Growing Fondness

Evening falls, and dinner has been prepared, so Lucario tells Billy to fetch Lily so that they can have dinner together.

"The child isn't like me," Lucario says to himself as he waits for Lily. "I can't throw shit at her all at once and expect her to accept it."

"Boss, we're here," Billy announces while holding back his laugh. Lucario quietly glares at him since he knows the reason why he's laughing. "Lily, say good evening to Mr. Luca."

The little girl scoots her away over to her seat which was placed on the adjacent side of Lucario. She doesn't quite shy away from Lucario like she did in the car earlier, but more like she refuses to talk to him.

Taking the hint, Lucario clears his throat and turns his attention to Billy who is sitting on the other adjacent side of Lucario. "How are preparations going for the child's room?"

"A whole lot better than your preparations," Billy slyly answers with a proud smirk. "It won't be ready by tonight, so I've prepared the guest room for now with her new clothes. Lily's room should be done by tomorrow."

"I'm getting a room?" Lily suddenly asks Billy with twinkling lights in her eyes.

"It's only natural that you get a room, Lily," Billy answers while cutting a piece of meat for the little girl. "You will be staying with us for a while, so you should have your own room. Do you not like that?"

Lily fervently shakes her head to Billy's answer. "No, I like it! I like to have my own room." Lily giggles to herself as she thinks about having a room for herself.

However, Billy and Lucario trade confused glances at each other regarding Lily's reaction. "Lily, did you have your own room with your grandpa?" Billy interrogates, setting his silverware down to give Lily his full attention.

"I did, but Grandpa always had his friends come over to the house, so he let them sleep in my room," Lily responds, not thinking much of it since she's too young to understand what her grandfather was doing.

"Where would you sleep if your grandpa's friends were sleeping in your room?" Ryan adds in, now invested in the conversation.

"In the living room." The silence that followed Lily's response was too loud. Noticing everyone staring at her and not eating, Lily tilts her head in confusion. "Did I say something bad?" she asks as she begins to sink into her chair to hide herself.

"No, no, no, no," Billy immediately responds. "We were just concerned because a little girl like you should be sleeping on a bed at night and not the couch in the living room. How many days did your grandfather's friends come over?" Lily looks down on her fingers and starts mumbling the days of the weeks then holds up six fingers.

Angered by her grandfather's actions, Lucario accidentally snaps his stainless steel spoon in half. This frightens Lily, leading her to run over into Ryan's lap. Ryan pets Lily's head and tries to calm her down while Billy taps Lucario's hand to calm him down.

"You scared her," Billy whispers while he takes his boss's broken spoon away from him. "You have to apologize or else she's gonna think that you're mad at her."

Lucario takes heed to Billy's advice and tries to soften his expression so as to not scare the little girl. "I'm sorry, Lily," Lucario begins. "I didn't mean to scare you. I was just… surprised by your answer."

Lily looks over her shoulder at the beastly man but begins to cry once she sees his face. Billy nearly collapses onto the floor in laughter, catching himself by the corner of the table. "You look even scarier with whatever expression you were going for."

"You should have told me that before I spoke to the child," Lucario scolds as he pushes Billy's hand off the table, leading him to fall onto the ground. However, this doesn't stop the right-hand man from his laughing fit.

The night goes on, and dinner is over, so Lily is taken to the guest room she'll stay in for tonight. Ryan tucks her in the bed and wishes her good night, turning off the light to the room before closing the door.

That night, it started to rain hard. Out of nowhere, lightning crashes nearby, causing a loud vibrating thunderous sound which makes Lily start to cry out.

"Billy!" Lily screams between her cries. "Ryan! I'm scared!" She continues to cry, but no one hears her over the loud thunder that drowns her out. Wrapping herself in the comforter, she crawls out of the bed and runs over to the door. She scurries down the hallway crying rivers as she searches for anyone who might be around. Eventually, she bumps into a group of men who are out on patrol.

"Young lady, what's wrong? Why are you out of your room?" one of the men asks as he bends down to look at her. When he removes the comforter from the little girl's head, her curly red hair swings forward and sticks itself in her tear trails.

"I'm scared!" she cries at the same time as another intense thunder resounds through the halls. She reflexively leaps into the man's chest and covers her ears as she clenches her teeth. By this time, the little girl is now surrounded by a trio of men who aren't sure of what to do. The man that Lily is holding onto tries to push her away a bit so that he can wipe her tears, but Lily's grip on his clothes refuses to budge, so he picks her up and rocks her back and forth.

At the same time, unable to sleep, Lucario leaves his room to walk around a bit when he soon finds the trio of men gathering around. "What's going on here?" he asks while walking over to the group. The men turn to face their boss, revealing the crying little girl. "Why is she not in her room? Did she get hurt?"

"No, Boss," the man who's holding Lily answers. "It seems that the young Miss is scared of thunder. She was running around the halls crying, searching for someone to comfort her."

"Where's Ryan? Isn't he supposed to be watching over her?"

"I think I last saw Ryan in his room a few hours ago," another one of the men answered. "He was packing his belongings since he's going to transfer into the room next to the young Miss tomorrow."

Shaking his head in disbelief, he observes the sobbing child. "Give her to me," he orders, holding his hands out.

The man who's carrying Lily attempts to shift her over to his boss. "Young Miss, the boss is going to take care of you know," he assures. "He's a lot stronger than us, so he can protect you better from the thunder."

Exhausted from crying and not getting enough sleep, Lily's grip begins to weaken, allowing the man to transfer her to his boss. Once Lucario has Lily in his arms, it's almost like something in his heart clicks. He's never held a child before; however, he has seen others do it, so he's familiar. Yet it wasn't holding her that began to change him. It's when he saw her face close up. Despite being covered in tears, hair, and snot, he saw an expression similar to his from way back in his childhood years.

Repressed sadness. A state of being where you never show your true sadness. It's not that you can't express sadness. It's that you can't show the full extent of how sad you truly are because it will become a burden to the people around you, so you don't fully feel gratified when you aren't sad anymore.

Lucario waves off his men then begins to head over to his room. He lays the little girl on the side of the bed farthest from the window, and he lies on the side closest to the window so that he can block the flashing light from the lightning. He wipes the little girl's dried tears and moves her hair out of her face. Gently covering her with the blanket, he sets one of his large hands on her back and rubs it to help soothe her whenever thunder sounds. Sleepless, he felt accomplished.