Who: Charlotte and Lily When: Evening Where: Hospital! Lily didn't remember much about the trip from the place in the woods to the hospital; once the idea of rescue had penetrated her fogged mind, it had been easier to let go and she'd spent the time fading in and out as she was carried from the basement and strapped to a stretcher for transport in the ambulance.
Her family had come; even her brother had flown in when she first went missing, and they donated blood to replace what she'd lost. The transfusion, intravenous fluids, and a good meal had done a lot towards restoring her, and the hours of sleep she'd gotten hadn't hurt, either. She was far from recovered - weak and headache-y, but she had pain meds for her raw ankle and she was doing okay. Most of all, she was just glad to be free.
Once Charlotte had heard that everyone had been rescued, all she had wanted to due was rush to the hospital, on foot if need be. Her mother had hampered her plans, insisting that she give it a few hours, and arguing that they probably wouldn't immediately be allowed visitors. It was good logic, even if Charlotte hated it, but she'd still been there waiting as soon as allowed. Once she was finally there, she didn't care who she got to see first - she just asked a nurse who didn't have visitors at the moment, and the closest was Lily.
As soon as she saw her friend in the hospital bed she started crying again, albeit quietly so as not to wake Lily if she was sleeping. She looked so frail! Charlotte wiped her eyes as she moved quietly to her friend's bedside, and whispered carefully, "Lily?"
Lily had drifted into a light doze, but she woke immediately when someone whispered her name. Turning her head, she saw Charlotte and smiled immediately. It was a tired smile, but genuinely friendly and with a hint of old!Lily. "Hey," she welcomed, hand turning palm-up in invitation. She noticed the remains of tears on Charlotte's face and immediately levied a mock-scowl in her direction. "None of that," she chided gently, voice just a touch hoarse. "I know I'm probably in desperate need of a hairbrush, but surely I'm not that scary looking."
"Oh, Lily!" Charlotte sniffled and bent over to hug the girl - gently. "How are you? Are you okay?" Did she just ask that? "Stupid question, I'm sorry. Do you need anything?" She'd brought flowers for everyone - in this case, a bouquet of lilies, which she set at Lily's side.
Lily was glad at least one arm was unencumbered with tubes and needles so she could hug Charlotte back. "I'm okay," she said. "Or well, I will be. They said I got a mild concussion and some other stuff - " which she was glossing over because she didn't need to bring down the mood or upset Charlie any more " - but I'll be okay. We all will. In fact, I think most everyone will be released tomorrow." She beamed when she saw the flowers. "Those are so pretty, thank you," she said. "And no, I'm good. My parents and brother are here, my mom brought me some stuff. How are you?" It must have sucked to have to sit and wonder about everyone.
"Oh, geez," Charlotte sniffled, pulling over a chair to sit at Lily's bedside. "That's the least of your worries," she added, squeezing Lily's hand. "We've all been so worried. There were searches and nightly vigils and everything. The whole country's been trying to find you guys. Even the vampire bar was sponsoring search parties." Which she thought might amuse Lily a little, or at least she hoped it would. "I'm so glad to see you."
Lily grinned at that. "Too bad we didn't have blood samples on hand so they could sniff us out," she joked. She wasn't sure how she felt about the vigils or what would surely be a line of reporters to deal with when she was out. She liked attention, but not pity. "It's just good to be back. More or less. Did anything fun happen the last few days? Fun or awesome, I'll take either."
Charlotte chuckled softly and rolled her eyes. "Nowhere near it," she said. "The world has revolved around you guys." With that, she squeezed Lily's hand again. "Oh. Um. Someone from Scarlet Oak won Miss Michigan. She had a parade the other day." Charlotte didn't follow that kind of stuff, and she didn't think Lily did either, but it was the only thing close to happy news.
Lily definitely didn't follow the pageant circuit, especially nothing at a statewide level. She'd watched Miss America once in a while, but only to make fun of the shitty talents. "Goody for her," she said with a grin and an eyeroll. "Now she can continue her tireless work for world peace."
"You asked," Charlotte pointed out, giggling faintly. "I gave blood, but I don't match any of you guys. And that about sums everything up." She didn't tell her about Psalm being missing - because he'd gone crazy and Bunny had locked him up in her basement, figuring the less people who knew about that the better.
"Everyone else got out okay, right?" Lily asked. "You're the first person I've seen, my mom's been like, blockading the door with her own body since she got here. I don't think I'm going to see the light of day for a long time. Gabe's okay, right? And Jessalyn and Madock and Ransom?"
Oh man, that was a whole other road Charlotte was not going down. She didn't know if Jessalyn and Madock were going to tell people, so she was keeping her mouth shut on that one. "Gabe's been a wreck," she admitted. "Totally beside himself without Claire. But physically, everyone's okay. We were all okay after it happened, just out of it from the tranqs. Mostly confused, and scared."
"I hear that," Lily commiserated. Confused and scared had been about all she'd felt during the whole ordeal, with a healthy dose of angry thrown in. "Claire's okay, though," she said, because she didn't know who Charlotte had already visited. "I mean, like the rest of us - missing a few pints and ready for a week in bed, but I think the only one of us who was really hurt was Rhys."
Charlotte nodded faintly. "They told me, but you're the first one I've seen," she said. And she had a feeling Claire was going to have plenty of visitors fighting for her time, between Gabe and Madock. Still, she hoped to see everyone before they were released. She still felt so responsible for the whole thing.
"I want to go see the others once they let me up," Lily said, though it was possible she'd be one of the last released, which sucked. She was tired, but more than ready to go home to her clean, airy bedroom that filled with light when she opened the blinds. Basically the opposite of where she'd spent the last week. "I'm glad you came, it's good to know you're all right."
"They really couldn't keep me away right now," Charlotte replied, smiling faintly. "Just let me know if there's anything you need, anything at all." She couldn't imagine what they were all feeling right now, though Lily seemed in excellent spirits. She seemed to be handling it better than anyone could have hoped for.
"Thanks, I will," Lily said. "It's just good to see you." In all likelihood, she wasn't handling it well at all, but exhaustion combined with moderate painkillers was helping to keep everything at bay. For her part, Lily was doing everything she could to avoid thinking about it.
Smiling a little more brightly, Charlotte squeezed Lily's hand again. "You have no idea how good it is to see you," she replied. It had been awful, and only got worse every day. No one said it to her directly, but the likelihood of them ever coming back hadn't been good. People had started giving up on finding them alive.
"Ta-daaaaah," Lily said dryly, though she was smiling. "I'll have to throw a party or something when I get out, since it's entirely possible my mom won't let me out of the house until I'm thirty." It was easier to joke than to speak seriously of what happened; Lily wasn't ready for that yet, and she didn't want to bring Charlotte down, either. So jokes it was.
Jokes worked, though Charlotte couldn't help but be amazed that Lily was up to them. It was a pleasant surprise, certainly, and way better than the hysterical tears she'd been expecting. "I don't blame her," she admitted, grinning. "But I'm sure you'll have all the visitors you can handle."
"Good, I'll need them," Lily said. "And I'm going to throw a huuuge temper tantrum if people don't show up regularly, so, you know, watch yourself." As soon as she was a little more recovered, because she didn't think she could handle a huge stream of people at the moment. Charlotte's low-key attitude was perfect.
Charlotte grinned again and nodded. "Noted," she confirmed. "I'll be sure to watch myself. And pass the word around. It'd be irresponsible not to, if you put it that way." She was sure at least Bunny would be lining up to visit people. Gabe would probably be preoccupied with Claire, and as for the Weiss family... well, they had a lot to be preoccupied with, too.
Lily's grin turned into a jaw-cracking yawn, and she gave Charlotte's hand another squeeze. "Also presents wouldn't go amiss," she added after, smiling again to show she was joking.
Charlotte laughed as she stood up. "The flowers were just a preliminary present. I'll come back with something more permanent next time," she teased. "But for now I guess I should let you sleep. You call me if you need anything okay? Even if you just get lonely or something."
"The flowers were present enough, they're gorgeous," Lily said. She smiled and nodded, letting go of Charlotte's hand a little reluctantly. "And thanks, I will. Tell everyone else I said hi, okay?" She yawned again, snuggling down a little in the hospital bed (which, okay, was kind of super uncomfortable and with the IVs in she couldn't flop around like she usually did. but somehow that didn't matter so much.)
"I will, sweetie," Charlotte promised, stepping back as she released Lily's hand. She smiled once more before slipping out of the room, though she still felt reluctant in leaving her friend. At least she was back. And she was okay. That was all that mattered.