Part of the Pack

She woke up on the couch, the only furniture she had, and literally rolled off onto the floor with an "Oof!" groaning she pushed herself up and stumbled into the bathroom, after her morning routine she changed and pulled her hair back up in a messy bun. She wore a blue stripped shirt and jeans with a hole in the right knee. Grabbing her jacket she made her way out the to work. She took her time in the morning, if she was needed in early then Mrs. Walters would call. On the way to work she flinched walking by the alley where those men had been that night, "Eh..."

Letting herself in she greeted Mrs. Walters, an older woman with blonde hair always pulled back with pins and a very skinny frame. She didn't tell her about what happened last night and kept to herself, placing on her apron she got to work in the back grinding fresh ingredients, making oils, remedies, she liked giving the owners a break since they had done so much for her already. Thought while she worked she could help but wonder if Faolan would stop by, maybe he forgot something and that's why he came back. Shaking her head she pushed the thoughts from her mind and tried to focus.
 
Around 1, Faolan did walk through the door, pushing his sunglasses up onto his head. He smiled. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Walters." He said cheerfully, hands in his pockets. "Ulfa sent me here yesterday, but I managed to forget some things. Dodged a couple plates on my way out the door." He said jokingly and with a shrug.

"I did make Sylvester write out the list this time though." He said, pulling it out of his pocket. "So, it's legible this time." He leaned against the counter and smiled at the older woman.
 
Giggles softly the woman took the paper from the lad she looked it over and smiled "We may have some of this left, maybe even fresh. I'll get you fresh since you all are so nice." turning and dipping her head through the doorway she called out to Lacey "Hun, I need some fresh stuff!" she waved the paper a bit.

Lacey reached out taking the list and looked it over "I can do these two but the other stuff will take a few days if they want it fresh." handing the list back she disappeared into the back once more and came out with freshly sealed jar, placing them counter she saw Faolan "Oh, you again."

Mrs. Walters looked between the two for a moment and gave a nod "I'll let you two be for a moment. I'm going to take a break." "But its not your break time." "I don't care."

With a roll of her eyes she picked up the list that was left behind "The last few are on the shelves, but if you want them fresh it will be awhile." she said walking over to grab the last few off of the shelves.
 
He smiled brightly at her when she came out. "Yep, me again. She had a fit when she realized I didn't bring everything on the list. That's Sylvester's handwriting there." He leaned against the counter, watching her walk around the shop. "How long is a while? I could wait a couple days if it meant it'd be fresh. Only the best for family, right?"

He stood up and walked over to her. "Hey," he said, softer than he had been talking a moment ago. "I'm sorry if I startled you last night...honestly, my brother and I were going down to the 7-11 on the corner of Fifth and Carter and we heard the scream, so we came running...I don't let shit like that happen around here. Please, though...either find a safer route home or...or call me if you aren't feeling safe...sometimes just walking while on a cell phone helps...they aren't going to mug someone when they know someone else could call the cops or something...typically, anyway...let me give you my cell number..."
 
"I don't have a phone." she said bluntly, of course she had a phone but she wasn't going to give it to someone who still made her wonder, grabbing a few jars off of the shelf. Moving back over to counter she placed the list down and pointed to the last one "I can have that done by tomorrow if you really need it. Just have someone come by tomorrow morning, Okay?" she began ringing up the items.

She stayed quiet for a moment before finally saying "I'm fine walking home alone, I don't need a bodyguard, but thanks anyway." she said softly placing the bag onto the counter "$52.65, that's counting the oil you'll get tomorrow... This time don't give me two hundred dollars. Please?" she asked nicely with a pleading look. "And look about last night, I am thankful..."
 
"You really know how to show it." He said sourly, digging his wallet out of his sporran again. He handed over $55 and waited for the change. He turned to sorta call towards the back room. "Mrs. Walters! I wanted to talk to you about setting up a workshop at the community center! Something for the kids. I was cleansing the place yesterday and they all got really interested in what I was doing." He said, still with his voice raised but not shouting or anything. He just wanted to make sure the old woman heard him. "I was thinking something on how herbs can be used for something besides drugs."
 
Dropping his change into his hand she shot him a death glare "Sorry..." soon Mrs. Walters comes out a wide, toothy smile on her lips.

"Really?! That sounds wonderful! I'm sure Little Lacey can take care of all of it. I'm a bit busy with the family and the shop now-a-days." she said giving Lacey a pat on the shoulder.

She groaned being called 'Little Lacey' "What if I'm busy?" Mrs. Walters scoffs "I know you, you'll do it." she scowled, the old woman was right, "Fine..." her arms crossed over her chest. "What day is it?"
 
Well, that wasn't all bad. Maybe it would get Lacey to trust him a little more. He hated knowing that someone thought he was a creeper or something. "I hadn't set anything up yet." He said honestly, looking back to Lacey. "What day are you free? It's going to be after 3...I run a community center for kids with an after school program...mostly it's just a safe place for them to hang out until their parents get off work to keep them out of the gangs."

He dumped the change into his sporran and picked up the bag. "I'd like to do it sooner than later. Their attention span only lasts so long and I don't want them to forget they were interested in holistic healing...too many of them have parents with full drug cabinets at home and...well..I've seen too many drug habits start with that..."
 
Looking at him as she thought, she opened her mouth to respond but Mrs. Walters cut her off "She'll be free Wednesday." shaking her head she couldn't be the woman at the moment. "Dear god.." she muttered "Yeah... Wednesday, I'll come by around 3." a bit of annoyance in her tone, not that she has to do it, but that Mrs. Walters always put her nose in everyone's business.

Rubbing a hand over her face as she watched Mrs. Walters walk into the back with a satisfied grin on her face, "That would is going to be the death of me..." "No! But death will be the death of you!" she shouted back. With another shake of her head she just looked at him dumbfounded "Guess I'll see you then." it was all she could say at the moment.
 
He laughed softly and shook his head. "Alright. I'll bring one of the flyers around tomorrow. It has the address on it. Then I'll see you Wednesday." He flicked his sunglasses down from the top of his head to his nose, then pushed them up his nose with his finger.

"Thank you, Lacey. It means a lot that you would do something to help the kids." He gave her a very kind smile before turning and walking out of the shop. He put his things into his saddle bags and took off.
 
Groaning she knelt down behind the counter "I can't believe you did that!" she shouted back to the old woman "Well I thought you two would be cute together." "Dear god, woman! Stop messing around in people's lives." "Too late!" As the day went on she couldn't help but continue to think about Faolan, he was nice and she could have been nicer to him since he saved her life.

Around nine o'clock she said goodnight to Mrs. Walters and hopped off the step onto the sidewalk, she decided not to listen to her music tonight as she walked home. It was a nice night, the stars were out and loved that, looking up as she walked she couldn't help but admire how beautiful the sky was, "Lovely.." Her fingers tapped softly against her legs to a soft rhythm as she walked.
 
Faolan watched her walk out of the shop from across the street, where he was leaning against a building with his hands in his jacket pockets. He sighed a little, unable to just let her walk home by herself like that. He slipped into the alley he was standing beside and stepped out a wolf.

He stretched in his new form and sniffed the air, then ran across the street when he was sure no cars were coming. He jogged a little to catch up, then started walking behind her, whimpering softly. He was glad for the city. People usually thought he was someone's husky that ran away or just a big stray dog and not an honest-to-god wolf.
 
Upon hearing the whimper she turned around to see the dog "Well hello there dog." she leaned down eyed around the neck "No collar?" her lips pursed in thought as she looked around "Hey! Is this someone's dog?" waiting a moment for a response she gave a shrug "Are you a runaway?" she joked and pats at his head "You seem sweet, but you should find your way home."

Standing back up and turning on her heels she continued to walk home, after a few steps she looked over her shoulder seeing him and sighed "Fine. Come on boy!" she called patting the side of her thigh "Maybe tomorrow we'll find your owner. I'm sure Mrs. Walters won't mind you around the shop if you behave." she had a soft spot for animals and thought it wouldn't be bad sharing the couch with him.
 
He wasn't too surprised that it had worked, but he was still a little surprised. He wagged his tail at the head pats. When she told him to come on, he barked happily and hurried forward, walking up beside her. He was a pretty big dog...

Halfway back to her apartment, just before the alley that caused her problems last night, he stopped and started growling, his hackles rising, ears folding back. He glared right into the alley and kept growling. There was some frantic shuffling, the sound of some guys tripping over each other, and then it was quiet.

His fur laid back down, his ears came back up, and he turned to look at her, wagging his tail.
 
Froze upon hearing the growling, she steps towards the alley, it was too dark for her to see what all of the commotion was about, "What? See a cat?" with a shrug of her shoulders she kept walking, fingers going back to tapping at her thighs "I wonder what her name is?" she blinked realizing she was talking to a dog, "I think I've gone around the bend, going crazy." she chuckled softly and looks down at him "What do you think?"

Within another ten minutes they made it to her apartment, opening the door to let him in and make himself at home "Hope you're not hungry, I don't have any food." she said with sigh and stripped off her coat tossing it onto the back of the couch before flopping back into the couch "Home sweet home, right? Nothing much but... And I'm still talking to a dog."
 
He walked into the apartment and looked around, ears perking when she said she didn't have any food. Was she serious? He huffed and started sniffing around. It smelled empty and lonely...He walked over to the couch and sat in front of her on the floor, looking at her and tilting his head. Did she have a drug habit or something? Or was Mrs. Walters just not paying her? He sighed and put his chin on the edge of the couch, looking at her with sad eyes.
 
A soft smile found her lips as she scratched the top of his head "Sorry bud, don't have the money for food right now. Bills to pay... You're pretty cute for such a big dog." she sat up and pats the spot next to her on the couch "Come on up, boy... Or whatever your name is." tapping a slender finger to her chin in thought it over "Maybe I'll call you... Fido... or Pickles." she joked looking at the giant fur-ball on her couch, reached over she scratched at his head "Or Tim." giggling she leans back into the couch and pulls the tie out of her hair letting the locks fall, "That's better."
 
His tail wagged at the scratches and he closed his eyes. When she let him up, he climbed up and curled up on the opposite end of the couch. He huffed at the names and put his chin on the arm rest of the couch. Fido? Pickles?? Tim??? Oh well. He'd deal with it just to know she's safe...

He looked over at her when she let her hair down. His tail started wagging. She was really pretty, now that he really stopped to pay attention to that sort of thing. He had noticed his first day in the shop, but hadn't really thought of her that way until just now.

He turned around and started biting at something on his side like it itched.
 
"I'll just keep calling you boy." she said and reached over scratching at his side "Fleas? We have something at work that will help." with a sigh she shook her head "I'm still talking to a dog I've lost it." kicking off her shoes and giving a soft pat to his side before laying back down, resting her head on top of his hip, she didn't care if he had fleas, she showered and was a clean person.

He was warm and she enjoyed how soft his fur was "Mmm..." closing her eyes she covered her mouth in a yawn "Goodnight, boy." she murmured softly, one of her hands resting on one of his paws, her fingers gently brushing at the fur as she drifted off to sleep.
 
He wagged his tail more when she scratched for him. He did have fleas...in treating the rest of the pack, he had kinda neglected himself and had just barely been short of giving himself a full dose of the stuff. He decided to follow her to the shop in the morning and let her take care of it. He'd consider it payment for being a bodyguard.

When she got comfortable, he lifted his head to look at her. Ulfa was going to kill him tomorrow...but it was worth it. He put his head back down with a sigh and closed his eyes, also drifting off to sleep.
 
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