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                       Chapter Thirty-One: Bringing Closure To A Kitten

He was sitting in a field sketching the land as it changed in front and below him; everything seemed to shift and change in front of him as he drew it.  Soon, he was sitting in rubble and talking to himself or so it seemed as the specter stepped out of the shadows.

"You know you have unfinished business", he spoke out loud, "something with a kitten"

"I don't want to talk to her" he said

"Why not you know this isn't entirely her fault" the specter said looking at the picture, "Her and you are both at fault; no man is truly evil he only makes and does some bad things" the specter continued to watch Caleb draw as the lands started to turn violent, there was a fire on the horizon lava spouting from the ground and yet none of it seemed to touch Caleb at all.

It was clear he was in torment over what he should or shouldn't do, he wanted to forgive her but even in this dream state he still held a grudge.  A grudge that wouldn't go away; he knew for a fact that he had chosen her for this vary reason.  He needed a change, he needed someone to care about, he got what he wanted and when it didn't go right he reacted as if he didn't see it coming.  In ways he did; he saw the shoe dropping but didn't want to see it but he did; he finally tore the canvas up and this time he was sitting in his house.  Alone, cold, and unsettled; the feelings crept along the walls and made vines that seemed to want to reach out and touch him; inside his mind he screamed but the tendrils kept coming he ran down the hall.  He ran right into the hall that held the portraits and noticed that the empty portrait had been filled by not one but two women.  Both of them he knew and both of them he smiled at, one was short and mousey, the other confident and godlike in stature, Demeter and Airi; this didn't surprise him but the one beside her was etched across with the word FORGIVENESS.

He awoke with a start to notice Demeter sitting beside him, his cell phone was going off like crazy.  The ID read SAGE; he picked up

"Dragon, I need you to bail me out"

He groaned this had been the third time he had done this for her in he didn't know how long, but such was the way of having a friend who got into fights, "What'd you do now"

"I took care of the bitch"

"What bitch?" he asked pondering who had crossed her of late

"Ophelia" she said

"WHAT? What the hell did you do?!"

"She was at the bar bad mouthing, hell bad mouthing men in general.  Supposedly, Lucian let her go.  I got sick and tired of hearing it we had words, and well…"

"Malvina! What the hell were you thinking?" he screamed, Demeter had woken up pulling a sheet around herself. Caleb held a hand up as a sign of saying he would explain in a minute, "Sage, I will bail you out.  Again but you have to promise me not to touch her again"

"Why not Cale, you are my friend she hurt you.  She deserves some punishment'

"I have no doubt karma will teach her that.  Not you, listen where are you again?"

He wrote down the address then ask, "So is Ophelia there too?"
He heard a deep hearty laugh from her throat, "I don't think so I think she's at Jayne Memorial"

Caleb sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand "I'm going to have to go by there then after I drop you off back at home

He saw the look he got from Demeter, and he mouthed 'one minute'
He finished and hung up, "It seems she got into a fight" he looked at the clock, it read three in the morning.  "Ophelia is in the hospital, Sage is in jail; in three hours I'll go bail her out, then I'm going to see if I can't see Ophelia, I need to apologize to her"

"For what?" Demeter said in a little bit of irritated tone

"For this, for what this has become.  I didn't expect Sage, why?"

"She is your friend Caleb, she was probably only protecting your honor"
He sighed, "I know she was and I appreciate what she did for me; but I still have to, forgive her I don't want her thinking that I don't understand.  This was our fault not just hers; she wasn't ready to be in this type or actually she needed a better master than I and I needed to train."

"Yes, and I appreciate that you realize this now.  But, Caleb isn't this too soon?"

He was already getting dressed while talking to her and looked at her right in the eye "If not now, then when the hell will I do it mistress? We all seek redemption in our own way. This is something I need to do."

Demeter resigned with a wave of her hand then got up and kissed him full on the lips "Caleb, I am proud of you; don't ever let what I say or question you for, ever make you doubt yourself.  I only question you to make sure that you are making the right decisions.  If I didn't I wouldn't be a good mistress would i?"

Caleb smiled, "Mistress you would still be my most beloved even if you didn't challenge me on a daily basis"

He left her after a few more minutes of kissing.  He couldn't help it he couldn't have just one kiss from her.

                                                         *-_-_-_-_-*

A trip to the jail took a few minutes, when the saw he could handle the bale for right they let him fill out the paperwork in haste; he had Sage out and in his car she looked at him sideways after a while and asked

"Caleb, are you mad at me?"

"A little Sage, I just feel like you're doing this to protect me because you don't feel I can protect myself; and that makes me feel weak", Caleb drummed his fingers on the wheel obviously nervous about this line of thought.  With sage he always felt inadequate; that was why he let her go not because of Angela, though that was part of the reason but because he felt he couldn't do her any good being with her that she deserved better than him; times like these were some of those inadequate moments.

"It's not that Cale Dragon, it's…. I just want to protect your name"

"But, why; you know that none of what she says is true about me"

As they passed a playground Sage implored him to stop and he did.  She went and sat down on a swing, moving back and forth slightly she said, "Caleb, it's not that your week it is that I want to protect you.  Like you protected me from…."

"Damien, I know.  But you don't have to go fighting every single person that says something bad about me, Ophelia can curse me to the sky for all I care I've forgiven her.  I hope that she forgives me as well; this was but an impasse of life."

She shot up from the swing, "You don't have to forgive her for anything Caleb, she was a bitch plain and simple and you don't have to give a flying…"

"That's where you're wrong Sage, yes she was a bitch.  But it was not because she is it is because of the fact that our relationship didn't allow for much else.  I was dense as hell not paying attention to what was going on and Lucian took advantage of that.  I can't blame him I've known him for I don't know how long and he's always been a ladies' man.  Ophelia was unhappy because of me he hit her up she took it, I'm not saying that I'm any less mad at her it's just this is not something I'm going to hold against her."

Sage nodded not completely understanding but what was she to do; she didn't agree with him but she couldn't throw a fit because he wanted to do something she thought was stupid.  She got up and said, 'Will you at least take me home before you do this, cause I don't want to see her"

Caleb nodded and they got back in the car; it only took him a few minutes to get her home, promising to call her when he got home he made his way to Jayne Memorial.  He went straight in asking for her and they just looked at him for a second before letting him go back to her room; she was laying there with her arm bandaged up and one eye badly swollen Caleb flinched as he approached Sage hadn't been easy on the woman that was for sure.

"What do you want, come to gloat?'

Caleb pulled up the chair "No, why would I do that"

"Lucian left me, I'm just like my mother."

Caleb sighed and looked at her "Ophelia, you are not your mother, you are actually a pretty good person you just need the right master, someone who can help you instead of giving into you at each turn"

"Yeah right, I fucked up with you"

"And I fucked up with you, we're both to blame for it failing and you know it as well as I do" Caleb sighed and rubbed his eyelids, "We were both uperpared and unused to such a heavy relationship, me I needed training and you needed a master who had an iron fist, which I can never have.  Someone who knows how to give you the discipline you needed."

Ophelia smiled a little; she reached out an IV'ed hand and stroked the top of his hand.  She looked at him, "Caleb why are you such a good man?"

"I'm not a good man, I took you away from the Pet Shop when someone else could've came along to train you in a better way"

"I don't think so Caleb, in truth the guys who came by to pick me up before you always wanted an easy going slut one they could beat at any time", she smiled "You actually cared to some extent and in a way, you did the right thing by releasing me"

"I guess but I wish I could've told Lucian better not to mess up with you"

"Lucian isn't a bad guy, and he has a major respect for you, it was I that initiated the tryst that we had.  I was bored, you were mourning and I only saw the weak part of you, if I only saw what a good man you were I would have stayed faithful"

"That isn't your fault though; you needed the attention and the structure of a good master, something I don't have"

"You have it" she said as she laughed, "I was just the wrong girl to choose, I suppose that you've moved on to become Demeter's?" she said motioning to his collar

"Yeah this happened shortly after you left, I'm also seeing or was seeing a shrink for help with all of this" he rubbed the collar a little; he had forgotten he was even wearing it for once.  He thought about what he said and really didn't know what was going to happen with Airi, the logic in his head dictated that she was going to assign him a new shrink, but he also thought he wasn't going to give up on her. She showed promise; even if he might be the only one to see it.
A strange thing happened over the next few minute; Ophelia and he came to a silent agreement.  That this was the way it was meant to be; he was supposed to have her for a short time so he could learn what he needed, and that they were better this way.  Caleb left the hospital a little better, thinking that things were getting better.  He was very much moving toward the closure he needed and she was going to be better, hopefully.

                                                          *-_-_-_-_-_-*

He got home later that day to a note from Demeter telling him Dr. Crane had called; he hopped in the shower and let all the worry of the past few hours drift away from him thinking about the dream he had, and how strange it had been that he would get that call shortly after waking up; he had no idea what it all meant or if it meant anything at all. As he got out he heard a phone ring in the house he wrapped a towel around his waist and went to get it picking it up he heard a familiar and welcoming voice

"Hello Mr. Brown?"

"Yes Dr. Crane it's me this time"

"Can you come in I have something I need to talk to you about"

"Yes Ma'am, I can be there in about an hour I think I just need to finish getting read"

"Good I'll see you then"

That put him in a better mood, at least she was talking to him; now all he had to do was figure out why she was calling him in and he'd be better off.

Description
                       Chapter Thirty-One: Bringing Closure To A Kitten

He was sitting in a field sketching the land as it changed in front and below him; everything seemed to shift and change in front of him as he drew it.  Soon, he was sitting in rubble and talking to himself or so it seemed as the specter stepped out of the shadows.

"You know you have unfinished business", he spoke out loud, "something with a kitten"

"I don't want to talk to her" he said

"Why not you know this isn't entirely her fault" the specter said looking at the picture, "Her and you are both at fault; no man is truly evil he only makes and does some bad things" the specter continued to watch Caleb draw as the lands started to turn violent, there was a fire on the horizon lava spouting from the ground and yet none of it seemed to touch Caleb at all.

It was clear he was in torment over what he should or shouldn't do, he wanted to forgive her but even in this dream state he still held a grudge.  A grudge that wouldn't go away; he knew for a fact that he had chosen her for this vary reason.  He needed a change, he needed someone to care about, he got what he wanted and when it didn't go right he reacted as if he didn't see it coming.  In ways he did; he saw the shoe dropping but didn't want to see it but he did; he finally tore the canvas up and this time he was sitting in his house.  Alone, cold, and unsettled; the feelings crept along the walls and made vines that seemed to want to reach out and touch him; inside his mind he screamed but the tendrils kept coming he ran down the hall.  He ran right into the hall that held the portraits and noticed that the empty portrait had been filled by not one but two women.  Both of them he knew and both of them he smiled at, one was short and mousey, the other confident and godlike in stature, Demeter and Airi; this didn't surprise him but the one beside her was etched across with the word FORGIVENESS.

He awoke with a start to notice Demeter sitting beside him, his cell phone was going off like crazy.  The ID read SAGE; he picked up

"Dragon, I need you to bail me out"

He groaned this had been the third time he had done this for her in he didn't know how long, but such was the way of having a friend who got into fights, "What'd you do now"

"I took care of the bitch"

"What bitch?" he asked pondering who had crossed her of late

"Ophelia" she said

"WHAT? What the hell did you do?!"

"She was at the bar bad mouthing, hell bad mouthing men in general.  Supposedly, Lucian let her go.  I got sick and tired of hearing it we had words, and well…"

"Malvina! What the hell were you thinking?" he screamed, Demeter had woken up pulling a sheet around herself. Caleb held a hand up as a sign of saying he would explain in a minute, "Sage, I will bail you out.  Again but you have to promise me not to touch her again"

"Why not Cale, you are my friend she hurt you.  She deserves some punishment'

"I have no doubt karma will teach her that.  Not you, listen where are you again?"

He wrote down the address then ask, "So is Ophelia there too?"
He heard a deep hearty laugh from her throat, "I don't think so I think she's at Jayne Memorial"

Caleb sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand "I'm going to have to go by there then after I drop you off back at home

He saw the look he got from Demeter, and he mouthed 'one minute'
He finished and hung up, "It seems she got into a fight" he looked at the clock, it read three in the morning.  "Ophelia is in the hospital, Sage is in jail; in three hours I'll go bail her out, then I'm going to see if I can't see Ophelia, I need to apologize to her"

"For what?" Demeter said in a little bit of irritated tone

"For this, for what this has become.  I didn't expect Sage, why?"

"She is your friend Caleb, she was probably only protecting your honor"
He sighed, "I know she was and I appreciate what she did for me; but I still have to, forgive her I don't want her thinking that I don't understand.  This was our fault not just hers; she wasn't ready to be in this type or actually she needed a better master than I and I needed to train."

"Yes, and I appreciate that you realize this now.  But, Caleb isn't this too soon?"

He was already getting dressed while talking to her and looked at her right in the eye "If not now, then when the hell will I do it mistress? We all seek redemption in our own way. This is something I need to do."

Demeter resigned with a wave of her hand then got up and kissed him full on the lips "Caleb, I am proud of you; don't ever let what I say or question you for, ever make you doubt yourself.  I only question you to make sure that you are making the right decisions.  If I didn't I wouldn't be a good mistress would i?"

Caleb smiled, "Mistress you would still be my most beloved even if you didn't challenge me on a daily basis"

He left her after a few more minutes of kissing.  He couldn't help it he couldn't have just one kiss from her.

                                                         *-_-_-_-_-*

A trip to the jail took a few minutes, when the saw he could handle the bale for right they let him fill out the paperwork in haste; he had Sage out and in his car she looked at him sideways after a while and asked

"Caleb, are you mad at me?"

"A little Sage, I just feel like you're doing this to protect me because you don't feel I can protect myself; and that makes me feel weak", Caleb drummed his fingers on the wheel obviously nervous about this line of thought.  With sage he always felt inadequate; that was why he let her go not because of Angela, though that was part of the reason but because he felt he couldn't do her any good being with her that she deserved better than him; times like these were some of those inadequate moments.

"It's not that Cale Dragon, it's…. I just want to protect your name"

"But, why; you know that none of what she says is true about me"

As they passed a playground Sage implored him to stop and he did.  She went and sat down on a swing, moving back and forth slightly she said, "Caleb, it's not that your week it is that I want to protect you.  Like you protected me from…."

"Damien, I know.  But you don't have to go fighting every single person that says something bad about me, Ophelia can curse me to the sky for all I care I've forgiven her.  I hope that she forgives me as well; this was but an impasse of life."

She shot up from the swing, "You don't have to forgive her for anything Caleb, she was a bitch plain and simple and you don't have to give a flying…"

"That's where you're wrong Sage, yes she was a bitch.  But it was not because she is it is because of the fact that our relationship didn't allow for much else.  I was dense as hell not paying attention to what was going on and Lucian took advantage of that.  I can't blame him I've known him for I don't know how long and he's always been a ladies' man.  Ophelia was unhappy because of me he hit her up she took it, I'm not saying that I'm any less mad at her it's just this is not something I'm going to hold against her."

Sage nodded not completely understanding but what was she to do; she didn't agree with him but she couldn't throw a fit because he wanted to do something she thought was stupid.  She got up and said, 'Will you at least take me home before you do this, cause I don't want to see her"

Caleb nodded and they got back in the car; it only took him a few minutes to get her home, promising to call her when he got home he made his way to Jayne Memorial.  He went straight in asking for her and they just looked at him for a second before letting him go back to her room; she was laying there with her arm bandaged up and one eye badly swollen Caleb flinched as he approached Sage hadn't been easy on the woman that was for sure.

"What do you want, come to gloat?'

Caleb pulled up the chair "No, why would I do that"

"Lucian left me, I'm just like my mother."

Caleb sighed and looked at her "Ophelia, you are not your mother, you are actually a pretty good person you just need the right master, someone who can help you instead of giving into you at each turn"

"Yeah right, I fucked up with you"

"And I fucked up with you, we're both to blame for it failing and you know it as well as I do" Caleb sighed and rubbed his eyelids, "We were both uperpared and unused to such a heavy relationship, me I needed training and you needed a master who had an iron fist, which I can never have.  Someone who knows how to give you the discipline you needed."

Ophelia smiled a little; she reached out an IV'ed hand and stroked the top of his hand.  She looked at him, "Caleb why are you such a good man?"

"I'm not a good man, I took you away from the Pet Shop when someone else could've came along to train you in a better way"

"I don't think so Caleb, in truth the guys who came by to pick me up before you always wanted an easy going slut one they could beat at any time", she smiled "You actually cared to some extent and in a way, you did the right thing by releasing me"

"I guess but I wish I could've told Lucian better not to mess up with you"

"Lucian isn't a bad guy, and he has a major respect for you, it was I that initiated the tryst that we had.  I was bored, you were mourning and I only saw the weak part of you, if I only saw what a good man you were I would have stayed faithful"

"That isn't your fault though; you needed the attention and the structure of a good master, something I don't have"

"You have it" she said as she laughed, "I was just the wrong girl to choose, I suppose that you've moved on to become Demeter's?" she said motioning to his collar

"Yeah this happened shortly after you left, I'm also seeing or was seeing a shrink for help with all of this" he rubbed the collar a little; he had forgotten he was even wearing it for once.  He thought about what he said and really didn't know what was going to happen with Airi, the logic in his head dictated that she was going to assign him a new shrink, but he also thought he wasn't going to give up on her. She showed promise; even if he might be the only one to see it.
A strange thing happened over the next few minute; Ophelia and he came to a silent agreement.  That this was the way it was meant to be; he was supposed to have her for a short time so he could learn what he needed, and that they were better this way.  Caleb left the hospital a little better, thinking that things were getting better.  He was very much moving toward the closure he needed and she was going to be better, hopefully.

                                                          *-_-_-_-_-_-*

He got home later that day to a note from Demeter telling him Dr. Crane had called; he hopped in the shower and let all the worry of the past few hours drift away from him thinking about the dream he had, and how strange it had been that he would get that call shortly after waking up; he had no idea what it all meant or if it meant anything at all. As he got out he heard a phone ring in the house he wrapped a towel around his waist and went to get it picking it up he heard a familiar and welcoming voice

"Hello Mr. Brown?"

"Yes Dr. Crane it's me this time"

"Can you come in I have something I need to talk to you about"

"Yes Ma'am, I can be there in about an hour I think I just need to finish getting read"

"Good I'll see you then"

That put him in a better mood, at least she was talking to him; now all he had to do was figure out why she was calling him in and he'd be better off.