Tul sat and looked at the little girl covered in wet wipes. He was trying, unsuccessfully, to soak the filth off the kid. At least loosen it up a bit.

She mostly ignored her wet wipe ensemble unless she was peeling one off for her own use. She seemed quite occupied with scrubbing her unicorn in a haphazard but enthusiastic fashion.

The little girl was seated on a kitchen counter. Offices and stores might work well for him but not for a kid. She had dark circles under her eyes and she was too thin. At least she wasn't still dehydrated. A gentle pinch test on her hand. Just fine. She looked at him curious but still silent. Patting her hand seemed to reassure her and she went back to her unicorn's bath. It might take a few days but she should be just fine. He crossed his fingers then smiled. It was a habit he had picked up from Max.

His clothing quest had been straight out of a sitcom. Man with no kid experience tries to outfit a young child. Insert laugh track here. Holding clothing against her trying to tell if it fit. Watching her watching him with quizzical eyes.

Ultimately, he'd decided she didn't need the fancy stuff. Tul grabbed a weeks worth of undies and socks, 3 pairs of jeans, 3 t-shirts, 2 sets of pjs and a hoodie that was purple with flowers on it. There had even been shoes so he'd tried them on her until he found a good fit in a pair of orange high tops. He had even found her a gift for tomorrow's ride. Surprisingly, she had been a good sport about the entire process.

"Now we have the same kind of clothes. Well, except your sneakers are cooler than my hiking boots." A smile, a hair scruffle and they were ready to go. A quick stop at a looted drug store had turned up the wipes, a body wash/shampoo combo for babies and a set of sparkly barrettes. He was positive he was good to go.

So here they were. She looked like a soggy mummy. With a unicorn. And he was at his wits end on how he was going to get the encrusted dirt off this kid without getting into the few water bottles he currently had. Drinking water was just too scarce.

"Ya know even 2 months ago this would have been so easy!" he confided to the child. "We would have gone to the bathroom, gotten your dirty clothes off you, turned on the hot water, put in some bubble bath and just let you soa- ." Tul paused. "Hot water..." His eyes widened. "Oh shit! HOT WATER!"

He raced through the door only to race back. He placed his little partner on the floor. "Stay here, sweetie. Okay?" No answer. She did blink though. He gave her a thumbs up and a grin.

Tul was tearing the house apart looking for something. Closet door after closet door was opened then closed. He finally found it in the garage. The hot water heater. He knocked on its side and was gratified to hear what sounded like a full tank. They held 50 gallons of water. Fifty! That was a bath for one seriously grungy kid. He could fill up the water bottles as well! Hell, he might get a bath too!

A huge weight rolled off Tul's shoulders. Water. Water to drink. Water to be clean. A sigh of relief. He looked around the bottom of the water heater and found the spigot. He ran back to the kitchen to grab a glass with a $20 dollar smile plastered on his face. This time, she followed him while trailing dried out wipes.

After whirling a finger around inside the spigot to make sure there was nothing blocking it, he turned it on and let it run just a bit to clear out any dirt. The glass tucked neatly under the spigot, he got a half a glass and turned the knob to off. A sniff. Smelled like water. He looked up and realized the kid had followed him and was once again watching. He sipped it. Lukewarm and flat but it seemed okay. He waited a minute then took a full fledged swallow. Nothing. No adverse reaction yet. He'd wait to let the girl drink it - just to make sure - but bathing should be no problem! 

"You are getting a bath, princess! You're going to be all clean and wear your new jammies!" A few excited air punches to celebrate and Tul started looking for a bucket.

He'd found a mop bucket and used some dish soap to clean it out. Quick rinse with as little water as he thought he could get away with and then he started totting water.

There were no windows in the bathroom so he pulled out his solar lamp. His sidekick had followed him to the bathroom and seemed to be in awe of the sudden clear light in the room. He stoppered the tub and poured the first bucket in. A quick hunt revealed no bubbles. He went back to get the next bucket full. No bubbles was just a downer. He watched the bucket fill and noticed the dish soap he'd used. Wait, didn't they use Dawn to wash baby ducks and stuff? Tul grinned.

"Sweetie, I think I found bubbles!" He didn't put much in but after shaking his hand vigorously in the water, there was indeed bubbles. She lit up. Still no smile but her eyes were happy.

He stripped away the few remaining wet wipes and her ragged shorts. "I don't think Unicorn will like a bath very much. It... makes their horns go funny." he finished in a rush. She looked at him in all seriousness. Would she buy his highly ridiculous excuse?  " I bet he'd like to watch you though. Maybe he could sit on the toilet lid?" She paused then carefully placed the unicorn on the lid and started to get into the tub. Tul lifted her in and sat her down.

She played with the bubbles and the plastic glass he used to help wash her hair. He'd scrubbed it 3 times just to be sure. He'd found a wash cloth and had eventually gotten all of her clean. While she wasn't thrilled, she didn't fight him much. Now, he was just leaning on his hand watching her be a little kid. A small smile played on his face.

"Can you tell me your name, sweetheart?" She looked at him. No answer.  Another splash. Tul went on. His voice soft, relaxed. "I read a book once that had a little girl named Miri in it. She was very brave and her name meant 'wonderful'. I think you're very brave and very wonderful so can I call you Miri?"

Tul didn't expect a response. He stopped leaning on his hand and slowly straightened as she gave him a tiny thumbs up. And right there, Tul lost a good portion of his heart to Miri.

~♡~♡~♡~

Thanks for reading!
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