This weeks installment is kinda short, but next weeks will make up for it. A lot will be happening next week.
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Ariadne was sleeping in the guest room. Diane had wanted to take her to the emergency room, but Patrick didn’t think it was a good idea. She was freaked out enough as it was and he didn’t think she would do well with so many people around. They had cleaned off her hands and feet, then bandaged them, she didn’t appear to have any cuts that were too deep. He didn’t think any of them would require stitches, though Ariadne would need to keep a close eye on them in case of infection. He wouldn’t be surprised if they did become infected, god only knew how long she had been outside, grinding dirt into the wounds. Patrick wanted to call the police but Ariadne had vetoed the idea. He tried to convince her that she should report Joseph at the very least her to report for hanging around her house, start some kind of record, she hadn’t been too keen on that idea either. He had rang her parents for her, told them to be safe, that a man had tried to attack Ariadne, at her request he didn’t tell them Joseph had gotten into her house. They were concerned and insisted on driving over, Ariadne however put a stop to it. She took the phone from Patrick and told them she was fine. That it was nothing, despite being obviously shaken. He hoped that in the morning she would have calmed down slightly, then she could contact the police. He hadn’t thought of trying to preserve evidence when they were cleaning her wounds, though from her story he didn’t think there was too much physical evidence on her anyway. Diane had been worried that Joseph might come to them, but he didn’t think it would happen, people like Joseph didn’t attack groups, didn’t attack in public, they separated people from the herd, made them vulnerable, then they went in for the kill. He was certain they were safe, but he still armed the alarm. They had gotten a bit lax about it in the last few days, especially as there had been no new threats, not for a long time. Patrick thought whoever it was had given up or moved on to someone else. It wasn’t that surprising, who ever had been doing it had probably found something else to latch onto, some other slight, real or perceived. With the alarm armed he felt they would be safer.
The night passed without incident and Ariadne had calmed after her sleep. She agreed to go to the police, Patrick thought she wouldn’t tell them everything and that, if she was lucky, they’d just send a patrol car by a few times. It wouldn’t be much of a deterrent, but if Joseph saw the cop cars he might second guess himself, he needed discretion and that was already out the window. They wouldn’t be able to arrest him, everyone in The Lambs would swear up and down he had never left the compound. Patrick offered to drive Ariadne to the police station later on, when she had time to get herself ready, he had a few things that needed to be done in the office and he didn’t want to start putting his life on hold again. It seemed slightly cruel to him, but he had sacrificed a lot of time on her already and he wasn’t getting paid for it. They needed money, not badly, but he wanted to have more saved for when the baby came, as it was Diane had already started ordering things and they had painted the planned baby room. Diane wanted to do it early so there would be no fumes left in the room. Patrick agreed that it was a good idea to start getting things, it was better to be prepared, but the worry was still there, there were still a few more months until the baby came, but it seemed alarmingly short. He had to go into the office today, there were a few meetings that he needed to be there for that he couldn’t reschedule, then his day was mostly clear. Once everything was done he’d be able to bring Ariadne to the station. Diane offered to go with her, but Ariadne seemed hesitant, most likely because Diane had started showing. Though she hated it, even Patrick found himself treating her gingerly, fearing that she would be too stressed or that something might happen to the baby. She had been getting quite tired lately and Patrick had vetoed the idea of her going to the police station, he thought it would be too stressful for her. She had protested, but only weakly. He knew she didn’t really want to go, she wasn’t a big fan of police stations.
On the drive to work he kept an eye out for someone following him but there was no sign of anyone. He was nervous about leaving Diane and Ariadne home alone, but they assured him they would be fine. Diane had planned on joining him for lunch today and decided that she would continue with the plan, once he was finished work he’d go home and pick up Ariadne. He parked and got out of the car, looking at the building. It would no doubt be a long day. He sighed and started walking towards it. It was rare that he didn’t want to work, but today was one of those days. He had very little interest, but it had to be done, now more than ever. Once he had some savings built up he’d be able to relax a little. Then once the baby came they’d both be busy and they wouldn’t have much free time, best to get as much as possible done now.
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