Savannah Posey (jurisdoctor) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2016-06-25 16:39:00 |
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One could say that Babs had been around the LBJ for a while, but she wasn’t quite there. Something had happened after she left, when Gray got kidnapped, and since her return, Savannah felt like Babs just wasn’t the same. Obviously coming down with some kind of illness that she just couldn’t shake had had an effect on the woman but the change in her was obvious. Babs been close to Gray, and as much pain and anger Savannah had in relation to him, she still felt the desire to stay connected to him by keeping those he’d known close to her. It was a tad difficult when Babs had literally been bedridden for weeks, but still, Savannah visited her, hoping to find that common thread. Equipped with a bottle of water and a granola bar, Savannah entered the hospital wing and stopped at Babs’ corner. “You awake, sleepyhead?” She asked gently, sitting down in the chair next to Babs’ bed. Babs was not a good patient. In fact, she was terrible and the fact that people put up with her amazed the nurse daily. Like any medical professional she was sure she was bullet proof when it came to illness, and when she’d finally accepted it was time to lay down and sleep, she’d self diagnosed herself with a million things. But never what it actually was: depression and a flu. Depression had hit Babs before; when her brother died, after her assault in San Francisco. But she’d never called it that, because it didn’t seem possible to her. And despite her mental health training, she still had trouble spotting her own when she did have good days mixed in with the bad. Days laying in bed and teaching Olivia card tricks, teasing Kaleo’s ears, reading. Which was what she was doing right then- or rather, had been. A book was open on her chest, the cover shiny in the half light as the blonde opened her eyes a little bit. “Pretty much,” she responded, her brain still feeling foggy. Babs sat up, turning in her bed so she could sit crossed-legged with her back against the wall. She accepted the water and granola easily, taking a few big gulps. “I’d offer to share, but you don’t want what I have.” Sitting up was better than how Savannah had found Babs some days, so already she was taking this as progress. Whatever had happened, Savannah wasn’t giving up hope that the woman would come back to them, still. “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart, I’m a giver not a taker,” she teased gently, crossing one leg over the other. “How’re you feelin’ today?” “Alive,” she said, raising a brow at Savannah before taking a bite of food. She chewed and swallowed, still eyeing the other woman. “Did you want a full report, or are you just asking to start a conversation,” it wasn’t really a question. She highly doubted that Savannah wanted all the details of the mucus in her throat or the way her stomach clenched with hunger every time she lost food. “Well I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want you to answer,” Savannah said with a shrug. She wasn’t about to force Babs into talking if she didn’t want to, but she wanted to at least give her the option. “But we can talk about somethin’ else if you want. I just wanted to check on you and see how things were goin’. There’s a lot of stuff happenin’ in the city. I’m sure you’ve seen some stuff on the freenet?” “Yeah, some of it. But I don’t really follow past you being kidnapped, a president, and now food is coming back. I’m a fan of the food, and if it’s really the US government then sure, yeah. I can go for it. I’m still a loyal soldier,” Babs said, adjusting herself until she was sitting more comfortable, a pillow over her lap and her hair pulled away from her eyes. “Vannah, what the hell happened while you were gone?” Talking about her kidnapping wasn’t exactly her favorite thing in the world, but besides crying the entire drive there, it honestly hadn’t been that bad. “They just wanted to talk. Remember that gas and the rain blobs? Well, I guess Olinger had control over that. It wasn’t left over from when they bombed the city the first time. And he’d been lyin’ to the US Government about how things were here, but they found out a few months back. They wanted to come in and remove Olinger but he kept threatenin’ to blow the city up. Wasn’t until they planted a few of their, spies I guess you could call them, into the Capitol that they figured out a way to move in. So, I met with the president and she told me all about that.” Babs blinked once, and then twice. “Well. If this were a movie this is when I’d be turning the TV off and going to bed,” the nurse said, rolling her shoulders back a little bit and trying not to let her head hurt too much. She thought about Cal for a moment, and wondered if he’d been a spy. After all, he’d been a good man in the capitol. Those seemed few and far between. “You trust these people,” Babs said, less of a question and more of a statement. “Things are going to change then, shift around. We won’t be able to stay in our little tribes much longer.” She couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. “That’ll be good, for Maizie and Olivia.” “No one is splittin’ us up. There’s gonna be a chance to move out of the library, but you don’t have to go if you don’t want to, sweetheart,” Savannah said, as usual, finding it hard to read Babs. Sometimes it was like pulling teeth to get an emotional response, but she was going to keep trying. “I do think it’ll be good, though. The world’s so much bigger than they ever got to see.” “I won’t stay,” Babs said with a shrug, as if that was a given. She didn’t think she was hard to read, but that was because she didn’t care to allow most close enough to do that. Olivia was close, sure. Teddy… Teddy had been her husband. Part of Babs wanted Savannah to be in that circle, to be a friend she could lean into and just acknowledge as being part of that family she was building for herself. It felt so odd: when she’d married Teddy, she’d gotten a clan attached. She’d been born into her own family. Building wasn’t a skill of her’s. “I want to work still, as a nurse. I want to help people, outside of just LBJ. But I don’t,” she began, pausing and tapping the bottle on her chin. “I don’t want to lose Olivia. I know you’re sort of her and Maizie’s guardian, but… I liked having her, with me. In the clinic.” For whatever walls and hard fronts Babs put up, she thawed when it came to Olivia. It made Savannah soften as well, reaching a hand out to touch Babs’ arm. “You’re not gonna lose anyone, sweetheart. We’re all still here and we’re gonna be here, no matter where we live or work. Why’re you worried?” Babs began to chew on her thumb, half to busy herself and half to take her arms out of Savannah’s grasp. She pulled her knees in as well, looking somehow more exposed as she withdrew into herself. While she’d been sick and unable to move, she’d pulled in like this. But Kaleo had always been at her side, curling up besides her. The dog slept on the cool around a few feet away, breathing in and out. “Move apart, people move on. It’s natural, I get it. When I moved from home I wasn’t great at keeping in contact with my folks. I’m not Liv’s mom, I won’t be her primary medical aid anymore.” Savannah couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t that she thought Babs’ concerns were silly or even unfounded. It was true that keeping such close quarters as they all had for the past three years in the library meant that a lot of unlikely friendships and relationships had formed than what might normally have happened, but it was like she’d told Nick and Luc: they’d all survived together. Those bonds were going to be hard to break after what they’d lived through. “Well I sure as hell ain’t Liv’s mom either. I don’t think any of that matters, though. These days, most people don’t know what’s happened to their own blood. We gotta make new families. Just ‘cause we’re movin’ doesn’t mean you’re not a part of that anymore. And if you’re really worried, then move into the house next door and every time Liv gets on my nerves, I’ll shove her out the door and over to your place.” Their own blood. Babs went quiet for a moment, looking at Savannah and know that what she was about to say was half just stating facts, half a test. Because she’d never really shared much about herself to anyone, other than Liv. And now, here she was, spilling beans to Savannah. “I found out what happened to mine,” she said. “When I left. I went to my hometown, to the place I grew up. All dead, everyone. Picked off the zombies I recognized so I could sleep at night.” Babs moved off the bed, standing up and going over to the little counter she’d spread hair ties, a brush, and other supplies to keep herself neat. She pulled her blond locks into a messy bun, and looked over her shoulder. “It was the right thing to do.” Savannah felt her throat tighten, just listening to Babs. She couldn’t even imagine experiencing what the other woman had been through. Everyone called Savannah so strong and brave for taking the reigns of the LBJ and keeping their shelter safe through everything, but it felt like nothing in comparison. She’d never sought that out, though. It had just fallen in her lap. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, sweetheart. Just because they’re gone--that doesn’t mean you’re alone, though. I’m here. Liv’s here.” She felt like a broken record, but she wasn’t going to stop trying to break down Babs’ defenses. Not yet. |