Grimmons

Chapter 5

Simmons' (P.O.V)

"So... you're related to Hargrove?" Tucker said breaking the silence of the room. "Well, kind of, I'm adopted." I said looking at the ground from my spot at the table, surrounded by the three from before, the clock on the wall telling me it was a little passed 12. "And your last name came from?" Wash asked with a raised eyebrow. "My birth parents, I was able to hack into my adoption file and find them." I said with a shrug unfolding my arms from their crossed position, stuffing them into my sweatpants pockets to run the fingers from one hand over the picture which laid inside. "Why'd you change your name to begin with?" Carolina questioned. "Wouldn't you want to hide from someone who hurt you for most of your life?" I questioned back with a huff of both amusement from their faces and annoyance from the situation.

"And numbnuts knew everything?" Sarge questioned making me chuckle a bit at the familiar nickname. "Yeah, I told him everything. He knows almost everything about me, same with Him. He's told me almost everything there is about him." I said with a nod to his question. "Why didn't you ever tell any of us?" Tucker asked in confusion with a slightly hurt expression. "No offence, but just because I fight along with you guys doesn't mean I trust you with my life story." I said with a laugh seeing Wash and Carolina nod in understanding. "I guess I can understand that." Tucker said with a slight nod like the others. "Did you know Grif was good at keeping information quite like he was showing in the video?" Carolina asked in a confused manner.

I gave her a blank look that made her put her hand as up in defence. "He doesn't seem like it with how he acts but he's actually really pain resistant. Most of the nerves on his left side are none responsive, so he doesn't really feel pain. Which is why I think Gene was focusing on his right side, he knew that about him." I said gaining a hum of agreement from the others. "He was a bit protective and daring when Gene said something about you." Tucker said with a smirk which made me blush lightly. "Yeah, he's been like that a lot since he came back. He's stayed close to me and worried over the smallest thing. He flipped when I was washing the dishes about a week ago and cut my hand when he surprised me. He apologized a bunch and made me keep watch for any of you while he took over washing the rest." I said with a laugh pulling my hands out of the pockets of my sweatpants and pulled the sides of Grif's hoodie closer together, snuggling into it.

"Yeah, he actually came over to our side of the base about a day ago to get the screws to fix your arm." Wash said in a thoughtful way. "Yep, and he fixed it himself." I said with another laugh, thinking about all the stuff he's done since he's came back and we've had Kai around. I paused at the thought sitting up quickly in a slight panic. "Shit, Wash what's today?" I asked seeing the blonde look down to his tablet. "Uhh, Sunday why?" he asked making me flinch at his words. "Doc comes back later today." I said with a sad and panicked look. "Yeah, so wha-" "Shit your right dude." Tucker said cutting of Wash in a panicked manner. "Wait what's-" Wash questioned before Carolina hummed in realization. "Grif's sister went with him..." She said making the realization slam into the two remaining males in the room.

"Oh God, who's gonna tell her?" Wash asked in a worried manner. "I will, I was the closest to him and-" "No way dude, you may be keeping it together right now, but I doubt you could tell her without breaking down. I'll do it, I'm closest to her and second closest to Grif." Tucker said with a determined voice which made me shrink in on myself, but smiled in thanks when he put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Yeah, I guess you're right." I nodded as everyone stood up. "Good, well it has been an eventful day. So, let's go to bed and get every clue to where they could be from that video tomorrow, or rather later today seeing as it's like 12:37 right now." Wash said making the rest all nod and leave the room.

I stayed there for a moment before moving to mine and Grif's room for what felt like the tenth time. I laid down on Grif's bed once more, snuggling my face into his pillow. I could smell his pineapple shampoo, Oreos, and what could only be his natural musk. The smells making me feel like he was still with me, holding me while I cried into his shoulder for him thinking he was any less than what he was to me. I could feel tears spring forth and slowly make their way down my cheeks, only to soon be soaked up by the pillow my face was stuffed in. I felt like such a child, crying this much over him when I hardly did when he left before. However, I think I was better knowing it was his decision and not that he had been taken by force.

"Why can't anything ever go right for us, Dexter?" I ask in a slight sob hugging the pillow closer to my form, as I shrunk in on myself in a fetal position. I felt terrible not being able to do anything, knowing Grif was probably being tortured in horrible ways. The images wouldn't leave my mind, and my anxiety was only morphing them into worse things. I could feel my breath get faster before my chest began to hurt and my throat started feeling tight. My tears rushed faster a deep panic setting in as visions of Grif getting brutally beaten and tortured became ever more vivid. I felt a scream rip its way through my throat, the terrified look of Grif's face reminding me of the one he had when he was hanging over the edge of that cliff back at sidewinder.

"NOO!" I shouted sobbing harder, as I felt myself run towards the Hawaiian, but he only seemed to stay the same distance from me. "Simmons!" He shouted to me, his voice begging for me to help him. "Grif!" I yelled back reaching my hands out to him. "Simmons!" he yelled once more.
"Simmons, Simmons, Simmons. Simmons, wake up!" The voice began to change, I felt my eyes shoot open with a gasp, my body springing forward in a panic. "Simmons, hey, it's just me, it's Tucker, calm down." I looked to the dark skinned man with wide eyes. "T-Tucker?" I said my voice cracking from how raw it was. "Yeah, it's me man. You okay, half the base could hear you screaming." He said nodding his head over to the group standing in the doorway, Wash and Sarge putting down their guns.

"I-I'm S-sorry." I said shakily, pulling the edges of the orange hoodie around me closer to my frame. "It's okay, scared the shit out of some of us, but it's fine." Tucker said rubbing my back comfortingly. Donut and Caboose walked over together, the dark haired man child sitting on the bed next to me while donut sat on his knees in front of me. One of Caboose's arms wrapped around my shoulders while Tuckers hand continued to rub my back, Donut crossing his arms in my lap and laying his head on them to look up at me. "Do you want to talk about it? Church says talking helps when you have bad dreams." Caboose asked, making me huff slightly but my scared yet blank expression didn't change.

Sarge, Wash, and Carolina made their way inside sitting down on my bed to look at me from there. "D-do all of you guys r-really want to hear about my an-anxiety induced nightmare?" I questioned seeing the contemplating looks on their faces. "Tucker and Donut stay, the rest of us will leave." Carolina said patting Caboose's shoulder to leave. Caboose pouted a bit before jumping up and making his way out behind the freelancers, Sarge giving me one last look before he closed the door behind him. I released a sigh, a tear making its it's way down my cheek as I slowly relaxed into Tuckers touch. I felt Donut reach to take my flesh hand into his holding it tightly and rubbing his thumb over the back of my hand.

"Want to tell us about it?" Donut asked moving to sit on the bed to my right side so he could keep hold of my hand, Tucker moving over to my left side patting my back as he went. "I umm... it was about Grif... he was being tortured..." I said trailing off feeling Donut's grip get tighter. "I uhh, I heard about the video from Sarge... was it just like rewatching it or was it..." Donut left the question open ended. "Worse... he had the same look he had when he was hanging off that cliff, he was so scared and I.... I tried to get to him but I couldn't get any closer... Damn, I don't even remember when I fell asleep." I said removing my hand from Donut's to take out the picture of me and Grif from my pocket. "Heh, I uhh... I don't really have a family besides the teams, I left that all behind when I entered the army. Grif and Kai are like literal family to me, I've known Grif for over 12 years and I know a bunch about Kai from what I've heard from Grif and being around her... I don't even know how Kai will take it when she finds out about Grif, either she'll get pumped wanting to kick ass to get him back or... she'll be like me and crash." I said looking at the picture closely, seeing how bright and happy Grif's honey colored eyes were in that moment.

"You care about him and his sister a bunch, hell a few weeks ago I saw you guys scolding Kai for something she was doing. Both of you telling her that she should feel ashamed of herself for doing something, haha. You guys sounded like parents, I mean I would know, I am one." Tucker said with a laugh making me snort when I remembered that conversation. "Yeah, Grif is almost like a father to Kai, he practically raised her himself since he was 12. He was always the responsible one, he worked three jobs to keep them fed and to keep up the bills in a shitty apartment, he even dropped out of school in his junior year to get full time jobs that he would alternate going to. Then he got drafted into the army and had to leave Kai behind, I still can't even imagine how much it hurt him to leave her by herself." I said remembering all the Hawaiian had told me about his childhood.

"God, it's no wonder he's so lazy. Might as well spite the people who took him from his sister." Tucker said getting a laugh out of Donut and I. "That's pretty much what I said too... but it's not like that... or I don't think so anymore." I said seeing both of them look at me in a questioning way. "He uhh, you know how he seems very depressed. Protective towards me and Kai, but feels like everyone hates him under the surface?" I asked seeing them nod along with me. "I think he just tried for so long that... without any results or words of encouragement he just... stopped seeing a reason to care. You can only get so far doing things for others and getting nothing in return, I think that's why he's so lazy, he's just burnt out." I said with a sad look, seeing the other two look down in regret and sadness.

"Then that's why he's so protective around you and sister, he thinks of you as his family so helping you is like second nature. He feels worse about himself if he doesn't try to do at least the little things for you guys." Donut said making me nod in agreement. "I think so, though he tells me not to get full of myself for knowing I'm one of the only ones he helps, says he does it so I don't bitch at him as much." I said laughing at his words, visualizing the eye roll he gave me nearly a day ago. "God, have I told you how much of a married couple you guys are, because it shows." Tucker said with an eye roll, making me blush brightly. "Shut up, man." I grumble shoving him with my elbow slightly as I heard him laugh.

"I agree with Tucker... you may not be together, but you guys really do care for each other... you both are just too stubborn to say it." Donut said making my face heat up more. "W-whatever." I said shoving the picture back into my pocket and shrinking into myself in embarrassment. Tucker and Donut laughed at my reaction, both patting me in my back before they got up to leave. "It's around 4 in the morning, you should try to get a bit more sleep before Doc and Sister get back." Tucker said making me hum in agreement. Gaining one last look from the both of them they made their way out of the room, leaving me in silence the moment the door shut. "*sigh* I'll find you, Dex... me and everyone will, then we can continue our talk like you promised." I said with a small smile as I traced over the picture in my pocket with me fingertips

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A/N: Hey guys, sorry it took so long to update. I haven't been the best lately, my insomnia and anxiety have been kicking my ass. So, I've just been trying to focus on myself and my own mental health. I should have Chapter 6 out a little after my birthday in January, so be looking forward to that.
Also, there is a little call back in this chapter to the PSA's that Rooster Teeth released before the most recent season aired. So, if anyone can spot it I'll give you a shout out in the beginning of the next chapter. Thanks for being so passionate. Once again, I'm super sorry for the wait. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.