Thieves and Caves

Chapter Three

I woke up to hearing a key turn slightly in the lock. I reached for my taser. Winter opened the door. He put his hands up. "Hey! It's alright. Just little old me."

I sighed and set the taser down on the table. I realized I was still dressed in my uniform. Winter came walking in. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm alright. I mean I've stopped vomiting." I adjusted myself in the chair. "My stomach did give me some problems throughout the night."

"I see. Did you take anything for it?"

"Not yet but I'll do that after I get home from my appointment." I stood up. I headed upstairs to change.

Twila had a practice set up in Newtown. The inside of the office felt cold compared to the growing heat outside. I shivered a bit. I lowered the sleeves on my shirt. "Malcolm?" called a female voice.

I looked up to see a small brown haired lady standing in the hallway. She was dressed in a doctor's coat. She smiled at me. I smiled back. I got up from my chair. I walked over to her. "Good morning. Ready for today's session?" she asked.

"Yep."

She took me into a separate room. Her room was down up in warm colors. The roof was painted to look like a cloudy sky. I sat down in one of the chairs. She sat on top of her desk. "Well Malcolm, it's been officially two weeks since the last time I saw you."

I nodded. "Yeah. Sorry about that. I was busy trying to make sure things went well for the new Sergent's arrival."

"I heard about that. How did it go?"

"She seemed to transition quite fine. She's impressed with the new station so far."

"Good. What's she like?"

"A bit blunt. She's a lot more honest than most of the Sergeants I've worked with."

"I see. Even more blunt than you are?" mused Twila.

"Yeah. You could say that." I said as I rubbed behind my head. "I think her and I will get along just fine though."

Twila wrote something down in her notes. "How have you been since you moved?"

"I guess I'm doing okay. Homesickness has really taken though. Winter does his best but I kind of miss living here a bit. There was always something to do."

She nodded. She wrote that down in her notes. "I expected you to feel homesick at some point. Just not this late. Do you know why you feel the way you do?"

"Well it's like I keep saying. Work here offered me more things to occupy my time with versus out in PontyPandy. Don't get me wrong, I love the peace and quiet. I just wished there was more."

She lowered her pen. She let it fall onto her notebook. "The only advice I can give to you is to try to make the most of it. I'm sure something will come up eventually. These small towns always have their secrets, you know."

I nodded. "You're right."

She grinned. "So tell me. How are you and Winter doing? "

"We're doing super well. Winter is trying his hand at cooking. I ended up super sick yesterday. I just didn't have the heart to tell him that it was from the omelette he made me."

She put her hands on her hips. "You realize honesty is always the best policy, right?"

"I know but Winter's feelings are a bit squishy. I just don't want him to end up blaming himself."