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“This finale is going to break my heart, isn’t it?” Ben asks.

“Definitely,” Theo answers with a grin. I finish my food quickly and Theo passes me another sandwich, but the odd heaviness only grows, and I have to set it aside after only eating half. I curl under Ben’s arm and try to watch the television, but it feels as though my body is slipping away from me somehow, like I am floating halfway between the earth and the sky. I close myeyes for a moment, and the next thing I know, Ben is shaking my shoulders.

“Annie!” he calls. “Annie! What’s wrong? I don’t think she can even hear me. Annie!”

Theo’s voice breaks through the fog too. “Is she…sick? Can she get sick?”

My eyes snap open. Ben is still beside me on the couch, but Theo is crouched near my head, a worried crease between his eyebrows.

“What is the matter?” I ask. “What happened?” Something feels different, but I cannot figure out what it is until I look at the window and realize it is pitch black outside.

“Annie, did you…fall asleep?” Ben asks incredulously.

“I…I do not sleep,” I mutter, pulling myself up and putting a hand to my forehead. “I cannot…I mean, I did not think I could.”

“Sweetheart, it’s been two hours since we started the show,” Theo says, waving at the TV. “We thought you were just quiet because you were so into it, but…I think you were actually asleep.”

“She hardly moved at all,” Ben says with a small laugh.

I shake my head. “I do not understand. How did I fall asleep?” Ben wraps me in his arms and I fall into him, burying my face in his chest and trying to avoid the bruise from my wings.

“She’s changing,osito,” he says quietly. “We have to figure this out. We have to keep her here.”

“I know,” Theo says softly. “Annie, do you want to go to the bed and sleep more?”

I sit up and shake my head. “I missed the ending,” I say, waving at the TV. “I would like to stay up and watch it.”

“Well, I need to get to bed,” Theo says. “I have to be at the shelter early to start this training. Do you want to stay out here with her?”

“Just for a little while, to make sure she’s alright,” Ben replies. Theo reaches down and takes my hand, kissing the back.

“We’ll figure it out, Annie, alright? I promise.” I brush my fingers along his cheek and his eyes close for a moment, then he goes to check on the new cat, leaving me alone with Ben on the couch.

“How will you find a way for me to stay here?” I ask quietly.

“Tomorrow, before you and Theo go to work, you’re gonna drop me off at the library downtown to do some research,” Ben murmurs. “I’ll start there, and I won’t stop until I have an answer.”

“I love you,” I tell him, turning my face so I can see his eyes. “Do you know that?”

“I know,” he whispers, kissing the tip of my nose. He stays with me for another thirty minutes as I restart theClone Warsepisodes I missed. Soon, however, he begins to yawn and drift off, so I insist he go to bed with Theo.

My body no longer feels heavy or warm, but I think it has something to do with the terrible events of the show. I can hardly tear my eyes away to say goodnight to Ben when he leaves. Once I am alone, I bundle myself up in blankets, as if they are a shield against the angst and emotional damage I am about to experience at the hands of fictional characters. Just as I am starting the second-to-last episode, I hear a strange noise and look down to see the brown cat sitting at my feet, his huge green eyes shining in the darkness. Moving slowly so as not to startle him, I pause the show and hold my hand out.

“Hello there. I am a friend, I promise.”

He gives a small chirp and leaps onto the couch, but does not make contact. I avert my eyes, like Theo told me to, but leave my hand out and open, resting on my knee as I resume watchingClone Wars. The cat sits for a moment, twitching his long tail, then settles only a foot away with his front paws tucked beneath him. It takes all of my self-control not to call for Theo and Ben to come out and see what is happening.

The little creature remains beside me, still and silent, as I become more and more emotional, the churning pit of snakes in my stomach almost unbearable as the episode goes on. What I am watching play out on the screen is not dissimilar to what I experienced only a day ago, when Annoth took control and tried to make me hurt the people I care about. Close to the end of the episode, I realize that my entire body is shaking violently.

Just when I am considering waking Ben up, the cat rises, stretches his body out, and climbs into my lap. In shock, I hold my hands away from him as he kneads my legs with his tiny claws, then curls into a tight ball on top of my thighs. Now, more than ever, I desperately want to wake Theo and Ben up, but I dare not disturb the little animal using me for a bed. His body begins to vibrate softly. Purring, I realize, and I slowly run my fingers over his head. The purring intensifies, so I do it again, until we have settled into a cozy rhythm and my own shaking has stopped. It is still difficult to watch as Ahsoka and Rex fight their way past the other clone troopers to escape, but at least I have someone to comfort me now.

“I know exactly what your name will be,” I tell the cat.

“What’s that?” comes a quiet voice from the hallway. I look over and see Theo standing there with a wide but sleepy smile.

I point at my lap and whisper, “Look!”

Theo comes around the corner and settles carefully onto the couch beside me. “Did he do that all on his own?”