Fandom The Day The World Changed { The Last of Us 1x1 with icedthemoon }

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

“It’s right here.” Soren held up the paper and then placed it on a central location. He also started moving furniture around. “If we see what we need, we can place those things maybe… somewhere over there? That’s a relatively nice and empty space. Though it might get cramped until we can move things around.” This was going to take so much time and effort to clean this out and make it usable. He called over the people there to tell them the plan as well so that they didn’t keep throwing things around just wherever.

A couple of the people were nodding and saying that they would join them. They appreciated the efforts. Rachel mostly looked like she was annoyed at having to exist. Teenagers. “You can take Theo any time you like,” she said with the baby in her arms. He was quiet and still at the moment, but he was probably going to be a whole lot more wiggly soon. Hayden nodded to Kai. “More knock knock,” he confirmed and popped them both back up. “Let’s go downstairs.” He put his hand out for Kai and pointed to the door to the stairwell. “Can you do stairs? I guess we’ll find out.”
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh looked over at the list and nodded. “Got it, that makes a lot of sense. And we just need to be careful to keep things together.” He said as he started moving more furniture. Josh had moved a dresser, some chairs and a table. But the next piece of furniture was a bookcase with boxes of books on its shelves. He knew that books were on that list and so he grabbed the first one and glanced through it. It was all kids books. His eyes widened as he moved that box to the space to bring it back with them. The next box had a mixed of kids and young adult books, and the final box had more adult books of different genres. He set all three boxes over there and then moved the bookcase over to the wall and carried on moving furniture.

Jacob walked over to Rachel when he heard her. “How about I give you a break and take him with us? He might like it.” Jacob suggested, holding his arms out. In truth, Jacob might not have been a pediatric nurse, but he did love kids. Kai looked up at Hayden when he stood, and Kaiden stood too. Kai took his hand and looked at the stairs. “Never did stairs before. Got carried up.” Kai said. His mom and dad had lived on a first floor apartment so he’d never been on stairs and his mom had carried him up the last time. “I wanna try stairs.” Kai added.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

Soren was so focused on moving things around that he was not paying much attention to what was on the list. His thought process was that if they could get like things together, it would be easier to see what they needed specifically with the bigger furniture items. He was thinking that once this was nice and organized, and when everything settled down, they could start bringing everyone here to pick out things that they wanted or needed. He looked over at Josh and paused when he was looking at the books. “Oh that’s perfect! They’re going to love those.”

Rachel happily handed Jacob the baby who was staring at everyone with wide eyes. She shoved her hands by her side and then disappeared back into the room that didn’t have anything for her. “Just don’t do anything the Sharpes will blame me for.” Hayden walked with Kai to the stairs. He pushed open the door and walked to the edge. “It’s hard to step down. It’s a long way for a little guy like you.” He guided the little boy to the edge and towards the wall. Hayden took a few steps down so that he was lower and could more easily help him move. He faced Kai at the edge, both of his hands on the boy. “Alright, little man. You ready to try?”
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh looked over at Soren, a smile on his face. “I’m sure they are. Apparently there is this little kid, Kaiden, that Hayden has fallen in love with. He won’t admit it, but I sense it. Anyway, he mentioned that we didn’t have a lot of kids books, so I said I’d look.” He said as he turned to start moving more furniture. He hadn’t intended to look for the books but he found them on accident.

Jacob smiled as he took Theo into his arms. “Hey buddy.” He said, looking at the kid with his wide eyes. “I’ll take good care of him. Promise.” Jacob had said before he turned to follow Hayden towards the stairs. Kai walked with Hayden, looking at the stairs. Kaiden put a hand on the wall and watched as Hayden faced him a few steps down. He nodded as he felt hands on him. “Yeah!” He said, then moved one leg forward and down, the motion was odd and he wavered a bit on his balance. Determination was written on his face as he brought his other leg down. One step of several hundred it felt like to him to go. He took another step down, but didn’t waver this time. Hayden was right, Kai thought as he realized how far down the steps were for him. He certainly wasn’t going to make all these flights up and down just yet.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

Soren let out a little laugh. “Of course he has. The man has just been waiting for a purpose. Like being a dad.” He shook his head as he continued moving things around. “It’s a shame you two didn’t get the chance to have kids before this happened.” He tossed a couple of items that he remembered from being on the list into the boxes of books. He moved back to the furniture. It still looked like an ungodly mess, but he could see how it was going to be better.

Thankfully, Theo was still of the age of children who did not move too much. He could not move on his own or talk. His fingers moved a bit as he was carried by this new person. Many babies would be upset to be with someone new, but Theo was used to that. He missed his mom. He missed his dad. Now he had this new person who he didn’t understand. It was a lot, but there was enough that was a lot to make him more curious than anything else. Hayden kept both hands there to keep Kai stable as he moved down the steps. “You are so good at this! You’re a stair-traveling fool. A professional. So strong.” As they moved down, Hayden also moved down to keep them going. As they moved, he checked in. “How is it going, buddy? That’s really hard, isn’t it? And tiring? You want to keep going to do you want me to carry you?”
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

As Josh moved things and separated other things, he looked at Soren. “He has, and I think he’d be a great dad. We never really talked about kids before but I think that little one will be good for him. As for me? I’ve thought about having kids but I wasn’t sure if it was something I was ready to consider.” Josh admitted as he moved a table. As they moved the furniture to the wall, it was starting to slowly look better.

Jacob watched Hayden and Kai traverse the steps, a smile on his face as he looked down at Theo. “So much stuff going on huh buddy? All this excitement.” He said. Meanwhile Kai had managed a few more steps, the encouraging words from Hayden was helpful. When he heard Hayden ask him how he was doing, Kai let out a small sigh. He didn’t realize how hard these stairs were. “Carry me..” Kaiden said, lifting his arms up for Hayden.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

“That’s okay too. Everyone is different. Some people were born to be parents.” Soren shrugged as he hefted a table to the back with the other tables. “I don’t think I want to have kids. I didn’t have a great childhood. That shouldn’t happen to any kid.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to be the reason someone goes through that. But also, I don’t feel like I have the time. Plus that would be so much to worry about.” He laughed, because he could in that moment when they were removed from the rest of the world.

Really, Kaiden was doing amazing for this being his first time on steps. It was incredible how much progress a little kid could make in such a short amount of time. They were so much better at this than adults. “I got you.” He hefted Kai into his arms and rested him on his hip. “Maybe we’ll try some more when we get done down there.” He moved down the stairs and entered the next floor. He looked over at Jacob. “You have your hands full. We’ve got this, right?” He put Kai down at the end of the hall. “Knock knock on all the doors!”
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh nodded as he heard that. “I get that not everyone is born to be a parent. But I agree, I never thought I’d have the time for a kid and Hayden would’ve been going to college so it just wasn’t something in the cards I feel. But now? I don’t know.” He admitted. Of course, Josh would support Hayden in anything, even if it was wanting a kid. “Looking a little better. We’ve got that spot cleared out, maybe we can start going through some of the little stuff now that the furniture is out of the way?”

Kaiden wrapped as much of his little arms around Hayden as he could. He rested his head on his shoulder as they went down to the next floor. Jacob heard Hayden and chuckled a little. “Yeah. I do but we got this. Plus, isn’t he adorable? I might just have to keep him more often.” Jacob said with a chuckle. Kai looked at Hayden when he set him down and immediately laughed and ran to the first door. He banged on it. “Knock knock!”​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

Unless Jacob was wanting to have children, Soren didn’t see himself having any of his own. Not that it would be easy with how everything was going right about now. There were so many kids in the foster system. So many kids in homes without parental support. But where were they now? Surely FEDRA would take them in. He pulled his attention back to Josh. “Good plan. We can start with this huge pile.”

Hayden grinned at Jacob and the little baby in his arms. He lifted his hand and moved those tiny fingers like he was balling and Unballing a fist. Hayden did not have time to see what Theo was trying to do, because Kai was already running off to the first door, which meant he was falling behind. He ran to the next. “Knock knock!” The words came out as almost a giggle.
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh had thought about the kids in foster homes and ones that were in group homes because of bad conditions at home, and hoped they’d be taken in by FEDRA. “Sounds good to me.” He agreed, grabbing one box and moving it in front of him. He looked through it, and found all kinds of coloring books and several packs of crayons. Good for little kids. He set that entire box aside and pushed it towards the books they were taking home. The next one had little trinkets and decorations so he shifted that to make a home decor pile.

Hayden may not have seen it but Jacob did. He copied Theo with a smile as he looked up to see Kai running past Hayden to the next door. “Knock knock!” He giggled as he banged on the door. This was so much fun. ​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

Stuffed in a bunch of things were clothes. They were going to need to be washed of course, but more clothes was always good. He started a large pile of clothes that they could sort through later. Maybe he could pull some other soldiers to start that project at some point. He also found a handful of games that he was beginning to put together in one area. Plenty of things required electricity, and he was not sure if that was going to be an option yet. Things like lamps and microwaves. “Josh. You ever feel like you signed up for daring heroics and then wonder how you became a warehouse worker?”

Hayden ran up and down the hall with Kai banging on door and calling out to everyone until they had a whole heap of people in the halls again. He knelt down again so that he was on Kaiden’s level as he addressed everyone who came out into the halls. He gave them the same invitation as the last floor.
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh was searching through a few boxes that contained things like pictures, mirrors, and other items. Another box had kitchen utensils and place mats. So far nothing on the list, so he just set them in two different piles. He looked up and over at Soren, laughing a little. “Hmm. Now that you say that, yes. I do have to wonder.” He said, shifting through a box of CD’s but the CD player that was with it ran on batteries that were dead. That was useful.

After they’d banged on all the doors and everyone was out in the hall, Kaiden tucked himself to Hayden’s side when he knelt down. Jacob too had given the same invitation for those with little ones who’d like help with them. “Ready for the next floor buddy?” Jacob asked Theo, putting a hand on his stomach and tried to tickle him like he saw his mom do with Josh when he was a baby.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

“It is amusing like that, isn’t it?” Soren asked with a chuckle. “I guess we could be out there risking our lives to ‘eradicate the enemy’ or whatever they were saying before, but who else was going to do this?” He opened a tackle box and grinned. “Now look at that. Someone had a whole box of batteries. That will come in handy.” He set that in the pile of things they were taking back with them. “Actually, I think this must have been from the same place, because there are a bunch of these tackle boxes full of useful things like tools and nails and such.”

Theo’s tiny body wriggled as he started to laugh. He blew little bubbles out of his mouth as he giggled. His smile was large as he looked at Jacob. He lifted his hand and wriggled his fingers slowly like he was trying to imitate what Jacob did. Hayden took Kai’s hand. “Let’s go to the next floor. We have stairs to conquer!” When they got there, he was ready to either try to step down some more or carry him if he wasn’t ready yet.
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh nodded as he chuckled a little. “It absolutely is. And who else would be willing to do this? Besides, we do have a list so who better to get that stuff then us anyway.” He said with a smile as he looked at the tackle boxes. “Now those will absolutely will be helpful. And I have a CD player that uses batteries, so we have music too now.” Josh said, showing off the player.

Jacob laughed softly as he looked at Theo. That smile and laugh made his own smile grow. He had to admit, perhaps he could grow used to watching him and the others. Jacob had considered having kids but with his schedule, it wouldn’t have been fair for them. He chuckled a little at the imitation tickling fingers from Theo. Kai giggled as Hayden took his hand. He saw the stairs and shook his head. Kaiden out his arms up to be carried to the next floor.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

Soren looked over at Josh’s finds and nodded. “Now that is great! We could practically have a party.” He laughed as he sifted through some more boxes. “I don’t party, by the way. In case you were a partyer in your past life, I have never been one. Went to some as a soldier back, I dunno, maybe in my early twenties. Got worse than wasted, said some things I really shouldn’t have, and have decided that was not for me after all.” As he tossed a couple of hair brushes into a boxes he felt the need to clarify something. “I stand by what I said. That guy really was a jerk, and he deserved every words that came out of my mouth. But that doesn’t mean I should have done it.”

The moment he saw those outstretched arms, Hayden picked Kai up, placing his on his hip again, and made their way down the stairs. He almost forgot about Jacob as they moved. He grinned at his brother, barely concealing the absolute joy that was being with Kaiden, and set down the little boy on the next floor. He squeezed his hand and yelled, “knock knock!” before running to the first floor. Meanwhile, Theo was still staring at Jacob like he was some sort of impossible being as babies did. He went from imitating the tickle motion with his fingers to rolling his head to one side and then the other. The world kept moving as it so often did. He grabbed at Jacob’s shirt, because it was a nice malleable material that his hands could actually grasp.
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh looked at Soren and laughed, hearing him. Then he heard the rest of his words and laughed harder. "Is that so? And you have a partner who loves parties." Josh said, which was a half-lie. Jacob did like parties but he only had a few friends he went with. "You? Really? I can't imagine you saying things that shouldn't have been said." Josh said, quirking an eyebrow. "What did he do that made him a jerk?"

Kaiden giggled as he was picked up and held onto Hayden as they made their down to the next floor. He might not have liked all the people at once, but he was enjoying spending time with Hayden. Once he was set down, he felt the squeeze and giggled running after Hayden and ran past him banging on the next door. "Knock Knock!" He laughed. Jacob looked at Theo who was rolling his head to one side and then the other. He felt the hand grasp his shirt as they joined the other two on the next floor.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

Soren shrugged as he pushed aside some shoes. “He was one of those soldier boys who thought he was so much better because he knew how to reload a gun in some small amount of time. You know, like the rest of us. And he was disrespecting not only my men but also all of the women around us.” He held a yard stick in his hand that had been shoved into a pile of clothes. “So, absolutely beyond drunk, because this was a party and also we just watched half our platoon die that day, I picked up the pool cue, smacked his hand that he was for sure sending the way towards the nice girl who had joined us, and then proceeded to shove him onto the pool table where I supposedly, I don’t remember this part, told him something along the lines of he was a no good horunge who abused all of his power and apparently also began to rattle off a string of Swedish insults.” He waved a hand around. “But really, he was a skithög, and everyone agreed. The good news was that he only knew the gist of what I was saying and not the actual words.” He put the yard stick down and shrugged. “So, I don’t party out of fear of telling someone of higher rank the truth. But Jacob parties? Interesting.”

Theo was one of those babies that everyone on the outside thought was great. No crying or babbling or talking or getting into messes. He was a cute little lump that caused no problems. This was an incorrect assumption. When he was not in the arms of a person, he was crawling around and throwing things. And touching everything. This was the real reason that Rachel couldn’t deal with him anymore. Now that he was more comfortable, he was touching everything on Jacob. He found the buttons of the flannel and was touching, grabbing, and pulling at them. He was considering putting it in his mouth if he could get it close to him. He did the same with Jacob’s fingers. Those looked like interesting and edible things. It was probably a bad thing for Jacob that he was still teething. Down the hall, Hayden was running, banging on doors, and yelling, “Knock knock!” and making sure that he kept close to Kai. This was for the little one, or so he told himself. It did not matter that he really did need this himself. They had just a couple more doors as he banged on one, yelling for the occupant’s attention, and he looked over at Kai. He was just so cute and excited. This was the most fun he had had in ages. He and Josh never had time to do anything fun anymore, and now that the world decided to turn upside down, it seemed impossible to find again. He got so distracted that he didn’t run to the next door as this one opened. His attention turned to the older man who opened the door, Harry who was watching the two month old baby of the couple who both worked for FEDRA. Only it wasn’t Harry that he saw. Instead, it was someone whose flesh fell from his face. Who bled from every orifice. Who had been beaten down and crushed. Hayden fell backwards, stumbling onto the ground with wide eyes, scrambling as far away in this little hallway as possible. He shoved a hand over his mouth to keep himself from throwing up right there like he had before.
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh narrowed his eyes as he listened to Soren, shaking his head as he sorted through a box of knick knacks. “What a jerk. People like that are the worst.” Josh muttered as he tilted his head slightly. His eyes widened as he heard him and then he heard the Swedish words. “I have to admit, I never realized you were Swedish, but it sounds like you put him in his place.” Josh said as he pulled another box over. This one had more CD’s, some movies though they had no way to watch them if they didn’t have electricity. “And yes. He does but he never had time to and didn’t have many friends to go with.”

Jacob was paying attention to Theo, feeling him touch his buttons. Grab them, and he felt him grabbing his fingers. “Don’t eat my fingers little guy.” He said before he looked up in time to see Hayden fall backwards, stumbling onto the ground and scrambling away. He turned to someone who took Theo and he was headed towards Hayden about the same time as Kai was turning with a confused look. He stopped running and turned to walk towards Hayden. “‘Ayden?” Kai asked as he crawled onto Hayden’s legs, little hands on his stomach. Jacob knelt down beside Hayden, hand on his shoulder gently as he spoke. “Hayden? Buddy? It’s not real remember? Ring. Sharks. Come back to us.”​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

The being Swedish thing was not something that came up very often. He didn’t sound or even really look all that Swedish. He probably looked about as American as anyone else. “It’s one of those things I inherited from the family I mostly try to forget. But the language stays apparently. Or at least the insults that this guy unlocked. I hadn’t said anything that bad since my high school days when I was less than the ideal citizen.” Everyone had an interesting past. “But, anyway, that’s good to know. Maybe if we party with decent people like you and your brother, it won’t turn out so bad this time.”

Hayden stared into the horrifying visage of his own waking nightmare, afraid that if he looked away, it would come closer. He could hear the chattering of the people around him, but he could not hear the words. He heard the approaching sounds of who he could only assume was Jacob, because already he associated safe with Jacob. A pressure came on his legs, and he didn’t understand. This was not expected. He tore his eyes from the monster to see Kai just as he placed his hands on his stomach. Oh. He breathed rapidly as the words from Jacob swirled around his head. Not real. This was not real. Right. Okay. Ring. He spun it. Sharks. The aquarium. Josh. Ring. Sharks. Josh. Ring. Kai. He looked at the little boy and smiled. It was a little, tiny smile. “Hey, okay. It’s okay.” He lifted one shaky hand and then shoved it back down so that it did not tremble where Kai could see it. “I’m sorry. I-“ He needed to breathe normally. He willed his breath to be better. His eyes inadvertently moved up to where the monster was, but it was just Harry who held this baby and looked more than a little concerned. “I’m okay. I’m so sorry.” He looked at Jacob with a plea. “I’m sorry.”
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh arched an eyebrow as he heard that. Hmm. “Oh, I see. Well. At least you have a new family now.” Josh told him, reaching over and patting his shoulder before he looked through a box of different devices from phones to computers to tablets. “That’s an idea. An apartment building party.” Josh mused as he slid that box away. “I wonder how the downtown bombing is going.” He said quietly, trying not to think of the message he received.

Kaiden tilted his head a little, almost like he sensed something was wrong with this man. He smiled back at Hayden, before he crawled further onto his lap. Some babies and toddlers were quiet, some were standoffish, and others were cuddly. Kai.. was normally quiet but he could almost sense that Hayden needed him as much as Kai needed him. He didn’t have a father, not really. He was barely home, and didn’t even come home last night. Jacob heard the ‘sorry’ and saw the plea. “It’s okay Hayden. You’re okay.” Jacob replied as another person walked over. She dropped to her knees on his other side. “I know how you feel. Seeing things that aren’t there. I see visions of my son. Turning, twisting, screeching. Watching my husband shoot him…” She paused. “My point is, you aren’t alone. We’re all here for each other right? Support.” Her smile grew as she looked around murmurs of agreement echoed on the floor.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

A new family. That was kind of bizarre. He knew what it was like to have a family. He didn’t like that so much. Then he had a new family in the military, and that was alright. Decent. He liked Cap a lot. He was a lot like the father he wished he had. But even that wasn’t quite family. Sure, he joined Cap and his wife and kids for various holiday functions and what not, but it never really felt like a genuine family. He was the guest. This was different, and that was kind of amazing in a bit of a scary way. “Apartment building party sounds like something we should have Jacob and Hayden plan for us. Could be interesting as soon as we can get them things to party with.” He thought about what Jacob wondered aloud. “You know, I was just wondering that too. They said that they would keep us up to date, so I assume they should be getting back to us with information soon. Unless they forgot we are deep in all this. Do you want to go check? We could take a break.”

Hayden went from entirely alone on the floor to surrounded by support. That was what they were trying to build. This support group, right? This was what it was for. For people who watching their husbands shoot their own sons. Or break the skulls of neighbors. To help everyone who should not be alone in this fight against their trauma and their fear as well as against the world. He was not alone. He had all these people. Hayden almost cried he was so moved. He controlled his air flow. He nodded to the woman. He smiled at Jacob. And then he turned to Kai. He put both of his hands out to him. “Hey little man. I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you okay?” He could only imagine what it must have been like for him to see what just happened with Hayden.
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh looked at Soren and chuckled softly. “I’m sure in this giant warehouse we could find some things to party with.” He replied, thinking about it with a small smile. “It certainly would be a lot of fun.” He added. Josh thought for a moment and nodded. “Yeah, we can go check. I think this project is one that will definitely take more than a couple hours to complete.” Josh said, getting to his feet and stretched.

The woman, Alison, smiled at Hayden, patting his shoulder before she stood up. Her other son, and the older brother to the one who’d been shot, stood near their door. Jacob smiled at Hayden then at Alison. This was exactly what they were trying to build. Kai looked at Hayden, he was mostly confused as to what caused such a reaction but he couldn’t quite comprehend exactly what had happened. He put his little hands into Hayden’s bigger ones and pulled himself up so he was almost laying on his stomach. “Okay.” He said, pointing to himself. Then he pointed to Hayden. “Okay?” He asked, head tilted slightly to one side.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

Soren could honestly say that he was okay with taking a break from this particular project. This might go faster if they could recruit more people, but getting people to agree to warehouse duty was not nearly as appealing as other jobs that someone could do. He moved to his feet and looked out over the piles and piles of more things they still had to go through. “Yeah, let’s take a walk. I’m sure someone is going to know what happened out there.

Hayden glanced up at Alison and then her family. That poor family. At least that didn’t happen to him. At least Josh didn’t have to take one of their family’s life. The neighbors were bad enough. He had no idea how she felt. He looked back at Kai and smiled at the little gestures. He pointed to himself and nodded. “Okay,” he reassured him. Ring. Sharks. Josh. Kai. Okay. “Give me a moment. I have to tell everyone what’s going on.” From right where he was on the floor, he addressed everyone like he had the rest, though this time he included that this was exactly why they needed to do this. Everyone needed help. The last few doors they had not banged on were open anyway after all the commotion. When he finished, he looked at Kai again. “You ready to go down the stairs one more time?”
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh was glad to take a break. This was not what he enjoyed doing. He didn’t like being still for longer than a couple hours. It was part of the reason he was a track runner when he was younger. He had to move, to run. Though sometimes he didn’t know what he was running from. “Alright. Sounds good.” Josh agreed, moving back towards the front of the warehouse.

Kaiden nodded and laughed at the same gesture repeated back to him. “Okay.” He said with a happy smile. He turned to look at everyone, shifting in Hayden’s lap. Then he heard Hayden talk to him. “Stairs! Knock knock!” He agreed. Jacob once more extended the offer of watching little ones and then plucked Theo from Harry’s hands with a smile and a ‘thank you’ before following the other two to the stairs.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

As they moved to the front of the warehouse, Soren caught the attention of the other people who were around. He gave them the rundown of what they were doing to include setting aside the things on the list that he left on one of the dressers back there. When he inquired if any of them knew about the bombing, they said that last they heard, the bombings were still going, but that was an hour or so ago. So he walked back to the central headquarters. “I am going to assume we haven’t heard anything, because they are waiting for the dust to settle to figure out if it worked out.” It was a reasonable assumption though he wished they would have kept them more up to date.

Hayden nodded. “That’s right.” He swooped Kai up with both hands and flew him in a huge arc before placing him beside him so that Hayden could stand up. He pointed to the stairwell. “Come on!” He put his hand down for the little boy to grab so that they could go to the stairs. He hoped that Kai’s enthusiasm and the encouragement from Alison and Jacob would be enough to make it through the last floor. Theo did not appreciate all the fuss. He was getting used to messing with Jacob’s clothes and suddenly he was with someone else, and everything felt wrong. Of course, it didn’t last long. Then he was back with Jacob, so at least something made sense. He was not happy though. Everything still felt wrong. The beginnings of fussy began.
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