Author’s Notes: Yes, I finally wrote a good Naomi.
Warnings: Kidfic. Minor Angst. William-bashing (Is that a warning?). Alt-uni.
Disclaimers: As before, not mine.

Hear, Here
By Jayed

EMAIL: Jayed

He was three the first time he “heard” his Mommy. She was pleased and content in
a way he would not really understand for years to come. The others in the house
reached him variously. The man with his mommy was pleased, an older man was
furious, a baby was distressed, and others were sleeping through lesser
emotions.

He was four the first time he tried to explain his feelings about others to his
mother, and five when she finally realized that he really, literally, could
empathize. After a hasty conference with her friends, she decided to take him to
be tested. It seemed her son was a Guide.

With his usual outgoing personality, the little boy set out to make friends with
the nice lady in the room with all the toys and a big funny window that didn’t
show anything. He ran back and forth, pulling toys, dolls, from the shelves to
tell the lady a story. There was a little boy and lady with red hair (“Just like
Mommy!”) and a bigger boy and a very mean man who didn’t like little boys or big
boys either. There was a big funny doggie and a very extra-big black kittycat,
and they were friends (“Really and truly friends, forever and ever!”). And the
little boy assured the big boy that he would love him and take him away from the
mean man. And the two boys and the doggie and kittycat would all live happily
ever after with the lady with the pretty red hair.

The watchers were astonished. The child, this little snippet of a boy, was
clearly a Wolf Guide and the bigger boy, with a black jaguar or leopard, was his
Sentinel. It seemed that the other boy would have to be found and rescued from
some kind of abusive situation. The red-haired woman who would care for the two
was clearly the very young woman, the Guide’s mother, a much-loved mother. Since
a good relationship between parent and child was one of the most important
elements in the upbringing of a Guide, this was met with knowing and relieved
smiles by the various Sentinel/Guide officials staring in wonder through the
glass at the little dynamo charming their Main Tester.

Just over a month later, Naomi was invited by a current flame to attend a large
picnic. She settled in to help serve the various beverages, and her little son
jumped into the activities provided for the children. Keeping an eye on him, she
watched in amusement as he accepted a large ice cream cone and then merrily took
off after some other children in a convoluted game of Follow-The-Leader.

The company’s Senior Vice President found the picnic a complete waste of time
and company money, but he knew better than to voice this point-of-view to the
CEO, a cheerful grandfather multiple times over who enjoyed the chance once a
year to mix with the rank and file and find out how they were all doing. He had
seen a few of those grandchildren running about earlier. His own sons were in
attendance, of course, but were sitting out the noisy games like the
well-behaved, seen but not heard, gentlemen he expected them to be…at least,
they had better be.

It was unfortunate that he turned to get himself some refreshment just as one of
the smaller children turned to wave at his mother, standing at that same table.
With his attention on her and not where he was going, he ran ice cream first
into the tall figure of William Ellison.

In an instant, William’s impatience had a clear target. Shouting in outrage, he
reached one hand to grasp the child and drew back his other arm to deliver a
stinging swat to the little brat's curly-head. But as his arm flew up, a small
hush fell over this corner of the park. Before he could move his arm back down
even he had to realize that he was over-reacting, especially in light of the
crowd of witnesses staring at him in dismay. Several of the men were heading
toward him, including, he realized, his own boss.

Everything William understood about his life changed in the next few minutes,
starting before he could quite make himself let the now sobbing child go. A
flash of red appeared before him, and he suffered the indignity of having his
own face slapped as the child was pulled forcefully from his grasp. “How dare
you?” an irate female voice demanded.

Snippets of various conversations came to him: “Did you see Ellison just
threaten that baby?” seemed to be the theme of them all. He didn’t really care
about most of that, however, as he was most concerned with finding out who the
hell the bitch was who had had the temerity to hit him, and what idiot employee
had invited her and her urchin to the picnic.

The humiliation, however, was just beginning for William Ellison as his boss
stepped forward from the crowd, clutching to his side two of the children who
had been playing the game with the offensive child. These, apparently, were the
two youngest grandchildren of the company CEO. “I’ll see you in my office on
Monday morning, Ellison. And, now, I think maybe you had better go on home.” He
paused, staring at the man shrewdly. “Perhaps your sons would like to stay over
with my Helen’s boys so they don’t have to leave the party.”

A keen judge of character, now that he had seen his VP react so unnecessarily
harshly to a strange child at a picnic, the kindly older man was wary of
allowing the man’s two sons to go home with him. Having been forbidden to take
out his anger on one child, would the man take it out on the children who could
not get away from him?

And then, the biggest shock of the day, from his assigned spot on the other side
of the picnic field, his older son, Jimmy, was running as if his life depended
upon it. He ran right past his shocked and irate parent, however, and clutched
at the still sobbing child. Immediately, the little one stopped crying and
turned from the young woman’s arms to give Jimmy a big hug. “It’s you!” he
announced happily, “It’s you!”

And, in full view of the entranced crowd, an enormous black panther and a snowy
white wolf appeared and stood protectively over the two boys and the slim
red-haired woman. Within moments the whisper was running across the entire park,
“Sentinel and Guide…Sentinel and Guide…”