Chapter 77: A good morning

Kellen was up with a pep in his step the next morning. He felt relaxed in a way that he hadn’t felt in a long, long time. He knew it was from what he had done with Rhys the previous day, and he didn’t feel guilty about it.

He had to get some bloodwork done with Taylor before his meeting, but that was at 10 am and wouldn’t take half an hour. Rhys had told Kellen in the morning that Kellen would be having his meeting in the second largest conference room on the conference floor, since Rhys would be meeting with Sergei, Hill and Sakura in the large one. Even Lieutenant Fisher was coming in person.

Only Sakura would be digital, but that was a choice they had to make. Sakura had even told Rhys that if they couldn’t get a hold of her, to continue without her. This took priority, and she didn’t mind being out of the loop for this one. It didn’t really involve her people, just her city. She was okay being less in the know.

Kellen couldn’t understand that, but S Classes were strange creatures. That wasn’t something that Kellen could ever understand.

So, Kellen had an easy morning, and even stopped by the Guiding Division around 9 am to see his father and speak about the plans for the weekend. Thankfully, Charlie was also there, so Kellen could speak to him about what he had spoken to Rhys about the night prior.

Charlie had lit up, excited to be of use. He had agreed instantly, before he grew serious and asked if Captain Sergei was like Rhys?

Kellen had laughed and told him no. He was relatively normal, more or less. He was just also missing his Guide. Charlie had grown sad, and asked if they had died or if they were missing.

Kellen had a hard time trying to tip toe around telling Charlie that who he was missing was Brent, because Kellen didn’t know if it was okay for him to tell people that. He didn’t think Sergei would like it, and he knew that Brent wouldn’t.

He just told Charlie that he was on a mission that took his partner away for a long time. He would be home soon, but in the meantime, he probably needed some guiding. Simple, hand holding guiding. Charlie was all for it.

He told Kellen to message his father whenever he needed him since Charlie was going to be with him all day at the Guiding Division. Kellen nodded, and then looked around the floor of the Guiding Division.

His Dad, being Kellen’s Dad, had taken an office cubicle out in the open like the rest of the Guides here. He hadn’t tucked himself away in an office. Kellen was sure he’d been offered such. They probably would have cleared out one of the guiding rooms for him, but his Dad obviously said no.

He wanted to be with the others. Show that he was truly there for support and make it as easy as possible to approach him. Sometimes he booked guiding rooms for more private meetings with other Guides, which was something you could do, but for the most part, everyone liked to speak to him at his desk.

It was cute, watching the Guides come up and peer into his Dad’s cubicle. Nosy as all Guides were, they would pale slightly at the sight of Kellen, before they would wave at him tentatively. Kellen smiled and waved back.

Kellen was glad to see that the Guides were welcoming his Dad with open arms, and that they were continuing to welcome Charlie as well. However, Kellen hadn’t seen Casper at all. In the whole hour that he had been in the Guiding Division, he hadn’t spotted him once.

Even his secretary said that Casper wasn’t in the office. Kellen wondered where he was then if he wasn’t here? What was he doing? Was he alright? Kellen was even more worried since he had shrugged off going to the Medical Bay the day prior.

When he spoke to his Dad about his concerns, his Dad’s expression had shifted slightly. He shook his head, frowning.

“Let’s discuss that at dinner on the weekend.” He told Kellen. He shut down Kellen, but Kellen wasn’t dumb enough to think that he didn’t want to speak about it at all. This was Casper’s homebase. These were his people. His Dad obviously didn’t want to speak about it when Guides were clearly coming and going around them quite a lot. They would be able to hear what they were talking about.

Who knew what kind of rumours that would stir up?

Kellen was able to see where he was coming from, and finally left to go get his blood drawn from the Medical Bay shortly after that.

~

When he saw Taylor, she looked stressed, but well rested. Kellen asked her if she had gotten guiding recently, since he had just been at the Guiding Division and she flinched. She chuckled, saying she was fine, but Kellen narrowed his gaze at her.

She finally agreed she’d go tomorrow. She had too much on her plate to go today. Kellen scolded her, saying that since she was using her powers so much, she should be getting guiding every day. Even base level guiding would help her quite a bit. Taylor sat there and let Kellen lecture her, before her eyes lit up.

“You look…better than you did yesterday. You’re whole demeanor is different. What happened yesterday?” She asked and now it was time for Kellen to get his own lecture. Or, that was what he thought until he explained what he and Rhys had done, how careful they had been, and the precautions they were taking.

Taylor listened to Kellen talk, her brows furrowed. Thankfully, she had waited to have this conversation until after the others had taken his blood and left so Kellen wasn’t revealing anything sensitive for Rhys.

He didn’t really care if others knew what he was doing with Rhys. He was his. Rhys belonged to him.

“Well, you are at a point where you are less toxic than before. Less poisonous. I suppose…I can allow this much, especially since it seems to have helped your mental health as well.” Taylor mused, looking thoughtful. “I have to keep an eye on both sides of your health, not just your physical body. Well, as long as you keep using new toys, I see no problem. Make sure to bill your purchases to the Guild. I’m sure I don’t need to tell the Captain that, but since you’re new, I’ll tell you, Kellen.” Kellen stared at her blankly.

“What?” He asked as she lowered her gaze to his charts. He was sure she was using this as some kind of tension breaker. She had to have memorised his charts at this point.

“Well, anything that is related to care of this kind can be charged to the Guild. The Captain never told you?” She asked. Kellen continued to stare at her.

“I’m making an ungodly amount of money that I will be unable to spend in my lifetime. I can pay for a few sex toys, Taylor. I promise.” Kellen told her and her lips curled up. She looked up at him, her blue eyes dancing.

“I kind of just wanted to hear you say that.” She told him, cheeky, and Kellen sighed, rolling his eye.

“Any change?” Kellen asked and she shrugged.

“I’ll know in a few hours. We’re running a few new tests on those who are asleep, so your bloodwork, while important, is pushed behind those. I’ll be able to give you more information in the afternoon. I doubt your experiment last night with the Captain affected anything, but I’ll let you know as soon as I know.” She said. Kellen was grateful for the transparency.

“Thank you, Taylor. I appreciate you lending an ear and not judging us.” Kellen told her sincerely. Taylor smiled at him, hesitating for a second before she reached out and grabbed his good shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

“You’re my friend, Kellen, my best friend. Of course I’m going to lend an ear. Plus, I had a feeling that if you two didn’t touch each other soon you were going to kill us.” Taylor told him. Her smile was cheeky and Kellen, feeling better, stuck his tongue out at her.

“Come here. Let me drip some of my poisonous spit on you.” Kellen told her and Taylor let out a laugh, stepping away from him quickly.

“Haha, no need to go that far. I’ll message you later, alright? And don’t worry about the tests. It’s nothing invasive. Carlos just wanted to see who would be the most viable for the same thing we did for you.” She said. Kellen’s smile faded from his face.

Right. That was the next step. Changing out the blood of one of those who was unconscious.

It was a scary thing to think about, but also exciting. Soon, Gwen could be awake. It felt like everything had stagnated for a moment and now everyone was running forward. Or maybe, that was just how Kellen felt since he had been stuck for a while.

“That’s very exciting. Are you only going to do one at a time?” He asked as she escorted him out of the room.

“Yup. We can keep an eye on them better that way. However, we are planning to do it one after the other. We’ll give ourselves two days in between for each person.” Taylor told him. Kellen was glad to know of their plan.

“I hope that starts soon.” Kellen admitted and Taylor sighed.

“Between you and me? I’m hoping Gwen is the first viable option. We’re not picking favourites, but I do hope it’s her. It’ll be good for me, you, Rhys and your parents if that’s the case. All of them deserve to be awake, I just…” She trailed off, swallowing thickly. Kellen watched as a muscle in her jaw ticked and her hands tightened on the clipboard in her hands.

Kellen understood completely.

“Me too, but, I’ll trust the process, no matter what. Gwen, of all people, would hate it if she jumped the line. She’s like me in that regard.” Kellen told her and Taylor nodded, giving him a sideways smile.

“She is scarily just like you. You have the same blood type. Your Mom is the odd one out.” Taylor told him. Kellen chuckled.

“That sounds about right. Well, let us know. I’m sure Dad would be happy to donate some blood if you need it.” Kellen told her and she nodded.

“I’ll ask him. We’re trying to be discreet. Honestly, we should just put out a call to the Guild members. I’ll ask Hill about it.” She muttered, pulling out her phone. That was a good idea. Why hadn’t they thought of that before?

Stress, Kellen thought, waving goodbye to Taylor as she was typing away. She raised her head briefly, smiling and waving at him before she turned her attention back to her task. Kellen had a little pep in his step as he thought about what kind of meeting he was about to enter.

Gosh, he was so excited.

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