A Broken Crew

Chapter 32

Grey watches her through fear-filled eyes for a few minutes, trembling. When she didn't come closer, he calms down, catching her last two sentences. "I'm here for you now. I didn't mean to upset you." He looks down, suddenly ashamed. Tears prick at his eyes but he fights them back, biting his lip hard. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." He whispers

"You have nothing to be sorry for." she said softly. "I'm the one who got a little too excited." The door slammed wide open and Dakota staggered in, his eyes red-rimmed. He spotted Maggie and dashed over. "Mom! I woke up and you weren't there!" He started to sniffle again. "Why are you up here? Where's August?" Maggie put her arm around him. "August is resting. And I'm up here with Grey." Dakota looked at Grey and gave him a nervous glance. "Who is he Mom?" he whispered loudly. "Will he hurt me?" Maggie rubbed his back. "No Dakota, he's your friend." Dakota gave Grey a tiny nervous wave.

"I won't hurt you, don't worry. It's too scary to be hurt for me to consider hurting someone" Grey signs slowly, remembering Kacey mentioning that Dakota knows ASL. He mouths the words as well, just staying where he is. He bets he looks as small and scared and... broken as Dakota does right now- and that fills him with shame and that all-too-familar sense of self-loathing and hate, though he buries it deep.

Dakota looked at him for a moment, then whispered to Maggie. "Momma, he knows sign language too!" He seemed almost excited. Maggie smiled. He signed back. Your name is Grey? My name is Dakota. Did you get an owie? Is momma fixing it? Maggie watched him concentrate on signing and said quietly. "This is one of the stages of Dakota's PTSD. Childlike innocence and curiosity.

Grey smiles, his eyes catch Maggie's as he mouths It's adorable. He then looks back at Dakota. I was sad, so she came to cheer me up. he signs, sitting up a bit more.

Dakota smiled. A real, genuine bashful smile. "Momma is good at cheering people up." Then he laid his head on Maggie. "Momma, I'm still tired." Maggie patted him. "Okay. Go downstairs and I'll be there in a minute." Dakota nodded and waved shyly to Grey before leaving. "It's the better of the two stages." Maggie said softly. "I think that was how he might've been if he'd had a normal childhood."

Grey nods, staring after Dakota. "I wish he had.." He whispers to himself before looking at Maggie and hugging her with no warning.

Maggie was surprised for a moment, but only a moment. She wrapped her arms around him. "I wish you both had." Maggie whispered. "That's what you deserved. To have a happy, normal childhood." She held him for a moment. "After I go downstairs and comfort Dakota, I have to go the hospital." she said. "Will you stay by Dakota's side? He's really clingy in this stage, but I don't want to take him to the hospital with me. If he sees August like that in this stage, it could be really bad for him. He needs someone to cling to while I"m gone."

Grey nods. "Of course I will, Mom." He responds, letting go with a smile. Honestly, he wouldn't mind the attention. He knows that he definitely doesn't mind when others are clingy, he finds it cute. "I don't mind people being clingy." He laughs quietly."Mikko calls me a teddy bear because I don't care if he or Kacey are being clingy. I have gone entire days with them clinging to me."

"Okay, well, he should come back to himself soon." Maggie said, standing up. "And although I'll admit he's perfectly adorable while he's like this, the faster he goes back to himself the better. The longer he's like this, the more of a chance he has of going into the second stage. If he does, please just call me. There's not a good chance of you getting him to come out of that."

Grey nods again and stands as well, walking over to the bed and grabbing an the pillow, holding it to his stomach. "Alright. I'll call." He wonders what the second stage is but bets he'll know if it happens

Maggie went downstairs and sat down on the couch with Dakota for a little bit. "Dakota, Momma has to go bye-bye for a little bit." Dakota looked up with anxiety. "Go? Do I have to go home too?" Maggie shook her head. "No, no, you are going to stay here with Grey and everyone else!" Dakota looked nervous still. "Okay, Momma. But you're coming back right? You'll come back home?" Maggie patted his head. "Of course I will." She grabbed her bag. "If ya'll need something to eat, just grab it." she said. "I love you guys!" Atlas and Dakota both waved goodbye.