Lenny closed her eyes, finally content that she had accomplished to convince Scout that Len was her, feeling light and wierdly completed. Reluctantly, she pulled away, cupping Scout's face with her hands gently as she looked into her bright, magenta eyes.

"Let's get you inside and get you dry, okay?" Lenny asked softly, absentmindedly caressing her cheek that was stained with blue from the cold. Scout vigorously nodded and Lenny planted a quick kiss on her forehead before gently taking her hand in hers and leading her to the house, using the blanket Scout had used to cover herself earlier as a sort of an umbrella. As soon as they made it inside the house, Scout shook her head vigorously, her hair flying everywhere and shaking the water off her. Lenny chuckled as she stopped shaking and softly combed her fingers through the clumpy wet hair and looked at the girl with affection.

"Len Len?" Scout asked softly, tugging at the hem of her jacket that she had forgotten to take off and was looking at her with slightly scared eyes. Now concerned, she stopped and pulled at a lock of her own hair in worry. "H-How I did get here?"

Lenny's concern deepened as she stared at the ground, her eyebrows furrowed. "I... I'm not sure, sweetie," she admitted slowly, fiddling with her zipper as she began to get lost in thought. How come the thought of how Scout actually got here crossed her mind, even in the slightest? Lenny gave a quiet sigh and looked up, meeting Scout's gaze. "What do you remember?"

Her eyes widened in surprise for a second before the surprise turned to confusion. "I no remember, Len," Scout replied softly, shrugging hopelessly. "I-I only remember sleep and next rain."

The ends of Lenny's mouth frowned and she nodded, slowly. "Oh... okay, thank you for trying." She tried to reassure the girl with a smile, but the disappointment that she didn't receive any more help with how she even got here was eminent.

"I sorry!" Scout exclaimed, tears coming to her eyes. She hurriedly wiped them away, but they kept flooding back. She flung herself at Lenny, continuing to sob into her shoulder. "This all Scout's fault! I sorry!"

Getting over her initial shock over her outburst, Lenny immediately softened and hugged the girl, trying not to mind the wetness on her shoulder. "No, honey, this isn't your fault, none of this is! Don't blame yourself, please."

"Yes it is! All Scout's fault!" Scout continued to cry out, more tears beginning to land on the damp cloth of Lenny's jacket. "I want to help Len, that is truth, but I no know how!"

"Scout, it's alright! Really! You don't have to help, all that matters is that you're here with me, safe," Lenny reassured quickly, hugging the girl tightly, burying her face in the wet cloth of Scout's trademark, purple turtleneck.

She sniffed, able to bring her cries down to a slightly quieter one. "Is Len sure? You not mad at I?" Although she tried to keep it subtle, Lenny could feel the slightly tighter grip Scout began to use around Lenny's waist and back in anticipation for her answer, as if she hadn't begun to realize that Lenny probably couldn't even be mad at her even if she blew up the moon.

"No, of course I'm not mad at you, Scout," Lenny repeated, giving a quick, tight squeeze before pulling away a bit, her hands holding Scout right below the shoulders. Softly, and nearly a bit hesitant, she pressed her lips to her forehead before looking her in the eyes. "I love you, okay? Don't forget that."

Scout nodded and gave a toothy grin. "Scout know. I love you too, Len!" She giggled, which brought a smile to Lenny's face.

"Good. You go head to my room and I'll bring some food, does that sound okay?" she asked, hoping that Scout wouldn't have a problem with it and agree, not wanting to spend the night arguing and crying in the living room.

"Mmhmm," she replied and gave her a quick hug before pulling away to go to Lenny's room as Lenny stared after her with a hint of a smile.

As Scout rounded a corner and disappeared out of sight, she turned away and made her way to the fridge to which she opened and begun to once again look for some food for her and Scout to eat.

"KITTY!"

"Shit, no, don't toUCH HARLEY!" Lenny yelled at her, slamming the fridge door closed as she started to sprint to her room, but soon enough heard a wail of pain, panic taking root in her as one single thought crossed her mind: shit I'm screwed.

***

After finding Scout in her room clutching her face and was once again sobbing her eyes out, Lenny decided on keeping the jerkwad of a tuxedo cat out of her room and upon further speculation, she decided she'd unfortunately have to do the same with all her pets if she wanted to keep the pain with Scout on a minimal setting. The things she did to make her happy.

Scout was now on Lenny's bed and was having a staredown with one of her drabbits (to which she was previously intimidated and was on the verge of crying once more until Lenny had calmed her) while Lenny herself was attempting to use her neglected laptop to draw, but ended up scrapping the idea entirely and started to continue the doodle of Scout from earlier, using the actual girl as a reference from time to time.

"Lenny!" a voice called from the kitchen, Lenny identifying it as her birth giver. Scout yelped from the sudden yell, losing her staring contest with the drabbit and started to give a slight whimper.

"Who dat?!" Scout exclaimed in worry loudly, pressing herself against the headboard and slightly raising the blanket as if the blanket would protect her. Lenny shot her a worried glance, giving her a soft shushing sound before yelling very loudly:

"YES, MOM?"

If anything, Scout merely got more scared from Lenny's loud voice, yelping and lifting the blanket to her chin. "Don't yell!" Scout exclaimed loudly, giving off a slight pout.

"Who was that?" her mom inquired, her voice a bit more clearer as well as louder, indicating that she was close to Lenny's room. She seemed to lost her train of thought and was now more focused on the unfamiliar voice. Panic began to take hold on Lenny as she shushed Scout quickly before she replied.

"No one." She silently prayed to God in her head that her voice was normal and her mom wouldn't suspect anything. "It's just me in my room, no one else."

"Are you sure? I swear I heard a voice in there," she replied in a suspicious tone, her voice sounding like it was on the other side of the door, which wouldn't suprise her if she was. "Are you sure you're not watching anime?"

Lenny nearly snorted at her mother's assumption, but decided to go along with that crazy idea. It was better to add onto the idea rather than convince her otherwise. "Okay, okay- yes, I was watching some anime," she replied, sounding embarrased and gave an exasperated sigh as if to further exaggerate her point.

"What were you even watching that you had to lie to me for?" she questioned, a slight tone of suspicion still in her voice. Lenny panicked, saying the first thing that cane to mind.

"Boku no Pico!" Lenny blurted out, blushing when she realized she had replied that she was watching the most cringiest anime ever. She gave a silent groan pushed her fingers against her brow in frustration at her stupidity. When her mother didn't reply- probably from the initial shock that her daughter was watching such a terrible anime-, Lenny poked at Scout who was about to yelp before Lenny hurriedly put a hand over her mouth, shushing the girl. Scout looked at her in confusion and embarrassed, Lenny whispered,"Can you say 'it's Chico, oniichan,' please?"

"'It's Chico, oniichan,'" she repeated in slight confusion, and Lenny thanked her, smiling but still quite panicked. Scout's voice was more than a little anime-sounding, but would it be enough to fool her? Every second waiting for her mother's answer seemed like an eternity.

"Oh, okay," she finally heard her say, making her nearly sigh in relief. "I'm going to make dinner, so you can continue to watch... Boku no Pico."

She left, the sound of her footsteps getting quieter until it was nearly dead quiet. Lenny breathed a sigh of relief. "Now that was way too close for comfort."

"Who Chico?" Scout asked, tugging at her jacket.

"Let's not talk about that right now. Or ever," Lenny replied, feeling worn out from lying to her mother and wove her hands through her still slightly damp hair from the rain. Scout was about to talk before her mother cut in.

"Lenny, have you done your homework?" she yelled loudly, making Scout dive under the blanket in alarm.

"NO!"

"You better be doing it right now, then!"

"DO I HAVE TO?"

"Yes! Now go do it!"

"AUGH!"

***

Lenny groaned again, drumming her fingers against her desk and began sobbing. Well, not really, but she certainly felt like doing it. Scout had taken off to rush to the bathroom, the loud sound of the rain on the roof not helping with the situation in the mere seconds she had to zoom out to avoid staining anything in Lenny's room with her pee.

"If I didn't like this pencil so much, I'd smash it into the paper until it breaks," she mumbled to herself, resting her head on the palm of her hand as she glared down at her honework. She tapped her pencil against the desk, going over the unsolved problem once again, but it only gave her a throbbing headache.

"H-How unfortunate."

Lenny supressed a shrill shriek, dropping the pencil and clamping a hand over her mouth so her mother didn't come rushing in from the yell. She swerved her head around in alarm, trying to find where that voice came from. It sounded nearly familiar, yet she knew she had never heard it in her life, save for maybe her head.

"Who are you?" Lenny asked, trying to keep her voice even but couldn't hold back the scared tone from who or what the owner of the voice was. Her hand had removed itself from her mouth, now clenching bunches of fabric in her shirt to help console herself.

"Oh, d-d-don't tell me y-you forgot," the voice replied, sounding somewhat amused despite the fact it sounded a bit... electronical-like. Lenny pushed down the rushing fear in her churning stomach, biting her lip out of habit. There was no possible way that this would be who she thought. That was absolutely absurd. Then again, the fact Scout was living and breathing and alive was also absurd, but there was no chance that the whole ordeal coould happen again... right?

"Such l-l-little faith in m-me, it woun-nds me," the voice replied once again, a mocking laughter following it and sounded far more sarcastic than intended with the electronic tone. Lenny gulped, anxiously tugging at her shirt. She blinked again and nearly scream this time if she didn't cover her mouth once again, but her clamp tighter this time in fear her scream would leak theough the gaps of her hands. A slight image was beginning to take shape, nearly looking as if was glitching like a computer screen. They were half into view, but Lenny feared that this being would turn solid enough (if they alreasy weren't) to actually some some permanent damage.

"Who are you?" Lenny repeated, making it purposely louder as her clammy hands clasped together, staring at the being that kept swimming in and out of visibility. They radiated off a slight glare at her and she supressed a quiet whimper from that action, wanting desperately to cry out for her mother to help but that was out of the question- how in the world would she explain the situation?

"You know e-exactly who I a-m," the being hissed, seeming to be leaning closer to Lenny. Her breath hitched in her throat as the truth finally sank in despite her brave efforts to deny it.

"Reiko."

---

HAHAH WHAT A PLOT BOMB

ohmygosh I'm so sorry for not updating I'm such a terrible writer sobs

But like??? this is one of my favorite written chapters?? idk if it's just because it's well written or the sort of humor in it or whatever but I really like it haha :)

(Also do not search up Boku no Pico)