Guilt

Annabelle wasn't sure what John was doing, but whatever it was, she was reliving the worst moment of her life.

Unable to take the images anymore she used all her power and tried to push John out. Forgetting that he could possibly be injured.

As soon as he felt the energy rushing towards him John left Annabelle's mind. Panting a bit at the exertion of leaving so quickly he looked over at the girl.

"Are you alright Annabelle?"

It took her a few seconds to answer. "Yes, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

'I can't believe I did that. No matter what he was doing he's been trying to help me. I could've turned his brain to mush…' She was mortified.

"Don't worry, sometimes people have an adverse reaction they can't control. I shouldn't have been rummaging around, even if it was in order to help."

'He thinks I did it on accident…' In a way that fact made her feel worse about what she had done. Bowing her head towards her lap she thought about her actions. How they could have affected the man that had helped her. How she could have dealt with reliving that day since she thought about it regularly.

"Hey. It's alright kid. No one was hurt, and you're safe. No one's going to hurt you. We promise." John turned to his wife as he spoke about keeping her safe. He had after all just promised that his entire family would protect her. Without discussing it with his wife…

Shelly just nodded at him before walking over to Annabelle.

"Like he said sweetheart, it's alright. You've nothing to fear. C'mon, let's go to the kitchen. I have some cookies hidden from the boys, and it looks like you could use something sweet."

Later that night John took his son and wife back to the barn while Annabelle was asleep. Still out of sorts from the memory digging.

"So, I'm not opposed with taking her in, but I'd like to know the reason." Shelly cocked her head as she spoke to her rash husband.

John tilted his head at Lewis, as if to say, not in front of him. Before speaking. "Lewis, I just wanted you to come out here so we could tell you that we're taking Annabelle in. Please help her get settled in, and she'll eventually be going to school with you."

"WHAT?" Lewis almost shrieked aloud.

"She's joining our family, and you need to help make her transition easy. Now you should go to bed, it's late and tomorrow is a school day sweety." Shelly gave him a kiss on the forehead before sending him back to the house. Making sure he entered before turning back to her husband.

"So?"

"Sorry, it's not something Lewis needs to know yet. Let her get to know him and tell him in her own time." He paused to take a steadying breath before continuing.

"Shelly, the things I saw…were shattered. She's protecting her sanity by shattering her memories. They're all there, she doesn't have amnesia. But it's almost like they're in "Scenes" it's not all one reel. From what I understood before she kicked me out, her entire planet was killed."

"Planet?"

"Shelly, I know it sounds crazy. But those images couldn't be made up. It's too horrific. Her own mother was trying to kill her little brother. There were bodies everywhere. I haven't seen anything like that since the war."

They stood in silence, until Shelly spoke up.

"You're lucky your brain's still intact. It ended up being important for you to find out what's going on, but please don't take that type of risk again."

"I can't promise love. You know that."

Shelly just looked at him, pain in her eyes, but also acceptance of his duties as clan head.

"Time for bed love. We have a busy day ahead of us. Would you like to deal with the council or creating papers for Annabelle? We also need to ask what she thinks about becoming our adopted child."

"I think it would be better if you took care of the papers. You know how Angel feels about me." Shelly shook her head as she thought of the woman who was in charge of getting supernaturals human birth certificates, and identities.

"True, will you be okay with the council? I can have Jeb help you if you need."

"No, I'll be fine John. Really you're such a worrier." Shelly chuckled at her husband. "Please don't bother your brother he's still waiting for the baby to be born. She should be here any day, now right?"

"Yeah, Jeb's waiting on Liza hand and foot right now." He laughed. "Okay but call Jeb if something comes up."

"Sure honey. Come on, let's go to sleep. You have the hazardous job of asking a child that's been through hell and just lost her family, if she wants to join ours."

"Please don't put it that way love, it sounds so much worse when you say it like that."

"Sorry, but it's true. Just let her know it's because you want to help her. Not fill the holes left by her own family. Eventually, that will happen. However, she may not wish to hear it now." Shelly said.

"Well and it might not even be us that fill that gap. She might meet people that help fill those holes." John replied.

"I just hope she's okay."

"Goodnight love. See you in the morning."

"Good night honey, love you."