Welcome Home
by Winter

Chapter 1:

Terry lifted the last of his suitcases out of the taxi's trunk, wagging his tail shyly as the driver complimented him on how strong he was for such a young fox boy. For a second he thought about protesting; after all, he was ten now, and not so little anymore. He didn't say anything, though, but glanced anxiously towards the big house they had stopped outside.

What if she weren't home? He didn't have any money to pay the driver with. But to Terry's relief, the wooden front door opened and a woman walked down the gravelled path to the gates. The driver muttered something under his breath, pursing his lips and nodding his head with appreciation. Terry's heart skipped a beat, then another, and his eyes went wide. For a second, he thought he was looking at his mother. His knees shivered, and he had to put his suitcase down. Was she really not...? Could she...?

But no. As the woman got closer, he realised that she was too young to be his mother, although the resemblance at first glance was uncanny. The brief moment of hope vanished, and Terry felt as if an icy hand had gripped his heart. He watched the woman closely as she paid the taxi driver, laughed at some joke that Terry didn't hear, then turned towards him as the taxi drove away.

"Welcome home, little brother," she said in a friendly tone. "Come on, let's go inside, I'll have dinner ready in a little while."

"Th-thanks."

"It's so good to have you back." She gave him a brief hug. "I've missed you."

"Me too."

Finally snapped out of his dark thoughts, Terry gave her an unsure smile which was met by a warm one. Tanya was truly beautiful, he thought, even prettier than their mother had been. She was a red fox, just like Terry, with a long slender muzzle, long reddish-brown hair and large green eyes, which were now watching him just as curiously as he was watching her. Unlike him, though, Tanya was fully grown; a tall, slim woman with a curvy figure and with both her arms and legs showing some muscles.

They stood there for a little while, looking each other up and down as Terry tried to remember the last time they had seen each other. He had a vague memory of a scrawny teenaged girl, shouting furiously at their mother for trying to force her to leave home. At the time he had only been a little boy, but he remembered crying bitterly when he had realised that he wouldn't be living with his father and sister anymore.

And now he had come back. Back to a home he couldn't remember as home, back to his sister who was no longer a child. But she was all he had now, and as she put her hand on his shoulder to usher him through the gates, emotions warred inside the boy. Grief over the loss of his mother, plus the shock of hearing that his father had also passed away, battled against the joy of seeing Tanya again and the relief of knowing that she was going to take care of him.

Forcing a better smile onto his lips, Terry picked up one of his suitcases while Tanya took the other, then he followed her into the house. Memories came flooding back with every step he took into his old home; the hallway carpets, the high ceiling with its crystal chandeliers, the photographs and paintings covering the walls. Nothing seemed to have changed much during the six years he had been away. Six years that felt like a whole lifetime.

Tanya led him upstairs, and his heart began to pound harder in his chest. It began to dawn upon him that he was going to get his old room back. It seemed a bit smaller than he remembered it, but Terry knew that he was also a bit bigger than last time he had been there. Little else had changed. The wallpaper still showed tiny multi-coloured fish, swimming this way and that against a sea-blue background, and his bed was made with his old sheets picturing horses on a green meadow. He realised that Tanya must have made it for him, but the illusion that the room had been left untouched all these years was a strong one.

Memories of happiness flooded his mind, winning out against the darker thoughts, but Terry still couldn't stop his eyes from brimming over. He dropped the suitcase he was carrying and hurried to cover his face with his hands, as his body shook with heavy sobs. As he cried he felt Tanya's arms around him, and he allowed her to lead him over to the bed, where they lay down. She didn't say anything, for which he felt grateful, but she did wrap her arms around his chest and snuggle up against his back for comfort.

He cried for a long while, losing track of time as he sobbed away. When he finally ran out of tears he felt himself begin to drowse away. Before he fell asleep he felt Tanya get out of bed, finding that he missed her touch already. She kissed his cheek, then whispered into his ears just as sleep took him.

"Sleep well, baby brother. Dinner will wait until you wake up."

* * * * * *

The sun had begun to set when Terry woke up again, which meant it had to be at least nine o'clock since it was still early summer. Too late for dinner, he told his growling stomach. He had some chocolate in his satchel, that would make do, but first he had other needs to attend to. He left the room, walking as quietly as possible, almost as if he were afraid to break the silence. Out in the upstairs hallway, he suddenly realised that he couldn't remember which way to go to find the bathroom. His panic only lasted for a moment, then instinct took over and led him two doors down the hall.

The bathroom had changed; he didn't remember it this way at all. The walls were covered halfway to the ceiling with light blue tiles that looked as if they were made out of marble, then the rest of the way with darker blue wallpaper that was coarse to the touch. The bathroom mirror was placed so high that Terry had to stand on his toes in order to even see the tips of his ears in it. The bathtub was hidden by a pink curtain with little red hearts on it, giving it such a girlish look that it made him grunt with disgust. He kept on making sour faces at the insulting curtain while he lifted the toilet lid, pulled his pants down and began to relieve himself.

While he peed, his mind returned to the moment when he had first seen Tanya come towards him outside the house. The initial wave of sadness was softened as he remembered how gently she had held him while he cried. How she had tried her best to comfort him. The more he thought about it the more he realised that, for the first time since he had learned about his mother's illness, he was beginning to feel at ease. The sadness was still there, but it didn't stab at him the way it used to. Being here, in this new old home, with his sister to not only care for him, but love him, was beginning to put his troubled heart to ease.

After he was done he shook off the last few drops and pulled his pants up, then washed his hands, straining again to look in the mirror. It was no use; he would need a stool. Not that he didn't know exactly what he would see; a scrawny fox boy, looking smaller than his age, with the same reddish-brown hair as his sister, only kept much shorter. The green eyes, too, were the same. Those thoughts led him to picture Tanya's face, which he had really only seen for a few minutes before he had fallen asleep.

The more he thought about her, the more he realised that his first impression had been slightly wrong. Tanya did look a lot like their mother, but not as much as he had thought when he first saw her. There were more differences than likenesses. Tanya was taller and thinner, yet curvier, her face was a bit more rounded and her eyes a lot more gentle. Not that his mother had been overly harsh, but she hadn't had much love to spare for her son, especially after the disease had begun to eat away at her. Terry felt another sting of pain, but again it was as if being in the same house as Tanya was enough to guard against the brunt of it. Tanya...

He smiled as he dried his hands, then a sudden curiosity grabbed him, and he pulled the curtain back from the bathtub, careful to touch as little of it as possible. His look of illness over the horrible thing vanished when he saw what it had been hiding. The tub was larger than any he had ever seen; a square almost as wide as he was tall and so deep he would get his head below the water if he tried to sit down in it. The walls surrounding it were covered in mirrors, except for one end where there was a showerhead.

The thought seemed a bit naughty to Terry; just imagine, to look at yourself while showering! He giggled as he pictured himself underneath the rays of water, staring at his own naked body from every possible angle. It was too tempting to resist. He stepped in, and found that he could indeed see himself. If he had been naked, he could have seen his own butt from behind! Another giggle became a gasp as he turned around and spotted Tanya inside the mirror. He almost fell over with fright. How had she got there?

No, he corrected himself. That was him. Terry. He was the one in the mirror. How stupid! How could he have made such a mistake? Then he realised, as he took a closer look at himself, that he really was looking at Tanya. The Tanya from his memories. He counted on his fingers and found that she must have been thirteen when they had last seen each other. Six years ago.

"Wow..."

The hushed whisper changed into another giggle as he recalled the memory of his sister, then compared it to the mirror-image grinning back at him. They looked so much alike! Or, at least, ten-year-old Terry looked a lot like thirteen-year-old Tanya. Twenty-year-old Tanya looked nothing like him. Or did she? Maybe... If her face had been thinner, and if she hadn't looked so... adult. He giggled again. Or if she hadn't been so stunningly beautiful. Feeling happier than he had in years, Terry stepped out of the tub and went back to his room to eat his chocolate.

* * * * * *

Tanya checked in on her sleeping brother from time to time, but even though she had made dinner she decided to let him sleep. Instead, she sat down on the living room couch after she had eaten, turning the TV on but keeping the volume low. She couldn't have focused enough to watch a programme, anyway. Inside her, warring emotions made themselves heard just as they had during the past few days, ever since she had first heard that Anya, their mother, had died.

Part of her grieved, but not very much. The wounds from having her family torn apart, from losing her little brother, were still not healed, and she couldn't find it in her to feel truly sorry for Anya. But she did feel sorry for Terry, and the news had awakened the painful memories of their father's death, a little over a year ago. Also, she felt furious. For some reason, Anya had kept that piece of news from Terry, which meant that only hours after his mother's passing, the poor boy had to find out that his father, too, was dead. Tanya knew it was no use worrying that old bone, yet the feelings would not leave her. In fact, watching Terry cry himself to sleep made them stronger than ever.

"But that's over now," she told a bland-looking talk show host. "Nobody's going to hurt him again, you hear?"

Half expecting a reply, she sank back against the armrest and closed her eyes. Pain and grief aside, there was still a good reason to feel joy now. She had Terry back with her, as it should always have been. Even though it had been a sad moment, she had felt so happy when she held him, when she was able to bring him some comfort, that her head was nearly spinning. She had always loved Terry with all her heart, ever since he was a little kit, and she knew she was going to love having him with her again.

The memory of his thin body in her arms gave her an urge to run upstairs and wake him up, just so she could hug him again. But she resisted. Not only was the boy exhausted, but probably a bit jet-lagged as well from having travelled halfway across the country. She still regretted not being able to meet him at the airport, but she did not regret what she had been doing instead. It would be a nice surprise for later on. Yawning, she sat up and turned the TV off, then she lay back down and went to sleep.

* * * * * *

Terry hesitated just as he was about to open his door on his way back from the bathroom. Another memory had just passed by his inner eye, a memory of a playroom. A whole room filled with toys, stuffed animals, pillows and... There had been more, but he couldn't quite remember. There was something about his father as well, some recollection of lying on top of a pile of pillows listening to the sound of his deep voice just outside the door. It all seemed vague, as if it had been a dream. Or maybe it had been someplace else; it was a bit frustrating that his memories couldn't be more clear. He tried to let his feet guide the way, like he had when they found the bathroom for him, but even they had no idea where to go. He wasn't very sleepy anymore, so playing might be fun. And even if he didn't find that room, it would still be nice to explore the house.

He went into his room and ate a bar of chocolate, which quenched most of his hunger. However, it also made him thirsty. Still keeping as quiet as possible, he made his way downstairs. He wasn't sure why he was so afraid to make noise; maybe because he felt certain that he would wake himself up, to find that moving in with Tanya had been nothing but a dream. After peering into a couple of rooms, he found her in what must be the living room, sleeping on a couch. He couldn't remember this room, either. Quiet as a mouse he sat down on the armrest next to Tanya's feet, where he stayed for a long time, just watching his sleeping sister. She was so beautiful. Tears started running down his cheeks, but for the first time that he could remember they were happy tears.

"You're my angel," he whispered, wiping his eyes with his shirt sleeves. "My angel sent from heaven."

...to be continued.