Homecoming
Who: Kevin and Lucy Where: The hospital When: Saturday evening
It had been a stressful few days for Kevin. He would seem to take strides in his recovery, to where he honestly coupld imagine one day being completely normal again, and having his old voice back... then he'd suffer a setback, or have massive pain in his throat, and feel like hell again. He was doing his best to fight off depression, which was a little harder during times like these, when he'd made Irene and Chloe go home and actually get real rest.
When Chloe had called to let her know that Kevin was in the hospital, Lucy hadn't even stopped to consider what it would mean to go back to LA. Especially now. There had been a lot of incoherent babbling on her part, some screeching, and a lot of seething anger. Someone had hurt her brother in one of the cruelest ways imagineable. Would shehave even been human if she didn't want to draw a little blood for that? She'd left as soon as she could, which hadn't been soon enough for her. Chloe had mentioned he wasn't able to talk and that had killed a little piece of her. In fact, she'd worked herself up into such a state that when she finally reached the hospital, she blew passed the nurse's station like Hurricane Lucy. She heard a couple of people call outto her, but she didn't pause at all. She barged right on into the room where her sister had said Kevin was being monitored. She was a blur of blonde hair and tanned skin as she threw her tiny body across her brothr's stomach and squeezed him as tight as she could.
It was as if The Flash himself had burst in, it all happened so quickly, Kevin was hugging her before he even processed what was going on. Once he had, he automatically tried to talk, which just came out as a raspy huff. He grabbed his board and marker, and quickly scribbled "Lucy? What are you doing here???"
Oh, God, hearing him TRY to talk just made everything that much more real. As if seeing him in a hospital bed wasn't awful enough. She wanted to cry, but she held it back with a sniffle as she looked up and made a place for herself on the side of his bed. "Well, DUH!" she exclaimed with a roll of her eyes. "What kind of sister would I be if I didn't come to check on my big brother? After Chloe called, I thought it'd take me FOREVER to get to LA. Why WOULDN'T I be here???"
Well, he thought, ya kinda left to get away from all this supernatural crap... but he didnt write that. Instead, he forced a smile for her, unsure of exactly how much she knew. At least about WHO had hurt him. He wrote again, looking forward to being able to talk again, no matter HOW it sounded. "Welcome back. I missed you, pipsqueak."
She hugged him again - not too tightly this time - and rested her head on his chest. She could hear his heart beating and that reassured her. "I hate her," she mumbled and then popped up, looking a little apologetic. "No, I don't." It wasn't nice to hate people. On the other hand.... "YES, I do! She's a BITCH!" Witha small gasp, she clapped a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry," she whispered, glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one was coming at the sound of the commotion. "I just...I just...wanna...GAHHH!" She kept puffing up with anger, only to deflate when she looked at him. Her face crumpled and she looked like a little girl on the verge of tears. "I missed you too. And I missed Chloe. And I'm sorry that I left. I shouldn't have gone. It's just that everything here is so...so...INSANE...and coming from me, that's saying a lot!" She was babbling and stopped to suck in a deep breath.
Well. That took care of that. She knew who hurt him. And he knew she had every RIGHT to hate Paige, especially now. The girl's hurtful comments had been part of what scared Lucy away to begin with. He tapped her on the shoulder, and pointed to his board, which now read "Calm down, honey. You're home now, ok? That's all that matters. And Paige'll be dealt with."
Lucy nodded, but even as she did so, big, fat hot tears started to roll down her cheeks and she reached out to stroke her brother's hair. He was so...not himself. It really hurt to see him like this. "If I could do it myself, I so would." Even though she was sniffling again, there was a serious vehemence rarely - if EVER - heard in the young girl's voice. She was usually such a spritely little thing, giggling and bouncing off the walls, vibrant with energy (largely in part due to the massive quantities of sugar and caffiene she imbibed - caramel frapps with double shots were a GODSEND), but not today.
He just shook his head when she said about doing it herself. He was too panicky there to even think about writing. He felt his stomach go into knots even thinking of Paige touching his baby sister. He just grabbed her, and hugged her tightly, his own way of saying not to do something so stupid.
"I mean...I'm not gonna do anything, doofus." Her words were muffled against his chest, but she hoped he got the gist. She wasn't stupid. She'd been smart enough to run away while she still could, but look where that had gotte her. Right back here. She squirmed out of his hold and wiped her cheeks, thanking the Lancome gods for waterproof mascara. "I'm just saying I would if I could. Or...if...I knew some way...or someone...." She was hedging now, but there really was no one she could turn to on this. Looking close to miserable again, she attempted to joke around and flashed him a lopsided grin. "So, know any place a girl can go around here to get juiced up all supernaturally?"
He gave her the old 'DONT YOU DARE' glare, and started writing again. He just knew he'd have carpal tunnel by the time he could talk again. It said, "Your ex-bandmate Meredith is going to take care of Paige."
"Mere?" Lucy bit her lip and sat back again. "That doesn't answer my question though, y'know. IS there a place like that or...." She shrugged, letting it drop. Not like she was serious anyway, right? Bouncing on the edge of his bed absent-mindedly, she gazed around the room. "Hey!" A new idea had caught her. "It's kinda depressing in here. How long do you think you'll be here before they release you? I bet I could brighten this place up...."
Oh NO. Not the patented decorating skills of Lucy Van Warren. He winced there, and shrugged, before writing, "I'm hoping to go home within a week or so." He hoped so, at least. Sitting in this bed was driving him crazy.
"A week is MORE than enough time for me to get this place looking cheery. Do you doubt me? I have skills, you know." She tried to smile and make it look real. "If I could make you all better and healed up, I'd do that too."
He mouthed the words 'I know you would' at her with a sincere smile. He really loved the girl more than words could say. Still, he had to tease her a little. He write down, "So... you're officially a heartbreaker now, hm?"
"WHAT?!?" Her jaw dropped slightly and her cheeks bloomed bright pink. "I...I...that's so not funny. I don't even know what you're talking about." When push came to shove, deny, deny, deny!
"Don't worry..." he wrote with a smirk, "He's ok. He's seeing my friend Buffy now." He wanted her to be ok, after all. She might have been scared by Ash's power, but he knew she still cared enough to want him to be happy.
Taking a deep breath, she nodded, glad to hear that he'd moved on. He DID deserve happiness. She could still remember going to Prom with him and the way he'd smiled and even though he was still hella cute, he was so much different that when he was dressed all in black and sitting by himself in the lunchroom. If he'd found someone who could make him smile all the time - or at least most of the time - that was what mattered. She just hadn't been the one who would have been able to do it in the long run. "I'm glad," Lucy said, letting out her pent-up breath.
He pulled her over to him, hugging her again. No matter how worried he was that she'd just put herself back in harm's way, for now it just felt great to have her back. He scribbled quickly, holding up the board. "...moving back in with Chloe and I? We never had to get you UNenrolled at school, so..."
With another heavy roll of her eyes, Lucy stuck her tongue out at him. "You know, someone might eventually do something really bad. Like. Steal your board. Or...step on it in the middle of the night. And THEN how would you get to be your pleasantly sarcastic self?" Bouncing again - she couldn't help it, really - she nodded, looking eerily similar to a bobble-head with all the motion going on. "And as long as you're all..." she clasped her hands around her throat and made a choking sound, with all the love in the world, of course, "then I'll definitely be around. SOMEONE has to look out for you. Might as well be me, right?!?" Her grin turned impish, but then once again, she was off on another thought. "Hey, is there a place to get coffee in this hospital?"