Chapter 30; The rescue mission-Part 1

*Unedited*

Enjoy the chapter! I'm trying to binge write the last one or two chapters left so there will be no A\N at the end of the chapter, unless it's the last one. Hopefully I can manage to finish today and upload it since I need to wake up early tomorrow, but I have hope!

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We sat quietly in the living room with Jason and Grey sitting with us, looking at Thomas and Reagan as they both explained what they were thinking.

Caleb looked at me and gave me a reassuring smile and I held his hand as I waited for Jason and Grey's comment.

"Absolutely not, you're just kids- you think we're going to let you deal with kidnappers we barely have any information about?" Grey stated, shaking his head. Thomas opened his mouth, but his brother beat him to it. "No, Thomas. You're my little brother, do you really think I'll let you do this? Or any of you, for that matter? I'm responsible for you, so no- this plan will not be carried out and that is finale." He stood up and exited the room, by the sound of the steps up the stairs probably going to his room.

Thomas sighed and rubbed his face before turning to us. "Sorry Rhi, but maybe Grey has a point," He told me, making me frown at him. "A point? Is this going to put us in danger? Yes! But do we have a great chance of pulling this off? Hopefully yes!" Klay raised a brow at my words and turned to Elliot to whisper, "Hopefully?"

Jason cleared his throat and took out his phone, typing something before looking at me. "What did you say you need?" He asked, surprising all of us. "Wait, you agree to help us? Even though Grey's against it?" Oliver asked, looking more confused than shocked like the rest of us.

Jason sighed, rubbing his hands together. "As a police officer, I am strongly against letting teenagers do this. As Rhi's older brother, I'm even more against it," He claimed, looking at his phone again before continuing.

"But I have a feeling that if I won't help you, you're going to do this on your own, which is even more dangerous." Jason gave me a pointed look.

"What makes you think that?" I asked with an innocent face, though I definitely knew the answer.

Jason shook his head, a small smile on his face. "I'm sure you'll do something stupid and drag those poor guys with you. Now, I'll need to do some calls to see how I can convince my superiors to help us pull it off. I might need to make up some stuff, so wait until I come back before you do anything rational," Jason ordered, making us nod our head, though he stood there for a few more moments, still giving me that pointed look again. I gaped at him, "I'm not going to do anything I swear!" I said a bit louder than needed. Was I that bad when it comes to making good choices?

"Keep an eye on her, yeah?" He told the boys, and they all agreed. Reagan gave me a look, something that my older brother caught. "And after this is over, you and I are going to have a long chat, little sister," Jason stated, giving me a small smile but his face showed he meant business. I visibly gulped but nodded. I was so not ready for this 'overprotective older brother' chat. Actually, who the hell was I kidding? I was going to love every second of it.

He exited the room, saying to tell Grey he'll come back in a bit, but nothing else since it was clear how much he wasn't happy about his plan. Hopefully, Jason could convince him otherwise.

"How about we order some pizza?" Thomas asked, looking at us to approve. After we all agree, he went out of the living room to order the pizza.

"I'll be right back," I said to the others and went after him.

He was just finishing the order, glancing at me for a second to show he noticed I was here.

I waited patiently until he was done, looking at a picture of him and his brother, standing with a woman who looked very much like them, though her blond hair and her blue-grey eyes matched the older boy.

"That's our mother," I heard Thomas said from behind me, coming closer to stand beside me. I thought back to what little he told me about his parents.

"You said your parents always argued and didn't care for you, right? And that Grey basically raised you," I turned my head towards the brown-haired boy as he quietly gazed at the picture with a somewhat sad look.

"Yeah," He simply replied, and I thought that was all he's going to say, but after a moment he added something I've never heard. "Did you know I met Klay first when I ran out of the house one day?" I blinked and stared at him. "Really? How old were you?" I asked carefully, not wanting to ask something that might hurt him. But when he was talking about his brother and his friend, suddenly his eyes were shining, and the happiness was clear on his face.

"Ten, I think. It was pretty bad that day, and Grey was out on a school trip, even though he didn't want to go because he was worried of leaving me alone. I convinced him otherwise, so that left me alone with them. We only recently moved to this city, so I didn't have any friends, but I couldn't spend another second and calling Grey wasn't an option." Thomas went on, putting his hands in his pants' pockets as he retold me his memories.

"So you ran out of the house?" I asked softly, and he nodded. "How did you meet Klay?" He let out a chuckle, probably because of the memory.

"That idiot tried riding a skateboard for the first time and probably got a bit too cocky, riding on it too fast for a beginner. We quite literally ran into each other." Thomas said and we both laughed. This was so like Klay to be like that, and he never changed.

"After we became friends, we met Oliver on the first day of fifth grade. Wasn't much of a talker, but after a while he got used to us and opened up. He didn't have much interaction with people because he was homeschooled before and it was his first year of going to a real school. I guess you can say Klay and I saw something in him from the moment we saw him try to talk to someone, without success."

I found myself smiling at his words, and suddenly felt a bit sad for Oliver. He was still that ten year old who didn't know how to make friend and talk to people, and he will probably stay like that. But now that he had the boys, and me, he wasn't alone, and if he could open up even more to me, I would be more than happy.

"It took some time, but with Klay's persistence we managed to make him feel more comfortable with us." His words surprised me, and I gaped at him a bit. "Klay? He was the one to make the cold boy warm up?" I voiced my thoughts to him. Thomas smiled at me, meeting my gaze.

"Klay was also the one who one day decided he was going to bother the 'lonely, blind, stuck up boy' who came later that year, until he agreed to join us for ice cream after school." He said, making air quotes at the words that probably described the curly-head boy. "Elliot? Him too?" I asked him.

"Klay didn't care what people thought of Elliot, and he saw how lonely he was. That was something we all have in common," His words made me swallow hard, and I turned my head back to the picture before whispering, "Even me," but Thomas could hear my words and he nodded.

"And after we started to realize he was hiding something; our friendship became even stronger. We didn't quite understand it at first, and Elliot made as swear not to tell anyone so I couldn't ask Grey about it." Thomas went on, and I understood what he was talking about. "You mean his mother," I stated, feeling my hand tighten to a fist just from remembering that sorry excuse of a parent.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Thomas nodding.

"The only thing we could do to make his life better and safer is to have as many sleepovers in our houses, so Elliot won't stay with his mother as much. I can count on my one hand the number of times he slept at his own house with his mother there. Klay would have him over the most, since his parents didn't mind much and were busier with his handicapped younger brother," He went on, telling me more about the boys. "Yeah, he mentioned that," I commented. "I feel like he also let Elliot stay with him for his sake, too," I added after thinking about it, putting some long strands behind my ear.

"You're probably right. This only went on for about two years, though, until we met Reagan," Thomas said. I was a bit surprised that they met him last. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that he was the one that got them all together. He had that leader type of personality, along with the overprotective and closed up personality he has. - something they all had in common.

"At first, he didn't like us following him around and Klay trying to bring him into our group. He joined in the middle of the year, and he had a lot of anger inside of him, but we only learned later it was because his mother and he moved to be closer to the hospital because she just got diagnosed with cancer." I found myself moving my head to the direction of the living room, where the other boys were, including Reagan.

"How bad?" I quietly asked, not wanting to ask for something to personal. Nevertheless, Thomas answered me. "She only has a few more years, at best. Sometimes she must stay at the hospital for more than a night, so Reagan would come and sleep in one of our houses. Nobody likes to stay alone. Especially when you have a parent in the hospital, and you're not sure how long they have left. This was probably the main reason why Reagan eventually let us in. It's not easy for a grown up to deal with a sick parent, let alone a kid." I felt my stomach clench at the thought. I didn't really remember much of my parents, so I didn't know what it was to lose someone close you. I swore to myself to stay besides Reagan, even if we only stay friends, though I really hoped it wouldn't happen.

"So, what happen with Elliot and his mother?" I asked, wanting to know as much as I can about the boys.

"Reagan's mom find out about it, and so did Oliver's grandma who he stayed with since his parents are living in Canada. They ended up going over to give that woman a talk, since we begged them not to go to the police. We knew that it was probably the rational thing to do, after we realized the what was going on in Elliot house wasn't normal, and that he was in serious danger. But we also learned that because he didn't have a guardian and he was only thirteen, he would be sent away to foster care. So after a lot of begging, they both went to his house and threaten his mother that if she ever laid a hand on him again, they won't hesitate to go to the police. Said that they were doing this for Elliot's and our sake. And it actually worked, she never touched him again."

I frowned at him, remembering that day I went to save Elliot. "I know what you're thinking, and you're right. But now that Elliot's eighteen, we can take him out of his house, which is what we did. For now, he's staying at Klay's, but hopefully we can find him a place he can have a room of his own." I nodded at his words, feeling myself relax. It also made me wonder if Elliot will want to come and stay in my house. We had plenty of room, and I knew that aunt won't might. Though, I should probably introduce them all first. We were going to have a long talk.

"And what about your brother? How does he come into the picture?" I asked him, thinking back to that day Grey pretty much threatened me to not get the guys in trouble. He smiled again as he looked at the picture, probably from thinking about his protective older brother.

"Grey was just as much people person as Elliot, Oliver and Reagan, so one can recognize its own type, I guess you can say. Klay annoyed the hell out of him at first, but he quickly warmed up to him after he saw what a good friend he was to me. Did you know Klay was the first Grey came out to?" I turned my head to him so fast that I was shocked I didn't hurt my neck. "Wait, seriously? To Klay? Are we talking about the same Klay? The annoying, weird and crazy Klay?" I asked him, not bothering to mask my surprise. The face I made caused him to laugh. "Yea, the same Klay. The same Klay that didn't stop bothering you and Caleb to hang out with us. Sounds familiar?" I blinked at him for a few moments before turning my head back to the wall, letting out air slowly. "Holy sh*t, I've been Klayed," I mumbled, which caused him to laugh once again.

"Yeah, just like the rest of us." In that same moment, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it. Why don't you get back to the others, yeah?" Thomas asked, that same soft Thomas-like smile on his face. I returned him one of my own and nodded, making my way back.

Back in the living room, I came just in time to see Klay arguing with Oliver as they held cards and sat in a circle with the rest of the boys.

"I said that I didn't have a goldfish before, and then I got one after!" Oliver yelled, surprising me a bit. I didn't actually see him ever get angry before.

"That bullsh*t!" Klay yelled back and threw a bunch of cards at him, making Oliver throw his own cards at him.

"F*ck this, I don't want to play anymore," He grumpily said, making Klay scowl at him and throw his cards on the floor, too. "I never wanted to in the first place," Klay told him, sticking his tongue out like a little kid. Just when I started to respect him as an adult who brought all of us together.

I found myself gaping at him as Reagan sighed, only then noticing me. "Oh, you're back," He said, turning everyone attention to me just as Thomas came from behind me with the pizza.

"Pizza's here," He told the boys, putting it on the table and telling Elliot which box had the topping he wanted.

"Thanks," He told his friend, and everyone waited for him until he found his pizza and put it on a plate, moving back so we can all grab a slice. "Here," Oliver put two slices on Klay's plate, grabbing two more for himself.

This made me raise a brow. They were just fighting two seconds ago.

"They always fight when they play Go Fish," Reagan suddenly said from my right, handing me a plate with a pizza slice. I mumbled a thanks and looked at the two boys in question.

"Thomas told me how you all met and how Klay basically got you all together," I mentioned, knowing that none of them would mind Thomas telling me about their past.

Reagan looked at his friend and chuckled, "Yeah, he was pretty annoying," He said, and after a moment he added. "But he's family. Just like you." Reagan was giving me that look again. The same one that woke up the butterflies in my stomach. I was probably going to forgive them, eventually, for almost abandoning me. But for now, I wanted to stay mad for a bit more. Besides, I liked them trying to redeem themselves-especially Reagan. It meant they cared.

I found myself smiling as I looked at him, then turning back to the others as we all ate.

I couldn't wait for this "rescue mission" to be over, so we can just hang out like this every day.

And I knew we were going to do just that.