Dahlia (My Kitsune Consort)

I miss him like crazy

Three months later...

Dahlia heard the phone ring and looked down at the phone number. It was her sister Ethel again. She sighed and realized she honestly shouldn't be annoyed with her. She was a good person and she loved her. Dahlia could even understand why she was worried about her. If their roles had been reversed she would never have gotten her to leave. Dahlia could still remember the look of pain Ethel had on her face when Dahlia asked her to leave.

She eventually agreed to go, but only because her partner Charles helped Dahlia out and convinced Ethel there was nothing she could do to help her until Dahlia was ready to get help. Besides her and Charles had a baby and it was hard to leave the baby behind at home. The main reason Dahlia asked Ethel to go home was that Ethel was driving her nuts and somehow she still is. Ethel called her no less than three times a day! All the calls were exactly the same. The phone rings, Dahlia answer and says

"Hello Ethel" then she asks Dahlia

"How are you Dahlia? Are you in the mood to talk yet?" Dahlia answer her quickly saying

"Ethel, I feel the same way I did when you called me earlier today and no I still do not feel like talking." Then she says

"Well, I love you and I'm here for you whenever you're ready. I will check in on you later, okay?"

Today, Dahlia knew the call was going to be different. She had been crying off and all morning, and she knew she wanted, no she needed to talk. Dahlia answered the phone on the second ring.

"Hello Ethel," Dahlia said. Dahlia knew what Ethel was going to say and Dahlia spoke again before she could ask annoying questions

"I do not know how I'm feeling and yes, I think I'm ready to talk," Dahlia heard her sister gasp, Then Ethel said with her perky little voice

"Talk to me sis -ta, I was concerned that you were never going to be ready to tell me what the heck was going on."

Technically Dahlia had the healthiest three months since the car accident. Nightmares about the accident finally stopped, and she knew she was finally past the worst of the grieving for James. She was even able to eat and sleep normally. Most of her skin was healing nicely, and Dr. Lorretta thought Dahlia would be able to start spending some time out of bed soon.

Baby James was very healthy and was getting bigger every day. Liz and John were great companions and were really great with James. Dahlia was even mentally and emotionally recovering. She was able to think of James and not immediately burst into tears. Her life has been simple and easy for the past few weeks, she should be happy but she was becoming increasingly unsettled and unhappy and Dahlia really could not understand why. She took a deep breath and said,

"Actually, Ethel, I was hoping you could help me figure it out."

Her sister and Dahlia talked for hours. They had not spoken much since they were in high school and both of them were worried about bonding with their partners. Back then they could talk about anything and everything. Dahlia and Ethel had been very close when they were younger than, tragically after they both found their mates they kind of grew apart.

Dahlia told her that she was getting physically better, and that Liz and John were helping a lot. She told Ethel how they were both her teammates and helped her with James. They talked about Ina and Dr. Lorretta. They even talked about the old Wendigo Keanu. Dahlia told her how she found out about Keanu and Dr. Lorretta being lovers and how shocked she was. They talked about the baby and how much the Verga loved to come and visit James every single day. Since James is in her room, that meant that Dahlia too had started spending a lot of time with the Verga.

Ina and Dahlia had gotten pretty close, and Ina often talked about her consort and even Damien's younger years. Then, one-night Ina told her the truth about what really happened when James went missing. How his consort Zinnia was insane. Dahlia heard how she'd been attacked and killed by Kitsune. It was sad and Dahlia wanted to hate it, but somehow she could sort of understand how she went crazy. Dahlia was just glad they were able to get James back safe and sound. Dahlia told Ethel she really liked who lived here. It was weird but even though some of them are Verga Dahlia felt like they were all family. Then Ethel asked about how things were between Damien and Dahlia. Dahlia felt her chest constrict and she started crying, she managed to tell her sister in between sobs

"Well, we're not. I mean, oh heck." Dahlia paused for a second then said

"I have not seen him since the night he brought James to me. I'm not even sure that he is on the farm anymore. Ethel I was horrible. I said mean hateful things. The worst part is nobody, not even his mother will say anything about him. I hate to admit it sis but it is driving me crazy!"

Dahlia hated that she was crying over a damn Verga. She didn't know what he did to make her think she cared for him. It had to be something with his blood. She didn't care for him. Dahlia had a consort and Damien wasn't it. But here she was crying because she had not seen or heard from him in months. She had forgotten for a moment that Ethel was on the phone and she allowed herself to cry on the phone. She heard Ethel shouting through the phone to get her attention

"Dahlia, baby you're breaking my heart. Why are you crying? Do you want Charles and I come to be there with you?"

Dahlia must have given her approval because the next thing she heard her say was

"Let me hang up and call Charles. We'll have to make some arrangements, but you can expect us tomorrow afternoon. Do you think it is safe to bring CJ with us? Never mind, I'm sure it is. Please, let the Verga know so they expect us. I love you sister, hang in there and it's going to be fine."

Dahlia wiped her face and whispered into the phone,

"I love you too Ethel. I will see you tomorrow."

Dahlia hung up the phone and began to think about some of the things she didn't tell her sister. She was again flooded with shame and guilt. She didn't know which was worse. The fact that she knew she had treated Damien badly and she had even been happy when he first left or that she felt guilty about the hot dreams she was having about him and Dahlia blamed him for them.

Heck maybe it was his fault that Dahlia was having dreams. If his blood could turn her child into a crossbreed maybe it also had something to do with her dreams. The truth was her nightmares of the car accident and the death of James had long since been replaced with dreams of Damien. Dreams of passionate kisses and touches. Dreams where Dahlia and Damien were a couple and she felt whole and intact. Dreams where they made love and Dahlia found love. Dreams where Dahlia thought Damien was her consort and he was all she needed to be happy. Dahlia would wake up and feel dirty and unfaithful. Even in a dream she felt she should have missed her one and only consort James.

Dahlia had gotten herself emotionally exhausted thinking of Damien and talking to her sister. She rolled over and closed his eyes with the intention of taking a nap. Dahlia fell asleep wishing she knew where Damien had gone and if he had any plans to return.