Pick Me Up Gently--Alternate Verse

Arrietty woke to the sound of a rich, deep laughter reverberating up the stairs and into the room she shared with Ryan. The sound made her stomach do odd little flips and made her want to rub her knees together. There was just something that was so familiar about it. But she couldn't figure out what. Feminine peals rang out very shortly after the man's—for it was so obviously a man's laughter—woke Arrietty from her sleep. She wondered just what was going on downstairs.

Climbing from the doll bed—which was actually a bit large for her—Arrietty pulled on her old borrowing dress and boots. She glanced out of the window that overlooked Ryan's sleeping form. A little smile tugged at her lips. She would let him sleep for now. All her father's old passages were still intact so she would be discreet in her little espionage trip.

Slipping into the hidden entry behind the light-switch, Arrietty made sure to securely replace the cut out before feeling her way through the passages. It was dark in the walls and she didn't have any handy lamp to guide her. Her fingers fumbled along a chain and she smiled. Papa always had backups for his backups, she thought. With a little tug, the chain lit a trail of lights that was just bright enough to take her to the next split in the passage.

She had to stand there for a minute, thinking about which way she needed to go. It had been nearly thirteen years since she had run these narrow alleyways without a second thought. The borrower eventually chose the left hand passage because it sloped downwards and she did need to go downstairs.

Arrietty pulled another chain when she was a Borrower-foot into the passage. This one shut off the lights in the passage she had left and lit up the one she was currently in. Again, this trail of lights was only long enough to get her to the next split. The nails that had been hammered into a stairwell took her down to the very bottom floor. Another pulled chain showed her the way.

However, she stopped and had to take a breath. The last time she had come down this passage was when she had come back searching for Sho. The young borrower found him alright. Just, not in the same condition she had left him in. For better or for worse, he had moved on. She needed to do so as well.

Her mind wandered to Ryan and she smiled at the thought of him. Something was definitely starting to grow in her when it came to him. What it was, she wasn't sure yet. She didn't know how to discern between friendship and love. The only love she had known was the torch she had burned for Sho all these years. And that had only turned out to be an obsession.

At least that was his excuse. Arrietty still thought about those words he had said to her. Is that what he had really meant? Or did he only say that because he was engaged and couldn't really talk to her as freely anymore? She wasn't sure and that thought still bugged her. She wanted to know. Part of the thirst for knowledge was instinctual to her race. The rest of it was the insecurities that plagued so many women—borrower and human.

But, she squared her shoulders and marched forward, she was determined to find out what was going on in the living room. Within just a minute, she was able to hear the low murmur of voices. There seemed to be two males and two females in the house. Two of the voices she knew had to be Ryan's parents. She couldn't place the other two, though.

As she neared the hidden door that would put her out underneath the long table in the living room she stopped again. Her whole body was shaking like a leaf. Something in her instincts was telling her not to go into the living room. It warned her that she may not like what she found.

She didn't listen, though, and slowly opened the panel. Her field of vision was limited until she was able to reach the end of the table and look out across the living room. What she saw when she reached it took her breath away.

Sho was back.

But he wasn't alone.

He and his fiancé were sitting on the couch across from who she assumed were Ryan's parents. The woman had her legs crossed at the knee, showing an expanse of sun-kissed leg up to her mid-thigh. Her pale blue shirt was tight fitting with a low-but-modest cut. Her hair was pulled up at the back of her head in a style that was vaguely reminiscent of Arrietty's hair all those years ago. It made Arrietty wonder what Sho had done with her hair clip.

Sho, though, Sho made her heart lurch in her chest. His hands were covering the woman's, fingers intertwined with hers. He smiled and laughed with Ryan's parents, eyes bright and smile sincere. He wore a simple black t-shirt and a pair of loose fitting dark wash jeans. Not only had he grown taller, but he had grown broader as well. His once-skinny arms were toned and well-defined. Arrietty could see the play of the muscles under the skin every time he moved.

She may have only been four inches tall, but she was still a woman. And a woman who was seeing the man she had loved for nearly thirteen years sitting right in front of her again.

"Sho," she squeaked out. Before she realized what she was doing, she had taken off running across the room, uncaring that she would easily be seen by all the humans. She only thought of Sho. This would be her second chance! Her opportunity to talk to him and find out everything he hadn't told her before.

Her heart hit her throat when Sho turned and saw her. She knew he saw her. Just like last time. His eyes widened and his words stopped mid-sentence. For some reason his eyes started scanning the room and he said something in the odd language the song he played two days ago had used to his fiancé.

She frowned and glanced to where he had gestured before her eyes widened, too. Arrietty couldn't tell what they were thinking. She didn't care. All she knew was that she had to talk to Sho. The borrower girl nearly came to tears when Sho stood up and nearly ran towards her. She was so happy!

Then, her breath was knocked from her when something flattened her to the ground. She gasped, pain spasming through her body. She turned her head to see what had grabbed her. She screamed when a huge dark grey cat—nothing at all like Niya—stared down at her with haunting yellow eyes. Its flicking tail registered in the corner of her vision. She cowered into a little ball when his mouth opened and his long canines were revealed. This was it. This was when she would die.

Suddenly, though, the weight of the cat's paw was gone and she was being scooped into a hand. Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around one of the fingers and held on for dear life. Gravity pressed her into the human's palm as he stood. When everything was still, she dared to turn over and look at who had saved her.

It was Sho.

"You saved me…again." She smiled up at him even when he only frowned down at her. She looked around and registered that his fiancé—Renee if she remembered right—was holding the grey cat. It still watched her with those luminous yellow eyes, occasionally trying to escape the woman's hold.

"Arrietty," Sho said, snapping her attention back to him. "Why are you still here? I thought you would have gone back to your village." He stood in the middle of the room, not moving as he talked to her.

The young woman's heart lurched painfully at how his tone seemed to be just as indifferent as before.

Arrietty shook her head. "I never said I was going back! And you said I could stay here if I wanted." She paused and took a breath, sitting up in his hand. "Besides, I thought you were going back to America. Why are you still here?"

He arched a brow down her and was about to reply when his fiancé—who had set the cat down—stepped up beside him. Ryan's parents, not to be left out of something interesting in their own home, appeared beside Sho as well. With three sets of strange human eyes watching her, Arrietty suddenly felt very, very insignificant. Her breath hitched in her throat and her eyes widened.

Sho's frown deepened and he stepped back and walked to the couch, carefully sitting back down.

"What is it, Sho?" came the voice of Ryan's mother. She crossed the room to stand in front of him, looking down on the miniscule thing in his hand. "Why, it looks like a small person! Where on earth did that come from?"

Arrietty flinched at being referred to as a "that."

Sho sighed, running one hand through his hair. "She is a human—more or less." He arched a brow when the little borrower in his palm frowned up at him with watery brown eyes. "She's a borrower. I guess they could be considered a subspecies of humans. I'm not too sure on how that kind of classification would work out."

"Oh," Ryan's mother said, still watching Arrietty with avid eyes. "That is interesting. But where do they live? I've never seen one before."

Renee settled beside Sho, resting one hand on his knee. "They aren't supposed to be seen. Right, Sho? He told me all about them after we had been dating for a while." She laughed lightly and smiled at her fiancé. "I thought he was telling children's stories until we visited a few days ago. Then this one here—Arrietty, right?"

Arrietty nodded, rather surprised that the woman had remembered her name and actually called her by it. Perhaps she's not so bad after all, the borrower girl thought.

"Anyway, Arrietty appeared out of nowhere when we were here. I freaked out! I mean, I thought she was a mouse the way she just she just showed up and started running towards us." She laughed again. "I tripped over the doorjamb and almost fell but, thankfully, Sho caught me before anything happened."

Ryan's mother smiled a bit, laughing along with Renee's words. Her eyes were still glued to Arrietty, despite her husband's seeming nonchalance with the entire situation. Sho frowned and brought up his free hand to shield Arrietty from the woman's sight.

Arrietty wilted in his hand, grateful to be out of such a scrutinizing gaze.

The lady of the house blushed when she realized she had been outright staring at the borrower. "Oh," she breathed. "I am so sorry! I didn't mean…I wasn't thinking. She must be so frightened. The dear."

Sho dipped his head, accepting the apology for Arrietty. "It's fine. She's just nervous right now. Give her a little breathing room and I'm sure she'll be just fine."

Arrietty couldn't help the way her heart soared with how protective Sho was suddenly being. Maybe he really did love her deep down, he just didn't know how to say it! She relaxed in his hand, marveling at how much room there was now. If she wanted, she could have stretched out like she was making a snow-angle and there would still be room left over. It was awe-inspiring.

When Ryan's mother had finally taken a seat next to her husband, Sho lifted his concealing hand and had to smile a little bit at the way Arrietty was so relaxed in his hand. He nudged his fiancé with his elbow and she smiled as well.

She mouthed something in the strange language to Sho who just laughed. Arrietty hated the feeling of being left out.

"So," Ryan's father began, restarting the conversation. "What is she doing here? I heard you say she was going back to her village?"

Sho shrugged his shoulder. "I'm not entirely sure. I mean, when I saw her last, I told her she could stay here since I knew that you would be moving in but that it was probably best for her to go back to her village."

Arrietty stood up in Sho's palm, arms akimbo. "Listen! I never said I was going to go back. In fact, I told you that I had nothing to go back to! Spiller married someone else. My parents are dead." She bit her lip and looked away when she blurted out that still-painful fact. "I have no home now. Don't you understand?" Her voice was soft and Ryan's parents looked between each other, trying to figure out just what she had said.

Sho sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. The twitch in his eye reappeared and Renee leaned over his arm and pressed a kiss to the little muscle spasm.

"Calm down," she murmured into his ear. "It's going to be fine. We'll figure this out. Remember just what you came here to do."

Her fiancé nodded. "Do you mind if I go out to the garden with her? I wouldn't really want to bring up all this in front of everyone."

Renee shook her head. "Not at all, Sho." She smiled. "I was the one who suggested it, remember? You can't be an ass to old friends then just walk away from them." Her smile turned towards Arrietty and she winked at the little borrower girl. "Make sure he treats you right and if he doesn't, let me know and I'll take care of him."

Arrietty eyed the woman with misgivings. She seemed nice enough, but she was still a stranger. When the woman's smile continued to linger, she simply nodded. "Alright. I will." She settled herself in his palm, making sure her dress covered her legs before grabbing Sho's thumb which had settled on her lap.

As Sho was walking out the door, Arrietty was reminded of just why she was staying in this house to begin with. Ryan came barreling down the stairs, shouting her name to the heavens. From what she could see of his face, Arrietty could tell he had obviously been very worried for a while. He had probably been looking for her upstairs, tapping walls and trying to get her to answer. She felt a little guilty forgetting about him.

Sho frowned at Ryan before looking down at her. "Arrietty, who is that?"

"Ah, that is Ryan. He is their son. He found me after you left." She played with the hem of her dress, nervous about what would happen between her heartthrob and her new friend.

"Hm." Sho's voice was noncommittal. He turned to keep walking into the garden, heading for the summer house out back. At the last minute, he changed his mind and stepped into the small gazebo next to the summer house. He dusted off a bench with his free hand, curling his fingers around Arrietty to make sure she was stable when he leaned over. He sat down and just watched her for a minute.

"Where to begin?" he murmured.

-.*.*.*.*.*.-

Ryan had been desperately searching for Arrietty after the first painful lurch in his chest. He was grateful for their new connection, but wished for it to be stronger so he could tell where she was and not just how she felt at the moment. The first thing he had done was check the dollhouse. He even had gone so far as to open it up despite the guilt of possibly invading Arrietty's privacy if she was only having a bad dream.

But when he found the entire dollhouse empty, he wasn't so concerned with the guilt than he was with finding just exactly where she had gone. He tapped the wall. No response. He searched under the bed. Empty. The window was still shut. He didn't want to go downstairs yelling her name because he could hear his parents talking with someone in the living room downstairs but he was getting desperate.

He paced his floor, hoping against hope she had just gone to get something from the walls and would be right back. But why wouldn't she wake him? Tell him what she was doing? She should know that he would be worried about her! After nearly twenty minutes of searching, he was knocked to his knees by the pain he felt rippling through his body.

It left him breathless and tears stung his eyes. He couldn't think of anything other than Arrietty and that she must be in trouble if she was hurting this bad. It took him several minutes to clear his mind of the pain and get back on his feet. Once he was standing and the room was no longer spinning, he was off, running down the hall, down the stairs and screaming Arrietty's name. If his parents found out about her, well, they were going to anyways. Now would just be sooner rather than later.

He stumbled on the last step when he saw the blue-haired man from two days ago with what could only be Arrietty in his hand headed outside. He grunted as he face-planted on the floor, skinning his chin and making his parents worried. He heard the door open and close and made it to his feet again, not the least bit concerned with his burning chin. All he could think about was the hope and guilt flooding his connection with the four inch tall girl he had fallen for at first sight.

As soon as he ran for the door, though, he had to skid to a stop when a strange young woman appeared between him and the door. She wasn't all that tall, maybe five feet and some-odd inches, but she had this hell-fire look on her face. Most of all, though, Ryan noticed she definitely wasn't Japanese.

"Don't you even think about disturbing them!" she said, fists planted on her hips as she glared up at him. "We missed our flight back because Sho felt guilty how he talked to Arrietty. They were good friends when they were kids and while we did have to get somewhere, his behavior was no excuse."

Ryan frowned at her. "So if you know about how he treated her then why are you letting them be alone? She's going to wind up depressed again after all I did to try and make her happy!"

Renee reached up and pinched his nose between her fingers as if he were a child. She literally dragged him to the couch amidst his mother's protests and pushed him into hit. "Did you not just hear what I said? I said Sho felt guilty. In any language I know of, that usually means someone is about to apologize for something they did. You can talk to Arrietty later but let Sho have his word now in private."

Ryan started to stand but was pushed back into the chair. "Don't tempt me," the woman said, "I may be small but I can easily take you. I run cattle, train horses and do mixed martial arts. You wouldn't be any sort of issue."

He frowned and looked at his parents. They just shook their head. "Let him say what he wants to the little girl, darling," his mother said. "Then you can have her back."

"She's not a toy!" Ryan protested. "Don't talk about her like she is one! She's just as human as you and me. And she's not a girl. She's twenty-six years old. She's an adult."

"Exactly," the short brunette cut in once more. "She is an adult. Sho is an adult. Let them have a private, adult conversation."

"Who are you?" Ryan frowned up at her. "Why are you defending him so much?"

"My name is Renee and I am Sho's fiancé." She held up her hand where a sizable, marquis-cut diamond was placed on a simple white-gold band. "And I am defending him because I love him. Now stay there and be quiet until they get back."

Ryan scowled but did as told. At this point, his options were to either try to bulldoze past the young woman or sit and behave. He didn't want to fight the girl because he had always been told fighting a girl was wrong. And he didn't want his butt handed to him on a silver platter in front of his parents.

-.*.*.*.*.*.-