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"You're right, little warrior. Never give up hope."
"And you know what else?" Kevin asked, beaming from Garth to me. Garth and I shook our head. "No, what?"
"I have you guys."
Kevin's smile nearly tore my heart in two. I loved this boy with all my heart, I didn't think I could have loved him any more had he been Garth's and mine. And in a way he was, even if his parents were arriving today.
"And we have you," Garth said, gently pushing his fist against Kevin's chin making the kid glow even more.
"There," somebody called and we all craned our necks to watch the shuttle's arrival.
Days on Astrionis weren't exactly dull, but the arrival of a shuttle bringing more people was always an exciting day,breaking up the slowly emerging routine of everyday life, no matter how unpredictable it might be some days.
Once we spotted the transporter it took only minutes for it to get as low to the ground as it needed to hover over it and extend its ramp.
Tentatively the first people emerged. Most looked ragged even though they had been given the opportunity to wash up and provided with new clothes aboard whatever ship had brought them here before boarding the shuttle.
Haunted expressions, some mixed with some hope for a new home, were worn on most refugees' faces.
They hailed from all over the world and my heart went out to them and I was again reminded of the not-so-small miracle Ashley had wrangled from fate to find Kevin's parents. All she had had to go on was the state and city where Kevin had come from; everything else had been all her, and maybe a huge portion of luck.
I saw them first and would have recognized them even if they hadn't reminded me of Kevin. They were the only two people disembarking with an expectant expression on their faces, their heads moved from side to side, searching for their son, and my heart constricted.
Time seemed to stand still when I felt Kevin's hand freeze in mine. "No way,"he mumbled under his breath, before his hand tore from mine and with a shout of, "Mom! Dad!" he raced toward the ramp.
Everybody stopped in their tracks. Kevin's shout had alarmed everyone that something incredible was about to happen—it had been in the excited tone of his voice, maybe even in the air itself.
Garth grabbed my hand and we stared at the overjoyed boy racing toward the ramp.
People moved out of his way.
"Kevin!" the woman screamed in a broken voice and ran toward him.
Tears welled in my eyes when I watched her reach him, fall to her knees, and pulled his body to hers.
Slowly, more subdued as if he couldn't quite believe his world was falling somewhat back into place, the man crossed the short distance to his wife and son, before he too fell onto his knees embracing the two.
"I think this is the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed," Garth admitted next to me.
I squeezed his hand. "Me too," I replied in a shaking voice.
Reluctantly at first, but soon reaching ear-shattering proportions, people around us began to clap; even the Pandraxians took up the human custom.
"We should give them some privacy," Garth suggested, just when Kevin called out to us.
He freed himself from his parents' embrace, who got to their feet, watching Kevin apprehensively as he approached us. He took one of each of our hands and pulled us to the waiting couple.
"Mom, Dad, this is Silla and Garth. They saved me," he introduced us enthusiastically.
"Oh my God, I don't know how to thank you." His mother stared from Garth to me.
"Hi, I'm Greg and this is Lisa." Kevin's father recalled his manners and held out his hand. "And yes, thank you. Thank you so, so much."
"We never thought we would ever see him again," Lisa added.
"He is a very special boy," Garth said, shaking first Greg's then Lisa's hand.
Lisa, seemingly unable to not touch her son, kept one hand on his shoulder, while she used the other to shake ours.
