Relative Strangers (Book 2) No Man Is An Island

6. Family Feud

E wanted to get to work right away, but Lester and Matt wouldn't let her.
Instead she was ordered to go home and rest, before returning the following morning.
Since there was no point dropping E off and returning to work, Matt and Emily both clocked off, to take E home and stay with her.
"It looks exactly the same, as the day I left. Don't you ever redecorate?" Questioned E, as the three of them stepped inside Matt's apartment.
"I didn't want it to look different when you did eventually return" admitted Matt.
"So you always thought I would come back" asked E.
"I always hoped that you would, even if people like Lester and Becker thought that you were gone for good"
"At least someone had faith in me".

"Did you miss it here?" Quizzed Emily.
"I did, more than I thought I would. I've never really had a home before, and before coming here I'd certainly never stayed in one place for that long, without going through any anomalies. So I did miss it here, with you guys" answered E.
"You would've been away even longer, if you hadn't been shot" Matt said quietly.
"Yes, I would have" agreed E.
"If you hadn't been shot, would you ever have come back?"
"Of course I would've. In fact, before I was captured, I was considering come here for help"
"I don't believe you. You've always been so independent, which is why you only ask for help, when your life is on the line. You always want to do things your way, and you wouldn't have returned until you had completed your mission,  or died trying".

"You're right, I could've been away for a very long time. And if I go away again, I don't expect you to wait for me. I need you to go about your normal life, even if I'm not here, just in case I never come back. I don't want you wasting your life away, waiting for me" admitted E.
"Well, I'm afraid that there is nothing that will make me stop waiting for you. You are a part of our lives now, and we'll always wait for you to return" revealed Matt.
"But I don't want that! I don't want you waiting for me. If I leave, and get killed, I don't want you waiting in vain for me. I don't want you wasting your life, worrying about me".

"I am always going to worry about you. When you care about someone, you are always going to worry about them. It's not a switch you can just turn off. And you can't stop me worrying about you" informed Matt.
"But I never asked for this. I never asked for you to care about me. I could've stayed at the ARC, but you insisted that I came here and moved in with you. Maybe if I hadn't done that all those months ago, you wouldn't care about me like you do now, and everything would be so much easier" sighed E.
"I doubt it, because I cared about you before you even moved in" replied Matt.
"I wish you didn't care so much".

"Why? Why don't you want us to care about you?" Questioned Matt.
"Because I just don't... It's been a long time since someone has cared about me. And when someone cares for you, and they die, it hurts. I don't like hurting, so I try to stop myself from caring all together, because it makes my life easier. And if I know you care about me, it makes leaving you in the future so much harder" admitted E.
"Then don't leave. If you need to do something, then take one of us with you. I know you've been on your own for so long, but you're not alone any more, and trying to act like you are, won't work" insisted Matt.
"I can't stop. I can't settle down and stay here with you forever. That is not me. And I can't live my life without going through another anomaly"
"Why? Why would it be such a bad thing to never go through one again?".

"I've told you before Matt, that I have other responsibilities outside of the ARC. I have research to do, which I can only do alone, and I have people to check on; groups of humans scattered in different time zones, like the one Emily was a part of for a while. I can't just abandon them" announced E.
"I'm not asking you to. But how about next time you need to check on them, you bring me along, that way you don't feel tempted to stay too long. And you can do all your research at the ARC-"
"No I can't. The information I research cannot be known by the ARC in this time zone. I myself, am an anomaly, I'm a freak of nature, and I'm not supposed to be here. The ARC has to figure out some things for itself, so my research has to be done in secret, away from prying eyes" interrupted E.

"Fine. Don't stay if you don't want to. I'm just trying to tell you that you have a home here, so you don't need to keep jumping from place to place anymore" Matt said quietly.
"I appreciate the offer to stay here forever with you, but I know what you're trying to do. You are trying to keep me away from the anomalies, because you want me to live a long happy life. But it's too late for me Matt. There is no turning back now, I'm on this path for the rest of my life" admitted E.

"I had a look at your radiation levels while you were in the medical bay, and they're higher than they were last time" mumbled Matt.
E frowned, "You've been keeping tabs on me".
"Not exactly, but I remember where the levels were last time. And they're higher now. The radiation from the anomalies is changing the cells in your body" revealed Matt.
"Changing them into what?"
"I don't know".

"Then stop worrying about me. Neither of us know how long I have left, but I don't think I'm going anywhere any time soon, so stop fretting about that" reassured E.
"It's not that easy to stop worrying about someone" admitted Matt.
"I am not having this argument with you any longer. Look, I am alive right now, so focus on that. And I'm sorry for leaving you for so long, but you need to accept the fact that I may have to leave again, without warning, because that is the kind of life I lead. Now, I am going to bed, to get some rest as I have been instructed to do. Wake me up when it's dinner" replied E, before storming off towards her bedroom.

"That went well" commented Emily.
"You weren't exactly much help" reminded Matt.
"This wasn't my fight. This was between you and E" admitted Emily.
"But you are on my side though, right?"
"Im not on anyone's side. I see both points of view. I want her to stay here with us and be safe of course, but we can't control her. The more we try to, the more we are just going to push her away".