The sound of Jacob’s voice talking to her snapped Regan out of her panicked stupor. She looked up at Jacob and forced a meek smile across her lips. That was pretty considerate of Jacob to go through all the trouble of trying to arrange for the bankers to come to them instead of her having to go out into the city. She sighed softly and let her shoulders relax slightly. “Do you think they would be willing to do that for me?” Regan would feel much more comfortable if the bankers were willing to come to them, and she hoped that they wouldn’t be afraid of her or shun her because of how she looks.

Grateful for Joe’s help, Regan took the phone back in her clawed hand and smiled softly. “Thank you Joe, I really appreciate all you have done for me.” She nodded and watched the older man go back into the garage to finish up whatever it was he needed to do.

It wasn’t long after Joe had left that Jacob expressed how he thought that Regan should get out into the world and the thought made her shudder. Sure he had offered to help her, but he had no idea what she had been through, no idea how it felt to be a monster. She tried to lower her eyes again, but Jacob made sure to lock onto her green orbs when stating the last part of his statement. The sooner the better, he said. What was he thinking? She raised a brow and slightly tilted her head to the side for a moment. “Jacob, do you have any fraction of an idea of how it feels to look like this?” she said returning his locked stare. “You have no idea how it feels to have everyone staring at you like you are a total freak. I can hear their hearts start racing in their chests when I walk into view. I hear the gasps, the rude and asinine comments that are said under their breath. You might not be able to hear it, but I sure can, and I hear them all, every single one of them, all at once, the joys of feline hearing.” A slight growl escaped her lips at the end of that statement. It wasn’t directed at Jacob, it was directed at herself and how much she hated what she was. She was angry but also hurt that she was dealt such a crappy hand in the card game of life. Unable to contain herself right now, the memories of her past flooding her mind, she turned from Jacob’s gaze and started to sob softly in her clawed hands. “You don’t know what it’s like.” She said again in a whisper, muffled by the furry hands that covered her feline face.

Jacob smirked a little bit at Regan’s first question. “I don’t even know if they will do it for me, and I helped the guy who owns the bank when he was in a bit of a jam a few months ago.” He wouldn’t vocalize the details, but there was a mechanical malfunction with their safe, and it was going to bankrupt him in order to fix it. Jacob was happy to help, gain a loyal following a now prospering financial institution, and had earned a few chips of favor with the man in charge. Some days, he really enjoyed being as helpful as he was… and that man was one of the very few who knew he was a mutant, and honestly was thankful for it. He never looked at mutants the same since then, and welcomed them into the bank. A couple of his security personnel were some true heavy hitters, mutants with abilities that could help ensure they never got robbed.

Jacob then listened to her plight… and could relate more closely than she could have realized.

“You are right and wrong.” He paused, allowing the statement to catch her attention… the tone in his voice was grave and pained.

“There is a serious burden when you are the leader of soldiers. I have had to do things that no man should do to another. Specialist Jeremy Moore… strong as an ox, tough as nails, outstanding soldier. Made me look like a toothpick, and had saved dozens of civilians and a pair of Afghan soldiers when a 7.62 caliber round passed through a part of his skull. He survived, but he became mentally unstable and eventually, insane. I visit him when I can, but he doesn’t remember me, and he will never have a real life. Jeremy is someone who can’t be in the real world. You have a sound mind…” He let that sink in for a moment, but he wasn’t done yet.

“Private first class Greg Bear. A rocket propelled grenade exploded against his gun turret, burning and shredding his face. He lived with the disfigurement, the looks, the stares, the comments, until he holed himself up, not coming out or talking to anyone. We found him in his home when we came to visit, almost had killed himself. After he came to in the hospital, he told me that the solitude was more painful than any comment that anyone had told him. If he can walk into Walmart, and simply not care about the looks… I think you can too. I had to help him to get to that stage though… everyone needs help with hurdles like that.” His words were true… and he was trying to get it through her head that she was not alone in this fight, and there would be people who would have her back.

“I’m not saying your situation is the same, and I’m not saying this kind of change can happen overnight… but I do know that kind of pain, but I also know that if you let it control you, you will never be free of its hold on you.” He had opened a small door to a section of himself that he generally kept locked away, and it would be up to her if he would be able to keep it open or not.

Regan wiped the tears from her eyes as she started to calm down slightly. She didn’t dare to face Jacob right now. He didn’t need to see this weakness even though it was pretty obvious right now. She
wanted to just crawl under the desk and vanish from view, but that wasn’t an option.

Jacob then started to tell her about some of the soldiers that he had worked with and how injuries changed their lives in different ways. As much as she appreciated the comfort he was trying to give her, there was the small catch of the fact that as soldiers people respected them. She was a mutant, people didn’t respect mutants, but Jacob seemed to be determined to try and help her, so she finally turned the chair to look at him and squeaked out a strained, “Thank you.” through a choke of tears.

“Helping me is not something easily done Jacob. I hold a lot of pain, scars, and secrets in my soul, things that I can’t just shed off like loose fur.” She glanced up for a second into Jacob’s direction before shooting her gaze back down to the floor. “I’ll do my best to let you help me with this, but I can’t promise it will be easy, and don’t expect me to just spill my guts to you about everything I’ve been through and everything I go through every day. The scars you can’t see are the hardest ones to erase.”

Jacob wanted nothing more than to wrap his strong arms around Regan and hold her, tell her she was going to be alright. If she had been a child of his or a loved one, he would have without hesitation, but she was a proud and strong woman, and coddling her right now would just make her rely less on herself and more on him… she had to be strong, and a hug likely wouldn’t help anything anyway. She did manage to choke out a ‘thank you’, and he appreciated the gesture more than he would let on, as it was a sign of respect and trust.

She then began to go into detail about how she had a bit of a history that was holding her back, and that she was going to do her best, but she was still uncertain about a great many things. She also warned him that she wasn’t going to open up overnight, and he smiled at that a bit. “If you want to share your story, that is your choice on the when and to whom. I know quite a bit about the scars that can’t be seen by the human eye. I have quite a few myself, to be honest. Nothing is going to happen overnight, but when you feel like taking that first step, you let me know, and I will help you as best as I can to do exactly that. Until then, I’ll do what I can to keep you from dealing with the world, starting with this bank.” He paused then, allowing her a chance to respond.

An appreciative smile crossed her maw and she looked up at Jacob and nodded. He was doing her a huge favor by trying to get the bank to come to her and work with her in privacy instead of making her go out and face the world right away. She was going to have to take a lot of baby steps, and working here at the shop was quite a big baby step as it was. She was just happy that if and when she decided to go out into the city, she would have someone to support her.

Changing the subject back to what they had been talking about before her stomach had rudely interrupted them. “Thank you Jacob, I would really appreciate having someone to lean on while going through this. I will most likely tell you my story eventually, but just not right away. I’m not proud of it and it’s rather embarrassing really. Maybe someday I’ll be able to get over what happened to me, and I’m sure you help will make it a little easier for me.” She smiled softly up at Jacob and her green eyes glittered with the appreciation she was feeling inside.

Jacob gave the young tigress a warm smile as she finished talking. “No one is interrogating you here. You tell what you want, to whom you want, when you feel you are ready. If it happens to be me when the time comes, great. I always have an open ear. If not, so be it. Just know if you ever need help with anything, I won’t hesitate to do just that.” With that, he felt lunch approach, the Subway delivery/catering guy pulling into the lot. “Lunch has arrived…” he said in a voice that was both triumphant and blatantly happy about that very fact. Who was he kidding, he was hungry!

He then turned and looked towards his newest employee. “I hope you can find something that suits your taste… it’s a couple of variety platters, with various toppings. If not, I can run and get you something else.” He had heard rumors that sometimes physical mutations related to animals also linked to specific diets, as the mutation altered their body’s chemistry to such an extent that they couldn’t digest certain foods. It was very possible that her diet could have easily been raw meat, and he wouldn’t think twice about going and getting some for his newest employee.

Giving Jacob a soft smile and a nod at his words, Regan remained silent. She appreciated all that Jacob was doing, including just giving her an ear if she needed to talk to someone. He was going to be a pretty good boss. Just then Regan’s ears flicked back as the sounds of a new vehicle approached. Jacob was quite happy that lunch had arrived, and frankly so was she, she was starving!

As Jacob told her about the lunch variety her mouth started to water, he then offered to get her something else if she didn’t like what was available. “Oh it’s fine, I can eat everything. One of the few human traits I do have and am I ever thankful for that! I would be quite disappointed if I had to give up all the delicious flavors of the world.” She giggled and got up to stretch her arms over her head. “I appreciate the offer though. But I’ll eat anything really; there are very few things that I don’t like.”

Jacob moved quickly to the shop door, popping his head in quickly with a smile. “Chow’s here!” There was a decent volume of appreciative whoops from the men in the shop, who would finish what they were doing and then wash up to eat. He then moved with surreal quiet and quick steps to the front door, opening it for the man who was carrying the large platters of food. “Mr. Corbulo! Good to see you again. Got your grub right here…” the delivery man moved quickly to the front counter to set it down, and then noticed the young tigress at the desk. He was young… 18 tops, and was the epitome of young and about as smooth as gravel. He slowed his pace to almost a stop, staring at Regan… but it wasn’t the type of stare that was laced with hatred or fear… it was stunned.

To him, she could have easily been the most gorgeous model on the planet.

He stammered out “U-umm… you new h-here?” Jacob decided this would be a good time to save the poor guy from becoming squared away like a circle, and almost on cue, a half dozen mechanics came in and got in line at the sink, but they didn’t move towards the food yet. Joe was up front, and looked towards Regan. “You’re the newcomer… you get first dibs,” he said, telling her of the unspoken rule of the shop. Jacob was behind David, the delivery guy, with a hand on his shoulder. “Let me get you paid before you hurt yourself with your crush and you never leave.” This was the guy who liked cats… a lot… and Regan officially had a fan. Jacob dragged him off and tried his hardest to get him to focus on the actual business, getting him paid, getting the change, and then moving towards the food. Jacob was ALWAYS the last to eat, he never ate before his employees. Another self inflicted rule.

David wound up not leaving and sitting on the couch, trying to get glimpses of Regan and muttering something to himself.

Regan watched Jacob head to the shop to call in the crew. The cheers that followed made Regan giggle from behind her clawed hand. She then watched Jacob move to the front door, walking almost as silently as she could and she was impressed. She watched the young man with the platters come in the door and licked her chops, the food smelt delicious. That was when he noticed her. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights. She gave him a shy smile and obverted her eyes to the floor.

She looked up and smiled back again as the young man asked if she was new. She nodded and was about to open her mouth to speak when all of the mechanics came in to wash up for lunch. Joe told her to eat first, so she grabbed a few of the sandwiches from the top of the pile. She watched Jacob usher the young man away to pay him through the line of men grabbing food. The man couldn’t seem to remain focused, but Jacob finally got the money exchanged between them and joined the line up to grab his meal as well.

Taking a bite of her first sandwich she saw the man sit down and look a little awkward. She waited until Jacob got closer and she whispered up at him. “What’s the matter with him? Did I scare him?” Her question was innocent; she had no clue that man was enamored with her, she honestly thought she had made him uncomfortable.