....My Cat

Another day, another dollar. Or so they said; it'd been a while since Caroline got paid cash in hand for anything. No, everything came into her bank account once a month, even the supposedly tax-free bonuses she earned for doing her grandfather various favours.

She drew up outside the gates of Maple Grove, Humphrey Granger's wallowing estate outside Rhy'Din city, leaning out through the window of her vintage Mini to announce herself. As the tinny voice of the elderly gatekeeper answered and she watched the gates slowly grind open, Caroline sighed to herself.

"You'd think that I'd be given a pass key by now," she muttered, rolling up her window and setting her foot on the gas to drive down the winding driveway that led through an artificial wilderness to the sprawling edifice of Maple Grove itself. "It's not like I've never not lived here."

She passed various members of staff - gardeners, cleaners, the serving staff - going about their business, never failing to greet each of them as she drew into the huge garage that lurked to one side of the house itself. They, in turn, greeted her just as pleasantly - she wasn't just a member of the family they worked for, she was one of them. It was a confusing state of affairs. In front of Humphrey Granger, she was Miss Caroline; anywhere else, she was just Caroline, or Caro, the part-time chauffeur for the big house.

Killing the engine, she clambered out, locking the door, and let her eyes scan over the garage floor. All the vehicles were here, and the mechanics had shut up shop for the day, so it seemed that Grandpa Granger wasn't intending on going anywhere this evening. She hoped.

As she turned to walk up the stairs that lay along one wall of the garage, she hit the keypad for the huge doors, listening to them squeak and clang into place as she jogged upward. The stairs opened onto a small terrace, bordered by the walls of the apartment that sat on top of it, and it was here that she finally started to relax. This, after all, was home.

Unlocking the door, she let herself in, and smiled as her cat, Zaphod, came padding up to her, rubbing his face over her knees.

"Hey, Zaph, missed me?" she asked the ginger fluffball, bending to lift him up into her arms as he purred his volcanic greeting to her. "I know, really long day, but I bet Blue came up and did your dinner, right?"

Yellow-brown eyes blinked at her, turning to look pointedly down at said half-finished dinner, sitting in bowls on the kitchen floor. Caroline laughed, putting her cat down beside the food, and stroked him as he made a show of eating what was left.

Moving to the refridgerator, she opened it, and grimaced at the sight of yet more leftovers from the big house. "Gods, don't they finish anything over there?" she asked no one in particular, chuckling when she got a plaintive 'meow' from near her feet. "Oh, no, fella, you're not getting this. You'll get fat and have a heart attack, and then who'd I have to talk to?"

A plastic dish of something that was probably beef strognanoff was pushed into the microwave, and she set to taking off her coat as it began to heat her meal, hanging it on a hook by the door. As usual, Zaphod followed her around as she then headed into her bedroom, removing her boots, and changing into her pajamas.

"So what did I do today, you ask me?" Caroline bent, scritching the ginger tom's head affectionately as he butted at her knee. "Well, I delivered wool and hemp to the spinning mills, thread to the weaving mills, and a new foreman to the farms. I know, thrilling stuff, huh?"

She laughed as the cat lost interest, padding back into the main room. Following, she gave him a gentle push with her bare foot to get him out of the way, and was back in the kitchen by the time the microwave dinged. Pulling the steaming dish out, she tipped the contents onto a plate, and dropped the plastic container into the sink to soak until she could be bothered to wash it. Plate in one hand and glass of water in the other, she returned to the living room and curled up on her couch, Zaphod tucking himself in beside her.

"I dropped in on Auntie Jay, too," she told him as she ate. "She's kinda gotten over that heart attack Correy gave her, but she says he's hanging out with some girl that she doesn't like the sound of." She chuckled to herself, one hand resting on the cat's back as he washed his paws. "She really needs to let up a little. I mean, I'm not his mom, but I'm doing all the parenting here. He hates me, too."

Sighing, she put her half-eaten meal aside, and gathered her cat into her arms, burying her face in his fur. "You don't hate me, though, do you? I feed you, and I let you sleep all over me, and you purr and let me hug you when I want. That's love, isn't it?"

There was nothing but a purr for an answer, and she smiled tiredly, hugging Zaphod tighter to her. Sometimes it seemed as though all she ever did was look after everyone else; it was times like those she was glad she had a cat to come home to. Yes, she might look after him, but he never made demands or shouted at her that she was ruining his life when she was trying to help him.

"Life would be so much easier if all I had to worry about was you, Mister Zaphod."

....Myself

"It's been a month. Almost thirty days since it all ended. Why don't I feel better?"

No reply. Well, you couldn't expect one when you were curled up in bed with no one but a sleeping cat to hear you confess. She'd been allowed, finally, to move back into her familiar apartment over the garage, with regular, constant, incessant visits from the concerned relatives and friends who knew something was wrong. They knew, but they hadn't picked up any proof yet.

"He can't touch me anymore," she whispered to herself, staring blindly at the sunlight streaming in through the window. "Grandpa made sure he wouldn't do anything to any of us anymore. It doesn't help."

She'd been awake for what felt like hours, unable to sleep after being jolted awake by nightmares. But they were no longer just nightmares. They were memories. Memories of pain and humiliation, of hunger and fear, of gentle hands that burned and a smooth voice that mocked her even as the owner of that voice took every last shred of dignity and pride she had ever had.

"Should I tell them what he did" Would that make it easier to deal with' Gods, I can't do that. They wouldn't be able to cope with it; hell, I can't cope with it. Why else would I be talking to the walls?"

She sighed, rolling over onto her back to stare up at the ceiling for a change. At the end of the bed, the ginger ball of fluff that was her cat, Zaphod, stretched and turned around, falling almost immediately back to sleep. She watched him enviously for a moment before returning her dull gaze to the light above her.

"It's getting so hard. All everyone ever sees is Caroline, back to normal and twice as paranoid as before. That's all I want them to see. Grandpa suspects something, though. I wish I could hug him without flinching. Hug any of the guys without being pointlessly frightened. I don't have anymore excuses. I'm all healed up. I was fine before the nightmares started."

A quiet sob escaped her lips, quickly muffled by the curl of her palm over her mouth. She rolled to her side again, curling up tight beneath the covers as her face pressed into the pillow. All she wanted was for everything to be normal again. Not to be so frightened of every loud noise or, worse, the closeness of any male figure. She knew none of them would hurt her, and yet she hadn't been able to sit comfortably in the presence of any man she knew, family or not, for days now.

"I want my brother," she sobbed into the pillow, trying to hold back the tears and failing miserably. "Where is he?"

....My Cousin

It had been a good day, Caroline decided. First being able to see Lola's debut with her L/O collection in Millie & Mallie's show for Fashion Week; then an interesting evening spent at the Inn with Cally, and to her surprise, Richmond, too. She'd never thought he would actually take her teasing little phone call as an invitation to head ashore. And in pajamas, no less! But the night was wearing on, and she'd had enough of pretending comfort in a crowd. Not that she had much choice as to when she could leave - Ollie had caught her by the door, offering company while she 'got some air'.

Caroline smiled more fondly, feeling a little guilty for making him feel unwanted. "Sure, why not?" Looping her arm through his, she tugged Ollie out onto the porch, pausing to shrug into her coat before hugging Richmond's forgotten red flannel shirt to her chest. "Still finding it hard to do more than say hello and goodbye with Cally, huh?"

Ollie sighed, scrubbed a hand down his face. "Every time I try to say something more to her, she makes it painfully obvious that she doesn't want me around. She's always sending me off to talk to you or to Lola or to Jon." He sat down hard on a bench. "I don't understand it at all, Caroline. Everyone keeps telling me to chat her up. Hell, Lola's absolutely convinced that I'll suddenly be happy if I date her, but....She doesn't want that at all. She doesn't want anything to do with me."

She smiled gently, nudging her arm against his. "Ever think that maybe she's just as shy of you as you are of her?" she suggested softly, moving to sit down on the swing beside him. "Maybe you're just thinking about it too much. Stop trying to chat her up, and just chat, maybe?"

He gave her a mildly disgusted look, as if it were possible for anyone to be as shy as he was around women who were not related to him. He bumped her gently with his shoulder. "I have no idea how to do that, you know. I don't do small talk. I haven't the skill for it."

She snorted with laughter. "Yeah, well, neither do I, and I managed to ..." She stopped herself just in time, eyes widening as she realised what she'd been about to tell him. "Okay, yeah, not going into that right now." Laughing, Caroline shook her head. "Well, you don't have to do small talk. You know the things she enjoys and the things she finds interesting - learn a little about them, develop an opinion, and talk about those."

"I don't actually know any of those things. The only thing I know about her is that she's Lola's best friend and she's..." Ollie sighed, realising that he was about to sound like a lovestruck teen-ager.

"Alright." Thinking for a moment, Caroline leaned back, still hugging the shirt wrapped around her arms. "So find out what she likes from Lola. It's not like people don't do that all the time anyway."

"I think....I think I'm giving it up as a bad job." He shrugged and plunged his hands into the pockets of his coat again, looking out into the street in front of the Inn. "It seems rather pointless and self-defeating to keep throwing myself at a girl who hasn't shown the littlest amount of interest in me, beyond being her best mate's brother." He glanced over at her with a tiny teasing smirk. "There's gotta be someone out there who has need of a painter with minimal social skills, right?"

"Nope. But I'm willing to bet there are plenty of people out there who need and want the handsome, intelligent, deeply devoted, and incredibly talented artist sitting right next to me at this minute." Caroline loosed an arm from the shirt wrapped about it to hug Ollie fondly. "Stop looking, and it'll just drop into your lap without you realising."

He smiled at her praise and pressed a kiss into her temple. "You and the rest of the family don't count." He glanced out into the street again, watching a trio of extremely drunken dwarves amble by, singing about gold...or maybe glod. Then he said, "I haven't been looking since Lily left, and that was...six, seven years ago' Maybe I should start actively looking now" Maybe my luck will change?"

She shrugged lightly. "Looking never hurt anyone. Just ....stay away from redheads for a while, huh?" Her smile was gentle, but definitely teasing. "We wouldn't want you sabotaging yourself with unfair comparisons, now, would we?"

He laughed, a quiet sad, sound, completely without humour. "I think..."

Their talk was momentarily interrrupted by the subject of their discussion letting herself out of the Inn on her own way home. "Hey, ya two," Calypso called. "I'm headin' out."

Caroline's head lifted, a wide smile touching her lips for Cally. "You're going home like that?" she asked, nodding to the PJs Cally still wore. "Don't you want a ride, at least?"

Whatever Ollie had been about to say, it trailed off as Cally appeared in the doorway. "Goodnight, Cally," he said softly.

The redhead offered them both a smile, nodding to Caroline with a faintly apologetic look on her face. "Sure am. Lo don't live far. Good night, ya two." And with that she was off, still officially dolled up for Risa's Pajama Party night.

"Take care, Cally!" Caroline might have insisted, but she knew Cally could look after herself; Ollie seemed more in need of company right now. She squeezed his arm gently. "You think?" she asked, gently encouraging him to finish the thought he had begun.

He watched Cally walk away and shook his head sadly. "Oh, I'm plague-ridden for certain. Maybe I should become a hermit." He glanced back at Caroline. "I think that most women will pale in comparison, regardless of hair colour."

Her brow rose. "Keep thinking like that, and you are going to be doomed forever," she assured him. "Ollie, you got over Lily. I got over Henry. Moping over someone, no matter how extraordinary, does more harm than good, and I know you know that. I don't want to watch you waste away on a dream."

"Bah," he said decisively. "I'm far too practical for that. I just....I just want people to understand that my happiness is not dependent upon another person. I'm perfectly happy as it is now. In fact, this whole business has made me less happy. Maybe if I just stopped trying so damned hard, I could go back to how I felt before she came back into my life."

...cont.

His smile turned wicked. "Oh, I would love to be there to see the expressions on the faces of the Board members."

"I'll make sure I get the surveillance tapes," Caroline promised, smirking.

"Thank you. I think the first thing you should do is fire Junior. That'll send a message and shut up your biggest detractors in one fell swoop."

"Actually, I was thinking of firing him, taking away his control of his own allowance and handing it to you and Lola," she mused thoughtfully. "Or would that be just too evil of me?"

He blinked, his mouth falling open a little in shock. "You're not serious."

She held his gaze solemnly. "I kinda think I am."

"Well. Um....Wow." He was stunned into silence.

She smiled faintly. "I might not, of course. It depends how much he pisses me off."

He chuckled softly. "Well, whatever you decide, just make sure to fire him or perhaps railroad him into quitting. You know his dirty little secret, after all."

"Oh, he's not staying any longer than I can get away with it," she assured him with a firm nod. "If I get proof of his little secret, he'll be out faster than even he can name his current floozy."

Ollie chuckled. "The proof's in his personal accounts. At Alder House. On his desk. Unless he wised up and started hiding those books away."

"Hmm." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Then I think maybe one of us should start talking to Brynne, don't you?"

"Oh, yes. She would be a wonderful person to have in on things. The dirt she'd be able to uncover!" He actually clapped his hands in glee.

Caroline laughed at Ollie's reaction to that thought. "She won't trust us to begin with, though," she mused. "She barely speaks to anyone since she came back. Just works and stays home with her little girl. Makes me wonder what he's done."

"Probably scared the living crap out of her. Threatened her or something like that. Poor girl."

Her expression darkened. "If he has, I'll rip his throat out and dissect him on the board table," she threatened quietly.

"It's par for the course, Caroline." He glanced out at the street, trying to assess the time. "It's late. Kay might burst something if I don't come home soon. Did you drive tonight?"

"Yeah, the Mini's down there," she nodded, rising to her feet. "Want a lift?"

"Sure." He stood and reached down to help her to her feet. "I'm still surprised at how well I fit in that thing. Shocking, really."

"This is Rhy'Din, Oliver," Caroline teased as she rose, grinning cheekily. "Anything is possible." Chuckling, she turned to step down off the porch, heading toward the shadow of her little car. "C'mon, let's get you home before Kaylee decides to come looking."

"She'd shout at me," he said in the tone of a petulant child and followed her to her car.

"Somehow I can't imagine Kaylee shouting and actually meaning it," she chuckled, unlocking the Mini and pulling her door open. "It'd be like being attacked with a wet hanky."

He snorted and folded himself inside. "You know, I believe she is capable of that. She did drip all over my couch." He pulled the door shut and held on for dear life.

Laughing at the way everyone seemed to be utterly terrified of imminent death whenever the Mini was the vehicle of choice, Caroline climbed in and started the engine. It was always good to get a chance to talk to Ollie - he never let her go without a smile.

((With grateful thanks to OH Granger for this scene.))