Marguerite Blakeney is clearly beyond scruples (blazeinhereyes) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-03-16 19:16:00 |
|
|||
The last twenty-four hours had been rough. Caroline had called Tyler, crying about her mother needing to go to the hospital, and since then Tyler had tried to be at Caroline’s side whenever he could get away from work, or whenever that douchebag Ethan wasn’t around. Which was how Tyler ended up sitting in the hallway of a hospital, despite the fact that hospitals were one of Tyler’s least favourites places to be now that all his senses were enhanced. Caroline had wanted a private moment with her mother, and so he’d decided he’d wait outside and make sure no one disturbed them unless it was necessary.
He glanced up from his phone when he noticed a red-headed woman who was approaching the door. He held up a hand to stop her before she managed to make it there. “You can’t go in there right now,” he said.
Marguerite was not a fan of hospitals. She remembered the hospital from when her parents had died and she and Armand had been put into the foster system. And she remembered the days of being in the hospital while she was then taking care of her adoptive mother over four years ago - the reason she had come back to Orange County in the first place. She also remembered how she had insisted Armand stay in school back East. Remembered the loneliness. So of course when she had learned that Liz was in the hospital, Marguerite had made sure to be there for Caroline whenever she could.
She had visited a few times already, both Caroline and Liz as she and the older woman had formed a friendship in the time Marguerite had looked after her while Caroline had been sick. But then she’d needed to go to the dance studio and a meeting with her agent about potential auditions. The fact that she had yet to cross paths with Tyler clearly was just the way timing worked.
Until now. She had just gotten back from Los Angeles and had decided to stop by before heading home. Or that had been the plan as she didn’t get to the door before someone spoke up. Instead she just nodded some. She remembered how it was to need a private moment so it wasn’t like she could fault him. He looked familiar, probably from the network. It certainly wasn’t Ethan.
“Thank you.” Because she wouldn’t have wanted to interrupt. Instead, Marguerite just changed course and found an open chair to sit in.
He wondered how the woman knew Liz. She seemed around his and Caroline’s age, which would have made ‘friend of Caroline’ probably the first choice. But he wanted to believe that he already knew all of Caroline’s friends, and he didn’t think that he’d ever seen her before. “You a friend of Liz?” he asked once she had settled into her chair.
“Both Caroline and Liz actually.” While she hadn’t expected a conversation to pick up once the initial you can’t go in there had happened, Marguerite wasn’t the type to not say anything if asked. Besides, it was better than just sitting and remembering her own issues with mothers dying in hospitals.
“Caroline and I met while I was in New York a couple of years ago... When she got sick a month or so ago, she asked me to look in on Liz.”
Tyler had checked in on Liz a couple of times while Caroline was sick, though mostly he'd taken care of her while she'd been staying with him. But he had remembered Caroline mentioning someone to go check in on her mom a few times. What was her name again? “Margret, right?” he asked. “I've heard about you. I'm Tyler.” He offered a hand across the chairs that separated them for a handshake.
Given Marguerite had also been taking care of Armand during that time, it wasn’t so shocking that their paths hadn’t crossed the month or so ago.
“Close, Marguerite.” So this was Tyler. Given Caroline had texted her about the whole love confession thing and even before having her interest piqued about the dynamic of the two, the actress filed the information away. It didn’t really matter at the moment, especially with the whole Ethan thing. But she liked to be in the know all the same. Instead she took the offered hand and shook it as well, “And I you.”
“Marguerite,” Tyler repeated. That was… a different name. But he’d at least make the attempt to remember it now that he’d actually met her in person. “Thanks for everything that you’ve been doing for Care,” he added. Maybe it wasn’t really his place to thank her on Caroline’s behalf. It wasn’t like he and Caroline were dating or anything. But it seemed right. There was no way that Tyler on his own could have been there for Caroline as much as she needed someone.
It was true that Marguerite could be exceedingly French, though the accent was usually more prominent when emotions were high or she’d just woken up from a Dream. It also didn’t escape her notice that Tyler was thanking her on Caroline’s behalf, usually something only reserved for boyfriends if at all. Still, she knew that Caroline was with Ethan (though already she much preferred Tyler). No matter.
“Of course. She’s my friend and I’ve been through this myself, so I know how hard it can be.”
“I'm sorry to hear that,” Tyler said. In real life, both his parents were alive and well (though he often thought about how much closer he and his mother had been in them after his father had died. Here, she was still cold and miserable), but they’d both died in the dreams. His mother’s death had been quick and violent and he still blamed himself, but sometimes he wondered if that wasn't preferable in some respects to the long, lingering illness Liz was experiencing, where all you could do was wait for death to finally come.
He glanced over at the hospital room, and then back to Caroline’s friend. “You got any tips? I'm pretty useless when it comes to this kind of thing.” In the dreams, he'd barely been there for Caroline at all. Hell, he'd gotten so drunk on the day of Liz’s funeral that Matt hadn't even let him enter the service.
Death was all too familiar to Marguerite. First the sudden death of her parents when she’d been ten, and then the death of her adoptive mother and all its parallels to what Caroline was now going through. Neither was easy to deal with. You might never get the chance to say goodbye, or you were forced to watch as your parent wasted away, just waiting for death so that they could at least be at peace. Honestly, there was no easy answer or situation. It was just a part of life.
“You’re doing a lot already, honestly. Just being there for her. Support, that sort of thing. I mean, each person responds differently… but even if all you do is sit with her in silence, it still means something.”
Not the most helpful but it was also honest. It was hard to know what any individual person would need. Some needed to do everything and keep busy, others needed others to bring things. But support and just knowing you had people there? That went a long way.
Tyler wasn’t sure if he really believed that just sitting with Caroline was enough, but he hadn’t yet been able to think of anything else, so he’d have to take her at her word. “Thanks,” he said, with a bit of a smile.
As someone who liked to be able to do something and having a boyfriend who was quite similar in that, Marguerite knew how it sounded. Still, she also knew that sometimes it was just sitting in silence that someone needed. Especially in situations like this. As such she returned the slight smile with one of her own.
“Of course.”
“Hey, would it be okay if I got your number?” Tyler asked after a moment. “Care’s got a lot on her plate right now, and I don’t know if I trust her to reach out of if she needs something. I might be a good idea if we can do it for her.”
That… was probably a good idea. And Tyler was probably right about that. Caroline was similar to Marguerite in wanting to handle everything. Which was why she needed people like herself and Tyler to look out for her. As such she pulled out her phone from her purse.
“Certainly. Here’s my mobile. Put in your number then I’ll message you.
Tyler took Marguerite’s phone and quickly keyed his number into her contacts before handing it back.
Once she had her phone back, Marguerite sent a quick text of the ‘this is Marguerite’ variety to Tyler so that he could add her to his contacts list before returning the phone to her purse.
“There you go.”
Tyler took out his own phone and looked down at Marguerite’s number, adding it to his contacts. “Cool,” he said, slipping his phone back into his pocket. “You’ll contact me if Caroline needs anything?”
“Of course.” With that settled so that they both knew that there would always be someone ready in case Caroline needed something so they knew who to reach out to, Marguerite settled in her chair to wait until she could go in.