A Broken Crew

Chapter 16

After November left, Dakota said, "I have to go back to the house for a little bit, old man's been ringing up my phone since yesterday evening." Maggie looked at him. "Are you coming back?" she asked. Dakota nodded. "Yeah, I'll be back in an hour or so. Before we have to take Grey back home." He waved. August worriedly stared at him. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked softly. Dakota flicked him. "I'm always okay." he said. "Don't be a worrywart." Maggie kissed him on the cheek. He waved a hand at the rest of them. "I'll be back in a little bit."

Grey nods in response. After Dakota has left, he stares down at his plate for a few minutes. "I can only hope... He'll be too drunk to realize I'm home." He whispers, more to himself than to anyone else. Mikko turns to him, having heard, frowning slightly. Kacey takes his plate to the sink and quickly washes it.

August noticed Grey looking down, and he gave him a small hug. "Try not to worry too much, okay?" he says. "We'll figure something out. For now you should rest."

*Why does he care so much?* Grey nods, more to appease August than really agreeing. His hopes are not high. Not at all. Mikko looks at Grey's plate then taps his friend on the shoulder repeatedly. Grey doesn't answer and Mikko huffs, hands on his hips, then leans in a blows into Grey's ear, making him startle and look at Mikko. Mikko points at Grey's food then at him, but Grey shakes his head, making Mikko frowns. Grey clenched his jaw, feeling suddenly and completely helpless. He can't walk, can't sit up or lay down, can't fly... And it makes him so angry. Mikko immediately backs away from Grey, noticing the tell-tale signs of Grey's anger. The clenching of his hands and jaw, the fire in his eyes, the slight flush on his cheeks, the quickening of his breath.. All signs.

"Grey, are you okay?" August asks gently. "Take some deep breaths. I don't know why you're angry, but you're stressing yourself out and that won't be good for your health. It's okay to feel angry but you need to stay calm, okay? I know things aren't very good right now, but stressing yourself out isn't going to help. Please stay calm."

That doesn't help- it only makes things worse. Kacey runs over and pulls August away from Grey. "No! You don't want to be close right now. He'll be heartbroken if he hurts in a rage. You have to let him chill!" Kacey actually sounds scared- but then, they all are scared of Grey when he gets angry. When angry, all logic for him goes out the window and he will lash out at people if they get to close or try to calm him. He hates it- which doesn't help the situation any. Mikko backs into a corner as he hears Grey begin to growl low, not quite under his breath.

"That doesn't matter. He'll hurt himself if nobody tries to calm him down. If I get hurt, that's a risk I was willing to take." Gently he eases out of Mikko's grip. "It's okay." he says softly. "Even if he doesn't want it, it's more important what he needs. If I had given Dakota what he wanted instead of what he needed, he'd probably be lying in a ditch somewhere." He walked over to Grey again. "I'm not going to touch you, Grey." he said. "I know you're upset, and that's okay, but you shouldn't put your emotions in front of your health. If you move too much you could really hurt your wings or something else. You're in no condition to be acting like this."

Mikko darts to August and taps his arm to get his attention. Once he has it, he mimes water streaming down his face, points to Grey, then covers his own eyes. He then gently pushes August behind Grey so he can't see his face. Kacey moves between August and Grey, and Mikko goes up to Grey from behind, and gently reaches around his head and covers the other's eyes. Grey seems to melt and lowers his head, shoulders shaking as Mikko lowers his hands so he's lightly hugging Grey, his face resting on Grey's back between his shoulders. Kacey looks at August. "Mikko is the only one who can get him to calm down." He whispers.

August smiles at this. "That's good, he's calming down. I'm glad." He smiled, but started to cough again. Black spots were in front of his eyes, and though he couldn't feel the headache he knew he had one. He still felt shivery too. He shuddered for a moment, rubbing his eyes and feeling dizzy.

Kacey frowns and feels August's forehead. His eyes widened. "August, you're sick!" He only halfway scolded."Couch. Now." He -surprisingly for his small size- takes August to the living room and makes him lay down. He gently feels his forehead for fever again, brushing his hand over August's hair. "August, you need to..." He stops."Why didn't you tell us?"

August pushed himself up from the couch. "I'm fine!" he protested. "I just get a little dizzy sometimes. Let me up before you give my Mom a heart attack!" He sat up and smiled. "I am perfectly fine." *They don't need to worry about me,* he thought. *They've got enough to worry about, let alone me getting a tiny cold.*

Kacey crosses his arms. "Uh-uh." He sounds very childish and stubborn. "You're staying right there. You took care of everybody else, now take care of yourself! If you really don't want them to worry... Take care of yourself." His voice quiets with the last sentence. "At least rest for a bit?"

August sighed loudly and laid back down. His head did hurt. "Fine." he muttered. "Only because you won't let me up." He closed his eyes for a minute. "August, honey, are you okay?" August opened his eyes and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine Mom. I just got a little headache in the kitchen so I was laying down for a bit." Maggie nodded anxiously. "Well, tell me if you start feeling sick okay?" August smiled. "I will Mom. I'm not sick, it was just a headache."