Afraid

Chapter 15

Graves sat at a table across from Rayla.

"Rayla Williams. Your name sounds familiar."

"Don't know what to tell you."

"You do. You're just choosing not to."

"Yep."

He brought a folder and put it on the table.

"Let's see. Robert Williams. Nationally: Scottish. Marital status: married to Alison Williams. Children: wife pregnant. Blood status: Fairy," he put the folder down, "or as I've heard many prefer, Fae."

Rayla sat motionless and stared at the folder. Graves closed it and tapped it.

"This was 40 years ago and yet.." he pushed an old picture of a man in his late 20s towards her, "Robert Williams appears to be your father and you're only in your early 20s. How is that possible?"

Rayla leaned forward.

"We have our ways."

"Care to elaborate?"

"No. Never in a million years."

Graves sighed and waved his hand.

"Finish her up in prep and put her in one of the cells until they're ready for her."

Jones pulled her up and dragged her to another room.

An hour later, he brought her down to the cells. Newt looked up as they approached. Rayla wouldn't even look up from the ground as Jones shoved her into the cell next to them.

He closed the cell door, locked it and walked away. As soon as he turned the corner, Rayla let out a pained sob. She curled up on her side, her back to the three in the other cell.

Newt moved to the bars separating them.

"Rayla... please look over here. Please."

She slowly sat up and turned. The tears staining her cheeks became visible as she looked at him. She moved to him, reaching with her hand, but brushed against the bar. It glowed red, and she jerked her hand back in pain. Newt wordlessly reached through the bars and grabbed her hand. He looked at her wrists and saw the burns. He pushed up the sleeves of her coat and saw the iron bands circling her wrist. He quickly pushed up the other sleeve, seeing an identical band on the wrist. His hand rested on her cheek.

"I'm so sorry. I should never of-"

"Never what? It's my fault I'm here. I shouldn't have come to America. I knew what they did to my kind. But the need to find out about my parents was stronger than my self-preservation. You do not need to apologize. I should probably be the one apologizing anyway. I let myself get close to you, even though I knew this was most likely going to happen.

"How could you have known? You didn't know that you'd get arrested. You didn't know that you were going to meet a man who-"

"I fell for."

He froze at her words, shocked. She looked at their hands, which were intertwined.

"I came to New York looking for answers. I had accepted the fact that I was probably going to get caught and die. But I never expected to meet the person I wanted to get to know more than anything in school, but was too afraid to even talk to. I never expected to get so close with him within the span of two days. I didn't come here expecting to- to fall in love. And now, I'm never going to see you again."

Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she breathed in shakily. Wordlessly, Newt lifted one of his hands to her face and wiped away her tears. He lifted her head gently, causing him to look at him. There were tears staining his own cheeks as he started speaking.

" I came to New York just to pass through to free a Thunderbird. I never expected to stay longer than a day or two. And I never expected to meet the most amazing girl. I feel for you. And I can't lose you. I won't let them hurt you."

"How? How are you going to do that? You don't even know where they're going to take me. Nor do you know what is going to happen to you. Newt... you're going to have to let me go."

Jones came back, unlocking Rayla's cell.

"Come on. Time to go."

Newt stood, "No, you can't do this to her."

Rayla stood behind him and grabbed his hand.

"It's ok Newt."

He turned to face her, "No, it's no-"

She cut him off by pulling his face close to the bars and pressing her lips to his. She ignored the bars burning her cheeks.

Jones grew impatient and strode into the cell and pulled Rayla away. He dragged her down the hall, ignoring Newt's cries.

Tears falling from her eyes as she watched him fall to his knees, unable to contain his sobs.

"Goodbye Newt."