Home Sweet Home

[Saccharin]

Continued from Awkward Requests

=====

The car ride had been painfully boring, but she wasn\'t going to complain. Since they\'d  barely spoken to each other on the way to her home, there hadn\'t been much risk of anyone angering Sable into transforming before the next full moon. She knew she was being overly careful, but until she had a firm grasp of her fellow werewolf\'s personality, she wasn\'t about to go out of her way to agitate him.

After parking her car, Carrie led them through a gate and down the cobblestone pathway that led to her front door. "Here we are," she announced needlessly. She patted her sides, quickly discovering the pocket she\'d shoved her keys into and then opened the door for Dominik and Sable.

"You can put your stuff by the door for now, unless you want to go ahead and take a look at your room." She hovered near Sable, keys still dangling from her fingers. "Oh! Before I forget-" Carrie worked at the silver ring and then pulled from it a spare house key that she held out for Sable. "You should probably have this."

She stole a glance at Dominik, a very tiny smile playing at her lips. It wasn\'t the first man she\'d given a copy of her house key, but the reason for doing so this time was very different.

[pinkroses]

Dom hung back as Carrie led Sable into the house, not wanting to crowd the boy but wanting to be able to gauge his reactions to all of this. The young man’s dark eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the house before him - it was gorgeous. It looked expensive. It looked like it was most definitely not designed for people like him.

Sable had been in dozens of homes over the years, homes which were full of screaming kids, owned by people who took them in to top up their pay cheques, and the occasional couple of really wanted to help but who looked down on foster children and who would never really trust a boy like him.

So when Carrie held out a key just after Sable had put down his bag by the door, his shocked expression turned her way. A tiny frown of confusion crossed his face as he studied the key and after a moment’s hesitation he reached out to take it.

“You… actually want me to have this?” he asked warily, turning the fingers between his fingers. The shifter behind him raised an eyebrow, catching the look Carrie gave him and giving her a reassuring smile in return.

“You two will have a lot to talk about, I’m sure, and Sable, you should probably get some rest. Carrie, could I just…” Dom said, his voice trailing off as he tilted his head towards the front door, wanting to have a quick word with her in private. The shifter led Carrie outside once more, leaving Sable still playing with the key and gazing around the huge room wide eyed.

The shifter shut the door behind them and then gently kissed Carrie’s lips, a hand settling on her waist.

“You will do brilliantly, I know. Just… try not to tell him too much more about the other things in the city. Not straight away at least,” he added, lifting a hand to stroke through her hair. “Let me know if you need anything,” he added, brushing another kiss across her mouth before stepping back into the house.

“Sable,” Dom said, stepping towards the youth who was now perched on the very edge of the piano stool - the sofas had seemed a little intimidating and too… clean. Sable looked up sharply, his injured arm still pressed tightly to his side and the other hand cradling the key in his lap. He’d brought his bag with him and it was now by his feet.

“I have to go now, but Carrie is going to be here. And here’s my card if you need anything. Don’t hesitate to call me,” he said, holding out the card to Sable who took it gingerly, giving a small nod. He had no intention of ever calling the huge man, whatever he was, but he wasn’t about to say that after the way Dom had treated him before.

“Goodbye now, Sable, Carrie,” Dom said, turning to give Carrie a last smile before heading out to leave the two alone.

“This is a nice place,” Sable said quietly once the door shut behind Dominik, his eyes still cast downwards.

[Saccharin]

After locking the door behind Dominik, she threw her keys in a bowl on a small stand nearby and took a few steps into the living room. The growing list of things she needed to do for Sable was overwhelming, but it was doable. She just needed to take things one step at a time.

She\'d opened her mouth to urge him to his feet so she could show him his room, but stopped short when he complimented her home. "Thank you," she said, a touch surprised. Carrie regarded him with her head tilted to the side and as she took in his demeanor and general appearance, she grappled with the idea that not only was Sable incredibly young, he was young enough to be hers.

Mathematically, anyway.

Her throat was tight when she spoke again. "I can show you your room now if you want."

[pinkroses]

Well, there were words he never thought he would have to hear in a context like this. I can show you your room. He didn’t want to be shown to a room. Sable wanted to go back to his own apartment, crappy as it had been. He didn’t want to be hurting like this, he didn’t want to have to wonder if what they had told him was true or not. Was he really a werewolf now? It still sounded like a ridiculous question to be asking himself. And he’d caught the changee in her voice and although he didn’t know for sure, he could guess reasons behind it. She didn’t want him here. Not really. He was just going to mess up her beautiful house and life.

“Sure,” Sable murmured, standing up and scooping up his bag with his left hand after shoving Dom’s card inside. “You really believe all this? That I’m… and you’re… like, fictional creatures?” he asked as he followed after her.

[Saccharin]

Carrie led him to a door near the kitchen that opened to reveal a set of stairs. "Careful," she said, going down first in case Sable took a stumble. She was smaller than he was, but she might be able to stop him if he did fall. If anything, she could soften the fall.

Once they reached the bottom (without incident, thankfully), they were engulfed by a largely empty recreation room. "I keep meaning to get a pool table down here," she mused. "Or maybe I could get some sort of entertainment system set up for you. With games and whatnot."

It wasn\'t until they reached the guest suite that she gathered herself to answer his question. "I do believe, yes," she replied, moving past the plush queen size bed covered in a dark green comforter to the nearby window. "I don\'t know if it\'s the same for everyone, but every month after the change, I remember... things. Snippets. Little pieces of what I did. It comes back like a dream, but I remember."

She pulled the curtain aside and stared into the night, wishing sunlight was streaming through instead.

"Since they put us in contained rooms, it\'s never anything too exciting, but it\'s not you. When you get upset, you\'ll feel it. This thing is just sitting there. Watching. Waiting. If you get at all close to what it is... If you get angry or upset or scared, it starts pushing its way through." Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she continued."If you can\'t control it, they\'ll kill you, Sable. It\'s what they did to the man that turned and attacked you." She frowned. "I guess they want to keep population growth stagnant."

[pinkroses]

Sable gave a tiny nod at her instruction and gingerly followed her down the stairs, leaning against the wall a little as he went, each step jarring his chest.

“Yeah?” he murmured as she spoke about pool tables and entertainment systems. He’d never really played on anything like that before so couldn’t find himself getting excited about it. He didn’t want her spending money on him when he had no intention of staying past the next full moon.

Sable was more interested in hearing her talk about becoming a werewolf - on how much they’d come up with if this was the crap he thought it was. As she began to speak Sable moved to the bed, trailing his fingers over it before sitting down carefully, dropping his bag by the foot of it and slipping off the coat Dom had given him. All of this was more luxurious than anything he’d ever known. The bed was huge, and it looked so comfortable. He was exhausted and just lying down and passing out sounded wonderful, but right now he needed to hear what she was saying.

Being locked up overnight? Being watched constantly? Having to move into this place? And what she was saying was making him steadily more scared of himself. What if she was telling the truth? What if he lost his temper, turned into… something… and then they…

“They killed him,” Sable said quietly. He hadn’t really wanted to think about the thing that had attacked him, but he’d heard how suddenly it had become silent as he’d been bundled into the car. And that sound, snarling, ripping.

“Who are they? Maybe that thing attacked me, but even if it was an animal, or whatever, how do they think they can do that? Who the Hell is he? And where was that place we were?” Sable asked, looking up at her with a frown, his voice getting stronger as he went on and his fingers curling around the green comforter.

[Saccharin]

Between the bed and the doorway that led to the adjoining bathroom was a buttery soft brown leather chair pushed against the wall. While Sable had been asking his questions, she\'d moved to sit there.

"The Oligarchy," she said. "Dominik is a member. They own the building we were in. It\'s a sort of headquarters, by what I\'ve been able to tell. There are offices, conference rooms and security guards." Carrie pulled the elastic band from her hair and combed her fingers through it, straightening the long strands as she went.

"The difference between it and any other business is that they\'re keeping track of people like us... making sure we come in every month so we don\'t spread the curse." They kept track of all sorts of beings, she knew, but Dominik had made it clear more than once that she wasn\'t to volunteer any information to Sable unless it was absolutely vital.

"And they can do what they did because-" Her hand fell away from her head. "I\'ve never really thought about it," she admitted. "It\'s just the way it is, you know?"

[pinkroses]

“Just the way it is? Right. Sure, whatever,” Sable said, shaking his head. That was typical. All he wanted was a straight answer and either no one knew or they were refusing to tell him. If Dominik was a member of the Oligarchy, whatever that was, then there were more of them. All just controlling werewolves? No, this still wasn’t all clicking right but he doubted he was going to get any better answers.

“Look… I think…” Sable’s voice trailed off and he shook his head slightly, “Please could I see the rest of the house?” he asked, deciding that a change of subject might make this go better.

[Saccharin]

Carrie didn\'t blame him; she wouldn\'t believe what she was saying either if she\'d been in his position, but that didn\'t mean the dismissive way he greeted her explanations was something she enjoyed. She sighed and pulled her hair up again.

"You should get some sleep," she suggested instead. "It\'s probably been long enough that you\'re due for another pain pill." The woman stood and smiled, her unnaturally white teeth flashing briefly. "Afterward, I can give you the grand tour."

She glanced at the door next to the chair she\'d been sitting on. "Bathroom is through that door. If you\'re hungry, let me know. I can order something while you\'re resting."

[pinkroses]

Sable frowned at her suggestion - she was smiling so brightly and he was beautiful when she did that, but when it was coupled with a rejection of his idea it didn’t seem as appealing an image.

“Maybe you’re right,” he murmured, shoving a hand into his pocket and pulling out his packet of tablets, flinching as he was too enthusiastic about the movement and jarred his injured shoulder.

“I ate at the… the Oli..gratchy place, whatever it’s called. They gave me food after they did my shoulder and chest,,” he said, gesturing slightly to his chest and then running a hand uncomfortably through his hair.

“You’re probably right, I am pretty tired,” he added, sounding defeated. Right now he was in no mood to argue. He was frustrated, in pain and confused and in a place he didn’t know, otherwise he would have been putting up more of a fight. It just didn’t seem worth it right now though.

Sable stood up again, opening his bag and beginning to rummage through it, pulling out a toothbrush and after a few seconds later a tube of toothpaste appeared too, both clearly the cheapest you could buy.

He popped one of the pills into his mouth, swallowing it down dry before glancing towards Carrie again.

"Where will you be? If... anything happens?" he asked quietly.

[Saccharin]

She winced in sympathy when he jostled his arm. Apparently, whoever had bandaged him up hadn\'t bothered giving him a sling. To her list she added searching for her old sling - with a little adjusting, it would probably fit him.

The part of her mind observing her thoughts as they flitted by was surprised at the concern she felt for Sable. He\'d been in her home for barely an hour and there she was, going out of her way to ensure he had every need provided for. She tried to reason it away by telling herself she was simply taking the best care of her guest that she could, but when she looked at him, she felt her heart break a little. More than anything, she wanted to make him feel better about the situation he was in; she wanted to hug him, smooth his hair and let him know everything would be okay.

Carrie knew if acted on that impulse she\'d only confirm any suspicions he might have that she was a crazy lady, so she held back.

Barely.

"I\'ll be in my office. It\'s on the second floor, first door on the right," she said, smiling in what she hoped to be a comforting manner. "If you need anything... Even if it\'s just to talk, I\'ll be up there. Until I start falling asleep over my paperwork and then drag myself off to bed, at least."

[pinkroses]

As Carrie was considering finding him a sling Sable was starting to wish he hadn’t rejected the one offered to him at the Oligarchy. It was too late now though and he wasn’t going to admit outloud he’d been wrong.

“Okay, well… I… uh… this is still weird… all of this… but thank you. This place is… it’s better than sleeping on the floor,” Sable said, playing with his toothbrush and not quite making eye contact with Carrie as he shuffled his feet on the carpet. He hated the reason why he was here and still wasn’t convinced that anything they had said was true, but it looked like tonight he would be warm and comfortable - apart from his injuries. He’d never really been taken care of like this before and it was a little overwhelming, which was why his compliment of the room could have sounded a little back handed.

He wanted to follow up on what she\'d said by asking where her room was, or what she did for work, but right now probably wasn\'t the best time to go into that.

[Saccharin]

"You\'re welcome," she said, and left it at that. If she\'d agreed that her home was better than his, he\'d feel awful, and if she denied that it was true, he\'d think her a liar. Focusing on his gratitude was just safer.

"Goodnight, Sable," she said, edging her way out of the room. With a waggle of her fingers, she waved at him and then shut the door behind her. While she wanted to remain and talk with him, it didn\'t make sense to keep a wounded young man up and about when he could be resting. There would be plenty of opportunities in the future for them to chat.

=====

Over the years, she\'d found that doing the menial tasks any other sane person would hire someone else to do was the best cure to insomnia there was. Rather than take medicine she stood a good chance of becoming addicted to, she pored over spreadsheets and reports until she grew tired enough to sleep.

No more than an hour after she\'d left Sable to his own devices, she shuffled from her office to her room across the hall. She drowsily changed into her pajamas (not something she typically bothered with, but she reasoned it would be unwise to sleep nude with Sable in the house), got into bed and pulled the covers to her chin.

With a soft curse, she tossed the covers off and then climbed out of bed. She\'d left the light on and her door open. After closing the door, she flipped the light switch, but didn\'t immediately retreat to her nest of down covers and fluffy pillows. She wanted to make sure Sable could find her if he absolutely needed to before morning.

Carrie cracked the door and then made her way back to bed.

[pinkroses]

Sable gave Carrie a tiny nod as she bid him goodnight, but stayed quiet as she left him alone, glad that she had shut the door behind her. He took a deep breath once her footsteps faded, tipping his head back and willing himself to relax, but it wasn’t working. None of this made any sense and he was in pain and uncomfortable, none of this made for a happy Sable.

The teenager gingerly pulled off his t-shirt and shuck off his jeans before pulling on his pyjamas. He’d always lived in other people’s homes, usually in shared rooms, so he never considered sleeping naked. His bottoms were soft, but obviously well worn and too short for the boy - he could remember them dragging under his feet when he’s first had them, now they showed off his ankles and settled low on his hips. He took a moment to wander into the bathroom, brushing his teeth before letting himself eye up his injuries. The stitches were covered by thick, clean bandages - well, they had been clean, now there were some signs of blood seeping through but Sable didn’t want to remove them to examine them more closely - although he did pick at the edge of the one on his chest before deciding it was stuck on securely enough that he didn’t want to pull it off. He could remember clearly the shape of the scratch marks on his chest though, claw marks, and the teeth which had clamped down on his shoulder, which had felt like they had gone right to the bone when it had been done.

Sable suddenly felt himself shaking and he backed up against the wall, slumping down to the cold tiled floor of the bathroom, his energy completely sapped. His body was shaking and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He had been attacked, he could have been killed, and now he was here, in a stranger’s home and if what they had said was true, he would be turning into a monster at the next full moon. Or if he ever lost his temper. Fuck.

His eyes slid shut and Sable rested his head back against the wall - staying still for almost half an hour before he felt calm enough to be able to stand up again without his legs given way underneath him. Still from sitting on the cold floor Sable heaved himself up and stumbled through into the bedroom, leaving on the bedside light as he collapsed into bed after pulling on a t-shirt he usually slept in. He usually curled up on his side, but with his shoulder and chest hurting he couldn’t make himself comfortable so ended up sprawled on his back, his dark eyes shutting and sleep coming almost instantly.

Despite falling asleep quickly, it wasn’t a restful slumber. He tossed and turned, sweating and whimpering as he was chased through his dreams by monsters, dark creatures with glowing eyes, huge teeth, harp claws. Suddenly then he was turning to face it, then transforming himself. He was becoming a creature, a werewolf, his body was changing shape and he didn’t even recognise himself in his mind’s eye. There were people there, people he knew in the homes, Carrie cowering away from him in fear. Suddenly he lunged at her throat and Sable woke up suddenly, jerking upright, his cheeks pink and his breathing heavy. The teen had managed to kick off his covers completely and twisted around somehow - his pillow was on the floor. Sable lifted a hand to dash away tears from his eyes and glanced around to try to find a drink but there was nothing there. Unwilling to go back to sleep yet Sable clambered out of bed, scooping up his pillow and tossing it onto the bed before padding barefoot out of the bedroom and venturing up the stairs. He felt stiff and sore, but felt more comfortable moving around than just lying still.

The boy found the kitchen in the dark and after a little rummaging around located a mug to get some water. As he rinsed out the mug Sable found his hands were still shaking and after a second leaning over the sink he silently made his way upstairs, finding Carrie’s bedroom.

He knocked quietly on the partly open door, then knocked a little louder as he looked inside.

“Miss… Miss Jones?” Sable said, hoping Carrie would wake up easily. He felt guilty about waking her up, but the idea of going back to that room alone right now and being left alone with his thoughts just sounds horrible. He sidled into the room, lifting a hand to run through his messy black hair, lifting up his already too short t-shirt to show off a little of his toned stomach.

“How… how do you do this?” he asked quietly once he saw her eyes open, his voice breaking a little on the last word, still feeling shaky, his dark eyes filled with worry. “I don’t think I can.”

[Saccharin]

"Sable?" Groggily, she reached out to turn on the lamp next to her bed, but her aim was off and it teetered wildly on her nightstand. Seconds too late, she grabbed at the lamp\'s base, but gravity had already taken over and it fell to the floor.

With a very unladylike grunt, Carrie leaned over to pull the lamp back onto the table. After straightening the drunkenly askew lampshade, she flicked a knob at its base and was rendered momentarily blind when the bulb flickered on. Blinking, she sat up in bed and tried to force her brain into responding to Sable.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Her typically smoky voice had been made even more so while sleeping and she cleared her throat before speaking again. "How do I do what?"