As soon as I heard the news, (and after Feeding and changing Seth) I packed us up and headed out to Stillwater. With Seth in a 'babybackpack' so I could carry him around comfortably and still focus on flying, not having to worry about things like him climbing out and falling to his death. Hopefully, since the bag was all snuggly and warm, he might go to sleep. This would mean I wouldn't have to listen to him cry as I made the hour long flight from Wingsconsen to Stillwater.

The flight went without incident, which I was thankful for. Another blessing was that given his reputation, it was decided to keep his return a secret. Only the hospital staff, myself, and Equestrian royalty knew. I was sent a letter detailing all this once they were able to track down my address. It wouldn't do to have the press swarm him, to say nothing of those who mean him harm. He wouldn't be able to defend himself in his current state.

That line of thinking brought me to another conclusion. What about Seth? Now that Griffin was back, he'd obviously want to be a part of his life. The problem with that is if he's still being targeted, it could be like Ancientwell all over again. People coming after us to get to him. What would be the best course of action?

On arriving at the Stillwater hospital I showed the desk attendant the letter, and she directed me to room 361, which was on the third floor. As a hospital guard escorted me, I noticed one of the rooms we passed had suffered significant damage and had a some construction equipment set up around it. When the security guard spotted me looking at it, he simply stated 'Don't ask.'

Before I entered the room the nearby nurse spotted me and gave me some instructions.

"First off, try not to be too loud or make sudden movements. He's awfully skittish. He must have been through something downright terrible, but he won't open up to any of us about it. Other than that... you may want to leave the baby out of the room for a couple minutes while you see him."

"Not a chance. It's been over half a year since Seth was born, I think it's been too long already. I'll keep him in his sleeping sack till it's time."

When I entered the room, I saw him for the first time since he stayed behind so I could escape. I set Seth's bag down as I moved closer to Griffin. To say he looked terrible was an incomprehensibly large understatement. The strong, fit, clever griffin I was used to seeing was shriveled, pale, and looked to be at the end of his wits. The mass of boundless muscle had given way to skin hanging loosely over bone. The only indications that it was really him were the missing wing, the colour pattern, and the wild look in his eyes he got whenever he was ready for a fight.

"Griff?" He sat there, paying me no mind at all. "Hey Griff?" He still sat there. "Hey! Dumbass!" His head snapped as he turned to look at me. Instantly, his eyes lost their wild ferocity and became soft, tears threatening the corners.

"Hey..." In a movement so quick I didn't think it was possible for someone in his condition, he wrapped his arms around me and held me close to his chest. I could hear the rasp in his breath, and could feel his entire body shaking.

"You're okay..." He whispered.

"Yeah... I'm okay. I got out okay. Um... it looks like you didn't do so good yourself."

"It hurts so much Gilda. It hurts." He moved a claw to clutch at his own heart. "I tried so hard, and it wasn't enough."

"Shh.. it's okay Griff... it's okay. You're back, and that's all that matters. The sooner you can get out of this hospital, the better, but, uh... the nurse told me you haven't been taking your pills. I know it's hard to trust, but you need to take those to get better, okay?" He winced. "Listen, you have to promise me you'll take the pills. They say you've got malaria and intestinal worms." I held up the first of his pills. "This one is for the malaria." I held up the second. "This one kills the parasites. You... gotta take em to get better okay?" My own eyes were watering over. "I don't want you to leave again. Promise me... promise me you'll take them."

"O... okay... I'll... take them."

"Good. In that case, I have someone I want you to meet." I moved back from Griffin and brought the sack out in front. I opened it to find that Seth was just waking up. The tiny little puff ball of downy fluff and fur yawned adorably and stretched his little arms, rubbing his big, steely eyes before crawling out of the sack. "This is Seth. He's your son."

Seth simply sat there on the floor, looking up at Griffin with big eyes, while Grif quivered in place. Ever so slowly he brought one claw forward, trembling like an earthquake as he reached ever nearer. He was just close enough to feel the edge of Seth's downy fluff when the little guy opened his mouth wide and chomped on his claw.

Griffin looked to the sky, opened his mouth wide and let out a shout so great it blew the corner of the hospital room clean off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC6TaEYDHi8&feature=youtu.be

Once Seth released his father's hand, and Grif calmed himself, he looked at his gremlin of a son, smiled, and scooped the youngling up in his arms, giving him a great big hug. With a tear in his eye, (Not sure whether it was from residual pain or from pride) he smiled and said,

"Just like dad..."

"Alright Grif. We've got to go now. We'll come back and visit, unless you're able to leave before we get around to it. We live on 322 First Ave in Wingsconsen. We'll uh... see you then I guess." He nodded and swallowed hard. "Well, we're off I guess. Get well soon."

With that, Seth and I left the hospital. As we flew back home, I couldn't help but think on Griffin's condition. He'd always said he'd go to hell and back for us, and here he'd actually gone and done it. He'd literally gone to the underworld where he'd suffered unspeakable torture, all for me. I don't know what's worse. The fact that I wouldn't do the same for him now that I had Seth, or knowing that if it ever came down to it, he'd do it again. I couldn't help but feel that I'd be the death of him.

Author's Notes:

Speaking of running out of names for chapters.... I'm uh... out of names for chapters. I've been working a lot of overnight's lately, but not all back to back, and mostly call ins, so I don't know that I'll be working them, so basically, I work overnight, then stay up all day after I'm done work and go to bed that night to try and get back to 'daytime living' but then I get a call asking me to come in for another overnight, so I wind up either sleeping 8 hours after being awake for 24, or just not sleeping at all, but I'm FINE. People sleep a lot, but in reality they don't actually need all that much. Technically, you only need like 4 hours of sleep a day if you divide it into 30 min sessions, because then you move straight into REM, so you still wind up more rested than a full night's sleep. My uncle Mike did that because "Sleeping is a waste of time. You get more done when you're awake." and working all those hours means I have SO MUCH MONEY. Until Gaben finds me on the street, clubs me over the head with a sack full of discounted games and raids my wallet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr2GdRBDOmU