Sunbeams - Part Sixteen
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
I’m clutching my phone so tightly that my knuckles are starting to turn white. My other hand is curled into a fist and pressed into my chest, right where that knot of icy panic is choking off my breathing. I’m slowly starting to press harder and harder, with every second that ticks by.
“Come on, Luca,” I whisper desperately, trying not to hear the shallow, struggling breaths that Aiden is taking. “Come on, come on…”
I can tell from Aiden’s expression just how much this is hurting him. The piercing sound of the soul in danger must be loud enough to feel like it’s splitting the air open around him, based on the raw ache in his eyes. The way he keeps flinching and putting his hands over his ears.
He’s striding around my car in swift circles. I get the sense that he’s trying with all his might to not take off sprinting down the dark road in the direction of Ketterbridge. His terrified blue eyes are swimming with so much light that the glow is catching on his hair, which he can’t stop pushing his fingers through.
It’s tearing me up inside to see him like this, so I’ve been trying to keep my eyes on my phone. But now I look up sharply at Aiden, my breath frozen in my chest.
All of a sudden, he just - stopped. Came to a total standstill, out of nowhere. He stands there silently, with his back to me, as motionless as the trunks of the enormous grand firs lining the road.
“Aiden?” I rush around to get in front of him, my racing heartbeat stumbling. “Is he-?”
I shut up instantly as Aiden looks down at me.
The swirling, frantic blue light in his eyes is gone. They’re back to their normal, sweet, clear way of looking. The only thing unusual about them now is that they’re flooded with warm relief.
“Oh, man,” I gasp weakly, then throw my arms around Aiden’s waist, pressing my cheek against his chest. “Oh, thank fucking god…”
Aiden folds his huge arms around me and drops his head, rests it tiredly on top of mine.
“All - all good.” The panic is slowly going out of his deep voice. Now he sounds dazed, in disbelief. “They did it. They’ve got him safe.”
I’m in disbelief, too. I thought that was about to be the first rescue where we saved no one.
There was no way we could’ve gotten there in time. We couldn’t offer any magical help to the ones who could. We tried something that Aiden had never done before, the long-distance guiding together of two soul notes. We had no idea if it would work, and we had no idea what was going on. Especially after Luca texted us to say they’d saved him, when they hadn’t yet.
But somehow, in spite of all of that - the team pulled it off.
“Oh my god, holy shit, okay…” I give Aiden a tight squeeze, then step back and shakily swipe the sleeve of my flannel over my face. “Okay, let me - let me just tell Luca!”
It takes me a few tries with my trembling hands, but I get the text sent. Aiden leans back against the side of my car and tilts his head back. He’s taking in a lot of long, deep breaths, like this is the first real taste of oxygen he’s had since the soul started crying out for help.
“Holy - fuck,” he stammers, staring blankly up at the night sky. “I can’t believe that worked.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty cool, isn’t it?” I blurt out, breaking into a proud grin. “You can guide the team from afar if you have to, Aiden!”
“Yeah,” he manages, his deep voice hoarse with exhaustion. “I d-don’t prefer doing it that w-way, though… that was way scarier than it normally is, for some reason. Just not knowing what was going on, and - it was so hard to do it. My head hurts.”
I stuff my phone into the back pocket of my jeans and draw closer to Aiden, gently taking his face in my hands. His stubble scratches my palms softly as I tip his head back so I can look into his eyes.
I can tell from one glance that he’s completely spent. His eyes are half-closed with exhaustion, and he’s leaning his cheek into my palm heavily, like it’s helping him keep his head up.
I’m not surprised. I just watched him track two souls at once, watched him bring them together. Struggling not to lose his grasp on the quieter one, trying to concentrate around the noise of the one that was screaming at top volume. Sinking all of his magical energy into it, and trying not to panic the whole time.
I pulled over to get him some air as soon as I realized there was no way we were getting there in time. Things got better once Aiden got out of the car and into the open air, but he still looked like he was on the verge of falling apart.
I did, too. Probably still do. Just like Aiden, I can’t believe that any of that worked.
Now that the adrenaline is wearing off, I’m completely worn out, too. Rescues always leave me with a raw, shaken-up feeling that takes a little time to fade away, along with a bone-deep kind of exhaustion.
But I didn’t forcibly expend all of my energy, the way that Aiden did. He’s leaning on me right now like he needs to, his ocean eyes blinking very slowly.
“Noah,” he mumbles slowly, his words slurred with exhaustion and worry. “He was there. He must have - must have seen-”
“Hey, it’s okay!” I wrap one arm around Aiden, then use the other to push myself back from the car, dragging him up with me. “We’ll deal with that later. The person who needed help is safe. That’s what matters right now, right?”
“Right, yeah…” Aiden slurs softly, his deep voice melting every tired word together. “Wait, no… this is serious, Jamie… what am I gonna say… when we get there?”
“You don’t have to say anything tonight. It can wait until you’re awake.” I push him gently down into the passenger’s seat. He pulls his feet in, then falls back against the seat and closes his eyes. “Let’s at least talk to Luca first. We’re almost back to Ketterbridge, we’ll - we’ll meet up with him, find out what happened, and go from there. Is that okay?”
Aiden doesn’t answer. I smooth his hair back from his eyes, then stare down at his sleeping face.
I just look for a long, long moment, before I lean down and press a kiss onto his temple. I don’t know why, but the sight of him like this, right now - it has my heart superheated with white-hot, molten love.
“I’m gonna take that as a yes,” I murmur softly, then shift Aiden safely back from the car door before I close it.
I get back into the driver’s seat and take a deep, shaky breath. I take a second to pull myself back together, then reach across to the glovebox and get my inhaler out of it.
Aiden shifts in his seat, waking up a little at the clicking sound when I shake my inhaler. In the darkness, his hand fumbles across the car to squeeze my thigh.
I close my fingers around his, squeezing him back. “I’m fine, I promise. Just using it to be safe.”
Aiden closes his eyes in relief as he snuggles back up into his seat. I pull out my phone as I use my inhaler. I need to text Luca and set up a place to meet him. He’s already texted me, so maybe he’s had the same thought.
I read his text, then blink very hard a few times, then read it again.
Should we meet up? I’m headed to a diner with Noah and Ralph after we get this kid dropped off at the farm! I’ll text you the address, one sec!
“What the fuck?” I murmur beneath my breath, reading it a third time. “Ralph?”
Aiden looks up, hanging onto the last of his energy, his slurred voice full of concern. “Somethin’ happen to Ralph? Is he okay?”
“Yeah, no, he’s fine.” I bite my lip, hoping I’m not about to launch into nervous fumfering. “Luca sent me, um - it - it sounds like - like maybe Noah wasn’t the only one who - I’m not - I don’t know what happened exactly, but, um…”
I look over at Aiden helplessly, then realize all at once that he fell back asleep as soon as I confirmed that Ralph was fine.
I let out a quiet, affectionate laugh, smoothing my fingers through a handful of soft chestnut glossiness. Then I plug my phone back in, put on our playlist at a soft volume.
It’s something I’ve started doing whenever Aiden passes out on the way back from a rescue. My hope is that it reaches him in his dreams, lets him know he’s someplace safe.
I put the car in gear and get back on the road, at roughly the same place where I swerved us off. The relief in me right now is enough to make me sway slightly in my seat. Enough to make me let out another soft, tired laugh at how good it feels compared to how I felt a few minutes ago. The worries in my heart have mostly gone quiet, even the one that Aiden was fretting about.
I know how much love there is between him and his brothers. I meant what I told him.
No matter what Ralph and Noah saw tonight, no matter what questions they might have - I don’t think for one second that they’ll be looking at Aiden any differently.
~~~~
The sight that greets me when I pull into the diner parking lot is baffling. I find myself breaking into a slow, confused smile when my eyes fall on it.
“Um, what…?” I laugh softly, leaning forward to peer through the windshield.
It’s a dark night, but a soft, fine drizzle is drifting down. Every droplet falling through the air and glimmering on the cars catches the red and blue neon glow from the diner’s sign. The puddles in the pavement pick it up, too, reflecting the light back in vivid pools of color.
So I have a pretty clear view of Roger’s car, and Mel’s car. They’re parked together at the edge of the lot, beneath the shelter of a few outreaching cedar branches high overhead.
Ralph is sitting on the hood of Mel’s car, his elbows resting on his bent knees. His blonde hair is damp from the rain, a little spiky where it falls over his temple. He’s got a cup of french fries in his hands. Tycho is standing with her paws up on the front of the car, her little white tail wagging, her eyes fixed on the food.
Noah is standing beside the hood, his long hair up in a bun. Nikita is bundled in his tattooed arms, and he’s gently bouncing her as he says something to Ralph. She’s awake, cozied up in a thick and warm little onesie. It has a hood that gives her two rounded bear ears.
Luca is on the other side of the car, leaning his elbows on the roof of it. He’s taken off the top part of his uniform, leaving him in a white t-shirt above the paramedic blues pants and heavy black boots. He and Ralph are both grinning widely, listening to Noah.
Roger is just behind Luca. He’s in his station clothes, and his black curls are tousled like they always are after he takes off his helmet. He must have come here right from work. Standing where he is, he’s the only one getting a little rained on. But he’s also in a position to rest one hand in Luca’s back pocket, and he doesn’t look like he plans on moving.
He, Ralph, and Luca all look like they’re trying not to start laughing at whatever Noah is saying.
I pull my car to a stop near the gathered-up little group, then get out and step into the soft drizzle, right in time to hear Noah say -
“Just throw it, man, I’ll catch it.”
“I’m not gonna try to throw a french fry into your mouth, Noosh,” Ralph answers firmly, holding his fries back. “Drop it.”
“Why not?”
“Because I might hit Nikita’s face instead of yours?”
Noah shrugs his shoulders, like he doesn’t see what the big deal is. “So what?”
“The fuck do you mean, so what?” Ralph sputters, around a startled laugh. “You can’t hit a baby with a french fry, dude!”
Noah glances down at Nik, confused. “Where’s it say that?”
“Jesus Christ,” Ralph groans, tossing a french fry to Tycho instead.
“Probably one of those things nobody ever thought they had to bother to write down,” Roger mutters.
“French fries are soft,” Noah says, like he’s explaining something incredibly obvious. He looks over at Luca, pointing at Ralph. “Doc, in your professional opinion, would it be dangerous if I ask that man to throw a french fry at me and my baby?”
“I don’t fucking know, dude.” Luca lets out a helpless laugh as Roger drops his face into his hands. “Nobody has ever asked me that before. Guess it depends on - how’s your aim, Ralph?”
“Don’t even try it, because I will confiscate your fries,” Roger tells Ralph, who holds up his hands in agreement. “Even if he doesn’t hit the baby, do we really think she’d appreciate being in the crossfire?”
“Dude, she’d probably love it.” Noah breaks into a proud grin that dimples the corners of his mouth, gazing down at Nikita with silver in his eyes. “She likes to surf the adrenaline wave, just like her dad.”
Roger stares at him, arching an eyebrow. “How the hell could you possibly know that?”
“Because my wife nearly tripped while she was holding Niki the other day, and Niki loved it,” Noah laughs affectionately. “Now we’re all pretending to do it, just for her. Here, I’ll show you. Don’t freak out, I’ve got her.”
Noah makes sure that Nik is tucked closely against his chest, safe in his arms. Then he takes a few steps forward, and pretends to trip.
He puts up a convincing show of it, so convincing that Tycho barks in alarm. He goes lurching forward, gasping loudly like he really believes he’s about to go down. Catches himself at the last second.
Nik instantly bursts into thrilled, ecstatic giggles, kicking her legs, her tiny hands clutching tight to Noah’s ripped-up shirt. He straightens up, grinning down at her, then takes a few steps and pretends to trip again. She lets out a cascade of wild laughter that shakes her entire body, her little smile closing her eyes for her. She presses her cheek into Noah’s chest, giggling and laughing breathlessly, uncontrollably.
The baby laughter is too contagious to resist. Ralph, Noah, Luca, and Roger all burst out laughing with her, everyone crumpling over at once. Ralph drops his head, and Luca presses his hands over his mouth, closing his eyes. Roger looks like he’s melting onto the car, holding onto it for support.
“See? She’s perfect.” Noah beams down at Nik, then looks up at the others. “Alright, now somebody hold her so that Ralph will throw a french fry at me.”
“Are you guys done arguing about french fries and pretending to drop babies on the ground?” I call out, finally finding my voice.
Noah, Ralph, Roger, and Luca all turn to look at me, caught by surprise. Then there’s an instant, collective call of celebratory greeting, everyone breaking into a bright grin at once. Nik lets out a burst of bright little baby sounds, eagerly joining in on the general noise-making.
I let out a laugh and cross to the group, shaking my head at them.
“You alright, Keane?” Ralph asks, his sage green eyes searching my face.
“Yeah, I - I was totally cool and chill the whole time,” I answer, dragging the back of my wrist over my forehead.
“Oh, yeah?” Noah arches a skeptical eyebrow, trying not to laugh. “You’ve still got your inhaler in your hand, man.”
I stick my tongue out at him and stuff my inhaler into my back pocket, my cheeks burning. “Whatever!”
“Where’s Aiden?” Ralph leans to the side, looking past me at my car. “Is he okay? Bet his head is hurting.”
I gesture back at my car. “He’s asleep, it knocked him right out! But he woke up enough to take some Advil, and he’s gonna be oka-”
I break off sharply, staring at Ralph with wide eyes. The last part of what he said only just sank in.
“Nope,” Roger says firmly, striding right past me before I can recover enough to say anything. “He’s not allowed to miss out on this part.”
I turn around, flustered and baffled, hearing Noah let out a soft snicker of laughter. His grey eyes are on Aiden, who’s slumped over asleep in the passenger’s seat of my car.
“That’s funny, Keane,” Noah laughs. “I’ve got one of those, too.”
I tilt my head to the side in confusion, and Noah tosses his head back in the direction of Mel’s car. I move around Luca to peer inside, then let out a sputter of startled laughter. Raj is passed out in the backseat, one leg sprawled down to the car floor, one arm folded against the seat. His mouth is slightly open in his sleep, just like Aiden’s.
“What is he doing here, Noah?”
“Nik woke up, and Raj couldn’t get her to fall back asleep,” Noah explains, shifting Nik into one arm so he can reach for a fry. “Me and Ralph still weren’t back yet when Nik woke Raj up, so he brought her and Tycho, came here looking for us. Knew that I was fixing the electric system here tonight. Showed up right about when we did, then passed out instantly.”
“Yeah, looks like he’s catching up on the sleep he missed,” I laugh, watching as Raj snores softly, his jet-black curls falling over his eyes. “He sleeps the way little kids do, just in whatever weird shape they want.”
“Yep,” Noah sighs affectionately, gazing down at Raj’s awkwardly sprawled-out self. “That’s my ride or die, right there.”
I straighten up and let out a dazed laugh. “You’ve got a few of those, Noah.”
He flashes me a dimpled grin, gently cradling Nik’s head in his inky hand. “Not the worst problem to have.”
Heavy footsteps draw my attention back to Roger. He’s woken up Aiden, and he’s in the process of practically hauling him over to join everyone else at Mel’s car. Aiden is on his feet, walking, but leaning heavily on Roger. He sleepily pulls his backwards snapback onto his head as he comes closer, his blue eyes barely open.
“What’s goin’ on?” he asks, looking around at everyone, his voice rough with sleep.
I dart around behind him and slip my hand into his. I open the connection just long enough to feed him some of my energy. As much as I can spare without going down, myself.
His blue eyes open a little bit more as Noah says - “Hey, man! We got your boy Tom back where he belongs! Home safe with his friend, all that.”
“What - what happened?” Aiden rumbles, his deep voice baffled as he gets a real look at his surroundings. “And what’s happening now?”
“Duh, man, we’re celebrating!” Noah answers, grinning brightly. “Doc here says we saved somebody’s whole fucking life!”
“I’ve explained to him several times that I’m not a doctor, but it doesn’t seem to be clicking.” Luca lets out a happy laugh, swats Aiden’s arm with the back of his hand. “But that doesn’t matter, right? What matters is we did it! You sent us the right way, we did it!”
I gaze around at the happy, tired faces of the group, something warm slowly climbing up through my chest. In all the rush and the panic, it hasn’t really hit me until now.
We did it. We saved someone.
I don’t think it hit Aiden until right now, either, because he breaks into a slow, exhausted, startled smile.
“We did it,” he repeats, closing his eyes happily.
All the rest of us break into relieved laughter, and Noah lets out a loud cheer. Nik lets out another squeal of laughter as soon as we do, sitting up in Noah’s arms, watching all of us with wide eyes.
“Here you go, boys.” Ralph hands me one of the milkshakes perched on the hood of the car, then hands another to Aiden. “Apparently it’s too late for anyone to sell us beer, so we’re working with what we’ve got.”
I take a grateful sip of the milkshake, then steal some of the french fries, realizing suddenly that I’m starving.
“Man, that shit was wild,” Noah tells us, in a matter-of-fact voice. “Your guy almost took a pipe to the face. And not a fun pipe, the kind you smoke out of, the kind you actually want to take to the face.”
Aiden looks up at Noah with alarmed, bewildered eyes. “What?”
“Yeah, fuckin’ speaking of angry men with steel pipes, swinging in the general vicinity of my goddamn boyfriend,” Roger jumps in, fixing us with a dark glare. “Aiden. Jamie.”
“What-? We didn’t know about the pipe!” I stare at Roger with wide eyes, aghast. “You know we didn’t know-”
“Regardless,” Roger says firmly, “I’m gonna end both of your lives.”
“That’s not very first-responder of you! Aren’t you supposed to do the opposite?”
“We owe you and Luca one, man.” Aiden is just awake enough to flash a guilty, apologetic look at Roger. “Promise we’ll - make it up - to you.”
Roger softens instantly, taking in Aiden’s exhausted eyes.
“Alright, I’ve got a way,” he says slowly, folding his burly arms over his chest. “Ketterbridge FD is doing a fundraising event soon. We’re gonna play the Greenrock fire department in a football game, raise some money for both of our departments.”
Noah looks over at Roger in confusion. “By playing football?”
“By selling food and beer to the people who come to watch us play,” Roger clarifies. “But we’re one man short of a team, and we need someone to fill in. I’d ask Jamie, since I think he’d be fast, but I know what kind of knowledge he has about sports.”
“Um, okay! I may not know a ton about sports, Roger, but I do know how to return a serve, you catty, big-talking-”
“Happy to,” Aiden cuts in firmly, flashing Roger a sleepy, relieved smile. “Mmmuch better at soccer, though.”
“So - wait, you’re not mad at us?” I ask Roger nervously, twisting the heist ring around my finger.
If that’s really all he’s asking for, I can’t think he’s all that angry. Maybe more exasperated than anything.
“Oh, I am,” he growls, in a voice that tells me he’s probably not. “And I’m mad at Luc, too. You should’ve seen the fucking text he sent me! There will be consequences.”
“It’s fine,” Luca whispers, leaning down to murmur covertly in my ear. “I think I can turn it into a sexy punishment type of situation, if I play my cards right.”
He takes Roger’s hand and casually slips it into the back pocket of his paramedic uniform again, then adds, just as quietly - “Laying the groundwork right now.”
I bite back a laugh, then look searchingly up at Roger. He’s looking down at Luca with a supposedly pissed-off expression on his face, but I can see the warmth and admiration glowing in his blue-green eyes.
I suspect that he’s more proud of Luca than anything, which makes sense. Luca led the team on his own, and the team came through to victory.
“Doc did good,” Noah chimes in, as if reading my mind. “My man’s got some reflexes. You should’ve seen-”
He breaks off as a waitress from the diner stops near the car, holding a brown paper bag heavy with food.
“Hey, there, I’ve got…” She reads out loud from the receipt in her hand. “Three cheeseburgers with onions and extra pickles, three orders of fries, one order of wings, a cookies ‘n cream milkshake, another order of wings, and one order of tater tots?”
“Yep, right here!” Noah reaches out to take the bag from her, then glances around at the group. “Didn’t you guys order anything?”
I let out a startled laugh, staring at Noah with wide eyes. “What the fuck! Jesus Christ, dude!”
“Whatever, man, I’m fucking starving!”
Aiden lets out a sleepy rumble of laughter. “At least it’s not Scorpion chips.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to appreciate Scorpion chips, bro,” Noah says solemnly, cracking open his bag and popping a tater tot into his mouth. “Takes a refined palette, that does.”
“We’re still working on the other orders!” the waitress calls, heading back across the parking lot towards the diner. “We’ve got a barbecue burger with onion rings coming up next!”
I blink at her, then turn back to Noah with a grateful smile. That’s definitely exactly what I ordered the last time he and I stopped through this place together. And I have to imagine that Aiden’s order is coming after mine.
Noah returns my smile, then hands Nik to Luca so he can eat. Ralph lights up a cigarette behind him as I bend to say hello to Tycho. Luca smiles into Nik’s face, and she glares furiously at him from beneath her little bear ears.
Aiden moves to sit down tiredly between Ralph and Noah on the hood of the car. He puts his elbows on his knees, then hangs his head in exhaustion.
Ralph looks at him with unreadable eyes for a moment. Then he gives Aiden’s back a soft, reassuring slap, right as Noah braces his shoulder in the same way. Aiden doesn’t lift his head, but he takes off his snapback and runs a hand through his hair, shoulders slumped with relief.
That’s all that any of them have really said about what happened tonight, and it was said silently. But apparently it’s enough for all three of them.
For now, anyways.
“Well, now that we all have our milkshakes!” Noah holds his milkshake up for a toast, grey eyes glittering silver with happiness. “To freeing a fucking captive, right? And to Ralph’s secret admirer! May he live long, think a lot harder about any ink he gets in the future, and get a girl to notice him. Or multiple girls. Or multiple guys. Or a little of both, if that’s how he rolls, I dunno-”
“For fuck’s sake, dude!” Ralph groans, casting Noah a dark glare. “Don’t call him my-”
“To Ralph’s secret admirer!” Noah says loudly, holding out his milkshake.
Everyone cheers and laughs, except for Ralph, who groans again. All of us look bewildered - and I think for all different reasons, about completely different aspects of what went down tonight - but we all tilt our milkshakes together with matching happy grins on our faces. Aiden with a little help, in the form of me holding up his arm for him.
Luca looks delighted to have an opportunity to hold a baby. He lets out a warm laugh as Nik reaches up for his face, her eyes intent and determined. “She keeps trying to put her entire hand in my mouth, Noah.”
“Yeah, sorry about that, man. It’s been a thing lately. She’s starting to get a few teeth, so I think now she’s curious about everybody else’s.”
I blink and look over my shoulder at Roger, losing the thread of the conversation as he laughs quietly to himself.
I drop my volume to a whisper, turning to face him. “What?”
“Nothing, just… must be something about human nature.” Roger nods at our little group, keeping his voice quiet, a quiet smile in his eyes. “Just… reminds me of what we look like at the station after we save someone, or finally get a bad blaze put out. We do pretty much the same thing every time. Everyone just wants to be together, after something like that. Doesn’t matter how tired we all are.”
Roger lets his gaze roam around at the team, all gathered together. The exhausted laughter, the smoke and the soft rain catching the glow of the neon, the food getting handed around.
“Something tells me this won’t be the last time this exact thing happens, that’s all.” Roger nods at Nikita, who’s giggling at all of the activity, staring around from her perch in Luca’s arms. “Might be that this is the first time of many times, for that little one.”
He pauses, then adds - “Assuming the rescue team is expanding?”
“It - wasn’t supposed to, exactly,” I whisper back, speaking slowly. “We were planning to tell Ralph and Noah the truth, but we weren’t planning on…”
I fade off, realizing all at once the total futility of trying to tell Ralph and Noah that they can’t help me and Aiden when we might need them. Pointless, that’s what it would be. The odds that they would listen are practically zero.
“We’ll sort it out later,” I tell Roger quietly. “When Aiden is way more awake than this. What matters right now is that the person we were supposed to rescue is home, and safe.”
Roger nods, but he’s not looking at me. His eyes are lingering on Luca with the baby, a little smile turning up his mouth.
I look at Noah and Ralph again. Something is slowly dawning on me.
Neither of them seems all too shocked, right now. They’re both grinning and laughing, Noah reaching out to take Nik back. Ralph is letting Aiden lean against his knee to stay upright without even really noticing. Like nothing has changed at all.
If the very fabric of Ralph and Noah’s reality has shifted, if they’re stunned to have been part of something that should have been impossible, if they’re even a little bit thrown off by what Aiden did tonight… then it’s not showing. Not - not at all.
I stare at them in disbelief, then close my eyes for a second. Oh, my god.
If my line of thinking is right, then Ralph and Noah have known that something about Aiden was seriously different this whole fucking time, and they haven’t said a word to anyone. Not even to him.
Maybe they’ve always been part of the team. Maybe they always will be, no matter what Aiden says to try to keep them a safe distance back.
My eyes go to Nikita, who’s sitting up in Noah’s arms, her little hands braced on his chest. Her excitement and growing sleepiness are obviously battling it out. Her eyes are blinking very slowly and drowsily, but she’s giggling with her mouth wide open - revealing two new little baby teeth, just starting to grow in. She’s fighting to stay awake, watching everything happening around her at this post-rescue celebration.
I wonder if this really is the first time of many, for her.
For all of us.
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