there's nothing that i gotta prove

Ainsley grinned at Adelaide’s words, even blushing a little bit. “You are too sweet,” she said first. “You look stunning as well! Honestly, I’m not sure I could pull off that look,” she said with a slight shake of her head but still smiled. “What drink are you having?”

“Not sweet, just brutally honest.” She smiled brightly, taking a sip from the brightly colored cocktail. “Thank you, but I’m sure you could. You definitely have the body and the looks for it.” Looking at the drink in her hands with a raised brow, Adelaide’s grin grew. “My usual--a cosmopolitan. What’re you thinking of ordering? Something classy, I hope.”

“You must really love what you do.”  Adam let his eyes rest on her when she leaned forward, watching her eyes as she winked at him. It almost took his breathe away because it had been so long since he flirted with a woman, he didn’t know what to do with himself. He glided his tongue along his lower lip as he gave her a soft nod. “Yeah, for a few hours in the afternoon.” He turned his head over to look at her. “Why aren’t you guys closed, if I can ask.”

“I do. I wouldn’t change it for the world.” Adelaide nodded, tempted to ask what he would be doing if he wasn’t babysitting his nephews, but she held her tongue, figuring that was a conversation for another night. Adelaide was enjoying their time together, she’d certainly gotten more than she’d expected when she’d come to the bar, and she felt like asking a question like that was a bit too intimate. Instead, she quirked a brow and settled her chin in the palm of her hand, eyes shining as she watched him. “Do you have any plans for them tomorrow?” As he asked about her sisters, though, she felt something inside her shift, and she was almost certain he could catch onto it. She thought about Donal, and for a moment, she told Adam the truth, plain and simple. That her brother had died, and things hadn’t been the same ever since between the rest of the siblings. Her eyes drifted to her glass as she thought about Macey, and how torn up she’d been over losing him. But that wasn’t something he wanted to hear. That wasn’t the answer he was expecting, right? “My youngest sister, Macey, moved out of town a few years ago and we sort of drifted apart, I guess. She’s back now, though. And we’re still close, but not as close as we used to be. She was the glue that held us together.” Adelaide shrugged, hoping he didn’t catch onto her moment of weakness.  

“Honestly, I think I may have overdid it with the hair, makeup and outfit for some fun tonight at AJ’s,” Ainsley said with no confidence as she looked at the person next to her.

@secretsummerstarters

“You look incredible.” Adelaide commented honestly, drink in hand as she gave Ainsley a brief once-over of approval, eyes shining. “I wish I had time to pull that off. Instead I just threw this on after work and called it a day.” She smiled widely, gesturing to her own outfit. While it was her go to dressy outfit, all she had done after work was fix her makeup and put her hair up before deciding it could pass as half decent. “You do look stunning, though, girl. I promise.”

Nikki laughed as she made a face. “I definitely do not.” Whether that was unfortunate or not, Nikki had yet to decide. There was her boss but that… definitely didn’t count as anything. “Let’s do it.” She chuckled, moving to take Adelaide’s arm with a grin.

“Then you’ll have it forever, to remember this moment.” Adelaide grinned as she tugged Nikki along, their arms linked together. “So--catch me up real quick. What’s new with you? How’ve you been” Adelaide asked as they walked towards the game booths, tilting her head curiously to look at her friend.

Andrew turned his head to look over at her, a light smile coming along his lips. “Sure but I have to warn you.. I’m really good at the dart balloon game.” He teased.

“Ooh, well I’m certainly down for a challenge.” Adelaide laughed lightly, shaking her head to herself as she tucked her hands in the pockets of her jeans. “The dart balloon game it is. Let’s do it.” She nodded in the direction of the booths, giving Andrew an encouraging grin.

“Doesn’t that make it harder? You know them being in critical condition and all… I think it’s nice that you try to be their friend and God… They are lucky to have you giving them a sponge bath.” What the fuck? Why did he say that? His tongue brushed along his lower lip as he put his beer bottle down onto the counter. “I think I’m getting to that point too so I should stop drinking.” He chuckled lightly as he turned his head over towards her. “Do you have siblings?” He asked softly before nodding his head. “I’m glad one of us finally did as well.”

“It makes it incredibly hard. But at the end of the day, I go home knowing that it’s totally worth it.” At the sponge bath comment, Adelaide felt her lips twitch with a smile and she tried so damn hard to repress it,eyes narrowing as she leaned forward. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” She gave him her signature wink, a soft laugh falling from her lips as she shook her head softly. She’d had some pretty bizarre experiences with giving patients sponge baths in the past, but the compliment had caught her off guard, if anything. And God, she needed to change the subject to get her mind off what he’d said. “Are you babysitting your nephews tomorrow?” She asked, wondering if he had any plans for them. As he asked about her siblings she nodded, running a hand through her hair absentmindedly. “Yeah, I have two younger sisters actually. I wish I could say we were as close as you and your sister sound, but I think we’re getting there.”

Tatum had been in and that had been hard. He insisted on the rape kit and she was very reluctant to agree. She could just barely put together piece of what happened. She wasn’t entirely sure how many answers she wanted. Did she want to go filling puzzle pieces? Wasn’t it better to just forget? She had already been having small flashes of memory. She was almost sure she had blacked out at some point though, or maybe it had been shock. Either way. 

“You just became my new best friend…” She said in a soft voice, slowly looking over to her. She watched the woman pull on gloves, completely fascinated by things like IVs. She had no real fear of needles. But she loved watched people play with the machines and hoses. “Adelaide…” She said her name, trying to put it in her memory. “I am Audrey, but you get charts with names on them so you probably knew that… Is it weird that I find it fascinating watching needles slip into those tubes…? Probably, yeah…” She said, shifting slightly to get a little more comfortable. “Actually, yeah, that sounds like it might feel amazing.” 

Adelaide understood that all of this could be very traumatizing. She had been on the receiving end of this very few times, but she knew exactly how unsettling all of this could be. She wouldn’t wish it on anyone, which was why she worked hard to make sure that her patients felt as comfortable as possible. Reading over the chart again, she noticed some updates that hadn’t been there since she’d come back from her break and felt her heart stop. Now. she understood why they switched her to this patient in the middle of her shift. Since Adelaide had taken been certified in safety training for sexual assault, they’d given Audrey a more experienced nurse rather than a newly trained nurse who had no experience whatsoever with rape victims. Because, apparently, that was what they were dealing with here.

( @adelaidexcross )

Tonight was not real. There was no way that this was real. Audrey was laying back on the table, taking slow deep breaths and urging herself not to throw up. She had never had a concussion, but she had been around people who had ended up with concussion. They vomited every time they moved. Which was exactly what she wanted to do. It was probably something based on the throbbing. “Pain medicine would be great…” She mumbled under her breath.

She was pretty much just hoping to get pain medicine and released. She wanted to go home and crawl in her bed, cry and maybe not leave that bed for a week. Then she wanted to move on with her life. She didn’t want Robert and Ricky to find out. She heard the small tap on the door and lifted her head just slightly. Bad move. She put her hand to her forehead and let out a small groan. “Please tell me you brought medicine…” 

It was nights like these where Adelaide hated her job. She had been briefed very little on the situation, but the grief in the doctor’s eyes who had spoken to her told her that something very terrible had happened to this poor woman. Adelaide always went above and beyond when it came to the care of her patients, but she’d be lying if she said their stories didn’t break her heart. She did what she could to desensitize herself from the pain they were going through, but at the end of the day she always felt it to some extent.

“Are you talking to me?” Tessa asked, giving a small smile. She hadn’t really intended on coming to this, but she sort of walked into it - literally. She hadn’t known it was here. “Um… yeah, that sounds fun.”

“Yeah--I was kinda hoping we could give the game booths a shot together.” Adelaide grinned, holding out her hand for Tessa to take. “What do you say, you in to be my partner at carnival games for the evening?” She added a cheesy wink for the effect, grateful to not be alone for the evening.

verity-cross‌:

@maceyxcross & @adelaidexcross

Family dinners. It was something that Verity insisted on. Sure, they did it when they were younger. But the brunette wanted this and luckily they both had agreed. It would be nice to do this every week if they could. Get together, catch up and just be a family again. “Sophie, sweetie be careful.” The brunette told her niece after she closed the oven. “They are hot and for dessert. Dinner will be done soon. You want to get mum, to help you set the table?” Her thoughts were on Penny, but right now she wanted to focus on her family as much as she possible could. “Guys dinner is almost done.” She called out to her sisters. 

@adelaidexcross

Macey liked that Sophia would get to enjoy family dinners and stuff. She missed when everyone would get together, it reminded her of childhood but then thoughts of her brother would drift in and she still hated that even now. “Come on then, trouble.” She smiled as Soph came running over after Verity asked to set the table. Macey showed her how to do it and Sophia looked happy so that was good in her book. “Ready when you are.” She called back, watching Sophia move to jump up into a chair to claim her space at the table.

“It smells amazing, V.” Adelaide called out from the living room, grabbing the bottle of wine she’d brought from home and bringing it in to the kitchen. “I figured you were making dessert, so I wanted to bring a little something for all the effort you’ve put into cooking.” She figured they could pop it if Sophia fell asleep early, or Verity could save it for a special occasion. Regardless, she was just so happy they were finally doing this, and it showed on her face. Work at the hospital could be stressful, and at the end of the day her job just made her grateful she had a family to come home to. Raising a brow, she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and tried to take a sneak peek at the food that was cooking. “Did you want some help bringing it over to the table?”

@verity-cross

“All I want is a decent cup of rose hip tea, how fucking hard is that?” Paige huffed, tossing the mostly-undrunk cup in the trash.  “God, this town is just the worst.”

@secretsummerstarters

“With an attitude like that, you’re not going to get anywhere.” Adelaide quipped lightly, though her eyes were soft. “But if you’re in the mood for a chai or an earl grey, the coffee bean doesn’t disappoint. It’ll be on me.”

Stacey had to admit, her mind was full of things. Greg, the only person she really knew was in so much pain and the fact she found her sister alive.. It was almost too much for her to even think about. She closed her eyes as she listened to the noise around her, hearing someone talk to her. She turned her head over towards her, opening her eyes. “That sounds like fun.”

Adelaide smiled as her offer was accepted, turning to the other woman with an ecstatic look on her face. “Awesome! I’ll even let you pick the booth.” She had been dying to get to a game booth ever since the carnival had come to town, but with how busy she’d been lately with work, she’d been worried she’d miss out on the festivities this year. Luckily, she’d managed to stop by just after her shift ended, though carnival games were always much more fun when you had someone by your side to enjoy them with. “Any games you’ve got your eyes on?”

Leo didn’t know why he was standing there or how he even got there. The alcohol still flying through him. His head turned over when he heard someone ask him a question. His shoulders shrugged as he brought up the flask to his lips, taking a sip of it. “Sure. Why not?”

“Awesome, I promise I’ll go easy on you.” Adelaide laughed lightly, her smile falling short as she saw the flask. She raised a brow quizzically, head tilting. Instead of questioning it, however, Adelaide merely nudged Leo’s shoulder and added, “Got any more of that? It might make me fair game.”

Danielle heard a voice as she turned her head to look over at the woman who was coming over towards her. Although her vision was blurry, her breathing was trying to focus on the woman’s voice, her head nodding slowly as she breathed in and out. “Okay.. Okay..” She closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling.

“Just breathe.” Adelaide watched, worried for the other woman. She knew there was nothing that she could do at this point except stand there and guide her through the motions at this point. “And focus on my voice.” She spoke slowly, moving to stand closer to the woman, while still giving her enough personal space. “You’ve got this. Just hang in there.” She scanned the crowd for an area for the two of them to sit, silently cursing when she realized all the tables were taken. “There’s a bench a few feet from here, do you want to sit down?”

Verity wasn’t sure if she wanted to come alone or not but yet here she was. Penny was busy, and so was Macey. Which was fine. She wanted to enjoy this as much as possible. Hearing her sister, she smiled before nodding her head a little bit. “Yeah, I totally can.” She chuckled a little bit. It had been a little bit since Adelaide and her just hung out so she would take it. “Fine, fine it can be on you.” 

“Alright, good. You better not fight me on this.” It felt so awkward to be around her sister again like this, but she couldn’t help but wrap her arm around Verity’s shoulder’s and tug her in the direction of the game booths. “Come on, let’s go kick some ass in carnival games. You can tell me how you’ve been after I beat you.” She teased lightly, nudging her sister’s shoulder playfully.

Alex didn’t know why she even came to the carnival. Maybe to actually get out of her house or get her mind off her cases. Either way she was looking for an out and she was standing in front of one. Her head turned when she heard a voice. “You sure?”

“Yes, absolutely.” Adelaide smiled brightly, holding her hand out for Alex to take. She was desperate to head over to one of the newer looking booths that hadn’t been here last year, and was more than willing to pay for a friend. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. You in?”