𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏 𝑻𝒐𝒐 𝑭𝒂𝒓 (𝑱.𝑺.)

𝑬𝒑𝒊𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒆

Schlatt decided to stay with Cassie and Evelyn longer. He knew that neither of them would be okay for a while and he wanted to help the best he could. Sleep was almost non existent for them Cassie would wake up with nightmares when she slept by herself so mostly she'd sleep with the two older adults, they didn't mind. When Cassie would sleep in her own bed through the night Evelyn would sometimes wake up with her own nightmares. For the first time after the incident neither of them had nightmares and Cassie slept in her own bed. Schlatt was awake before the two and decided to make them breakfast before they woke up. As a congratulations on the progress. It was small but without small steps we would make it no where in this world. "And what are you doing?" Evelyn asked wrapping her arms around his torso and hugging him from behind.

"Just making breakfast." He said placing the food onto a plate and turning off the stove before turning to her. She was doing it again, staring off into space, looking at a certain spot in the home. "You okay?"

"You know the answer to that. I just- I can't stop thinking about it. I can almost see it in my head. Even if what she told the cops is a completely different story and her room wasn't actually broken in to, I can just- I see it. Her being taken. I don't feel safe here, even with you. That's saying a lot." She admitted looking up at him.

"Why don't you move in with me. Or move to Austin." He proposed.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, my lease is almost up anyway so I need to move. I don't really like that apartment. If you think it's too fast and you don't want to move in that's fine. We could just find you a place there and I could still have my own."

"Yeah, but I'd be over at your place or vice versa almost everyday so there's no point in getting two separate places. The only thing I'd really have to worry about is a job and asking Cassie if she's okay with it."

"When she wakes up we can ask together." And that's what they did. Cassie was more than okay with the idea.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

After dealing with the move and the unenrolling of Cassie from her elementary school, Evelyn, Schlatt, and Cassie had moved in together. Moving definitely helped with the nightmares and paranoia. Cassie liked it because she was able to make new friends in her classes, but she did miss going to work with her mom after school. Evelyn wasn't even working yet, she had to go back to college because the circular for teachers was different in Texas. Schlatt was still doing everything he did before just adding picking up Cassie from school and occasionally putting her to bed. Evelyn noticed the difference between her life with Justin and her life with Schlatt. Justin threw everything onto her and never helped her with things and their child. Schlatt always split the work and would even try to take more of it so she could relax. He was more of a dad than Justin ever was.

One night after dinner Evelyn was doing more homework, she realized that she had a lot more work from this college than she did from the one she originally attended. Schlatt was putting Cassie to bed before he would make Evelyn go to bed instead of sleeping at her desk. "I'm not tired." Cassie mumbled rubbing her eyes.

"Bean, you can tell me that all you want, but you yawning and rubbing your eyes tells me you're tired." He said handing her the stuffed stitch and kneeling beside the bed. She pulled it close, hugging it tight. Her eyes closed and Schlatt knew she was about to fall asleep. "Goodnight bean. I love you."

"I love you too. Goodnight daddy." She mumbled falling asleep. That was the first time she'd ever called Schlatt dad and he wanted to freeze in that spot and hug her tightly, but he kissed her forehead and cracked her door closed with a smile on his face.