broken compass.

STATS • BIO • WANTED CONNECTIONS • PINTEREST

"Piper?" June had been lingering outside the coffee shop debating whether or not a small mocha would be harmful. She was just so tired all the time. That was why she did a double take when she she saw the familiar face curtained with gorgeous forever on point hair that it had to be her. No one else could have that same sweet face matched with that gorgeous hair. “Oh my god, Pip Cole is that really you?” June ran over to hug her tightly with amped up excitement. “I cannot believe you’re home. Are you just visiting? How is Washington? Damn girl, it’s been forever. I’ve missed your excitement around here.”

She gave Gwen a quick wave and a small smile when June spotted her. The irritation with Colt didn't carry over to the other familiar faces she crossed paths with, and after the last encounter with Gwen she truly wanted to try and mend things. Jasper had been gone nearly a decade and Gwen had gone her own way as well. All of them had changed at least a little bit, there was no reason for her to hold a grudge after everything the other woman had done for her. While Colt was off getting yet another drink she made her way over to the brunette. “Hey,” she offered up a semi-awkward smile. “Are you having a good time so far? You guys look really disgustingly cute by the way.”

"Beckett Hudson if you don't get over here and give me a hug right now I'm going to pinch you." June declared when she saw her friend a few feet away. It had been awhile since they caught up with all the craziness going on. She had not made the time to go to the park and now in her new condition she wasn't quite sure how much crazy off trail hiking she should be doing. But, she did miss Becks and hanging out with him. Hopefully he didn't hold it against her. "It's been a bit, how are things? You look incredibly handsome by the way."

The cat was out of the bag for not only Colt to hear but for her family that was in attendance and half the damn ballroom thanks to the music cutting out at just the right moment. Her face flushed and an unspeakable panic washed over her. What was with the Stanley Hotel making dramatic moments happen for her and Colt? Fight or flight definitely took hold and June chose flight. She quickly made her way out of the hotel altogether, out to the back courtyards where she gasped for air like she had never breathed before. Then, like perfect clockwork, came the tears. Because God forbid there could be one damn emotional moment where she didn't cry immediately. June had not heard anyone follow her, she had figured Colt would be too stunned and she didn't blame him for that. When she turned to see Jasper out of her peripheral she didn't exactly know what to say. Or if she could even talk with the sob stuck in her throat like a rock. "I'm sorry," was all she managed before sliding down a pillar to sit on the ground and bury her face in her hands.

corbin, in his short thirty-one years, has had a lot of news broken to him in a myraid of different ways. it’s always easy to tell when it’s good or bad; the way people carry themselves so reservedly bordering upon nervously when it’s bad news remains one of the most painfully obvious signs. june falls into the latter half, but corbin doesn’t like to speculate on what other people have going on. he notices, sure, but it’s not his place to put himself into their business and so he doesn’t. still, even it’s one thing to suspect and another to know.

he takes a deep breath, brows lifting far up his forehead and blue eyes staring a hole in the floor rather than meeting her gaze for a good thirty seconds before he makes himself look at her. instinct - and her obvious nerves - make him pull her in for a quick, reassuring hug. there’s a thousand different things he could start with. from asking about whether she’s told her to family to why hasn’t she told colt to has she been to a doctor and all of that feels more appropriate for someone else to ask so he goes with what’s simplest and most sincere: “are you okay?”

.

Her eyes rose to see what might be going through his mind. The bad part of being generally emotional on top of hormones meant that her eyes were constantly watering up. She was in a usual state of near tears at any given moment and that moment was no different. So when Corbin pulled her into a hug a soft shudder of a sob and when he pulled away she shook it off. A hand held up to excuse the rush of emotion while she wiped the couple tears from her cheeks before answering his simple question. Simple but so hard all the same. "I um, I think so? I don't know what I am." Emotional, scared mostly, and a tiny bit excited. It was a weird thing to feel everything all at once and be so unsure of the whole idea on top of all of that. "You know me, I'm just trying to survive and like, not fall apart every other second." A short chuckle fell out and she waved it all off with a flourish of her hand. "Sorry if this is super weird, I just didn't want you to think I'm slacking or something."

          Philip softly smiled upon her reaction, but it was not the first time he had witnessed patients, who knew him privately, respond in that way. Though, it did surprise him when she asked him to not tell her father about seeing her in the hospital. “Of course, don’t worry, June,” he reassuringly nodded as he looked around, “how long have you been waiting?” And the waiting room was full, she could be waiting for an hour or two for sure. “Come with me, we’ll find you someone to look at you.. or you already have your doctor?” It was hard to know for sure what was going on, but Philip assumed it was a regular check up. Though, he was smart enough to know it could be more than that. 

.

A sigh of relief released when he assured her he was not going to tell her father anything. His question made her hit the button on the side of her phone to see what time it was. “Um, about an hour? I think?” She had not called ahead to make the appointment after hearing her old doctor had transferred to Denver over the summer. “My doctor transferred I guess, so I have to find a new one.” She started then lowered her tone, her eyes looking at fiddling hands. “One that is good with prenatal care, specifically.” June had yet to tell Piper because she didn’t want to bother her in Seattle, nor had she heard from her in a while. Besides, she didn’t want to tell too many people before she even told Colt. 

Colt shook his head as he returned to June’s side with another drink, having already lost count to how many that he’d consumed since they arrived. He felt like a kid in a candy shop, seeing so much free stuff to be taken and enjoyed by all of them. It was only fair that he was taking his share of it even when he glanced and saw the look on June’s face like he was doing something wrong, again. “They’re free. How often are we gonna come up here an’ find ourselves an open bar with some top shelf shit?” There were better drinks here than any of the bars in Bradford, which was saying something, as he raised the glass to his lips and took another long sip while still watching June. “We can always get something to eat later. Or hit up room service if we end up crashing in one of the rooms. I bet that I can get them to believe that my old man is here like in home alone. They can charge his card an’ we eat free.”

.

“Colt we were quite literally here two months ago and will probably be here in another two months for the New Years Eve party,” she pointed out and eyes rolling to his comment. Free or not there’s no need to put his health at risk. Especially given all the circumstances, even if he didn’t know about the second one. His further plans only pulled more of an unimpressed look from June. She crossed her arms over her chest and pressed her lips into a thin line. “That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard.” Not really, he’d certainly come up with much worse over the years that she had gone along with quite willingly. They needed to grow up a little bit though, now more than ever. Even without the added baby on the way, they were not getting any younger and it was high time they started to get serious about their future. “Besides, why would we stay here when I can drive us back to your place or mine?”

She watched Colt get another drink while she nursed a Shirley Temple. Despite a small bump starting to appear, she still had yet to tell Colt the news. Or her family for that matter. It was hard to come up with the right words and the courage. Her family would find out soon enough, that wasn’t a talk she ever wanted to have. She was still worried it would do something to hurt his heart, the last thing she wanted to do was send him back to the hospital. However, it seemed like he wasn’t too concerned with the amount of drinks he’d already had. June knew she had been irritable lately, especially pushy about every little thing Colt was doing from food, to sleep, to water intake. “Don’t you think you should slow down a little bit? There’s still plenty of night to go, you know.” The words came out more snippy than she meant them to but she also wasn’t trying to take it back. “They don’t have much for food here to soak it up and you’re still recovering. You should have some water.” 

The Shining Ball 2022

~

He stopped what he was doing when she finally got it out. He could hear the worry and sadness in her voice, and it hurt him even more to look up and see her tears. He put down his tools and made his way over to her, wrapping her in a gentle hug because he felt like it was what she needed right now. He pulled away from her and wiped her cheeks, “whatever you need me for, I’m here okay?” He wanted her to know that first and foremost, “you gotta tell Colt first.. but ultimately this decision is yours to make on what you need and want to do.” He nodded, staying crotched down in front of her, “as far as dad goes… I don’t know how that’s going to go but I promise you I’m right beside you. If you gotta we’ll fix up the upstairs.” He said pointing up to the ceiling, “make you an apartment.” His worry wasn’t on Colt right now but he was welcome to it too. He was more worried about his baby sister, who was just proving more and more how much she was an adult more and more. He wasn’t going to leave her alone in this though.

.

Her arms wrapped around her eldest brother and she stayed there in that hug for a few moments, soaking up the much needed warmth from him. “You’re not mad?” She asked, finally pulling away and sniffling. Sad brown eyes looked up at him with a pout, then nodded at his words. “I just need to find the right way to tell Colt and then Dad and the rest of the family.” All of it sounded like it was going to be awful. Maybe she could put it off for a couple weeks, figure out how she was going to do it. “Oh man, really? I wouldn’t want to invade your space though, Jett. I’m already over here enough to bother you and the kids.” She loved her niece and nephew so much, though. It was fun to hang out with them and give them some extra attention, since she knew how hard her brother worked. “Also, I don’t know what Colt is going to say, but I think I want to keep it either way. I heard the heartbeat at the appointment and it was so cool. Like, I’m growing a little me in there.” June looked down and pointed to her belly. She just hoped everyone else was on board with it.

Gwen understood where June was coming from. She couldn’t imagine how difficult everything with Jasper had impacted her. She’d been worried herself from time to time when she allowed her brain to think for a second about Jasper, about what she’d done, about where he might be or who he might be around or if there was anyone else. She tried to block out those thoughts as much as possible with various methods though. 

Gwen’s hands fell to her side as June took the test and she drew in a breath. She watched the other carefully, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “Well… now I think you need to go to the doctor to make sure it’s accurate. And if it is, then … well, at least you’ll have a doctor to start seeing regularly.” She paused. “I can help you find one or… you can go to the OBGYN I’ve used. And if you don’t want to go through insurance, I’ll pay for the appointment to give you some more time to get your head around this, if you’d like. I’ll help you as much as you want, June. All confidentially too, I promise.” 

.

June listened to Gwen carefully, head down though it felt like her ears were ringing and the sound of the other woman’s voice was muffled even though she was only a few feet away. Doctor, she had a doctor. An OB/GYN in fact. “They can’t check my insurance anymore, it’s through the company and if they did I could technically sue them and the insurance for a lot of money.” She probably would, too. Just out of principle and she knew full well the company had more than they knew what to do with. “Thank you, though. I appreciate all of this and I won’t forget it.” Gwen had given her more help than she probably deserved considering the not so nice things she said after she broke it off with Jasper. She was being so sweet to her and on top of everything else June now felt like a monster. “I- uh, well, um I think I should go home and figure out what I’m going to do. Just don’t tell Jasper, okay? I will tell him when I’m ready.” Probably when she told the rest of the family because Colt ought to know before them. If she decided to keep it, that is. “Thank you for everything, Gwen. I mean it.”

“good morning, junie b. jones,” corbin returned, noting the morning drink change silently. june had done a few things lately that made him take notice and this could very well be a coincidence or one of those changes. she’d passed on a few offers to smoke, had barely been out riding with the rest of them. he had taken her horse out twice that week to make sure it had gotten in work. his own hadn’t seemed to mind it, but gordo had his head over the stall door already - ears up and forward - as he snuffed at corbin’s pockets in search of his morning peppermint. 

“back off, jerk,” he murmured, gently pushing the inquisitive nose away, before producing said peppermint. so preoccupied with the big black quarter horse was he that he almost missed june’s question. corbin glanced between her and the storage area quickly before nodding. the rest for privacy made him curious; he’d never known her to really care if anyone else overheard anything. “yeah. sure.” he gave gordo a scratch on the forehead before following june over, blue eyes taking her in quietly as he unwrapped another peppermint and popped it in his mouth. “what’s up? everything good?”

.

She smiled at the way Corbin and his horse got along. It was fun to watch them work together. Which is probably one of the many reasons she liked the older man so much. That and how he was with Colt. Also he was just an all around fun dude to hang out with. It was also why she trusted him enough to tell him this information so people wouldn’t start asking questions as to why she wasn’t doing certain work. Having someone else know would help, hopefully.

“Okay first off, I need you to promise me you won’t say anything to anyone, not even Colt because he doesn’t know yet.” She looked him right in the eyes with a serious but hushed tone. The last thing she needed was Colt finding out from someone other than her. June chewed the inside of her cheek while she waited for him to agree to her terms. All the while listening to make sure no one was coming. “I can’t ride the horses or carry anything super heavy because, um,” she chewed on her lip again and adjusted in place nervously. “I found out a couple weeks ago that I’m pregnant.” June looked up again to wait for his reaction hoping it isn’t bad.

starter for: @junebugcoleman​ location: rocky mtn. medical center

          Standing at the nurse station, Philip was going through the chart as an intern was telling him the latest condition of the patient whose chart Philip had in his hands. “Prep her, find me an OR,” giving the chart back to the intern, “and get me dr. Montgomery to assist, you’ll be there too.” A second surgery of the day and it was not even eleven am, but it was surgeries that he loved. Until they would call him in, he would go grab a cup of coffee while he sees two more patients.. and the waiting room was full, much to his dismay. But what stood out was a familiar face, the one he recognized as the one he would see in the company of his twins. “June?” The chief walked over to where the young woman was sitting. Tilting his head a bit a side, “you okay?”

.

It was her first appointment and she was so nervous it was buzzing in her veins. Not only because it was going to be the sure answer if she was actually pregnant. But it was also the day she made the decision on whether or not she was ready to be a mother. Which meant doing it with or without Colt. Then how she was going to tell her family. Shit. What if someone was there that knew her family? There had to be a different excuse. Woman problems or something. That was when she heard her name and looked up. “Oh, uh, hi Mr. I mean… um, Dr. Cole. I, uh, I forgot you worked here.” Her cheeks flushed and she tucked some curls behind her ear. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. I think. I mean probably.” She scrunched up her face trying to answer the right way. “Hey can you maybe not tell my dad that you saw me here?”

-

“Never been caught.” he lied effortlessly. There was a strange thread of mystery surrounding why his ass had landed in jail previously, something vague about a cop car and a spray bottle and a baseball bat but he didn’t ever admit details. “I got you, this chick has more land than horses. I think.” he had never checked but from the few times he scoped the place, it was relatively quiet. 

Carefully catching the paints as they hovered close to the ground, Danny chuckled and lowered them the rest of the way and kept his hand out for June, regardless of if she used it or not. “Oh yeah, you’re huge as hell.” he scoffed and pulled a face. “Don’t even know why Colt fucks with you.” he added, just to drive the teasing joke home. He began the trail towards the building, eyes locked on the empty space and glancing back to June quickly. “Actually, I was thinking of writing ‘June waz Here 2022.” he shrugged simply, coming to a stop by the wall and eyeing it again. “Shit, we didn’t bring ladders. Feel like breaking and entering? Gotta be something around here.”

.

“Never?” June couldn’t believe that, even she had been caught a few times. Most of the time she ended up evading the authorities either before they got there or by out running them. “Me either, not really.” She gave him a strange look when he made the next comment. “You’re supposed to have more land than horses. They need a lot of land to run. What do you mean?” After the words came out she knew it was pointless. What did Danny know about taking care of horses or ranch semantics? More than likely not a damn thing.

Slow and steady she climbed over the fence. In retrospect this was not the best activity to do given the most recent news but she just wanted to do something fun. “I meant it more in the I’m a whole lot of muscle and I don’t know if you’d have the hand eye coordination to catch me,” she huffed, taking his hand to steady herself then letting it go again. “No one knows why Colt fucks with me, probably because I’m amazing.” Not the best comeback but it would do while she followed the blonde to the building. “I hate you right now,” she deadpanned. “Can’t we just do something without ladders? Breaking in might draw attention and if it’s anything like our ranch, they have cameras in there.” June pointed out, already feeling nervous.

June was doing her best to act normal, do everything normal until she chose to break the news to the family. Hell, she still had yet to tell Colt about the situation. What if he didn’t want to be a dad? A long string of worries spiraled in her head at all times now and she could not seem to slow it down for even a second. In fact, the longer she waited to tell everyone, the worse the swirling thoughts got and it put her in a constant state of anxiety. She felt bad for her co-workers. Especially Corbin, who she was normally so open with and always had a good time working with. He made work fun. It was an added benefit that he was like an older brother to Colt and fun to hang with outside of work, too.

“Good morning, Mr. Threatt.” She greeted him with a yawn and a raised apple juice instead of her normal tea. Which she was already missing terribly. That caffeine boost was everything. But, she cut everything that could be potentially harmful until she went to the doctor. It was good he was there already though, she was hoping to catch him before the rest of the horse crew showed up for the day. “Hey, uh, could I talk to you before everyone else gets here?” June motioned to the storage area where they wouldn’t be bothered by any incoming ranch employees