The line between independence and foolishness.
Who: Cat, Sam (NPC), and eventually Niles Where: Her studio, then his place When: Saturday afternoon What: A little single parent help
In the white spaces between the catch and blaze of inspiration, Cat turned to the wheel to keep the slip of clay fresh under her hands. Stepping away from clay in those workshop hours only ever promised to lengthen the distance between those hours or days of inspiration, she knew, but turning her attention to raising delicate bits of pottery on the wheel grounded her, wound together her focus and helped her find the shape of her next project.
An amphora bloomed under the curve and press of her fingers, her palms, her body leaning into her project as she remained focused upon keeping a perfection already existing in the fine silted clay as the beat of the bass-heavy music that poured from the nearby stereo.
The faint sound of whimpering beneath the volume of the music forced Cat to pause, taking her hands from the clay for fear of bending it with her inattention and instead turned in her seat to look at the sleeper set nearby. She didn’t worry about the music as it was, as the volume was kept down to non-damaging levels and Sam was more likely to coo or smile when heavy metal was playing than to fret, but she reached over to turn the volume down all the same to better hear him.
Eyes still closed, the baby whimpered pitifully, fists clenched and moving restlessly in his sleep in the latest episode of what had come all too familiar to Cat in recent weeks. Quickly she rose to wash her hands clean of the clay that covered them and returned to the sleeper to scoop her son up from its embrace.
“Shh, shh, Sam,” she murmured to him, holding him to her chest and letting him cling to her shirt as she moved around with him for a few moments in the hope of soothing away whatever had troubled him. Hardly more than four months old, she couldn’t help but worry over his continued trouble sleeping peacefully. Maybe if she hadn’t known of the neglect he had suffered before he had been left with the orphanage, of how he had been underweight and clingy before he had been carefully brought back to a healthy weight enough to be adopted. He calmed easily once he had his face tucked against her shoulder and he caught a lock of her hair in his fist, snuffling softly.
She felt helpless in the face of his fear and Cat absolutely hated that. Hated feeling helpless. Hated not knowing what to do beyond waking him and calming him back down.
She took a breath then released it slowly, a possible solution coming to mind as she moved around the studio to allow Sam the time to take the comfort she offered. As much as she hated the idea of asking for help, she had to resign herself to the fact that she her efforts had yet to do anything to help her understand what to do. There was a line, she knew, between independence and foolhardiness.
Turning her head, she pressed a kiss against her son’s brow and nodded to herself. It was time to talk to Niles.