When life hands you a family.

[elfowl]

I was dead tired, not looking forwards to sleeping in a gutter again, and worst of all, my stomach was killing me.  I had run away from home a few months ago, with a bag full of clothes on my back, and a couple hundred dollars I had stolen from my asshole parents in my pocket.  I stayed in motels for the first month, just trying to get farther away during the days.  How I wish I had started sleeping on the streets right away... i'd have at least a little bit of money left over.

Now I was flat broke... the only clothes I have are the ragged shirt, and jeans I'm wearing, and my stomach is growling more than a pack of dogs...  The city I'm in is fairly well off, I could probably try begging again, see where that gets me.  The problem is, I look a good bit younger than I actually am, so people always keep asking where my mom and dad are... that subject is still a little sore.

There's a street fair going on in town... near one of the alleys there's a table with fresh baked loaves of bread... the person running the table seems distracted by the customers, and all the festivities...  I make up my mind... for the first time, I'm going to try stealing.

I creep closer to the table, acting like I'm just casually walking by... but when the man's back is turned, dealing with some customers, I snatch a loaf and make a run for it...  quickly tripping over a curb I didn't see, and almost certainly drawing some attention.  I dash off, trying to get away from the table as fast as I can, darting down an alleyway... which turns out to be a dead end... buildings surrounding me on three sides... all I can do now is hide, and hope nobody looks too hard...

[GuardianWolves]

Logan Emmerson, a 26 year old male is walking along the street nearby a dead-end alleyway. He is coming home from the store where he had bought groceries since he had run out of groceries the day before, but hadn't gone to the market right away because he still had leftovers from the previous night when he had went to his friends workplace to eat. His friend was kinder to him than he could possibly ever hope to wish for and he definitely appreciated her by taking her out to dinner whenever they both felt like going out to dinner, or something close to it anyways. Regardless, it wasn't like they were dating or anything, he didn't even know if she even thought of him as more than a friend if he was being honest, but if it so happened, then so shall it be as far as he was concerned. Ouch, darn it, he had not been paying attention to where he was going again and almost knocked his face into the ground, though his butt certainly hurt at the moment, so that was a thing.

Sometimes he wished that he was really so much better at watching where he was going most of the time because he just somehow always managed to knock into something if he wasn't paying attention to where the heck he was going at the moment. He got up, dusted himself off and just decided to turn down the alleyway and take the other way that he took to get home, as he was walking down the alleyway though, he couldn't help but spot a small figure out of the corner of his eye holding onto something, but he couldn't tell what, the figure looked to be about elementary school age or so, so he went to investigate.

[elfowl]

A man steps into the alleyway,  I'm crouched down int the shadows of the corner, clutching the bread to my chest.  He seems to be wandering more than looking...  but he keeps getting closer, and closer... then he pauses for a second... he's definatley noticed me now... oh no... what am I going to do... he's gonna find me, and he probably saw me take the bread, and he's gonna take me to the police, and then they're gonna throw me in jail... oh no oh no.

As the man comes to investigate, I stand up, and thrust the bread towards him, on the verge of tears.  "I'm sorry!  I didn't mean to steal... I know it's wrong... it's just I'm so hungry... I'm sorry I"m sorry I'm sorryyyyyyyyyyyyy."  The tears are coming now, rolling out of my eyes and down my cheeks.  "Please don't take me to the police, you can have the bread back.  I won't do it again, I promise!"

[GuardianWolves]

"Hey, hey now, don't cry now, what's all this about stealing food, huh? Were you hungry little one? I don't need the bread, if you're hungry, you should have it. I'm sure that the place you got it from would be more than willing to give you some bread to eat. If they don't then I will make sure that you get something to eat okay? Can you tell me your name please? My name is Logan." He says as he got down to her level and saw in the darkness that she was definitely elementary school age, about second or third grade to be precise. The child looked devastated to have been caught as she thought he was probably one of the people in the place she had gotten the bread from that saw her grabbing the bread and taking off with it. The child looked like she was definitely in need of some food in her system and maybe something to drink too, as well as a warm bed to sleep in. He could offer those things to her, but he had to make sure that she was okay with it first, as he didn't want her to be afraid of him for any reason since he was trying to just help her.

[elfowl]

I'm very surprised, when he doesn't immediately snatch the bread away and start yelling at me,  he calls himself Logan and asks my name.  "I'm Liz...  and you're not mad at me?"  The man seems strangely friendly, and not like he's trying to get anything from me... still I have to be careful... Helpful people usually start asking about parents and then start talking about orphanages quickly...  "Do you really think they'd let me keep the bread...?"  A sudden growl from my stomach brings pain along with it, and I clutch at it, whimpering.

[GuardianWolves]

"Well Liz, it's nice to meet you and no I'm not mad at you. I understand why you did it, but I am a little disappointed that you decided to do something that was bad, but let's forget about all that okay. Would you like to come with me to my house, I can offer you a warm bed and some dinner as well as a place to cleanup. Feel free to think my offer over and let me know what you think, okay?" He told her as he continued to stay at her level and wait for her an answer from her because he certainly did not want her to be afraid of him since he was going to offer her a warm bed and some dinner as well as a place to clean up and put on some clean clothes if she had any.

[elfowl]

It seems almost like a dream, as a calm, gentle man offers me a bed and food...  he's asking me to go with him... which usually leads to trouble... but somehow, I feel like I can trust this man.  I think over his offer for a bit, slowly bringing the bread back to my chest where I clutch it while I think.

After a long moment, I nod.  "...okay, I'll go with you... a bed sounds nice."  I take a step closer, to let him know I trust him, but keep a keen eye out for any duplicity or tricksyness.

[GuardianWolves]

Happy that she has accepted his offer, Erick nods "okay then, we will have to walk back though to my house okay? It's not too far of a walk, but if you get tired at any point during the walk, just let me know okay and I'll stop so that you can rest your feet. If you're okay with it, when you get tired I can carry you the rest of the way, but you have to let know it's okay to do so. Because I dont wanna make you feel uncomfortable." He told her as he got up to his original height which to her would make him look like a giant, but really he was only six foot three, so he wasn't particularly tall by any means, but he could sure get hit by a low hanging chandelier if he wasn't watching where he was going.

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[elfowl]

When Logan stands up, I'm amazed (and a little bit intimidated) by his height. He's huge.  Maybe not the biggest person in the world, but definitely very big.  I follow along behind him, grateful for his offer to stop if I need it, but a bit warry of his offer to carry me.

Despite myself though, I find myself wanting to reach up and grab his hand, and I'm not entirely sure why.

Along the way I start munching on the bread I'm carrying, biting through the hard crust, and then ripping off chunks, to gobble down.

[GuardianWolves]

After about a half-hour to hour walk, they manage to reach the house, it was a blueish sky color building with three stories where the third story contained an attic, the second story contained bedrooms and bathrooms and the first story contained the kitchen, living room, dining room and den. It also had a giant backyard that a little girl would have all the space she could ever need or want to roam around or play in, with plenty of new areas to explore and use for whatever she wanted to use them for. He soon got inside and let her just explore the place if she wanted to, while he went to go and put the groceries away.

[elfowl]

I scarf down the bread before we get to Logan's house... I'm feeling a little bit queasy from eating the whole thing... but I didn't want to risk him taking it away from me whenever we get to his house.  When we do, it's absolutely massive, I count three rows of windows, so three stories. The house is wider than it is tall, and seems like it's longer too.

When we get inside, Logan tells me that I can look around if I want, and go exploring while he puts away groceries.  The house seems big and intimidating, so I decide to just follow him instead.  I go into the kitchen, and stay just out of reach, pretending I'm not paying attention to what he's doing, but constantly keeping an eye on him.

[GuardianWolves]

Logan doesn't say anything about her lack of trust because it's understandable since she is basically in someone's house that she didn't know and might think that he might do something bad to her, which he wont ever because he sees no reason to make her not trust him or harm her in any way. As far as Logan was concerned, harming children, was just as bad as the people that liked to lure unsuspecting kids into their vehicles and then drive them far away from their families and do terrible things to them and then leave their remains if they go that far, down in some remote area where no one will ever find the child. He shivered internally just thinking about it. He put those thoughts away and as soon as he finished with the groceries, he looked to Liz and asked "So, besides bread, which I see you finished pretty quick, what else do you like to eat." He asked her as he looked around for a cup that she would be able to hold without spilling if she accidentally dropped it, that way she wouldn't feel as bad if it happened.

[elfowl]

I freeze, panicking a little when Logan turns and addresses me directly... he doesn't yet at me or anything, which is strange... but good.  I have to think for a moment about his question.  "I don't know.  What am I allowed to have?"  I'd gladly take any food he was willing to give me, and didn't really know what he had either.

[GuardianWolves]

"Your allowed to have anything as long as it's not a dessert, because we need to have regular food first and then you can have sweets afterwards. We have cheese, bread, chicken, salami and ham." He told her as he waited to hear what she would want him to make her for dinner. He was sort of in a way starting to worry about her a little bit, but he knew it was just because of the way she had been acting so far, which was completely understandable. He just hoped that she would want to stay with him for a bit, but for now he didn't worry about it and just put it out of his mind and focused on their dinner once she would give him an answer for what she would like to eat.

[elfowl]

Despite having just eaten an entire loaf of bread, I hear my stomach growl again, and my mouth water at the prospect of meat and cheese.  "That all sounds really good.  Can I have all that... please?"  It's probably way too much food for me, but my mentality for the past couple months is to eat everything I can, because who knows when the next time I'm going to eat will be.

[GuardianWolves]

"Sure you can, but how about we start off with one or two things first and if you're still hungry after that, we can make some more stuff, are you okay with that?" He asked her as he looked at her and then just went ahead and started to get the food out of the fridge that he was going to make her and waited for her to tell him what two things she wanted to eat first and then maybe later if she was still hungry, she could have more food.

[elfowl]

The man's logic seems reasonable, but there's a part of me that just want all of the food now.  "Okay... I guess that works."  I think for a little bit more, before saying.  "Ham and cheese then"  I wait as patiently as I can, watching Logan as he gets out the food and starts preparing it.

[GuardianWolves]

Logan tries to finish her ham and cheese sandwich as quick as possible and quickly heated it up, just enough so that it didn't burn her mouth and then would put her food on a plate and then place it on the table for her and go about starting to make his own food a salami and cheese sandwich toasted. He put his food on the plate and got them both glasses of water and placed it on the table and then sat down with her to eat and decided to ask "So, why was a sweet young child like yourself on the street without anyone to watch over you? Did your parents get mad and send you away from them or did you run away from home? Don't worry I will not send you to a place where you do not want to go. If you just wish to spend the night here and leave in the morning you can certainly do so and the warm bed will be here for you whenever you want to come back and sleep in the bed again." He told her as he continued to eat and drink, trying to make sure that he didn't scare or make her feel uncomfortable in any way.

[elfowl]

I watch closely, and excitedly as Logan makes me a sand witch, and even heats it up before giving it to me.  I happily climb up on the chair, and voraciously dig into the hot sandwich, making small noises of delight as I tear into it.  Even with my small mouth I'm nearly done with my sandwich by the time he gets to the table, and places a glass of water in front of me, I happily take the water, drinking it quickly... then freeze.

Logan's starting to ask the parent question... normally that means it's time to get out of here... but he says he's not going to make me go anywhere I don't want to...  I eye him cautiously, then begin to explain.  "I ran away.  They didn't want me anyways... they just wanted their drugs... they didn't care about me..."  I pull my knees up to my chest, siding down in the chair I'm sitting on.

[GuardianWolves]

"Oh sweetheart, I'm very sorry you had to go through that terrible experience. If I had been your mom or dad, I would have never done that kind of thing to you and force you to run away." He told her as he continued to eat his food. He also started to wonder why this girl's parent's specifically had made her runaway from their care and didn't care about her. He just hoped that he would be able to take care of this girl if she chose to stay with him after tonight. Logan did finish his food and got up to put his plate and cup in the sink and then went back to the table and waited for Liz to finish up eating her food. He would make her some more if she was still feeling hungry, after all he wanted to make sure she was well-fed.

[elfowl]

I stay quiet for a bit, keeping my knees hugged close to m chest, as I stare at my knees, thinking about what it had been like back home.  After a few minutes, I take the quarter of a sandwich I had been voraciously eating before, and start to nibble on it, keeping one arm wrapped around my legs.  Logan seems nice... almost like I can trust him... I can't be sure of that of course... but maybe it'd be nice to try...

[GuardianWolves]

He looked at her and then got up and walked over to her and gave her a light but comforting manner so that she didn't feel restricted in her movement, but also felt comforted in a way. He continued to just give her the light but comforting hug. After a while he let her go and went to sit back down in his chair and would let her finish her food and then he would show her around the house. He would also let her have a bath and get some sleep if she felt tired just like he had promised, or if she really wanted to, they could watch some tv or maybe a movie together. He wouldn't force her to do anything she didn't wanna do and definitely not put her well being in danger for anything.

[elfowl]

Logan gets up and walks towards me, unexpectedly wrapping me in a hug.  I tense up for a moment, but he's lose and gentle, I could get away if I wanted to.  I pause, stunned for a moment, then hug back tightly.  It's been a long time since I've had a hug, and it feels nice, comforting even.  He releases me, then goes and sits back down without a word.  "T-thank you."  I murmur, then go back to eating the rest of my sandwich, it's only a few more bites before I'm done.

Logan had said that I could have more if I was still hungry... and instinct told me that I should take it... but I wasn't actually hungry right now.  I decide to instead be finished.  "All done."  I announce, then start wondering what to do next.

[GuardianWolves]

"Good girl for eating all your food, now if you want, we can do a tour of my house and then you can take a bath and get cleaned up and go to sleep if your tired, if not you can still take a bath if you want and then we can maybe watch a movie or two together depending on what your up for, so just let me know okay?" He told her as he waited to see what she wanted to do, he also thought maybe it might be a nice little precaution to just maybe get her some clothes that would actually fit her and that she could have on her journey to wherever she was going since he hadn't bothered to ask and would not ask unless it was absolutely necessary for him to do so, which at the moment it wasn't so, he left it alone until she felt comfortable enough that she would wanna talk about it on her own. He also thought about letting her have a bubble bath if she chose to take a bath, she did look like she needed it, but he had a feeling that was because of how she was living at the moment, which wasn't a good thing for sure, but it had to probably be better than where she came from, right?

[elfowl]

I smile at Logan's praise, a small warm feeling beginning to grow in my stomach.  "A bath and a movie sounds nice."  I used to hate baths, but it had been a long time since I had been clean, ad I felt pretty icky from how long I had been sleeping in gutters and alleyways.  "And I'd like to see your house too, if you'll show me Mr. Logan."  I'm starting to feel a bit more trusting of this tall man.  He's very nice, and seems to want to help me.