Troy thought this over. It was clear that he respected Pauline’s essential toughness. “Okay,” he said finally.
“Meanwhile, how about I put on a movie and we can all snooze on the couch for a bit until she gets back?”
“Snooze,” Troy said, with a little giggle.
“What,” Carlos said, raising his eyebrows, “you don’t like a good snooze now and then?”
“No!” Troy insisted. “I like playing.”
“Do you like...” Carlos found Pauline’s remote, and found that she did have Netflix on her TV, to his relief. He searched for kids’ stuff. “...any of this?”
“Voltron!” Troy shouted. Val shrieked an accompaniment.
“All right,” Carlos said. “How about we all sit and watch some Voltron for a bit. I think I remember this from when I was a kid, but you’re going to have to refresh my memory a little bit.”
Troy leapt on the opportunity to educate Carlos about big space robots, and Carlos led them all gently to the couch, settled in with Troy next to him and Val on his lap, and started the first episode.
Troy had an impressive, almost encyclopedic, knowledge of the show; Carlos suspected that the old couple who watched them used it to keep him occupied. He listened and agreed and asked questions, and meanwhile, in the back of his mind, worried about Pauline.
His tiger, especially, was extremely worried. Our mate is in danger, it growled in his chest. Help our mate!
We are helping her, Carlos pointed out. We’re caring for the cubs.
That mollified it a little bit. His tiger did appreciate the small weight of Val on his chest, getting heavier as she dropped into sleep.
Carlos sympathized with his tiger, though. He wished to God he could be out there with Pauline, but there was absolutely no way to guarantee stealth for a full-grown male tiger when surrounded by other shifters with functioning noses. Carlos was sure he’d have no problem staying invisible to human eyes in the forest, but if any of them were shifted? The game would be up, and Drew would be in much more danger.
So this was best. But it chafed.
Slowly, Troy was winding down. He yawned a few times. When the episode finished, Carlos asked, “Ready for that snooze?”
He sat bolt upright. “No!”
Carlos had to chuckle. “How about we get a blanket, just so we can be comfy, huh?”
Troy allowed that, so Carlos found one of Pauline’s beautiful afghans—locally made? he wondered—and tucked it around the kid. Val was totally out for the count, so Carlos took the time to extract the half-eaten animal cracker from her fist and get rid of it before it became one with the couch.
By the time he got back to the couch, Troy was asleep. Carlos smiled and left him to it.
He laid Val out on Pauline’s bed, on top of the covers with another afghan over her, and took a deep breath.
Help our mate! his tiger insisted.
We can’t leave the cubs alone, Carlos argued.
No wonder everyone said parenting was tough.
***
Pauline
Pauline flew.
Fortunately for her, Drew was crawling along, not too eager to get to his destination, maybe. He slowed down even more after he turned into the forest and the roads got less paved and less predictable.
Pauline kept pace. She was glad it was nighttime, so she could see everything easily, and it was less likely that anyone would notice her.
Drew’s car trundled along, getting far into the woods, before he pulled it off onto a dirt track, got out, and shifted.