Who: Meredith and Frankie What: Meredith is back at work! Where: Frankie’s shop When: Let’s say Monday morning Warnings: Parasites
Frankie was glad Meredith was back at work. She could handle the shop on her own, but it was much less lonely having the boy around. Besides, she was glad he was spending his time on something he enjoyed rather than drinking his sorrows away. He seemed to be doing better in the past week or so, and she found herself feeling quite proud of him. She glanced over at him, intently working on one of the cars and she smiled, happy that he shared her interest in engines.
It was shaping up to be an excellent day until she noticed the parasite sitting on the steering wheel of the car, just watching Mere work. She frowned, those things never just showed up just to hang out. Even though there was only one, her mind immediately jumped to the worst possible scenario. She shook it off the feeling, but eyed the blue creature warily as she walked over to the boy. “Don’t forget to hydrate,” She handed him a water bottle before she continued to speak, “How does it feel? Getting back into the engines?” Her eyes were focused on Mere, but her mind was running through all the possibilities for the Parasite being there.
--
For the first time since the phone call Mere actually felt calm, not numb, but truly calm. He supposed taking some of his anger out on those zombie things had helped him a lot actually. Pretending that those things were the bastards that had hurt his Hazel, being able to just go all out and rage, without needing to hold back. . . it helped. And now just being here, in the one place that hadn’t gone topsy turvy like the rest of his life, working on a engine, it was calming. Taking the bottle of water from Frankie he gave her what could almost pass for a smile and told her quietly “Feels good.” Not the best with honest or heartfelt moments Mere turned away and started gulping down the water, not quite meeting Frankie’s eye.
Mere had always respected Frankie, she was tough, and didn’t take his shit, or sugarcoat things, but he’d been surprised just how much she had been there for him after it all went down. It meant a lot to him, even if he didn’t quite have the words to tell her that. He’d always been one third of a whole, and he’d liked it that way, but it was nice, knowing someone else could have his back. That it didn’t always have to be the triplets against the world. He wasn’t healed, not by a long shot; Mere still spent too many hours waiting by his sister’s hospital bed, still felt the coldness creeping up on him when he sat alone in their, his, apartment that used to be so full of life. “Thanks.” he added after a moment of silence. He didn’t clarify what he was thanking for whether it was the water, or everything else. Meredith hoped she knew what he meant.
--
Seeing Mere work out his rage on the reavers had been both a frightening and enlightening experience for Frankie. On the one hand, he was breaking things that were asking to be broken, but on the other hand, he had seemed so barely in control of himself, even out of control at times. His quietness now seemed different than the quietness from his apartment, still sad but less in a way. It was hard for her to place a finger on what exactly was different, but she sensed that it was a good change. Small, but definitely a step in the right direction.
She didn’t reply, only nodded and watched as he downed the water like it was his life support. He was doing good work, and she was glad that she could tell he wasn’t lying about feeling better. There was no doubt in her mind that Mere still had a long road ahead of him, to recovery, but she would be there for him every step of the way. It was something that was way too cheesy for her to say out loud, but actions spoke louder than words anyways. She was just about to head back to her own car when she heard the single word come from Mere. Even though there was no elaboration, it brought a smile to her lips. The way that he said it, she knew that it wasn’t just for the water. “Don’t mention it, Sweetie,” She answered with a smile and a shrug, anything more would have made the boy feel awkward, she was sure.
Taking a long sip from her own bottle, she headed to the front desk but continued to speak to Mere through the empty garage. “So, I’ve been thinking about hiring someone to help out with all the odd jobs we never get to around here,” She paused and glanced over at Mere, “You know, for inventory and answering the phone. What do you think?”
--
“If it means I won’t be getting stuck on goddamn desk duty then I’m all fucking for it.” he told her as he went back to work on the engine. Mere was not the person you wanted around those prissy muscle car bastards who wouldn’t know a real beauty if it ran them and over stressed soccer moms, with their sticky fingered brats. “Son of a bitch!” Mere cursed loudly as his hand slipped, and his finger was sliced. Normally such a cut wouldn’t really bother him, but the grease and oil was going into the cut. It stung like hell and Mere had to resist the urge stick the bleeding finger into his mouth. Shaking his hand as he cursed lightly he wrapped the appendage in one of the few sections of clean shirt he had.
--
Frankie gave an appreciative chuckle at his reply. It was no secret that Mere did not like desk duty, she’d tried her best to keep him of it but it was be much easier with another employee.
Frankie’s attention snapped back to Mere as he swore. Her brain instantly went to the parasite on the steering wheel and she had to fight the instinct to panic. Grabbing the box of band-aids from one of the drawers, she quickly made her way back to where Mere was working. The parasite was now sitting on his shoulder, waiting to suck the life out of his cut as soon as he unwrapped it from his shirt. Thinking quickly, she led the boy to the sink. She had a theory about parasites and water, she’d never seen them in the rain; she hoped she was right. “Wash it out,” She turned the tap to a lukewarm temperature, “Infections suck.”
The parasite jumped to sit on top of the tap, but it didn’t make a move on Mere’s now exposed cut. She gave a silent sigh of relief as she handed Mere the box of band-aids. Ever since the not-quite-zombie attack on Seattle, those things had been around a lot more and it was getting much harder to pretend like didn’t exist. She thought about the strange blonde girl, Clara, and her offer to help her find out more about the creatures. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea after all, her card was still on her desk where she left it a few days ago. The parasite was gone now, Frankie had no idea where it went, but she was glad it was gone. Looking at Mere, she shook her head with a small smile on her face. “Be careful,” She said, teasingly, “I can’t have my best employee hurting himself and leaving again, okay?”
--
“I’m your only employee.” Mere replied with a slight smirk. He didn’t think much of Frankie pulling him over to the sink like that, she could be rather protective sometimes. But there was a slight panic to her actions that Meredith didn’t quite understand. She’d never seemed to have a problem with blood before, but she seemed alright now so Mere didn’t dwell. “So you got anyone in mind for this secretary gig?” he asked curiously as he moved back toward the car he’d been working on. His shirt was a bit bloody now but he didn’t worry too much about it, Poppy always kn. . . oh, right. Poppy was gone. Mere wasn’t sure how to feel about Poppy at the moment. He was angry at her, but she was Poppy and he was worried about her too. Was she alright without him? What if something happened to her and he’d be stuck here powerless to help her. Just like Hazel.
But she’d left. She’d left all on her own, nobody forced her too, or took her away. Poppy had abandoned him when he needed her the most. At least he didn’t have to worry about her disappe”Jaring, he thought with a sardonic smile, he was thinking about her too much for that to happen.
--
“Doesn’t mean you’re not the best,” She smiled back at him. Even if she had more than one employee, she was sure that Mere would be her favourite. That of course, was something she could never tell her other imaginary employees.
“Secretary makes it sound like this is some boring office building,” Frankie laughed, but the job was basically a secretary gig, “Not anyone in particular. Why, do you?” She was just going to ask on the forum again, she’d heard a lot of places were destroyed during the whole thing with the not-zombies and there were a lot of students that could benefit from having a part time job.
When she looked at Mere again, she noticed that his expression had changed. “Hey, are you okay?” She was treading carefully, but with everything the kid had been through lately, she didn’t doubt that there was a lot on his mind.
--
“Just thinking.” he said in his (though he’d deny it) brooding tone. Mere hadn’t told Frankie about Poppy yet. It hadn’t seemed like the right time, when they’d been hauled up against the not zombies. “My sister used to get the blood out of my shirts.” Looking down at his shirt he rubbed the blood stain lightly. “Poppy, not Hazel. We wouldn’t have let Hazel touch chemicals with a fifty foot pole, not even detergent.” Mere hadn’t told Frankie about Poppy, hadn’t thought being hauled up from not zombies like they’d been stuck in a bad B-horror movie was the time to mention it. He’d told her about Hazel, and she’d already seen him as a complete mess. If anyone deserved, if there was anyone he trusted, with the full story it was Frankie. “Poppy left.” he told her quietly. He gave a slightly bitter laugh. “Didn’t even say goodbye. She left a note in my fucking stocking.” And wasn’t that just the best fucking Christmas present he could have asked for. His sister, his god damn triplet, abandoned him on fucking Christmas. Wasn’t that just a kick in the balls?
Running his hand through his hair Mere sighed heavily, trying to regain some of the calm he had earlier. He hated this, hated feeling like this. He hated waking up every morning praying that he’d hear Poppy in the kitchen and Hazel blow drying her hair, singing some god awful pop song. He hated waking up every morning only to realize it all hadn’t been a fucking nightmare, that this was his life now. Mere started working on the car again, trying to focus on the one thing in his life that still made sense.
--
Frankie nodded as he began to speak, encouraging him to open up with her. She wasn’t the greatest with feelings, but she still wanted to help people with theirs. She liked the stories he told her about his sisters, and she felt true sorrow for what happened to Hazel. Mere had spent so much of his life protecting her, she couldn’t imagine what it was like for him to not have her there anymore.
The next words from his mouth had Frankie frozen in her tracks. Poppy left? That couldn’t be right. She’d left over Christmas and he had waited this long to tell her? The only thing she was thinking was how hard it must have been for him to keep it all bottled up inside him for so long. Still, she didn’t know what to say, she she put a hand on his shoulder in what she hoped as a reassuring gesture. A few moments of silence passed between them before she trusted herself to speak. “Sweetie,” She spoke quietly, “Have you talked to her at all? Or heard from her?”
She watched as he got back to work. He was suppressing his feeling and Frankie knew from experience that that wasn’t healthy. There was nothing she could do to make the sadness go away, but she trusted that he would talk to her when he was ready.
--
Running his hands through his hair. “I- she left me a voicemail. During the whole zombie thing.” He sighed heavily, leaning against the car. “I haven’t called her back yet.” He admitted. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to her but Mere didn’t know how he felt about Poppy right then. He was angry at her for leaving, but more than that he was hurt. Not that he’d actually admit it of course. Poppy and Hazel had been his whole world since they were kids, his life had always revolved around them. And he’d always thought he was just as important to them, but then how could Poppy just walk away like that. It made him wonder if maybe he didn’t mean as much to his sister as she meant to him.
Mere wasn’t good with feelings, especially not his own. When had his life gotten so complicated? Things used to be so simple. Why couldn’t things just be fucking simple again?
--
“Maybe you should call her back,” Frankie felt like she might be treading into a territory she should be walking on, but sometimes people just needed that extra push to do what needed to be done, “Even if you just need to yell at her or something. It might make you feel better.” Frankie was guilty for calling people just to yell at them, for closure of a sort, but she really hoped that Poppy would come back. With what happened to Hazel, she really felt like the two should spend more time together. But maybe that was just her bias speaking, if she had a sister, she was sure that she would never leave her side.
--
Mere was silent for a moment, just thinking. “Yeah, I guess.” he said evasively. He knew he should probably call, if just to let Poppy know he was alive. The problem was that Mere had a tendency to say whatever he thought, especially when he was mad. And he wasn’t quite sure what would come out if he and Poppy started yelling. Mere wasn’t sure he wanted to hear what would be coming out. Still Poppy at least deserved to know he was alive.
Sighing heavily he added “I’ll call her this afternoon, after work.”
--
Frankie smiled. She couldn’t help feeling rather proud of the boy. There was no doubt in her mind that hearing his sister’s voice was an appropriate next step to a full recovering. She stopped thinking then, realizing that she sounded like one of those ridiculous TV therapists. Silently, she was thankful that she hadn’t said any of the out loud. Instead, she tried not to smile too big as she nodded, “Good. I’m sure she’ll be pleased to hear from you.” As she turned away, she let the barely contained grin spread wide on her face, Mere had grown a lot since she’d first hired him and she couldn’t deny the pride that came from watching him grow as a person.
--
Mere snorted, right pleased, sure she would be. The only thing Mere was wondering was how long it would take her to start screaming at him. He and Poppy always seemed to end up yelling at each other, they were both too stubborn for their own good. It was always Hazel that smoothed out the cracks. So what would happen without her here, he wondered. Would they just fall apart? Both too fucking pig headed to ever say what needed to be said. Maybe he and Poppy were too similar for their own good.
--
Frankie caught the snort and guessed that Mere didn’t quite agree that Poppy would be glad to hear from him. Still, he had promised to check in with her and she was optimistic that the two would be able to work things out. Rolling her eyes at the boy she shook her head lightly, “Seriously Mere, It’ll be fine, I’m sure.” It wasn’t the most comforting statement, but Frankie only meant the best. She opened her mouth to try and add to the statement, but the phone at the front desk was ringing. Cursing mentally, she made a serious note to hire a part-timer, preferably someone who wasn’t too nosey.