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Piper hugged Julian.” I think you are enough. Mama never hugged me or watched movies with me.” She told him, finally pulling away from him completely and wiping at her cheeks. She got Bruce again.” Are you going to work today to see the animals?” She asked with big eyes.

"Okay." Julian smiled and lightly ruffled her hair. "Come on. Let's go get breakfast." He stood and led Piper to the kitchen where Jack had set up a breakfast of pancakes, bacon, eggs, and sliced fruits. "Yes, I am going to work today, but not for a few hours yet. Jacob had to go in to work already, but Jack will be here all day with you." He guided her toward the chair next to the tiny table. "For now, eat up!"

Piper followed Julian to the kitchen, getting into the chair. She was a bit too short for the chair but she still managed to easily eat though it wad clear she had never had to eat food that had to be cut up to eat when she stabbed her pancake with her fork before eating it.” I can’t wait to see the zoo! I use to watch animal planet and the zoos on there looked fun!” She spoke excitedly. She looked less excited at the idea of Julian leaving.” Are we gonna stay inside all day?” She asked, trying to act casual. Despite her fear of strangers and people in general, she liked being outside since she didn’t get to go outside when she lived with her mother.

Jack and Julian both stood by the table, neither one of them wanting to take the other chair. They usually ate at the coffee table in the living room after getting food from the kitchen, but Jack hadn't wanted to take all the food out there or risk having Piper try to carry a plate across the carpet. So, they stood awkwardly by the small table, trying to appear relaxed.

"I'll arrange it so that you can come with me to work one of these days, but it might not happen for a couple of weeks," Jules cautioned. "Today, I have to help with a new animal that just arrived, so everyone is going to be nervous and trying to make sure everything is okay for that new animal. When it's a calmer day, then I can bring you with me to work and show you around the zoo. As for what we are going to do today, well, I wanted to give you the option. If you want to stay here inside and just be calm, maybe watch a movie or two, that's fine. However, if you feel up to it, I thought we could go visit a thrift store to try to find you some good clothes. There's a thrift store that I know that sometimes gets clothes that are brand new! We can find you something there, something that isn't your brothers' old clothing. Maybe we can even pick out a couple of sets of sheets for your bed. Or, if you want to go outside, but not to a store, there's a park near here that has a small playground and a walking path. Today, you can choose what we do. What do you think?"

“T-That’s okay! I can wait!” Piper promised, sounding very excited despite knowing that she wouldn’t be able to go for awhile.” I’ve always wanted to see real animals like on Animal Planet!” She sounded pretty animated about the idea of seeing the animals.” I like African Dogs cause they have big families and are really good at hunting!” She had gotten to pet a dog that was walking by Kate’s front yard and she had never felt so happy.

Her smile grew when Julian mentioned the park. She had wanted to explore it since she saw it while driving with Kate.” Can we go to the park?” She asked hopefully as she ate the last piece of bacon on her plate.

Julian smiled and nodded. "We can definitely go to the park! Once you are done with your breakfast, go scrub your teeth and brush your hair. Then we'll walk to the park. It's not far." He wondered if it would be wise to perhaps get her a bicycle or something. They only owned one car, and Jacob used it for work. Jack and Julian relied on public transport or walking to get around, but Piper had short legs. Oh well. Perhaps walking to the park would show him how capable she was of walking reasonable but longer distances.

Piper’s face absolutely lit up. She felt oddly excited and she pushed her plate away.” I’m done!” She then ran to the bathroom, quickly trying to get her teeth brushed then she got her shoes and Bruce before going back to the kitchen. She hadn’t really brushed her hair but she didn’t own a brush.” I’m all ready!” She exclaimed, bouncing on her heels.

Jules watched in amusement as Piper ran off. He finished his breakfast and started helping Jack clean up, but they hadn't even gotten far before Piper was back.

"You might be ready, but I'm not," he chuckled. "I need to finish cleaning up and go brush my own teeth."

"I got this, you go get ready," Jack told him. "You can make up for it by cleaning up after dinner."

"Deal," Jules agreed. He headed for the bathroom but glanced back at Piper. "You didn't brush your hair. Do you need a brush?"

A small frown formed on her lips as Jules mentioned her hair and a scowl formed on her lips. She brushed a hand over her head, looking a bit self conscious.” Why? It won’t look better?” She told him, her voice sounding a tad (a lot defensive) as she held Bruce in one hand.

“ Why do you think she cut it? I’ve never…” She trailed off with a scowl then shook her head.” I don’t have a brush.” She finished then went over to the couch to wait for Julian to get ready.

"If you want to borrow mine, you can," Jules said lightly, choosing to ignore her slightly snippy tone. "If you've never learned how to brush your hair, we'll have to do that before you can grow it long or else it won't be healthy. We can do that later. First, we have a park to go to!"

He went to finish getting ready and then went to the door to pull on his shoes. "Alright! Are you all set? Are you sure you want to take Bruce? You can if you want, but he might get dirty or lost."

“I don’t know how.” Piper muttered and followed him to the door with her Bruce in her arms, squeezing him tight. She didn’t want to lose him but she was scared to be without him. He was her only toy after all, maybe she should leave him. She went over to Jack and held him up to her brother.

“You gotta stay with him, okay? Don’t leave him alone!” She almost pleaded to him with big eyes.

Jack stopped washing the dishes and carefully dried his hands off. Then he leaned down and solemnly took Bruce from Piper. "I promise not to leave him alone," he told her. "Unless I have to use the bathroom. I won't take him into the bathroom. Other than that, I will keep him with me all the time."

Jules smiled from where he stood in the entryway. He opened the door but waited for Piper to join him before stepping out into the outdoor hallway. It was not a particularly special space, but it was clean and spacious enough not to feel cramped. The hall led straight to stairs on one end and an elevator on the other. Three other doorways stood in the hallway, two on one side and two on the other. No one was out right now, but he did occasionally run across one of their neighbors. Right now, it was quiet and peaceful and perfect for a walk to the park.

Piper giggled at Jack’s words and gave Bruce a kiss on the head before passing him over to her brother.” He doesn’t wanna go to the bathroom with you either.” She agreed then gave Bruce one more kiss.” Goodbye, I love you. I promise I’ll be back.” She told her stuffie before going back over to Julian and following him out the door.

She took his hand as they walked down the hallway, walking a little faster than Julian to keep up with him.” Do you think there will be bugs at the park? Or maybe some squirrels!?” She asked Julian

Jules smiled and held her hand as he led the way to the stairs. "There will definitely be bugs and probably squirrels," he told her. They walked down the stairs, and he paused to make sure Piper felt safe before following the sidewalk away from the apartment building. "Do you like bugs? What kind are you hoping to see?"

It was a nice day out. Warm, but not hot, with a bright sun. It would likely warm up as the day went on, but they had a few hours yet before noon when the sun would grow brighter. Other people walked to and fro, passing by them without a glance. It wasn't too busy out, thankfully, so they weren't crowded and able to walk freely.

Piper let out an excited squeak at Julian’s confirmation.” I wanna see ladybugs, ants, butterflies, or anything that isn’t a fly or gnat. Those are the only bugs I got to see with Mama. Sometime I would see a kitty or a dog. One year, a bird made a nest on the Fire escape! The babies left though and the mama bird never came back but she was a very good mama.” She rambled on about how she left some of her food out for them and how she spent hours watching the baby birds after they hatched.

She liked being outside, it was warm and the wind ruffled through her hair. They walked by a mother and little girl, she was hopping to avoid the cracks. Piper looked down at her feet, stepping over cracks and giving experimental little hops.” Am I gonna be able to use the slide and the swing maybe? I just wanna do it one time.” She wasn’t really sure how long Julian had and she didn’t want to take up too much of his time. She wasn’t use to having an adult want to pay so much attention to her.

Julian didn't respond much to Piper's stories of the bugs and the birds. He smiled, nodded, and murmured to show he was listening, but he wasn't sure what to say. It was still a strange, painful thing to hear these things about his mother. When he and his brothers had left home, they'd washed their hands of her. They did not speak of her to each other unless absolutely necessary, and they did not speak of her to anyone else. For them, she had been dead and gone for years. Now they had to face the past once again, and this time in the form of a child. None of them knew how to actually react to this or handle it. Not to mention Piper had had experiences that were just different enough to make it awkward and hard to relate to.

"Yes, I don't see why not," Jules agreed to her question about the swings and slide. "You can do that as may times as you like. I will not fit on the slide, but I can push you on the swing if you can't get it going by yourself. We're almost there. It's just a bit farther. We can stay as long as you like, just remember how long the walk back is and save some energy to get back home, okay?'

Piper look a little disappointed that Julian couldn’t fit on the slide but she perked right back up when he offered to push her on the swings. Was that playing? Would Julian play with her more than just the swings.” Can you push me really, really high?” She asked him, not really paying attention to his words about her energy because what child kept track of that?

When the park came into view, she let out a happy gasp. Her free hand flapping slightly in excitement and her legs doing little happy hops.” Julian, come help me look for bugs!” She exclaimed.

Jules chuckled and gently pulled Piper forward. "Do you see those rocks over there? Where that tree is? That's where we are most likely going to find a lot of bugs," he told her, guiding her toward the small decorative pile of grey stone. "There might be a ground crab spider, or a tiger beetle, or silverfish, or maybe even a centipede or two. Why don't you look on this side, and I'll look over here? And we can tell each other what we found. Just be careful not to touch any stink bugs."

He took the side farthest from the playground equipment and showed Piper to the part closest to the playground. Bugs were not really his expertise, but he felt he could name most of the common ones.

Piper’s eyes widened, he knew the names of so many bugs! She would be happy to see any of those bugs.” I wanna see spiders. I love spiders, they are my favorite. Goliath birdeating spiders are my favorite!” She allowed herself to be pulled towards the rocks, thrilled to be looking for bugs with Julian. A little boy ran past close to Piper and she froze a little. She turned to watch him and she was suddenly aware of the other people.

She stopped walking and watched for a few seconds. She saw a woman pushing a baby in a baby swing, she could hear the kids laughing, and a dog was barking from somewhere. She could even hear birds. Piper thought it was loud but in a good way. She then started to follow Julian again.

Piper was immediately in the dirt looking for bugs and it didn’t take her long to find a fat, green caterpillar in the grass. She carefully set her hand down to let it crawl into her hand. She then slowly walked to Julian with a grin.” Look, I found a caterpillar!”

He really didn't like spiders. He wasn't afraid of them, exactly, but he didn't go out of his way to find them. Thankfully, the state of New York housed only two poisonous spider types, so he wasn't too worried about Piper. There were three types of poisonous snakes, but so far she hadn't shown much interest in snakes.

Jules adjusted his glasses and leaned over to look. "That would be the Hackberry Emperor butterfly in its caterpillar state," he told her. "When it grows up, it'll turn into a brownish-red butterfly with dark spots. They aren't very big, but they're nice butterflies. They might like living on the leaves better than in the grass. Do you want to help it reach a leaf?"