Safe in Your Arms

Chapter 13

Newt hadn't seen much of either Tina or Tolliver in the last few days. This was intentional. He had spent most of the days in the office of his basement, working on his manuscript. He knew Tina and Tolliver were up in the living room together. Nagini and Jacob had started spending more time in the basement to give the two of them some privacy. Bunty had been showing them how to help feed the creatures.

Bunty hadn't been there the day Tolliver arrived but they had met the next day. There meeting had been nothing special, Tolliver didn't pay too much attention to her.

He doesn't pay much attention to anyone but Tina, Newt realized. He was staring at the pages in front of him but his mind had drifted.

"Newt."

Newt looked up to see Bunty coming into the room.

"You said you'd introduce me to the Zouwu today."

"Oh, right," Newt said. He got to his feet and sighed. "Give me a minute."

He left the office and started up the stairs. He was going to ask Tina to help and he didn't know how she would react. Since the day Tolliver had come, they had spent pretty much every second of the day together. Newt reached the door to the living room and glanced inside. Tina and Tolliver were both sitting on the couch. They were turned towards each other and were talking quietly. The smile on Tina's face was genuine and beautiful. Newt had never seen her looking this happy before. As he watched, Tolliver leaned forward and kissed Tina gently. She returned the kiss. Newt wanted to leave. He hated seeing Tina kissing someone. However, another part of him wanted the kiss to end. That part of him won.

Newt cleared his throat and stepped into the room. Tina started, pushing Tolliver away from her.

"Newt!"

"Tina, can I borrow you for a moment?"

Tina stood up. "What for?"

Newt shifted his feet awkwardly and stared at the floor. "I -- I promised Bunty I'd introduce her to the Zouwu and I'd like you there to help me keep it calm."

"Uh -- I -- Sure. I'll come." 

Newt looked up to see Tina approaching. Tolliver got to his feet.

"Can I come?"

Newt glanced at Tina. She had turned and was shaking her head. "No, sorry. This . . . No."

Tolliver looked put out. "Alright. Well, hurry up and come back soon so we can finish this conversation." 

Tina offered him a smile then followed after Newt.

"I haven't seen much of you recently," she said as they made their way down the stairs.

"I've been working," Newt said. "And you were with your boyfriend. I assumed you'd want to be spending time with him." He was fighting to keep the resentment out of his voice.

"Oh." Tina was silent for a moment. "But I like spending time with you too."

They stopped and Newt glanced up at her. She offered him a smile. He smiled back.

"Come on," he said.

They found Bunty and went to the Zouwu's enclosure. 

"Wait here," Newt said to Bunty. He motioned for Tina to come with him. They entered the enclosure and approached the Zouwu. It looked up and bounded over.

"Hey, there," Tina laughed as the creature nuzzled her.

Bunty was standing in the entrance an awed look on her face. Newt motioned to her and she started forward slowly. The Zouwu started reacting to her presence. It pulled back, making unhappy noises, and butted Newt. He jumped back. Tina moved towards it, hushing it soothingly. It began to calm down just as Bunty reached them.