[Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi or Cat's In the Well by Bob Dylan]

Yeah, I don't really know what inspired this. But I thought Eli could use a kitten. I'm starting a new story soon. OOTB and IHFIHS are still on hiatus until my personal laptop is fixed, where those stories are stored. I also have a few more oneshots in the work, but don't expect them anytime soon...I'm really busy with school. I miss writing a lot and hope to have more new things for you all soon.

Thanks for everything.

Twitter: nomadichead / Tumblr: crookedfairytales (not personal)

Review, review, review!

Fiona was helping Eli with some calculus homework in the crowded Degrassi hallway. He gave up and shoved his book onto the top shelf before closing his locker.

"I want to go see the kittens at the shelter!" Imogen screams from across the hall, garnering attention from everyone.

Eli and Fiona turn a slight crimson, knowing that everyone knows that she was talking to them.

Imogen skips her away over to them, stopping right in front of Fiona and throwing her arms around her, pulling her down for a kiss.

Eli looks away politely, not wanting them to think that he's being a creep. But that doesn't stop other creeps in the hallway from stopping and staring. A few guys even cheer.

"Will you take me to see the kittens Fiona Coyne?" Imogen asks.

Fiona looks dumbfounded as she nods. Imogen could have asked for an alien and Fiona would have nodded.

"And Eli is coming too!" Imogen grabs his hand.

"Um…" Eli begins.

"No…no, you are coming, you are not going home to sulk. You are going to come and look at kittens with Fiona and me. And you will have fun," Imogen narrows her eyes and Eli is a little bit afraid of her.

"Alright, but only if you make Adam come too."

Imogen smiles brightly. "Adam Torres!" She calls out to him when they walk out of Degrassi and spot him at a picnic table.

Adam looks up from the book he's reading. Imogen runs over to him and leans into his face. She says something to him and he quickly nods, smiling. Imogen cheers loudly and hugs him.

Adam, Eli decides, is a dirty, dirty traitor. He just wanted to go home, think about Clare and sulk.

"I know you're feeling terrible, but at least fake having fun for Imogen's sake. She keeps coming up with elaborate plans to make you happy, yesterday's plan included fireworks and surprising you with a private Dead Hand show," Fiona tells him.

Eli smirks, "Well…that would make me happy."

Fiona smacks his side, "I'm serious. Your moping is cutting into my make out time with my girlfriend Goldsworthy."

"Trust me, no one more than me wants you two not to make out as much as possible."

"Pervert," Fiona smacks his head.

"Quit hitting me!" Eli messes up her hair in return.

They end up in a fit of laughter as Imogen rejoins their group with Adam in tow.

"You want to pet kittens," Eli deadpans.

"Hey, not all of us have a black box where our hearts should be," Adam joked. "Kittens are cute. Not even you are immune to them."

Eli rolls his eyes and leans down tie his shoe. When he stands up again he sees Clare and Jake holding hands as they walk home.

He tries not to let it affect him but his three friends also noticed her.

"I kissed my brother once and I had to spend the summer in the Hamptons," Fiona grumbled.

"That's just freaking weird," Imogen states.

Adam makes a face and puts his hand on Eli's shoulder. "You okay dude?"

Eli shrugs, wanting to go see the kittens even less now. Imogen tugs on Eli's hand.

"I'll race you to Fiona's car," she says.

Eli felt bad. His three best friends are trying their hardest to help him get over the girl who he now recognizes probably never loved him. The least he can do is try for them in return, especially Imogen, who has made him cookies, brownies, cakes, cupcakes, and other assorted baked goods every other day since that horrible camping trip almost three weeks ago.

He didn't know how he made it through that car ride, watching and listening to Clare and Jake banter flirtatiously back and forth.

After they had dropped him off Eli walked into his house and broke down completely in the privacy of his room.

Not two hours later, Adam, Imogen, and Fiona were practically knocking down his door. He guessed that Bianca or Drew must have told Adam of what had gone down at the cabin and he had quickly called the girls.

Eli nods and takes off without warning. Imogen squeals and calls him a cheater, running after him.

Adam and Fiona look at each other and shrug, taking off after them as well.

xXx

"Oh my God. Oh my God," Imogen looks around the shelter excitedly. Her head is looking all over, not even sure where to start.

Eli looks around and just feels bad for all of the animals that seem to be scared and lost, having been picked up from the streets or taken from bad homes.

Imogen drags Fiona over to the dogs and puppies.

One of them has a missing eye, another a broken leg and Imogen bursts into tears, sticking her hand into the big cage and petting them.

"This was a bad idea, Imogen's just going to cry the whole time," Eli says, watching Fiona comfort her.

Adam shrugs, "C'mon, I want to see the kittens."

They spot the cages with all the kittens and cats. Adam all but runs over to them, and Eli wants to make fun of him.

"I think you're more excited than the girls," Eli teases.

"Shut up, I've always wanted a cat but Drew's dumb ass is allergic," Adam says. He tries to stick his hand in but the holes are too small.

"Can we pet them?" Adam asks one of the shelter attendants.

She nods and walks over to them, taking out her key and unlocking all three cages for them.

"Thanks!" Adam says happily. He drops to his knees and moves to sit Indian style next to the cage. He pulls out one cat, a very fat one, and lets it rest in his lap. He runs his hand over its head.

Eli just watches his friend with an amused expression. They hear a sniffle behind them and turn toward it.

Imogen's wiping her eyes and Fiona has an arm around her waist.

"Look Imogen," Adam shows her the fat cat, and Imogen giggles, falling down next to him. He passes the fat cat to her and grabs another one.

"Imogen wanted to pet all of the dogs," Fiona says.

"You can't come to a shelter and only pet one out of all the animals that are in the cage. That makes the other ones feel unloved, and they are already so lonely here," Imogen explains, running her fingers gently over the cat in her lap.

Adam passes another cat to Fiona, who gladly accepts it.

"Pick one up," Fiona glares at Eli.

He sighs and turns toward the cage that's next to him. This one is filled with kittens. He spots a small, black cat cowering in the corner by itself, away from the others. Eli frowns and reaches inside the cage for it.

The cat stares at Eli's hand, curls up into itself and starts to cry.

"What did you do?" Adam asks as the shelter attendant walks over to them.

"I didn't do anything, I was trying to grab it and it started crying," he says.

The attendant looks inside the box and sighs, "This kitten always cries. He was picked up a few weeks ago from a home where he was being starved and kicked around. His mother was killed by the owner, who was annoyed that she'd had more kittens."

After hearing that, Imogen bursts into tears again, "What happened to its brothers and sisters?"

"They were all bought already, all that's left is this little fella, but he doesn't want to go with anyone. He's scared of everyone and doesn't trust anyone."

After the attendant leaves Eli sticks his entire arm into the cage, petting the scared kitten softly. He stares down at the frightened animal and sees it slowly acknowledging that Eli won't hurt him.

After a few minutes the kitten finally willingly crawls into Eli's palm. He pulls out his arm and brings the animal to his chest. Imogen squeals happily and puts the cat she was holding back into the cage. She crawls over Fiona to his side.

"You got the scared kitten to come out!"

"Yeah, I did," Eli replies, semi-proudly.

The kitten flinches away from Imogen's approaching hand and she frowns.

"He has green eyes like you Eli," Fiona points out.

Eli raises an eyebrow and lifts the tiny kitten up to his eyes. Sure enough, the kitten's eyes are also green.

His friends go back to grabbing other kittens and petting them all, but Eli doesn't let go of the tiny, black kitten.

Fiona takes pictures of the boys with the kittens and promises to use them as blackmail one day.

His right ear is clipped and the kitten winces when Eli brushes his finger along the part where the piece is missing.

"We can go now, Imogen has made sure that we've seen and pet all the kittens and cats…twice even," Adam teases.

Imogen sticks out her tongue and helps her girlfriend up off the floor. Eli stood up, kitten still in his arms.

"What are you doing?" Fiona asks.

Eli looks down at the tiny, defenseless creature in his arms. He purrs against Eli's shirt and curls into him, closing his eyes.

"Eli?" Imogen asks.

"Uh…," He begins.

"Oh goodness! I've never seen this kitten let someone hold him since he got here! What did you do?" The store attendant points out happily.

"Nothing, he just…"

"He trusts you," Imogen finishes.

"Do you want to adopt him?" The attendant asks.

Eli doesn't know if he can take care of a kitten when he can barely take care of himself some days, but he doesn't want to leave this kitten in that godforsaken cage.

"Uh…okay," Eli says.

"Great! Come here, fill out some paper work and you can take him home today."

Eli carefully hands the kitten to Imogen and she smiles when the kitten isn't afraid of her. Fiona and Adam gently run their fingers over him.

Eli fills out the paperwork…Name…address…phone number.

"What do you want to name him?" The shelter attendant asks.

"Poe…," Eli writes down.

After a few more minutes of signing things the woman stamps his papers and hands them to him. "Congratulations, he's yours."

"What about vaccinations and all that stuff?" Fiona asks.

"Already been vaccinated," she informs them. She hands Eli a small box but Eli just grabs Poe and lets Adam carry the box out.

They walk out of the shelter with high spirits.

"Poe? You're so emo dude," Adam teases.

"I like it!" Imogen says.

"I can't believe you adopted a kitten, you didn't even want to come at first," Fiona points out.

"Sorry about that, thanks guys, Imogen, for trying to cheer me up."

"No problem."

xXx

"See you guys tomorrow!" Eli calls to them as he walks up the three stairs of his house.

"I'm never coming to see you again!" Adam yells from the backseat, "It's all about the kitten."

Eli gives him the finger and turns to unlock his door. He can hear Cece and Bullfrog in the kitchen, singing along to some 80s rock song. He drops all of the stuff he bought for the kitten after they left the shelter in the hallway and walks towards the kitchen.

Poe is in the open box in his hands.

"What do you have there baby boy?" Cece asks.

"Is it a box of Playboys? If so, I want to see them fi-ouch!" Bullfrog rubs his arm, "I was just kidding woman."

Eli places the box on the island in their kitchen and gently picks up Poe from the box. He holds him to his chest.

"Oh no," Bullfrog mumbled under his breath.

"Where did you get that kitten Eli?" Cece asks.

"Don't be mad. Imogen, Fiona, Adam and I went to the shelter after school. He was in the back of a cage by himself and it took me forever to get him out. The shelter lady told us that he was beaten up and that his mom was killed by the original owner a few weeks ago and he didn't want to go with any of the families his siblings went with. He doesn't trust people but he came with me after a while and I really, really didn't want to put him back so I adopted him," Eli says quickly.

Cece shook her head, "Why would I be mad?"

"So can I keep him?"

Cece and Bullfrog exchange a look, but Eli knew that the answer was yes from the way his mom looked at the kitten with loving eyes.

"Of course Eli," she says.

"What did you name it?"

"Him. His name is Poe."

Bullfrog snorts, "You would."

xXx

The next few weeks are difficult after that. Eli has to train Poe to use the litter box, and since he's so small, he can fit just about anywhere, leading to them having to search the house for hours on two occasions.

Cece loves Poe already. She doesn't mind taking care of him while Eli is at school. And, while Bullfrog pretends to be indifferent to him, Eli has caught him holding Poe with great care more than once.

Poe sleeps in Eli's room, now that it's completely clean. If it wasn't Eli was sure he'd have lost the kitten in his messy, old room. Well, Poe's bed is on Eli's floor, not that Poe has ever used it.

Eli spent the entire first night taking Poe back to his own bed after he somehow found a way to climb onto the teen's bed, which was more than a meter off the ground. When he realized that Poe was just not going to sleep in his own bed, Eli let him curl up at his side and was careful not to roll over during the night.

Poe usually curled up at the end of Eli's bed, where Eli's feet didn't quite reach. But sometimes, Eli would wake up to find Poe sound asleep on his pillow, or on his chest…or on his head.

Poe was really well behaved for a kitten, didn't scratch up furniture, which had been Cece's only concern.

Adam came over all the time to see the kitten, sometimes completely ignoring Eli's presence.

"I'm actually worried that you're going to break in and steal my cat one day," Eli teased when Adam had Poe on his head.

"If Drew wasn't allergic…," Adam replied.

Poe especially loved Imogen's floppy pigtails and Fiona necklaces and charm bracelets. Imogen would shake her head by Poe and he'd run back and forth, not sure which one to chase after. Fiona would shake her wrist above him and Poe would swat at the charms of her bracelet.

But one Poe's favorite things to do was to wait for Eli to lay down and then curl up against his head. Bullfrog said it was because Eli had thick, long, and fluffy hair. "It probably feels like another kitten to him!"

He also liked to lick people. Everyone in the house, and Eli's friends had gotten used to the soggy sandpaper feeling of Poe's tongue.

That was how Eli woke up most mornings.

xXx

Eli walked to school after leaving Poe with his mom. He was accosted by Imogen the second he walked into the school building.

She dragged him into the boy's locker room and stuck a broom stick through the handle so no one could interrupt them.

"Imogen, what the-."

"Clare and Jake broke up after they almost got caught by their parents."

Eli blinked twice. "What? How do you know?"

"Bianca told me."

"How the hell does Bianca know?"

"Well, after Clare cut Alli out she became good friends with Bianca or whatever. Bianca and I have remained good friends since she paid me back the money she stole and gave me lingerie."

"She stole from you? And gave you lingerie? Does Fiona know this?"

"Not the point. And yes…she does…especially about the latter," Imogen winked.

Eli rolled his eyes and smirked, before frowning again.

"Why did you tell me?"

"There are a lot of rumors going around about the reason they broke up. I wanted you to know the truth."

"Oh."

"How do you feel?" Imogen asks carefully.

"How am I supposed to feel Imogen? This doesn't change anything. It doesn't change the fact that Clare still doesn't want to be with me, probably never loved me, and wanted to kiss me at the cabin only to get back at Jake," he said sadly.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything, I just didn't want you to hear one of the rumors and think the worst."

"I know. Thanks Imo," Eli hugged her briefly.

"Are you going to be okay?" Imogen asked.

"I'll be fine." He replied.

The whole day went by slowly. Fiona bought him a large cup of his favorite coffee and Adam bought him a new issue of his favorite comic book that he'd skipped first period to buy when the comic book store opened.

"Guys, I'm fine," Eli snapped tiredly.

But he's not. He knows he's not. He wants to find Clare, hold her, and comfort her. She's probably heartbroken right now. She loved Jake, she did. And it breaks his own heart all over again knowing that's she's not happy.

Eli just wants her to be happy, with whoever that is.

The bell is about to ring when Clare walks in. Everyone stares at her and she looks angry, her posture stiffens and she takes her seat in front of Adam, two rows away from Eli. Fiona takes her seat next to Clare and pulls out her notebook. Imogen takes her seat at the front of the class next to Alli, who keeps looking at Clare worriedly.

Clare stares straight forward, the anger has vanished from her features and all that's left is…nothing. She's not showing any emotion as Ms. Dawes begins their class.

The class ends a torturous forty-seven minutes later. When the bell rings, Eli jumps from his seat and grabs his bag quickly. He practically runs out of the classroom but bumps against someone in the doorway.

"Sorry, sorry," he says to whoever he's bumped against.

It's Clare; she looks up at him, expressionless. He blue eyes aren't shining like usual and he's too worried to be reminded of a similar situation last year. He remembered bumping into Clare, smirking at her, and pushing past her after they'd been assigned to be partners.

She pushes past him silently, and meets Bianca at the other end of the hallway. They walk away but not before Clare looks his way one more time.

There is a hint of a smile on her lips.

xXx

Eli goes home and thinks about Clare all day. Every time he saw her, she had the same sullen expression on her face. Bianca was talking to her as they walked together but Clare didn't even pretend to pay attention.

He sees Jake a few times too, but he looks fine, oddly enough. Eli's angered at the possibility that he only strung Clare along.

He goes home a little bit more heartbroken than when he woke up that morning.

Eli sits at his desk and pulls out his homework, trying to concentrate. But all thoughts go back to his relationship with Clare and where it started going wrong.

He's mad at himself again, blaming everything that's happened to Clare now on himself.

Maybe if he had been more stable, they would still be together now. Or maybe they wouldn't since Clare didn't really love him, but she wouldn't have run off to Jake right after their break up. She wouldn't have clung so desperately onto another unhealthy relationship that felt more normal than what she'd had with Eli.

She wouldn't have fallen in love with Jake, he's sure of it. If only he had been okay.

He's pissed off now, at everything. Eli can't concentrate and he just wants to be alone. He pulls his black and white composition journal from his drawer but he can't even write in that.

He feels Poe wanting to play at his feet but Eli can't be bothered right now. He looks down at the kitten with angry eyes, throws his notebook across the room, knocking a few CDs down in the process

Poe freezes, stares for a moment, and runs from the room quickly.

"Fuck," Eli mutters under his breath. He'd frightened Poe. He was probably curled up in a corner of his house scared out his mind right now, thinking that Eli was going to hurt him.

But Eli hadn't even raised his voice to Poe once, not even when he still accidentally peed on the hardwood floor instead of the litter box. He had been sure to always show Poe how much he loved him and would not hurt him.

But all it had taken was one mistake on his part to trigger the bad memories Poe probably had. No one knew about what one trigger could lead to more than Eli.

He quickly grabbed the toy off the ground and left his room. Eli ran down the stairs.

"Cece, have you seen Poe?" He asked.

"He was running around here a few minutes ago. I thought he was with you."

"Okay," Eli turned and walked from the kitchen.

"Poe," he called out numerous times.

Nothing.

Eli felt terrible and dropped on all fours, ready to crawl around his entire house to find the frightened kitten if he had to.

He looked under all of the couches, and furniture in the living room and kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Bullfrog asked when he got home from work to find Eli crawling around his and Cece's room.

"I scared Poe and now I can't find him," Eli answered, standing up. "Keep the doors closed, I want to minimize his movements if he's running away from me."

Bullfrog nodded, "I'll take the basement if you want some help."

"Great, thanks dad," Eli said. He went back to his own room and shut the door.

Poe had run out of his room, but Eli dropped the ground and began searching his own room anyway. Poe wasn't under his bed or desk, or behind his dresser.

Eli saw his closet door open a crack and crawled over to it, opening it more. He reached for the flashlight he knew was on the ground instead of standing up to turn on the light.

He turned on the flashlight and ran it over his shoes. Poe didn't seem to be hiding inside any of them. He was about to give up and go help Bullfrog in the basement when he noticed the lid of one of his boxes open.

Eli grabbed the box, and it felt heavier than he remembered. He hadn't looked inside of this particular box in weeks.

He removed the rest of the lid and found Poe curled up in the corner of his "Clare" box, on top of all of her pictures and mementos from their relationship.

Eli reached in and scooped up the kitten, who seemed very uneasy.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he whispered into Poe's ear.

Poe seemed to understand and licked his nose in return.

Eli made a face and settled Poe back on the ground. He immediately went back inside the Clare box and looked up at Eli expectantly.

He sent Bullfrog a quick text message, informing him that he'd found Poe.

"No Poe, we can't look at the pictures of the pretty girl, it hurts too much," Eli picked up Poe from the box and put the lid back on. He placed the box back in the closet and put a pair of shoes on top to ensure that Poe wouldn't crawl inside again.

Eli picked Poe up off the ground and lay down on his bed. The kitten curled up on Eli's chest and purred softly.

He'd been forgiven.

xXx

Eli was leaning against the tree at the park. He watched Poe scamper around the in the grass happily. He had a notebook in his lap and a jumble of words in his mind that were screaming to be written. But Eli couldn't figure out how to put them together.

It's a chilly Sunday morning before Halloween. Poe's fattened up some, but he was still incredibly tiny. He was attacking the falling leaves with the same fervor he chased Imogen's pigtails with.

He heard leaves crunching under someone's feet and looked up.

Clare was walking his way.

Eli swallowed. She looked so beautiful. She was wearing a flow-y cream colored skirt with a purple shirt tucked into it. The denim jacket he hadn't seen in months was keeping her warm, and she was wearing a pair of little black boots.

Eli stared, he couldn't help it. Her cheeks were slightly reddened by the cold air and her eyes had their sparkle back. Her bottom lip was bright pink, probably from her constant biting down on it. Her curls were held back with a clip but there were still a few short ones that couldn't be held surrounding her face.

"Hey Eli," she greeted, hands in the pockets on her jacket.

"Uh…um…hey Clare."

"Can I join you?"

Eli nodded, afraid to speak.

Clare smiled and sat down next to Eli, their arms brushed and even through the fabric of their jackets Eli shivered as though it had been her arm skin against his.

Eli subtly moved away from her, giving her the space he wished he could have given her back in April.

"Aren't you supposed to be at church?" Eli asked, looking at his clock. It was ten twenty-five; Clare should have been at Sunday mass right now. He felt silly for remembering, but there were many a time when Eli would pick her up after mass and take her to lunch.

"I snuck out, I couldn't really be in there," Clare said.

"Oh," Eli replied, not looking at her. His eyes were fixed on Poe, who was now further away but still playing in the leaves.

He tapped his pen against his notebook absentmindedly.

"Are you writing something new?" Clare asked, noticing the notebook in his lap.

"Um…no, not really, I've got bits and pieces of stuff, but I'm not really sure what to do with them."

"Can I see?" Clare reaches for his notebook but Eli grips it and folds it away from her.

Clare looks put out and ashamed.

"Um…okay," Eli hands her his notebook, which just has words scattered across the page that don't really make sense.

"She took all of the oxygen in him every time she looked his way, but if he had to choose between her and air, he'd hold his breath forever," Clare whispers.

"It's kind of cheesy, I know," Eli takes his notebook back before she can read the rest.

"That kind of love is powerful," Clare says to him.

Eli nods, "Um, I'm sorry about you and Jake, it must really suck."

Clare furrows her eyebrows, "I'm not. It was a stupid mistake on both our parts but thanks anyway."

"Why do you say that?"

"It was just a stupid mistake. All of it was."

"It wasn't a mistake if you loved him Clare," Eli tells her softly, thinking that she's just saying things to spare his feelings.

"I didn't love Jake…and he didn't love me. I'm pretty sure Jake was high the one time he did say he loved me."

"But you-."

"I was being stubborn. I just wanted one thing to go right in my life when everything else had wrong."

Eli feels like apologizing but doesn't.

He feels something climbing on top of him and looks down to see Poe crawling up his leg.

"You got a kitten? When did you get a kitten?"

"A few weeks ago, Imogen wanted to go pet kittens at the animal shelter," Eli explains.

Clare makes a face at the mention of Imogen's name.

"Adam and Fiona came along too," he quickly adds.

Clare blushes, knowing she gave herself away. "You don't have to explain things to me Eli."

The kitten rests against Eli's stomach, rubbing his head against Eli's shirt.

"Can I hold him?" Clare asks suddenly.

"Um…sure, his name is Poe." Eli tells her.

Clare reaches over for him but Poe hisses and swats at her approaching hand, scratching it.

"Ouch!" Clare pulls her hand back and sees a small scratch on her palm.

"Sorry!" Eli exclaims, "He's never done that before. The only people he's been around are Imogen, Adam, Fiona, Cece, Bullfrog and I. He's not good with people he doesn't know."

"Why's that?" Clare asks.

Eli looks up, "Um…his previous owner hurt him. He doesn't trust people; I guess he was afraid of you."

Both of them think that they're not only talking about the kitten now. "Owner" could be replaced with "girlfriend" and Clare's sure that the kitten isn't the only one that doesn't trust her and is afraid of her.

She bites her lip. "Oh, that's understandable."

"He's cute though. Has green eyes like yours," Clare points out.

"Yeah, everyone likes to point that out."

Poe crawls up Eli and settles on his head. Clare giggles at the visual. She pulls out her phone and takes a picture before Eli can protest.

She coos over the picture. Eli is smiling, looking up at Poe while Poe's head hangs over Eli's forehead, looking at him in return.

"You look so cute," Clare says.

Eli wrinkles his nose, "Edwards, I never want to be associated with the word cute. I prefer sexy, manly, etcetera."

"Yeah, you look real manly with a kitten on your head," she teases.

They smile at each other for what feels like a long time.

Clare's phone rings and their moment is broken. She sighs and picks up.

"Hello?" Eli can hear Clare's mom's voice on the other end. "At the park…I needed air…fine, I'll be there in twenty."

She hung up quickly and stood up. "I've got to go, she sounds mad that I left church."

"Do you need me to walk you home?" Eli asked.

"I don't need you to," she says and Eli frowns, "but I would like you to."

Clare holds out her hand to him and helps him up. He grabs Poe and carefully carries him in his arms.

They walk slowly towards Clare's house but even after taking the long route they both feel like time went by too fast.

"See you tomorrow?" Eli asks.

"Yeah, thanks for walking me home."

"It was nothing."

Clare bites her lip and looks deep in thought. "Maybe I could visit Poe at your house? I'd like for him to trust me."

Eli recognizes the double meaning in her words.

"Only if you want to," Eli replies.

Clare stands on her tip toes and kisses his cheek. "Then I'll be over tomorrow after newspaper."

She walks up the pathway to her house but not before turning and giving Eli another smile as she steps inside.

xXx

It takes a long time for Poe to trust Clare.

She visits a lot but every time she reaches over for him, he swats her hand away or hisses at it before going over to Eli.

Clare isn't bothered by this, she just doesn't give up. It takes her well over two months for it to happen.

On this day in particular, Clare has given up on trying to get a hold of Poe. He just doesn't like her. She briefly wonders if it's an omen for her and Eli.

She leans against Eli as they watch a movie at his house. His arm is around her shoulder and she feels his fingers rub her skin softly.

Clare sighs contentedly and smiles as her eyes slip shut. She feels Eli's head fall on top of hers.

She doesn't know how long they've been asleep but Clare wakes up when she feels a weight on her chest. She looks down and sees that Poe curled up on her ample chest and is purring softly.

Eli wakes up too, and smiles when he sees Poe resting on Clare. She looks ecstatic to finally have his approval, more or less.

"He trusts me finally," Clare whispers. Carefully, brings him to her face, she kisses the top of his head and giggles when Poe reciprocates by licking her nose.

Eli gives Clare a soft kiss.

Poe moves from Clare's hand to the junction between Eli and Clare's shoulder. He rests there and moves his tail from side to side, slapping Clare's shoulder.

Eli pulls away and smirks at her.

"I trust you too."

Thoughts?