"You don't have a lot of food in your fridge."

"I know."

"Or in your cabinet."

"I noticed."

"Or in your pantry."

"Just sit down and shut up so I can order a pizza."

Arlynn complied as she sat down at the dining table, now clad in a fresh, dry pair of one of Wally's oversized t-shirts. Wally speed dialed a number on his phone, holding it to his ear as it began to ring.

"Hello, this is Domino's Pizza. How can I help you?" A stoic, female voice greeted."Uh, yeah, hi. Can I please get a large--" Wally held the phone to his chest for a moment as he asked Arlynn what she liked on her pizza.

"Pineapples and pepperoni!" Arlynn replied.

"Not in this house you don't!" he yelled back before putting the phone back to his ear, "A large pepperoni pizza for delivery, please."

"Alright, and will that be all?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Okay. And can I get an address?" Wally gave the lady his address and hung up before joining Arlynn at the table.

"Pineapples on pizza?" he asked incredulously.

Arlynn shrugged, "It's good."

"Blasphemy."

"Have you even tried it before?" Arlynn asked.

"Yes. And it was undoubtedly the most traumatizing experience of my life."

Arlynn rolled her eyes.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Their attention was drawn instantly to the door.

"That was fast." Arlynn commented.

"I don't think that's the pizza." Wally replied as he stood up and walked to the door. He opened it to reveal none other than Linda, carrying several shopping bags with visible strain.

"Babe?"

"Hey," Linda greeted as she tried to keep one of the bags from slipping off her arm, "Wanna lend me a hand?"

Wally helped relieve Linda of her burden as he grabbed some of the bags.

"Linda, what--"

"Grocery shopping," Linda replied as she let herself in, "I figured you'd forgotten to do it yourself...again, and I have the week off so..."

"Wait. You took a week off?" Wally asked incredulously. In the two years they had been together, Wally had quickly come to learn that his girlfriend was a severe workaholic.

Linda huffed, "Hmph. No. Mandatory leave. My boss forced me to take the week off since apparently there's a legal limit for how many hours people can work per month. Most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

Linda made her way to the small kitchen with the bags and Wally called after her, "Babe, wait--"

It was to no avail however, as Linda spotted Arlynn, who had gotten up from her seat to see what was going on and now stared at the woman.

"Oh. Um, hi there." Linda said, slightly unnerved by the girl's piercing stare. She turned to face her boyfriend, who had made his way over to them sometime during their short interaction.

"Wally, who's this?"

"This is um, my um, my...niece?" Wally offered as a weak explanation.

"Aren't you an only child?" Linda questioned.

"Yes I am, aren't I? That's why I meant to say cousin. Well fourth cousin once removed, but it's all the same right?"

Linda didn't look convinced, but she thankfully didn't push--Wally was all too aware that she could poke holes in his already-admittedly weak cover story until it fell to pieces if she did.

"Um, okay. And how long has she been...staying with you?"

"Not long, only since last night." Wally replied. Seeing the unspoken question in Linda's eyes, he elaborated, "Her uh, her mom brought her here so that she could stay with me until she got out of um, rehab. Shouldn't be too long though! I'm only watching her until her mom gets back in...er, roughly three to five days." Wally glanced at Arlynn. Don't blow it, kid...

"How is she supposed to get out of rehab in less than a week?"

"Um, she's not. I meant to say that the kid's dad is coming here to pick her up in a few days so that the two of them can go visit her mom at the rehab facility when she's, you know, not high."

Linda raised an eyebrow. Wally had to refrain from chewing on his lip.

Then, Linda turned away, walking over to Arlynn and kneeling down so they were at eye level.

"Hi, sweetie. I'm Linda, what's your name?"

Arlynn gazed at the woman suspiciously and Wally was suddenly reminded of how wary Arlynn had been with him on their first meeting.

"Why?" she asked.

Linda looked slightly taken aback by the question, "Um, well sweetie, because it's just polite to tell someone your name after they tell you theirs."

"Says who?"

"Um, the...people."

"What people?"

Wally coughed slightly and stared at Arlynn, hoping to silently relay the message of "be nice" to the girl. Arlynn glanced at him and seemed to get the message as she gave out a small sigh and looked back to Linda.

"Arlynn." she said shortly.

"Oh," Linda said. It was obvious that her polite smile was forced then, "That's a really pretty name."

"How? It's just a name." Arlynn replied, unflattered.

"Um, Arlynn, why don't you go play or something?" Wally cut in.

Arlynn looked to Wally, "But the pizza--"

"I'll call you when it's here." Wally interrupted, "Now. Arlynn. Go play."

Arlynn rolled her eyes and trotted out of the kitchen, presumably to get her toys.

Linda stood up and turned to face Wally once more, "Wow. She's...quite a character."

Wally sighed, "Yeah, that's one way of putting it."

Linda smiled, "So, are you going to help me put away your groceries or what?"

And so the next few minutes were spent, doing just that, plus cleaning the kitchen since Linda insisted that it was a pigsty.

"Thanks babe, you really didn't have to do this." Wally said once they were finished.

"Yeah, well I guess you'll just have to make it up to me later then." Linda replied with a smile. The two engaged in a brief kiss.

"I really wish there wasn't a kid here right now." Wally said once they parted.

Linda chuckled, "Well unfortunately for you, Mister, there is." She paused briefly for continuing, " Wally, are you sure you can take care of her?" she asked on a more serious note.

Wally stared at her confusedly, "What?"

"Arlynn, I mean," Linda clarified, "She's a child, Wally, a really young one. And you're a full-time college student. Children her age require a lot of attention, especially the more...troubled ones," Wally was fairly sure that if Arlynn were in the room, she'd be glaring daggers at him, "Plus kids are expensive, babe. Really expensive. Somehow, I don't think your scholarship would cover that."

"It'll only be for a few days, Lin. And besides, what else could I do with her?"

Linda gave a him a look, "You know what."

Wally instantly knew what she was implying, "Babe, I can't do that to her."

"Why not? From what you told me, it seems like the situation she's in requires help. Professional help."

"I know, I just-!" Wally lowered his voice in the case that Arlynn was eavesdropping, "I can't call the CPS right now, alright? I just- I need a few days for...for things to get figured out, okay?"

"Things like that don't just get "figured out"."

"Babe, please just, trust me, alright? This isn't permanent."

"I just don't want you to bite more off than you can chew, Wally. Not when so much is at risk."

"I know. And I'm not, okay? I'm not. I just need a few days is all."

"Okay." Linda said, albeit reluctantly, "If you've got everything handled, then I'll trust you. But don't you dare hesitate to call me for anything, got it?"

Wally smiled, it was one more of relief than anything, but Linda thankfully didn't seem to notice, "Yeah." he replied.

Linda gave him a peck on the cheek and smiled warmly, "Alright then. Anyway, I should be heading out now, duty calls."

Wally raised a skeptical eyebrow, "I thought you were banned from work for the week?"

"Temporarily relieved, thank you. And my boss said nothing about working from home."

"You're obsessed."

"Shut up. Oh! And before I forget, I'll be back with some real clothes tomorrow, you can't have that child waltzing around for the next few days clad in nothing but your old t-shirts after all."

Wally scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, "Right."

It wasn't long before Linda had left the apartment, the door closing with a soft clock behind her.

"Finally. I thought she'd never leave." Arlynn muttered, making her reappearance in the room.

Wally glared at the young blonde, "You didn't have to be such a little jerk to her, you know."

Arlynn shrugged, "I don't like her."

"You literally spoke five sentences to her." Wally pointed out.

Arlynn shrugged again.

Knock. Knock.

Arlynn glanced at the door, "That better be the pizza this time."

Wally answered the door and sure enough, Arlynn's guess had been correct. After paying for both the pizza and the delivery man's tip, Wally and Arlynn sat at the table once again, enjoying their slices of pepperoni pizza.

("It'd taste better with pineapples."

"Shut up.")

"Why'd you lie to Melinda?" Arlynn asked as Wally worked on his fourth slice of pizza, breaking the semi-comfortable silence between the two.

"Her name is Linda." Wally corrected.

"Whatever. Why'd you lie to her?" Arlynn repeated.

"It's complicated."

"Why?"

"Because it just is."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"Why?"

"Wanna ask another question, kid?"

"Wanna answer my first one?"

If all kids were like this, Wally had just realized a newfound respect for his parents dealing with him at this age.

"...Eat your pizza." Wally said in an attempt to reroute their conversation.

"I am eating my pizza." Arlynn retorted.

"Well eat more, then."

"I'm full."

"Why are so difficult?"

"Maybe you're just easy."

Wisely choosing to ignore that he just got outsnarked (that was a word, right?) by a five year old, Wally moved onto another subject.

"So Linda's bringing you some more clothes tomorrow." he stated.

"Oh, yippee." Arlynn muttered unenthusiastically.

"Gee, don't sound so excited. Anyway, make sure to behave and be nice. And at least try to act grateful, please?"

"Whatever."

"Man, when did you become such an emo teen?"

Arlynn stuck her tongue out at the man.

Sorry this chapter was so short, next chapter will definitely be longer to compensate for the length of this one! And I know Linda's reaction to Arlynn is COMPLETELY different from the first version I wrote, but don't worry, this is certainly not the last we'll see of her.