Page 16 of His to Take

“Hold still, dammit, Ann! Stop fucking around.”

“NO!” she finally screamed, and then screamed her father’s name, as loud as she could.

The sound of running feet and the door opening came just as Rex jumped off of her and stood with his arms crossed over his chest. “It’s alright, she thought she saw a rat.”

“What?” John huffed out and looked at Ann, now sitting up on the table, her face in her hands.

She didn’t want her father to be angry at him, surely it was just a reckless moment, a second of madness that had made him act like that. She screwed up her face and wouldn’t look at her father as she confirmed Rex’s lie.

“It was just a shadow, but I thought it might be a rat. Aren’t rats and cockroaches supposed to be the only things that would survive this kind of stuff?” She even managed to huff out something like a chuckle at the end, but she wouldn’t meet anyone’s eye. She couldn’t.

“Ann, are you alright?” Mary rushed past John and Stephan to push Rex out of her way.

Mary took Ann’s face in her hands and looked her daughter over. Ann couldn’t hide the tears in her eyes and brushed them away with a rueful laugh. “It was just me being silly, Mom. Nothing to worry over.”

Mary’s eyes slid slightly in the direction of Rex and then came back to Ann. She turned then and told the men to go back to whatever they’d been doing. She wanted to talk to Ann alone. The men left and closed the door behind them quietly.

When she was certain they were alone, Mary pulled up the utility chair the doctor would have sat in while he examined his patients. Now beside her daughter, she looked up and took the young woman’s hands.

“Tell me if he’s bothering you, Ann.”

“It wasn’t that, Mom. It was a rat,” she started but stopped when she saw the look on her Mom’s face.

“You’ve never been afraid of animals or insects, Ann. Tell me. Is Rex bothering you?”

“Mom, you know I’ve had a crush on him my whole life. It’s normal, isn’t it? Besides, we’re the only people our age that might be alive. The only people we’ve met so far are two old ladies, a little boy, and some soldiers we saw. He might be my only chance to have a husband and family.”

“That doesn’t mean he gets to do what he wants with you!” Mary spat out, anger in her voice, but not directed at her daughter. “Ann, I know you were sheltered down in that bunker, but you know what sex is, right?”

“Mom!” Ann shot out, indignation laced the word. “Of course, I do, but really. I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Ann, if he’s trying to make you have sex, then it’s wrong. Even if he is the only man your age left on the planet, you shouldn’t be forced to do anything with him that you don’t want to do.”

“It’s not like that…” she tried to say, but her Mom was right. “He’s changed since we left the bunker.”

“He has. I know. He was always a little pri…, um, I mean always kind of arrogant. No, I take that back, he was always a little prick to you, but you adored him, so I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want you to be mad at me. But now? If he’s trying to make you have sex with him, honey, that’s wrong. That’s not love or anything like it.”

“Maybe I should think of it as an arranged marriage, now that he’s paying attention to me,” she said with a soft laugh, to try to ease her mother’s mind. “I know him, grew up with him. It’s better than the alternative of being alone and not having children.”

“Oh, honey, that’s not what I wanted at all for you in this life. I wanted so much for you.” Her tone was wistful and laced with sadness. “I wanted you to get your bachelor’s degree, and have a career, find out who you are, before you got married and settled down. Your dad and I were young when we got married and had you, but we knew who we were. We wanted you and the life we were building. I wanted the same for you. Not this… bullshit we’ve ended up with.”

Ann could remember, years ago, before the end of the world came along, how her mother would sometimes swear, but she’d always cringed when she did it. Now, she didn’t cringe at all. Anger at fate, at this new world, had changed them all, and Ann had the feeling her normally quiet, introverted mother was suddenly becoming someone much more demanding and in control.

“What do you think I should do, then, Mom?” Ann asked, unsure.

She’d never had a boyfriend, and she’d never been kissed, not until Rex kissed her. Her only example of male-female relations was what she’d witnessed before they’d gone in the bunker, and what she’d seen from the two sets of parents she’d been cooped up with. Both seemed to be built on trust and respect, something she and Rex lacked.

“If you want to take your chances, and settle for Rex, I think you’ll have to grow one major backbone, and use a baseball bat on him. Failing that, you’ll have to rely on your father and me to keep him in line. And I suspect his own parents. Amanda and Stephan won’t let him treat you badly.”

“I hope not. I’m so confused, Mom. I really don’t know what to do.”

“The thing you’re forgetting here, Ann, is that you don’t have to do anything. You can put him off, tell him no and to fuck off, or you can agree to what he wants. Either way, the choice is yours. I’d say, for now, put him off until you know for sure what you want. It’s not like he has any other choice.”

“You’re right,” she said, with a real smile this time. “I just wish he’d back off a little bit.”

Ann started to speak, to say more now that they were having this rather frank discussion, but she stopped. She wanted to talk to her Mom about the dreams, but something held her back. Something told her she wasn’t supposed to say a word about the man that came to her every single night in those dreams she had.

“I’m glad you came to talk to me, Mom. I still don’t know what I want to do, but I feel better now. Not so alone.” She pulled her mom up from the chair and the two cuddled together on their sides, spoon fashion, on the tiny padded table. They hadn’t done that in a long time.

It felt nice to wrap herself around her mom. When she was younger, her mom would wrap around her much smaller daughter. Ann had always felt protected then, cocooned from the world and safely tucked away. Now, she realized her own strength and abilities. Cuddling with her mom drove home the point that she was an adult now, and she had to stand up for herself. Not just where Rex was concerned but in all facets of her life.

“You are a strong person, Ann. You always have been, baby. Don’t let some stupid boy, because that’s all he is still, a little boy no more mature than poor little Ricardo, drag you down. There’s a whole world out there waiting for you to discover it. Don’t settle for the first thing that comes along, my dear. Stay strong and find your true happiness.”

Ann agreed with her mother, up to a point. She had to be sensible, strong, and logical to make it in this new world. They still didn’t know a lot about what had caused the thawing, or the air to clear up, but she knew it was something major. And maybe, just maybe, there was something more for her out there than Rex had to offer. Maybe.