Plagg stood up and retreated from his sister's room, cell phone pressed to his ear.

"I'll take care of her." Plagg swore re-entering the kitchen and embracing his mother for the first time in he couldn't even remember when. "On one condition."

His mother pulled away immediately wary.

"Promise me you'll be okay."

"I'll be fine." She insisted.

It was a lie and he knew it. He drew away from her an augment already springing to his tongue but he stopped himself as he saw her go pale. She grabbed his wrists pulling his hand closer to her face before she dropped his hand unceremoniously.

"It was your father's."

He knew she was referring to the ring that now rested on the ring finger of his right hand.

"I know."

He clenched his hand into a fist resisting the urge to toss the stupid piece of jewelry out of the kitchen window and forget about it.

It didn't mean anything, it shouldn't mean anything. It was just a ring that had a broken promises attached to it.

His mother looked like she was going to say more but thought better or it and turned away from him.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to Aunt Nathalie's."

Colette pouted. "I heard you and Maman talking. You're supposed to take care of me."

"After school and when Natalie is at work. Natalie is not at work today. I'll pick you up from school tomorrow."

He didn't care if that sounded harsh. Right now he had to get away from this sudden responsibility that he'd taken onto his shoulders. He'd manage somehow he just had to adjust. Go back to the apartment and just think about what he was going to do about... everything...


Tikki could feel herself on the verge of an emotional breakdown.

She heard Nooroo telling her to breathe but his voice seemed distorted as if she were underwater or he was far away and she couldn't breathe. Couldn't seem to get the air out of her lungs in anything but the form of rapid breaths that betrayed her panic state.

The animal in front of her was dying.

Dying and she couldn't do anything about it.

She couldn't do anything.

She was helpless.

Part of her rebelled against that thought and she felt a spark of defiant rage against her own mind before the crushing panic regained it vice-like grip on her common sense.

She shouldn't just stand here, she should help, it was in pain the poor thing was in pain and she was supposed to help animals who were in pain. She could usually get through this type of process but the defiant spark had been snuffed out this time.

She'd convinced Nooroo to come to the clinic again today and right now she couldn't decide if that had been a wise choice in her part.. Seeing as how her cousin was determined to get her away from the examination table now that he'd sensed her emotional distress.

In any other situation she would have appreciated his efforts but as it was he was preventing her from doing her job. Not that she would have been much help in her current state of mind. She was supposed to get used to this type of situation if she wanted to seriously pursue a career as a veterinarian.

But all she could focus on was that the fact that this animal was dying.

Nooroo's voice broke through the suffocating weight of her thoughts again, gentle, quiet, and infinitely patient.

"It's okay, you're okay. You don't have to stay here. You don't have to watch. It will be okay just breathe."

Couldn't. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't watch. Couldn't help. Couldn't...

"Can't..." she managed to force out the word before her throat constricted again

"You can leave." ...Was he saying the words slowly or was she just processing them that way because of the ringing in her ears?

"Can't...have to... help..." she insisted, trying to take a step towards the metal table in the center of the room. At least she imagined taking a step; in reality she stayed frozen to the spot.

Couldn't move. Couldn't help. Couldn't...

"Can't...leave..."

"Yes, you can," Nooroo insisted gently, not really a demand. "You can leave, if you want. I won't make you, just tell me what you want."

She wanted to help. She wanted to save this animal in a miracle that didn't involve having to end its life.

Death- however humane it was, was still death. Something irreversible. Final and terrifying and permanent.

She saw the needle and she wanted to scream and sob but the only sound that made it past her constricted throat was a whimper and she closed her eyes so she didn't have to see.

"You can open your eyes now."

She did.

Her eyes went straight to the now lifeless form on the table and she squeezed them shut again. Kept them shut. Locked herself in the quiet black nothing so she didn't have to see anything.

"Are you okay?"

She shrugged her shoulders she honestly didn't know. What sense of the word "okay" did he mean? She wasn't really suffering from the panic attack anymore but she doubted she would be able to just move on like nothing happened. She should have been okay, she wasn't hurt. She was through the panic attack. What was "okay"?

"Do you want to go back to your apartment?" She shook her head at Nooroo's question not trusting her voice her throat still felt too tight.

She was okay. It was over, the panic attack was over the situation was over she was okay, she turned around eyes still shut and almost cried when she realized that she could move again.

She opened her eyes slowly, hesitant to leave the calm, black emptiness that was behind her eyelids.

"Want to come back with me to the hotel?"

She shook her head, eyes fixing on the glass door and the street beyond it.


Plagg stared at the ceiling. Convinced that his brain was trying to commit suicide from the amount of stress he'd endured in the last half hour.

He considered himself a responsible enough person (at least he knew when he was supposed to be responsible even if he didn't want to be responsible one hundred percent of the time)

He didn't want to be responsible now.

He wasn't supposed to be the guy who fixed everybody's mess for them. He'd thought he'd moved past this whole "fix everything" phase.

He was mad with himself and he knew the full extent of why.

He'd gone back to the apartment after taking Colette to Aunt Natalie's.

He'd thought that thinking things through would be a benefit to him given his current situation. His attempt to be a rational person had backfired.

This was just another more elaborate variation of the guilt trip or at least that was the conclusion that he'd come to when he'd had time to fully process the situation.

He scratched Jinx behind the ear as he contemplated the downward spiral of his thoughts.

His mom had twisted the situation so that now he had to be at least partially responsible for Colette's safety. She'd pulled him back into a spot where she could control the majority of his actions using Colette's safety as a betting chip to make sure she could pull his strings.

She was using his protective nature towards his sister for her own benefit putting him willingly into her corner in the fight against his own father.

… there was a possibility that she honestly did trust him to take care of Colette... who was he kidding? What kind of person would give him that kind of responsibility after he'd "disappeared" for almost two years?

Common sense wanted to say the obvious textbook level response of: She trust me because we're family.

It was pitiful how little he believed that.

It was far easier to believe that his mother had suckered him back into a position where she could watch and criticize him again.

He wanted to slap himself across the face. He brought his hand up to his line of sight and glared at the ring on his finger wishing he could bring himself to just throw the stupid thing away or sell it like he'd planned to when he was fifteen. The reason he'd taken the damn thing in the first place.

Just a bunch of broken promises and bad luck. That's all the stupid piece of junk was ever good for.

He dropped his hand with a disgusted sigh.

He had no one but himself to blame for the unfortunate situation he'd thrown himself into.

Willingly. He'd played right into everything and part of him didn't even care that his mom had influence over him again because he wasn't going to break his promise to Colette. He'd kept the "I'll come back" promise the newer "I won't leave you" promise was definitely heavier and seemed far more fragile- more likely to break when put on the scale and weighed against what could possibly be at stake now... it could be out of his hands... another choice that his parents were going to make for him... he honestly didn't want to break his promise to Colette he just wasn't entirely sure if this new promise was one he could keep. Or at least he didn't know how long he could keep it for.

… this is why he didn't like to think things through it usually ended on a bad note So much for attempting to be a rational person.

The knock on the door jolted him out of his thoughts and Jinx hopped off of his lap, rushing down the hallway.

No human interaction. He was tempted to follow the cat's example and retreat deeper into the apartment but he didn't feel inclined to move from the couch.

"It's unlocked!" He called. Lifting his head off of the pillow when Tikki opened the door.

Wordlessly she sat next to him seemingly lost in her own destructive train of thought as she kicked off her shoes and pulled her feet up to her chest, looking as if she were on the verge of tears.

She definitely wasn't in her usual frame of mind- but netiher was he- maybe that was why her next action surprised him and at the same time didn't surprise him at all; she rested her head in his shoulder.

He turned his head to look at her, staring- slightly more shocked by the surprisingly intimate action then he would admit to anyone.

"Don't move." The words came out as more of a request and plead then an actual demand and it caused an unexpected wave of protectiveness to race along his spine making him go rigid for barely half of a second before the tension bled out of his shoulders.

He rested his chin on her head, only now really becoming aware of the fact that he was taller than her; if only slightly. Not that it mattered at the moment. "Okay."

He was okay with not moving, if it would make her feel better.


Tikki wasn't entirely sure why she had come here of all places and she would probably end up lecturing herself on her irrational action of laying her head on Plagg's shoulder when she became emotionally sober again. She would have to clear up the possible misunderstanding that she didn't mean it like that- if he ever brought it up- she didn't know entirely if she meant it like that and it would likely be the cause of another anxiety attack- later- at the moment all she could focus on was the fact that she seemed able to breathe again and she knew she was okay.


A/N: Apologies for missing the chapter yesterday, had some responsibilities to take care of. Though my schedule is also occupied today, fortunately the short chapter has allowed for me to make today's upload. I'll try and make up for yesterday's lack of upload.