Company

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Keith woke up to the smell of something cooking downstairs. He blinked blearily at the ceiling. Where was he?"

He yawned, and everything came back to him as his ribs screamed in protest, and his ankle started to throb. Keith threw the blankets off and got out of bed, putting most of his weight on his right leg and shuffling down the stairs into the kitchen. Dr. Jenny was flipping pancakes.

"Morning," she said without even turning around, "You're up early."

Keith rubbed at his eyes. "Garrison wake-up time."

"I'm making pancakes. Much better than Garrison breakfasts." Dr. Jenny gave him a sideways glance. "Keith, what would you think about staying here?"

"Stay... here?"

"Yeah. I know we don't know each other that well, and I'm just your doctor, but I don't like the idea of you going off to live on your own. You're seventeen- you shouldn't even be out of care of an adult yet."

Keith crossed his arms. "I didn't want to go back to the foster system."

"Still. I don't feel comfortable knowing that you'll be by yourself.

"I think you need someone to help you through this. An adult."

Keith shook away the words of the school counsellor. He didn't need an adult. He could survive on his own- he had the money from his dad, of course, and that would give him enough time to find a way out of the desert. To get somewhere he could start over. Mexico, maybe, or Canada.

It might be nice, though. To not worry about anything, and just let someone else take care of him.

No. No, that had been what he'd done with Shiro. He'd sworn he wouldn't- that he couldn't let it happen again, because he'd only be setting himself up for heartbreak.

"No. Thank you," he added, "But I can't."

Dr. Jenny looked at him sharply. "Can't, or won't?" When he didn't answer, she let out a sigh. "At least until your ankle is healed, okay? That's not just worry, it's dangerous for you to be out there on your own with your ankle the way it is."

Keith sighed. "Fine."

She smiled at him. "Okay. Good. And you can think it over, too. I don't need your answer right away." She handed him a plate with three pancakes on it, as well as a fork and knife. "When was the last time you ate?"

"Breakfast."

"You go eat those. Syrup's in the pantry."

Keith got the syrup, incredibly spooked with how easily Dr. Jenny had gotten used to him being in the house with her. Did people do that? Just fall easily into a pattern of having new people around?

Keith ruled that it was one of those "Open people vs. Closed people" things and sat down to eat his pancakes. They were good. Definitely better than Garrison breakfast. Dr. Jenny joined him, using the syrup liberally.

"As a doctor, I know how unhealthy this is for me," she told him, "As a human being, I don't care."

Keith shifted in his seat. "Do you have company over a lot?"

Dr. Jenny shrugged. "My sister comes in and out of town. She's a blogger. Goes places so that you don't have to." She said the last sentence with her fingers making quotation marks, and laughed. "Yeah, she's over whenever she's in the states. I keep the bedroom generally ready. And sometimes a few friends from work, but they don't often stay the night."

"Friends from work?"

"Dr. Christopher. Sergeant Curtis. Tak—" Dr. Jenny swallowed hard. "Takashi."

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