A Gift To You

Mother Mother| Norton

Deep In the library,there sits a small reading area fully furnished with soft pillows and blankets near a burning harth.

"Ta ta tutee Ta ta..." you hummed lowly to yourself as you quietly finished up the tears on one of Tracy's jackets. Jack's claws had not been kind to her jacket but thankfully Tracy herself would be just fine,"Shes a strong girl,that Tracy" but you did worry for her.

Reeeeek

Someone had opened the libraries door,"hm?" Now who could be up at this hour? It was late,around 2 am there was no reason anyone should be up, not even the hunters!

The sound of heavy feet stomped on old wood echoed throughout the old library. A body plopped down next to you.

"Isn't it a bit late for you to still be up? Norton?" The ex-miner didn't say anything He sat there for a good while. Maybe he was trying to find the words to speak? Or maybe he didn't want to speak at all? Either way you went back to sewing until he could get what he wanted out.

"I..." he stopped and swallowed.

Now that you were up close you could feel and see just how badly he was shaking. The thin pair of striped pants and cotten white shirt did nothing to protect him from the cold that lingered in the mansion.

"You must be cold" pulling the thick blanket from around your shoulders you tossed its around his shoulders instead, it didn't take long for to stop shaking.

"Do you...how do you get over regret?"

"Regret?" Oh you knew all about that,"Well it's different for every person,I don't believe there is one 'true way' to get over regret because in the end you still have to live with those consequences," your mind immediately thought of the child you had so carelessly killed. Everyday you would sit and wonder, what would your child have looked like? Would it have been a boy? Or a girl? Would he look like father or would she have looked like her mother? "But I believe that once a person comes to terms with their actions and understand that you can't keep living in the past,then said person can eventually move on"

"Move on? But they're all dead because of me...how can I just-" he was starting to breath hard,"If I hadn't been so impatient" then his shoulder started to shake as he held his head in hands,"I cant just- they're mad at me, I know they are" every night he could hear the screams and deafing sounds of the tunnel collapsing. It was all his fault, he should have died with the rest of his friends in that damn cave. He should have-

"Thats enough," you held his hand loosely, just incase he wanted to pull away. When he didn't he, you pull him closer to you and let him rest his head in the crook of your neck,"we can talk about this later" you rubbed his back as he stared to cry,poor thing.

You pulled him down to lay sideways on the couch,thankfully it was hunter sized so there was plenty of room for the both of you.

"I dont understand...why was it just me?" He muttered into your chest.

You didn't know much about the ex-miner so you did the only thing you could do,"Go to sleep Norton, you have a busy day tomorrow"

He blinked away his tears,he'd gotten a bit of snot and tears on your shirt,"sorry"

"Its fine,Good night Norton" and out of pure muscle memory from all the other children you used to care for, you'd place a small kiss to his head,"Your a strong man Norton, don't forget that"

His gripped tightened then loosend up,a strong man? ...he didn't know how he felt about that but just for now,just for tonight, he would believe it.