Sarah watched Ryan acting like a stuntman with a mix of amusement, a little pride, and a lot of worry. Still, she usually resisted the urge to be over-protective, because she recognized that, even in the mostly post-human world, people had to make some mistakes on their own, especially given the dangers. If he didn't grow up, fast, and he had done well on that front so far, he wouldn't be cut out to live without them. It wasn't that Sarah expected him to leave, or wanted him to, but anything could happen.<br/><br/>The gunshots had Sarah on edge, and she grabbed the rifle as Ashley drove up. When Ashley hit the gas, she held on with one hand, but as soon as they had come to a stop she'd jumped out with Ash to look after Ryan.<br/><br/>When it seemed that the danger was over, she could only nod at Ashley's observation. She tried not to speak when Ash brought up that he was very close to having been seriously injured. It wasn't a scenario that Sarah wanted to think about.<br/><br/>She took a cloth from her back pocket, and slung the rifle across her back, putting one hand on Ryan's shoulder, and using the other, with the cloth to wipe the blood from his face. She could remember lots of bumps and scrapes she'd cleaned for him, a few cuts, and a lot of dirt, but it was the first time she could remember wiping blood off his face.<br/><br/>"Are you alright?" she asked, "it didn't scratch you anywhere did it?"<br/><br/>Her attention was representative of a kind of maternal instinct. She always thought she had a bit more of it than Ashley, but then, at least one of them had to have their mind on work, or they wouldn't have survived so long. That maternal instinct though, it wasn't quite enough to keep her thoughts completely pure. Maybe if she'd raised him from the time he was a baby, but it had been a few years only. In that time she'd seen him grow up, and living with a young man, was something she found strange. Being with Sarah had been what she wanted. She'd always known she was attracted to men, though, as well as women. She bit her lip as she wiped away the blood, realizing her thoughts were taking her down a road that she was nervous to follow.