My Pleasure, Darling

28: Ew, Cosy

The wind is whipping up harshly. There are tiny beads of water in it that make me blink hard and urge my hands to move faster.

I am not a tent girl. I am a camper van girl. Actually, I'm a cosy hotel room girl. But the Chancellor never took a chance with me. Many of my young summers were spent learning how to survive in the wilderness. I hated them. Tonight, I'm thankful.

The tent isn't of difficult design. It's four poles, with tarp slung over by loops, and rubber tops to keep them there. The bottom is similarly made. Canvas with a plastic sealing on the outside. Not very thin, but not very thick. We'll have to be sure not to touch the poles. And there's not a ton of room for three people. I put down the burner that was in the kit, for extra security in holding it to the forest floor. It's not huge for three people, but we'll be alright.

There are a few large rocks I move from the outside to inside the tent, just to keep it down at the corners as well, but they're already wet. It's starting to bucket, wind curling in a frenzy, clashing against the sides of the tent.

It will hold. I jumped on the pegs to keep them into the ground. It will hold until we get in.

It's not far back to the freeway; in fact, you can just about make out the street lights, if you try hard enough. But it's pelting it down, raindrops thick and heavy, hitting like bullets.

By the time I'm back at the car, I'm soaked, my hair is plastered to my skin and my clothes are the same. Felix is in the back, holding Andrea, trying to shield her from the rain that is coming in from the broken window.

I rip the door open. "Can you carry her?"

He nods, once, and gets out. Quickly as I can, I pick up our bags and as many blankets as I can carry, and make him follow me, through the trees.

There's a rumbling sound. I immediately leg it, and Felix is right beside me.

He steps into the tent, and I'm behind him in moments. I zip it up behind us. There's another rumble, and outside, light flashes.

Talk about in the nick of time.

Andrea looks terrified. He carefully puts her down on the floorand I throw a blanket over her, one of the ones that got the least of the rain. Then I slide to the ground beside her, trying to grin, trying to keep things light and casual for her sake. "Goodness, that was a shower, huh? You get very wet?"

Her eyes are wide and upset, but she shakes her head. On the other side of her, Felix is sitting up, pulling off his shoes. I'll do mine in a minute – I start to wrap the blanket under her, as well. "That's good. What a shock, right? Were you very scared? Or did you have cool and brave Felix to protect you?"

She turns to look at Felix, who is either ignoring us, or hasn't heard. When she looks back at me, she's more comforted. She nods once.

This precious, precious child. How little she is grateful for. How much she once had and how much she has now lost, that a Master-Sergeant and a human girl are what makes her feel safe. I wipe a little water off one of her thin little eyebrows. "I figured." There's another rumble overhead, and it bothers her. A lot. I lie beside her and curl her against my side. "Don't you worry about that. The sky is just having a temper tantrum. It got very sad, and so now it's crying. By the morning, it will have calmed down."

"A temper tantrum?"

"Ahuh. Just a big old, silly temper tantrum. Like me when I don't get my candy."

She smiles at this and curls in to me. Felix lies on the other side of her for a moment, blinking. We look at each other across her body. I throw him a blanket with one arm, and he takes it gratefully, arranging it around himself.