"Only girls cry at my age."Only girls cry at my age." "No. I think you have a perfect right to want me next to you. I want you next to me as well," I said honestly. I touched his tear stained cheek gently and felt the wetness of his tears. "I don't care if you cry. After what happened to you it's only natural. But I want you to try to be brave too, Raf." I stroked his cheek, smearing the tears away. "I want you to know that I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you. You have to trust me to be here for you. If you want you can stay in here with me." The boy nodded and gave me a weak smile. He was unconvinced and I held him close to me as we walked the few feet back into the living room together. I settled the boy down on the couch and placed a blanket over him. He looked up at me nervously and I smiled reassuringly as I unfastened my watch. "Every ten minutes, you call me and I'll come in, okay?" I said. "Okay!" Rafael grinned and I went back into the study-soon- to-be-bedroom again. It seemed to take forever. Every ten minutes or so I looked in on Rafael. He seemed to be content but he knew that I was only a few feet away in the next room. When the room was presentable I put clean sheets on the bed and went back in to see how Rafael was getting on. "How do you feel?" I asked. "Better I guess. It still hurts down there but it's a lot better than yesterday," he answered cheerfully. "I've cleaned up in there a bit. It's still a mess and I'll have to do it properly later on but at least you have a bed now." The boy smiled shyly. "I guess now we need to clean you up," I added. Rafael smiled again. "I'm pretty smelly huh? I haven't washed in,... four days,... I guess." I laughed. "Don't worry, you're not smelly. |