Baby Steps

Ev had finally stopped hiding under her bed. Granted, it was only just that day that she had done so. She had come out, of course, to eat and bathe and occasionally explore bits of the house when the adults were in their room or away for a bit. The girl had even spoken a little bit. No one had seen her anywhere but under the bed since her arrival, however.

Today would be different. For one, she was seated in the middle of the bed, leaving against the pillows. She had a book on her lap, and atop that a piece of parchment upon which she was quickly writing a response to Axel. Ev felt bad about having the made the boy worry. She was a horrible penpal friend.

Biting off a piece of licorice wand, the girl looked up as her door opened, gaze lingering a moment, before returning to her parchment. The back of one hand darting across both cheeks as she scratched out something she had written. How did she even try to word what she needed to say?

Kallie frowned as she walked passed the door; it wasn't quite at a meal time, none of the usual times she went in to check on the girl, but there was something that was just driving her to break her habit.

Something felt, perhaps not off, but different.

It was almost with a start, that she saw the young girl sitting on top of her bed rather than under it. A hopeful spark jumped in the woman's chest, and she had to remind herself not to push it. She got a movement of location, nothing more.

"I suppose," she said after a moment, her tone level, conversational as she leaned on the door frame not entirely willing to step over the line uninvited. True it was her house, but she had given the room to Evelina. The least she could do is treat the space as hers. "You won't be looking for food, supplying yourself with snacks."

She was tempted to ask where it had come from, but figured that Brock was probably still sneaking her candy.

"Probably easier to write up here, than under there. I haven't spent much time under beds myself, but I can't imagine they have the best lighting."

The girl pulled down on the end of the licorice wand, causing a piece to break off into her mouth. "Axel sent them," Ev said. "I 'aven't spoiled me appetite." She set aside the writing supplies and candy, pulling her knees to her chest to lean on.

"I was writin' him back. I 'aven't in a while, but... I don't know what to say." The little girl's voice became small and sad, and she hugged her knees a bit closer. "Ye want to sit?" It was polite to ask, after all. Her mum had taught her that much, and it was better than having the woman just stand in the doorway.

Taking the invitation, Kallie walked slowly across the room and folding herself neatly at the other end of the bed, careful not to over step the invitation. Smoothing out her skirt once she had done so - as much a nervous habit, as an act to keep her appearance presentable - she glanced over at the young girl.

"Words, that weren't for practical purposes, always came difficult for me," she spoked softly, a thoughtful tone in her voice. "Sometimes I found that the important news was easier to say out loud, or maybe its just that I wanted to see a friendly face when saying it."

Not that Kallie ever did say much; she had always been the Queen of keeping problems to herself. After all, if she couldn't deal with it herself, part of her always sort of told her maybe she didn't deserve to deal with it.

"Tell me about Axel, if you want that is. He is a friend?"

Ev shrugged, the action noncommittal. The girl neither agreed nor disagreed. The truth of the matter was that she wished she didn't have anything to have to tell. She just wanted to be a normal girl again, living with her parents and complaining about still being home-schooled.

"'e's me only friend," Ev murmured, tracing a pattern on the comforter. "Don't know any other kids. We write back and forth. 'e's nice." The girl shrugged again, lapsing back into quiet.

"I had an only friend once upon a time," Kallie's voice was distant wistful. Although she wouldn't give up the days she had with Brock for anything, the way she felt, she could not deny that at times she wondered if everything had been simpler if they had stayed just friends, just Kallie and Brock no strings attached. "It's a thing to treasure, friendship."

Silence fell, and Kallie began to fiddle with the ends of her skirt as she tried to think of something to say without seeming as if she were pushing things. These were the moments where she felt like she needed Brock - he always knew how to talk.

"Well, I haven't started on lunch yet... if there were anything you particularly fancied, I'm sure I could try not to make a disaster of it. Always hit and miss my cooking, I'm afraid to say."

Gold-brown eyes peeked up at the woman, watching her as she spoke. Ev tried not to compare her to her mother and failed. Her mother - her real one - had been a bit older; her eyes had been green and her straight golden hair almost always in a loose bun. Hannah Moffett had looked like a mother, not a business woman.

Still, the girl couldn't help but notice some similarities between herself and this stranger - couldn't resist looking for them. They had the same eye color. Their hair, too, seemed to be the same wavy blonde.

Her gaze went to the way the minister played with the hem of her skirt.

"I do that," Ev said softly. "Fidget."

The girl shrugged. "Anything you make is fine, ma'am."

It was with a startled look that Kallie glanced at her hands. It was as if she hadn't noticed she was doing it until the girl had commented on it. In a way that had been part of her surprise - Kallie often fidgeted without noticing - but there was more to it than than. The similarity, the fact that the young girl, her daughter, noted it...

It was doing something to her again. There was pain, longing... pride. Even if it was one of her least favourite traits, there was something in Kallie that was just glad to say there was some similarity there - that there was something that she maybe contributed to her daughters life.

Realizing that she might have been silent for to long, she let out a slight laugh, "I do it too often I'm afraid. I can't stand... still. I can't not be busy. Fidgeting appears to be how I fix it."

"O-okay," Kallie nodded her head, again at a lost for how to follow that. They both seemed to be stalling the conversation. Than again, she supposed that this was just one of those things. "If you need, want... you know, if their's anything you'd like, you just need to come ask. If I can get it, I'll do it."

"Me dad-" Ev halted abruptly, sucking in a sharp breath and slowly letting it back out. She picked at the pattern on the comforter for a moment. When she continued speaking, her tone had gone very soft. "Me dad said it was a sign of someone who would go really far in life. 'e said people like that can't sit still 'cos they've got places to go."

The girl shook her head again to indicate that there was nothing she wanted. Her fingers continued to follow the print on the blanket another minute or two. Pausing, she pressed her lips into a thin line, then peeked up again through her lashes.

"Can I watch?" she asked. "While ye make lunch, I mean? It's... empty in 'ere." More fidgeting, and even quieter voice. "Don't really like it, anymore..."

It broke her heart, the way the girl stuggled to say that simple phrase "My dad". It also made it soar that the girl had the strenght to do it. Kallie knew from experience, it was natural to grieve, right to grieve, but it did nothing to dwell.

Moving on was the only way to survive. Otherwise, you might as well have died too.

"Those are very wise words; my father only ever told me to sit still, or if I wasn't going to, I could at least do something useful, like get him another drink." She let out a soft breath, not quite a laugh. That part had followed of its own accord; it was a moment that Kallie realized she had said it. There was no taking it back, though she regretted pushing her past problems on anyone, let alone a child. She promptly pushed herself off the bed, "Well that is just the past. No need to dwell."

Straightening her skirt once more, a quick pat at her hair, she was about to make her leave of the girl when the question stopped her. Freezing for a moment Kallie could do nothing but blink, then a slight small smile pulled at her lips, she turned back to the girl.

"Of course, D- Evelina, you are free to do anything here -with in safety reasons I suppose; though... I also think I'd like that very much." Kallie paused, and then nodded her head, pulling the door open. "Shall we?"

"He doesn't sound like a very useful sort," Ev responded will all the bluntness and authority of a typical eleven-year-old. She then ducked her head, fidgeting slightly. "Uh... I mean..." She shrugged by way of dismissing the words that had just parted her mouth.

The girl shifted to the edge of the bed and stood. She took a moment to straighten her coveralls before brushing invisible lint from the front of them. Looking up at the woman, Ev gave a small smile and followed her to the door.

Kallie laughed. It was a quick thing, a brief chuckle - but it was the happy thing, filled with genuine warmth and amusement, "Don't be sorry; he never was that useful. Perhaps at a time he might have been, but never when I knew him."

She was silent as the wander down the stairs, and through the hall into the small but neat kitchen. The counters and trimming was all a deep chestnut, contrasted with the bright clean white counter tops, and floor. Grabbing the pale blue apron off the chairs by the island, she pulled it on, quickly doing up the ties, and letting out a breath and smoothing the front.

"Well," she flashed a sheepish grin towards the girl, "I'm going to apologize for the missed matched meal today. I can organize so many things, but never food. The one thing I need to keep track of, and I always forget." She shrugged as she washed the potato's she had already pealed with magic. "I'm afraid this is all I have left in the house; I'm going to have to remember to go shopping later."

She paused, hand in the water. "If you wished to get out of the house, you can come."

Ev had followed quietly. She'd seen the house, of course, having crept around when she wouldn't be seen. There had also been some attempt at a tour, though she hadn't paid much attention to that.

The girl climbed up on one of the stools, kneeling on it to give her greater height. Leaning with her elbows on the counter, she settled in to watch. Again, there were the unspoken comparisons and contrasts, nothing seeming to be missed by those pale brown eyes.

She shrugged to indicate that she didn't mind about the meal being mismatched. Ev's teeth worried at her bottom lip at the offer. It was such an ordinary thing, going shopping. It was something Ev often accompanied her mother in doing.

Gaze dropping to the counter top, Ev shrugged again. She didn't know what she wanted to do.

Kallie nodded her head almost to herself, for lack of anything better to do. The silence was, not exactly awkward, but not quite comfortable either. There was still this pointed need within her to fill it. The only problem was she had no idea how to do so.

Maybe it would have been better if she did just leave it, but that wasn't Kallie. There was a wall she felt the need to break down. And although the woman understood that on some level only time would do that, she also had some comprehension that it wouldn't fall if she didn't do something either.

She felt the need to prove herself as a human being, not just the minister, not just the woman who didn't want to call herself Ev's mother (Although that was not true, Kallie was well aware that was how the girl saw her). She wanted to be... be at the very least Kallie.

If she could get to just Kallie, than maybe it wouldn't be quite so bad.

"Don't worry about it D-, its not something that's important," she gave a slight smile a quick nod and went back to her cooking. Plunking all the potato's into a pot on the oven, turning it on, before frowning, pulling out her wand and mumbling a quick incantation causing the water to jump to boiling immediately, rather than waiting.

"I always was impatient," she gave a rueful little grin. "Couldn't even wait to finish school normally. Had to skip years just to do it. Sometimes I wonder if I rushed things too much. Grew up too fast." She was getting distracting in her talking again, rambling far more than she ever intended to when she first opened her mouth. It was a sign she was getting nervous, and was unable to hold it together.

Ev looked up again, watching the woman, listening as she spoke. At first, the girl thought she might be imagining it. But, no, the woman really was rambling. A lot like she did, when she got...

"Ye don't 'ave to be nervous," Ev told her quietly. "An'... ye don't 'ave to try so 'ard. 's not your fault they died. I just miss 'em. They're me mum an' dad. Th'only ones I know. Ye didn't-" She broke off, pressing her lips into a thin line then shaking her head. "I'm not mad at ye, though. Don't be nervous."

She gave a shaky little laugh, her shoulders drooping slightly as she watched the water slowly begin to boil down in the pot. The surprise she had felt at the comment was over shadowed by the mere fact that the girl had noticed at all.

Evelina was...

A slight smile tugged at her lips as she glanced over at the girl.

"I try to hard at everything; its sort of how I got my job," she gave a weak smile at her half joke, and refrained from adding that it was also how she ruined her relationship with Brock, "But I'll try to remember to tone it down this time."

Taking the pot off of the stove, she charmed it mash the potatoes while frowning and pulling out a frying pan.

"Its good to miss them you know. I lost my sister when I was very young - younger than you. Still miss her."