It wasn’t the first time Malia had resorted to sleeping outside, but it was the first time she had to do it in the pouring rain. She brought her jacket around her shoulders, leaning against the tree and closing her eyes. She’d learned to sleep anywhere these past few years and, as hard as it may seem, she ended up drifting off as the rain poured down atop her. She knew it wasn’t warm, she was absolutely freezing, but where else did she have to go? Nowhere. For some reason, the thought of stopping by to ask Carson if he’d be okay with giving her some shelter never crossed her mind, she was too heavy with guilt.<br/><br/>A handful of hours later, she was momentarily shaken from her sleep when she felt herself being lifted from the ground. It wasn’t enough to truly wake her, but enough to jarr her at the least. Her hair was soaked, dripping down her already soaked body as whoever was holding her brought her inside. She instantly felt the heat in contrast to her freezing clothes, and even after setting her down, she began to shiver. Oddly, it wasn’t the movement of Carson that woke her, but the violent shaking of her body in an attempt to warm up. She fluttered her eyes open, her eyebrows furrowed when she looked around the unfamiliar room. She sat up quickly, but her heart slowed as she saw a familiar face at the desk across the room. Carson.<br/><br/>“Hey...” she trailed off, sitting up and wrapping her arms around her shins. She propped her head against her knees, looking over to him. “Thank you, you didn’t need to bring me in.” She mumbled, though grateful didn’t begin to describe how she felt. Her tired eyes were struggling to stay open, she was just tired of everything. She could hear the patterns of the rain on the roof, leaning back against a wall. “I don’t know what to do,” she admitted with a sigh, knowing he had no context as to why she was in the rain. “I don’t belong here.” She shook her head