You do it to someone you love." My words made her reddening face deepen in hue. "Ok girls, now wash your faces for real. Chloe, we still need to check...out those clothes I got you."The girls cleaned their faces in the sink and then followed me back to the couch, where I had a large bag from GoodWill. Most of the clothes they sold were second-hand, but luckily all underwear was donated directly from retailers and never worn. I started by handing her a pair of panties. "Here, put these on."She, of. Ryan had been 4 inches taller that his mother but now the two looked eyeto eye. He looked just like he did before the fever...only shrunken downa tad. He now stood 5 foot 5 inches."Oh Ryan, I didn't notice that while you were lying in bed. I'm sorry Icouldn't warn you," his mom sympathised with him.He felt defeated. He was like 8/10ths his regular self. He reached deepwithin himself and took a deep breath."I can deal with this. I'm not going to let this thing beat me," he saidwith. The sheriff was already boozing it up inside his filthy jail littered with junk from countless bad men with no reason to clean up their trash like normal folks. A pair of still-drunk cowboys staggered out the front door complaining that the “crooked sheriff” had relieved them of most of their hard-earned pay for a long exhausting cattle drive that almost cost them their lives.That bastard sheriff had thrown his Kate in a cell with at least four other nasty looking pieces of work from the saloon. . It just could be..." She sighed. "Dan, I love you. Very much. You're the first guy I ever loved..." I feel quite privileged to have that distinction bestowed on me, sweetness," I said.Kiss. "Mmmmm..." sigh. "You've been ... Uh ... Is this the way it is?" No," I said truthfully. "It isn't."That answer caused her to raise herself to look into my face. "No?" Her eyes looked concerned."No. Never has been. This," I said, "is the way I WANTED it to be." Really? Because it's important to me...".