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Not acknowledging her, Christopher walked over to his nightstand and pulled out a paperback copy of Dolores Claiborne. He had himself a seat in a chair beside the bed and prepared to lose himself in one of his favorite novels. In a way, the self proclaimed heroine of the novel was Chris's hero when he was growing up. He admired her strong spirit and compassion.

If he wasn't going to get much love or compassion out of his own girlfriend, then he would prefer to retreat into a fictional world and admire the tribulations of a woman whom he would have been honored to have as a second mother. He was fed up with reality at the moment. Everything was just crumbling away despite his best efforts to keep it together. It was time for his break.

Even though Dolores herself was dealing with a world that was falling away slowly, she at least made it through in the end in a rather realistic manner too. Nothing sappy or depressing. Just a realistic catharsis. It was because of this Chris picked this particular book. To give him hope that maybe he'll someday climb out of his own hole that was being dug at this point in time. Due to this factor, the novel was more than just words to him. Dolores Claiborne was his supporting shoulder for when times were tough.

Chris sat in the chair all night, going through the entire novel in a matter of hours. All that time, he said not one word to Minna. He didn't even make much noise except for the occassional chuckle when he reached an amusing point of the book. When he was finished with his limited window of escape, Christopher crawled into bed but did not cuddle up with Minna. He just laid on his side and stared at the wall.

Chris felt his blood turn cold, his ears press down on the top of his head, and every strand of fur on his body stand on end when the high pitched whine of Minna's filled the room. He let out a few gasps of shock and surprise as he slowly rolled over over, his eyes wide. Christopher stared at her, a little unnerved.

"You scared the s**t out of me...!" escaped his lips. "Please don't do that again. I about had a coronary."

Figuring that it meant she wanted attention though, Christopher pulled her close to his chest and held her. Eventually, he proceeded to groom her hair with his claws, a service he performed constantly these days. But Chris's eyes were still propped open as if he just escaped hell.

'I'm in a damn madhouse,' Christopher told himself. '...and how fitting with Halloween around the corner soon enough too.'

"I honestly do not know..." Christopher replied in a very hollow manner.

He simply laid there in bed, tending to Minna by caressing and holding her, his eyes still the size of golfballs. He didn't know why but Minna's wail triggered this awkward feeling in him. Chris felt as if he was now living in a world crafted right out of a Tim Burton film. Things just seemed so bizarre and unusual at the moment.

Maybe it was realization of the situation surrounding him or perhaps something else. There was no true way of knowing. But everything appeared so twisted suddenly.

Chris commented with no emotion, "I feel like I've taken another trip to the loony bin."

Christopher sat up and rubbed her hand as he inquired, "You mean I never told you?"

Clearing out his throat, Chris explained his sordid history about the accident on the set of his film that lead to him being trapped in the woods for a week with a broken leg and how he had to kill Lyall to keep her from suffering. Then he told her about how he was found in a feral, deranged state and how he was thrown away in a mental institution for a year.

Christopher was completely void of emotion as he told his girlfriend the story. He had shared it so many times by now that it was rather standard practice on his part. He went through it so by the numbers, one would think it never even happened to him. Chris was just sick of talking about his past at this point. There was no more shock or sorrow behind it for him. It was just scar tissue that kept coming back at the most inconvenient of times.

"...So yeah, I was in the funny farm for a while," Christopher ended the story on a nonchalant note.

Christopher raised his eyebrow and asked, a little creeped out, "You mean my telling you about how I use to be in an asylum makes you want to have a baby with me?!"

That feeling of being trapped in some weird Tim Burton world came back in tides now. Chris was sure he could even hear the iconic theme from Beetlejuice playing. Shaking his head in disbelief, Christopher looked away from Minna. Everything just seemed utterly insane to him now. This had to be a dream or something. This was not the world he knew at all.

"Besides... why do you want to have a child now?" he inquired, stalling a little.

Christopher delightfully grinned and embraced Minna. She was actually interested in having children now. That greatly brightened his mood. He rocked her in his arms as he let out small content laughs.

"So, you think we could start trying for one once spring comes about?" Chris asked with glee.

Chris felt an urge to laugh when Minna gave him the puppy dog stare. It was just so cute and adorable but he also knew why she was giving him one as well. He couldn't hold it it any longer and just laughed. "That is so cheap of a trick. I should only be able to get away with that. I'm the one becoming the canine afterall."

Trying to regain his composure, he smiled as he looked at her. He opened his mouth and replied, "Alright then. It's a deal..."

He leaned in to kiss her.