Shau'i - Chapter 5 – Breakfast
#5 of Shau'i
The next few days soon a daily routine was established. Tom worked on his project, closely watched by Shau'i, and even though her mental presence was distracting sometimes, he never had worked faster or better in his entire life. She kept quiet most of the time, but sometimes she interrupted to ask him a question when she didn't understand a concept he was thinking about. In fact, she became so good in speaking English, that no more lessons were necessary.
And she was healing at an amazing rate too. After not even a week she was able to stand up with Tom's help and limp around a few paces.
*
Three days after that, as Tom returned from his early morning jogging and grocery shopping he found Shau'i not, as usually, in bed, but standing in the kitchen, leaning heavily on the counter and panting. She had tried to fix breakfast, but couldn't get the fire of the gas cooker lit.
Tom smiled and rushed over, trying to help. But she wouldn't let him steer her into a chair. She wanted to help and pay him back at least a little for what he had done for her. Together, they fried eggs, cut bread and made tea. It was very funny and they laughed a lot, Shau'i did most of the work as Tom had his hands full supporting her and keeping her on her feet.
After breakfast they were even washing the dishes together, but at a certain point Shau'i was just too exhausted to continue. Her knees buckled and only Tom's arm, slung around her, prevented her from falling.
"I think you've done enough for now," Tom whispered into her ear, and with that he lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the bed. She breathed hard from exhaustion and soon she was overcome by sleep.
A few hours later Shau'i blinked again.
"How long did I sleep?"
"A good while," Tom responded from beside her, "You were amazing, but it was a bit much I think."
Shau'i smiled, "Yes."
"Shau'i, tomorrow I have to go to my company. I'm done with my current part of the project and I need to hand it in and get my next assignment. It shouldn't take more than a few hours, but afterwards I would like to go to buy someclothes for you. Stuff that really fits."
"Clothes for m ... me?" Shau'i stammered, "Really?"
"Well. You can't wear those old rags forever," grinned Tom.
"You're too kind," Shau'i whispered and embraced Tom, her arms around hismiddle. Tom was surprised at first but an instant later her warm and grateful feelings began to seep into him and he relaxed. A few moments later he returned the hug and Shau'i lay one side of her face on his chest, closing her eyes.
After a while, Tom quietly said, "You want some lunch? I'm a bit hungry. And afterwards we need to take measurements for your clothes."
She nodded.
"Will you be alright, tomorrow, alone?"
"Yes."
*
Later Tom went to get the tape measure and looked up on the Internet on how to measure someone's sizes correctly and how to choose the sizes accordingly.
"See? I'm doing this the first time too," Tom grinned.
When it came to the question if she wanted a bra, Tom blushed again. He found it embarrassing to think that he had to classify her breast size somehow.
"Well, I never had one and I don't think I need one either," Shau'i replied, giggling a bit at the flustered Tom.
Tom froze, "You remember?"
She stared speechless for a moment at his implication and thought it over.
"No. Not really. Something I just know."
The measuring took quite a while, but when it was finally done, Tom pulled out a thick catalog and together they began to flip through it so that Tom find out what style she liked. It turned out that she mostly wanted functional and practical stuff and didn't care at all about fashion.
The rest of the day passed quickly as Tom prepared for his work next day, drafted a list of stuff to buy for Shau'i, made dinner and prepared something to eat for her the next day while she was alone. He even showed her how to turn on the television, in case she got bored.
After dinner, then, he checked on the last few bandages she still had, and satisfied with the progress he took them off definitely.
"This still looks horrible," Shau'i said sadly, looking at all the spots that were bald.
"Don't worry. Just give it more time," Tom replied bracingly, "Look, it's already starting to regrow at the edges," and Tom pointed at an older scar.
Shau'i nodded and tried to smile.
"Hey, what's with this long face. It doesn't matter how your fur looks."
Later, when Tom finally had finished all his chores, exhausted, he dragged himself over to the bed and slumped into it beside Shau'i. He fell asleep at the instant his head hit the pillow. She smiled at him and began to stroke his cheek gently.
"Thank you."