Page 54 of Widow

"How'd you get back on your feet?"

He let out a sigh and turned his body towards me. "Well, let's just say I met some people, and an opportunity presented itself." I raised my eyebrows at his response, and he chuckled. "I sold marijuana for a while."

He must have sensed my unease at his answer because he took my hand and brought it to his lips.

"That's not very…" I couldn't think of the appropriate word for what his enterprising was. As the daughter of two drug addicts, I had some pretty strong feelings about the people who sold drugs. I didn't care what kind of drugs they were.

"Do I regret what I did? Yeah, I do. I know that it changed a lot of people's lives. I needed the money to live. If I wouldn't have done it, I'd be out on the streets doing God knows what to feed myself. Hell, I'd probably be dead." He let my hand go and buried his fingers in his hair. "You're looking at me like I'm the worst person in the world."

I sighed and pulled my knees up to rest my head on them. "My parents were drug addicts. I don't exactly have a lot of understanding for dealers."

An awkward silence fell over the cave, and I looked to the cave entrance, hoping that Ric and Lucifer would come back soon. Picard sat between us and looked back and forth. He was still glowing, but was very quiet and almost seemed like he was thinking.

After several minutes of awkward silence, Kai scooted closer to me and put his arms around my shoulders. "I can't take back what I did in the past, but what I can do is make up for it now. I try to employ people who have troubled pasts. That's actually how I met Lucifer. His daughter's best friend got herself into some trouble thanks to a vampire." He shook his head as if he was remembering something. "Sometimes, all someone needs is a second chance."

I put my head on his shoulder and mulled over his words. "I feel like a hypocrite."

"Why's that?" His fingers brushed along my neck, and then he started playing with my ponytail.

"I'm sitting here being all judgmental, yet I've..." I bit my lip and blinked back tears.

"You didn't have a choice. I did." He turned me towards him and wiped a stray tear that had escaped. "You're going to get through this."

"What if I-"

Ric and Lucifer walked back into the cave with armfuls of wood. I did a quick pass over my face and then plastered on a smile. If they all started trying to comfort me, I would break.

Kai stood to help them unload their haul. It was quite the sight to see Lucifer with his shiny shoes and his suit with an arm full of wood dirtying the fabric.

"This is going to cost a fortune to get dry cleaned when we get back." He dusted off the front of his shirt and jacket after Kai took the wood out of his arms.

Ric rolled his eyes and dropped the wood an adequate distance away from the sleeping bags. "I told you that wearing a suit was not the best choice in the world. Did you listen? No."

"It exudes a sense of power. With me being an archangel, I need the upper hand. Plus, who doesn't like a nice suit?" He looked at me as he spoke, and I laughed. He did look mighty fine in a suit.

They built up a fire, and Lucifer started it with a spark from his hand. He simply snapped his fingers, and a spark flew into the pile of wood, setting it ablaze. I sat there open-mouthed and didn't know what to say.

"I'm going hunting. I smelled something delicious when we were out getting wood. I'll be back." Ric looked over at me with a serious expression. He turned towards the exit and shifted into his wolf.

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