She blinks up at him, eyes glassy with unshed tears. “But, I don’t want….”
“You don’t wanna be here?” He asks, swallowing hard. He turns an interesting shade of green, like he might throw up.
She rushes on, “No, no, I want to be here, but it just feels like you all are disrupting your whole lives to do this…I mean, I don’t want to fuck your lives up. Ok? I know you all have lives that don’t revolve around me, you have the garage, Leo has patients. I’m messing everything up and other people are counting on you. I don’t want to make things harder on everybody.”
Gabe drags her out from between Leo and Jacks, picking her up and carrying her over to the couch, cuddling her into his lap. Jacks gives him an irritated look, but goes back to the kitchen to finish getting dinner ready.
“Ok, first off, this isn’t your fault. You didn’t ask for this asshole to slash your tires, or break your car, or start callin’ you with his shit. So any issues that come up, are on him--not you. Second, like I said before, we want you here, we wantyou in that nest, we want to come home to you everyday. Hell, in case you haven’t noticed, Jacks is over the damned moon ‘cause he gets to feed you an’ take care of you right now.
I can try to hire more help at the garage if things don’t get better soon–if it comes to that. We own the fuckin’ thing, if we want to hire people to run it instead of working there, we will. Yes, Leo has patients, but they did just fine without him—and before we moved here—so if he can only go in to see the exotic pets, we'll work around that until this is sorted out.
You are our priority, Little Omega. I don’t rightly care about what happens to anybody outside of this room right now.” She is leaning into his chest now while he strokes her hair, her eyes sliding closed. I think that saying she’s emotionally exhausted would be an understatement at this point. I sit down next to Gabe, pulling her feet into my lap, and rubbing them through the fluffy purple socks.
“Yeah, we’re gonna need to hire some extra help anyway, Trey is looking worn out himself. Pretty sure the man needs a vacation. Hell, we could all use a little R&R.” Gabe nods to me, and I realize I just volunteered myself to be in charge of finding a couple of new mechanics…fuck.
Whatever, if it means I can spend more time here with Candice, I can do the extra work. I didn’t know how relaxing it would be just to hold her, touch her, but I know I’ve zoned out when Jacks comes over and bites me lightly on the neck.
“Dinner time, love. You ok?” I realize Gabe and Candice are no longer beside me on the couch.
Fuck…maybe I’m exhausted too.
I’ll deal with it tomorrow…tonight, food, snuggles, and sleep. In that order. I take Jacks’ hand to let him help pull me off the couch, and into a quick kiss before whispering into my ear, “Dibs on being the big spoon for my Little Lion, you can fight with Leo and Gabe for who gets her other side.” He grins like a shark and bolts from the room cackling like a madman.
I mean, I knew he was a cuddle whore, but come on. That’s just not fair.
Leo
Dinner was good, Jacks is an excellent cook, so I am not entirely surprised. It’s just that I don’t recall him bothering making comfort food before. Still, I’m not complaining.
Candice insists on helping him load the dishwasher while he hovers around, trying to figure out how to get her out of his kitchen without upsetting her. She looked like she was going to throttle Gabe earlier when he told her she would be staying with us for a few days. She’s just like a kitten, cute and cuddly but with sharppoints on five ends.
Gabe asks Xan and me to join him in the living room. He wants us to help reconfigure the office to make space for her desk. Or we need to find an alternative area for her to work in if she doesn’t want to squeeze in with the rest of us. Xan suggested we build on another room, but that would take more time than we have at the moment. I suggest that we move the bed around in the spare room and put her desk and iguana there, so she can have her own private space. The truth is that Jacks set up her nest, but she doesn’t have a private room, and everyone needs their own space.
We agree to discuss it with her later–probably tomorrow, as we’re all worn down after the events of today. Unless my Kitten is amiable to any sort of bedtime activities, then I am sure we’ll all find the energy. Right now, however, she just looks shaky and tired.
Xan suggests we all relax on the couch with a movie.
Movie night has always been an affair, as none of us enjoy the same thing. Gabe always wants something with a lot of action and explosions. Xan enjoys mysteries, Jacks likes science fiction, and I prefer romantic comedy. There are a few that fit into multiple categories, but it is always a challenge finding something we can all agree on.
Apparently, Candice enjoys British comedies and anime. So, it comes as a surprise when she suggests a movie none of us have seen before with space traveling cowboys. Jacks makes popcorn, and Candice falls asleep in Gabe’s lap within fifteen minutes of the movie starting. Which wasnotreally a surprise.
He attempts to carry her upstairs to her nest when the movie ends, but she wakes up and insists that she can do it herself. He still insists on walking behind her up the stairs in case she falls over in her half asleep state. Once in her nest she seems to forget we’re there, starting up a shower and peeling off her clothing while we’re still in the room. Jacks has already called “dibs” on snuggling next to her, and Xan can’t sleep unless he is touching Jacks, which leaves Gabe and me to throw rock-paper-scissors for who gets to sleep on her other side this evening.
While I appreciate and respect my pack leader, he always starts with rock, so it is hardly a competition before we are all relaxing comfortably in her nest, waiting for her to emerge from the shower.
Jacks is already asleep with Xan tucked around his back when she joins us in an oversized t-shirt. “Sorry, I usually sleep in nothing, but I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable.”
Xan’s head pops over Jacks’ shoulder. “Sleep in whatever you want, Pretty Lady, as long as you get some rest.”
He flops back, tugging Jacks tighter against his chest, and is snoring lightly before my little Kitten is able to settle between us, snuggling into my chest with an adorable omega purr. Gabe, mumbling about getting kicked in the face, settles at the top of the bed, hand stretched down so he can run his fingers through her hair.
I kiss the top of her head, breathing in the combined scents of my pack, her chocolate peppermint adding an extra comfortI hadn’t realized was missing. Within moments I fall into a peaceful sleep.
My first appointment isn’t until 10:30, but I always wake up at 6:30. It drives Jacks crazy because he thinks hehasto get up and make breakfast before work. I appreciate the effort, but I rarely feel like eating when I get up. Still, my internal alarm wakes me up, and for the first time in forever, I don’t feel like I need to get up and start the day. There is a tiny, soft omega snuggled up to my chest. Jacks is plastered to her back like a koala, and Xan is laying half on top of him with his arms wrapped around them both.
One of her hands is tucked to her chin, and her forehead is pressed against my chest. Both Jacks and Xan have a hand wrapped around her hips, their fingers entwined. Her other hand is over her head, using her bicep for a pillow, and Gabe is holding her wrist. They all still seem to be sound asleep, and while I rarely sleep in a puppy pile with my packmates, I can see that being in the nest together will be a regular occurrence for all of us. She already feels like our center, and she isn’t even officially a part of the pack. But I want her to be. Fuck, falling asleep near her, her scent mixing with ours, it gives me a senseof peace I didn’t even know I was missing. Like all is suddenly right with the world.
Of course that won’t happen until we get rid of the asshole that’s terrorizing her. She whines in her sleep and I look down to see my arms have tightened around her. I try to loosen them enough to keep her from being uncomfortable, but it’s difficult. I know she wants to take care of herself, but she doesn’t have to now. We want to take care of her. I’m unsure if it’s the scent match, some sort of alpha imperative, or just her, butIwant to take care of her, feed her, give her everything she could want or need. And fall asleep like this, every night, wrapped around her.
