“I didn’t want any of that, Jesse. And you know it.” Grace answered back. “Do you think I like having my mother, and grandmother, and aunts and pretty much anyone who knows me asking when I’m going to settle down. When I’m going to find a man, get married and produce an heir?” She questioned, her voice cracking. Her normally pristine posture and transformed into a slump and she leaned forward, staring hard at the rug. “I hate it. I hate it so much. They keep forcing these men on me, telling me they’d be perfect husbands, great fathers, good for the family. They tell me that time is running out - and part of me wants it to. The only person I want that with is…” Grace trailed off. The only person she wanted that with was Jesse. In those rare moments, she allowed herself to daydream, it was perfect. Her and Jesse, a beautiful house by the seaside and three lovely children. However, that could never be their reality, so dreaming like that wasn’t worthwhile. “You have options, okay? You can be with anyone you want. I can’t.”

Blair loved the chaos of fall ball. Freshman on the field for the first time. Getting to try out different lineups. And getting to scope out the competition. Their crosstown rivals, another public school about the size of Blair’s had a shakeup when their coach had moved to Ohio last year. He and Blair had built up a friendly, if at times biting, banter over the the few years they’d faced one another. Blair knew not to underestimate whoever was brought in, the athletic department was serious about softball. What she hadn’t expected was the new coach to be young and gorgeous in addition to plenty capable on the field. That certainly made things more interesting. Blair made a point to seek her out while some other schools were playing, leaving the scouting to her assistant coach for the time being. 

“Blair Drake,” she introduced herself as she slid onto the bleachers beside the other woman, close enough that it left their legs touching. “Coach of East Wilmington High, if the colors weren’t a dead giveaway.” Blair was clad in the school’s signature green which as luck would have it was great at bringing out her eyes. Her cap was backwards, not exactly the professional look she went with for more official things, but hey, it was fall ball and they were having fun. “Which makes you the new competition, so I had to come say hi and warn you what you’re up against. And that unfortunately unless you find a better fit at third base,” She pulled a face and shrugged, “You’re going down.” She finished off with a grin, making sure there wasn’t any real animosity in her words. 

Angst for Ships Sentence Prompts for @gothknight - still accepting

It was a valid response to the latest time Jordan had kissed Tucker, pulling back to get some small distance between them so she could think clearly enough to speak. She touched her fingers to her lips. Tucker had just looked so sad with her big eyes and she had wanted to take that away. For both of them.

“I… I thought so too,” Jordan agreed, looking to the floor, thinking of how she’d told herself time again she was over Tucker, both of them moving forward with their lives. She couldn’t call either of them happy now. They were most days simply coping with what their lives were. 

“I thought we’d moved on. You’re the artist I always knew you could be,” Jordan looked up at Tucker and half smiled because over her ex or not, she was so proud of what Tucker had done. “I could live my life behind the scenes… except-” Jordan swallowed the lump in her throat and her face pinched. That wasn’t an option currently available. Perhaps if she’d been braver or realized the spotlight was different with her hand in Tucker’s she would have gone about things differently back when they broke up. She thought she’d been sparing them a worse heartache. Letting Tucker become the person that was free of obligations she’d been trapped in.

“I don’t know what to think anymore. Not after everything. We’re not those people we used to be.” She shrugged and stepped back towards Tucker, stopping herself from reaching for her hand and instead playing with her own. “All I know is I can breathe when I’m with you. You’re the one who understands. Who can make those horrible interviews bearable or get me to leave the apartment without an anxiety attack.”  But all those things weren’t at the heart of why Jordan had kissed Tucker.

Tucker couldn’t get her brain to stop racing, with all the things that could have happened, all the terrible sorts of people Evangeline could have run into. The Encampment was barely safe for girls who lived in it, let alone ones who didn’t, ones who stuck out like sore thumbs in the general squalor. But she was here now, locked safely inside until Tucker could walk her out. Tucker leaned with her elbows on her knees, sitting square and contemplative on the couch edge. Something was wrong. She might have only been awake for five minutes but she knew that much. “Fine,” she mumbled, sparing a glance up at Evangeline and trying to not give away how terrible she was about to be at saying no to her. Especially when she called her hope, especially when Tucker had barely ever head that name out loud before. “But only because I need to get well enough to walk you back out of here later. Safely.”

“Yes, later you can. Once you’re doing better.” That Evangeline was willing to agree upon. She rummaged in her bag and with a little effort found a bottle of small pills that probably help with the pain she knew Hope was feeling. “At least two of these, but I would take three. Should make it less painful so you can rest,” she explained, frowning when she looked at Tucker’s back and the way some of the sores looked like they might have seeped through the shirt. Evangeline moved to take the spot beside Tucker on the couch, mirroring the way she balanced on the front edge. “Is it alright if I...” Evangeline dipped her fingers beneath the hem of Tucker’s shirt, barely touching skin and moved it upwards a fraction. “I only need to pull it up to see and maybe clean some of them up.” Already Evangeline could feel the heat radiating off Tucker’s back. This, for all her attempts at confidence, was completely outside of her expertise. There wasn’t anyone she ever needed to care for. Not like this. 

She’d checked in. As soon as Evangeline said it, Tucker felt guilty. The soulmate thing was going to take some time to get used to. “I didn’t – “ Tucker ran her hands over her face and braced herself on the wall. “I’m sorry. I was asleep. I didn’t – my mom never came home. Your banging woke me up. I must have just been –” Tucker trailed off and took a breath and tried to sit back down on the couch, tugging her small blanket out of the way to make room for Evangeline if she wanted it. “I don’t know… maybe. I didn’t feel like this last night. Evangeline you really – did anyone give you trouble coming in here? You shouldn’t be here.”

“I definitely should be here if your mom isn’t. Someone needs to look after you.” Evangeline’s brow furrowed and she shook her head. “I promise you it was fine. More staring than usual and it was hard to figure out where you lived until I told this man you played the guitar and he pointed me in the right direction. Now please,” Evangeline gently set her hand on the top of Tucker’s shoulder, hardly thinking how last time she’d been all unsure about touches and being in Tucker’s space. It was what came naturally to Evangeline. “Let me take care of you, Hope. I’m sorry I woke you up, but I think we should check and see if everything is okay. Medicine and water if nothing else.” As insistent as she was being, Evangeline softened when she looked at Tucker. It was something of a pathetic sight. She was worried and she’d do anything to make Hope feel better.

It was somehow easier to drift off to sleep, despite the pain she was in, despite the worry for her mother, still out at work, gnawing at the back of her mind. Somehow, it was even easy to drift asleep with all of her newfound worries, about Evangeline and what it meant that she had a soulmate now, about what they’d do and if anything was safe. Tucker hadn’t expected to wake up in pain. She’d been sleeping like a rock, like a rock who had been laying face down on that couch for nine hours, entirely unaware of the infection slowly creeping into her bones. There was nothing smart about it, about a government that publicly beat their citizens with god only knew what and sent them back to prison cells or to live in their already unclean homes with little to fend for their well being. She’d probably have caught it at least, if her mother had come home. But Tucker hadn’t even notice that she didn’t. She was always working lately. But it was the only way to keep them above water. 

The pounding at the door woke Tucker with a start, and she flew out of bed, nearly falling straight back down at the flash of nauseating pain when the fast, instinctual movement tore at the wounds on her back. Her heart hammered, sure that anyone knocking could only be the authorities and her head spun so much she barely noticed the sound of a voice outside until she opened the door, with her jaw squared against the fear and the pain and instead came face to face with – 

“Evangeline?” Tucker immediately lowered her voice and tugged the other girl inside, briefly looking around before she shut the door. “What are you – you can’t be here. How did you even – Are you okay?”

“Me too,” Tucker mumbled back, down into the floor, at the water at their feet. She let the water from the shower head drip down over her bowed head, filling her eyes and her mouth while Jordan ran gentle lines across her back. Somehow, she thought she had it together better but the more distance they got from the concert and the hospital, the more Tucker suddenly felt like she was drowning. “I’m sorry,” she broke the silence after a long pause, shifting uneasily on her feet. “I thought – I don’t know. I thought I’d know what to do or how to – I don’t. I feel like a shadow.”

Jordan shook her head despite Tucker not being able to see it. Her soft tracing stopped and she moved to hold Tucker by her upper arms with both hands. “Hey, no. Don’t be sorry.” She ran her hands up and down slowly stepping a little closer so Tucker could hear her quiet voice as she worked through the lump in her throat. “I don’t know any better. It’s so much right now.” Jordan blinked back tears when she caught the side of Tucker’s face, the profile enough for her to fill in the sad expression. “No one should have to be prepared for this,” Jordan whispered and leaned into Tucker’s shoulder. Tucker the shadow and her the damn that was about to burst at the seams. They were a pair, but they had each other. “You don’t have to be sorry with me.”