Isra shrugged, bitting the inside of her cheek as Nolan took in his new dog. Her heart sank as she realized how stupid a gift it was. Hell, Nolan might not have even meant it when he said he wanted a dog. âI mean..I know itâs not conventional, and itâs a lot so if youâre not up for it, I get it. Or if you just want to see how he does for a bit, we can do visits and a sleepover just to see if youâre a good fit for each other. I guess..that wouldâve been a better way to go about it,â she finished, her shoulders slumping a little at the realization. And even if he was at a place to be taking in a new dog, that didnât mean that Hayden would like the idea.Â
Still, she followed the dog inside, glad to see that at least he didnât mind the way things were shaking out. Strider had been pretty chill, even when sharing a home with her and Clementine, so it wasnât too surprising to see him amble around. âI donât..use any of those,â Isra let him know, turning to face the other seraph. âBetween fighting and bartending, itâs pretty much all cash, and this is a gift, remember? I mean I know Iâm pretty shitty, all things considered but Iâm not so far gone Iâd take back someoneâs present.â Did Nolan really think that poorly of her?
In fairness..she did love the man who stabbed him, so the answers was probably.Â
At his apology, Isra had to swallow the lump in her throat and shrugged. âNot yours to catch Diaz, remember?â she told him gruffly, moving to set the bag of goodies on his coffee table. âAll things considered, I wasnât expecting anyone to reach out. Itâs for the best, anyway.â The familiar burn of tears had her reaching up and rubbing her eyes until they were gone. Iâm not going to lose my shit, she thought, refusing to give in. Isra swallowed again, hard, and started pulling items out of the bag, laying them out for Nolan to see. âHe picked out this hedgehog when I first picked him up and took him to the pet store, and liked to keep it close at night. I should probably apologize, but Clementine sleeps on my bed, so thatâs where he crashed last night, too.â
"No, it's not that..." He said, frowning as he slipped his phone back into his pocket and huffed, "I just feel bad. That's a lot of money and you're giving me another living thing to look after. I feel like I should pay for some of it." Nolan said with a huff, "What if I kill him on accident and you wasted, what? Two hundred bucks? That would be awful." Not that Nolan was that incompetent...but he did like chocolate. And what if the dog got into the chocolate? Putting things away was something that he was going to have to get used to...
Another sigh fell from him, shaking his head head. The amount of times he's heard that phrase 'it's not yours to catch' was far more than he ever wished. Nolan knew that it wasn't but that didn't mean that he didn't want to catch them. He knew what it was like to feel alone. No one should have to feel that way. Especially not Isra. Not after what she had endured... which, honestly, he didn't know the whole extent of it...
Nolan's gaze fell upon Strider and he shrugged, "That's fine. Dogs should sleep where they want." That's what he always thought anyway. His hands rubbed together a bit nervously and awkward before the crossed over to stand beside Isra. God, he hated confrontation. He hated it so much. But he had to do something, "Isra...I...I don't know if you think I'm mad or something but...I'm not. I'm fine." He paused, "We're fine." Nolan searched her facial expression for a moment, "Right?"