A small slither of yellow morning sun crept past the curtains and landed on the side of Eve's face. Scrunching up her nose, she rolled over trying desperately to remain in blissful and ignorant sleep for just a few moments longer before reality overtook her conscious mind.

But it was too late and the events of the previous day. Instantly, it felt as though her whole body was weighed down and that she was stuck to the mattress. This pain – this heartache – was worse than anything she had ever felt before. Being rejected had only been a fraction of this pain.

Her mum was gone. Forever.

She would never feel the embrace of her mum again. Never would her mum lay a kiss on her forehead. Never would Eve be the same or completely whole. No amount of training and strength would allow her to overcome this loss.

She could not help but be consumed by memories of the past – memories from a lifetime ago.

****

'Evie, I'm gonna get you,' Marie called out pretending not to hear the giggling toddler hiding in the laundry cupboard.

'Hmmm, I wonder she could be,' Marie said rubbing her forehead feigning confusion and the little girl struggled to contain her laughter.

'Rawwwww! I'm gonna eat you all up you little munchin!' Marie yelled pulling the door open and eliciting screams from her daughter.

Reaching forward she grabbed Evie under her armpits and pulled her out to spin in a circle. Evie screamed in happiness as Marie put her on the ground and tickeled her sides with her nimble fingers.

'No Mummy stop! I-I-It ti-tickles aahhhh!' Evie screeched in delight.

'Alright my baby, just because you asked so nicely,' Marie laughed at Evie.

'Mummy I love you,' Evie said pulling Marie into a hug.

'Oh possum, I love you more than I could ever say,' Joanne said placing her lips on Evie's hair.

'Now, what do you want for lunch?' Joanne said sweeping Evie up into her arms and heading towards the kitchen.

****

Eve finally opened her eyes a small, yet sad, smile on her face. Gathering her energy, she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed trying to gather the will to face the day knowing that her mum no longer walked the earth.

She made her way to the kitchen where Curtis was preparing breakfast. He turned as she entered surprised to see that she was ought of bed so early. He had checked on her multiple times throughout the night to see her having nightmares. He had comforted her each time, but no doubt she was emotionally and physically exhausted – just as he was.

'I made breakfast,' he said, gesturing for her to take a seat at the table.

She nodded in reply and sat down in front of a plate with eggs, toast, and a small portion of bacon.

She pushed the food around her plate, unenthusiastic even though it was her favourite breakfast. She took a few bites before putting her knife and fork down on the table.

'So, Joanne said the funeral is going to be in two days,' Curtis said gently trying to broach the subject with Eve.

After a moments hesitation, Eve nodded once.

'I contacted Alpha Ian. He said that we could meet up with him and travel to Emerald Eye for the funeral if you want,' Curtis spoke gently taking a sip of his morning tea. After anther moment of silence, Eve replied.

'How? There is no way they will let me back into the pack territory after the way I left. And if they do, they'll probably just lock me up,' she said looking dejected.

'You don't need to worry about that. You have every right to go back to mourn and you'll have the protection of the Council on your side. I'll make sure that they can't touch you – I promise,' Curtis leaning over the table to grab onto her hand.

'The-the Council can do that?' Eve asked shocked.

'There are regulations in place for this kind of thing – to protect individuals who had to flee their pack for whatever reason,' Curtis said whilst nodding.

Giving him an appreciative smile, Eve turned back to her food and took a few more bites of her food. As she finished eating, Eve moved to the kitchen and began to wash the dishes as Curtis dried and put them away.

Eve enjoyed the calm quietness and the mundaneness of the task in front of her. As she scrubbed a pan she spoke her thoughts out loud.

'My mum used take me to get ice-cream every Friday afternoon when I was little. Every time she would ask what flavour I wanted and each week I would always get rocky road. She would just laugh and smile. Then she would say that rocky road sounded pretty good to her. So we would both have a scoop of rocky road. I don't know why we stopped going – I can't remember why,' Eve said.

'She sounds like such a great mum,' Curtis said happy she was able to open up to him.

'The best,' Eve nodded in agreement.

'Rocky road is a good flavour but hockey pocky is my favourite flavour,' Curtis smirked at her.

'I'm going to have to disagree with you there,' Eve gave him a soft smile.

'Maybe I'll just have to reassess my choices and get some rocky road ice cream soon,' Curtis said.

They fell back into a serene silence. They spent the rest of the day together only making small talk – Eve occasionally bringing up memories from her childhood. They rearranged the bookshelves, did laundry, made lunch together, and pottered around the house.

For a day that she expected to be one of the worst of her life, Eve felt surprising content and safe.