Work Text:
“Hey, Seth, ya know how I’ve been lookin’ for anything about the attack at Vermont airport?”
Seth looked up at his Gamma, Montgomery Hendricks. “Yeah?”
“Well, you’ll never believe what I found.” He tapped a button on his phone’s touchscreen and shoved it in front of Seth’s face. “Here. Check this out, man.”
A woman with brunette hair in a bun and red pantsuit appeared on the screen, standing in front of an apartment building. “This is Stacy Stone with Fox news and I bring to you the latest in our ongoing story about the deadly attack at Vermont airport more than three months ago, which killed more than a dozen people and injured dozens more.” Stacy paused, motioning for someone off-screen to come forward, and a brown-haired boy with black nerdy glasses that looked vaguely familiar to Seth came on screen, a dark-skinned little girl at his hip. “This is one of the young men who was injured during the attacks, Matthew Crandall-Connors.”
“What?” Seth breathed. He glanced up at Monty, who grinned.
“Keep watchin’.”
“Mr. Crandall-Connors, a lot has changed since the day of the attacks hasn’t it?”
Matt chuckled. “It has, yeah.”
“I understand that soon after the attack, you got married. Is that true?”
“Yes. But it was a private little ceremony with just me, my husband, and a priest. Nothing special.”
“May I ask why you decided to get married so soon?”
“My husband and I were both caught in the blast, but Scott got the worst of it. While in the hospital he lost his hearing, and there’ve been a lot challenges since then. We’ve had to learn how to use Sign Language and my friend actually helped us rig out our apartment so that it was deaf friendly.
“Basically we … The attack scared us, and it made us realize that we couldn’t wait around any longer. For all I know, Scott could’ve died that day, and I would’ve lost the second person I’ve come to love.”
“Are you saying that you had someone before your husband?”
“Only for a day,” Matt said sadly. “He was killed the day after he proposed to me. It was during the midst of the Big Reveal of the Naturali and the protection laws created for all the LGBT people. My friend’s father–” He shook his head. “He’s in jail now, though, paying for the crime he committed. That’s all that matters to me.”
Stacy nodded. “And what about this lovely little lady here? Is she your daughter?”
Matt laughed, shifting the weight of the little girl to his other hip, and smiled. “Foster daughter at the moment, but even though it’s only been three weeks, Scott and I really hope to adopt her one day.”
“What’s her name?” Stacy asked with a grin.
“Maybelle.”
“Well, she is just absolutely lovely. And thank you, Matthew, for lending us your time, and your story, to all those who wanted to see if any of those from the attack received a happy ending.”
“It was my pleasure, Stacy.”
“This has been Stacy Stone with Fox news, and you’ve been watching a glimpse into the lives after the attack at Vermont airport. Thank you and goodnight.”
The video clip clicked off and Seth sat there in stunned silence.
“Pretty crazy, right?” Monty said, snatching the phone back from his Alpha. “Can you believe Matt’s in–Hey, wait! Seth, where’re you going?”
Seth rushed past him, through the cafeteria doors, and out onto the football field–where he found Alec, Nea, and the others.
“Hey, Seth,” seventeen-year-old Druid, Rebekka Johnson, said with a grin. “What can we do for ya?”
“I … I know where … he is,” he panted, trying to catch his breath. “Monty … he, he found Matt.”
His friends stared at him, eyes wide with shock.
“You’re kidding,” said Neala O-Reilly. The sixteen-year-old brushed a strand of overly curly orange hair out of her face. “Where is he?”
“Vermont. He’s in Vermont.”