make it work if you're willing to sleep on the floor.."
"Works for me," he shrugged. "You think they give us nice, comfy, bouncy beds at the rig?"
"I was joking," Bandit added the lettuce to the rest of his mix. "My girl and I will keep the bed obviously, but Bruce can stay on the floor for the month."
"Wait what?!" shouted Bruce upon hearing this. "I've got a sensitive back, mate! Can't you take the floor?"
"You're forgetting who pays the WiFi and cooks and brings food to the table," Bandit reminded him, not in the mood to play along with Bruce's childish nature.
"Brandy can't take the floor?"
"She pays rent and cable and cleans the place," Bandit shot back. "You kinda just play the drums and that's it. Besides, I'd rather sleep with her than with you."
Rad chuckled to himself as he heard the ongoing debate between the two friends. "Alright, alright, it's fine. I'll take the floor, it's really not a bother."
"You're positive?" Bandit asked. "Really, Bruce can lend you the couch-"
"NOT!" Bruce yelled, Bandit shooting a look at him that made him cover his mouth.
"Yeah, I'm positive," he assured. "Thanks, I really ought to get myself a flat. I just don't really see the point since I'm hardly ever home anyway."
"Yeah, I wouldn't get one either now," Bandit continued. "I'd save up for a house if I were in your paws."
"Exactly. That's what I'm doing, actually. Still though, houses are really expensive in the city..."
"Well at least you're already thinking about it. I haven't at all," Bandit said with a look of shame on his face. "I'm just not in a good position right now with Domino's, so Brandy's the breadwinner right now.."
"Well you're almost done with your classes, right?"
"That's right. Still feels like I've got an eternity left before I actually get a job."
"You'll get there, little bro," Rad assured him. "Every time I've gotten time off, I've crashed back at Mum and Dad's house; at least you've got a place. Although I probably will get a cheap one in the suburbs. Don't wanna intrude."
Bandit didn't answer the last portion, completely agreeing with him. "Thanks. I'll help you out with that if you want."
As Bandit continued to talk to his brother, Brandy's breaths got lighter. She had been sleeping a lot recently, usually passing out as soon as she hit the couch or the bed. Bandit would plan a movie night with her on the couch, and she'd be out cold 10 minutes later.
Is she losing interest? Is she okay? Did I do something? Thoughts like these would occur in his head multiple times, especially when he was at university and expected to analyse information and was instead busy analysing Brandy's behavior in his head all the time.
She was his girlfriend, yeah...but these days, she's more the person kind enough to lend him her apartment rather than his significant other. Truth be told, it wasn't her fault. She'd apologize multiple times when she would realise that she'd taken another nap, talking about not being sure what's gotten into her.
This time, it was different. She felt a sharp pain in her abdomen, strong enough to make her shiver violently like she was thrown out into snow. She peered around the area, seeing Bruce only mere feet away from her in a chair, watching SpongeBob. She saw her boyfriend chatting up someone on the phone, talking about "being excited for his arrival".
I did eat beans and ramen for lunch.. she attempted to rationalize with herself, trying to stop shivering. Still though, bean gas has never hurt like this. If it doesn't stop, I'll visit the doctor..
Brandy grunted, rolling on the couch, trying to find a position that didn't feel like two knives were dancing inside her abdomen. She couldn't find any, so she slowly got up, trying to appear as normal as she could.
She'd get random abdomen pain since she returned back home, but it would leave as fast as it came, leaving her mostly undisturbed. Sometimes, she'd get nauseous from the thought of food, but she hid this very well, politely rejecting Bandit's meals (even though she would've loved it otherwise, she tried to convince him of it) and instead eating cheap instant ramen. It was the only thing that could surely stay down, but it was taking a toll on her health.
Her fur wasn't as soft or abundant anymore and she was developing small bald patches, afraid to let Bandit see her like this. What would he think of me?
The intrusive thoughts seemed to make the pain worse, so she tried to think of something happier. Think of something happy...something happy.
She'd thought of when Dad told her she was a very precious little girl growing up, or when her first novel, Thin Ice, became a hit, or when she met Bandit again two...months...ago.
It was then that the realization had hit her.
No, of course not. What are the chances?! It was the one time we did it without protection... It's for sure the food poisoning from last week refusing to leave..
Brandy stood up, feeling like she had swallowed a bowling ball.
"Oh Brandy, you wanna watch SpongeBob with me? This one's real good!" Bruce invited her, patting the chair next to him where Bandit had sat a few minutes ago. Brandy meekly stared at the television; the bright colors and fast paced movement was already making her stomach jump in retaliation. She looked away from it, regaining her composure.
She feigned a smile before politely declining. "I have a stomachache, I'll take care of that first and then join..."
"Oh yeah, of course," Bruce nodded. "Hope you feel better soon, the food poisoning's been terrible lately."
"Thank you," Brandy muttered more to herself than him. She went to the room, busting open the drawer with ordinary over-the-counter medicines inside. She poured out a small dose of Tylenol and drank it, hoping it would kick in soon enough for the food to come.
I need to at least eat some of the salad he's making, that damn ramen's been doing awful things to me lately. Plus, he's good at cooking and I don't want to make him feel worse than I already have..
She closed the door, locking it behind her before she jumped on the bed. She threw the covers on herself before curling up into a ball, hoping this hell would end. A part of her knew that it wasn't the food poisoning, but she was so sure that it couldn't be. She was still shivering immensely, hoping she could find a way back to sleep. So peaceful, without stabbing pain hitting every few hours or so, and especially not the same pain lasting for minutes at a time like this time.
I have that chapter due tomorrow and I really don't have time for this...
Bandit placed his phone on the counter before calling Bruce and Brandy out to eat, smiling at his very appealing salad. He wasn't usually one to be a health nut, but he had been gaining a few kilograms along with Bruce. Brandy also loved salad...although she hadn't shown him that at all these past few weeks.
"Hey, can I eat this on the chair? Rocko's coming on and that's like, my favorite," Bruce pleaded.
"No," he firmly said. "Eat at the table and then you can watch it. Oh, and where's Brandy?"
"The stomachache came back," Bruce shrugged. "She went to the room and didn't come back out."
"I'm gonna check up on her," Bandit got a worried look on his face. "Don't eat in the living room."
"No promises, mate," Bruce smirked, getting an eye roll from his best friend.
Bandit walked over to the room he shared with Brandy, lightly tapping the door before he tried to turn the doorknob. It was locked, refusing to open. "Brandy, you in there? The food's done."
"I'm not hungry, love," Brandy called out, knowing Bandit wouldn't take that for an answer.
"You've gotta eat something, sweetie," Bandit told her. "Not even ramen?"
The thought of ramen lifted her up a bit, but the medicine still hadn't fully kicked in. She pushed through the pain and unlocked the door, opening it. Bandit looked at her, seeing how pale and sensitive she looked.
"Okay, I'll eat some ramen," she told him. "The food poisoning is really killing me."
"I know," he hugged her tightly. "If it gets any worse than this, I'll take you to the doctor."
Just the thought of that made Brandy want to curl up and shiver helplessly again. "I think I'll be okay."
She went out, feeling a slight trickle of something wet run down her thigh. She paused, turning to Bandit who was still staring intensely at her, knowing there was more wrong than just the food poisoning.
"Are you sure?"
Brandy opened the door to the bathroom. "I am."
She closed the door behind her, shivering from fear this time. The medicine hadn't done much at all besides meekly tone down the pain, but it was still bad enough to her to hug her abdomen while she felt some more of that wet substance fall out of her, staining the water to a dark maroon.
She wanted to shout in fear, but she didn't, she couldn't. She hugged herself harder, feeling something other than liquid trying to come out; the pain so severe it drained the color on her face. The awful stench creeped up into her nose, Brandy holding the urge to gag.
I need to go. She flushed the mess she had made in the toilet and cleaned her inner thigh with lightly rinsed toilet paper before she came out, still feeling the foreign object trying to escape her. She walked up to Bandit, who was eating his salad, listening to Bruce babble on about Rocko and how he's missing it, looking as bored as ever.
"Bandit, on second thought, maybe I really should go to the doctor," she muttered out. "It's only getting worse.."
One look at her convinced him they needed to get going. "Bruce, keep the flat tidy."
"Yeah, I will," Bruce surprisingly didn't put up a fight. Brandy wasn't doing so well and the least he could do was take over her portion of the housework until she was healthy and functioning again. "Get better soon."
Bruce watched as the couple rushed out of the door, wondering how food poisoning could escalate to this point.
Brandy held onto him as they waited in the waiting room, fearing for the worst. The pain hadn't gone away, but it had remained stable since the bare minimum the medicine had done.
"Don't worry, I'm here for you," Bandit comforted her as she shivered in his arms. "I won't leave your side."
"Thank you," she replied, jerking up once her name was called.
"Ms. Cattle?"
Brandy stood up, taking one last look at Bandit, who smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up. She loved that he was seeing all the good in a situation so terrible, but it wasn't enough to quell the beast of fear within.
The nurse took Brandy to the open room, placing her down on the exam table. "So, you've been having pain in the abdomen, accompanied by strange bleeding and lack of interest in food?"
"Yes, that's right," Brandy felt herself sweating, panic overtaking her.
"Just take deep breaths, sweetie. Take a deep breath in and exhale slowly. 5 seconds in between."
The perfect timing for a Mum memory to play, calming her down amongst the pain she was pushing through.
The nurse scribbled some things on her notepad before turning to Brandy once more. "Have you been sick lately? Anything you suspect that could've caused this?"
"I got food poisoning last w-week," Brandy continued to replay her Mum's voice over and over again.
"From what?"
"From undercooked chicken," Brandy replied. "I didn't notice until halfway through my meal."
"I see," she wrote some more. "However, while food poisoning is known to cause abdomen pain and lack of hunger due to nausea, it is not correlated with the bleeding you described. Any other possible causes? Any known bleeding disorders, pregnancy, infections, et cetera?"
"Pregnancy is one of them," Brandy admitted. "I don't know if I am for sure, but I have engaged in relations...one of them being unprotected."
The nurse nodded, noting that down as usual. She stood up and placed her paw on the door handle. "The doctor will be with you shortly."
More waiting. Brandy internally growled. Are they just trying to scare me?
So she was alone, staring at the door. She felt the pain return spontaneously, feeling like a punch right in the gut. She wanted to howl in pain, but she didn't. She felt it run down her thighs again, a lodged in piece finally pushing through. Brandy gasped in horror as she stared at what had just come out of her, the piercing pain only alleviated temporarily by shock.
It was a clot, but one bigger than normal. This doesn't happen with food poisoning or with pregnancy. What the hell is this?! How will I explain this to the doctor?!
Brandy ran to the tissue box, snatching plenty of them to cover the clot with. She threw it away in the trash can and continued to breathe deeply.
The doctor knocked on the door, slowly opening it as Brandy rushed to her seat on the table, crossing her legs to make it less obvious.
"Ms. Cattle, come along now," he called out, the nurse behind him. "We're going to perform an ultrasound on you."
Brandy followed, feeling the panic overtake her in a way that even Mum's advice couldn't help with.
*7 years ago*
15 year old Brandy sat down on the desk in Aunt Linda's house. She had algebra homework due the next day of class, so she placed her bag on the neighboring seat and pulled her math supplies out.
It was much later than usual, but the sisters had decided to head to the library to find books suited for their science project. Chilli had stayed behind, promising to come to Aunt Linda's soon after writing a bit more of her report down. Brandy, already done as usual, nodded and left. Now here she was, curious on what her aunt was going to cook.
Aunt Linda was Mum's sister, a gray coated heeler with blue patches around the ears and paws. She had a few stray blue spots on her back, which Chilli always said looked like a smiley face. Brandy adored her simply because she was the new Mum figure in her life after Clarice's passing.
"Mum! Mum!!" shouted Brandy's younger cousin, Ralph. He was 7 years old at this time and was a ball of energy, usually showering Chilli or Brandy with his hundreds of comments and questions. "Can I play with you?"
"Can't, sweetie," she replied, putting on her apron. "I'm cooking. Why not ask your cousins?"
"Brandy's always got homework and Chilli's always walking around town!" he huffed, stamping his feet in protest. "I'm so lonely!"
"Ralph, sometimes you're going to be lonely," Linda explained as she cracked three eggs onto her pan. "It's just a part of life."
Brandy listened in, not very interested in her homework. Anything else was interesting, literally anything.
"But isn't the mum's job making the kid's life fun? Adults don't get to have fun, so I'm just trying to play for as long as I can!" Ralph explained. "Especially since you and Dad are always so tired."
Brandy nodded in agreement. Linda was a busy woman. She was a teacher, a mum to not only her son, but her nieces whenever Dad was away in the army, and was the financial backbone for Brandy's ageing grandparents who were sucking her free time and money all away. What she needed now more than ever was a break.
Brandy put her things away before turning to the young boy. "Hey, I've got a few minutes to spare."
"Really Brandy? Even with your homework?" asked Linda as she started peeling potatoes alongside cooking the eggs.
"Yeah," Brandy nodded. "You deserve a break, Aunt Linda. It's the least I can do."
"Oh thank you, sweetheart," Linda turned to her and smiled, Brandy feeling her tail starting to wag. "I'll call you in time for dinner."
Brandy smiled back before taking the child to his room. She lived with Dad and her sister way into a rural area, away from any nearby cities. It took an hour for Linda to pick up the girls once Mort had to be up and kicking in the army.
It was natural that seeing Ralph's house was always a shocker, even if she spent significant time living with him. His house was smacked in the middle of Brisbane, having a bustling atmosphere and loads of buildings nearby.
Linda might've been overworked, but at least she had this killer house that outshone the small one she and Chilli lived in.
From what Brandy knew, the house has been within the Lunar family for generations although she had no idea how far back it went. Originally, Mum, Clarice Cattle, née Lunar, was the one to inherit the house once grandfather passed, but now it was under Linda's possession for unfortunate events that just had to happen.
Funny how someday, this is going to be Ralph's house. Brandy shook the thoughts away from her foggy head as she noticed the slightly dated floors in his room. "Well Ralph, what do you want to play? I've got twenty off my schedule."
"Can we play hide and seek?" Ralph's tail wagged, his eyes glittering as he did his classic "please" face. "I've been wanting to play it for ages, but Mum and Dad never have time!"
"Lucky for you," Brandy booped him on his nose with her finger. "That was the game I was wanting to play as well!"
"Really?" Ralph beamed.
"Yup!" Brandy nodded. "Now go hide, I'm counting to 15."
"Woohoo!" he cheered as he raced down the hall, into some other room. Brandy chuckled to herself, counting until she hit 15.
"Ready or not, here I come!" Brandy announced, tiptoeing to the playroom. She skimmed the area, noticing a lump underneath the rug that shook not so discreetly and giggled. "Now where can that cheeky pup be?"
She took out one of the cushions on the couch. "Aha! Oh, he's not there."
She placed back the cushion, hearing the giggles as he continued to stay as still as possible...which for a 7 year old, was moving around furiously. She continued to "look" around, mumbling about him being hard to find.
Kids loved it when their seniors played dumb, especially older kids. Brandy knew this; her older cousins used to pretend to be dumber when they played with her and Chilli back in the day. It was only now, as she played with Ralph, that she realized that she had been tricked- Cress knew her favorite color was orange as her birthday dress as a 6 year old was orange, but he guessed it was green, pink, blue, basically every color other than orange. Olive knew her favorite cartoon was the one with the cat and the mouse, not the rabbit and the duck, but she insisted it had to be Looney Tunes.
Brandy chuckled to herself as she continued to remember these instances before her foot hit the lump. "Oh! How did I not see this before?"
She pulled the rug, a smiling puppy pouncing on top of her, giggling. "You found me!"
She fell behind, tickling Ralph's side as his sweet giggles filled the empty air. "Thank you for playing with me, Brandy!"
It was then, at that moment, that Brandy had discovered her love for children.
Every day she spent at Aunt Linda's house, she started taking care of Ralph as his mother filled her duties. He wanted to play? Done. He needed help with his homework? Done. He needed a place to vent after some arsehole at school called him a loser? Done. Wanted advice on impressing his crush? Done. Aunt Linda needed a nanny when she needed to visit her parents? Done.
Once Brandy started driving, she took him out to the park frequently, watching him play with his friends. Afterwards, if she had any spare change, she would get him a Freezy Pop or buy him junk food (rarely, she did want him to be healthy after all!).
Yet, no matter how far her efforts went, once the poor puppy was diagnosed with late-stage heartworms at 8 and a half years old, he was never the same playful puppy he used to be.
Treatment after treatment, the boy lost his energy, then began to have seizures- multiple of them in a day even, and then his fur started falling out in chunks. Then one day, when Brandy and Linda placed him to bed, he fell into a deep slumber.
He didn't wake up the next day.
Brandy opened her eyes, finding herself wrapped up in the blankets back in the apartment. Ralph's face distorted in her vision, fading away to just the white ceiling she's accustomed to seeing in the apartment.
Was that all a nightmare? She moved her arms up, staring at her paws. She felt a pain in her abdomen, but it was more so soreness rather than the piercing pain she supposedly had felt. She turned to her side, seeing a blue heeler reading the novel she gave him.
"Great, you're finally awake," Bandit placed the bookmark inside the novel, placing it away. "Do you remember anything?"
"What do you mean?" Brandy laughed, stopping when it caused the pain to amplify. "I just had a crazy nightmare; it must've sounded scary if you were with me the whole time."
"No, Brandy," Bandit put his paw on her cheek, a moment of silence. She heard the quiet sounds of rain landing on the window, the TV running in the background, and murmuring in the background. "You had a miscarriage."
Brandy's eyes widened.
"You were about 2 months along," he explained. "Your body couldn't expel the fetus, so they had to perform emergency abortion. You should be better very soon, though."
"I have no memory of that, actually," she admitted, feeling like she had become more sensitive to the pain. "So it wasn't the food poisoning."
She started to shed a tear.
"It wasn't," he brought her in closer. "Don't cry."
"I'm n-not," Brandy muttered with a shaky voice. "Do you know w-why I can't remember anything?"
"I don't know," he held her paw. "From what I know, it was very painful for you, so you passed out from it. Pain bad enough to cause low blood pressure, they told me."
Brandy nodded, trying to contain the shakiness in her voice. She didn't know if it was because of Ralph's appearance in her dream or if it was because somewhere deep inside her, she wanted to raise a little Ralph, perhaps with Bandit by her side.
Sure, 2 months into a relationship is far too soon for any child to be conceived, but Brandy would've decided to keep it if she had known about it. Her work was starting to take off and she had slightly more money with Bandit's job at Domino's and things would only get better once he got his doctorate in archeology, she had imagined.
"I really had no idea," she told him. "I had no idea I was pregnant at all."
"I know," he looked up at the ceiling. "If we knew back then, we would've gotten an abortion anyway. It's not your fault."
Brandy stared at him, a look of astonishment on her face. "Oh. You're right...I would've."
She nodded, not wanting to start any conflict. She knew by looking at him that he was both relieved for her sake and for his. He didn't want a child now, and it was for the better, but he was so...insensitive.
She kept this thought bottled up, feeling worse than when she kept the pain bottled up just mere hours ago on the couch.
"If I hadn't known about it and hadn't miscarried...," started Brandy with a question. "And I had the kid...what would you have done?"
"I would've helped you of course," Bandit kept his gaze up at the ceiling. "That would've been my kid and you're my girlfriend. But...if I'm completely honest...I'm so glad. I don't think I'm ready for that responsibility yet...I still have to work for my career, then get the job, a house, marriage, all that stuff out of the way before I think about children. I also want to be young. Live life to the max, ya know? Without huge responsibility like that. No kids before thirty, I mean."
Brandy nodded, thankful for his honesty. He wasn't ready, and neither was she. He wasn't insensitive, rather, she was the sensitive one...Still though, something about his assumption had hurt her. "I see. Thank you for being here for me, love."
"Don't thank me for the bare minimum," he shook his head. "Tomorrow, Bruce is gonna go rehearse with the guys. We'll go on a date...watch movies and finally, you'll eat something other than ramen and do something other than sleeping."
Brandy's eyes began to water again. I think I could've toughed it out if the child was born. I would've protected it with my life. Maybe Bandit wouldn't have wanted it, but I would've. That would've been enough.
She kept her mouth shut, internalizing these feelings. She hugged him, pushing these thoughts away.
Chilli came over the next day unannounced, knocking on the apartment door. Bandit answered, greeting her to Brandy combing her fur, looking anything but happy. She wore her favorite dress and heels along with an orange necklace, clothes that Chilli had only seen a smiling Brandy in.
This was the first time she had looked like this and frankly, Chilli was unnerved.
"Hey sis," she greeted.
"Hey Chilli," she feigned a smile. "What brings you here?"
Yup, I came at the wrong time. Chilli flexed her fingers helplessly on her phone, keeping track of time. "Dad was worried about you. You didn't answer his calls."
"And you didn't just call me first?" Brandy lost the smile.
Bandit gave her a concerned look.
"Well you didn't answer those calls either," she replied with the same amount of attitude as Brandy. "So I came to check on you, and here you are, angry at the world."
"Look mate," Bandit neared Chilli, motioning towards Brandy. She was taken aback, but listened, curious on what he had to say. "Brandy's going through stuff right now. Just try to keep the peace, yeah? Sorry."
Chilli raised an eyebrow, but did as told. "Right. I also brought the box Dad wanted to give you."
"The ramen?" Brandy dropped the act. "Great, let's go get that."
Chilli sighed, but took her sister down to the car. Bandit stayed in the flat, sitting on the couch.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Chilli asked as she opened the boot. "I haven't seen you this pissed off since..."
"I know and I'm sorry," Brandy stared at the box. "I'm just not in a good place right now."
"You can tell me anything," Chilli held her hand. "We're sisters and I'm tired of acting like we're enemies on the playground."
Brandy felt her throat closing up as usual. "Just a fight with a friend."
"Really? Who?"
Brandy sighed internally, regretting her choices in lying. "You don't know her."
"Mhm," she held the urge to roll her eyes. "I hope that gets better."
Brandy reached in for the box, surprised that it was soggy in some areas and crumbly in others. "What's this thing been through?"
"There was a storm at the house," Chilli replied. She was done trying to pry things out of Brandy; if she didn't want to open up, she would have to take care of herself alone. It was for the best. "Box was outside a good while before Dad and I noticed it."
"Oh, I had no idea there was a storm. Didn't rain an ounce here," she started to walk back to the flat. "I hope it didn't damage anything."
"Brandy," Chilli stayed behind, no plans of walking back up. "Get well soon."
Brandy's ears dropped, not replying. She wanted to turn around, but once she heard the engine, she kept her gaze on the door.
She opened the door, Bandit taking the box from her paws. "Where should I put this?"
"Just place it under our bed," Brandy told him. He did as told, leaving Brandy looking out of the window, just in time to see Chilli turn left and disappear from her view.
Just what was that? 'Get well soon'? Did Bandit tell her? Brandy sat down, a minor cramp annoying her mildly. She wanted to stay home and call Chilli, apologising...really apologising for her attitude and just tell her about what's really been bothering her. That, and the hell she went through yesterday.
She had a nightmare, blocked memories coming in at full force. She had no memories of it yesterday, but after Bandit tried to comfort her after she woke up in short spurts of breath, she remembered all of it. She wasn't one to move past this so quickly.
Frankly, she wanted to heal on her own. She couldn't stand to look at Bandit and he had been by her side for everything, just making one comment that she didn't like. It wasn't even mean-spirited and she knew he was the best thing that had ever happened to her...but she couldn't look at him the same way.
When he returned, he came to sit next to her, placing his arm around her and giving her forehead kisses.
Usually this was enough to melt her and she'd kiss back which led to other things, but this time she couldn't shake the feeling of wanting to escape. He noticed her aloofness.
"Are you sure you're fine?"
"Yes," she said, standing up. "Let's go."
-End-
