Gifted Connections 3

“We stood up against Horatio,” Noah breathed in wonder and then gave the guys an apologetic look. “and your mom.”

“She’s not my mother,” Jace said concisely. “She’s just the woman who shares the same DNA as I do.”

My mind was still reeling with surprise. I knew this needed to addressed but it wasn’t the time to. Jaxson still looked devastated, and Jace looked like an impassive rock.

“Where is everyone else?” I asked as I stood up on shaken knees.

“They’re down at the clinic, getting checked out,” Sierra stated.

“We should go,” I commented.

“Are you going to get dressed first?” Troy hedged as he scrutinized my outfit.

I had completely forgotten that I wore a dress that barely covered me. I also realized that Troy didn’t like the idea of me wearing it in public. I smirked at him.

He had no problem when I was wonder woman for Halloween. I didn’t understand what the big deal was now.

“Nope,” I replied resolutely. “I want to be with my brother and Rachel right now.”

“Do you want a sweater?” Remy suggested.

“Nope,” I had to refrain from laughing. How quickly the tables had turned.

I walked into the clinic to see Rachel’s face was red from crying. Sam was holding her to his chest. The moment she saw us, she came running. “Thank you! Thank you!” she sobbed.

“We didn’t do anything,” I stated honestly. “It was Kade who led us to them. How’s he doing?”

Will came around the corner with Alex’s hand firmly in his grasp. He looked worried until he saw us. Alex’s eyes lit up as he saw us, and he hurled himself into my arms. “Micah wouldn’t let me come again,” he glared at his brother as he nearly choked me out.

“I’m glad he didn’t,” I said gently as I hugged him close. “It was too dangerous for you.”

Micah gave me a thankful smile as Remy clapped a large hand on his shoulder in silent approval. Micah gave him a grateful smile back. I’m sure the decision hadn’t been an easy one, and I knew he was a sucker when it came to standing up to his younger sibling.

“How are they?” I asked Will.

“They’re going to be okay. Maybe you kids need to go eat something, and I’ll brief you later,” Will stated.

“I’m not hungry,” Rachel shook her head.

“You should probably still get out of here for a little while,” Will gave Sam a pointed look. “It’s going to be some time before they can have visitors.”

“Come on, Ray,” Sam said as he gently started to guide her to the exits.

Kade came out of one of the rooms and stopped.

“Are you hungry?” I asked him as he looked at us hesitantly.

He nodded. “I missed dinner.”

“You can come with us,” I suggested, not knowing how I could bridge the gap in between us. I wanted to get to know him better. Living with Horatio these past month couldn’t have been easy either.

“Okay, thanks,” he nodded as he slowly started to follow us.

“I’ll be right back,” Jace commented quietly as he turned to walk towards his father.

“We can hit chow, or I can whip something up for us,” Drake said as he threaded his fingers through mine. “By the way, you look really sexy,” he whispered against my ear.

“Let’s go back to our apartment, and thank you, Drake.” I smiled up at him.