Breathe

Chapter Nineteen He Sent an Angel

“Son.”

Chace turned from watching Faye playing Candyland with Lexie, Krys, Twyla, Becky and Miah on the floor of the Goodknight’s family room to see Silas standing at his side.

Actually, Lexie wasn’t on the floor. Her pregnant belly wasn’t conducive to being on the floor. She was lounging on the couch and Miah was helping her take her turns.

“You couldn’t have gotten a good night’s sleep on that cot,” Silas went on. “Take my girl home, let her see to you, get some decent shuteye.”

It was just past noon the next day. Becky had been released. Faye had arranged for cover at the library, doing it muttering, “Frak Mary Eglund and her lunatic sister. They want, they can fire me for taking more personal time.” They’d shown up at the Goodknights with cars in the drive, these holding Lexie, Krys and Twyla with shopping bags full of clothes and shoes for Becky.

Becky had gotten a shower in and put on her new clothes. Like Miah, she seemed to be settling. Miah settled because he knew the Goodknights had a connection with Faye. Becky settled because her brother was there as well as food, clothes and a shower.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t skittish, wary and often didn’t jerk her eyes to her brother sometimes for understandable reasons like someone walked into the room or there was a loud noise, sometimes for what appeared no reason at all.

The psychologist had seen her and briefed Chace, Faye and the Goodknights.

The trauma Miah had endured, being cast out and his focus entirely on biding his time to save his sister was why he’d chosen not to speak. It was likely from both the kids’ behavior and things Miah had told them that he’d been looking out for his sister and shielding her as best he could from Enid Eglund’s lunacy for years. As a survivor, he took the good coming to him from living with the Goodknights. As a kid, he took the care Faye and Chace gave to him and let it build trust. But in the end, his mind was turned to getting his sister free, he considered it his responsibility and he wasn’t going to share it with anyone. Therefore, in an effort not to share at all, he controlled how he communicated.

The psychologist also told them they’d both need in-depth trauma counseling and their reunion with their grandparents would need to be monitored by a professional. As the two only people he truly trusted in this world, this the psychologist understood from Jeremiah sending Chace that note and allowing him to care for his sister, Chace and Faye had to be there.

Upon hearing the news, the cops in Wyoming didn’t wait to share with four of their locals that it was highly likely their grandkids were alive and in Colorado. They’d made their visits, waking them to share the news. Therefore, as expected, both sets were on their way and were expected to arrive at the Station imminently.

Chace was conflicted. He wanted to be there to meet the grandparents but he didn’t want to be away from Faye and the kids or take her away from them. He’d told her what had happened and her reaction had been much like her mother’s except stronger. It tore her up what had happened to those kids and it tore her up knowing, although it was a good thing they’d be with their blood family, that doing so would mean Miah would be a state away.

So she was staying close.

Chace wanted to give that to her but he didn’t want to leave her.

“I’ll survive, Silas,” Chace muttered.

Silas’s eyes moved over Chace’s face then they swung into the living room and finally he looked back at Chace.

“Right,” he whispered then, louder, “I’m goin’ into town. The kids’ folks will be here soon and I wanna do what I can to assure them their grandbabies are in a good place and, least one of ‘em for a spell, had folks lookin’ out for him. Sondra’s on the phone with Betty to get them rooms at Carnal Hotel. We wanted ‘em to stay here while they’re doin’ their testing but the psychologist thinks that’s too much for now. Miah feels safe here and Becky feels safe with Miah. That’s fragile so we gotta see to it. But Liza’s makin’ a coupla lasagnas to bring over. The psychologist can show tonight so they can come and have the reunion soon’s we can manage it. Good one, with family and food and my Liza makes a mean lasagna. But Liza’ll drop ‘em off and go. It’ll be just you and Faye, Sondra and I, the grandparents, the psychologist and the kids. Sondra’s bagged a coupla pop bottles the kids drank from and I’m takin’ ‘em in with me for DNA.”

“All that’s good. Thanks, Silas,” Chace replied.

He watched Silas’s expression change and read it instantly.

“Miss him,” Silas muttered, his eyes drifting to Miah. “He’s a good kid. Nice to have a lil’ bugger in the house again.” His eyes drifted back to Chace and when he spoke again, his voice was tinged with sadness but it was firm. “But they should be with family.”

“They should be with family,” Chace agreed.

Silas nodded. “Off with me then,” he murmured and moved away.

Chace watched him go then his eyes went back to the living room when he heard laughter. It came from all the women and Miah but there was also a little giggle from Becky who was looking timidly at Faye.

Faye had made her giggle.

That was his girl. She could break through anything. Even shit this huge. He knew it since she’d done it for him.

He felt his lips tip up as his phone rang and he saw Faye and Miah’s eyes cut to him and Becky jump, terror filling her features, her eyes cutting to her brother.

He automatically sent a reassuring smile their way, pulled out his phone and, for Becky’s sake, stayed calm and acted like what he was doing was just what it was, normal and natural.

He looked at the display and, at what he saw, he figured he knew the reason behind the call.

He took the call and put the phone to his ear.

“Frank, they at the Station?”

“They arrived twenty minutes ago,” Frank replied. “We got them sorted with coffees from La-La Land and some of Shambles’s brownies. Gave them a briefing up to now. Took the DNA samples. Lab is primed to fast-track it. But, uh…” he hesitated, “not callin’ about that, Chace.”

Chace felt his brows draw together. “What’re you callin’ about?”

“You got privacy?” Frank asked.

Fucking shit.

“No,” Chace answered.

“Get it,” Frank said quietly.

Chace didn’t look into the family room as he moved out of the doorway, up the stairs and into the living room on the top floor.

“Got it,” he said to Frank.

“Right, well, brother… fuck,” Frank started then stopped.

“Frank,” Chace prompted impatiently.

At his prompt, Frank went on hurriedly, “Okay, man. We got an outta town biker in holding, no big thing, pulled him over for reckless driving, he’d had a few, not over the limit, he was just jacking around. But when we ran his license, found he had a bench warrant on him, tickets he hasn’t seen to in C Springs. But he’s been in there with Enid most of the night and apparently, she’s been rambling. Some of the shit she said he thought was more fucked than what seems to be her usual fucked. When he got breakfast, he told Jon. Jon told me. We pulled her outta holding and put her into an interrogation room and asked more questions. Took a while, brother, but got it out of her.”

When he didn’t go on, Chace asked, “Got what out of her?”

“The reason she cast Jeremiah out.”

“And that would be?” Chace pushed when Frank again stopped speaking.

“Okay, Chace, shit, okay…”

“Frank,” Chace clipped when he trailed off.

When Frank continued, he again did it quickly. “Apparently, Jeremiah got away. He’d been attempting escapes frequently with zero success but he made it clear. He was in the woods. Brother, from what we can tell, he was in Harker’s Wood. What he saw there flipped him right the fuck out. So right the fuck out, he went back to the only thing he knew. He went back to her.”

Chace’s body went still as a statue and his mouth felt strange when it formed the words, “What did he see?”

“From what we can get from her, he saw a blonde woman givin’ a man a blowjob.”

Oh fuck, no.

Please God, no.

Chace closed his eyes and dropped his head.

“I think it was Misty, brother,” Frank whispered. “Enid didn’t see it, she wasn’t there. She just beat it out of him and what he told her he saw, she lost what was left of her marbles and got shot of him, thinkin’ he was makin’ that shit up or that he was the son of Satan or whatever. But I reckon, and the timeline jives, that he saw Misty and the man who murdered her. It flipped him, he went back to her because it was the only thing he knew, the only protection he had.”

It would jive, Chace knew it. Jeremiah was terrified when he was out on his own. Chace could see this fear coming from Enid, knowing his sister was still captive but he could see it was more. He’d seen Misty’s face get raped, probably sensed her terror, maybe saw the gun and possibly saw her murdered.

Fuck, he’d seen that shit.

Fuck, he still had to be holding onto that fear.

Fuck!

“He could be the key to finding who did Misty,” Frank told him quietly then finished, “And Newcomb.”

Chace opened his eyes and lifted his head. “Who knows this shit?” he rapped out.

“Uh, me, Jon, the biker and the video camera that caught my questioning.”

“You tell Cap. And you tell Jon to keep his trap shut and make sure Jon gets that message. He runs his mouth, I’ll lose my mind and the way I lose it he will not want. You make sure that biker thinks she’s just a lunatic and you don’t share that shit with anyone else.”

Frank was silent then, “They find out there was a witness –”

“Then Miah’s fucked,” Chace finished for him.

“Shit, brother,” Frank murmured then, “But, Department’s clean.”

“Shit leaks, like it does whenever Jon runs his mouth. This gets to the wrong ears, that kid just went from enduring a goddamned nightmare to runnin’ scared the rest of his fuckin’ life.”

“Right,” Frank whispered.

“I’m callin’ his psychologist. Then I’m comin’ to the Station.”

“Right,” Frank repeated.

“You got shit to do,” Chace told him.

“Right,” Frank said again then he disconnected.

Chace drew in a breath. Then he drew in another one.

Then he walked downstairs to tell Faye he was going to swing by the Station and come back with treats from La-La Land for the women and kids.

“You cannot be serious,” Frank said to Dr. Carruthers, Miah’s psychologist who was standing with him, Chace and the Cap in Cap’s office.

“Deadly,” Dr. Carruthers returned immediately.

“He may have been the only eye witness we got to an unsolved murder, a murder committed by a man who, it’s highly likely, has killed two people on this patch,” Frank shot back.

“Until the DNA tests are done, those children are wards of the State and therefore the State makes decisions about their welfare and to make those decisions they would consult with someone like me. When they consult with me, I will strongly encourage them not to allow the police, however gently, to interrogate a boy who’s father died in a car crash, his mother was murdered, he’d been kidnapped, imprisoned, mentally and physically abused, possibly had seen a murder but definitely a sex act at an age where he cannot process this in and of itself. It was an act that was not consensual and finally, he lived on his own, taking care of himself on the streets and in the wilderness all while terrified about the state of his sister. So let us not waste time by calling in CPS only for them to ask me what I think and act on my recommendation. Just take my word for it now that you are not going to talk to that boy about witnessing an act of rape and a possible murder,” Dr. Carruthers retorted.

“You can be there,” Frank offered.

“And, in the future, if it’s necessary for you to interrogate him, I better be,” she rejoined.

“It wouldn’t be an interrogation,” Frank clipped.

“It won’t be anything,” Chace growled and all eyes came to him but he was looking at Frank. “No way in fuck you’re gonna talk to Miah. Not now. Not fuckin’ tomorrow. Not next fuckin’ week. Not until Dr. Carruthers gives you the go ahead to do it and maybe not at all. Tonight, he’s gonna eat lasagna with the folks who looked after him and the grandparents he hasn’t seen in three fuckin’ years and he’s gonna do it feelin’ safe and looked after. Not remembering watching a woman get her face raped. You call CPS and you try to get to that kid and they lose their minds and let you, Frank, you’ll have to go through me to get him.”

“But it’s Misty,” Frank told him something he already fucking knew.

“Yeah, it’s Misty. And yeah, I wanna know who did her. But I do not want to sacrifice whatever scraps of peace of mind we’ve managed to give Miah in order to get that fucker. He doesn’t get to do Misty, maybe Darren and fuck Miah too. No fuckin’ way. We’ll find another way,” Chace fired back.

Frank’s face filled with disbelief before he reminded him, “You’ve been living and breathing her case for months.”

“And I’ll live and breathe not knowin’ who did her but resting easy that my not knowing means Miah can put this serious as fuck shit behind him and move the fuck on,” Chace returned. “Honest to God, Frank, I’m uncertain I ever want you to speak to him about this shit. His grandparents ask me, I’ll tell them not to volunteer him. We’ll find this guy another way. But, he was my kid, he went through that shit, I would not swing his ass out there. Even and especially if it meant protective custody. Even and especially because it might mean, if this guy is part of a bigger operation, witness protection. That kid had three years of his life seriously fuckin’ jacked. You cannot stand there and tell me Misty and Darren are worth jackin’ up the rest of it.”

“A crime has been committed, it doesn’t matter against who,” Frank said softly.

“By my count, lots of ‘em have and only three of ‘em against Darren and Misty. The rest, Miah and Becky endured. They will not endure more,” Chace replied.

“Someone has to stand up for Darren and Misty. And someone has to pay for what was done to them,” Frank shot back.

“I agree. Absolutely. What I don’t agree is that Miah is the one who’s gotta help us do all that,” Chace retorted.

Frank pulled out the heavy artillery. “This isn’t the cop I know you to be.”

But Chace was immune. “I’m not a cop. I’m a man who is also a cop. And I’m the man who bought that kid a sleeping bag when he was sleepin’ in rags, taught him how to play video games and carried his trembling sister through the woods after he rescued her. And I’m content to be that man over bein’ a cop.”

“You’re going to be an excellent father,” Dr. Carruthers cut in at this juncture and Chace looked to her.

“I hope so since mine is a jackass.”

Her lips twitched and she replied, “Well, maybe so but you learned the tools somewhere, though,” she went on to advise, “I’d curtail the swearing.”

Christ, he’d heard that before.

He didn’t respond. He looked at Cap.

“We done?”

Cap nodded then turned his eyes to Frank. “No Jeremiah, son.”

“Cap!” Frank bit out sharply.

“You get antsy, disobey an order, you try to get to that boy or his grandparents to make your attempt to get through Chace you gotta get through me first. Boy’s had enough. We’ll find this asshole another way. As far as we’re concerned in this office, Enid Eglund’s ramblings about what Jeremiah saw are just that. Ramblings. This dies here.”

Frank’s back went up and he returned softly but irately, his meaning veiled but still clear, “That isn’t the way of the law.”

“There’s dirty, Frank,” Cap replied just as softly but not irately. “And there’s compassion. This says not one thing about Misty Keaton or Darren Newcomb and who did them or this office’s determination to find that man. This is this Department deciding to act with compassion for a witness. You sleep on that and you’ll see it clear.”

Frank stared at Cap then Dr. Carruthers then Chace before he walked out.

“You got lasagna to eat, son,” Cap told him then looked at Dr. Carruthers. “You do too.”

“Right,” she whispered, grinning.

They made a move to the door but Cap stopped him, calling, “Chace.”

Chace looked back at him.

“Tragic, definition of it, all that’s happened to those kids. You and your woman, you did right by them. I see you got ties and they’re strong. ‘Spect, what I know of Faye Goodknight and her family, they do too. This job, we see a lotta bad. Can get used to it. Can make you hard. Wear you down. But tonight, son, tonight you get somethin’ not a lot of cops get. You get to witness what those kids’ grandparents are considering a miracle. When they take Jeremiah and Rebecca back to Wyoming, you’ll get to keep that along with the knowledge that you helped make that miracle happen.”

“Right,” Chace muttered.

“Help her deal. Give your woman that head’s up,” Cap advised.

Chace held his Captain’s eyes thinking, fuck, but it was a shitload better working for this man than it was working under Arnie.

Then he nodded.

Then he followed Dr. Carruthers out in order to meet Miah and Becky’s grandparents.

Chace opened the door to his truck to get in and get to Faye but stopped when he heard his name called.

He looked to his right to see Marc, one of their interns, moving toward him, his face pale, eyes troubled.

Chace knew immediately why. Marc had run the searches and Marc had heard about Miah and Becky.

Therefore, before Marc stopped and while he was opening his mouth to speak, Chace ordered quietly, “Don’t.”

Marc closed his mouth then opened it again to say in a tight voice, “I set the wrong parameters.”

“Don’t, Marc,” Chace repeated.

“I didn’t know he was eleven. I didn’t think just to try a search outside –”

“Not your job,” Chace cut him off. “Your job is to work and learn. My job is to help you learn. I didn’t know he was eleven either. But I also didn’t suggest it. I just expected it. Expected you to do somethin’ you didn’t know to do. It was my fuck up, Marc, not yours.”

“I’ve been an intern for –”

“Doesn’t matter,” Chace interrupted again.

“If we knew, we could have –”

“Shake it off,” Chace ordered.

Marc’s eyes got wide but his tone was bitter when he asked, “Shake off knowin’ I kept those kids from their grandparents for weeks, that girl held captive by a whackjob, all this because I didn’t do somethin’ as simple as do a search with a wider age range?”

“Yeah,” Chace replied and Marc blinked so Chace went on, “Listen, man, you want a career in law enforcement or you move onto anything else, you are gonna fuck up. Your superiors are gonna fuck up but you’ll do the work and feel shit about it or they’ll dump their fuck up on your shoulders. You wanna be a cop, sometimes decisions you gotta make either on the fly or during a long-term investigation are not gonna be the right ones. It’ll happen because you’re human. You gotta cut yourself some slack or, whatever you decide to do in this life, it’ll drag you down. One thing you can learn now is when someone gives you an assignment and doesn’t fully explain it, if they put that shit on you, that reflects on them. I gave you an assignment, I guessed the wrong age range and I made assumptions. You did what you were told. We both gotta live with that. But do not take that blame. Shake it off. Learn from it. And move on. Best you can do and it’s what I’m gonna do.”

Marc studied him then asked quietly, “You’re not pissed?”

“I was yesterday. Now, seein’ your face, seein’ you give a shit, thinkin’ on it, I still am. But at me. I had a bunch of shit goin’ on in my life and didn’t give my attention fully to this. I fucked up and I made you feel the way you feel right now and kept those kids from their folks. But they’ll see them again tonight and soon, they’ll be home and healing. It’s over. We learn from it and move on.”

There it was. Faye having his back and she wasn’t even there. Faye teaching him he couldn’t shoulder the world’s burdens. Teaching him to give himself a break. Teaching him in a way he could teach a decent kid who wanted to do good deeds in his life the same lesson so he didn’t take the world on his shoulders like Chace had done for thirty-five years.

Marc held his gaze. Then he nodded and said, “Next time, I’ll extend the search.”

Chace hoped like hell there wasn’t a next time.

But he didn’t say that. He nodded.

Marc lifted his chin, moved away and Chace watched him go.

Then he gave it a moment, forced himself to let it go, sighed, angled in his truck and headed to Faye.

Chace blinked away sleep knowing something wasn’t right.

It was the dark before the dawn and he sensed as well as felt he was alone in his bed.

He lay still and silent, listening to see if Faye was in the bathroom.

He heard nothing so he threw back the covers, walked to his dresser, grabbed a pair of pajama bottoms and pulled them on. He moved through the dark, quiet house, finding nothing, seeing nothing until he noticed the front door open, the storm door closed.

He moved into the foyer, his bare feet silent on the wood, and looked out the door to see Faye in her nightie, one of his sweatshirts and a thick pair of his socks, sitting on a rocking chair like he sat on them, pulled up to the railing of the porch, feet up.

Her eyes were aimed at his plain.

It was near May and they were caught in a valley but it was still cold. Her legs had to be freezing.

He moved back through the house, pulled on his own sweatshirt and socks, went back to the family room to grab a throw and then down the hall to the front door.

Her head turned when he opened the storm door.

“Hey,” she whispered.

“Hey,” he whispered back, moving to her and throwing the blanket over her legs, tucking it around her hips before he nabbed the other rocker, pulled it up beside her and sat his ass in it.

He tipped it back, cocked his knees and lifted his feet to the railing.

He wasn’t surprised she was here. She’d held it together for Miah so he could hold it together for Becky during dinner.

Therefore, it had gone well.

It had been the miracle Cap said it would be.

DNA tests were fast-tracked and pending but they already knew there was no denying it from the pictures. The meeting made that solid. Miah and Becky’s grandparents recognized them the second they saw them and they were beside themselves, both women and one of the men breaking down instantly, necessitating Silas and Sondra leading them out to pull them together.

But they did, returned and they had dinner.

It had been a strange night.

That didn’t mean it wasn’t beautiful.

Three years ago, those four people thought they lost everything worth anything in their lives in the expanse of two months.

At the Goodknight table, they got some of it back, it was precious and they didn’t even try to hide it.

There was definitely a spark of recognition for Miah thus he seemed open to them in his distant way. Becky had been five when she’d been taken, her nightmare had just ended so she either didn’t recognize them or couldn’t yet process the fact that she did but she followed her brother’s lead. Dr. Carruthers was pleased and approved another visit the next morning. Breakfast at the diner with Sondra and the grandparents.

Soon, they’d go home.

Faye had been welcoming and friendly to the grandparents and supportive to the kids, openly loving to Miah as was her way and as affectionate to Becky as she could be. When they left, she’d been quiet.

Chace had given her that play.

On their rockers, he kept giving it to her. He let her find her time to end the silence and after taking that time, she did.

“It’s over,” she whispered to his plain.

“It’s over,” he agreed quietly.

“They love them.” She kept whispering.

“Yeah,” he replied gently.

“Loads.”

“Yeah.”

She was silent a long moment then, “Love heals.”

She needed to believe that. Luckily, she was right. He knew this because she taught him that too.

“Yeah, baby,” he whispered.

She fell silent.

Chace let her, eyes on his plain.

Then he heard her soft sob and it was his turn to have his play.

He got out of his chair and lifted her out of hers. She instantly curled into him, her chest in his, her face in his neck, her arms around his shoulders. He pulled open the storm door, kicked the front door shut and walked her to his bed. He laid her in it and joined her there, gathering her close as her body rocked gently and the tears flowed.

When she quieted in his arms, he tipped his head so his lips were at her hair and he asked, “You cryin’ ‘cause of all of it or somethin’ in particular?”

“All of it, I think.”

“You’ll miss him,” Chace noted gently.

She nodded and her breath hitched.

He gave her a squeeze.

She took in a shaky breath and whispered, “I’m glad they’re nice people.”

“Me too.”

“Did you see the pictures?” she asked and he gave her another squeeze because he did. Both sets of grandparents brought pictures.

Miah and Becky, their Mom and Dad. Happy family. Half of that gone.

“Yeah,” he answered.

She pressed closer, burrowing in. The loss was too much to bear in the dark before dawn.

Chace gave it time.

Then he asked, “You get me?”

Her head tipped back and she caught his eyes. “Get you?”

Quietly, Chace explained, “For whatever reasons, life took away their parents and led them to a nightmare. Then God was done and He sent an angel to put a stop to it. That angel bein’ you, a woman capable of performing a lot of miracles. Now, when I call you an angel, do you get me?”

Tears filled her eyes again, she dipped her chin, shoved her face in his throat and her body bucked with her sob.

She got him.

One week and two days later

Chace stood and watched Sondra give Becky a hug while Silas stood close to Miah, grinning at him, probably teasing him but the despondency could still be seen around his eyes. Faye was standing beside Chace, smiling at her parents and the kids but her sadness was a great deal more pronounced.

They were standing outside and the cars were packed.

The kids were going home.

“Chace,” he heard and turned his eyes to Miah and Becky’s paternal grandfather.

“Ezra,” Chace muttered as the man got up close and stopped.

He tipped his chin and smiled at Faye then he looked up at Chace.

Then quietly, he said, “It’s come to my attention, son, you covered Miah and Becky’s hospital bills.”

He heard Faye make a muted noise and felt her shift into him, her arm brushing his, her fingers curling around his but she said nothing.

He hadn’t told her. He also didn’t intend to.

Shit.

“Yep,” he replied casually, hoping that would end it, knowing from getting to know these people it would not.

Ezra nodded before saying, “We’ve been talkin’ and we –”

Chace cut him off, “Don’t worry about it,” and Faye’s fingers around his grew tighter.

Ezra’s eyes grew wider. “But, that had to –”

Chace shook his head. “I have a trust fund. My grandparents gave it to me. They were good people. My grandfather worked hard all his life. He was a good man. If they knew the money they worked hard to earn went to that, they’d be pleased. Trust me. If they were alive, they’d do it themselves. Now, it’s done. You got enough to see about setting right. But that’s not part of it.”

“That’s too much of a gesture,” Ezra replied softly.

“It wasn’t a gesture,” Chace returned just as softly. “What it was, if this makes it easier to accept, is me and Faye buyin’ our way into those kids’ lives. You’re leavin’ but this doesn’t end, not for them, not for us. We wanna know they’re growin’ and doin’ it strong but we also wanna know how. If you give that to us over the years then we’re even.”

Ezra stared up at him, his throat moving as he swallowed and Faye leaned into his side.

Then Ezra whispered, “We can do that.”

“Good,” Chace muttered and moved to shake the man’s hand, this necessitating Faye letting his go.

After he shook his hand, Faye moved in for a hug and more hugs commenced, farewells, heartfelt keep in touches, forced smiles that were sad but nevertheless happy.

Finally, Chace watched Faye whisper something in Becky’s ear while hugging her that made Becky giggle. It was a small one but it was a genuine one.

Then he watched her hold it together by a thread, her eyes bright, her lips quivering as she gave Miah a tight hug that lasted a very long time and was unusual in the sense that an eleven year old kid was just as reluctant to let go.

Watching it, Chace’s throat got tight.

He touched Becky’s hair in his farewell and she moved to her grandparents as Faye made a low noise in the back of her throat and let Miah go.

She straightened and ran her fingers through his hair before she whispered, “Call me. I want to know what you’re reading.”

Miah, his eyes also wet and getting red, nodded.

Faye bit her lip and stepped away.

Miah turned to him.

Chace began to lift his hand to give him a shake but stopped when Miah moved right into his space and curled his arms around Chace’s middle.

At his touch, his less thin body pressed to Chace’s, his arms, neither of them in casts or bandages, around him, Chace’s throat completely closed. He felt the wet in his own eyes and wrapped his arms around his boy, holding tight, bending his neck and closing his eyes.

“Sleepin’ bag was warm,” Miah muttered to his gut, his voice trembling.

Fuck. The kid was killing him.

“Good,” Chace muttered back, his voice thick.

Miah held on. Chace did too.

Then Miah whispered, “Your hair.”

Chace opened his eyes. “What buddy?”

Miah leaned back but didn’t let go, looked up at Chace with his red eyes and kept whispering, “Your hair. Lion’s hair.”

Chace didn’t get it but forced his own smile and replied quietly, “Okay.”

Miah let him go, Chace’s arms dropped away, Miah’s chin quivered but his eyes didn’t waver from Chace’s when he whispered, “You’re my Aslan.”

Aslan.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Holy fuck.

The words like a sock in the gut, Chace’s chest got tight and he crouched in front of Miah saying the only word he could think to say, “Buddy.”

“I’m gonna be Peter.” Miah was still whispering.

“Good choice,” Chace whispered back, forcing it through the sting in his throat.

They held each other’s gazes, Chace having no fucking clue what to say or do.

Then Miah whispered, “’Bye, Aslan.”

Holy fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“’Bye, Peter,” Chace whispered back.

Chace watched him pull in breath, look up at Faye then he turned and walked to his grandparents.

Chace moved to straighten and barely got his feet when Faye was in his space, her front pressed to his side, her arms wrapped tight around his middle. He slid an arm around her shoulders, Silas and Sondra moved close and they watched Miah, Becky and their family get into their cars.

They called good-byes, they waved and they stood in Silas and Sondra’s front drive and watched as they drove off and they kept watching until there was nothing to watch anymore.

Faye moved first and when she did it was to get up on her toes and find his ear.

“Told you that you were a hero,” she whispered and Chace closed his eyes but she wasn’t done. “I’m not the only one who thinks so, Aslan.”

He turned into her, pulling her fully into his arms and burying his face in her neck.

He held tight.

She returned the favor.

They felt Silas and Sondra silently move away.

As he held her, feeling her body rock quietly with her tears, her wet hitting his neck, he held strong but he knew she could feel his own wet against the skin of hers.

And he didn’t give a fuck.