Mouse
Mouse smiled slightly as she looked at Taylor, then picked up her mobile phone.
She'd check her messages, then ring Priss...
Mouse put the phone to her ear and listened to the message from the Eye. Her face grew steadily whiter and she started to shake.
Fafnir pressed up against her legs, whining anxiously as Mouse slowly slipped to the floor.
Pack? Pack, what is it?
His ears went back and he whimpered as she hit him with her fear by accident.
Taylor
Taylor's look instantly turned to one of worry.
"It's the Eye, isn't it?" his voice shook slightly, as he followed her to the ground.
He made sure she didn't hurt herself.
"Jane? Talk to me..."
Mouse
Mouse curled up to him, shaking not saying a word. Her terror was too great. What the Eye had said...she felt her world, what she believed, rock on its foundations. She drew a shuddering breath, trying to will herself out of the sprialling shock she could feel overwhelming her.
Fafnir tried to provide comfort in the ways he knew.
Damn it, he needed Nevyn. The rat had always known how to bring her out of funks...
Taylor
"Jane? Jane? Come on..."
Taylor shook his head and hugged her to him.
"Come on, you know what this does to me. Was it him? Come on..."
He kissed her forehead.
"Tell me, please."
Mouse
Mouse opened her mouth to try and speak, then shook her head, swallowing hard.
Pack...
Fafnir was getting seriously worried. This was leading to the black out and screaming nightmare stage.
Mouse. Snap out of it. Please.
He whined slightly, then nosed her limp hand. He hesitated for a moment then bit down.
Mouse yelped in shock and pain, and he let go.
Back now?
"Yeah..."
She shivered again.
"It was him."
Taylor
"I'd figured that already..." Taylor looked her up and down, worry at a peak.
"What... what did he say? He didn't... Is he in Tulsa?"
Mouse
"He didn't say anything about where he was..."
Mouse closed her eyes tiredly.
"Just stuff...about my parents. And fate..."
Taylor
Taylor hesitated, looking up at the window.
"What about your parents? What did... he say?"
He gulped, suddenly feeling even more worried. In a different way.
Mouse
"That they worked for him..."
Mouse bit her lip.
"Stuff about how things could have turned out differently...if they hadn't stopped working for him."
Taylor
"Oh Jane..."
Taylor bit his lip, holding the tears back.
"He could be lying. Just to get this reaction..."
Mouse
"I don't think he was..." Mouse said in a whisper.
"Still going to kill him if I can."
Taylor
Taylor gulped. Keeping one hand around her, he moved some hair otu of her face and kissed her forehead again.
He tried to hold back the feeling of guilt he knew was building in his chest. Not now, not now...
"And I don't blame you."
MOuse
Mouse closed her eyes.
"I don't know how much more of this I can take..."
The yawning pit of depression opened up before her again and she firmly shoved it away.
Taylor
"Hey, hey... We're here, ok? We're surviving. Isn't that what you used to say was important?"
Taylor shifted back a little so he could look down into her eyes.
"We have a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, and we have a lot of people willing to support us through whatever might happen. We're not alone."
Mouse
"S'true...I'm just so tired of this, Tay. So very, very tired..."
Mouse sighed slightly.
"I hated not knowing where you were...or what was going on."
Taylor
"And I hated knowing that was what I was doing to you," Taylor couldn't stop a couple of tears welling in his left eye.
"And I'm tired of it too. I just want... I just want everything to be normal again. EVerything would just be... perfect if the EYe and Blakesley had never interfered."
MOuse
Mouse lifted her head and kissed him gently, using one hand to wipe the tears away.
"I love you. Nothing can change what has happened...all that is left is to build with what we have."
Taylor
Taylor smiled and kissed her again.
"Couldn't have put it better myself."
He rested his forehead against hers for a moment and sighed.
"If only we knew they were out of the way for good."
Mouse
"Oui..."
Mouse almost smiled at him, corner of her mouth lifting slightly.
"But cockroaches just have this knack for survival."
Taylor
"Maybe we need to find a really big shoe," Taylor smiled slightly.
"But I wouldn't say that about cockroahes. They are actually really nice insects when you get to know a few."
He shook the hair out of his eyes.
"But I guess they're not really the kind of... you've only talked to mammals and birds, haven't you?"
MOuse
"More or less," Mouse said.
"Mainly predators at that...it's hard to make nice with the prey, when you know one of your friends wants to eat them."
Taylor
Taylor smiled, just not seeing a funny side.
"I talk to anything that talks back," he kissed her forehead again, "for example, we're being spied on at the moment by a couple of newcomers. They don't know I have tongue."
He looked up.
"There's a couple of mice in the roof."
MOuse
"Good thing there isn't a cat here then," Mouse said dryly.
"Otherwise they'd be hunted...long as they stay in the roof, Faf won't get them neither."
Taylor
Taylor frowned a little, then shifted so he was sitting back against the wall.
"I'm surprised you haven't noticed yet..." he began softly.
He looked up at the roof, then down again.
"No animals get hunted on this property by any animals in the vicinity. We've been living here for a very long time," he glanced at her, "and I know all the animals in the neighbourhood, and a lot of the strays that come around. They know I hate it when anything dies."
Mouse
"I've been kinda...blank for a bit," Mouse said.
She shook her head slightly.
"Faf hunts away from here...but if the opportunity presents itself..."
Taylor
"I hold Fafnir as a bit of an exception. It's hard to get through to wolves of any kind."
Taylor hesitated, then sighed.
"But I do have my favourites, and if I find any of them dead my him... I don't know what I'll do, but it won't be fun."
MOuse
"You're his alpha. Use that. I do," Mouse said.
She weighed her mobile in her hand thoughtfully, looking at it.
"Should I tell someone that the Eye contacted me?"
Taylor
"I don't think it'd hurt," Taylor raised an eyebrow.
He hesitated for a moment, running his fingers through her hair.
"Dad might be best choice."
Mouse
"Yeah..."
Mouse bit her lip.
"The message is still on there...I didn't delete it. Maybe some technokinetic can trace it?"
Taylor
"This is Craig Morrison we're talking about here," Taylor frowned slightly.
"He'd have worked it out. He probably called from a cell phone or phone box or something."
MOuse
"Also true...but still. Any chance he slipped up is one we gotta grab. Let's go find your dad."
Mouse looked at him.
"Give me a bit of a hand up here?"
Taylor
"Of course."
Taylor kissed her forehead again, then stood.
He helped her up, and gave her another hug.
"Don't worry too much, ok? You'll strees the babies out."
Mouse
"I know. I try not to..."
Mouse shrugged slightly and rubbed her hand over her stomach.
"Sometimes I can't help it. I'm just glad you're back."