Survival of the Fittest

Chapter Eight: The Other Richards

Dedicated to @DarknessAndLight in part for her AMAZING, and I mean AMAZING story, and in part because she loves Joss Whedon and anyone who does is great :D 

‘Jonah?’ I asked cautiously as I pushed the door open gently. Dominic stood awkwardly behind me in the hall, obviously internally debating if he was supposed to come with me into the kitchen or not, so when I got the ‘come in’ from Peter, I took him by the arm and dragged him into the room with me, thus making his decision. My grip instantly loosened, however, as I took in the sight in front of me.

‘Jonah!’ I practically shouted, flying across the room and wrapping my arms around my brother, who was sat up on the hotel bed with a wide grin on his face. He looked tired but otherwise okay for now. When my arms came into contact with his body, though, he flinched and I let go feeling guilty. ‘Sorry!’ I said, wincing a little.

‘Geez, Tissy, you’d have thought I was out for a month, not a day,’ he teased, although he was obviously in pain – I could see it in his eyes as he tried to sit up further.

‘Longest Goddamn day of my life,’ I muttered. ‘How are you feeling?’

Jonah sighed and rubbed his eye with one of his hands. ‘I ache. A lot. Plus, if I do certain things, like this-’ he tried pushing himself up again and let out a hiss of pain.

‘Jonah!’ I exclaimed in exasperation as Peter just shook his head in amusement. I guessed he’d probably done this before as well. ‘I don’t need the demonstration.’

He nodded. ‘Yeah, well, if I do that it’s painful. And I’m tired – which is curious given that I’ve been asleep for a day,’ he remarked. He then seemed to see Dominic for the first time. ‘Oh, er hey. I’m Jonah,’ he said, waving. ‘I, er, don’t mean to be rude, but who the hell are you?’ he asked before turning to me with a worried expression. ‘Am I supposed to remember him? Do I have amnesia?’ he questioned me in a whisper and I laughed.

‘No. Jonah, meet Dominic Lawrence. He’s staying for a little while whilst the council finds somewhere for him to live,’ I explained. ‘And hey, the two of you have something in common.’

‘What’s that?’ asked Jonah, looking Dominic up and down in a critical manner. I immediately identified his ‘protective older brother’ mode and rolled my eyes. But then I supposed he didn’t know there was absolutely nothing going on between Dominic and me and that he probably wouldn’t be here long enough for anything to form anyway, even if I did want something. Which I didn’t – I just thought he was attractive.

‘You’re both trained, not born.’ Peter answered instead of me, sitting back in the chair beside the hospital bed and it took me a moment to realise I had told this information to my mum the previous night, so she must have told Peter in turn. When I saw Dominic’s look of surprise I realised I hadn’t told him Jonah was adopted, so he would have assumed he was born just like Peter and me.

‘Jonah’s my adoptive brother,’ I told him and understanding dawned on his face.

‘Oh,’ was all he said. I turned back to Jonah to find him with a wide grin on his face.

‘Great. I’ve got someone I can train with without knowing they’ll flatten me every time now.’ He looked down at his body. ‘Or at least I will, once I’m fully repaired,’ he added. At this, all three of Dominic, Peter and I let out a small laugh.

‘So where are mum and dad?’ I asked, glancing out the door and down the hall, not seeing them anywhere. Peter sighed.

‘Mum went to get more binding in the hope that we can actually get Jonah to move, and dad’s on the phone to the council upstairs. Apparently they’re asking for updates on all the hunters harmed by vamps since the whole ‘influx of big teams’ thing. Something like counting the dead and the injured,’ he told us, and I flinched, thinking how close we’d come to having one on the ‘dead’ tally.