RP: Broken Who: Addi, Phillip, Gen, Coop, Hype, and ZJ When: Sunday, June 25, very early morning Where: London/St Mungo's What: Phillip finds a hurt Addi and takes her to St. Mungo's Warnings: References to domestic violence/torture, sadness/pain, seriously not a happy scene.
It was still mostly dark when Adelaide stumbled out of the room, her limbs numb and aching and bruised, blood matting her hair against her head. Her vision swirled as she made her way clumsily through the dimly-lit hall of the seedy hotel. No one was up at this hour, and even if they were, they likely wouldn’t be anyone she would want to notice her. The swelling in her right eye was painful already, and her tears had formed a thick, dry crust against her lids.
She had never known there could be pain to that degree before.
While not stupid, Addi had known she was rather sheltered, protected from the evils of the world while in the happy little bubble her parents had raised her in. Even with the move to Paris for college hadn’t rubbed the shine off her worldview terribly much. She’d played and partied hard, never believing it could go bad, never fully comprehending the true risk she was taking with her life.
Until tonight.
She whimpered as she stumbled against a wall as she tried turning a corner, her arm clutching her middle where her last wound still seeped warm, sticky blood. Her legs ached, muscles sore and bruised, but still she pushed on, her bare feet barely noticing the change as she staggered out the front doors, smearing blood over the clear glass as she went. Where was she? It was dark, only the faintest streaks of pre-dawn light hinting through the narrow spaces between some of the buildings.
Without any clear sense of direction, Addi made her way through the dark, abandoned street. It wasn’t long before she emerged on a nicer, cleaner main street. Her hands were shaking, but still she pushed on. And when she saw the large, imposing structure of the British Museum in her admittedly blurred vision, she could have cried again. It was that more than anything which gave her some semblance of direction. If she could just get to the Leaky Cauldron or Coop’s flat, she could get help.
She thought the Leaky was closer.
Walking on sore, tingling feet was just distracting enough that her mind couldn’t dwell on what had happened to her. All of her energy was focused on her forward motion. Even when she lost her footing and fell, she forced herself back up again, not feeling the new scrapes on top of her scarred and bruised skin. He’d done that, she remembered briefly - used his magic to slice her skin, and then healed it again. Over and over.
She shuddered and had to stop as she heaved the acidic contents of her stomach onto the sidewalk, making the still-open wound throb painfully, though the blood had finally seemed to have started coagulating.
How had she not noticed sooner how deranged Roberto was?
How… but no, push forward. Get help.
Addi stumbled again, not three meters from where she’d just upended her stomach, her knee wrenching as it impacted with the cold, hard concrete. And when she got back up again, she was slower, a noticeable limp in her gait. But still she pushed on. She never would have thought herself capable of it before.
Not for the first time, she checked her empty pocket for her phone. But no, Roberto had destroyed it.
Why hadn’t she taken his?
Right, hadn’t be thinking about it at the time. Escape had seemed of greater importance.
It wasn’t much longer before she was on Charing Cross Road, or perhaps it had been a terribly long time and she’d simply not realized how much had passed, either way she was nearer to her destination. It certainly would have been quicker to get help from the Muggles, to flag down one of the few that were out and about this early on a Sunday morning and have them take her to a hospital, but the Statute of Secrecy had been drilled in her head by her sister when she’d first started venturing into the magical world with her…
...and Roberto had used magic on her. He had hurt her with magic. And there was no telling how that might interact with Muggle machines and medicine. No, she needed to find someone who could take her to the wizarding hospital - there had to be one in London, right?
Of course there is one in London, Adelaide, don’t be stupid.
She was two shops past the entrance to the Leaky before she realized something was terribly wrong. Where was it? This wasn’t right.
Disoriented and panicked, Addi spun in a circle, feeling her stomach churning again, though there was nothing left in it to expel. Finally, she spotted the two shops that were supposed to bookend the entrance, only it wasn’t right. Where the Leaky should have been, a broken down, abandoned storefront stood, and she couldn’t breathe for a moment as she struggled to figure out what the bleeding hell she was supposed to do.
And then it hit her all at once.
She didn’t have her charm. Roberto had taken and destroyed that, too. So of course she couldn’t see it. She was just a Muggle, after all.
Addi was sobbing as she made her way to the ruse of an entrance, praying that if she went through it would still work, even without her charm. When she tried to step through, she was hit with a wave of dizziness and nausea. And then, Adelaide finally collapsed against the entryway as she cried, clutching her middle. The adrenaline seemed to be wearing off, and though some far away part of her mind told her it was a terrible idea, she closed her eyes and found herself succumbing to unconsciousness.
Phillip had always been an early riser, which meant that he always managed to catch the perfect time for a good morning run before returning home to his apartment to have breakfast before heading off to work. It being Sunday, however, he wasn't in a particular rush, and so, when he hit Charing Cross road, the recollection that he needed to purchase more ink struck him, and he decided that he didn't really need to head back to his place to breakfast and change before going to Diagon. Instead, he jogged the rest of the way to the Leaky.
What he had not expected to run into was Adelaide, collapsed against the entry looking battered, bruised, and broken. Eyes wide, he didn't hesitate to lift her up into his arms before promptly apparating back home. She was bleeding on his hands. Merlin... He needed to contact someone, someone right? Take her to St. Mungo's? Sure, it seemed the reasonable thing to do, but he also was rather reluctant-- considering the state of her-- to just let her go and put her in someone-- anyone-- else's hands, Phillip instead carrying her into his bedroom to lay her down atop the sheets. Sure, she was bleeding and filthy-- her knees and feet alone!-- but all that didn't matter. He could fix that easily enough.
Which reminded him. He needed his wand.
Ripping into her dress a bit more to get a good look at what seemed to be the worst of it, he grabbed for his wand to at least clean her up to start. He'd learned a few healing charms in his time, sure, given who his sister was. The only question was whether they would be good enough, coming from him. Still-- he was going to at least bloody well try, Phillip slowly going about fixing her.
"Gotta be honest," he muttered, "didn't expect you to end up in my bed quite this quickly..."
When she was suddenly hoisted up into someone's arms, Addi barely responded, and though a whimper sounded in her throat, her eyes stayed closed. It was the feel of being apparated, of her battered body being manipulated by magic to take her from one place to another in an instance that had her eyelids attempting to flutter open again. It took too much effort, though, and the pain was too intense to allow her to come back to awareness again yet.
The healing magic started working, though she was unaware of any of it. The wound was cleaned and it should have continued on just the same, but suddenly her eyes shot open and a strangled scream sounded in her throat as her wound bubbled with a dark, putrid substance. “Mon dieu, s’il vous plait, pas plus,” she cried out in French, begging for it to stop not for the first time tonight. This morning? She wasn't sure anymore. She couldn't see Phillip, not yet, all she saw was the pain.
It all seemed to be going just fine for a bit there. But he wasn't a healer, not by any stretch of the imagination, which meant that, when evidence surfaced of this being a magically inflicted wound, he almost immediately knew that he was completely out of his depth.
Gathering her up in his arms again, he closed his eyes, apparating them a second time, this time to the alley beside St. Mungo's, Phillip promptly rushing inside with her.
"I'm going to need some help here," he nodded, looking to one of the healers who quickly led him to a floating stretcher so he might lay her down. Damn. He should be contacting someone, he knew, but in his haste, his phone had been the last thing on his mind. "Can you fix it?"
When Phillip lifted her in his arms again, she cried out, her stomach churning more as he apparated them again. She heard his voice after they arrived, some part of her mind recognizing it as a representation of safety. This wasn't Roberto, come to hurt her further. As she was put on the stretcher, she slowly blinked her good eye open to try to see who it was.
“Ph...Phillip?” she croaked out in surprise, her voice hoarse and cracking. She fixated on him as the healer replied, answering his question with a vague, “We'll do our best.”
When the stretcher started floating away, she flung an arm out and gripped his wrist with surprising strength. The motion made the tears and bruises on her own wrist more pronounced, the result from being hung from a particularly sharp and tight pair of handcuffs. “S...stay with me. Pl..ease.” Her entire body was shivering, and it made her stutter the words out, but she had just enough wits about her to believe she needed someone she could trust to advocate for her in this magical hospital.
He hadn't been planning on leaving, but her hand on his wrist more or less sealed that particular fate, and he decided to follow the healers lead. If they didn't make him leave the room, he figured, no harm done, right?
Her wound looked downright nasty in how deep and painful it appeared, and for a moment he found himself seriously wondering who on earth could have done something like that to her. And-- more importantly, why? She was a lovely girl; he couldn't imagine her offending anyone...
The morning had turned more than a little sour; when he next saw her, the last thing he wanted was for it to be like this. Still-- at the same time, he couldn't help but be grateful. What if he hadn't shown up right at that moment? If he hadn't been there to get her to safety? Merlin, it was practically fortuitous that it had been him and not just some Muggle when they never would have been able to fix her, and she would have likely bled out on the table.
Although she didn't want to let go of him, Addi was fading in and out of consciousness, and her grip slowly slackened until her hand finally slipped off him entirely as they took her into a room. It was a flurry of movement and magic, then. Spells were cast in quick succession, diagnostics she assumed, but she couldn't seem to focus her good eye on it to try to figure out what spells were being used.
"She's a muggle," one of the healers gasped. Another responded, "We'll have to contact the Ministry, have them send an Obliviator."
Hearing that word, Obliviator, had Addi forcing her eyes open, her swollen eye protesting the movement, and she searched desperately for Phillip. "NO! Y...you c...an't! Phil...Phillip, don't l...let them!" Though she stuttered, the words were said with a surprising amount of force. The tears came again then. "D...don't mess w..with my memory," she pleaded. She was in the know, she wasn't like other muggles; they couldn't do this, they couldn't take her mind from her!
Everything was a blur, then. There were spells and potions, pain and then... nothing. She wasn't sure if she was asleep or awake, if the pain had just become too much or if she'd been healed beyond the point of pain.
"Miss? Miss, can you hear me?" a stern voice asked, and she slowly blinked her eyes open, surprised momentarily that she was even able to open both of them. She made a soft sound of assent. "We need to contact the MLE, they'll need to find who did this to you."
He had almost been shooed out of the room on more than one occasion, but when one of the healers mentioned her non-magical heritage, he was glad he'd stood his ground, even if the surprise was taking him aback. Then they mentioned something about obliviating her, about getting the Ministry involved, and Addi's panic reached his ears, making his heart jump into his throat. Her sister was a witch, wasn't she? And she'd been at karaoke...
"You don't need to do that," he heard himself say, Phillip shaking his head as he moved close to her. "Her sister is a witch, as is her best friend."
Still, the fact that she was a muggle came as a surprise to him. He supposed he had no reason to assume that she was a witch, and yet... Merlin. But then, at the same time, it didn't really make a difference, did it?
Waiting by Addi's side until they were finished, Phillip stayed out of the healers' way until their mention of the DMLE. "I work at the Ministry. I'll contact them."
When Phillip vouched for the young woman to be allowed to keep her memory of magic, the Healers simply nodded and tabled it for now. They would need to confirm that she was an exception to the Statute of Secrecy, but for now they had a more important job to do. They removed the torn and filthy dress and tried to get Phillip to leave, but it was more an obligation than any real effort to make him leave. The patient had made it clear she wanted him there, after all. And then they set about working their magic to heal her.
After they finished with the worst wound on her upper stomach, one healer thought to charm a patient gown on her before they moved on to her other, lesser concerning injuries. By the time she finished, she was clean but still obviously hurt. Her pale skin seemed more sallow, marred with the start of deep bruises, though the swelling had been dealt with. Her eye had a large bruise around it, but thankfully the swelling had been taken down enough for her to open it now.
When she heard the healer mention the MLE, she forced her eyes open and glanced at Phillip just as he answered. "Gen... need to contact my sister," she croaked out, her voice hoarse. "He destroyed my phone."
The healer ignored her words for the moment and addressed Phillip again. "I appreciate that you are a Ministry employee, but this woman was attacked and there is protocol we must follow." He turned to Addi then. "Do you feel well enough to give them a statement?"
Addi's skin paled further at that and her eyes widened as realization set in. Oh god, she was going to have to tell someone exactly what Roberto had done to her, wasn't she? "Yeah," she squeaked out, though there was no confidence in her answer at all. Her stomach churned at the thought, though there was thankfully nothing in it that could come up. She was mortified enough by what Phillip had already seen, the last thing she needed to do was throw up in front of him. Oh god, she hadn't thrown up on him, had she?
The very last thing that Phillip would ever have expected was for him to have Adelaide in his bed so early on in their... curiously developing relationship. But now, here she was, naked before him, and he felt himself blanch, freezing momentarily as his eyes widened and he promptly forced himself to turn around, the image seared into his mind. Merlin. Merlin Merlin Merlin. She was so incredibly beautiful. And still-- still, he had to remind himself of the fact that this wasn't how this was supposed to happen! He was supposed to be able to wine her and dine her and make her feel like a princess for at least a few weeks of slow progression, of teasing her until she slowly lost her mind with anticipation before they moved any further...
It was her voice that drew him back again. Gen. Right. He had left his phone at home. There was no way he was about to leave her side, though-- not now, not after whatever it was that apparently and evidently happened to her.
Covering her hand in his and gently interlacing their fingers, he did his best to provide the feeling of stability for her, of a rock there she could lean on and rely on-- a rock that wasn't about to just leave her to get a phone.
Looking up at the healers, he frowned. "By when might she be able to leave St. Mungo's?"
Feeling Phillip's hand over hers, his fingers interlacing with hers caused her stomach to flutter and give her just a bit of strength even as it crushed her. What would he think of her when he found out why this had happened to her? She didn't think it was her fault, she wasn't blaming herself, but she did recognize how Roberto had used her actions as justification. And she knew there were people in the world that would agree with him. She just hoped Phillip wasn't one of those people. She tried squeezing his hand back, but her grip was too weak to manage it, and so she simply moved her thumb against his hand gently.
"We want to keep her for at least twenty-four hours to ensure there are no adverse reactions to the magic we used to heal her. There's still much to learn about the effects of magic on Muggles," he explained, and Addi found herself flinching at the gleam in his eyes. She was not some sort of lab rat, for crying out loud! "Now, we'll contact the MLE about getting a statement, and I'm certain they'll be by shortly."
"Wait! There's an Auror, Hyperion Montgomery - could you have them send him? I know him." She trusted him. He would make sure Roberto was dealt with. And he would be able to contact Vieve. She really ought to try to memorize a few phone numbers in the future in case she ended up stranded without her phone again.
The healer paused, and Addi thought for sure he was going to say no, but then he nodded. "We can request it, though I can't guarantee they'll do so," he answered before leaving her alone in the room with Phillip.
She deflated against the bed then, the little bit of energy she'd found moments before leaving her. And then, she turned her head a bit to look at him. "Thank you, Phillip... For being here," she murmured gratefully to him, giving his hand another weak squeeze.
It was a whirlwind of activity, but then, the whole morning had been, Phillip forgetting that he was supposed to be hungry at one point. And as tired as he was, the healer's remark nevertheless brought him back on his feet, a distinct sense of bewildered confusion crossing his features. "She's not a science experiment," he was quick to interject. Twenty-four hours? He didn't like that thought in the least. Well, if they were going to insist upon keeping her here for that long, then they'd get to put up with him, too, as far as he was concerned.
With his thoughts entirely elsewhere, Addi's words nevertheless surprised him. He was the one that was supposed to be thinking of these things right now-- she was the one who'd been hurt, after all, the one that deserved to be looked after, as opposed to the other way around.
How the fuck his first thought hadn't been his brother was completely beyond him, but then, he supposed this morning had left him fairly rattled.
"He's my brother," Phillip added after a moment with a firm nod before they'd cleared out. Hype would make time for this; he knew he would.
And still, even in spite of everything that had happened thus far, he was surprised after a moment to have been left alone in the room with her at all, Phillip blinking down at her as she thanked him. Thanked him! Merlin, the thought was almost laughable. "I wouldn't have been able to just leave you here," he reassured her, leaning in to press a soft kiss to her forehead. "No thanks necessary, I promise."
When he'd got called in specifically to head into St. Mungo's and get a statement from an assault victim and begin the investigation into the culprit, the last thing Hyperion had expected was to find Adelaide laying on the bed looking pale and battered with his brother sitting by her side. But before she would give him a statement, she'd insisted he contact her sister, so he pulled his phone out and flipped through his contacts until he found Gen's name. It was probably weird that he'd never deleted her after she and Coop broke up, but he didn't tend to delete anyone from his phone, just in case, which was fortuitous today, he thought as he pressed call.
Carrying her phone with her was so deeply ingrained that she didn't even think about it when she slipped it into the pocket of her running shorts this morning. What was surprising was when it went off about halfway through her run with Coop. When she pulled it out of her pocket, only slowing down a little bit, and saw Hyperion's name on the screen, her brows furrowed and she slowed to a stop. "Hello?" she answered hesitantly. Seriously, why would Hyperion be calling her and not Coop?
"Gen? It's Hype. There's been an incident, and Addi needs you here at St. Mungo's. She's alive and will be fine-"
"What? Addi's at... Why?! What happened?" she asked, cutting him off.
Hype rolled his eyes and shot Addi a look as if to say 'I told you so' before answering. "I don't know yet. She won't talk to me - officially, Gen - until you're here."
Gen suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe, and she reached out and grabbed Coop's arm with her free hand as if it were the only way she would be able to stay standing. "I... um... I'll be right there." Officially. Hyperion was there as an Auror, not a friend. She clicked off the call and then looked at Coop with wide eyes and pale skin. "I need you to apparate me to St. Mungo's. Addi's there." How had those words come out so calmly when she was utterly panicking on the inside?
Cooper could only hear half the conversation, he was bend over with his hands on his knees, catching his breath. It wasn’t his conversation to have, he wasn’t even listening until he heard Addi and that tone of Gen’s voice, something was wrong. He was trying to listen to her side of the conversation, though all she had said was that she would be there, be where? Where was Addi? He was left without any answers and he felt frustrated almost immediately.
Then she was saying she needed him, and just where they were going. His stomach dropped and his eyes went wide, “Don’t tell me more or I won’t be able to.” He warned her, before his arms slipped around her and he cleared his mind. “Try to clear your mind, as much as you can.” He whispered to her, a moment before he pressed a kiss against her forehead and then after he had given her that moment, he apparated them to the point where they would be able to get inside St. Mungo’s. The pair arrived just in front of the Purge and Dowse front of the building. “Let’s get inside.” Cooper murmured, before he stepped forward and led her inside.
It was only then that he stepped back, this was for her and he was going to just be there for her. He would be her big scary shadow and anyone who told them no… Well, not only did he have Hyperion on #3 speed dial (Gen was #2), he figured he was scary enough that he might scare anyone who thought to say no to Gen right now.
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that she didn't know any more that she could tell him, but then he was holding her and reminding her to clear her mind, so Gen let it go. There were more important things to worry about, and so she did clear her mind as best she could. She was so grateful to him in that moment, as she wasn't sure she would have been able to apparate here on her own. And when they arrived, she grabbed his hand in a too-hard grip as they made their way inside. Though he took a step back then, she squeezed his hand and tugged him back to her side - that was where she needed him just then. She needed him to be her strength, her rock right now.
"Hi, hello, my sister's here - where is she?" she asked the receptionist. Just as the woman behind the counter opened her mouth to respond, Gen realized her mistake and grimaced. "Sorry, how're you supposed to know who my sister is? Adelaide. Adelaide de Blacas. She's here as a patient, I was just notified. I need to see her. Please," she added urgently.
The receptionist gave her a sympathetic sort of smile and directed her to the correct room on the correct floor, and then they were off. It must have been less than two minutes since she'd hung up the phone with Hyperion, but it still felt like an eternity when they finally walked into the room her sister was being kept in. "Oh, mon dieu, Adelaide," she breathed when she got her first glimpse of her. She looked awful, and Gen could only imagine how much worse it had been when she'd first arrived.
"No, Vieve, don't look at me like that!" Addi said firmly, though her lip wibbled and her eyes filled with moisture again. Damn it! She didn't want to cry again. Still, she lifted a hand and held it out for her sister, breathing a sigh of relief when Vieve released Coop's hand and crossed to her, holding onto her hand and squeezing it with far more strength than she'd had a few hours before.
"What happened?" Gen asked urgently.
Addi looked a Vieve for a long moment before looking around the room, her eyes settling on every face there before finally looking at Phillip again. Oh, how she didn't want to tell it all in front of him, though it was absurd considering he'd seen the extent of her injuries, he'd found her like that and brought her here, probably saving her life. She was extraordinarily grateful to him for that, but she didn't want him to think less of her for trusting Roberto. She looked back at Vieve, then. "It was Roberto," she said at first, and then she looked at Hyperion. "Roberto Marques." And Vieve, Coop, and Hype all knew that Roberto had been her boyfriend, but she assumed Phillip did not. She felt far too anxious then to look at him again to see his reaction that she'd known who'd done this to her.
Thankfully no one gave them any sort of trouble and Cooper was able to relax, the next step would have Hyperion and he could handle anything with his best mate at his side. It was ridiculous but he did think of Hyperion as a sibling, so it was going to be reassuring that he was going to be able to have him there as his own rock. It would help him be able to be there for Gen better.
When they first came into the room he had to look away, he knew it wasn’t the reaction that Addi would have liked to see but he knew that she would have more pissed if he was crying. He had stayed back by the door, hanging back near Hyperion as Gen made her way over to Addi. He felt a small sense of relief to see Hyperion, though he didn’t say a word about Phillip. He was curious why his brother was there but it wasn’t important right now because he knew without a doubt it hadn’t been Phillip who had hurt Addi.
He had distracted himself apparently because he hadn’t heard Gen ask, but he had heard her say it was Roberto. He went stiff then, his jaw set and his brows raised. There was anger in his eyes, he suddenly felt so useless. He couldn’t track down Roberto and smash his face in for this, he had no idea what the man looked like. He was sure he could find out but that took time and he wanted to find the bastard now. The only thing that was keeping him from turning his trainers around and heading out the door was the fact that Gen needed him, he had to be there for her. There was Hyperion though, and as he had the thought his hazel eyes snapped up to meet those familiar bright blues. It was a moment that had no words, Hyperion would take care of it.
Hype felt a fierce anger course through him when Addi named her boyfriend as the one who had done this to her. But now wasn’t the time to be Hype-the-friend, he had to be Auror Montgomery, and this was something he’d never had to do before, not with his friends. “Addi, I’m going to need you to walk me through everything that happened,” he told her gently. “And you can have anyone in here you want for it.” It would be her choice who heard the details aside from him, but she was going to have to tell them.
Addi looked around the room again, her heart constricting at the thought of each of them knowing any details of what had happened to her. Phillip had seen her broken and bleeding, he’d been there as the Healers had patched her up, and she couldn’t stand the thought of the details of how she’d ended up that way weighing down on him too. And Vieve… her sister didn’t need to hear details of her torture. She didn’t want Vieve to struggle with thoughts of retribution.
Which brought her to Coop, standing back as though he were a guard, a protector. He was her big brother, whether he and Vieve ever got back together or not, and as she looked at him now, she knew he could handle it. He could hear what had happened, and she could trust him to do what needed to be done. Hype would have to do his job, but Coop would make sure Roberto paid.
She didn’t plan to go into too heavy of detail, so she hoped it wouldn’t take too long and her sister and Phillip would be able to forgive her for not wanting them to stay. “Phillip, Vieve, please don’t be upset, but… can you guys step out, please?”
Gen flinched at the request, hurt piercing her at the center of her chest. She didn’t understand why Addi would want her to go, and she wanted to know what had happened to her sister, but she was mature enough to recognize that what she wanted didn’t matter. This was about Addi, and she knew she had to respect her wishes in this. And so, she stepped out of the room with Phillip.
Once they stepped out, Addi beckoned Coop closer, took a deep breath, and then launched into her story. “He didn’t rape me,” she began, wanting to make that clear from the start. And then she detailed how he’d shown up while she’d been out with her new coworkers, how he’d talked her into coming back with him. She told them both briefly how he’d tortured her, recalling the spells he’d used as best she could but leaving out the horrific things he’d said during it. They didn’t need to know what he’d planned for her.
She told them about the drugs Roberto had done, about being disoriented when the magic restraining her had shorted out, how she’d stumbled out of the room. That part was all a blur to her, and she couldn’t remember what exactly had happened after she’d been able to slip out of the handcuffs until she’d spotted the British Museum when she’d been stumbling around London, but she tried her best to give them enough details that Hype might be able to find Roberto and arrest him. Or, hopefully, Coop would find him and make sure he could never come after her again, in a permanent way.
And when she finished, Hype shared a look with Coop, and they were leaving, letting her sister and Phillip back in the room. Whatever happened next, at least she knew she wasn’t alone.
After Cooper and Hyperion left to try to track Roberto down and the girls talked Phillip into going to get a shower and food (with assurances that he was more than welcome to come back after), Gen had carefully climbed up on the bed with Addi and wrapped an arm around her. "You don't have to tell me what happened, but if you do want to talk about it, you know I'm here for you right?"
Addi sniffled, but nodded her head. "I know. I just... can't right now." Her lip shook and tears filled her eyes, but Vieve rubbed her arm gently and made a soothing shushing sound. It made her want her mum, which was ridiculous - she was twenty-six years old! She didn't need her mummy. Except she felt like she did. But she didn't want her mum to know what had happened to her; her parents worried enough as it was, they didn't need to know about this and worry even more.
"Is there anyone you want me to call? ZJ, any of your other friends?" Gen asked her gently, not about to push on the talking about it issue right now. Addi needed to be able to deal with this in her own way in a timeline that worked for her.
At the mention of Zee, Addi paled a bit, realizing what a shitty thing it would be to have Hype know and have to keep it a secret from his girlfriend, someone who had quickly become one of Addi's best friends. No, she didn't want everyone to know what had happened to her, but she loved Zee, and she didn't want to keep it from her. "Merde. Yeah, let's call Zee. I need to tell her..." She flinched again, but she knew it was something she needed to do.
"I'll start and then hand the phone off, okay?" Gen offered, and then after Addi nodded, she pulled up ZJ's name and hit the call, bringing the phone up to her ear to wait for ZJ to answer.
After Hyperion had gotten called into work, Zahara had found herself wide awake cuddling with Nancycat in his bed. She knew she couldn’t spend her entire day just laying around waiting for him to come back home. Her parents would be up, she was sure her father was making breakfast. It was that thought that had her up and out of the bed, apparating to her parent’s home after showering.
It was just after breakfast that Z’s phone was lighting up on the table. Ambrosius started barking at her about having her phone at the table, while she waved him away and got up from the table with her empty plate. She pressed the green answer button as she put the phone to her ear, cradling it between her shoulder and ear as she brought her plate to the sink. She didn’t know why Gen was calling her, she wondered if she was looking for Hyperion for some reason. She almost answered the phone that way, though instead she decided to not jump to conclusions. “Hey, it’s ZJ.” She announced, since she had not spoken to Gen on the phone before. No need for confusion.
It threw her a bit that ZJ felt the need to introduce herself when she answered, but Gen supposed it might have had something to do with the fact that she'd never called ZJ before and didn't even often text her. She liked the other woman, but Addi and her had clicked so well that she just hadn't wanted to encroach on that friendship. Which, she realized, was ridiculous. "Hi, ZJ, this is Gen. I'm calling because Addi's phone was destroyed and--"
Addi unceremoniously grabbed the phone from Gen, interrupting her and bringing it to her own ear instead. "--and I'm in the hospital. Roberto... well, let's just say he didn't like the idea of me leaving him. I'm okay, though, I promise. Hype's already on the case--sorry if anything fun was interrupted because of it." She had to make a joke about it, otherwise she would start crying again, and she just couldn't deal with that right now.
Zahara had just been getting ready to ask Gen why Addi's phone had been destroyed when Addi was on the line. The words she heard next had her hazel eyes growing wide, it was a wonder she didn't drop the phone right there in the kitchen.
Did she really just apologize for potentially interrupting something between her and Hyp? She shook her head, though realized as she was doing it that the other end of the phone couldn't see her. "Addi," Zahara said, the pain likely evident in her voice. She wanted to go to her right that second, would she be upset if she did? "Don't ever apologize for that, ever. I..." She stuttered a moment, she wanted to just invite herself. She debated with herself for a moment, before she just pulled the trigger. "Can I come see you?" She was still too stunned to cry, she could feel the tears welling up as she wondered what Roberto had done to where Hyperion was on the case. She doubted he would be working hard to find the man over a broken phone.
The way Vieve flinched deeply at Addi's in-poor-taste joke was enough to know that she probably shouldn't have made it, but she was smart enough to recognize that it was a defense mechanism of sorts. If she was joking about it, it wasn't that serious, right? "Yeah, 'course you can. Just... don't cry, okay? There's already been enough of that, and I'm okay. I promise." She wasn't nearly as okay as she wanted everyone to think, but she didn't want anyone to worry so much about her.
Zahara could be heard giving a watery laugh then, "You know if you have to ask, I'm going to. I will be there in two seconds. I just have to tell my mother I'm leaving. I'll see you soon, alright?" She had no idea what room she needed but she was leaving as soon as she hung up the phone.
Addi sighed. "Okay, see you soon," she replied before ending the call. She glanced at Vieve then with a soft groan. "You might want to track down another box of tissues, I think we'll need them," she suggested, groaning softly before curling a bit closer to her sister, feeling exhausted and hoping that Phillip would be back soon.