Chapter 17

Newt's head shot up and he quickly turned in the direction of her voice. He dropped the feed he was holding and slowly took a few steps toward the shed, but stopped, afraid to actually go and see if she was actually okay.


With a shaky voice, he called out, "Rayla?"


He held his breath as he waited for a response.


"Newt? Where are you?"


"Over by the Thunderbird."


He heard light footsteps and he moved to them. He rounded a corner and froze. There she stood, staring at him. He never realized how small she was until now, seeing her in his shirt.


The hem went a little below her knees and she had rolled the sleeves up so she could use her hands.


In that moment, he realized that he really liked seeing her in his shirt and how strong his feelings were for her.


Her face broke into a huge smile, causing him to smile also. She ran to him and instinctively he wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug the moment she reached him. Her arms wrapped around his waist and she had an equally tight grip on him.


After holding each other like that for a few minutes, Newt loosened his grip and looked down at her. She followed his motion, and looked up.


"Please don't ever, ever do that to me again."


"I won't. I promise."


And with that promise, he leaned down and kissed her. Without any hesitation she kissed him back.


After they pulled away to breathe, they put their foreheads together and stayed like that for a moment.


"Where's everyone else?"


"They're, uh, over by Frank."


She reluctantly pulled away from the safety of Newt's arms.


"As nice as this is, I should probably go see the others sometime also."


"Yeah, I guess you're right."


She moved to go, but Newt remembered something and stopped her. She turned back to him, confused. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the four vials he grabbed.


"I uh- took these when I found you."


He reached his hand out toward her, and she looked down at the vials.


"My blood."


Newt nodded. She thought for a minute and grabbed them from him, placing them in the pocket of the shirt.


"I know what I want to do with these. Now let's go."


He grabbed her hand and she smiled up at him. He led her over to the other three. They all had relieved smiles and Queenie was the first one to rush up to her and give her a hug, causing her to let go of Newt's hand.


"Oh, I'm so glad that you're alright. It would've been awful if it turned out any other way."


Jacob was close behind Queenie.


"Thank God you're alive."


"I see you've been able to keep your memories."


Jacob chuckles, "Yeah, for now."


Rayla smiles and gives him a hug also.


Tina slowly came up.


"I-I'm sorry. If I hadn't been so wrapped up with making things right for my job then maybe-"


Rayla cut her off with a hug.


"It's fine. You didn't know."


Tina hesitantly hugged her back, but smiled softly.


Rayla let go of Tina and reached into the pocket, pulling out three of the vials.


"Before we do anything else, I have something for you, except for Jacob, sorry."


She held out the vials of blood. Newt looked at her in confusion.


"Why-"


"Because you three are who I trust most with this."


Queenie and Tina looked at them, confused.


"What's happening?" Tina asked.


Rayla handed her one of the vials, "I'm giving you some of my blood that was taken."


"Why?"


Rayla handed the other two to Newt and Queenie.


"Fairy blood gives witches and wizards a magical increase. You just put the blood on your wand. That's why fairies used to be hunted and still are in America."


Newt, Queenie and Tina looked touched.


Queenie gave her another hug. "Thank you for trusting us with this."


"Of course. Now, about those creatures that are loose, which one we got left?"


"Dougal, my Demiguise."


"Those can turn invisible. How on earth are we going to find him?"


"Gnarlak!"


They all looked at Tina with confusion."


"Excuse me?"


"Gesundheit."


"What, no. Gnarlak, he was an informant of mine when I was an Auror. He used to trade magical creatures on the side-"


Newt cut it, catching on to what she was saying, "He wouldn't happen to have an interest in paw prints, would he?"


"He's interested in anything he can sell."

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