Thicker Than Blood

"Yes, I suppose. It doesn't happen often, though."

~~~~~~
A few weeks later...

Rene-Thibaut opened the door to his apartment, returning home early from a rather uneventful day of work. He glanced around the living room, surprised to not find Chastity there, watching television like she usually was. "Hey, Chatity?" he called.

The soft but unmistakable sound of the Beatles came from the room with the computer. Chastity was seated in front of the computer, singing along with Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with a cheesy British accent and surfing the Internet for a good recipe to make for dinner. In a second tab she had a job search running, looking for a job close by. She figured if she could get a job she could repay R.T. for letting her stay, and raise enough money to get a place of her own.

She hadn't expected R.T. to come home early or else she would have had dinner cooking so he could eat sooner.

Rene-Thibaut leaned against the doorframe of the computer room, watching Chastity. One corner of his mouth twitched into something that could be, in some circles, called a smile.

"And what are you doing?"

Chastity jumped, fumbling with the off switch to the speakers before shutting them off. She turned the desk chair slightly so she could look at him, her face pink. "You're home early. You should have told me and I would have had dinner cooking" She cleared her throat lightly. "I was, um, listening to some music while I looked up recipes and stuff."

He made a small noise that sounded something like "harrumph," and faked a scowl in her direction. "You didn't have to turn the music off. I was rather enjoying it."

Chastitly's blush darkened. "I-I didn't know you liked the beetles" She smiled, switching the speakers back on. "Would you like to pick what I should make for dinner?"

"Sure," he said, shrugging. "Why not?" He leaned over her shoulder to look at the computer screen, idly tapping his foot to the beat of the song.

Chastity smiled and scrolled down on the page. "I found this French chicken, but I'm not quite sure what some of the ingredients are, I was going to wait and ask you so I could maybe make it for another day. Since you're here so early, maybe you can help me fi-" A ding from the computer interrupted her. "Oh! Hang on a minute" Her smile widened as she changed tabs to a window with a job search site. "My job search is all done"

Rene-Thibaut raised an eyebrow then, after a moment's thought, his brows furrowed into a deep scowl. "Job search? The hell are you looking for a job for? You don't need a job. Is me taking care of you not good enough or something?" he growled, his voice getting progressively louder and angrier with each word.

Chastisty looked to him in surprise. He hadn't raised his voice to her once in the entire time she'd been staying with him. "Th-that's not it at all!" She protested, her voice soft and wavering slightly. "I was looking for a job so I could repay you for letting me stay so long, and so I would be able to save up and be able to get a place of my own to stay- I feel bad staying for so long, I was only supposed to stay for a day or two"

"And just what is so wrong with staying here? Hmm? Did I say that I wanted you to leave? If I didn't want you here, you wouldn't be here in the first place!" he shouted, clenching his fists at his sides. He took a deep breath and let it out in something between a growl and a snarl before storming off to his bedroom to cool off.

~~~~~~
Twenty minutes or so later, after he'd had a chance to calm down, he walked quietly back to the computer room. He stood in the doorway for a moment, silently watching her as she wrote out a grocery list for that night's dinner, and ran a hand back through his hair in irritation. Urgh, et pour penser que j'ai hurlé à elle, he thought to himself. Je suppose que je lui dois des excuses.

He crept quietly up behind her and laid his hands gently on her shoulders. "Chastity?" he asked.

Chastity jumped at his touch and hurriedly rubbed her eyes before looking up at him over her shoulder. Even though she had tried to wipe away her tears, it was obvious that she had cried a little. "S-sorry for upsetting you." She murmured softly, looking up at his through her lashes. "I didn't know you liked having me around so much. I guess I'm just still not used to it." She gave a little sniffle. "I promise not to do it again, I-I don't like to upset you"

He sighed softly and moved to stand in front of her without saying a word. He looked at her silently for a long while, thinking about what he wanted to say. "Chastity..." he began quietly, "I am sorry. I shouldn't have shouted at you like that. I hope you can forgive me." When he finished speaking he gently reached over to tilt her chin up and kissed her on the lips, then cleared his throat and hurried out of the room.

Chastity was so shocked that she was frozen in place. When it actually sunk in, she blushed furiously and swung the chair back to the desk to hide her face in her hands. No one had ever actually kissed her before, and to have it be the man that had let her stay on his couch out of the kindness of his heart, the man that she was positively enamored with- well it was like the fairytail she had always wished her life to be.

When she had finally calmed down enough to stop quivering in excitement, she finished her shopping list and headed towards the front door, her face still a lovely shade of pink.

R.T. was sitting on the couch and reading a book, trying to appear nonchalant. He looked up when she went to the door and cleared his throat. "Chastity," he began, "would you like some company?"

Chastity's blush darkened, and she couldn't bring herself to look at him. "I-if you'd like to come. I-I mean I don't mind, I'm only going to the farmer's market two blocks over, you don't have to if you don't want to, y-you're not obligated..." She bit her lip to stop the onslaught of stammered words as her blush returned to its full force from earlier.

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Chastity dried and put away the last of the dishes before going to join Rene on the couch. She was already changed into her pajamas, and the only thing she was waiting on was for him to go to bed, which was when she would lay out on the couch. Since he didn't have a set time that he went to bed, it was hard to tell how long she would be sitting next to him fighting sleep.

It was already on the late side as she wrapped the blanket around her and leaned against the arm of the couch, her feet curled underneath her, to watch television with the volume low so it wouldn't disturb Rene's reading. It wasn't long before she was fighting back yawns and rubbing her eyes.

Rene-Thibaut glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, giving no noticeable sign that he wasn't still reading. After a moment he marked his place in his book and set it aside. "Are you ready for bed, Chastity?" he asked conversationally, giving no sign of ulterior motive to the question.

Chastity smiled at him sleepily. "I'm alright if you want to keep reading, I don't mind staying up a little later." She covered her mouth as she gave a wide yawn. "I wouldn't want to kick you off your own couch."

"Our couch," he said simply as he stood. He looked down at her for a moment then held out his hand. "Well, are you coming?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Chastity looked at his hand in confusion before looking up at him. "What?" she asked innocently. She wasn't the brightest when it came to interpreting motive or suggestion when she was actually awake, but being half asleep as she was now made it an absolute mystery to her. "What do you mean? Where are we going?"

"To bed of course," he said, suppressing a smile. "Aren't you coming, Chastity?" After a moment he leaned down and gently lifted the small girl in his arms and carried her off to his (now their) room and laid her on the bed. He tucked her in without a word, then walked to the bathroom to change into a pair of pajama pants.

Chastity blushed and made a small noise of surprise when he lifted her, clinging to him almost like she was afraid he'd drop her. She was a little confused as to why he took her to his bedroom, but she didn't dwell on it long. The bed was so soft, and, in all honesty, it had been nearly a year since she had laid on anything so comfortable (though the couch was still nice), so it was no surprise that she easily and quickly drifted off after he tucked her in.

Rene-Thibaut smiled softly when he came back and saw that she was asleep. As quietly as he could, he put his dirty clothes in the hamper and got himself ready for bed, then he slid carefully into bed beside her. He might even have smiled just a little, but there was no one around to see it.

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For once, in the several months that she had been staying with him, Chastity woke up first. She wasn't sure how it happened, but she wasted no time. She silently slipped out of bed and tip-toed to the kitchen to make breakfast, slipping an apron on over her pajamas.

She was going to make him breakfast just how he liked it: crispy bacon, fluffy pancakes with a little dough left in the middle, and a side of scrambled eggs all on a tray with a nice big cup of black coffee. She pulled out everything she would need, putting the coffee on to percolate first, then moving to make the pancakes and bacon.

Rene-Thibaut stirred slightly in his sleep, his head tilting back a bit as he took in the scent of breakfast cooking. It wasn't enough to wake him, but it did bring him out of the deep sleep he'd been in. He would never admit to it, but he really enjoyed sleeping with another person in the bed, and he always slept much better and much more deeply on the rare occasion that it happened.

He finally woke up when she came into the room with the food, his red eyes opening slowly, his vision still blurred from sleep. "Mmmn, Chastity? What are you doing up already? What time is it?"