Brenden escorted me inside, then let go of my waist before his mom saw. I swayed a bit, dizzy and nauseous. I quickly sat down on a nearby chair before I could faint. Dang, I hated when this happened. It wasn't as bad as normal, but it still sucked. Brenden glanced at me, asking with his eyes if I was okay. I tiredly nodded.

His mom burst into the room, hair messy and eyes wild. She wrapped Brenden in a hug, crying. I watched, feeling sad for them and immensely glad that we had found Angel in time. After several minutes, she released him and noticed my presence. "Oh honey." She sobbed, pulling me up to wrap her arms around me. "Thank you for helping save my baby." I hugged her back, pouring all my support into the embrace. "I'm so glad Angel is okay." I told her, tearing up myself. I looked over at Brenden, and saw that his eyes, too, were sparkling with tears. 

It seemed like forever ago that I first heard them calling for Bouncer.. "Where is Bouncer?" I suddenly wondered. His mom pulled away and called, "Bouncer!" The sandy little dog trotted into view. "He showed up before I got back." Brenden told me. "He seems okay." I nodded. "Well, that's good." Mrs. Johnson led me into the living room and Brenden followed, limping a tiny bit. "Brenden, are you okay?" I asked him. "You're limping." He looked down at his leg, almost in surprise. "Yeah, I think so. I tripped while running back here." Mrs. Johnson gasped and ordered him to sit down while she got some tea and an ice pack for him.

While she bustled around in the kitchen, I quietly asked him, "Why would you carry me when you were hurt?!" He looked me straight in the eye. "The same reason you helped us find Angel." "It was the right thing to do." I told him, eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "You could've hurt yourself even more by carrying me!" He shrugged. "So?" I blinked. I didn't have an answer for that.

We just sat in silence until his mom reappeared with the promised tea and ice pack. I gratefully accepted the offered tea, and sipped it. It warmed my tired bones, and made me less tired. I randomly noticed that Brenden had a new shirt on. I guess he threw one on before coming back with the paramedics. Mrs. Johnson sat opposite us and asked, "So, what happened? All I got from Brenden was that Angel was hurt." I sipped my tea as Brenden told her about not being able to find Bouncer, then me finding them in the backyard. "Mom, Lucy here sure knows how to command." I blushed, and took a sip of tea to cover it up. "I was quite honestly freaking out, and then she came and figured out a game plan and was totally calm." I told her quietly, "I knew that panic wouldn't help, that's all."

She smiled at me, then winked. "Brenden needs a strong woman to take charge sometimes." He chuckled, embarrassed. I ducked my head, cheeks flaming. "Anyways," I continued with the story, not wanting to let the awkward moment linger. "We ran east, toward the creek. But we heard crying, to the left, so we ran towards that instead. Pretty soon, we saw a rock wall, with someone laying on top. The rock wall was pretty tall, so I have no clue how Angel could've climbed it." I paused to take a drink of tea and Brenden resumed the story. "Then Lucy climbed up the rock," "I used to go rock climbing so I figured it would be safer for me to go." I interjected. "And when she got to the top, she told me that Angel was breathing fine and that we needed to call 911."

"I didn't have my phone on me, and I knew she needed professional help." I added. "So Lucy had this genius idea to make a sling to carry Angel down, and then when she got down, we came up with a plan. So I ran back to the house and called you, and then 911." He told her. "That's when you tripped?" Mrs. Johnson asked. He nodded. "Then I took the paramedics back to Lucy and brought her back here when they were done treating Angel."

Mrs. Johnson stood up and wrapped Brenden and me into a hug. "Thank you both."