All is Found

9

Present Day

Thea didn't say anything as I recounted the last two weeks of my life. She was patient with me and didn't interrupt as I told her everything that happened. Somewhere in the middle of my story Thea put her hand on my knee and rubbed circles into it and it kept me grounded. When I finished I kept wiping away tears that stubbornly continued to fall no matter how much I wished for them to stop.

"I have to work tomorrow. I'm on your house's detail. Your manager and Eli won't be allowed inside the house anymore. Our chief of department didn't want either of them lingering inside while we conducted our investigation. The officer assigned to the detail has a key to get inside your house for emergencies. When I'm on duty I'll swing by and pick you up and we can get some of your stuff so you can stop stealing all of my Henley's. Maybe we could even go next door to see how Pat is doing. I know that when Bobby stormed into your house he went to talk to Pat before he filed the missing persons report." Thea said in a quiet calm voice.

"You would do that for me?" I asked, still not believe that Thea would do this for a complete stranger.

"Yea, I even have a lawyer friend who owes me a favor that can look at your contract for you to see how to get you out of it." Thea said and a fresh wave of tears past through me.

"I don't know how I could ever repay you for this." I said and wiped at the tears again.

"Live. That's how you can repay me for helping you. I just want you to live." Thea said with her bright hazel eyes locking onto mine. I looked down at her hand that was still making those small circles and I nodded. Thea didn't say anything as I laid down next to her and pulled the blankets up over my body more. It didn't take long for sleep to wash over us.

The next morning I woke up comfortably warm in the crook of Thea's neck with one of her arms wrapped tightly around me. We must have moved closer during the night and I didn't have the heart to move right now so I closed my eyes and feel back asleep. When I woke up again Thea was trying to remove her arm from under my head. My eyes opened and they found hers. Without words spoken I lifted my head up and she pulled her arm back to herself.

Thea got out of bed a few minutes later and started to get herself ready for the day. I only laid in bed a few minutes later before I followed her lead. We met in the kitchen about ten minutes later and started to make breakfast together. Coffee poured in two mugs a stack of pancakes and todays newspaper sat on the table as Thea and myself settled down for breakfast.

We ate in silence still reeling from my words last night. Once I started, the words started to stumble out like word vomit and I couldn't stop. I needed to get it out and I felt like I could breathe a little bit more. I know that I would need to go see Pat sooner or later to see how he is but once I do it's going to make everything real and I don't know how I'm going to deal with that.

After we finished breakfast Thea called her lawyer friend and was able to set up a meeting for us when Thea was off tomorrow. Thea told me that we would be meeting somewhere private so nobody would know I was there. I can't let Bobby finding me before I was ready to be found.

Thea gave me a rundown of when she will come and get me and how we are going to get into the house. Even though she has the key she can't just walk into my house without a reason. Thea is going to drop me off by my backyard and I'll hop over my fence and Thea will let me in the back door. She will call her dispatch and let them know that she thinks someone is coming in through the back door only for it to be a false alarm.

After I finished collecting some stuff that I needed I would go out the back door and hop the fence into Pat and Eds backyard. Thea was going to go over their house at the beginning of her shift to let Pat know that I would be coming over through the backdoor later in the day. Once I wrapped up my visit with Pat I would walk out his front door and Thea would drive me back to her house.