Robert responded right away to the text from Joey telling him he had a job, and let him know he could start working as soon as the next day. He and his mum ate breakfast while she chatted, sticking to safe topics like the weather and recent news about their neighbors. When they finished, he cleaned up the dishes for her while she drank her tea.

As soon as he was done, he said, “I’ll head upstairs now, mum.” She looked up at him suddenly, her eyes filled with concern, and he realized what she was afraid of.

“I’m going to shave, yeah? Get cleaned up a bit?”

“Oh. Alright, Robbie,” she said with obvious relief, making the guilt burn through him yet again. He gave her kiss before he went upstairs.

When he stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, he examined his beard. His mum was right to think it made him look like there was something seriously wrong with him. It was the most facial hair he’d ever had before, and he didn’t like it. He looked awful, like he was mental.

A lot of his mates sported facial hair to some degree nearly all the time since they couldn’t be bothered shaving regularly, but he never had. He’d always shaved every day, even if he didn’t plan to go out. Maybe because his curly hair was always so crazy looking, going all over in a mass of waves, he’d felt the need to be clean shaven. And besides, it was hard enough to get girls to notice him as it was, he didn’t need to go about looking like a mad homeless person.

He took his time removing the beard, hacking away at it bit by bit. While he worked, he happened to see the shower enclosure behind him in the mirror and suddenly heard her voice in his head, exclaiming, “Robert! A shower!” and then her desperate pleading, “I want to take a shower! Can I take one right now?”

---Then---

Robert looked at Georgie as she knelt at his mum’s feet still hugging the pale blue rucksack to her chest. She looked lost as she gazed at him, her sad eyes full of uncertainty, like she still wasn’t sure what was going on. Maybe it was the shock of her being in his home and meeting his parents, he thought. After all, she’d had no idea it was a possibility he could take her with him. He needed to get her alone so he could talk to her. And perhaps if he fixed her hair and got her into some different clothes, his parents would stop looking at her like she was someone they needed to be worried about.

“Georgie, let’s go upstairs and get cleaned up, yeah?” he said gently.

“Okay, Robert,” she said in a small voice.

He looked at his dad. “You won’t tell Mary and Betsy anything when you call them, yeah? When they get here, I’ll talk to them,” he reaffirmed.

“Alright, Robbie,” his dad said, but Robert could tell he wasn’t happy about it.

Before he got up, he gave his mum a kiss on the cheek and hugged her, saying gently, “I’ll be right back mum.”

“Alright, Robbie,” she said, patting his cheek gently, blinking back tears as she looked at him like she was drinking him in again.

He gave her another kiss before he stood up and took Georgie by the hand, leading her upstairs. When they were in his room, he took the rucksack from her and threw it on his bed. Then he put his hands on her cheeks and looked in her sad eyes. She looked just as she had downstairs, completely lost.

“Are you alright?” he asked gently.

“I’m not sure. Is this a dream?” she asked in a small voice, her eyes filling up with tears. “I’m afraid, Robert. I don’t want to wake up. I don’t want to be back –.” She couldn’t finish as the tears rolled down her cheeks. He put his arms around her and hugged her, stroking her hair while she cried quietly into his shoulder.

“Georgie, this is real. This is what I bargained for. I bargained to take you home with me. I was afraid the bastard was going to double cross me so I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want you to get your hopes up you’d come home with me.” She pulled away from him so she could look at him, searching his eyes as the tears continued to run down her cheeks, still struggling to believe him.

He held her face in his hands, looked right in her eyes, and said fervently, “Georgie, I swear to you this is not a dream.”

“Then I won’t cry because I should be happy now,” she said with her voice breaking, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

“You said it was alright to feel sad, even on a happy day, didn’t you? Don’t worry about how you feel. It’ll get better. Believe me,” he said gently, wiping her tears away with his thumbs.

Then he kissed her. He really kissed her, taking his time, willing her to believe the kiss was real, tasting her salty tears. After a moment, she began to kiss him back. As her lips caressed his, he instantly felt better, feeling her respond to him. When he released her, she’d stopped crying and looked like she felt better too. She looked less lost, but he could tell she was still struggling to believe, searching his eyes.

“Look, Georgie. You’re in my bedroom,” he said grinning, suddenly happy. It was like a miracle she was there.

“Really?” she said, looking around while she wiped her face with her sleeve. He led her over to his small desk. Above it on the wall there were shelves filled with his awards.

“These are all my swim trophies and medals,” he said. He picked up one of the trophies and handed it to her. She examined it closely.

“Have you ever seen a swim trophy before?” She shook her head before she put it carefully back on the shelf.

“See? You’re not dreaming this.” She smiled shyly at him. It was the first time he’d seen her smile since they’d woken up and it made him feel even better.

“Let’s find you some different clothes and then we’ll get cleaned up, yeah?”

“Alright, Robert,” she said quietly, continuing to look around the room.

Even though he’d moved from home nearly eight months before, he’d left behind the clothes he didn’t wear that often. He looked in his closet and through his chest of drawers, trying to find a shirt for Georgie that would fit her better than the grey sweatshirt. He gave her a white vest and she put it on, but it was more than obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra. He looked some more and found a black fleece v-neck jumper, handing it to her. When she put it on over the vest, she immediately began rubbing her hands over it.

“It’s so soft, Robert. I like it,” she said with wonder.

She would have to make do with the sweatpants for now. He didn’t have anything that would look much better on her. Then he quickly changed into clean clothes. When he threw on a blue jumper his mum had knitted for him over a clean t-shirt, Georgie’s eyes got wide and she reached out to run her hands over it.

“I love the color of your sweater, Robert. It’s so pretty – and it’s soft too,” she said, her voice hushed.

It made him sad to see her reaction to the clothes. It was a reminder of how deprived she’d been of the simple things everyone else took for granted. He led her down the hall to the bathroom he used to share with sisters. He let her look around while he looked for a new toothbrush for her.

He was startled when she nearly shouted behind him, “Robert! A shower!” He turned quickly to look at her, pushing his hair out of his eyes. She looked at him with astonishment, her eyes wide.

“I want to take a shower! Can I take one right now?” she pleaded, and his heart broke for her again. Of course. It had been years since she’d had anything other than a tub to bathe in.

“Uh, yeah.” That suddenly seemed like a good idea. “Maybe we should both take a shower, yeah?” They’d been drugged and unconscious for days, just like when he’d first been kidnapped, and were both in need of a bath.

She showered while he shaved and brushed his teeth, and then he took a quick shower while she brushed her teeth and combed out her hair. Before they went downstairs, he looked at her. She looked much better. Not just cleaned up, but she seemed more there, like maybe she believed she was really home with him. Then she smiled at him, a real smile that lit up her face, and she didn’t just look better, she looked beautiful.

---Now---

As Robert climbed in the shower, he remembered how shocked he’d been to see her response to ordinary everyday things. He’d known she’d need time to adjust to a life of freedom, that some things would be new to her, but he’d never expected that things like fleece jumpers and showers would be such a novelty for her.

---Then---

When they returned to the sitting room, Robert could see his parents looking at Georgie with new eyes. He thought they seemed relieved to see her not only looking more normal, but behaving more normally as she stood next to him, relaxed and holding his hand. He felt better too, seeing her look more comfortable in his home.

His dad told him he’d reached his sisters. Mary didn’t own a car and lived on the other side of London from them. It was going take her a while to get there, but Betsy was staying at home since she was between terms, and had gone clubbing with friends. His dad thought she’d probably be home soon.

Robert looked at his mum. She looked exhausted as she sat slumped on the couch next to his dad, dark circles under her eyes and it worried him.

“Mum, I think you should go to bed,” he suggested gently.

“Well, if you think it’s alright, Robbie.” She seemed grateful he’d said it.

“I do. We can chat in the morning, yeah?”

His dad helped her as she struggled to get up and Robert suddenly realized she hadn’t moved from the couch because she’d been too weak. It was painful to see her like that, and he stepped forward to help her too. When she finally stood, he knew the stairs were going be difficult for her to manage.

“Mum, I think I should carry you upstairs, yeah?”

“Oh, no Robbie! I’m too heavy for you!” she insisted, sounding embarrassed.

“No, you’re not. Please let me, alright?”

With a sigh, she agreed and he bent down and picked her up. He was shocked at how frail she seemed in his arms, and he was grateful he’d spent so much time working out over the last two months. He didn’t have any trouble carrying her up the stairs, his dad coming up behind them.

“Good night, Robbie,” she said, after he set her on her bed. He bent over to give her a hug and kiss and she teared up as she put her hand on his cheek, drinking him in with her eyes again.

“I’m so happy you’re home,” she said in a whisper, suddenly too overwhelmed to speak louder.

“I am too, mum. Good night,” he said, feeling his throat tighten, then left so his dad could take care of her, closing the door behind him. He went downstairs and found Georgie looking at the family pictures on the wall of the sitting room.

When she saw him, she exclaimed, “Robert, you were so pretty when you were a little boy!” and he tried not to laugh. He was going to have to teach her some different words to describe him, he decided. He couldn’t have people hearing her call him pretty.

He sat on the couch and watched her. She carefully looked at each picture before moving on to the next one whispering to herself, “Mary – Betsy – Robert,” as she identified them in the pictures. When she reached their small upright piano, she looked through his old music books that were stacked on it. When she found a book she’d had back at the flat, she held it up, saying excitedly, “Look, Robert! The same!”

Their ginger cat chose that moment to come into the sitting room and jumped on the couch next to him so he could pet her. Georgie’s eyes got wide, like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, and exclaimed loudly, “Cat!” She came forward and knelt in front of the couch so she could pet her.

“Hello, kitty,” she said in a high pitched voice.

“This is Peaches,” he said.

“Hello, Peaches,” she said in the same high pitched voice, while she pet her. When Peaches meowed, she said, “Are you talking to me, Peaches?” It struck him how differently she was behaving, like she’d suddenly reverted back to the age she’d been when she’d been taken by the bastard, and it made him uncomfortable.

While she continued to pet Peaches, she looked up at him, and said quietly, “I’m sorry your mom is so sick, Robert. I hope she’s okay.”

“Thanks for that, Georgie,” he said gently, and leaned forward to give her a kiss, suddenly feeling relieved. That was more like the Georgie he knew.

---Now---

Robert got out of the shower and dried off. He wrapped the towel around his waist and looked at himself in the mirror as he combed his hair. He looked better with the beard gone, but now that he could actually see his face, he noticed a change in his appearance. His mum was right, he looked like he needed to eat more. He could tell he’d lost weight, and not in a good way. He was thinner and his face was almost gaunt looking and pale. It was no wonder, he’d barely managed to eat one meal a day for weeks now.

He went to his bedroom and closed the door behind him. As he stood in the center of his room, uncertain what he should do next and listening to the silence, it suddenly hit him – he was alone. He’d known she was gone as soon as she’d disappeared in the crowds at Heathrow. Even before she’d reached Chicago, he knew she was gone. But this was the first time he understood what it truly meant.

And he was overwhelmed with despair.

****

This is a quieter chapter than a lot of the ones coming up, and one that shows that even within the first few hours Georgie was in his home, things weren’t exactly how Robert expected them to be.  Georgie’s thrown him a few times with her behavior.  And she’s in Chicago!  Did you guess that’s were she was?  That little bit of information didn’t make it into a prior chapter because, well, I forgot actually, and it was too big a detail to add in after the fact.

Please vote if you liked this chapter and comment!  Comments are always great and I love the feedback!  Thank you for reading!