Earlier that afternoon, after she’d arrived back from the drug run, the green eyed girl had collected the room keys from reception with Terry. Thankfully the only keys remaining belonged to vacant rooms, and Paige didn’t have to worry they might walk in on someone or take a survivor’s personal belongings on accident. The downside was, however, a few of the rooms still had their original guests within. After the first encounter with one such room, Paige had kept her muslin scarf up over her face; the explosion of smell into the hallway alone had been enough to send her dry retching for a good minute.
Any bags were dragged into the hallway, a mark of chalk was left on the door if there was still a body inside, and then the doors had been locked again. Once a floor was cleared, the bags had been dragged into the elevator and taken down to the laundry. It hadn’t taken too long to do twelve floors. Especially considering three floors worth of rooms were already claimed by survivors and Terry had already started the process earlier in the week.
"The keys are safely back at reception," she told Terry, making her way into the laundry. Collecting the cases had been the easy part. It would likely take a long few days of work to finish folding and sorting everything. Being kept busy was a good thing as far as Paige was concerned, however. "Do you think it’s worth washing everything?"
Terry nodded to Paige as she told him the keys had been left at the reception, not bothering to comment on it as he followed her into the laundry. Everything was that much more of a struggle, no matter what they were doing. Even with the help of the elevator, it'd taken them a long time -- and he was feeling the burn in his muscles. "Washing everything seems like it might be a waste... at least, for the things that are obviously still clean. We could sort them into two piles, maybe? Or..." He looked around at all the clothes, not quite sure where to begin. It was a daunting task, no matter how one looked at it.
Paige considered it for a moment, but it seemed like they’d only be giving themselves more work. "There can’t be that many dirty items. How about we sort them into gender and size, and then make another pile for anything dirty?" she suggested. Hopefully the power wouldn’t go out before they got to wash the dirty pile. Because Paige doubted she’d be hand washing anything she wasn’t going to wear herself.
Letting out a deep breath, she started by clearing off one of the laundry tables. Then she grabbed a small armful of clothes to start folding and sorting. Three weeks ago, her friends would have thought Paige folding other people’s laundry was impossible. Then again, three weeks ago, only one of them had known they were all about to be out of work. "I’m glad you got back safely," she said after a moment of silence. "I didn’t realise the house was so far away." It was something which had caused her to worry when they hadn’t been back before nightfall. Not that she was rushing to voice that.
Terry nodded several times and moved to the next table nearest the one Paige had cleared off. He repeated what she'd done, making enough room for the piles they would sort out. "Good plan," he commented, not looking forward to how they were going to determine clean from dirty. If it involved sniffing it all, he was sure it would be a miserable next couple of hours. "Anything dirty can be mass washed and then just sorted out later..."
Terry looked up when Paige spoke next, his expression softening from concern into much more of an amiable state. "Yeah, I don't think either of us quite realized how far away the house was... and by the time we arrived, it was just too late to head back out again. It would have been too dangerous." Terry liked that he'd been worried about, even if it was only minute, or for very basic reasons. It was still comforting somehow. "I'm glad we were able to get those kids back here," he told her, brows raised slightly. "I couldn't imagine having to take care of small children like that... all on your own. Rowan, Liah and Verity aren't even really adults themselves yet." He stopped, and then added, "You know... I mean, they went from being older siblings to being essentially parental figures in a matter of moments."
Paige nodded about the kids being back. She had been glad they were all back safely. She might have even been in the foyer when they returned, waiting, but she’d not wanted Alan to run off alone to find his unicorn. "I don‘t envy them," she replied. Being a parent was something that would only happen in the far distant future to Paige, or so she felt, and she couldn‘t imagine someone handing her a child and telling her they were her responsibility now. Not that she wouldn’t step up and do her best, just that it would be a huge learning curve. "Actually," she amended as an afterthought, "I do. It might be really tough, but they have family. I’d give up the freedoms that come with being single to have my sister alive and here." As far as she knew, her whole family was dead. They hadn’t called her, no one had, and she figured they would have at least left a voice mail like she’d done for all of them.
"If there‘s a next time, though, do me a favour?" She was smiling in a way that suggested this wasn’t something all too serious. Mostly because she doubted there would be a next time with like enough circumstances. "Don’t let Zane return, unarmed, in the middle of the night to check on someone who might be long dead." She gave a shake of her head, her expression giving away that she thought he was insane, as she finished folding a pair of jeans. She placed them on top of a pair of cargo pants. The truth was, despite not knowing why else he would have come back, she wasn’t sure she could be the only reason. He seemed to have a sharp mind, and Zane risking his life to check another life hadn’t already been lost wasn’t the brightest idea. "I don’t want to be any part of the reason if someone else gets eaten."
Terry stopped a moment, holding a shirt up in front of him as she admitted her feelings about not having family around anymore. He shook the shirt vaguely, watching her for a brief moment to read her better. "I can't say that I entirely understand the feeling," he admitted after a short pause. "But I get what you're saying. I'm sorry you haven't been able to contact anyone." He felt bad for these people. They'd lost so much. Terry looked at the shirt in his hands. He'd lost very little by comparison... or perhaps it was just a different kind of loss.
Looking up again, he hummed, "Hm?" and waited to hear whatever this favor might happen to be. When she'd mentioned Zane leaving without a gun, he nodded, his face pulling into a mild mask of vague annoyance. "I know," he told her, "but he wouldn't take it with him. He thought we needed it more. And... it was brave of him, to offer it up in order to protect the kids, but... I didn't like it anymore than you do. Luckily we didn't end up needing it, and neither did he." Terry moved on to the next shirt near him, focusing on mainly men's shirts for the moment.
She offered him a small smile when he offered his sympathies. It was hard for her to know what to say to it. In usual circumstances, she would have thanked him. Now it seemed strange to do when so many people were suffering the same way. Some were probably even suffering more, having had bigger families or closer relationships with them. "You don't have any siblings then?" she asked as she went back to folding.
That made a lot more sense, Paige thought, that he’d given it up to protect the kids. She was more than glad it hadn‘t been needed, however. Even if they would have been able to protect themselves, children didn‘t need to experience the fear of one of those things going after them. "Sometimes people surprise you," she commented. Though she couldn’t say she knew anyone in the hotel well enough for them to really surprise her. "But… I guess I’m calling the kettle black, aside from not attempting it in the dark." She smiled a little sheepishly. Whether that made it better or not, or just as bad, she didn’t know. "It was sweet of you to look out for me, though." Considering he’d been willing to give up a gun to ensure she got back safely, she felt he had been. "Thank you. I didn’t mean to seem ungrateful, I’m just not used to it." Not from men. Not unless they were paid to care, like her bodyguards during concerts. She glanced to him, very briefly, before locating yet another pair of pants.
Terry took his time in answering her question about having siblings. His family life wasn't something he was particularly proud of, or what he could call a family life at all. "No," he finally told her, shaking his head twice. "I was an only child. Kind of..." He shook out a shirt, lips pulled into a distasteful expression. "Kind of an accident baby. Not necessarily the most wanted of children in the world." He shrugged it off, not wanting to get too much into detail. "How about you? Just the one sister?" Asking about Paige's family was a good way to deflect attention from his own.
"People will probably continue to surprise each other, I'm sure," Terry answered, glancing up to see her once or twice while folding the pair of jeans he'd picked up. "It's all going to be a long process, getting comfortable with each other, finding out what we're all about. You don't need to worry about thanking me. Really. Worrying about other people is just... it's... I can't really get around it, I guess." Terry paused, setting the folded jeans down. "Or maybe I'm making excuses and I should just accept your thanks." He laughed, feeling more than a little ridiculous.
It sounded rather depressing. Paige wasn’t sure if accident baby meant he’d simply gone unloved or been put into foster care. She wouldn’t guess at it either, nor press the subject. "Yeah, just one," she replied. "My mother had her hands full after she was born. I doubt a third child ever crossed her mind." The five year age gap between them and gone a long way to making it easier, but her sister’s hearing disability had also taken a long time for her mother to accept and adapt to. Ultimately, it meant Paige spent a lot of her time with her grandparents. But she loved her grandfather, and that had gone a long way to making her who she was. Especially when it came to saying please and thank you.
She grinned when he laughed, amused. "Better to care too much than not enough." Paige was proof of that, though she’d never admit it. Especially now when no one was ever going to be the wiser. "Doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be thanked." Sometimes even small amounts of recognition and appreciation for sacrifices one made could make a world of difference, if only to that person.
"How’s the apocalypse inn to-do list coming?" she asked after a short pause. Getting away from personal topics for the moment felt like a good idea. Besides, if there were other ways she could help around the hotel, she wanted to know.
Terry almost made a comment about how lucky Paige was to have a sibling, but kept it to himself. It was unneeded and wouldn't have come out right. He wasn't trying to sound bitter or jealous, but he couldn't help that those feelings crept into his chest. Instead, he chose to simply nod, and respond to her comments about caring about others, imagining that was an easier topic to handle. "It is better to care, definitly. And I do appreciate it." He smiled and picked up a handful of shirts, his expression fading into a frown as he considered the sizes and states of each one.
"Uh," he said, blinking a few times, "Pretty good? Working on ways to make the hotel safer for all of us. It's the first step toward us all being happy." And not being eaten.
It was definitely the first step. Feeling safe again, really safe, would make a world of difference. Even if Paige wasn’t sure they’d ever really be safe as long as there were monsters alive. "I just hope things don't look so bleak for too long." Without any real hope for the future, she wasn't sure how long people will last before they start feeling restless. Before things started turning bad and people started turning on each other. They needed to have more to look forward to than just breathing through another day. Because without laws and consequences, without reason to be good, it stood to reason that at least one or two would turn bad. Or so Paige had come to conclude during her sleepless nights.
She finished folding another pair of jeans, then a couple of t-shirts, and continued on through the pile. There was a lot of work to be done and, despite the amount, Paige didn’t feel like quitting before it was completed. For her, there wasn’t anything to rush away to. So it was several hours later when she finally made her way out of the laundry and back up to her room, only leaving the dirty clothes - still in the middle of a wash cycle - for the next day.