Stone Circle she keeps it simple

Day was just finishing his rounds for the night, checking in on all his packmates one last time before retiring to his own den with Sunny and Dawn. It was going to be a cold night, but he wasn't too worried about himself or his children. He and Amber had dug their den deep and strong. As long as the pups didn't wander off, they would be fine. A little chilly, perhaps, but not in any danger.

He was in the middle of the territory, heading toward his own den when he caught her scent. @Adeline. Part of him had wondered after her status - her father's den was full, after all, and there were not many other places to go... but Krypton or Mara could offer her shelter, couldn't they? And it would be... not wrong, perhaps, but not quite right, either, if Day were to offer his own den to her.

Nevertheless, Day followed her trail, creeping silently through the powdery snow that'd just begun to fall.

"Greeneyes?" he called when he thought he was close - his eyes were failing him more and more these days, especially in the flurries of snow that were now confusing his vision.

Adeline hadn't wanted to intrude on any of the others, figuring it was probably enough that she was taking from the caches when she wasn't well enough to give back just yet. So, she had found a little hole at the base of a tree to curl up in. The snow had gathered on top and covered her up, but she continued to shiver from the cold. Was she ever going to be warm again?

Day's voice had her eyes opened and her ears perking. He must of smelled her. She chuffed, then uncurled herself and began shoving the snow away from the entrance with her nose and foreleg. Her head popped out of the hole and she looked to Day. Hey, what's up? 

She popped out of the snow, skinny as she was, and Day wanted to start yelling right there. He wondered what would've happened if he hadn't come by, if he'd kept on going past her trail.

He decided to stop wondering. Besides, he didn't even know how cold it was going to get. Maybe this storm would've been perfectly survivable, and Addie would've been a little cold, but fine. But Grayday didn't want her to be cold. The thought of her sleeping out here alone after the harrowing journey she'd come back from put a terrible wrench in his heart.

"Do you wanna come sleep with me?" he asked, speaking without really thinking much more on the topic. At once, he realized how weird that sounded (to his guilty conscience) and tried to correct himself. "I mean, there's plenty of room in my den, with the kids. My kids will be there."

She emerged fully from the den, her muscles quivering as they tried to make heat for her body. She wasn't sure what she was thinking, sleeping out here on her own, other than that she had never considered herself a bother, and certainly wouldn't start being one today. 

Day asked if she wanted to sleep with him and the children, and she tilted her head. What about Amber? Would she mind? she asked. She hadn't even met the woman, and knew nothing about her, had only heard of her briefly. Would it be weird to have them all bunking together? Adeline had no idea that Amber had left. Truth be told, though, she might not care how awkward it would be, so long as it was warm. She had no idea that Amber had left, and that it was a moot point.

Day still felt the familiar punch-to-the-gut that Amber's name always invoked, but maybe he was getting past that. Maybe it was just Adeline's voice. He didn't know, but he was surprised when his only reaction to the name was a flicker of his ears and an irrepressable grimace.

"She left," he replied. (Like you, he wanted to say, but he didn't. It wasn't the same.) Day licked his lips, wondering if he should expand on that, but like always, he didn't really want to talk about Amber. "I don't like to think of you out here alone," he hedged, turning his body toward home. "C'mon - it's only gonna get colder."

Adeline's face first turned to shock at his words, then her ears flicked back and her eyes narrowed. She opened her maw to question on how Earth Amber could have left Grayday and their children here, but it seemed the male wasn't interested in talking about it. She supposed she could understand. It must have hurt to be deserted like that. 

He turned, apparently assuming she would follow. Trying to lighten the mood, she called out to his retreating back. You're not the boss of me, ya know! But, he was offering her a warm place to sleep, and there was no way she was stupid enough to pass that up. Hey! Wait up! she yelled, trotting to catch up with him. She bumped shoulders with him, a silent show of friendship. Are Dawn and Sunny getting big? Are they driving you crazy yet? she asked. Maybe they distracted him from Amber; or maybe they reminded him of her. Whichever, she knew it would be wrong to ask.

Day gave a playful growl at Adeline's protest. "I'm the beta," he said succinctly. "That means I am the boss of you." He bumped her shoulder back to show that he was kidding, even though it was probably true. Day knew he could never really tell Adeline what to do. There was something about her that made him feel as though he was always a step behind - ever since that big fight, he'd looked at her differently. Like she was dangerous. Like she held his life in her jaws.

"They are getting big," he went on, chuckling a little uneasily as he tried to pull his thoughts back to the present. "You haven't even met them, have you? They look just like me - handsome as all hell." Akuti had said it first, albiet in a more reserved fashion. "They do drive me kind of nuts sometimes, but the whole pack helps me out. Krypton and Valette especially."

Adeline snorted. As if, she threw back at him. You may be Beta, but my Dad is Alpha! Which means I can pretty much get away with anything, she said sassily. Adeline wasn't one to toss Steady's rank around, and had never used it to get out of trouble. Then again, she had never really been in trouble to begin with, until she left. And, then, she was on her own. 

She shook her head side to side. No, I didn't get the chance to meet them before I left, she admitted. She had been a little nervous to. She and Grayday had been so close, she had been worried about Amber and their children coming between that. So, the first chance she got, she had bolted. That's nice of them to help out. And, I can, too. I make a great cousin, she said, smiling.

"You can," he admitted, stealing a furtive glance at her familiar face. It was so good to have her back, to see her happy again - and so strange that he was bringing her to his den for a sleepover. He thought about asking her to stay with him before, of course. Ever since Althaia's death, she'd been sleeping under the stars. It wasn't the worst way to do things, but it was getting cold, and Day worried...

But he'd never really thought about what it would be like to actually have her there with him. Would it be weird?

"They'll like you," Day predicted, thinking to himself, how could anyone not? But his ears laid back as she pronounced herself their cousin, and Day gawked at her before he remembered that Steady was their uncle, and that this was Steady's daughter. "You're a great everything," he said after a moment, his mouth catching up to his mind. And then, because now he couldn't not think about it: "Addie... do you think of me as an uncle?"

She grinned as he agreed, though after a moment, it turned into a good-natured smile. Adeline had missed teasing with Grayday, and it was great to get back to the norm so quickly after her return. She had almost feared he would be so engrossed with his new family that he wouldn't give her a second glance. But, with how things were working out, it looked like Grayday would get his family and Adeline would have her best friend.

She was taken aback by the look he gave her, not realizing what she had said to make him have the look. She was about to ask, but he changed the subject to a peculiar one. She tilted her head as she regarded him a moment, wondering why he was asking. Well, I suppose in some sort of way, she admitted. But, mostly, just my best friend, she said, smiling. Surely, that answer would make him happy. How could it not?

Part of him had expected this to be some massive, defining moment, but then... well, he'd already know he was sort of like her uncle. There was no getting around it. And he guessed that he still sort of thought of her like a niece. He wanted her to do well, to grow big and strong, to be happy. He wanted her to be safe and taken care of...

There was just all this other stuff that Day didn't know what to do with. He stared down at Adeline and felt something that'd been aching deep inside him begin to release. Nothing had really changed.

"You're my best friend, too," he said after what was probably too long a stretch of silence. That, at least, was nothing but the truth. "Let's get inside," he said with a laugh, realizing that he'd stopped walking some time ago. He went down first, nosing sleepy puppies out of the way so that Adeline could get in without stepping on them. "This pale little princess is Dawn, and that handsome guy over there is Sunny," he said quietly, trying not to wake them from their drowsy half-sleep. Day curled around them and looked up at Addie, hoping that she would be down for some cuddles. Maybe it was a little gross, but he figure that, as long as his kids were there, he obviously wasn't trying to put the moves on her or anything. Right? Right?!

He went silent, and Adeline began to question whether it was a good silence or a bad silence. Finally, he spoke, admitting she was his best friend, too. She gave him a bright smile, glad that it was mutual. Her tail wagged briefly as she watched him go inside the den. She really had no idea that Grayday harbored deeper feelings than Adeline did. 

She followed him a moment later, her eyes adjusting to the darkness in the den quickly. She glanced to the girl, Dawn, and then to the male, Sunny. They're adorable, she said softly, hoping not to wake them up. She waited until Grayday was settled in, and then found a spot to curl up, partially against Day and partially against the pups. She wondered how they would feel waking up to a stranger in the den, but if Day was there, then maybe they would be alright.

Day made some kind of sound in the affirmative - of course they're adorable - but he was distracted by Adeline settling down beside him. He guessed he'd expected it to feel strange or different, but there wasn't really much to it. This was Adeline, and mostly, he was just intensely grateful that she was here at all.

"I was so worried about you," he said sleepily, giving the girl a lick on the cheek, and then administering one each to his children as well. "And I missed you so bad."

Here in the den, he wasn't angry anymore. Not even that she hadn't said goodbye.

Grayday admitted that he had been worried about her, and she extended her neck to nuzzle his. I'm sorry I made you worry, she said genuinely. She smiled when he said he had missed her. I missed you, too. But, you don't have to worry. I'm not going anywhere. She had enough experience of the outside world to last her while.

She had felt lost here at one point, but for the life of her, she had no idea where that had come from. Maybe because everyone else seemed to be moving on and she felt stagnant. But, she realized it was up to her to make her own life here, and find her own path. But, it would alongside her family. She laid her head down on Day's legs, her body no longer shaking from the cold.

The den was warm, filled with the soft sounds of his family's breaths and heartbeats - his kids, humming-bird quick, and Addie's a soothing thrum, faster than his own but slower than a child's.

In his last moments before sleep, Day tried to reconcile himself with the wolf Addie thought him to be. He tried to fix himself into the role of uncle, but something deep inside him still rebelled at the thought. Addie wasn't his niece. Wasn't Keoni. Wasn't a child. She was different and he wanted her to be his, though he wasn't really sure what that would entail.

But she was here and she was safe, and Day thought he could live with that. If there was something else he wanted, he couldn't quite pin it down. Just... something. Something elusive and needy and out of his reach. But for now, he was happy just to have her home.

Day heaved a contented sigh as he drifted off to sleep, breathing in the scent of the three he loved most.

The end...? *ominous music plays as camera pans away. Credits roll*