Gerry's Importance

Annie
I ate quickly, eager to get back to Gerald. I knew he was probably going out of his mind without me there. I jumped up to give my family hugs as soon as Osprey was finished eating, then turned toward him.
“Can we go?” I asked eagerly.
“Yes, Annie. Give me a few minutes to speak with Scarlet, and then we will go. Give me ten minutes,” he answered.
“Alright.”
I hurried to the foyer to wait until he was ready to leave. My mother walked out a few minutes later to sit next to me on the stairs as she studIed my face.
“Annie, you will be careful, won’t you?” She asked.
I took her hand as I leaned my head on her shoulder. “I promise I will, Mom. Besides, Gerald won’t let anything happen to me.”
“I know. I am just so worried. I’m concerned something is going on that I should be made aware of, yet no one is telling me what it is,” she admitted.
I smiled softly at her as I squeezed her hand. “There’s nothing going on that you should be worried about, Mom. I am just trying to follow my own path.”
She sighed. “Annie, you’re the baby. You are not like the rest of our family. You are sensitive in such a way that people will try to take advantage of you. I just want to make sure you know that it’s okay to say no to something if it makes you uncomfortable.”
“I know. I promise not to allow someone to force me to do something that I’m not comfortable with.”
“Good.” She hugged me tightly. “I love you, baby. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to link me.”
“I won’t. I love you too, Mom.”
She gave me one last squeeze before reluctantly letting me go as Osprey walked into the foyer, smiling at us.
“Are you ready?” He asked.
“Yes!” I almost screamed in excitement.
He chuckled as he opened the door for me. “Come on, little one. Let’s get you back to school.”
I ran down to his car before jumping into the passenger seat while he walked down the stairs at a much slower pace than I would have preferred. As he got in the car, I waved goodbye to Scarlett, who was watching us from the porch. I turned to face Osprey, beaming at him.
“I want to thank you for allowing me to go back to Grimm Forest.”
“No problem. I’m sorry I allowed my anger to get the best of me,” he told me.
“It’s okay, ‘Sprey. You’re fixing it.”
He glanced at me as he drove through the town’s gates. “So, Annie, tell me about your classes.”
“My first class is animal behavior. They will be teaching us how to recognize fear, anger, and aggression in the different animal species that we will be working with. Then we will be moving on to learn how to take vitals—respirations, pulse, and temperature. We will be starting with smaller animals, like cats and dogs, before moving on to bigger species,” I gushed. “I can’t wait for next semester’s classes. That's when we start to get into the exotic animals. I really want to work with animals that live in our forest, though. Foxes, bears, wolves, deer, and hawks, just to name a few.”
“You were always so tenderhearted, Annie. I’m really happy that you decided to follow your dreams. It’s nice to see how much enjoyment you get from simply talking about your aspirations.”
“I’m so excited. Ever since I lost Bella, I have always wondered if I had known more about foxes, if I could have maybe saved her life,” I murmured softly.
He reached over to pat my leg before putting his hand back on the steering wheel. “I know how much you loved Bella, Annie, but nothing you did or didn’t do caused her death. You cannot continue to blame yourself for something beyond your control. Bella wouldn’t want that. You took her pups in and loved them. You also hand-delivered, bottle fed, and raised her pups. You did your best to make sure that each one of them knew how much they were loved. That was all she would have wanted from you. You did that for her.”
I sighed. “I miss her, Osprey. None of you understand how I felt about her passing, except Gerald. He knew. He understood because he loved her too. There are so many different things that have happened throughout the years where he was the only one who was capable of understanding how I felt about certain situations. It built an unbreakable bond between us that will never go away. I need the support of his understanding of me without having to verbalize my feelings. I need to know that I can have someone in my life who is able to pick up on my cues when I need them to be there. I need Gerald. I have been absolutely miserable without him over the last few years. Now that I finally have him back in my life, I don’t want to even think about the possibility of losing him again.”
He glanced at me. “He’s not the only one who will support you without hesitation, Annie. You just won’t let anyone else get close enough to be there for you in the same way that you allowed him to be.”
“You can't force a bond like the one we have. It develops naturally,” I told him softly.
He sighed. “I get it, Annie. That’s how I feel about the bond that I have with Elena. The only difference is that I’m still my own person.”
“I am my own person, Osprey. I just like being able to lean on someone who is dependable and understands me when I need that extra support.”
He nodded. “I understand, Annie.”
I yawned. “I am so tired. I’m going to take a nap.”
“Okay. Where am I dropping you when we arrive at Grimm Forest?” He asked.
I took a silent, deep breath to slow my heart rate. “Do you think you could take me to Gerald’s dorm room? I’d like for him to know that I made it back.”
A weird look crossed over his face, but he nodded in agreement. “Of course. I’ll wake you up when we arrive.”
I closed my eyes, and within seconds, I was out.
*******
When Osprey shook me awake, I instantly snapped up, fully alert as I looked around. Marsha yawned inside my head as she tried to wake up. Her continued drowsiness was affecting me greatly as I got out of the car. Osprey raised his eyebrow at me.
“Do you want me to wait here for you?” He asked.
“Sure. I’ll be right back.”
I bounded into the large, 6-story building. I bypassed the elevator to run up the four flights of stairs to Gerald’s room. I knocked excitedly as I tried to rouse Marsha fully. By the time Corey pulled the door open, I had gotten nowhere with Marsha. He narrowed his eyes on me.
“Annie? What are you doing here? Where’s Gerald?” He asked.
“Ummm… so he’s not here?”
“No. Last time I spoke with him, he was with you. Is everything alright?” He questioned.
“Yes. I don’t know. I hope so. If you see him, will you tell him to come to my hotel room, please?”
“Sure.” I turned to walk away when he called my name, making me turn back to him. “Whatever is going on between you and Gerald, I hope that the two of you know what you’re doing.”
I smiled reassuringly at him. “We do. I promise.”
I hurried back down to Osprey’s car, where I hopped back inside as I asked him to take me back to my hotel room. As Osprey drove toward it, I reached for Gerald’s link.
‘Gerry,” I murmured softly. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Annie?’ He instantly responded. ‘Where are you? Are you okay?’
‘I’m on my way back to my hotel room. Where are you?’ I asked.
‘I’m in your room. I figured if you escaped Osprey, this would be where you would come. How far are you from here?’
‘We’re about 15 minutes out. Osprey is bringing me back.’
‘I’m going to hurt him,’ Gerry growled.
‘Please, don’t! He’s being super nice. Please keep your temper under control,’ I begged.
‘Fine! For you, I will!’
‘Thank you.’
He cut the link, and I sighed. I hated when he did that. It made me feel like he was angry with me, even though I had done nothing wrong. I was a tad surprised when Gerry was waiting outside the hotel for us. Osprey tensed as he shifted into park while Gerry approached the car. He opened my door for me before helping me out of the car.
“Good evening, Osprey.”
“Evening, Gerry. I wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday.”
I stared at him in shock. It was strange to hear Osprey apologize to Gerry.
“It’s okay,” Gerry said.
I yawned again, covering my mouth. “I’m sorry. I’m still so tired.”
Osprey massaged the back of his neck. “Yeah, sorry about that. I was worried you would hurt yourself,” he explained.
“It’s okay. I’m just going to go lay down.”
“Okay. Sleep well, Annie.”
“Bye, Osprey.”
Gerry led me up to our room, where he immediately pinned me against the wall, kissing me deeply. “Annie, I missed you,” he murmured as he kissed my neck.
I shoved him away from me as bile rose in my throat. I ran to the bathroom while he stood frozen in place. As I vomited into the toilet, all I could think was—what in the hell was wrong with me?