For Her Hand

Chapter Twenty-Five

Questions. Grayson had so many questions about what he'd seen back in the caves. Images of Seth's movements, or at least what he'd been able to see, which was barely any of it, raced through his mind faster than he could process. On top of that, Shauna, one of the girls in the group, was currently being tended to by one of the nurses in the center.

Grayson glanced over at Seth, who was sitting in the chair on the opposite end of the table from him. On the long couch, sat his friends, one of whom, also had his attention. The doors to the center opened up to reveal Grayson's uncle along with Charlotte from the lab.

"Oh thank goodness!" she exclaimed, darting to her son to wrap him in her arms.

"Mom... you can loosen your grip, I'm not dead," Grayson said, embarrassed by his mother's sudden clinging.

"But you could have been! I heard they had firearms. And that they shot a young girl. That could have been you!" she cried.

Grayson sighed and consoled his mother by embracing her in return. Just as quickly as she'd hugged him, she let go and turned to the others.

"I can't thank you all enough for saving my brother and my son. I really don't know how I can repay you," Charlotte added, wiping her eyes and regaining her composure.

"Honestly, it ended up being us who needed rescuing," Serena admitted.

"Yeah, Seth took them on by himself! it was awesome!" Tierno added.

Why does this feel so familiar? Seth thought to himself, an image of Allie's mother giving him a tight hug flashing into his mind shortly after the thought occurred.

It wasn't too long before those thoughts were manifested and he found himself pulled into another tight hug.

This seems to be turning into a trend...

"I had a feeling there was something different about you. Thank you so much young man," Charlotte beamed, placing a kiss on his cheek before straightening up. "By the way, your Tyrunt has been revived. He's also quite hungry too... our workers are doing their best to appease his appetite."

At this, Seth smiled. "That sounds great. I'll head on over there as soon as--"

"Hey you guys!" Shauna's bubbly voice called out as she was escorted into the lobby.

"Shauna!" the three on the couch exclaimed before running over to hug her, Serena getting there first to embrace her best friend.

"Ouch! easy girl, my arm's still in a lot of pain," Shauna winced, half laughing at the scene she just caused.

"Shut up woman, let me hug you dammit!" Serena fired back.

Shauna rolled her eyes and looked around at her friends. Spotting Seth standing up, she smiled at him and gave him a nod as a silent thank you. Seth returned the gesture with a smile of his own and then jerked his head toward Trevor. Shauna winked back at Seth in understanding and then proceeded to lean over and catch Trevor completely off guard with a kiss on the cheek, causing his face to turn Darmanitan red.

Seth chuckled to himself and shook his head. Turning, he met the gaze of Grayson who smiled faintly at him and extended his hand.

"I didn't get to say this earlier, but thanks. Had it not been for you guys, I very well may have been six feet under right now," Grayson stated with gratitude in his voice.

Seth shook his hand and turned his head to see Charlotte approach Grayson.

"By the way, Grayson, Allie is at the lab. She wants to see you if you're free," Charlotte informed him.