Perception

Untitled Part 26

Sang POV:

Fire. Oh, god, fire. It burns! I can't escape the scorching of my back and sides. I sit up gasping, only to wish I wouldn't have. My dream fire-turned real causes my breath to catch, and I sob out my pain. Rolling out of bed, I tremble while fumbling to the light switch. I flip on the nightstand light, and gawk at the little orange bottle of prescription pain relievers, and the bottle of water I find there. I somehow slept through someone not only coming into the room, but the rattle of little pills inside plastic. Sneaky Dr. Sean, very sneaky.

I can't care too much, just quickly read the directions and down the medicine. I finally notice that I'm sweating, and am likely stinky, so I know I'll need another bath. I'll do that after feeding Precious. I go to my piles of clothing and grab some large sweats that I think belong to Kota, and carefully slide them on over my own clothes.

By the time I'm done with this, the meds are already starting to take effect, so I go to the kitchen to work on food. It's only 4:00AM, and I have plenty of time before school make myself both breakfast and lunch. I check the fridge and see a roast waiting to be made. It's crazy. Not even a week since Nathan has shopped, but it feels like forever since I've shared a meal with him and the guys.

The roast, potatoes, and carrots are placed in the crockpot along with a packet of french onion soup mix and water set on low, before I tend to cleaning up my workspace. I'm silent as I work. I can't make movements big enough to make much sound anyway. After filling several empty water bottles with hot water I head to the patio door so I can access the woods, and find a small keychain-sized bottle hanging from the handle. I look closely at it, and see it's pepper spray. I shake my head fondly, and know that I need to talk to my boys soon. Even when I banish them, they are looking out for me.

As I make my way to the barn, I determine to call a family meeting for tonight, and let them know how I stand. My blood runs cold when I realize they might not want me in the family anymore. That slows my premature mental celebration enough to realize that I need to talk to Mr. Blackbourne during my violin lesson. I'll keep my distance again at school again just in case I'm no longer wanted. Gosh, wouldn't that be embarrassing to be an unwanted barnacle to the group.

I tend to Precious, making use of the bucket for the first time in the way it was originally intended, and make my way back to the house in the dirty gray of early morning.

Nathan POV:

I was almost asleep when I see lights flip on inside the house. Silas is in there sleeping in my bed instead of me so I'm not feeling the most forgiving. Peanut is up at at 'em early, so she must have had a bad dream. I want to go talk to her about it, or at least have her call North, but Mr. B. was rather insistent on following through with what we gave our words on. Grrr.

I don't find any food on the ledge of the barn, so I'm feeling even more put out. I can't see what is happening inside with the low glow of light Peanut's...phone?...puts out, but I hear water splashing through her jumbled dialogue she has with the stray. I shake my head, but follow as quietly as I can as she heads to my house.

She slips inside, and silently closes the patio door in my face, and locks it. When she heads into the bathroom with clothes, I go to the front of the house, and let myself in through my front door. Waking Silas, I activate the cameras in the kitchen so that I can see when she comes out of the bathroom.

"What are you doing in here so early? Is Aggele okay?" he asks through a yawn.

"She's fine. She just got back from the barn and is now cleaning up and changing. Can you keep an eye on her while I get ready?" I ask and move off to the closet without waiting for a response. Grabbing the first uniform I find, I head to my own bathroom that Silas and North finally got the basics in place for.

I take a longish shower hoping I'll wake up a little, and relieve the strain surveillance has placed on my muscles. What a mess. We've got to fix this before one of us dies from exhaustion or something.

I towel off, get dressed, and go back to my room. Silas is sitting on my bed wearing his uniform and watching my phone with a tender look on his gently smiling face. The bastard has it as bad as I do. I walk over and flop down next to him.

"Aggele is making breakfast," he says happily. I take my phone back to his dismay, and see that Peanut is making scrambled eggs, toast, and breakfast sausage. A LOT of eggs, toast and sausage! We watch quietly as she serves herself a small portion, eats, then washes the dishes after making two heaping plates.

"How does Aggele do that?" he asks referring to her ability to know how many people she's cooking for. I shrug.

"She's perfect," I say simply, as a twinge of worry streaks down my spine. I just hope she hasn't moved on...