The Death Dance ✓

Chapter Six - "This is really happening."

Chapter Six – “This is really happening.”

 

“Richard, stop panicking, I’m hundred per cent sure she’s okay,” Nicholas tried to soothe but the feline was having none of it. They had migrated from Nicholas’s humble abode to Richard’s, because the Canidae didn’t want to be away in case his daughter teleported back home.

He was practically running a track through the stony floor of his kitchen with all his pacing, his hands twisting and clutching at his pair of dark framed glasses in his hands, ears twitching and flattening, expressing his displeasure, his tail flicking back and forth rapidly with worry.

“I have to go to Ma’s,” Richard finally decided, coming to a stop as he turned to face Nicholas, “I have to make sure they haven’t done anything to her.”

“They wouldn’t dare,” Nicholas growled, standing up from the stool he’d been occupying and taking both of Richard’s hands in his, grasping them warmly, “Rich, she’s okay. Have you forgotten this is Jamie we’re talking about? That girl is a stubborn as a mule and probably twice as strong as she is stubborn. She will get home. You just have to wait.”

“This is all my fault,” Richard whispered sadly, focusing on the warmth surrounding his hands as he clutched at his glasses like it was a lifeline. His heart was pounding at all the violent thoughts rushing through his head at what could have happened, why Jamie was taking so long to get back home.

“You know it’s not,” Nicholas soothed and for the life of him, he couldn’t resist raising one hand up to gently card his fingers through Richard’s silky soft hair, allowing his fingers to not-so-subtly run over his sensitive ears.

Richard purred, a delectable shiver rushing up his spine before he pulled away quickly, cheeks flushing and shaking his ears, shooting Nicholas with a harsh glare, “Don’t try to distract me.”

Nicholas chuckled, “it was worth a shot.”

“Nick, I can’t just…do nothing,” he complained, “what if she needs me? I have to at least look for her.”

“And what happens when you’re out looking for her and she returns home to find you gone?”

Richard groaned, looking completely distressed and Nicholas had to hold his hands again, gripping them fiercely to calm the Canidae down. He completely understood Richard’s position; Richard loved Jamie like he was her own father, like she was his own flesh and blood – in fact, it was almost insulting to assume that she wasn’t born of him, they were just that close. The bond between them was so strong it made Nicholas jealous sometimes.

Wanting badly to make the man he loved feel better, Nicholas suggested, “Why don’t I head over to Ma’s in the morning and find out what’s up? If I suspect anything, we’ll take necessary action.”

Richard worried his lower lip with his teeth, releasing it so that it was now plump and slightly red, “What if…what if it’s too late?” he choked out forcefully, “what if…”

“Shh,” Nicholas soothed, rubbing his thumbs over the back of his palms, “this is Jamie, Richard. She’s fine. She can handle her own.”

Richard looked up at him and Nicholas could tell by the hard set of his jaw that he’d made up his mind about something and not even moving the heavens and earth would change his mind.

“Uh-oh,” Nicholas teased and Richard blushed as he took his hands away.

“I’m going to Ma’s. I won’t…I won’t do anything careless like knock on the door or something, I just need to know she’s not there; that she’s safe.”