Chapter Five – Man's Most Glorious Task
The next morning, Jonathan was rather confused as he woke up with a small child cuddled up to him, her hands clutching his shirt.
Slowly, he remembered being woken up twice during the night and sighed, gently prying Nora's hands off his clothes before sitting up. Figuring she needed more sleep, he was going to leave her be for a while more, at least until he made something for breakfast.
He stood up, grabbed his glasses, and was about to leave the room when he got an idea, causing him to turn around and walk back over to the side of the bed, looking down at the sleeping girl.
Perhaps if he did something kind for the girl, she'd trust him a little more and be easier to work with, maybe even start to talk, which would cause a lot less frustration for Jonathan.
Reaching down, he gently moved her arms away from the plush fox and plucked it off the bed.
Quietly, since if he woke Nora he assumed she'd have a fit and not let him help, he moved out of the room and down the hall to the smallest room in the house, which was Jonathan's office. Entering, he walked over to the desk and sat down, placing the plush on the flat surface.
Rummaging quietly through the drawers, he finally found a sewing kit he had bought a while ago for a certain... project he was working on. Pulling it out, he placed it on the table.
He turned the doll over in his hands, making mental note of all the places where the stuffing was pouring out. Adjusting his glasses, Jonathan grabbed a needle and some dark red thread.
Slowly, he threaded the needle, and, pushing the stuffing back in, he threaded each tear on the parts of the fox that were made with red fabric.
Then, he fixed two spots on the white parts with white thread, one on the belly and one on the tail, and then one spot on the black with black thread, on the back right leg. Satisfied with his work and neat stitches, Jonathan was about to put the kit away when he remembered the eye.
Frowning, Jonathan observed the face of the plush before smirking as he got an idea, digging around in the bottom of the sewing kit before he pulled out a perfect sized black button.
Carefully, he weaved black thread through the buttons and the fabric on the face of the fox, before he pulled it tightly and tied it off, smiling as the fox doll looked up with its shiny new button eye.
Looking up, Jonathan almost jumped a foot in the air when he saw Nora on the other side of the desk, barely tall enough to peer over at him with a worried and rather panicked look in her eyes. Jonathan knew she was wanting her toy.
Standing up, Jonathan walked around the desk and knelt down in front of Nora, who watched him warily, her eyes flickering from his to the plush and then back to his again.
"Here you go, Nora," Jonathan smiled as kindly as he could manage, while holding the fox up for her to see. "I fixed him for you. See? I stitched up all the tears and I even gave him a new eye."
It took a minute for her to react, but, when she did, Jonathan could honestly say he wasn't prepared.
Nora's entire face lit up, and a smile crossed her face that made Jonathan's heart stop. The dark haired man couldn't really say he had ever found anything cute before, but, in that moment, the happy little girl was the most adorable thing he'd ever set eyes on.
The small child took a step forward and Jonathan expected her to take the plush from him, but, instead, she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Jonathan was frozen, honestly not knowing entirely how to react, but, it seemed he didn't have time to, since as quickly as she had stepped forward, she stepped away, taking the plush from Jonathan.
"I..." Jonathan trailed off, before shaking his head and smirking lightly as he stood up straight. "I'll just take that as a thank you, then."
Nora smiled sheepishly at Jonathan while hugging the plushie tightly to her chest. Jonathan smiled lightly before turning and walking towards the door, talking as he did.
"Just try and be careful with it. It's obviously an old toy and it could rip again easily. I know you don't want to have to throw him in the garbage, but you might have to it he gets too torn up."
"She."
Jonathan froze in the doorway, slowly turning back to look at the little girl, who was calmly looking down at the newly repaired plush with admiration in her eyes.
Jonathan was quiet, as he couldn't really be sure that she had spoken.
"...did you say 'she'?" Jonathan questioned slowly, watching as Nora looked up at him, bright blue eyes glittering as she nodded her head.
"Piper." Nora spoke, Jonathan's heart fluttering as this time he saw her lips move to match the sweet, gentle little voice that rang in his ears.
"Piper," Jonathan repeated slowly, the name of the plush sounding lovely in his ears. "That's a very nice name, Nora. Did you name her?"
He was questioning her, trying to keep her talking, but, Nora didn't give a verbal response as she simply nodded her head in response to his question. Jonathan hesitated, not knowing what he should do with this new progress he had gotten from the small girl. He wanted to keep it going.
"Would you like something for breakfast?" Jonathan inquired, to which Nora nodded her head again and walked over to him, stepping past him and out of the room.
Jonathan watched her go, a light smile on his face before he followed after her.
What was that saying, he wondered to himself. To be doing good deeds is man's most glorious task. Something along those lines.
Originally Jonathan had fixed the toy to try and get Nora to be a little less scared and therefore less frustrating, but, when Jonathan saw the happiness on her face he felt as if that was the greatest reward for his actions.
~*~*~*~
The day had passed quickly and quietly.
Jonathan and Nora had breakfast, gone to the store to get some food to stock up the kitchen, returned to the apartment, and Jonathan had gone to do work while allowing Nora to read, something she apparently could do quite well.
While Jonathan didn't have many books suitable for her age, she seemed fine with flicking between books, mainly ones by Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, and Mary Shelly.
Her favorite, as Jonathan observed, seemed to be a collection of works by Edgar Allan Poe.
Throughout the day, Nora had remained silent, not really another word uttered after she disclosed the name of her treasured stuffed fox. Though, as he was cleaning up the dishes from diner, Jonathan decided he was going to try and converse with her again.
After everything was tidy, Jonathan wandered into the living room where he knew Nora had gone, and sure enough, he found her sitting on the windowsill, reading.
"Nora," Jonathan began, his voice calm and collected as always, causing the girl to look up at him curiously. "Come, sit. I want to talk to you."
Nora watched as Jonathan sat on the couch, patting the seat beside him. She seemed to consider his request for a moment, before closing the book and dropping down to the floor, cautiously trotting over to climb onto the seat beside him.
"I've noticed that you like to read," Jonathan stated casually, watching Nora give a slight nod. "Those are rather... well... those aren't children's books, are you understanding what you're reading?"
The little girl frowned slightly at him, looking down at the book in her hands.
"My teachers said I was the best reader in my class," Nora informed Jonathan calmly, running her fingers over the cover of the book with a gentle caress. "Though I could only read at school and when mama wasn't around... the teachers said I was very... articulate."
Jonathan blinked at her, her manner of speech and the way the words rolled off her tongue were certainly evidence to her claims, even though she had to say larger words more slowly.
"Well," Jonathan swallowed before giving her a light smile. "That's quite an accomplishment. Why don't you show me?"
Nora seemed to consider this for a moment, before nodding and sliding off the couch.
"I will read from my favorite. It was the only book I ever bought, I saved up for it, but, mama threw it away when she found it... she didn't like me reading." Nora spoke as she wandered over to Jonathan's bookshelf, skimming over the titles.
"Why didn't she like you reading...?" Jonathan inquired cautiously, watching as Nora looked over at him and gave a light shrug, and didn't respond.
Nora's eyes flickered over the book spines before she grabbed one and pulled it off the shelf, seemingly admiring the cover for a moment before she turned and returned to her seat beside Jonathan, offering him the book.
Jonathan took it from her and looked at the cover. The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe. A good book, Jonathan would say he was a fan.
Opening the book to a random page, Jonathan handed it back to Nora.
Her eyes skimmed the page quickly, while Jonathan waited for her to select a passage. After a moment, Nora took a breath and began to read.
"At such times I could not help remarking and admiring (although from his rich ideality I had been prepared to expect it) a peculiar analytic ability in Dupin. He seemed, too, to take an eager delight in its exercise --if not exactly in its display --and did not hesitate to confess the pleasure thus derived."
Jonathan was stunned, the way she read the words was as if she had written them herself. She was obviously familiar with the story, though she still struggled slightly on occasion.
"He boasted to me, with a low chuckling laugh, that most men, in respect to himself, wore windows in their bosoms, and was wont to follow up such assertions by direct and very startling proofs of his intimate knowledge of my own."
Nora looked up at Jonathan, and he could see in her eyes that she was seeking his approval. Jonathan gave her a smile and nodded, silently urging her to continue.
"His manner at these moments was frigid and abstract; his eyes were vacant in expression; while his voice, usually a rich tenor, rose into a treble which would have sounded petulantly but for the deliberateness and entire distinctness of the enunciation."
Jonathan felt a sort of pride at that moment. Though he was still not adjusted to the idea of having a child, he still was rather proud that this one seemed to share intelligent traits with him.
"Observing him in these moods, I often dwelt meditatively upon the old philosophy of the Bi-Part Soul, and amused myself with the fancy of a double Dupin --the creative and the resolvent."
Nora looked up at Jonathan, and, when he realized her words had stopped, smiled.
"Was that good?" She inquired, and the sound of her meek voice reminded her that the person in front of him was in fact an innocent little seven year old girl.
"Yes, it was very good, Nora. Your teachers most certainly weren't lying." He praised, his heart warming at the smile that lit up the small girl's face.
She seemed about to say something, when a knock sounded on the door, causing Jonathan to tense.
Nora let out a surprised squeak when Jonathan pulled her up into his arms, grabbing the book and the stuffed fox before quickly darting into his bedroom and setting Nora down on the bed.
"I need you to stay here, alright? Don't come out of this room." He instructed very seriously, and Nora, with wide, rather frightened eyes, nodded her head.
Jonathan turned and exited the room, shutting the door beside him and adjusting his glasses. Taking a deep breath, he strolled over to the door and pulled it open, giving a brisk nod and addressing the man outside his door.
"Good evening, Ducard."