George the cat jumped off of the bed as he heard the scraping of the spare key against metal as Heidi fitted it into the door. He padded down the stairs, meowing in excitement and hunger as his owner opened the door wide. The policemen who had visited him earlier were kind enough to pour a few scoops of food into his bowl on the table while they searched the small home for any signs of someone watching her. They had checked the perimeter for plants crushed under foot, cigarette buds, anything to suggest that somebody had been watching her home; but they had found nothing.

“Hello Georgie!” Heidi exclaimed as she picked up the cat, holding him tightly as she set the single key on the dresser by the door as Thomas shut the door behind him, looking out over the small house that would become his home. He smiled softly as Heidi apologized to her cat for leaving him alone for so long as she carried him into the kitchen.

“I’m so sorry to worry you sweet boy.” Heidi cooed as she reached up on top of the fridge, grabbing the crinkly bag of cat treats. George watched Thomas with careful eyes, weary of the new human that had crossed into his territory. Thomas waved awkwardly to the cat that stared at him from the kitchen. Heidi poured out a small handful of treats onto the table, stroking the cat’s back as she set him on his spot at the head of the table. George quickly preoccupied himself with the treats, still sure to watch Thomas as he ate.

“So, this is my house.” Heidi said holding her hands out to the rooms around her. “It’s small, but please make yourself at home. There’s food in the fridge and you can use the microwave or oven or whatever.” She said as she opened the pantry, looking at the empty shelves and a stale box of cheerios.

“Well. Maybe we’ll go to the store later.” She muttered, sighing when she remembered her purse was still in Ren’s car. She should have asked Pharaoh to bring it to her when she was in the hospital. Thomas opened the large box that Heidi had called a fridge, shocked as steam rolled out of it, hitting him with a burst of cold. The pamphlet that Miss Grey had given him on technology had gone over many common era machines such as Refrigerators, Microwaves, Cars and the like, but he wasn’t expecting it to be as cold as it was.

“Interesting.” He muttered as he looked at the different packaged foods that she had stocked in the cold box.

“There's two bathrooms, one is attached to the living room and there's another bathroom upstairs in my room.” Heidi continued as she suddenly stopped flat, looking around the house with a perplexed look on her face.

“What?” Thomas asked closing the refrigerator, watching her from across the room.

“I didn’t exactly get this place planning on two people living here.” She said as she sat down on the couch. “I don’t have a bedroom for you.”

“It’s alright. I’m good at living in small places. I can stay here.” He told her with a smile, motioning to the couch. “My family held quite a bit of land, but our house was rather quaint. It was always really busy with me, my mother and father, Mercy and our younger brother Sam.” He let out a laugh as the memories flew through his mind. “Mercy always joked that she would suffocate from sharing the air with me and Sam so we always tried sitting as close as we could to her.” Heidi watched as his jaw tightened as the memories continued.

“I don’t suppose history told you what happened to the rest of my family?” he asked quietly looking up at her hopefully. “I don’t even know if they survived the trials.”

Heidi quietly picked up her laptop from the coffee table and opened it, clicking on the google browser.

“I’m sure I can find out.” She told him as she typed in his father's name. She ran her eyes across the words, scrolling until she found the information she needed.

“They survived Thomas.” She told him with a smile, looking up from the screen. “It says here that both your mom and sister were released. Your mother eventually passed away about 10 years later, and your brother ended up suing the colony and gained compensation for you and your father’s death.”

Thomas let out a quick laugh hearing that his brother sued the colony, once again shaking his head. “He would.”

A rapid knock at the door made both Heidi and Thomas jump in their skin. Heidi stood from the couch and crossed the room with Thomas at her heels as the knocking on the door continued. Heidi opened the door, gasping as a small red headed woman barreled in, wrapping Heidi in her arms as she sobbed.

“Oh Heidi! My little baby girl Heidi!” She sobbed as she hugged her tightly.

“Mom?!” Heidi exclaimed in shock as she awkwardly attempted to return her mother’s hug, finding it rather difficult to hug her when her arms were pinned by her side. Heidi looked up to Thomas in confusion who just smiled as he buried his hands in his pockets.

“Oh Maxwell, she’s ok.” Heidi’s mother sobbed looking back to a tall thin man with glasses who quickly walked up the walkway, pocketing the keys to the car that sat in the street.

“June, don’t suffocate the girl.” He said as his voice broke as he looked at his daughter. “I’m so glad you’re ok sweetheart.”

Heidi’s mother released her daughter from her grasp and allowed her daughter to hug her father. She had to stand on the tips of her toes in order to wrap her arms around his neck.

“We came as soon as the police called us.” He said as Heidi released him, stepping back. “We feared the worst.” He whispered.

“Is this Thomas?” June asked, looking to the tall boy who stood leaning in the doorway. “Are you the boy who saved my baby girl?” She asked, quickly embracing him in a hug just as tight as the one that her daughter had received moments ago.

“Yes, mom, dad, this is Thomas.” Heidi said as she wiped small tears away from her eyes. “He is my Familiar.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr and Mrs. Butler.” Thomas said as June released him from her grasp.

“Come on, let’s all get out of the yard.” June said as she shivered as the wind blew, filing everyone towards the door to the small house. “We’ll all catch our death of cold.”

Inside, George ran up the stairs, afraid of the sudden burst of noise and strangers into his household. June sat on the couch with Heidi as Maxwell inspected the door and the windows, complaining that she needed to update her locks. Thomas smiled to himself as he found himself surrounded by family, even if it wasn’t his.

“Oh Maxwell, quit messing with the blasted windows, she needs pepper spray, not a new deadbolt.” June fussed as she looked around the small living room.

“This is such a cute little place Heidi, but will it be big enough for the both of you?” She asked, looking back to her daughter. “It’s just a one bedroom isn’t it? Where will Thomas sleep?”

“Oh, I can just stay on the couch.” Thomas assured them.

“Nonsense.” June said waving a hand at him. “Heidi, I’ll call your landlord tomorrow and tell him what has happened, I’m sure he’ll understand, you need a bigger place. Tomorrow we will go out and shop around for a new house.”

Heidi sighed as she leaned back on the couch. She knew better than to argue with her mother. She just didn’t want to go through the extensive process of moving.

“I missed you mom.” She said quietly. “I missed the both of you.”

“We missed you too sweetheart.” Maxwell said with a smile.

That night, Maxwell and June climbed back into their car as they returned to their hotel. Heidi waved with a soft smile on her face as she watched the red tail lights grow smaller in the dark as the car drove away. She shut the door, sure to slide the deadbolt into place as her father had instructed.

“I like your parents.” Thomas told her as he stretched out on the couch, tired from all the excitement.

“Yeah, they are pretty great.” She said with a smile, sitting down next to him, smiling when George jumped up into her lap. “I hate that they were worried though.”

“I’d be concerned if they weren’t.” Thomas said with a smile. He looked up at the door as once again a knock sounded through the living room.

“I wonder if dad forgot his glasses again.” Heidi pondered as she stood, looking around for them as she opened the door. To her surprise, it wasn’t her father who stood in front of her.

“Ren?”

On her doorstep stood a very tired looking Ren. Dark circles were apparent under his eyes, giving the impression that he didn’t get any sleep over the past two days. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw her and leaned forward, wrapping his arms around her. Heidi’s face turned bright red as she returned his hug.

“Ren? Do you want to come inside?” She asked softly, leading him inside as he nodded his head.

She shut the door behind them as she led him inside. Thomas quickly sat up and rose to his feet as Heidi entered the room with Ren following close behind.

“Thomas, this is Ren. He’s Pharaoh’s Ward.” She said introducing the two. Ren looked up to Thomas, offering a forced smile and a little wave. Thomas did the same.

“I brought you your bag.” Ren said quietly as he held up her purse, smiling weakly.

Heidi smiled as he sat on the couch, setting her bag on the coffee table quietly. Heidi sat next to him, pulling the purse towards her as she poured the contents out on the table, sifting through it as she looked for her phone. She pressed her lips together in frustration when she found it missing from the purse.

“Heidi I’m so sorry.” Ren said quietly, keeping his gaze down at his feet. She looked up to him as she glanced across the room to where Thomas stood, silently asking him what she should say, he simply shrugged.

“You know that this was not your fault.” Thomas said as Heidi continued. “He’s right, there’s nothing that you could have done. We didn’t know that this was going to happen. There's always going to be variables that could have changed something, but it isn’t anyone’s fault that it happened.”

Ren pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes as he let out a deep sigh.

“I know.” He said quietly. The three of them sat there quietly for a moment before the silence finally got to Heidi. She stood crossing the room into the small kitchen that connected to the living room and filled a kettle with water and set it on the stove, turning the element eye on high.

“Would you like some tea?” She asked as she poked her head out into the living room. Thomas offered his Ward a smile as he nodded and then looked over to Ren who still sat on the couch.

“Um, no, I should be going soon. I just needed to come by and make sure you were really ok.” He said quietly as he stood, walking into the kitchen where Heidi stood.

“I’m so glad that you’re ok.” He said quietly. Heidi couldn’t help but smile as she looked up at the tall boy that she had met only a week before.

“Ren.” Heidi started quietly as her nerves made her stomach flip. “Before all this happened, when we were still out on the porch, you asked me if I wanted to be together with you.” She bit her lip as she met his eyes, watching him closely. “Does your question still stand?”

Ren looked down at Heidi with wide eyes, shocked that she had remembered his question after everything that she had been through.

“Um. Let's give everything some time to settle down before we talk about this.” He said quietly. “I really do need to go. Pharaoh is at home all pissy, I should get back to him before he does anything stupid.”

“Oh ok.” Heidi said quietly looking down at her feet. Ren let out a sigh as he looked from Heidi to the door, letting on that he felt bad about leaving her like this.

“We’ll talk soon.” He assured her quietly as he wrapped his arms around her again, pulling her into his embrace. “I can’t tell you how glad I am to know that you’re alright”

It wasn’t long after that Ren left, once again leaving Thomas and Heidi alone in her small home.

“I’m not going to pretend like that wasn’t awkward.” Thomas said as Heidi sat down on the couch, pulling a blanket up over her legs. “Do you two have some sort of history?”

“Not really.” She said quietly. “We’ve only known each other for a short while, but I was with him the night I was taken. He kissed me not twenty minutes before.”

“Oh, I see.” Thomas said quietly. “I can see why he would be so rattled then.” He watched as Heidi let out a yawn, hinting at her exhaustion.

“You should go to bed soon. You’ve had a long day.” He instructed.

“I think you’re right.” She said as she stood from the couch, clutching onto the blanket. She looked up to the stairs that would lead her upstairs to her room and hesitated as the wind outside blew against her window, making it rattle in it’s pane.

“Thomas?” She asked quietly. “If it isn’t too much to ask, could you stay in my room with me tonight?” She asked quietly. “I don’t want to be alone just yet.”

Thomas smiled at his Ward softly as he stood from the armchair, crossing the room to the stairs.

“Of course I will.” He said quietly, climbing the stairs with Heidi following close behind. Heidi fished piles of blankets from the closet, quickly making a soft pallet for Thomas to sleep on, topping it off with a pillow from her bed.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to get you your own room soon.” She said apologetically.

“Don’t worry, this is fine.” He assured her as he sat down on the pile of soft blankets. “Just rest soundly. I wont leave your side.” He promised her. Heidi sighed, thankful to have Thomas here with her. She crawled into bed and pulled the blankets up as she leaned over, flipping off the light.

“Good night Thomas.”

“Good night Heidi.”