After making breakfast, the two Betas split up to wake the others, knowing they all had to be at the Counsel before lunch.
Esther was already on her way over to watch Grace until they came back home.
Kirstie and Avi were woken up first, so they could have a few extra minutes to take care of Grace as well as themselves.
Todrick then moved into Alex and Jake's room to wake them too.
Kevin was now upstairs, knocking loudly on Scott and Mitch's door, a new wrap for Scott's hand in his grasp.
Mitch threw open the door with a wide smile, only wearing one of Scott's flannels on his torso, just barely long enough to cover himself.
Scott walked out of the bathroom, appearing to have just come out of the shower, and he smiled at Kevin. "Hey."
Kevin showed him what was in his hands. "How's your hand feeling?"
Scott shrugged, holding it up to his face, before experimenting with moving some of the bones in his hand. "Not great."
Kevin nodded once, took a few steps forward, and patted the edge of the bed. "Would you please take a seat? It should only take me a minute."
Scott nodded, and immediately did as he was told. "So what exactly are we doing?"
Kevin began wrapping Scott's hand as he spoke. "They're just going to ask you a few questions. Nothing serious. You haven't given them any reason not to trust you, but they just want to be sure."
Scott nodded, watching him work curiously. "Are they going to bug Mitchie too?"
"Probably. But I'm sure you can request to be spoken to at the same time, so you can supervise the questions they ask him. If you're worried about that."
"Okay. Thank you." Scott glanced at Mitch, who was just standing beside him waiting for attention. "Baby, go put some pants on."
Mitch looked down at himself, giggled, and then nodded before turning to do just that.
Scott shook his head fondly at him, and then turned back to Kevin, who was smiling.
Scott tried to catch his eye. "What are you smiling about?"
"You two make me laugh."
"Yeah? Why?"
"I don't know. You're just.. So darn cute."
Scott blushed a little, looking down at his hand. "Well thank you. Though I must assure you.. Mitchie is the cute one. I just work here."
"You've told me that before."
"And it's still true."
Mitch walked back over to him, holding up two different shirts that were both Scott's, holding them up for Scott to choose one.
Kevin raised an eyebrow at him. "Have your own shirts begun to collect dust yet, Munchie?"
Mitch giggled. "No. Not yet."
"Give it time."
Scott looked to Mitch too, and shrugged at him. "Pick the shirt that you think I should wear, and then you can take the other one."
Mitch glanced down at the shirts, and then handed one to Scott. He quickly turned to walk to the other side of the room to change, hoping he made the right decision.
But knew that if he didn't, Scott would trade shirts with him in a heartbeat, just to make him happy.
Once Kevin finished doing Scott's hand, he set a hand on Scott's arm. "Does that feel okay?"
"Yeah. Thank you, Kev."
Kevin smiled at him. "You're very welcome, Alpha."
*********
They left the house just as Esther and Darien arrived to care for Grace.
Kevin rushed everyone to eat breakfast before they went, and grabbed a few travel cups for the Alphas to take their coffee in, knowing that today was the day they would need it.
No one really knew what kind of questions were going to be asked, but no one was really worried about it either.
Until they got close to the building itself. That's when the Omegas began to squirm.
Alex tugged on Todrick's shirt, although Todrick was driving and Alex was in the seat behind him.
Todrick glanced at him in the rear view mirror. "What's wrong, Allie?"
"Are they going to ask... Personal questions?"
"It's possible. But don't worry, honey. Jake will be right next to you the whole time."
Mitch looked over at Scott, beside him. "You're going with me, right?"
Scott nodded, and leaned down to kiss Mitch's forehead. "Of course."
Kevin turned in his seat to look at the others in the car, searching for Avi. "Alpha? You're probably the only one that might have to go in alone. But you can sit in on Kirstie's, even though she can't sit in on yours."
Avi nodded, before looking out the window again. "Okay."
Alex frowned, looking to Kevin for an answer. "He has to go in alone? That's not fair."
Kevin gave him a small smile. "I know. But... As the Lead, he might have to answer some questions that our Omegas shouldn't hear."
"But why does he have to go alone? Can't a Beta go with him? Or one of the Alphas?"
"I suppose they could. Though I'm sure Avi would be perfectly fine on his own."
Scott smirked, and leaned forward in his seat to set a hand on Avi's shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze. "I'll go with you, babe."
Avi rolled his shoulder to push Scott's hand away from him. "Don't be gross."
Scott chuckled and leaned back in his seat.
Kevin responded to this. "That's actually not a bad idea."
Avi didn't have the heart to even argue. "Fine. Whatever."
Kirstie squeezed Avi's hand. "Alpha? Is everything okay?"
"Yeah."
"Please don't lie to me." Kirstie pleaded quietly.
Avi looked over to her, and felt bad, so he spoke up. "I'm sorry, Princess."
"Just tell me what's wrong."
"Ask me again later."
Kirstie opened her mouth to respond, but closed it, and nodded. "Yes, Sir."
*********
Albert was the first one to greet them when they walked into the building, and he seemed very stressed and preoccupied.
He gathered them close to a wall so he could speak to them, the entire building loud with noises of construction and many people talking as the interviews were taking place.
Albert looked to Avi when he spoke. "I'm just warning you now; Some of the Alphas and Betas here aren't safe to be around. We had to do check ups on everyone. Absolutely everyone, even the people that I know aren't going to be allowed into the organization. So please, please, keep an eye on your Pack. Your Omegas, and your Betas."
Avi nodded once. "Got it. Thank you."
"You're welcome. Your interviews will begin at noon, so just meet me in the cafetorium at that time and I will direct each of you to your specific interview rooms."
Avi nodded again. "Okay... During the interviews... Am I allowed to send people in pairs?"
"Absolutely. I recommend that, in fact."
"Okay. Thank you."
Albert turned to see another pack walk in the door, and he walked away quickly after leaving them with a smile. "See you at noon!"
Avi glanced at Kevin, having to speak over the consistent stream of noise. "What time is it?"
"A little past eleven."
"Oh, okay. That's not that bad."
Kevin turned and struck up a conversation with Todrick, who was holding one of Alex's hands because Alex hated how crowded the room was.
Jake was holding one of Alex's hands, and holding his coffee in his other hand.
He allowed Alex to have a sip of it, just to distract him from how scared he was. Unfortunately, when Alex was handing it back to Jake, as soon as Jake grabbed it, a Pack walked past them and bumped Alex roughly.
Mitch, who was standing beside Jake, was too shocked to even cry out when he felt the hot coffee spill all over his jeans.
Scott was too late when he pulled Mitch out of the crossfire, only managing to save his shoes.
Alex's hands flew to cover his mouth, just as Todrick turned to shout at whoever had pushed Alex, and Jake stopped breathing, in fear of having hurt Mitch.
Jake set a hand on Mitch's shoulder to get his attention. "Oh God, I am so, so sorry. Are you okay?"
Mitch nodded, grateful that the coffee wasn't completely scalding hot, it had only been warm. "I--I mean... Yeah. I'm fine. Why did you do that?"
"I'm so sorry, Mitch. Someone bumped into Alex before I could grab the coffee from him and it just... Dropped... I'm really sorry, are you sure it's okay?"
Mitch looked up to Scott. "Do you have a change of pants somewhere?"
Kirstie reached across their small circle of Pack members, and tapped Mitch's arm. "I keep a change of clothes in our car just in case. I think I have some yoga pants in there... You're a bit skinnier than I am, but it should work.. I think."
Mitch nodded. "Thank you so much, Kit."
Kirstie smiled at him, and tugged on Avi's shirt. "Sir?"
He immediately turned to her. "Yeah?"
"Can I have your car key?"
"Why?"
"I'm going to get Mitchie a change of pants."
Avi nodded, grabbing the key in his pocket that Todrick had handed to him earlier. "I'll go with you."
Kirstie looked to Mitch one more time. "Hang in there. We'll only be a moment."
*********