Hello lovely folks! My apologies, the last two chapters I haven't really explained or made any comment about this fic! This is the first fic I've ever done, which is a huge achievement for me! I've always been reeeeal shy about sharing any of my writings. So thank you everyone who has read it so far, I really appreciate it! Anyways I know, I know the author rantings are boring and lame, but I just wanted to give little background for this fic.

This is meant to be a random collection of one shots, not in any particular order really. I go back and forth from a loose interpretation to following this fantastic classic word for word.

This chapter is when Tramp goes to Lady's house to apologize after Lady is brought back from the pound. (Which is now the county jail in humanized universe.) I completely omitted the odd "proposal/you can live with us" scene with Jock and Trusty, cause I couldn't make that not sound creepy in a human context.

ANWAYS, thank you again from reading my stuff! I personally hate long author rants so I won't do many of them; this is just a couple all in one! So please, as fellow writers and readers, read and review. Now I'll stop talking and I'll let you get back to the story!

Late Lamentations

That evening, it turned cold and blustery. The sun had been masked all day by a thick, churning foam of storm clouds and didn't show any signs of revealing itself. The anticipation of rain had been eminent throughout the day but not a drop had fallen, though the sky looked as if it wanted to release it's bowels violently upon the cold earth. Now that it was dusk a new type of darkness began creeping into the atmosphere and with it an artic breeze started breathing it's first exhales through the trees.

Lady observed the twilight miserably, impartial to the draft that blew straight through her thin dress and shawl. She sat outside her house on the back porch, having exhaustedly draped herself onto the prim wooden swing that hung from the veranda. She absentmindedly pushed herself with the tips of her slippers, listening to the delicate screech of the swing chains.

The silence of her room had enveloped Lady as she'd lain in her bed earlier that evening, like a dark gaping mouth waiting to swallow her whole. So she had waited till Aunt Sarah and her new baby brother had both fallen asleep before taking herself and her misery outside, hoping to expel some of it from her chest

She had never felt the need to creep around her house before but the thought of being caught out of bed turned her stomach. Aunt Sarah had that effect on people she supposed.

The elderly woman had taken residence upstairs in Jim and Darling's room next the baby's. Lady's was down the hall from them. Being so close to had been the most unnerving part for she had to walk past both rooms, past four pairs of ears that could have heard her footsteps. Her baby brother's, Sarah's and worst of all Sarah's Siamese cats'. The two diabolical felines were practically her shadows. Her beastly, hissing shadows. They didn't like any one besides their owner but they had a particular disdain for Lady. They tried they're best to make mischief whenever she was around and were no strangers to getting her in trouble.

But they both slept with Sarah and she could already hear them hissing in her ear if Lady was heard getting out of bed. God, I hate felines she'd thought.

But she'd thankfully gotten past the door thresholds unheard without a hiss and made her way down the stairs. Each one seeming to squeak in protest to her quiet flight. When Lady reached the back door she'd paused for a few moments and looked up at the ceiling, as though she could see through it to the bedrooms, trying to make sure no voices or footsteps broke the silence. When none had rung out she'd opened the door and stepped out into the cold.

Now sitting on the wooden swing, wrapped in one of Darling's shawls Lady began to let herself fall into her own thoughts. A day had passed since Aunt Sarah had come to pick her up from the police station. She barely remembered the ride back; just that Aunt Sarah had snipped and yelled at her the whole way.

Since arriving home she hadn't really been able to let all that had happened to her sink in. Not the street thugs, the new side of the slums she'd seen, that euphoric night at Tony's and especially not Tramp. Lady hadn't wanted to think of it. But she had blessedly been given a generous heaping of chores from her aunt as punishment for running away and causing so much trouble. Ironically she'd been grateful to Sarah for it, thinking it had been exactly what she'd needed.

But now that she had no distractions, the thoughts wouldn't stop attacking her. Her mind's eye was assaulted repeatedly with an image of mischievous black eyes. Lady pulled the shawl tight around herself fending off, not the cold, but the feel of his arms around her. The sweet lies he'd whispered into her ear could not be erased from her mind; his soft, ardent mummers seemingly chiseled deep into her permanent memory.

How had she been so naïve to think he'd cared for her? To think he'd never used that undeniable charm to woo other women was unrealistic and childish, She'd seen all the signs but hadn't noticed or considered the possibility that maybe he wasn't trustworthy. That maybe he'd had an agenda when he'd offered his help after rescuing her in the alley.

But seeing how the woman, Peg, in the jailhouse had talked about Tramp had done enough damage. Even the thought of it colored her cheeks and forced her to bit her quivering bottom lip. The woman had given a haughty laugh when the gray haired boy had come up in conversation. In her placid and sultry voice she'd stated they had been a couple not too long ago. It wouldn't have been so bad if the other inmates hadn't listed off the names of the other women he had been with, each having little time in between. And as every name left their lips they cut deep, bloody gashes in Lady's heart.

But what stung the most were Peg's words to her amidst the chuckling of the others:

"Don't you worry about it, dearie. He would chew you up and spit you out. You're too high above his payroll anyway."

The casual brusqueness of her remark made Lady feel like a young child with a crush, like Tramp was some unattainable achievement. But Peg couldn't have known that she had in fact fallen for his charms without a second thought. She couldn't have known she'd been talking to his newest victim.

Lady swallowed. Victim. That what she was now, a heartbroken victim. A girl who had strayed too far from home and fell in love with the first person that offered her help. She felt tears prick at her eyes but she angrily forced them down. She wasn't going to give him any tears. For she knew if she started they would never stop falling, falling for a love she thought had been as real as the stormy sky above her. But despite it all Lady could not fool herself in thinking she didn't still love him. And she hated herself for it.

Her biting anger and sadness were an icy force within her, but then the flame of new love could still not be fully quenched by it. She was at war with herself; her heart was fire and ice.

She looked over her yard hoping that somehow the flowerbeds that swayed in the twilight breeze could give her some comfort. That maybe the view of the trim, familiar lawn would calm her clashing heart. When they didn't, unsurprisingly, her gaze went to Jock's yard then Trusty's wishing for their sensible company. But their houses were dark and silent, Lady knowing full well they were not ones to stay up late into the night. She was alone with her thoughts tonight. Giving a lonely sigh she pushed herself a bit harder on the swing, making it screech louder in protest.

How she wished Darling were here. Her foster mother always had a soft, seraphic voice, and her ability to make situations positive was uncanny.

"It's alright, little star sweeper. This was meant to happen for a reason. You just haven't figured out why yet." She would say.

Lady fiddled with the fringes of Darling's shawl. Selfishly wanted her foster parent's trip to end early so things could get back to normal, and she could forget the past few days. Lady knew none of this would have happened in the first place if they had been here. But that only helped in deepening her misery. Wishing wasn't going to make them come home any sooner. Wishing wasn't going to make her heartbreak vanish. And it definitely wasn't going to erase the gray haired boy from her mind.

As Lady turned her eyes up to the dark, ashen sky feeling more sad and lonely then when she'd stepped outside, suddenly something stirred to the left of her.

She turned her gaze to the west side of the tall white fence that encompassed her lawn, to see in shuddering sporadically. She pulled her shawl around her even tighter and quickly stood up from the swing, her heart rate spiking.

She watched as a hand suddenly appeared, grappling onto the top of the fence, and then another. Lady took a fearful step backwards; ready to sprint into the house. But when the person on the fence lifted himself or herself up and jumped down onto the grass with a soft grunt, she stopped. She recognized their body movements and the quick exhale.

It was Tramp.

Her stomach dropped.

At first he looked upwards towards the windows, searching for something and in the now fully dark night Lady couldn't make out his facial expression. She almost called out to him instinctively but stopped herself and seriously considered stepping back into the house and forgetting she saw him at all.

But almost as though he sensed her thoughts, Tramp suddenly turned around sharply. Bewildered, Lady turned behind her and saw the swing had swung back after her drastic dismount and smacked the wall of the house with a shallow thack! She turned back to him, her eyes wide.

"Well that was easier then I thought it was gonna be." He grinned. "You always sit outside when it gets dark, Pidge? "He wore his signature crooked smile, his teeth bright white in the dark.

Lady ignored her how her heart beat pattered so quickly it nearly took her breath away. It was him.

Oh god, just make him go away.

Now, last thing I PROMISE! This may leave at a cliffhanger but the conversation that ensues will be in a later chapter! It was just too long to be considered a one shot so I cut it off a bit. Once again thank you for reading! Until next time!

- Curly