In Their Arms

CHAPTER TEN

TEN

GRANT

Watching Kara eat a decent meal is intoxicating.

She depends too much on instant noodles to keep her alive. Every now and then she'll throw in a burger when she spoils herself but it's not enough. She's skinny, something I would never tell her, but it worries me because it's the too skinny kind of skinny.

If everything holds and all of us can behave ourselves Kara will be a regular at dinners.

We've long since finished eating and after everyone helped pick up the leftovers and clean the kitchen we all piled in the living room.

Atti is curled up on Kara's lap who's cuddled between Kent and Tyler. Holls is in the recliner and I'm on the end of the sofa, not that I mind since I can see everything from this spot.

I don't know what happened in the kitchen but Tyler has been glued to her side since. Kent, not one to be outdone, shoved Holls out of his way and nearly tackled Kara to be next to her. The only reason Holls didn't beat his ass is because of the small, soft giggle that had us all freezing.

It was the most relaxed sound I've ever heard her make.

"What would you like to watch, Kara?" Holls asks as he turns the TV on.

"I'm not picky, anything will be fine."

"How about-"

"No fights, Kent." Holls cuts Kent off.

Kent grumbles as he sinks down further into the sofa. Kara takes pity on him and softly pats his arm which he takes full advantage of by using the opportunity to snatch her hand. She watches him with raised brows as he kisses her hand and curls it to his chest with a wide smile. Her cheeks turn a soft shade of pink as she rolls her eyes.

"How about Land of the Lost?" Holls asks as he scrolls down the movies included in our subscriptions. "Have you seen it?"

"I don't live under a rock, Holland, of course I've seen it." Kara rolls her eyes at him, earning a small chuckle from Kent. "That's fine."

"Watch it, Baby." Holls says lowly and I smirk at the way she narrows her gaze on him. He smirks back at her as he presses the play button on the remote without breaking eye contact with her.

"Whatever." She mumbles as she looks away first.

We settle in to watch the movie. Kent whispers in her ear and she giggles softly each time. Tyler has managed to snag her hand and he draws random designs. Kara watches him out of the corner of her eyes when she thinks he's not looking. She uses her free hand to pet Atti lazily.

Holls watches them with his lips turned up in an amused grin. We make eye contact and I lift my brow at him in question. He narrows his eyes in thought, lips pursing slightly as he really thinks about it. He looks at me again and nods his head slowly but slightly to the side, his silent way of saying maybe.

I let my attention go back to the move but I can't stop my own smile from forming.

KARA

Grant has a soft smile on his face as he turns back to watch a mosquito land on Dr. Rick Marshall.

Tyler is holding my hand, tracing patterns randomly with his thumb on the back of it. Each time he's done he swipes his thumb over it completely, as if he's wiping a slate clean.

Kent has his head resting on my shoulder, his breathing even against my arm. I'd think he was asleep if he didn't whisper random lines in my ear. He even pitches his voice to mimic the characters as best he can, which has me laughing.

My free hand is on Atti, a warm purring bundle in my lap. If I stop petting her, she opens her eyes and stares at me. If that doesn't work she grabs my hand with her paw and pulls it closer. She's rotten and it's not my fault.

The rest of our afternoon is quiet and peaceful. A calmness settles over me like a warm blanket and I feel myself growing sleepy. Soon enough my head is resting on Tyler's shoulder and it's hard to keep my eyes open. We've long since finished Land of the Lost and moved on to The Hunger Games. It's as Katniss lifts her face to a hidden camera, my eyes slide closed and I drift off.

**Sorry this upload took a while. I hope you all had a happy holiday! It's a bit shorter than normal but things have been hectic. I hope to have chapter eleven up sooner rather than later for y'all. It'd be cool if y'all could also check out my other, new work in progress: Phoenix Burned. Thanks for the love 💙, y'all rock!