"Tall Man!" The little blonde smiled cheekily at him and raised her arms to be picked up. Slender smiled to himself and took Dawn into his arms. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Where do you live, Tall Man?" She asked.
"I was wondering when you would ask that. I could show you if you like. It's beautiful really." Slender said, walking towards the tear in the fabric of the universe.
"Almost like a fairy tale. The sky shimmers with different colors and we have three moons. So many stars they put a milky haze over the colorful sky. Different plants grow and trees. There is one thing to coming to my home, Dawn." Slender told her.
"What, Tall Man?" She asked.
"Once you go, you aren't allowed to come back here. You have to stay with me and my family." Slender told her. Dawn looked over his shoulder at the house Slender was distancing them from.
"Can I have my bunny? Mommy and Daddy don't love me anyways. They're always ignoring me. Ever since I turned six." Dawn asked. The words broke the Operator's heart. The parents were overjoyed to have a baby but once Dawn had left the toddler stage her mother and father had lost interest. Thoroughly enraging him. He considered ignoring the needs of a child a sin. How badly he wanted to destroy the parents. Slender wasn't sure if it was legal… Children were innocent. Her parents had in advertertly hurt her. Punishing those that hurt the innocent were guilty…
"I'll bring you to your new home then I will come back for your rabbit. Anything else you would like me to bring you, small one?" Slender asked. Dawn tightened her grip around Slender's neck harmlessly.
"Annie. Mommy and Daddy don't deserve Annie." She said. Annie was the family pet a border collie that Dawn adored.
"Of course." He told her. The entry point approached and Slender stopped.
"I'm bringing you to my home now. My way of traveling is going to take the breath away from you for a moment. But it's safe I promise, just a little frightening perhaps." Slender told her. Dawn nodded and the Operator switched planes.
Inside the library was his mother as usual and his new niece, Maximus's daughter. Elizabeth had nearly died delivering but barely pulled through. Anya however was healthy. His mother looked up and an expression of glee spread across her features.
"Is that her?" She asked. The Operator nodded and let Dawn down, she had already recovered. Dawn looked at his mother.
"Who is she?" Dawn asked quietly, tugging on Slender's sleeve.
"My mother, darling. Say hello." Slender told her. Dawn looked at the woman and grinned.
"Hello, I'm Dawn, pleased to meet you!" Dawn spoke intelligently and very ladylike.
"Oh isn't she a sweetheart! You look so much like a baby doll, Dawn." Agaelia put Anya in her bassinette and took to Dawn.
"You're quite lovely my darling. I think you're going to like it here. I assume my son lured you here with stories of what this world looks like?" She said. Dawn nodded.
"Then come, sweetheart. He has things he needs to do for you I'm sure. I'll watch after her until you return, Operator." His mother told him. Slender nodded and left. He wanted to stop by and pay Echo a visit. He should do that before he gets Dawn's toy and Annie. So he did. Echo and Jake had settled in Oregon. Happily married for three years. Last he had seen she had just realized she was pregnant and that was only three months ago. He didn't visit as frequently as he used to. Giving Echo and Jake their space was something he had realized he needed to do. Having interrupted tender (but not intimate and thank God for that) moments on several occasions. Echo and Slender had just recently informed Jake of his existence. Slender wanted to do it sooner, before they were married. But Echo had winked and chuckled, saying:
"Let's do it when he's stuck with me."
Slender appeared on their porch, having decided that entering their house without their permission wasn't allowable anymore. He would admit, knocking was strange. But he did and waited. From inside he could hear upbeat jazz and laughter. He looked out in the driveway and saw the new candy apple red mini-van Echo had bought and Jake's blue truck named Belle. They had no guests so it must have been just the two of them.
The door opened and it was Echo. Slender smiled to himself at her maternal glow. She broke out in a massive grin.
"Slen! Come in. Where have you been! It's been awhile. Jake, it's Slen!" Echo hollered over her shoulder and let him in. The artist still wasn't exactly sure to make of his wife's childhood friend. But he knew that Slender wasn't going anywhere so he had grown accustom to his visitations.
"That's good. You were starting to worry about him weren't you?" Jake called from the living room. Echo gave Slen a charming smile.
"I was. How's Dawn?" Echo asked, leading Slen into the kitchen and going to the freezer and grabbed a carton of vanilla ice cream.
"Safe. She's with my people now. Those 'parents' of hers can't hurt her anymore. I have to go back by her home and steal the family pet and get her toy rabbit." Slender told her as Echo skipped the bowl and went straight for the silverware drawer.
"That's good. The way you told me about them they were horrible people. I'm surprised they didn't get rid of the dog after it grew out of the puppy stage… There are people like that and I hate them." Echo told him and taking the lid off of the tub of ice cream and dug in merrily.
"I was too. I think they kept the dog around to keep Dawn busy." Slender replied. Echo scowled.
"Jerks." She muttered. Slender laughed gently.
"Speaking of parents, how are you two doing?" Slender asked. Echo's face lit up at the mention of her soon coming parenthood. She put down the ice cream and spoon and grabbed Slender's hand.
"Come see the nursery." She said, tugging on his arm. Slender followed the eager mother-to-be up a flight of stairs and down the main corridor into the bedroom the was next to Jake and Echo's. He steeped down through the doorway and entered a painted forest.
"Jake and I both love the woods. So we decided our baby would sleep in one. Jake's been working so hard. See all the woodland creatures. Jake's going to add in scenes from the Narnia books. They're his favorite and I think it's cute. That's why the wall behind the crib is blank. What do you think?" Echo asked Slender. He touched the wall, studying the intricate details of the individual trees.
"I'd live in these woods." Slender said jokingly. Echo chuckled.
"Are you sure it isn't too frightening? Or busy? I know if the walls were a wrong color for you in your bedroom you couldn't get a wink of sleep." Slender told her. Echo pursed her lips.
"We've considered that. If the baby can't sleep in here the room across the hall will be the bedroom and this the play room. Honestly I like that set up better. But Jake wants the baby to be here." Echo said. Slender nodded. Echo and Jake had the healthiest and best human relationship he had seen in years. But then again he never really did have contact with humans in relationships. He knew they were good for each other though. Jake still looked at her with the same love and adoration on that day as he did on their wedding day. (Slender had attended, just not in plain view.)
"I should go. I just wanted to drop by and see how you were doing. I need to run my errands before her parents notice. They may start to care upon her disappearance." Slender told Echo. She smiled and nodded. Echo embraced him and he returned it.
"Love you." She said, walking out the door. Slender remained for a moment more, remembering Echo as a little girl, almost getting emotional. Her joyful giggles replayed in his mind. She may have grown up but to Slender, he would always be her tall man.