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IYCAOAC Chapter 13

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A/N: Otto finally realizes something important, Robin does something special, and Mouse starts on the road to academia.

Disclaimer: Nope. Not ours.
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Chapter 13: Of Things Great and Small

Mouse sat on the couch, one of her library books in her lap. She stared blankly at the pages. She hadn't been in the mood to make up any stories, and now the words seemed to taunt her, because she was too stupid to know what they actually meant.

She knew her letters, and her name. A few other words she'd learned to pick out from Otto reading to her. But that was it. And now she had access to so many books, and couldn't enjoy them for herself. She wanted to read, not just look at the pictures. The bigger books in the children's room didn't have that many pictures. And she wanted to know what was in them. But no matter how hard she concentrated on the squiggles on the page, they just didn't make sense.

Frustrated, Mouse shoved the book off her lap. It clattered to the floor. She crossed her arms, pouting, not bothering to pick the book up. Devon had been right. She was a stupid little retard--too stupid to talk, and too stupid to read, apparently.

Otto set down the knife he was using to slice mushrooms and looked around the corner to see what the problem was. Larry was already picking up the discarded book, chittering in a mildly scolding tone.

"We don't treat library books like that, Mouse," Otto said. To soften the rebuke, and because she was clearly unhappy about something, he added in a gentler tone, "What's wrong?"

Mouse gave him a bit of a glare--she knew how to handle library books, she'd always been so careful with them in the past. She was just mad. Larry sat the book on the edge of the coffee table, and she kicked at it, moving it a bit further away from her.

"Stupid," she muttered, more to herself than Otto. "S-stupid retard."

He blinked, startled to hear her saying that. "You are not," he told her. Larry squawked and moved the book to safety, where she couldn't kick it again.

Otto looked at the volume, a copy of Chrysanthemum with a picture of a little anthropomorphic girl-mouse on the cover. "Are you having trouble reading?" It was the only thing he could think of that might cause her such frustration.

Mouse stared straight ahead, refusing to look at him. She had always let Otto think she could read, because she was afraid that he wouldn't want her if he knew how stupid she was. Otto was so smart, surely he wouldn't want a little girl that was dumb. She glared at the book, her lower lip stuck out slightly in a mad pout.

No, it was more than the book giving her trouble. Was she... unable to read? Hell, that had never occurred to him. She probably couldn't. That hellhole she'd lived in wasn't exactly the kind of environment that encouraged scholastic pursuits.

"You weren't ever taught to read, were you?" he asked, trying to make his expression one that could not be interpreted as any way disapproving. "We can fix that, you know."

Mouse's eyes slid sideways to look at Otto for a brief moment, before she went back to scowling. As smart as Otto was, she was a little annoyed with him for only just now figuring out that she couldn't read. She didn't understand the feeling--it was one of those that just was. He knew that she couldn't read clocks, though she understood some numbers well enough. He had probably figured out that she'd never been to school. So why didn't he know that she couldn't read?

Though she didn't acknowledge what he had said--she was not admitting that she couldn't read, not now--she did wonder what he meant by fixing it. Was learning to read hard? Could he teach her?

"It's not horrendously difficult to learn." He really was an idiot sometimes, for not realizing that she didn't know how to read. He didn't exactly have much experience with children, after all. He also had no idea how to teach her. She knew her name, that he was sure of, and she had a grasp of letters and a probably few stray words- anyone who listened to the stories as voraciously as she did would have picked that much up at least.

"I'm not entirely certain just how to go about teaching you, but we'll manage alright, I think. Do you want to learn?" He asked the last with a slight smile.

Mouse finally looked at him, and nodded slowly. Yes, she wanted to learn. She wanted to learn so much. There were so many stories, and she wanted to find them. Besides, if she learned to read, she wouldn't be limited by the picture books.

"Yes," she answered. "V-very much."

Otto nodded and gave her a quick hug. "Good. I have to go finish making dinner, so why don't you go play with Bob and Tonto for a while? I'll start looking into things to help you learn tonight."

Flo squawked at him. or have us link to the computer we can look for you

"On second thought, I'll have Flo look now. Alright?"

Mouse nodded again, her anger dissipating. That would be nice.

Getting to his feet, Otto returned to the kitchen to finish making dinner. True to what he had told Robin, he was an able cook. Admittedly, his meals tended to wander entire spectra of cuisines, but no one had complained yet. He simply made sure that there were at least one or two 'familiar' things for every 'odd' one. The goal was to get Mouse used to as wide a variety of foods as possible. After all, food was good and infinitely varied. There was no reason to limit oneself.

Flo and Larry stayed behind to link up to the computer, immediately beginning to hunt the internet for ideas on teaching a child how to read.

Robin breezed into the apartment, a large brown bag in her hands. She was also wearing a beret and humming an old French song. "Bonjour mes chéris," she said cheerfully, coming into the kitchen and giving Otto a kiss on the cheek. "I got the bread. And some wine. And chocolate éclairs for dessert."

"Bonjour mon amour," Otto replied with a smile, dumping some of the food into the pan.

She started pulling things out of the bag, and looked over at the stuffed mushrooms. "Smells wonderful." She shook her head fondly. "A man who cooks. Your kind is a rarity in this world, you know."

Mo chirped and curled around her waist to nudge her closer to Otto as Larry plucked the beret from her head and dropped it onto Mouse's. The felt hat fell over her eyes.

"Thank you. Did you honestly stop by France for this?" The bread was still warm, and smelled wonderful.

Robin laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Is there anywhere else to go for wine and bread?" she asked. She gave him a kiss, and offered the bottle of wine for his inspection. She turned to start putting the éclairs on a plate.

"There's this lovely little village south of Bordeaux. Fantastic winery. And a baker in Lyon whose family has owned the same bakery for over a hundred years. His baguettes are perfection...mhmm." She kissed her fingertips in appreciation. "Paris is nice for tourists, but it's the little places that are the gems."

She smiled at Mouse, who was pushing the beret out of her eyes, peeking into the kitchen. Robin reached over, arranging the hat properly on her head. It was still too big, but now it tilted to the side like it was supposed to.

Otto grinned and set the wine aside, nodding his approval. "It sounds wonderful," he said, a little wistfully. "I did a lecture tour in France once, but we never went outside Paris. Always wanted to do more traveling."

He transferred the stuffed mushrooms to a serving plate while the actuators poured sauce over the chicken and picked up the bowl of salad. "I think we're about ready here."

Robin grabbed some plates in one hand and a couple of wineglasses with the other. She went to set them on the table. Coming back into the kitchen, she poured Mouse a glass of milk, and grabbed the silverware. Otto brought the food in to the table, and they took their seats.

Mouse eyed the stuffed mushrooms with the slightly suspicious eye of a child trying to decide if they'll like a new food by sight alone. Robin poured wine for herself and Otto, then tore off a hunk of bread for Mouse.

Otto slid one of the smaller mushrooms onto Mouse's plate for her to sample as the actuators buttered a piece of bread for him. "Just taste," he said, also adding some of the chicken, which he knew she liked. "I haven't made anything bad since that night with the olives, now have I?"

Flo snickered. That had been an interesting night, to say the least.

Mouse poked the mushroom with her fork, still a bit apprehensive. She was still getting used to fresh foods, and some of them were less appealing than others. She loved fruits, but there were some things--like olives--that she just didn't like.

Finally, she cut off a small piece, and tried it. Alright, it wasn't bad. She still wasn't sure about it--Mouse liked simple foods--but it wasn't bad. She shrugged, and tried a little more. Otto was a good cook.

Robin smiled, exchanging a look with Otto and winking at him. She tried a bit of the mushrooms herself, nodding. "Very nice," she said, swirling her wine in her glass and taking a sip.
"Thank you." Otto smiled with pleasure.

The rest of the meal passed pleasantly. Mouse at least finished the mushroom she'd been given, though she declined more. The éclairs, on the other hand, were much more to her taste. Otto cleared the table when they were finished.

As he carried one of the dishes into the kitchen, his foot caught on the carpet and he stumbled. Fighting to catch his balance, he felt a flare of pain up his leg and into his spine.

"Gah- son of a -" He bit his lip, trying to keep from swearing in front of Mouse.

Robin had his arm in a moment, helping to stabilize him, and sending out a glamour to soothe the pain. "Come here," she said, leading him over to the couch. She got him seated, and mustered up a bit more power in her touch to stop the spazzing nerves.

Mouse bit her lip, looking worried. Robin gave her a smile. "Mouse, be a dear and finish clearing the table?" The child hesitated, then nodded, carrying dishes into the kitchen.

Robin shifted her attention back to Otto, running her hand through his hair as his breathing started to ease. "You know, I've been thinking about something," she said. "What would you think about seeing if Titania and Jack could repair the damage to your spine? Fix you leg?" She gave him a small smile. "It would be a lot of work, but it just might be worth it. Be worth it for you to not be in such pain all the time."

"It's not all the time," he growled. Flo nuzzled him as he mentally tallied the number of times he'd had one of these attacks in the past few weeks.

it is often she said.

Damn, she was right. He growled again.

"Shhh," Robin soothed, rubbing his shoulders. "It's not as though you've got anything to loose, yeah? I'll give them a chat. See what we can do." She smiled at him. "After all, returning things to their natural order is what Titania does. If there's any chance at all...she'll be able to do it."

One of her hands went down to rub his leg. "I've also been thinking...that I might be able to do something about your eyes." Her healing skills were not as powerful as Jack or Titania's, but she'd been getting some pointers from the pooka. She was reasonably certain that she could at least repair the damage that made her love so sensitive to light.

"You can do that?" he asked. He hadn't been really aware that healing was part of her repertoire of tricks. He knew she could ease the pain in his leg, but there was a vast difference before easing a momentary spasm and healing the kind of permanent damage his eyes had suffered. "Hell, what am I saying, of course you can."

Robin smiled at him. "Well...it's not something I usually do. Hobgoblins are better suited for ripping apart than putting back together. But I've been brushing up on my healing skills. Shouldn't be a problem." She looked around the room. Mouse had finished clearing the table, and had gone ahead and wiped it down, since that was her usual chore. Now she was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, watching them.

"It's alright, little one. Would you mind turning down the lights?" Mouse went over to the light switch, standing on her toes to reach it, bringing the slider down. Robin smiled at her as she came a little closer.

The faerie slid off Otto's sunglasses, setting them aside. She moved to sit on the coffee table, s that she could be directly across from him. "Just relax." Closing her eyes briefly, she opened them again. They were glowing faintly with green power.

She looked at him for a long moment, studying the inner workings of his head. Then she placed her hands over his eyes. He closed them instinctively. Mouse watched carefully as Robin closed her own eyes, and her hands glowed bright green. The glow ran down Robin's arms to her hands, and reached out to spread over Otto's head. They stayed that way for what felt like a long time, Robin's face scrunched up in concentration.

Then, the glow faded. Robin opened her eyes, weariness dulling them somewhat. But she squeezed Otto's hand, and turned to smile at Mouse. She gestured towards the lights, and Mouse went over to turn them back up.

"Open your eyes," Robin instructed.

"But the lights are-" he began. He could see the glow of them through his eyelids. Then he realized that it didn't make his eyes hurt.

Gingerly, he cracked them open, ready to squeeze them shut once more the instant he felt pain. None came. Encouraged, he opened them. Robin smiled at him, and he smiled back.

"It worked."

Robin leaned forward, cupping his face in her hand, and kissed him. "Of course it did," she answered, though her voice didn't quite achieve its usual confidence. She had used quite a bit of power, in a relatively short amount of time. Her healing had been more focusing her regenerative abilities into his eyes and the nerves beyond than any delicate technique. Though he would probably find the pain in his leg less after this as well.

Unfortunately, such an exhaust of energy so quickly made her a bit lightheaded as she shifted from the table to the couch. She looked up at him, enjoying the fact that she'd done something right. "At least now I'll get to look at your eyes properly most of the time," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder.

He hugged her tightly, returning her kiss with gratitude. "Thank you, Robin," he said. This would make things a lot easier, and out of all the injuries he'd received, it was the one to his eyes that hindered him the most. Sunglasses were odd to wear inside, and the few times he'd lost or broken them... not pleasant.

Flo dropped down in front of his face, and he was able to look at her and the scarlet light in the middle of her jaws without flinching. He grinned at the actuator as she fed him an image of him looking at her, sans sunglasses or goggles.

"You, Robin, are amazing. Have I mentioned that lately?"

"Mmhmm," Robin answered, closing her eyes. Just for a few moments, then she really ought to go help clean up the dishes. "Of course I am. 'm The Puck."

Mouse came closer, trying to understand what had happened. Otto wasn't flinching away from the lights. Robin must have fixed his eyes.

That seemed to be a good thing--Otto certainly appeared happy about it--though Robin's skin had lost its healthy shine. The faerie kept her eyes closed, gradually sinking towards sleep. Well, maybe just a quick nap, she thought. Then I'll be good as new.

Otto kissed the top of the dozing faerie's head and settled her on the couch with a blanket over her. There were dishes to do.

"Come give me a hand?" he asked, grinning at Mouse. It was almost startling to be able to see her in true colors through his own eyes, rather than darkly sepia-toned or through one of the cameras. "Let's let Robin sleep for a while. Flo found some websites geared towards helping children learn to read, so afterwards, you and I can take a look at them. Sound fun?"

someone's in a good mood Mo quipped.

Of course he was in a good mood. He could damn well see again!

Mouse nodded, and dragged her little stool over to the sink so that she could help dry dishes. She couldn't help but return Otto's grin--it was so rare to see him smiling, properly smiling. But then, Robin tended to bring that out in him.

She carefully dried the dishes that were handed to her, though at one point Larry whipped over to catch a plate that she dropped. When they were done, Otto took her over to the computer, and helped her up onto one of the tall lab stools in front of it.

Mouse bit her lip, trying not to feel too nervous. But a part of her was afraid that Otto was wrong, and that she really was too stupid to learn to read. The last thing she wanted was to disappoint him.

Otto logged on to his computer, then quickly set about creating a limited account for Mouse to use so she wouldn't accidentally alter any of his files. He added a few parental security protocols for her internet access before switching over to her account and bringing up one of the sites Flo had found.

"Alright," he said, scooting Mouse and her stool in front of the computer proper. "Computer Use 101. You tell the computer what you want to do with the keyboard and the mouse here." He grinned a little at that. Mouse using the mouse. "Move the mouse around, and it moves the cursor on-screen so you can click on things. If you click on something clickable, it will do whatever the program tells it to do. It depends on what you're doing. The keyboard has letters, numbers, and other commands on it, so you can write onscreen and the like. Yes, the letters are all out of order. It's designed that way so that the most commonly used letters are the easiest to reach. There are games to help you learn to type properly, but for now we'll focus on the reading. Okay so far?"

Mouse bit her lip harder and nodded. She had watched Otto use the computer before, so she had some idea of what he was talking about. Still, the whole thing rather scared her. What if she messed something up? Otto was picky about things in his lab. He wouldn't like it if she messed up something on the computer. She squirmed a little on the stool, then settled.

He patted her shoulder, recognizing that look. "Just be careful," he told her, setting her hand on the mouse. "You really can't mess up the computer, Mouse. We can fix pretty much anything you could do to it short of spilling something on it."

Larry dug out the headphones and set them on her head, then switched the sound on, but not too loud.

"Follow the instructions that are read to you. The games will start easy, then get more difficult. Just follow the instructions."

Mouse took a deep breath, and nodded. She adjusted the headphones a little better, then put her hand over the mouse. Cheery music sounded through the headphones, bright and colorful letters popping onto the screen.

Brow furled in concentration, she started the first game. It was starting with letters--something she knew. Relaxing a little, she maneuvered through the screen, only struggling with the mouse a little. It was too big for her hand to grip properly, but she managed.

Pretty soon, she'd all but forgotten Otto's presence, all of her attention focused on what she was doing. She was surprised that she knew a bit more than she thought she did.

He and the actuators watched her playing for a while, making sure she was understanding the concepts being presented. So far, so good.

Pleased with her progress, he went back to sit with Robin, who still dozed on the couch. She was an absolutely incredible creature. Beautiful, clever, talented, exotic... always able to surprise him. And she'd done so much for him and Mouse. He was happy with her, happier than he'd been since before Rosie had died.

Mo had teased him about having a crush on her. Was he perhaps falling in love with Robin?

Robin woke up just enough to recognize Otto's warmth, snuggling back against him. She looked up at him, half asleep. "Ev'rything al'ight?" she asked blearly. Some part of her brain recognized that it was nice, looking up and seeing warm brown eyes.

Otto smiled at her, the expression crinkling the corners of his eyes. "Everything's fine," he assured her. He stroked her hair idly, just toying with the soft strands. "Kitchen's all cleaned up and Mouse is over there learning how to read. She seems to be doing rather well." His fingers lightly brushed the spot behind her left ear.

Robin purred, nuzzling his hand. "Good," she muttered. "Readin's good. For some people." She closed her eyes again, groaning softly. Her head ached a little.

"'ope you don't mind a crasher," she said, starting to drift asleep again.
"Of course not," Otto replied, now rubbing the spot behind her ear since she seemed to enjoy it so much. "You're always welcome here. Go ahead and rest."

He looked down at her as she dozed off. It felt like he needed to say something to her.

Flo nudged him. go on she urged, without a hint of her usual sarcasm. you know what to say say it already

Yes, he did know what to say.

"I love you, Robin," he murmured.

The words caught in Robin's brain as sleep reclaimed her. He loved her. Wasn't that bad? She wasn't supposed to let anyone fall in love with her. Because changelings couldn't fall in love. Or weren't supposed to, at any rate.

But she was too tired to ponder it for now. She just smiled faintly, and drifted off into pleasant dreams.
A/N: Otto finally realizes something important, Robin does something special, and Mouse starts on the road to academia.

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Pytera's avatar
good chapter i like that mouse is finally learning to read.