The Lambert House, Planet Denver

[Manticore]

// A continuation of this.

James set his Guardian down on the pad opposite Pita's, and did not hesitate to pop the hatch and climb out. When he saw Pita was hesitating, he smiled up to her and gestured for her to come and see the house.

She nodded, climbing out of her ship. She walked across to where he stood and, without thinking about it, wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He smiled, hugging her back and feeling as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

When she stepped back, he gestured over to the house. "So, here we are, kiddo. Just like we left it... aside from the weeds. Don't worry, I'll get rid of those soon."

She nodded and looked around. "It looks a little forgotten about," she said quietly before starting to walk towards the house.

"Yeah..." he said as they walk up to the front door. "Tends to happen when you live in the woods and leave for a while. But like I said, we'll get it fixed up again."

As they stepped up to the front door, Lambert reached out and keyed in the master code. The door unlocked.

Pita nodded. "I can help... or pretend I can help." She shrugged before stepping inside.

Pita had a look around the room, brushing some of the dust off things with her hand before eventually curling up on her usual chair. She grinned, now having trouble containing her excitement. "I really, really can stay again? And you don't mind if I do?"

He beamed, for it warmed his heart seeing her back in her favorite chair. "You belong here, Pita. I wouldn't want it any other way." He glanced around for a long moment, surprised how the presence of another particular person could so completely change the way he viewed a place. Then he took a seat across from her.

She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again and looking across at James. She nodded, obviously happy with whatever she was thinking.

"Happy to be back?" he paused for a moment, then adds, "Want to see your room? Promise I didn't touch anything while you were gone."

She nodded. "I think I am more than happy… because happy isn't enough of a word to explain it!" She grinned. "My room? Can I.... please?"

He smiled back, realizing this was more smiling than he'd done in months. "Of course," he said, gesturing back towards the kitchen and slowly standing up. They walked back through the kitchen, and James stepped in front of her to open the door to her room. "Here it is... just like you left it."

Lambert looked around. He had always been partial to the light green color scheme Pita had chosen. It was cheery and encouraging, he thought.

Pita immediately jumped on her bed, landing on her back. She giggled and pulled one of the pillows across her chest, hugging it. "I missed my room."

She looked around, noticing it was exactly how she had left it. The light that had been missing from her eyes had returned. She rolled over onto her tummy and hanged off the bed trying to reach something under it, poking out her tongue as she did so. Pita awkwardly sat up again and looked at the picture she had drawn of them and the house before she had left. She shrugged and held it out for James. "It hasn't changed really, it’s still a happy place."

James smiled and took the picture from her. He remembered that she had been working on it, but hadn't seen the finished product before she'd left. "Wow, Pita. This is great!"

He held it up to the light, admiring her careful albeit unpracticed lines, use of bright colors, and even the details like his Navy uniform and the tree in front of the house.

He lowered it. "It is a happy place, isn't it? Let's never run away from here again, deal?"

She nodded vigorously. "Deal!"

He spent a moment with her in shared silence, and then took a step backwards. "You spend some time getting reacquainted with everything in here, I'm gonna start getting the yard back to something resembling presentable.”

After checking the local time on his neural net, he added, "And then... I'll make us a yummy dinner in an hour or so. Sound good?"

Pita nodded, then hesitated. "You'll just be outside?"

He nodded. ”Just outside. Come grab me if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay," she said, grinning. She then jumped off the bed and gave him another quick hug before starting to look around her room, trying to find where everything was again.

It didn't take long before Pita curled up back on her bed and fell into a restless sleep.

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