Perhaps We'll Meet Another Day

The Choices You Make

"Nngh..." Margaret groaned, flopping over on the dinghy mattress and shifting her arm from besides her to over her eyes. Her throat was dry, and she swallowed to wet it. Something was tapping at the edge of her hearing. No, not tapping...Knocking, a set of three knocks. And then again. Squinting into the darkness, she heard yet another set of three knocks, quiet taps against the door of her trailer.

"What in the hell..." She muttered with a heavy sigh, pushing herself up from the bed, the blanket falling from around her shoulders as she swung her legs over the edge. Eyes laden with sleep, she yawned tiredly, bare feet padding against the floor with each step, until she reached the door and reached for the handle.

The door opened with a creak, and she saw a figure standing in the darkness just outside, hand raised to knock again, but it lowered when she appeared.

"...Law?" She asked in confusion, cocking her head to get a better look at the bag he had slung over his shoulder. The hell? Margaret stepped down from the inside of the trailer down the few steps leading to the outside. "What are you doing here? Is there a problem?"

She glanced down at her tank top and sleep shorts, crossing her arms over her chest for a semblance of coverage. Law slowly shook his head, silently staring at the ground, as if making up his mind about something.

"Shachi and Penguin...they want to stay." He admitted, sparing her a single glance, as if to judge her reaction. "They think this place could be their home."

"They couldn't..." Her sentence was broken by a long yawn, which she covered with a hand. "...have waited until the morning to tell me that?"

Law said nothing, just stood there looking uncomfortable, and strangely angry at something she couldn't explain. "We need to talk." He finally replied. The seriousness in his tone and the way he held himself was a bit sobering, and Margaret brushed back her hair into a better semblance of normal, before clearing her throat.

"Can't this wait until-"

"No."

Margaret stared at his face for a few moments, trying to gauge what was on the man's mind. There was almost no emotion showing through those gray orbs, and no matter how long she stared, she couldn't tell what it was he wanted exactly. Whatever it was, apparently he felt it was urgent though.

"Well, come on in then." She reluctantly invited, waving a hand for him to follow after her into the trailer. Her bare feet ascended the few steps back inside, and the trailer shifted as Law made his entrance, the added weight tilting it for a moment before redistributing it across the vehicle.

"Alright, care to explain why you've woken me up so late? Carrying all your stuff?" She gestured to the bag, before going over to a shelf and pulling off a little lantern, lighting it up to illuminate the interior of the trailer.

"Like I said before, the others want to stay." He started, almost unsure of where to begin, and what he wanted to say to her exactly. As if he hadn't planned this far. Maybe he hadn't.

"That's great to hear." She admitted, rubbing at her left eye. "We would love to have them stay. I'll assign them their own trailer in the morning, but...what about you? You make it sound like you're-"

"I'm..." He started, cutting her off, but still seeming to hesitate, working his jaw as if it were difficult to simply get the words out. Then, he sighed, shifting the bag on his shoulder. "I'm staying. We're all staying."

She paused, raising her eyebrows in surprise. "You...you are?" She questioned, with a little laugh. "If I'm being honest, I'm a little surprised. I didn't think you actually would." He narrowed his eyes at that, and she rushed to clarify. "I mean, you told me right from the get go how much you didn't trust us here."