Bit-ter Memories

Chapter 3

There was a bitty missing. This morning you remember feeding and counting thirty Softies. Thirty Softies took a nap in your many apron pockets as you cleaned their pen. (Cindy had finally gotten one in your size!) Twenty nine attended lunch. You were currently in a panic, checking other pens and asking other bitties if they had seen them. The other bitties were all present and accounted for. They didn't seem to be anywhere out front where you had left them.

Oh god, you hoped you hadn't lost one in the back. You were going to get Tyson to hold down the fort while you paniced, but he had wandered off somewhere. So, you left Caesar and a Lil Bro named Ace in charge while you went into the back to check. They weren't in the kitchen. Not under any of the shelves. You even rechecked all of your pockets and under the blanket pile in their sleeping quarters. It wasn't until you rounded the corner near the medical ward that you heard a noise.

As far as you could remember none of the bitties were injured. Not counting the rescues of course. So there shouldn't be anyone in there. Making your way into the room didn't immediately reveal anything, but you could hear cursing. A soft growl drew you towards the privacy curtain. Maybe Cindy had isolated a bitty and had forgotten to tell you?

No, you soon realized. It was Tyson, looking back at you like a deer in headlights when you opened the curtain. In his hands was the missing Softy, teeth buried in the palm of his hand. You let out a quiet sigh of relief, holding out your hand to take the clearly stressed skeleton. Tyson averted his gaze and sheepishly held out his hand, allowing the bitty to voluntarily drop into your palm.

"Tyson, what were you doing?"

"I was trying to get them to let go, and you were busy..." You were, but you would have stopped to help out.

"Next time come get me. Less stress for the bitty that way."

"Uh, sure. I'll try to remember that." Tyson refused to meet your gaze, looking down at his blood soaked palm. The way he was fidgeting was weird, but there wasn't anything you could do about it. Either way you wanted to get the bitty back to the others as fast as you could.

"Okay well, I'm going to put him with the others. If you need help bandaging..."

"I got it." Okay then. You just wouldn't offer next time. You cradled the bitty in your fingers, pointedly making your way out of the room without looking back. The Softy was shaking, small huffs of breath rolled across your skin. A brief glance down showed he was trying not to cry. His clothing looked ruffled, so you stopped by the resting area to clean him up a bit.

Why was his clothing ripped? Maybe he just got stuck in something. You rubbed his face and skull until he settled, then stripped him down for a quick bath. Not that he cared, he had fallen asleep in your fingers. As soon as he was clean you dried him off with a warm towel and dressed him in a cute pair of sheep pj's. It wasn't anywhere near bed time, but he looked like he could use the comfort.

When you finally got back to the front you were pleasantly surprised. There was very little mess, save for the usual and Ace and Caesar were doing their assigned jobs well. Caesar might not have agreed, with the way he was yelling at Ace to pick up the pace. But everyone was as relaxed as they could get, people were, for the most part, listening to what the bitties had to say. You were greatful and you treated them to a little extra to show it. A bit of honey candy for Ace and a small cupcake for Caesar was more than enough to earn you tiny toothy kisses on your fingers. God bitties were cute.