The Bonding Chronicles Ch. 20

"How've you been doing?" Bruce asked, his voice a deep resonating bell, sounding out with concern.

"Much better lately," Sara answered, kicking a stone as they walked down the driveway before turning her gaze back towards the tall black man. "If you'd asked me that a couple of months ago, I would've probably said fine, but now... Well, things are pretty awesome."

There was happiness in Bruce's smile as he listened to Sara's statement. A moment later, his demeanor changed, and he swallowed as he worked up the strength to say what was on his mind.

"Yeah... After everything with Zack, we've felt pretty shitty about how it all shook out. Every time you came up, he kind of lost it..." his voice trailed off as he struggled to express himself. "We knew we could only be friends with one of you. And..."

While Bruce sighed, Sara kept her eyes on the ground, remembering how hard it had been watching Bruce and Steve continue their relationship with Zack. She had always suspected that they'd been forced to choose between them, but at times she had found herself wondering if perhaps her peculiarities had driven them away.

Part of her wanted to get angry at the choice they'd made, and as she considered that distant fire that was building in the background of her mind, she knew that a week before it would have already consumed her. Yet there, at that moment, she felt its warmth but was able to keep it from taking over, instead focusing on the words he had used, and the way he had made his confession.

She could tell that his admission had not been easy for him, and that he was treading unknown and uncomfortable waters. There was a deep remorse that was only made light for the athletic man by the joy Sara had found in where her life had taken her.

"That sucked, man... But you know that.

"You guys all played sports together, and always had more in common, so in a way I understood. Though it's great to hear that it wasn't my weird behavior that made you two abandon me like that. We were always so close, but most of the time I knew you all followed me out into the woods because it was what I wanted, and that you'd rather play football or stay in and play videogames."

They had made it a short way down the driveway, nearing the edge of the clearing that surrounded Andrew's homestead, when Sara noticed a hedge of bushes she had never seen before. It was skirting the edge of the forest leading into the clearing, and as her keen senses focused in on the thick shrubbery, she could tell that it was impossibly dense.

One thing was certain, it was not there the night before when she had done her last patrol.

"Well, rest assured, cat-girl, we had a blast playing in the forest with you, and would've done it for years had things been different."

Sara was pulled out of her observation by Bruce's light hearted sentiment. Turning her eyes towards him, she could see the worry in his gaze. Realizing that he had mistaken her distant stare for pain at what they were discussing, she smiled and punched him in the arm, forcing the tall man to take a couple of steps to the side and yelp out with pain.

"You get one boyfriend, and become all mushy and weak." Her grin broadened as she shook her head and watched him recover from her soft, yet affective assault. "This is what happens when I leave you alone for a few years."

Still rubbing his arm, Bruce laughed and shook his head. "And to think, I actually missed this."

Sara raised an eyebrow and stated with confidence, "I'll show you what you missed."

Bruce broke out in a huge laugh, and jumped away from her, amazed at how quickly Sara closed the distance between them. It wasn't until Sara was tickling him that he remembered how often they used to play that game. He was reminded of how weak Sara made him feel, and how no one since her had ever stood up to him like that.

She cast his attempts at defense aside as if he were a child trying to tackle an adult. The few she allowed to work, only served to remind him of how agile and strong she truly was by how deftly she went along with his movements. Years of football had taught him how resisted force felt, and everything about their exchanged seemed one sided and completely controlled by Sara.

Tears were welling in his eyes, and as she backed away, giving him a chance to recover, he felt light headed and giddy with the memory of what it felt like to be a kid. Steve used to be able to make him laugh like that, before their relationship had changed and his touch began to have a whole new effect.

Standing up, he shook the last of the laughter from body and stated what he had truly wanted to tell Sara.

"I know that Andrew is special like you. I don't know what he can do, but I know he isn't entirely human."

The shock must have been evident in Sara's face, because he smiled and reached out, his gentle caress on her cheek providing the comfort he intended.

"We've known since we were kids that you were special, Sara. How could we miss it? Whatever brought Andrew into your life, hold onto each other and don't let go."

She wanted to say something back, but stood there stunned as she tried to make sense of their relationship. All those years she thought that no one knew, that she had kept her secret safe, but they had known the whole time.

Zack knew...

"I'm gonna head back and see if Steve's got that Molecular Bio shit figured out yet. I love him, but he is terrible at science."

Seeing the look on her face, Bruce leaned into her vision and stated, "Don't worry, we've kept your secret all these years, I think we can keep one more." Studying her worried look, he smiled and realized what was bothering her. "Zack doesn't know about Andrew, if that's what your freakin' out about. He's too clouded by his dumb ass feelings for you to see Andrew as anything but the small, frail little man that he appears to be."

As Bruce turned to leave, Sara mumbled, "Thank you."

The tall man just waved over his shoulder, jogging back to the house and giving Sara the time she needed to consume everything she had just learned.

Rather than worry, Sara found herself grateful to have Bruce and Steve back in her life, Andrew's presence seeming to have mended more than he could ever know. Whatever Zack knew, he had never used that knowledge against her, and she felt no need to start worrying about it now. Instead, her gaze wandered along the dense shrubbery that had formed along the perimeter of the clearing.

With cat-like agility, she sprinted the short distance through thigh deep grass, reaching the artificial boundary to the forest. The fence was much more impressive in person, all of the branches interwoven in a tight and impenetrable mesh, creating a natural barrier that would keep out even the smallest of animals.

She knew they would just chew through, but that was not the point of the natural barricade. It reached up almost four feet, and extended about halfway down that first edge of the forest. With a light step, she followed the wall to where it stopped, the hedge ending with a natural and mundane flourish of wide spread limbs.

Beside it were a few similar bushes of moderate size laying on the ground, their complex root systems dirty and exposed as if they'd just been pulled from the earth. Sara figured they were about three feet tall, and unlike everything that had been integrated into the wall already, their limbs were reaching out in all directions to maximum light exposure.

After sniffing the air, Sara knew immediately where the wall had come from, catching the floral and yet earthy musk of Tani'm lingering in the air. The small woman had just been there, and as Sara scanned the forest she knew that Tani'm may very well still be out there. The hairs on the back of her neck refused to soften, bolstering her confidence that Tani'm was indeed waching her.

"You don't have to hide, you know. Andrew isn't here."

A half dozen yards away, movement drew Sara's attention; bark on the lower part of a tree shifted and came loose, Tani'm's scent filling the air with more intensity as the small woman came into view. It was an impressive illusion, causing Sara to shake her head in surprise as she watched the young druid start walking towards her.

Sara found herself still frustrated with Tani'm, the woman's behavior towards Andrew and her family lingering in the back of her mind. But, as Tani'm came closer, Sara could tell that something was different.

Tani'm was struggling to maintain eye contact, seeming much more like a small child than the paragon of the forest she had fought beside those nights back. There was a vulnerability that seemed fresh and raw, as if the older woman was exposing herself in an uncomfortable way.

Something within Sara forced her into action, her body moving before her mind understood what was going on. Within a moment, Tani'm was wrapped in Sara's arms, the taller woman clutching the frail girl in her embrace. Tani'm's body was tense, her arms pressed against her chest in fists as she tried her hardest not to cry.

Neither of them had expected it, and a part of Sara wondered what had come over her. Before that moment, the closest she had come to maternal instincts was when she had stood up to bullies on behalf of smaller kids, but that was always different. Those other times she had been more interested in stopping an abuser than protecting a weak kid. She would make sure the child was okay when everything was done, but they had never been her focus.

In that moment, with Tani'm shivering in her strong embrace, Sara felt the difference. She wanted Tani'm to be okay, and knew that something within her was broken.

"I'm so sorry..." the small woman began. "You all did so much for my forest, and... well, for me too."

Sara rubbed her back and held her close, that feeling of protectiveness she had just discovered guiding her actions as she began to talk.

"Don't forget, this is our home, too. We weren't about to let some little puppy dog take that away from us."

Tani'm leaned back and looked up, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked into Sara's gaze.

"You aren't mad at me?"

Sara smiled and shook her head. "No... I wish you'd treated us better, but Karen helped us understand what you were going through."

At the mention of Karen's name, the last of Tani'm's strength gave out, her final barrier collapsing and sending the small woman into a fit of sobs. Sara was still finding it hard to understand why she was not upset at Tani'm more, holding the crying woman and feeling only sympathy for the pain she was going through.

It wasn't until her thoughts once more turned towards Karen that Sara began to laugh with understanding.

Immediately, she felt Tani'm's body go tense as the small woman's barriers came back up, the forest growing cold as warnings of danger screamed into Sara's mind. Tani'm's green eyes locked onto Sara, tears still running down her cheeks and along the rigid edges of her clenched jaw.

With the blade of her finger, Sara wiped away a tear and smiled, trying to put Tani'm at ease as she explained, "I'm sorry for laughing. It wasn't you, but this whole situation. Two days ago, I hated you for how you treated my mates-"

Sara considered going into detail about how much they had all done for her, but after a moment's thought she decided to remain on task.

"The very thing you fear, is the only reason I'm able to comfort you right now. If you'd come here even a day ago, I very well may have chased you off my property."

The anger and fear that had washed over Tani'm rolled away and was replaced by confusion, her questioning eyes pleading with Sara for a better explanation.

"That thing thing you saw, between Andrew and Karen... I know it seems weird, but it's so much more than you know."

Sara squirmed, arousal stirring within her as she remembered how warm and content she had felt the night before, her tummy rounded by Andrew's copious and powerful seed. It took a moment for Sara to shake those lingering thoughts, and to decide just how much to share. She knew she needed to explain enough so that Tani'm could at least accept that what they were doing was not a bad thing.

"We're bonded, you know that much, and you know that Andrew was trying to make me a full Therian before Brandon kidnapped me. Well, that act you witnessed is how he was doing that, and recently we learned that it's also bringing us closer together. Somehow, it's sharing the better parts of ourselves. We thought it was just us influencing Andrew, but it seems like Karen is also influencing me."

Tani'm could see it in the young woman's eyes, the feral and intimidating flame of her rebellious nature was tempered and less intense, but still there in the fleeting and distracted way Sara had difficulty focusing on her. A rodent moving between burrows caught Sara's attention, distracting her for a moment before she returned her gaze to Tani'm.

It was a leap from everything Tani'm knew about the world, but made sense if she took it at face value. Andrew had done nothing but be kind to her, even through all of her mean spirited attempts at pushing him away. Sara's fiery attitude only showing itself the one time through his actions, when he had answered her insistent questions with a sardonic response the night they had planned their attack on the wolf.

The idea that he was being influenced by Sara and Karen was comforting to Tani'm, who had always seen their relationship as being one sided. As she looked back, she began to see the truth of their relationship. Andrew was captured by the women as much as they were ensorcelled by him. All of them doting on each other without qualm or question. At the time, she had only seen how Karen and Sara had behaved, seeing deference in place of the adoration that drove their actions.

"Did I really have everything so wrong?"

Sara grinned and pulled Tani'm back against her, the soft and tender act reminding Tani'm of Karen in the best possible way.

"Yeah, you totally did. Dummy!" Sara added at the peak of their shared moment.

Tani'm sniffled and laughed, happy to know that Sara was still there, if just a bit different than she remembered. Pulling apart once more, Sara looked back towards her house and shook her head. "There must be something in the air tonight, because I'm just surrounded by sentimental fools."

The frailty in Tani'm was still there, and after seeing it, Sara added, "But it's nice to see you, little girl."

Another laugh took Tani'm further away from her hurt feelings, and bought Sara a moment to find the question she wanted to ask. "What brought about this change, Tani'm? It's only been a few days, and... I don't know, you seem different."

With a cautious glance, the small woman looked towards the ground, the life of the forest filling her with confidence and resolve while she contemplated everything she had been through.

"Karen helped me realize that not everyone is trying to control me. Even the tribe expects things from me, but she never has." Looking up and seeing Sara studying her, she amended her statement. "Neither have you or Andrew, if I'm being honest."

A few moments passed, and as much as Sara wanted to keep Tani'm talking, she gave the small woman a chance to glance around and gather her thoughts.

"An old friend's helping me understand how I got this way... Why I don't trust anyone, and why I can't seem to let anyone in... She thought it'd be good if I tried to make up for how I'd treated you all. I couldn't tell her everything that happened, but she knows enough to guess — I think. Anyway, she won't tell me exactly how messed up I am, or what I should do to get better, but her questions kept making me think about you all, and what I could do to let you know I'm sorry.

"I figured with you hanging out with your friends tonight, that I'd be able to sneak in and get at least this first part of the wall finished." She gave a sheepish smile and tilted her head, admitting. "I kinda figured you might find me, though."

Sara pushed the small woman's shoulder, declaring, "You're damn right I would find you. Sneaky little rodent."

With a laugh, Sara looked around the forest and sniffed the air, asking, "Speaking of rodents, where's your furry little shadow?"

"Ohh, Thunderfoot? He's out looking for his way home again. I'd be helping him, but I really wanted to get a start on this."

Her hands brushed through the stray branches that were casting out from the unfinished edge of the hedge, Tani'm's smile fading as she asked, "Do you think he'll like it? After everything he fixed at my house, I really wanted to do something special for him."

Sara could not believe the difference in Tani'm. Just two days before, the small woman could barely look at them, let alone show any kind of appreciation for what they had done. Not only was she unafraid of Andrew, she was trying to do something to make him happy.

Shaking her head, Sara asked, "Who are you? You're nothing like the little girl I met a few days ago."

"I'm still figuring that out," Tani'm began. "But I'd appreciate it if you stopped calling me little girl."

Sara smirked, loving how Tani'm had taken her bait. "Little woman?"

With a roll of her eyes, Tani'm knew she had made that too easy, but instead of getting upset she laughed and found Sara's antics to be endearing.

"How about, 'Lord Protector'? That has a nice ring to it."

Sara laughed and shook her head, stating, "Tani'm, it is. You and Thumper really do belong together."

Tani'm joined Sara in laughing, her mention of Thunderfoot causing his journey through the forest to filter into her thoughts. He was bounding between the trees still searching for the path he had taken to get to their forest. Every once in a while, Tani'm could tell that he caught a whiff of home, a stray scent on the breeze that sent his heart racing, but never seemed to lead anywhere.

"To answer your question," Sara stated, pulling Tani'm from her introspection. "Andrew will love it, it's beautiful and impressive. More importantly, his mother will appreciate how much it will keep the wildlife out of the clearing, and Andrew will enjoy knowing how much it will mean to her."

Tani'm's eyes went wide at the mention of Andrew's parents. "Ohhh god, I hadn't thought about that. There's no way you can explain this to them!"

Sara gripped the worried woman on the shoulder and squeezed ever so gently.

"Don't worry about that. Andrew already has to explain why he used his father's grenade, and how their M16 got destroyed. We decided that we're gonna be honest, and try to explain everything, but we'll keep you out of it."

Tani'm could hardly blink from the shock of everything she had just heard. When she had read Karen's note, she assumed that Andrew had used dynamite to blow off the back half of the wolf, but learning that he had used military ordinance was something else. Eddie had explained to her months ago that the military would be establishing a top secret base, and to give them a wide berth, but she had never thought Andrew's parents were a part of it.

Every day reminded her more and more how far she had come from those carefree days when she could just patrol her forest and protect the animals from poachers.

There was suspicion in Tani'm's eyes as she asked, "Can Andrew trust his parents?"

It was an odd and out of place seeming question that took Sara by surprise. With a questioning glance the tall woman asked, "What do you mean? They're amazing, and love their son more than anything... Of course we can trust them."

The small woman gave a big sigh, finding it hard to let go of her nervous and suspicious nature.

"The military is setting up a base out here, and everyone is looking the other way. I've heard a few rumors about what they're getting up to, but it's all stupid and crazy ramblings from rednecks and hillbillies. A lot of UFO and alien bullshit."