Behind Closed Gates [Edited]

Chapter Six

I hope you are having a very happy holidays,

Libby x

Marie finished her shift well past midnight, and merely walked back from the zoo to hers and Gail's flat. It was only a few streets away - Silver Creek was a small town but it had its necessities, one of them being a motel complex. Gail had taken in Marie officially when the whole fiasco around Willow had arisen, and Marie hadn't bothered to move out. She and Gail got along, and Marie considered her an almost mother-like figure.

She would definitely be acting like a mother when Marie told her where she was going.

"Sorry Gail, I have to head back to my old pack to save a werewolf from inevitable insanity."

Marie shook her head as she approached the door to her home. When she entered, Marie sighed. She should have expected Gail to stay up and wait for her to come home, still doubtful and wary after Mitchell had hit her down. Marie wanted to ask why Gail reacted that way, it was only a punch, but she suspected it had something to do with Gail's childhood. There weren't any pictures of her family, no photos of her parents or even any siblings, but Marie didn't want to intrude. She sensed that Gail didn't want to talk about it, not since Mitchell awakened some of her nightmares. Either way, Marie had to let Gail know about her trip back to the Silverwood Packhouse, just without the werewolf details.

"Gail?" Marie called out, dumping her keys on the table. The kitchen lights were on so she made her way towards them, almost knocking into several chairs and piles of paperwork. The flat was small, but Marie never took anything with her when she ran from her pack but herself and Gail seemed to want to forget her childhood, so everything they had was related to Silver Creek Zoo.

"I'm in here." Gail answered, putting a mug of hot chocolate down as Marie rounded the corner into the light. "How was the shift?"

Marie shrugged. "Pretty quiet, nothing to report on really."

"And what about Willow?" Gail asked before running a hand through her dark brown locks and throwing it up into a bun. Marie stared at her guardian for a while, noting her dishevelled dressing gown and pyjamas.

"She's the same - have you been up waiting for me for the past six hours?" Marie asked, still standing by the kitchen door. Gail sighed, knowing she'd been caught out.

"I can't get anything past you, can I?" Gail joked, and Marie's heart cramped at the monstrous secret she was keeping from her. "Yes, I did, I couldn't sleep with you not here."

Marie sighed in turn, taking a seat opposite her on the kitchen island, and fidgeted with her fingers. Guilt ate at her, knowing she would be leaving Gail for several days and she couldn't even tell her the truth as to why. She won't sleep... she'll be so worried...

"You're fidgeting." Gail stated with narrowed eyes. "What happened?"

Marie pursed her lips before looking her guardian in the eye. "We...We don't really talk about how we met, do we?"

Gail frowned, fingers drumming against her hot chocolate. "No, I guess we don't."

"You don't know anything about where I come from, and you let me into your home," Marie pushed down the emotion that was clogging her throat. "I'm forever grateful, don't get me wrong, but why..?"

"Marie, I saw you running to the bus stop that night, and I remember the couple next to us." Gail reminisced. "They were looking at you with pity, thinking you were running away from something."

Gail reached over and grabbed Marie's trembling hand in reassurance. "I saw someone running towards something; I knew that look in your eyes because it's one I had a long time ago."