My Feral

12

Author's Note: Well, here it is. Chapter 12 after way too many months of my not updating and being too busy/tired to break through my writer's block. But, now I'm back, and hopefully will be updating less sporadically from now on. For now, Monday's and Sunday's sound like good days to update, so we'll go with that. Thank you all for sticking by this story, and for not giving up on it, or me. It really means a lot. Ya'll are totally shine. 

Max blinks, and he's in the driveway of his lonely looking house that needs a fresh coat of paint, and the wooden planks of the faded porch need to be nailed back down; and dammit all, even the grass has grown to knee length. Grumbling to himself, Max manages to not completely fall out of his Volvo, and limps up the steps, too exhausted to notice that the door is unlocked and slumps against the wall once he is inside.

"Was wondering when you were gonna get home, Rockatansky," a voice says as a lamp is flicked on, and the light momentarily blinds Max when he jumps off the wall, present for Nux dropping to the ground.

Pressing a hand to his chest, feeling the rapid beating of his heart, Max half-smiles sheepishly at Cape through his too long bangs as he painfully bends to pick up the gift.

"Wasn't expecting you, Cape," he says, limping over to the couch and slumping down beside her on the soft, worn cushions.

Shrugging, the redhead bounces up and goes into the kitchen, where she starts to unpack brown paper bags that had definitely not been sitting on Max's counter this morning. He watches her as she takes the groceries and puts them away, neatly folding up the bags as she goes. Feeling heat make its traitorous way up his neck and into his face, Max fishes in his jeans pocket for his wallet, and is about to get money to pay her back when Cape suddenly turns to him sharply and shakes her head. Holding up his hands in mock surrender, he goes back to watching her put away the food, and is too tired to try and keep his eyes open when his lids start to droop.

----

An hour later, Capable turns off the barely-used stovetop burner and dumps the macaroni with healthy amounts of tuna fish mixed in into two chipped bowls and brings them into the livingroom where Max is slumped over sideways on the couch.

Tsk'ing sympathetically, Capable taps Max on the shoulder until his eyes open into slits, and then goes about taking off his shoes and knee brace in a careful and practiced manner.

Stretching, and grunting when his back and knee pops, Max rubs the hours worth of sleep from his eyes and looks down at the bowl that Cape is currently holding under his nose.

Taking the bowl, he feels something besides hunger in his stomach as the redhead sits cross-legged on the couch and grins at him with cheese sticking to her chin.

Reaching over and wiping away the cheese with a napkin, Max feels the all too familiar pang of missing Jessie and his own pup, and what it would be like if they, too, had survived the car crash that cruelly spared him.

Then, before he can fall headlong into the dark place of guilt and flashbacks, Cape nudges him and looks pointedly at the food that he has yet to eat.

"I don't come over here just to cook for myself, Rockatansky," Cape says, eyes softening as Max begins to eat the pseudo tuna casserole.

After Max has finished the dishes that he had insisted on doing, even though Cape had stood in the kitchen the whole time in case his knee buckled, he goes back to the couch and sits down heavily on it. Bending down, Max rubs his knee ruefully, and nods thankfully at Cape when she hands him a glass of water and two painkillers.

Capable keeps Max awake for another hour with talking a bit louder than she normally does and poking his face whenever he started to doze, before she gets up and gets the two sleeping pills that Max takes every night.

Coming back into the living room with a fresh glass of water and two pills in hand, she sighs in a good-natured manner at the sight of Max, once again, slumped over on the couch. Prodding his into semi-consciousness, she gives him the pills and water and then helps him maneuver into a more comfortable position on the couch. Going and pulling the comforter off his bed, she covers him and locks the door on her way out, giving the present a knowing glance before closing the door behind her.