"Hey, I finally got Kaiser down for a nap. He kept asking for you, I don't understand why he keeps calling you daddy. He doesn't normally take to strangers, he usually hides behind my leg and is scared of strangers."
Gears watched as Carina sat down in the only other chair that was in the room. He looked for judgment in those beautiful chocolate eyes of hers, the judgment that usually came from people seeing his scars, but all he noticed was tiredness and fear. Gears was surprised by her once again.
"So, I guess Doc told you everything about me and Kaiser?"
Gears shook his head.
"No, he only told me that you were in danger but not why or by whom."
Carina nodded her head and pulled on her long sleeves. He wondered why she was wearing long sleeves, it had to be hot as hades outside. It was the middle of the summer and New York weather was unforgiving. It was either really hot or really cold, not much in between.
"We had a hard time finding you. Doc Timothy told us that we would find you in Texas, imagine our surprise when we found out from your club that you had moved to New York."
Gears' eyes went wide.
"They told you I was here?"
Carina laughed at the shocked look on his face.
"A crying pregnant woman in semi-labor can get a lot out of uncomfortable men."
Gears nodded and his lips quirked up in a semi-smile.
"So Carina, what are we going to do with each other?"
Carina shook her head and took a deep breath. Gears watched as she played with the big collar necklace around her neck as if it was a security blanket. He didn't like how pale her caramel-colored skin was. And he watched as she moved her shoulder-length hair away from the collar. He assumed it kept getting caught in it, he didn't understand why she didn't just take it off. It looked as hot as the long sleeves that she was wearing in the middle of the summertime.
"Well, I figure that first I will find a shifter-friendly babysitter, and then I will get a job. Once I have enough money and we are relatively safe then we will move on."
Gears watched her shove a hand through her hair, and for the first time in more than five decades, his groin tightened. Gears reached up and started fiddling with the necklace around his own neck.
"Don't worry we will try not to bother you too much."
Gears nodded.
"You're fine, stay as long as you need to. We will figure it out."
Carina feigned a smile.
"Yeah, well I appreciate you helping us out. I know that this was out of the blue and I'm sorry that we were dumped on you like this."
Gears shrugged.
"Go get some rest, I'm going to grab some food. Is there anything that you don't want or don't eat?"
Carina stood up.
"No I eat everything, thank you."
Gears nodded and walked out.