Chapter 5

The next day was sunny with a weak winter sun as Therese and Laila came over. Katrine sent them straight up, and coming into her room they found Anna and Adam sleeping, their faces turned against each other.

Laila and Therese just stood there looking, for quite some time, before Laila at last sighed.

"They're in love." She stated, badly wanting the same, fearing that she already was and in the same boy too?

Therese just nodded, dreamily. After looking some more they finally went back down to tell Katrine that they hadn't had the heart to wake them, asking her if she could tell Anna that they would come later instead. Katrine was still in the kitchen as they left, making their breakfast. Looking out she though that it would be another fine day, and thinking of the rollercoaster she and the kids had experienced yesterday she was happy that it all had worked out so well.

She was still worried for Adam though, wondering what to do about him. She wondered about the possibility of adopting him, at least that would keep him with them, but there was also that question about how the authorities would treat it. The law was one thing, but those interpreting it were another. She wondered how many that knew about the abuse done by the orphanage, and how far up it went.

In the end she decided that it was time to wake them up. As she came up she found them in the same position as the girl had seen, pressed against each other, Anna's arm around Adam and his under her neck. She stood there silently watching, thinking that they almost looked ethereal under the weak morning light, falling in from the window.

"Sleepyheads." She whispered.

"Time to wake up." Kissing her daughter and then, for good faith, Adam too.

As the pair in the bed woke up the first thing they saw was each other. And both seemed to relax at that sight, as if they had been afraid that it all had been a dream. And as Adam opened his he once more found Anna's eyes gently exploring his.

"Hi." Said Adam a little sleepily looking at his newest, onlyest and most fantastic girlfriend. "Don't move."

She studied him as if she tried to engrave each line and each contour of his face in her mind, seriously and without guile.

"Hi yourself." She answered sounding mildly surprised.

"What's your name?"

She laughed at his expression and gave him a quick kiss before looking at her mum.

"We'll be down in a minute mum. I just need to make sure he gets up."

Katrine took a last look at them, doing her best to burn in the memory of them in her mind, before closing the door behind her. They dressed quickly and as Adam came down to the kitchen he proudly wore the totem of his tribe, The all male clothing.

It was a relief to find him normally dressed again he thought, although Anna seemed to find him no less distracting. Katrine smiled as she saw him at the breakfast table, all dressed up, looking cool and collected next to her daughter.

"Nice to be back Adam?" she asked her voice filled with a hidden merriment.

"You look quite the guy there."

He looked at her a little unsure if she was teasing him. She started to laugh.

"Don't worry, I mean it. You look good. My daughter seems to have inherited my impeccable taste."

"Thanks ma'am, Katrine I mean. Where is Sarah?"

"She's still sleeping. I'll wake her later."

Anna looked at Adam and found that she had to agree, he did look good, although she wasn't that happy about his new clothes, to constrictive she thought. For her at least, if not for him.

She wanted to touch him but the jeans and that baggy, hey wait. She got a fiendishly smile as she moved closer to him snuggling in, letting her hand sneak in under his shirt to caress him.

She sat so her mother shouldn't be able to see it, but glancing at her she realized that her mother knew exactly what she was doing, and, what was even better, didn't seem to mind.

Had she been able to hear Katrine's thoughts she would have realized that Katrine actually enjoyed seeing them so taken by each other. This was in fact the best she could have hoped for. Her daughter finding someone that she loved under her own roof, instead of running around getting drunk in the houses of strangers.

She remembered her own days as a teenager all to well, it was mostly luck that she had found someone to love before losing her virginity. This way both would be safe and Adam was just the right kind of guy for her.

She was no hypocrite and she didn't mind them cuddling, as long it didn't go any further. And the expression on Adams face as he tried to act unconcerned whilst her daughter, what was it she was doing?

Oh my God, his nipples was it? What a sight to see, unforgettable in fact, she would need that camera. Watching them added a whole new dimension to sitting down to breakfast.

"Anna." Said Adam, almost begging, desperately trying to sound normal. " You want some more milk, don't you?" Without waiting for her answer he stood up, making her lose her grip as he hastily went to the fridge to get more milk.

"You don't need to, there's milk on the table." Said Katrine motherly. "But it's sweet of you."

Anna pouted disappointed as she saw him sneaking away. 'Typical' she thought, 'always sneaking away when its gets interesting'. But watching him she softened slightly smiling at him.

"Thanks Adam."

He felt himself unwinding a little as he heard her. He didn't mind her playing with him, hell, he wanted it just as much as her, but not in front of her mother. Even if they had gotten themselves a crash course in relations it still felt as too much, too soon.

And he couldn't help finding Katrine intimidating. Maybe it was that he wanted her respect too, he had already gathered that she didn't seem to mind but Anna was sort of making him feel easy, and he didn't really enjoy that feeling.

It gave him a headache trying to understand how he, a certifiably one hundred percent red blooded male, could be made to feel easy though. Wasn't that reserved for girls? But there it was. Maybe it was this Amanda thing that spooked him?

"You're welcome."

He sat down beside Anna leaning over to fix a strand of her hair falling down in her bowl. As he did so she seemed to listen to something that only she could hear, while fondly smiling at him.

"I love you, don't you ever forget."

She whispered it fiercely in his ear as she seemed to glide into his arms. Suddenly he had a whole lot of girl in his lap wiggling happily, with his hair falling into her eyes, and Katrine and the world else just zoomed out for him, leaving only them to consider.

"I love you too, I loved you before we even meet." he told her in a low voice, inside their own universe now, safe and sound.

Katrine decided that she needed that camcorder badly, preferably a voice steered one too, did they have that? She was already wondering where she could place it unobtrusively.

"I just didn't know it." He whispered in that tremendously honest voice, not hearing the obvious implausibility of his statement. But listening to them Katrine noticed that her daughter seemed to find him perfectly lucid, as she enthusiastically threw her arms around his neck.

"Oh, Amanda."

She couldn't help flashing back to her memories with Jake, she knew how important memories could be. Life gave no guarantees, and no allowances. Getting that camcorder was, more or less, her personal way of warding and protecting her daughter's memories.

More than once she had wished for something to remind her of Jake too, something more than just her stills. Looking at them she suddenly remembered that she too, at last, had found someone she liked. Even if he seemed quite confused, and possibly not all that bright? But he was cozy to crawl up to, warm and nice, she sighed a little.

Adam couldn't understand how anyone could have this power over him, it scared him. And as he drew her closer he realized that they were doing exactly what he had tried to put an end too just before. But as he glanced at Katrine he saw that she too was lost in private remembrances, suddenly wistful and vulnerable. He decided to get the proceedings on a more even keel, loudly clearing his throat.

"Anna, don't you think it's time that Anna and Therese knew?"

"They don't need any invitations silly." murmured Anna dreamily in his ear.

"But, have you checked your phone?" asked her mum listening.

Anna had to admit that she had had it on charge, for over two days.

"Well, don't you think it's loaded now?" asked Katrine sweetly.

Anna rushed up to their room to call. As she looked, she realized that they had called her several times, and texted. As she called them they told her that they had been over yesterday finding nobody there. And as Anna hadn't answered they had became quite worried.

"I'm sorry, we were at the mall. Yeah, my mum already knows about Adam, but it's cool."

It didn't take long for them to show up, but as they saw Adam in his new clothes, they instantly took Anna away whispering angrily. As Adam stood there by himself, he couldn't help but feeling left out again. After a while Anna came back with them. They looked at Adam.