Stella laughed and closed her eyes. She was so tired and hungry, she could probably eat a whole cow and fall asleep standing in the middle of the road.
"Someone is too tired. Maybe you shouldn't have played." Simon spoke with a chuckle as Stella's eyelids drooped.
"No, I need to keep in shape. I'm getting soft around all of you." Stella murmured, half asleep.
The next thing she knew, Stella woke up to the sound of angry voices.
Was someone screaming? No, that was not right. Someone was trying to scream but their voice was too low.
Stella mentally shrugged. She was too tired to bother with all this. She felt herself in a really cold but comfortable bed and snuggled to what she assumed would be the pillow.
Stella was going back into her dream in which she was a super hero, when she faintly caught a scent and frowned. She knew this scent, a little too well. Who was it?
She recognized the scent as she slipped into a bit more consciousness and heard a voice. Of course, it was Sharp!!!
Stella frowned, "Why did he sound so angry?" She fought off her sleep and focused on the conversation that was going on somewhere close by.
Sharp: "I don't care about that! Why did you let her play?"
Simon: "I told you! She wanted to."
Sharp: "What the hell!! This is McCarteney we're talking about! If you let her do whatever she wants, she'll want to jump from a building next."
"Okay, that hurt a bit. He's right though. I did jump from the Golden bridge." Stella thought as Simon replied, "I don't even know why are you so riled up. You don't even really care about Stella."
"I don't care about her?!" Sharp's voice was now rising above a whisper.
"No. You don't." Simon replied, his voice firm.
Sharp's voice was seething with anger as he spat out the words, "At least I wasn't the one who let her play football with a broken arm!!"
"At least I look at her like a person. Not as a source of food and Helen alternatively." Stella heard these words in Simon's thoughts and her eyes flew open.
It was lucky that Simon didn't blurt them out as soon as the thought entered his mind. In the split second that he hesitated, Stella let out a rather dramatic yawn.
"Say Simon, is there anything to eat?" Stella asked, properly opening her eyes and realizing she had been sleeping in Simon's arms. Her stomach also growled loudly, as if helping in the act.
"Oh hey Sharp. When did you come back?" she asked, climbing out of Simon's embrace and smiling.
Den eyed Stella's leg for a second before running his eyes over her whole body, obviously checking if her previous injuries had really healed and if she had sustained any new ones.
"I came back about an hour ago." Den replied and turned around to walk away.
Stella watched his retreating back for a second before turning back to Simon. "Hungry? Food?" she said, pointing to her stomach.
Simon smiled in his usual warming manner and spoke, "Go wait in the dining room. I'll prepare something." And was gone in a flash.