As the end of summer closed in on Kid and Nia, so did something else. Kid had been talking with Killer about making some plans for a particular day that was coming up. Killer had in turn talked to Nia's grandfather, who had finally been allowed to go home, showing promise with his newly installed pacemaker. He had tried to stick to medication and fought doctors against having the surgery, but eventually he gave in. His reasoning was Nia, wanting to see her graduate high school at the absolute least.
He'd had allergic reactions to the medications that his doctors had him try, and as a result the pacemaker had been his only option at that point, so the fire battalion chief had relented. However it came at a price, he was transferred into Arson Investigation.
Kid had been glad to have his room back, but he had a new secret that only Killer knew: he hadn't changed his bedsheets yet. They smelled like Nia, and as grateful as he was to have his own space again he did miss having her around. Between his work schedule and her helping her grandfather recover at home, they didn't get much time to hang out. They'd text and call daily, however, until Nia had to hand over her phone at eight pm.
Kid shuttered to think of how overbearing her grandfather was. He recognized where it was coming from but he had to wonder if something had happened to her that made her grandfather so hypervigilant.
He let out a small sigh as he picked up his phone and googled 'Nia Corbin' he didn't get many results, but then remembered what her full name was and searched 'Virginia Corbin', again there weren't many results.
He ran a hand through his hair, now sitting up. This was a bit strange. Nia never talked about her Dad very much. But he knew a lot about her mom. She had been a sous chef before she took ill, and taught Nia everything that the nearly fourteen-year-old knew about cooking. Kid knew that Nia got her steel grey eyes from her mom, but her mom's hair had been pale blonde.
Kid blinked. Steel grey eyes. Battalion chief Corbin's eyes were the same steel grey. He wasn't her paternal grandfather, he was her maternal grandfather, which also meant that when he took in Nia, he changed her surname.
Realizing this Kid stood up from his bed, scratching his head. Very clearly something big had happened, or chief Corbin was doing his best to protect Nia from something he perceived as threatening. It wasn't the general threat of 'online predators' or 'predatory men and boys'. No, this was something specific. What the hell had happened to her father? Was it just simple drunk driving or had something else happened? Was he connected to something dangerous? Had he gotten mixed in with some kind of syndicate?
He bit his lip a little before picking up his phone again and typing in the name that Nia had told him once, Felicity Corbin.
Instantly there were some results, mostly from New World High School when she graduated in 2002, which would've made her around twenty-six when she had Nia. Kid stopped for a moment as he realized his parents would've gone to school with Nia's mom, although his mom would've graduated the following year.
His parents had Killer when they were young, his mother being twenty-one and his father twenty-two. His Dad had been a mechanic, and his mom a hair stylist. They weren't rolling in money by any means but they'd made enough to be happy. Then he had messed everything up.
He also knew he was glad that Nia had left, in a way. There was only one reason he was glad for her not living with them now; it made it easier to hide that his therapist had referred him to a psychiatrist and had that doctor had prescribed medication to him. Medication that he abhorred taking but did so anyway because that's what he needed to do to not feel like an anxious ball of tension—at least he hoped the pills would help.
He took a pill from the prescription bottle and went to the kitchen with it to get some water. He hadn't noticed any changes yet but then again he'd only been taking them for two weeks and his doctor said he could need to be on them for at least three to six weeks before he feels any change.
He took a glass from the cupboard and ran the tap before filling the glass with water. He placed the pill in his mouth and gulped it down with the full glass. Killer observed him as he asked, "How've you been feeling?"
"Not much change," Kid admitted. He looked to Killer and stated, "I'm gonna go meet up with Nia."
"Change those bed sheets yet?"
"No," Kid confessed. He blushed a little before adding, "they still smell like her."
"Someone's got a crush," Killer teased in a sing-song voice.
Kid rolled his eyes at his older brother. He washed his glass, placed it in the drain tray and announced, "I'm gonna go get Nia for our hike."
"Alright, I'll get busy here," Killer acknowledged. He stopped Kid momentarily, reminding him to take water with him. Kid nearly face palmed as he remembered what the doctor had told him. The new medication got excreted through his kidneys so he had to make sure he stayed hydrated or there was risk of toxic levels building up in his system.
He opened the fridge and took out the three bottles of water that were in there along with a water tumbler that Killer had gotten him from a discount store. He took the tumbler and three bottles of water. He momentarily hesitated wondering if a hike might not be the best idea. Well, if push came to shove he had a few options to answer nature's call, although he hoped to not resort to any of them.
"You haven't told her yet, huh?"
The question had hit Kid like a slap across his face. He hesitated before shaking his head 'no', and admitted, "I'm not sure how to—or when. I mean this diagnosis it's—it's life long."
"She might know a thing or two about living with a life-long condition," Killer hinted. Kid knew that his brother was referring to Nia's asthma, but it wasn't the same. He appreciated the sentiment but he was scared. He'd never had anything like this before, and the guys he was friends with before would've teased him to Timbuktu and back again if he'd been diagnosed back then and told them.
His brother and his therapist, that was his safety net. His support system. He was pretty sure Nia would be accepting of him—but then again maybe she'd get scared this time and run off. The way others in his age group feared him. It was that ever present fear that they felt for him that made him fear losing the one person who wasn't intimidated.