Honestly, things got way easier with Eve now I had my grandparents help. The first few days Eve was still a little shy around them, clinging to me or hiding behind my legs, but my grandparents love-bombed her as though she was their new grandchild, and she quickly got used to their affections and attentions. Every bit the softie I was, Gramps snuck her more chocolate than I ever fed her—always some in his pocket for her, and she damn well knew it. He even made it a cute thing like it was a secret between them, even when I was right there, and would hold up his finger to shush her like they were being stealthy, and she would always mimic the expression with a big smile and musical trill. Gram was a little different with her, treating her like an actual child, talking to her in full sentences like she would understand her, explaining what she was doing and would ask simple tasks of her. Strangely she did seem to know what Gram was asking and would follow along with her instructions or requests. Gram taught her how to set the table for meals one day, and now that was Eve’s role she took very seriously. She also stuck to Gram’s side whenever she was cooking and was always rewarded with extra food.

  Walking around the entire house—her environment expanding, Eve increased in size again. Now, she was the size of a kindergartener and seemed much more…human, I guess. Her skin was pure white and almost seemed to shimmer with little silver markings that moved or roiled around her that reminded me of the cuttlefish camouflage. Her legs were now properly formed with little black nails. Her arms were slender but the right length for her form, though she only hand three fingers and a thumb with the little black nails, and everything was properly placed. She still had a black veil around her body that looked like a dress, but this one was much more solid than her last form; it was pretty with frills and fins, and she seemed to perfect the mix of it being part of her body, part like a one-piece swimsuit, and part like a cute, girly black sundress. There was an aquatic aspect to it, and while it was definitely alien, I could see some human influences in its design from things she’d seen on TV. Her face now was cuter than ever; it was still all white like the rest of her, but framed a little in gray. She still had those giant, yellow glowing eyes, now more expressive than ever, but the area around her eyes was black, and she had this adorable button nose. Her full lips were black too, and now her teeth seemed much more human, although her canines were quite large and sharp, a little scary looking, but even when she tried nibbling on me it never hurt—always gentle. Her headpiece changed a little too, now looking like a black princess veil made from a squid turned into a hat, with long black tentacles coming from the back and sides very much like hair. She also had a couple of those long, translucent veils on the side of her squid-head hat.

  Her form now seemed totally solid, maybe even complete, and I couldn’t help but agree with my grandfather’s earlier assessment; I think Eve was trying to imitate or fit in with humans. Sure, she was still obviously alien, but her form was heavily influenced by people.

  The most alien thing about her though were the extra tentacles that could appear out of nowhere; a long black tentacle might come from her arm, under her dress, even her hair tentacles could move and stretch and do pretty much anything she wanted. Her main white body seemed to be locked to its size, so she created or manifested those extra tentacles if she needed them for some task—grabbing after something or wanting to cling and snuggle into me. They were quite strong too, able to lift pretty much anything, but she’d never exerted any force on any of us so far—she was surprisingly gentle.

  She’d grown too large for the terrarium of course, and while she walked around with us anywhere in the house, at bedtime she stayed with me. I’d gotten a doggy bed out and put it at the foot of my bed, but she had no interest in sleeping there, so she snuggled up against me, wrapped up in her own little bundle of blankets so I could hardly see her, but I felt her warmth against me through the night. Her actual biological makeup a complete mystery (she still never produced any waste or anything from all the food she ate), she either breathed like us or imitated the process perfectly, and I was soothed to sleep every night by her rhythmic breathing and soft little sleep trills.

  Through all this, taking care of Eve, my recovery seemed nearly complete; I was finally sleeping healthy again, I wasn’t dwelling on the negative thoughts, and now I didn’t even see the scene in my mind as vividly as I did before—I was so busy with Eve I barely thought of it. Sarah was astounded by my progress last session, and I had to admit I felt like I’d finally gotten through the worst of my PTSD, finally able to move on and properly heal. Hopeful but curious, Sarah asked what all changed for me, and I just shrugged at said I had a wonderful, supportive family at home.

  There was no doubt in my mind Eve was the reason—not just being busy taking care of her, but spending time with her was so therapeutic. She was the strangest mix between an animal and a child—all the best parts. She was cute and affectionate, she was shy but curious, she was gentle and sweet. I loved spending time with her around the house—we all did. My grandparents couldn’t get enough of her either. A tiny part of me worried Eve might’ve infected us with some alien spores or something that made us want to take care of her—like cats and that toxoplasma stuff—but I really didn’t think it was anything like that; she was just so adorable and innocent, I felt it would be nearly impossible to not want to take care of her. She liked watching TV with me and my grandparents—curious to see what was on the screen. She watched me play video games too and actually seemed to react to what was happening—she’d flinch if I was attacked or endangered or something, like she thought it was all real maybe. When I would draw on my tablet, she’d get out the notebook and crayons we’d given her and copy me, at first drawing what I did, but then she just seemed to like drawing everything around her, and very soon the house was filled with her art on the walls—all of it very much looking like kindergarten drawings. She got bored when I started writing—nothing for her to do with that, so she’d usually leave to go hang out with my grandparents then. I got out my old keyboard and fiddled around with my music software—I wasn’t any good, just another hobby—and Eve would sing along with her cute little alien trills.

  Everything was fun with Eve around, like having a new puppy mixed with a bright-eyed, eager child. No one in the family wanted to talk about the ‘what-ifs’ or the consequences should things turn sour if the government got involved again, those were conversations we weren’t willing to have yet. The most I was willing to do was set up a go-bag in my room in case I needed to escape with Eve at some point to keep her safe, just some clothes and survival supplies I’d need until we could figure things out I guess, though I knew there really wasn’t anything much we could do if the government came in full-force to try and kidnap her.

  Still, I would fight and probably die for the sweet little thing.

  Another week had passed since my grandparents learned about Eve, and we all sat down eating dinner—Eve having fun with the stretchy cheese from the lasagna Gram made.

  “So, have you thought about getting back to work?” Gramps asked mildly.

  I sighed, taking my time chewing while I thought over my response, “I’m done being a medic—beyond burned out at this point. From here, I guess I’ve gotta start weighing my options.”

  “Eve, sweetie, you have to hold the fork this way.” Gram helped adjust Eve’s utensils properly, then looked up at me, “You tell the department yet?”

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  “No, I still have a couple months left for my paid leave, figured I’d run that out before I quit.” I shrugged, “I think I can look for other jobs while on leave and everything, right? Or would that be some kind of conflict?”

  “You asking me? How would I know?” Gramps shook his head, “If you’re done, you’re done; don’t just linger on for that short-term disability money. Time to properly move on.”

  I sighed again, then passed over a piece of garlic bread Eve couldn’t quite reach, “I guess you’re right if we’re talking about moving on. I just don’t wanna lose out on the money if I quit now.”

  “Your savings are fine, right?”

  I nodded, “Financially I’m totally set—especially since you won’t let me pay you guys for living here.”

  Gram harrumphed, “Don’t even think about bringing that up again.”

  I smiled at her, then turned back to Gramps, “You really think I should up and quit?”

  Gramps nodded, “You said you’re done with your recovery, I think the last part of that is properly moving on. You wanna get to working again, I could ask my buddy Steve if he could hire you on part-time at his hardware store—just while you evaluate how you wanna move forward career-wise.”

  “That little family owned joint?”

  “Not so little now, he’s expanded a lot in recent years—could actually use the help too. Probably get you to work in just a few days, if you’re up for it.”

  While I needed the break and enjoyed the time at home, 6 months without working or doing pretty much anything had left me kinda stir crazy, so I was more than ready to get out into the world again. I looked over at Eve, eating her lasagna with significant enthusiasm that left quite a mess on her face. I pulled out a napkin to help wipe her down, “What about Evie though? Think she’ll be okay with me gone all day?”

  Gram nodded once, “The girl’s smarter than you realize; she’ll be fine with us, I’m sure.”

  Eve was moving her face away from me every bit like a stubborn kid would while I tried to clean her up. We never had to give her baths or anything, she seemed to take care of herself in that regard—usually at least. I smiled when she turned a big-eyed glare at me when I was done wiping her mouth, “Would you be okay if I went to work most of the day? Would you behave for the grandparents?”

  In response, Eve trilled a little song in what I would call irritation—at me for cleaning her face, leaving for a job, or thinking she wouldn’t be okay without me, I wasn’t sure.

  I rubbed the top of her head affectionately, and her irritation disappeared immediately as she started trilling with joy. I turned to my grandfather with a big smile, “Alright, why don’t you make that call to Steve for me?”

  ***

  The first part of my plan to move on with my life was to quit the fire department. I drove up to the station to have the conversation in person with the fire-chief and my captain, why I needed to quit and how I was moving on from the field completely, and while they were sad to see me go, they understood completely. Apparently, one of the EMTs and a cop that were on the scene with me also ended up taking significant leaves of absence too—PTSD was freely shared amongst all those that had firsthand experience with that evil event. Too bad the other guys didn’t have cute little aliens to help their recovery.

  I went out to tell the rest of the guys at my station I was quitting, earning the classic mix of well-wishes, sorrowful goodbyes, and good-natured ribbing. Some of the guys wanted to throw a little party or at least have me stick around for one last dinner at the station, but I denied their requests and just told them to take care of themselves—take the PTSD shit seriously and work on prioritizing their mental health.

  The next day, I met up with Gramps’s friend Steve, the owner of Prachet Hardware, a business started by his grandfather, and built up quite impressively over the last couple generations. I was very up-front with the man, told him I just recently quit the fire-service after dealing with some PTSD that made me leave the field entirely, and was interested in getting a completely fresh start. The man offered his condolences and called me a hero and all that stupid shit, and offered me the job after just barely starting the interview. I’d only be working part-time, but I’d be starting next week.

  Quitting my old job and starting a new one, it felt like I finally moved on—time to start living again.

  The next day I met up with some buddies for the first time in a long time—just hung out around their house, had a couple beers and we watched some horror movies. For some reason, I insisted we watch alien-related movies—the theme of the night.

  When I got back home, I was surprised to see Eve waiting for me with an irritated look on her face. She gestured up to the clock on the wall and trilled at me with that gibberish way she’d started talking, as though scolding me in her nonsense language.

  Gramps barked out a jovial laugh, “She’s mad you stayed out so late!”

  I picked up the little alien, but she huffed and turned away from me in my arms, “Evie, are you upset with me?” I asked, trying to hold back laughter.

  Eve made a trilling little ‘hmph’-noise—definitely learned from my grandmother—and refused to look at me.

  “Don’t tease the poor thing, she was probably worried about you; it’s the longest you’ve ever been gone from the house.” Gram scolded.

  “Evie, come on, look at me.” I said, giving her a gentle squeeze. Eve turned away even more in my arms, so my squeeze turned into tickling, so she started squirming in my arms. “Evie, sweet-thing, I won’t stop until you look at me!” I declared, tickling her more to elicit stifled trill-giggles from her. Eventually, I broke through her irritation, and she wrapped a couple tentacles around my wrists to halt my tickling, then nuzzled her head against my chest, wrapping her arms around my neck and hugging me tightly.

  “She’s just about the cutest thing I think has ever existed.” Gramps said with awe.

  I sighed happily and carried her over to the recliner to sit with my grandparents in the den, “Seriously, she could probably take over the planet with cuteness alone. I bet her species is some spacefaring race that conquers planets by disarming the locals with just being so damn cute all the time.”

  Gramps snorted, “Sounds like one of those horror stories you’re always writing.”

  I rolled my eyes, “When have I ever written about cute alien invasions? I don’t think I’ve ever even written about aliens at all actually…” Then I thought about that, and I probably could write up a fun story about Eve, might make a popular children’s book.

  “Alright, get serious now, what are you gonna do when you start working again? She’s bound to get anxious without you around if you’re gone too much.” Gram reasoned.

  I shrugged and adjusted the little alien in my arms to get comfortable, “She’ll just have to get used to it—part of growing up, right? Besides she’s got you two to keep her company.” I nodded between them, “What’d you all do while I was gone?”

  “She’s content for a time watching TV with us. She naps a bit bundled in those blankets on the couch too. She tries to play with Charlie sometimes, but he’s too lazy to entertain her attempts. She still likes drawing and coloring…” Gram frowned thoughtfully, “She doesn’t do nearly as much with us as she does you; I’m worried we’re boring her.”

  Gramps sighed, “She almost followed me outside when I was doing chores. I’m concerned she’s getting sick of being couped up inside all the time.”

  “Shit…” I was afraid of that. There was no telling if we had a dozen spy satellites constantly watching the farm now; letting her outside would just be too risky. But she was growing up, so she was bound to get bored of staying inside all day—I got bored staying home those six months I was recovering, I couldn’t imagine how bad it would be if I was stuck in a small house all that time.

  I pulled Eve away from my chest so she could look in my eyes, “Evie, you know you have to stay inside, okay? It’s not safe outside. Stay home, here.” I gestured all around us, “Home.”

  Eve cocked her head to the side like she was considering my words, and made a quiet trill noise that had no meaning behind it I could understand—like she heard me, but did she understand?

  “Evie stay home, stay safe.” I urged. My grandparents watched with me serious, concerned expressions. I nodded, “Stay home, yes?”

  Eve cocked her head to the other side, then nodded slowly, then trilled quietly again.

  I just sighed and pulled her back close against me. I had no idea how much she really understood us; sometimes it seemed like she was her own person, and those little gibberish trills were a real conversation. Other times she seemed very alien and out of place, like she had no idea what we were trying to say.

  I worried about her safety—I just wanted to take care of her. More than anything in my life now, that was my main priority.