Chapter 27 - Slowly But Surely (Javier Junior Rosario Outtake POV)

Chirp.

Ding-ding.

Chirp.

Ding-ding.

Chirp.

Groggily, I reach for my phone blindly. Answering, my eyes still closed, I place the phone against my ear, and I go from dog dead tired to being seated upright my heart pounding in my chest. Heart racing as though I've run a mile, I reach for the light though I don't need it when I hear Talia sniffling on the other side, "Javi-"

"Baby? What's wrong?" I ask knowing that it didn't matter what the hell was wrong, I just hated hearing her crying.

She doesn't answer right away, but that's an answer on its own.

"Just breathe, do you have an ice pack?" I ask wishing I was there to care for her. As I wait, I glance off at the clock, reading the digital neon green numbers: 2:16 am. When I still don't get an answer from Talia, "Baby I'll call you back in three minutes," I whisper hanging up and calling Thaddeus.

"What the hell J?" he grumbles but still answers his phone so I'm much more agreeable. "Get Talia an icepack and her medicine!" I respond calmly, though the urge to bark is just beneath the surface. I end the call quickly, getting Talia back on the line, "I called Thaddeus, he's going to bring it for you..." she just sniffles which breaks my heart.

I had sisters, but they did not prepare for someone like Talia.

Where Devin and Taylor were very self-centered, Talia was a different person altogether, ready to help anyone who asked. Offer herself up even when they hadn't asked. It was a commendable character trait, though I wish that sometimes she'd just reach out for that same help. She was in the house with her whole family but had she not called me she would have just remained silently crying until someone came along and checked on her.

If she was in pain, I knew that she probably couldn't walk and get her own medicines, or maybe she needed water... but hell I wasn't afraid to wake up everyone in that house to get her what she needed. "H-hurts," she groans finally, teary-voiced and all. That admittance goes straight to my heart, and I nod knowing that she probably went to sleep before taking the pain medication, and now it was catching up to her.

Even on the phone I can hear when her door is open, and she lets out a sigh, "Why didn't you call one of us," Thaddeus chastises his sister, "seriously, between you and Faith," he grumbles.

"Th-thanks Thad," Talia mumbles after some time, sighing and I know she's taken the pain pills, and was now just waiting for them to take effect. "You good now?" he asks, the tiredness there but so is the concern for Talia.

"Tell him I said 'thank you,'" I finally whisper out, calm again. She does, but I do not hear Thaddeus' response. He probably just nodded or something.

"Thanks for calling him," Talia finally whispers, she's still in pain. Her voice is coated in it and sleepiness, "mom typically comes and checks on me in a few hours..." she says more tiredness than pain in her tone.

"She'd hate to know you're in pain," I say softer than Thaddeus had reprimanded. "Yeah, but I can't walk just yet, and moving would have hurt... and mom just went to sleep. I didn't want to wake her up when she's barely getting five hours a-"

"She still would've wanted you to call, not stay crying in pain without relief," I know Kalenah, but Talia did too. She knew I was right.

When she just hums in acquiescence, I know the pain management pills have kicked right in, "love you," I whisper, not waiting for a response before cutting the call.

Once my phone is down, I rub my hands over my face, all sleepiness having been drained from me for the time being. I was awake now, and I doubt anything could have put me back to sleep at this point. I was meant to be sharing a room with Thaddeus, but since he was at his house, I had the place to myself. Reaching for my remote, I turn on the television, just putting it on the news.

"The world outside of Supernatural beings do not know the kindness of Elders, and many that do know of us have been brainwashed to turn away from us," an Elder; Caelum, according to the banner beneath his name. "All we want is to strengthen the line of communication between our fellow man and our world." I snort, shaking my head. Lies. All of it. The only problem was there was no one strong – morally or physically –  enough to stand against them. Sure there were the selected few, but for some reason, no one had decided that it would be best to stand up together, fight them.

Then again, it was all the rumors and the truth that many had heard and other seen for themselves that had poisoned the well so to speak. There was nothing anyone could do to stand up against them, best to hide and live peacefully among humans. Instead of fighting, building a life that was ordinary so the Elders wouldn't be inclined to keep track of the comings and goings. That was what my parents, Ansel, Kalenah and everyone we knew had been doing.

It wasn't enough that our kind was nearly extinct, hunted, slaughtered probably because of an Elder if anyone had to actually guess, though no one would come out and say it. Our kind had been made known of, but that didn't mean it was smart to rush to the Elders and seek guidance from them. That was honestly the worst, and the last thing anyone with supernatural blood should do.

Resting my head back, I stare at the screen, listening to Elder Caelum speaks, shaking my head at every lying dribble that falls from his lips. None of the Elders could be trusted. They had decimated our home, sent many in our old den running to them when they had nowhere else to go. Instead of following those that fled to the same people that dad had been sure were behind the destruction, we went into hiding, becoming travelers until we stumbled onto the Conrad's.

Remembering, vividly the flames that encircled our home when I was just a boy, the image of the dorm Talia had been trapped in takes over. The sensation of being crawled on by a million bugs or slithering snakes, makes me shiver in response.

"Faith saved her," I whisper, dispelling any of the 'what if' thoughts that could plague me. I wasn't naïvely going to assume that the danger had been silenced. No, whoever trapped Talia inside hadn't accomplished anything. People that do such things do not just start fires to scare others. They do so to destroy. Although that was what I didn't understand.

Talia was fantastic to everyone. She was kind through and through.

It was that kindness that saved her, she had shown it to Faith. Just a simple offer but it saved her.

Mom, Taylor, and Devin might think that Faith had started that fire, but that train of thought made less sense that anything the Elders were claiming on television now. Faith would have had to drug Talia first of all. The question was 'when?' 

When did Faith have time to enter Talia's things and switch out her medication, while Talia was walking to school with her, and we all had classes with her? Then she goes inside and drags my girl out though she really is a slip of a girl. Faith couldn't weigh more than ninety pounds soaking wet. Why would she risk her life to get Talia? Hell, two more seconds and they would have been gone, there wasn't enough water being pushed towards the house to end the fire.

So what was her game plan? Die in the fire?

If anyone wanted more proof that Faith wasn't involved, and that saving Talia was purely a miracle... well, it was what Talia told me. Asked me.

"Do you think she regrets saving me?" the words broken but lingering in her mind until she had to voice them. "Does she avoid you?" I had asked in return, stunned. "No, she avoids everyone, and we let her, but Samson-" she had stopped abruptly.

Waiting, I frown when she didn't finish, and the atmosphere in the room changed, "what?"

"I think – I think Samson has a crush on Faith," my girl whispered looking at me warily, as though this was somehow my problem, or that I was crushing on her brother. I was caught in this weird place where I didn't know if I should laugh or frown. So I shrugged. It was only two more seconds before her behavior registered its implications.

Taylor.

Even now, with my sister hurt I stood by my words, "If Faith and Samson want to be Faith and Samson, that is them. She saved your life so I'm not going to – it's none of my business. If they're happy, they are happy. That's them, this is us," I whispered kissing my girl's forehead then.

I was a guy though and even though I did not represent the whole race, I had some of the same morals as Samson. It didn't matter if a girl was throwing herself at me, I have Talia. There was no situation I could see myself willingly being with someone else when I knew I had found my person in Talia. Maybe if I hadn't found her, then I would be open to other girls, but no one throws away the person that makes them feel the way Talia makes me feel. Safe. Loved. Cherished. Even strong.

Samson wasn't looking for the hot girl, or the one that put out, or even the one that lingered behind him like a lost puppy. He wanted someone that gave him a bit of purpose. He existed; was just surviving. If Taylor were that sense of purpose, he wouldn't just exist.

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