Titanium

Part 28-Hana

Disclaimer: I own nothing. 

Hana:

I wake up with a start. There is someone poking me. I slowly peel open my eyes to see Gracie's eyes staring into mine.

"Hana," she whispers, looking behind her for a second. "Wake up." 

"What?" I ask groggily, sitting up. But I am brought back down by two arms wrapped around me. I look over to see Julian, still asleep. I feel a blush creep into my cheeks. I slowly lift his arms off me, but not without waking him up. 

"Hey," he says, his eyes on mine. I slowly sit up, and right away Gracie plops down on my lap. 

"Hi!" she says to Julian, waiving. I can already see the effect the Wilds has had on her, she seems more confident, no longer suppressed. "I'm Grace."

"Hi, Grace," Julian says, blushing as well. But he quickly suppresses it and puts his hand out for her. "I'm Julian."

Grace quickly shies away, and buries her head in my chest. I look down at her, puzzled. 

"Hey," I whisper to her. "What's up?"

In answer she turns back to Julian, and looks him in the eyes. She seems to be mad at him, though I don't think she's met him before.

Julian shoots me a confused look, but I just shrug my shoulders. I have no idea what's going on.

"Lena talked about you, Julian," for a moment I almost want to laugh. She sounds so grown up, as if she is actually scolding him. But I guess she is. "You hurt her! That was so mean! How could you be mean to my cousin?"

"Oh," Julian says. "You're Lena's cousin?"

Gracie nods, her eyes still hard. 

"Well, I never meant to hurt her, Grace. I'm terribly sorry if I did," Julian looks at her with amusement, but I can see the pain underneath. No, I think, She hurt him. 

Grace simply turns back towards me and makes a sound that sounds like "hmph" but I can see the small smile on her lips. 

Before I can say anything, someone comes running up to us. Lena's mom. 

"Gracie!" she exclaims as she comes closer. "Why would you run off like that?"

"I thought you said the Wilds was free?" Grace asks, completely innocent. 

"Yes, but you still to tell me or Magdalena or somebody when you go somewhere, okay?"

Gracie nods and Lena's mom hoists her up onto her hip. Then she looks over at me.

"Hello, Hana, was it? I don't think we've met. I'm Annabel, Magdalena's mom. I know that you're her best friend. Thank you for that. For being there for her when no one else was."

I simply nod at this, but it makes my heart twinge. I was there for Lena, and she was there for me. I hope it stays that way.

Then, her eyes shift to Julian. She gives him a questioning look before looking back at me. I don't think she had ever met Alex before yesterday, and before that she must have thought Lena was completely in love with Julian. She seemed to take it well last night, when she saw them together, but she knows about love. She knows about how it comes and goes and how sometimes you play with it like a toy. She must have heard about Alex as well, I am almost positive Raven would have told her, and she has accepted her daughter's decision. But the fact that Julian and I are sitting here still looking half asleep, she must be confused. I guess she didn't expect Julian to move on so quickly. Not that I'm sure he's moved on at all, I can't tell what this thing is between us.

I give her a minuscule shake of my head as if to say no, I didn't take him from Lena, she pushed him away.

She nods but still has a look of betrayal in her eyes. She's protective over her daughter, despite not being there for so many years, she still cares and will still fight for Lena to have a good life.

"Well, I guess you were allowed to stay then? Personally, I believe you," she tells me, and I can tell she means it. 

"Yes," I say, not feeling that any elaboration was necessary. 

"Congratulations. Now, you wouldn't happen to know where Lena is? I stopped by the trailer you were in last night but neither her nor Alex were there. I was going to look for them when Gracie ran off," her tone is calm but I can hear the slight strain in her voice. "I just really need to tell her about something. Do you know where she might have gone?"

"No, I don't," I say slowly, not wanting to come to the conclusion I was coming to. 

Lena and Alex are gone.