And We'll Rise Up

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Declan shook his head and typied out, ‘no problem at all.’ He shook his head and smiled, typing again, ‘I’ll come back, don’t want anything to thaw out for you. Seriously it’s no big deal.’ 

-

‘Only if you’re sure. I don’t have anything that would be in danger of thawing.’ Juniper turned to show him the phone and offered him a smile, grateful that he had offered to help her out as she often struggled to ask for help.

~

Siggy smiled and nodded, that was true she wouldn’t be able to hear the potentially fussy duo. Siggy smiled, ‘honestly I don’t think I would be as good with it if I hadn’t worked in front of one for so long when I was younger. Okay, I’ll get it for you. Least I can do since you’re letting me wait here with you.’ She raised her hand and shook her head at the money before ordering for them both. ‘So what do you do? If it’s not too much to ask?’

-

Juniper smiled softly at the offer to buy the order and she put her money away, knowing better then to look a gift horse in the mouth. ‘I guess having some experience is a good thing. I’m a journalist because I don’t need to hear to be able to write.’

~

Declan smiled and gave her a gentle nod. He understood off days. He typed out on his phone, ‘no problem. Do you need help getting somewhere? I can give you a ride.’ He nodded, knowing he didn’t mind and he could always come back and get what he needed. Her safety came first right now.

-

Juniper nodded her head in response. ‘That would be great if it’s not too much of a problem.’ She typed and turned her phone around to face him. ‘We can finish up your shopping first if you wanted? I can get one of those ridable carts.’

~

Siggy laughed and took the paper back writing on it, ‘they’re pretty quiet but they can get fussy.’ Her brows raised and she smiled, ‘photography, I was finishing up with a client. Met them here to show them their pictures.’ She smiled before writing something else down, ‘have you ordered something? would you like something?’

-

Juniper read the note and shrugged. ‘I suppose I can’t hear them so fussy doesn’t bother me.’ She turned the paper and nodded her head. ‘I see. I wish I was any good with a camera. I haven’t ordered anything. A scone might be nice.’ She wrote and pulled out her wallet from her bag fish some cash out.

~

Siggy was stopping by to meet a client with Leilani and Cece in tow the crowded shop didn’t seem like a good fit. When she saw the blond writing she nodded and gestured for the pen. ‘Sure. I’m waiting for a client right now. You don’t mind two tired kids do you?’ She smiled sliding the paper back before taking a seat and pulling out her notebook and pen. ‘Sorry I don’t know sign language. I wish I knew more, but I’m cool writing notes if you are.’ She smiled at the other, pulling Leilani into her lap and kissing the top of her head.

-

Juniper offered the other a smile and wrote back on the sheet. ‘No, I don’t mind at all. I love kids.’ She said and waved at the two small children. ‘That’s alright, writing notes is what I’m used to.’ She shrugged and then took a drink from her cup. She truly did loved kids and she didn’t even mind if they were crying because she couldn’t hear them anyway. ‘Client huh? What do you do?’ she turned her paper towards the other, head tilted to the side slightly.

~

Declan got down to help her pick her things up and her phone. He nodded at her and waved it off. “It’s okay.” He said giving the sign he had learned for okay but other than that and occasional other signs he saw he was definitely not educated enough for this conversation. He pulled out his own phone and typed in the notes, ‘are you okay?’ handing it over to her as he continued helping to pick up her things. He wasn’t sure if she was deaf or mute but he didn’t want to take the chance of them not understanding each other.

-

Juniper looked at the words and offered him a small smile, grateful for the check if she was alright, even from a stranger. ‘Yeah, just having an off day I guess.’ She turned her phone around to show him. She could read lips but it was always appreciated when things were written down just so she wouldn’t get anything wrong. Her balance was off that day, which meant that she was experiencing a lot of vertigo and probably should have stayed home or used one of those fancy electric cart things the store offered. ‘Thanks.’

“I promise.  If something happens and it’s more serious than just a couple of stitches, you’ll be the first person I call.  I’ve got a follow up appointment next week if you want to come along, hopefully it’ll be healed enough for them to come out by then.  I’m just going to be on some antibiotics for a little while and it should all be fine.”  Cain smiled gently when she took the water, but he was worried about her, he’d seen this before, but he never knew if there was anything he could really do to help or make her feel better.  “How can I help?  Do you want me to just close the curtains and go away? I can do that.” 

-

Juniper watched Cain as he signed and she nodded her head slowly as to not aggravate her dizziness any worse. “As long as you promise to do that they fine and you bet your ass I’m gonna be at that appointment.” She signed with a smile. She sighed softly as she took another drink of her water and set the glass down to keep signing. “Nothing you can do unless you could just take what’s left of my hearing so this can all be done with but that’s not how this works. Maybe just come and lay on the couch with me?” She looked over before pushing herself up, needing to get into more comfortable clothes. She tried to take a step but ended up losing her balance and falling, hitting the table on the way down with her hand.

@declancahill​

She hadn’t told Cain yet but her hearing had fully gone now, though she knew it was going to happen sooner rather than later but she didn’t think it would fully go just yet. She sat up some in the chair and offered the other a smile as she saw a stroller with the other. ‘Did you want to sit?’ She wrote and showed it to her, pointing towards the chair. She realized that the tables were all full.

@siggycassell​

“If it was serious, I would have texted you, I promise, but I was only there for about an hour and there was no reason to pull you out of work for this.”  He squeezed her hand with his good one before he continued, “I don’t want you to worry about me, and if something serious happens you will be the first person I call, unless I need an ambulance.  This wasn’t that bad, I promise, honestly…I sneezed and my hand moved away from where it should have been, but I’m okay.”  He leaned over and kissed her temple, “Okay, you think about what you’re in the mood for and I will bring you some water, let me know if you think  of anything else.” 

Juniper watched Cain’s signs and nodded. “If you’re sure and promise me that you will if it’s bad, then okay. When do they come out?” She asked and watched him get up. Once she was alone in the room for a moment, she let herself relax, which of course, made her vertigo worse. She squeezed her eyes shut trying to stop her world from spinning, the ringing in her ears had become worse since she had gotten home and she wished for nothing more than complete silence. She opened her eyes once she felt a tap on her shoulder and she smiled softly. “Thank you.” She added as she took the glass of water.

“I’m sure,” Cain signed, “It doesn’t feel great, but it wasn’t too bad, I was in and out in a couple of hours, they just want me to take some antibiotics for a while, just so things don’t develop into an infection, but I’ll get the stitches out next week and I’ll be back to normal.  I’ll take it easy tonight and get back to work tomorrow, Roman is sending his people to pick this up next week and I’ve still got a lot of work to do on it.” 

He nodded and held his arm out to her so she could take it and he could guide her over to the couch.  “We can order in later, if you’re not hungry now, but is there anything else I can do to help?” 

Juniper took his arm and headed towards the couch, gently lowering herself onto it before looking back to Cain. “You should have texted me. I would have come with you.” She signed, tilting her head to the side slightly. “I worry about you, you know. That’s the kind of thing I worry about you working here alone. What if next time is worse? Will you not tell me until I get home then?” She reached out to rest a hand on his thigh, something they had done for as long as she could remember instead of holding hands so they could still talk to each other. “I could eat.” She added. “Just super dizzy right now but maybe a glass of water?” She requested as she leaned back against the back of the couch.

Cain and Juni had been together long enough that they were good at being able to read each other and he trusted her to tell him if she was struggling to the point she needed his assistance and he could tell she was having a rough day, but she was strong and he knew she could handle herself.  He could see that it would be a bad idea to upset her right now, and thankfully his injury had been fairly minor and he wasn’t in any kind of pain, so playing it off was easy. 

“It’s nothing,” he signed, “Slight accident with my table saw but I got a couple of stitches and I should be fine in a couple of days, nothing to worry about.  It did get in the way of my making dinner tonight though, at first I thought I’d just take you out, but it might be better if we order in tonight, what do you think?” 

Juniper frowned when he signed accident and table saw in the same sentence. “You sure you’re okay?” She signed, head tilted to the side. “Ordering in is probably better.” She added, leaning against the wall. She had been hoping that she could hide how bad the vertigo was that day but she didn’t think she would be able to. She looked over at Cain. “I need help to the couch.” She signed, knowing that he knew she didn’t ask for help unless she really needed it. She pinched the bridge of her nose, hating when she had to ask for help. She had always found it embarrassing because she wanted to be independent and be able to do everything herself, which wasn’t always possible. 

Happy Valentine's Day, babe.  

Cain had been struggling with his newest project.  The magician he worked for had just gone back to work after getting both of his knees and one of his shoulders replaced, which meant he couldn’t move the way he used to and that made Cain’s job a lot harder.  He knew he could figure it, and after numerous conversations with Roman about what they both needed done, he was finally able to begin construction.  When he’d bought the house years ago after moving to the area, he’d built himself a huge workshop in the backyard where he could totally immerse himself in building things in an environment he designed to his exact specifications and it was his happy place when Juni was at work. 

He’d been focusing so hard on the construction of his project that he’d accidentally cut his hand on his table saw.  It wasn’t too serious, but when it didn’t stop bleeding, he’d given up for the day and decided to drive himself to the ER and came home with a couple of stitches in his hand and decided to take a nap with Carol on the couch until he heard Juni open the front down and got up to meet her.  “Hey,” he signed, singing just slightly as it pulled at his stitches, though it really wasn’t too painful, “Did you have a good day?” 

@juniper-porter​​

Juniper had gone off to work that day despite feeling the vertigo that had decided to make itself known that day. It was a symptom from her disease so some would say she was used to it, but it still sucked and it was still hard for her to get through her day with it. She often hid when she was feeling anything but normal but it was proving hard that day as the vertigo got worse as the day went on. She ended up waiting till everyone else in the office had gone home before slowly standing and made her way out to the car that she had called from Uber. She hadn’t told Cain, or anyone really, but her hearing was almost all gone at this point, not being able to really hear anything, with an expectation that it would be fully gone within a month or two. It was something she knew was coming, but was still hard none the less. 

Once the Uber pulled up to the front of the house, Juniper got out, thanking the driver with the text app on her phone and then she went inside the house, closing the door behind her. She had to hold herself up with the help of the wall, letting the room spin. She gave it a moment before she walked further into the house, spotting Cain walking up to greet her. She saw the bandage immediately and frowned. “Hey. It was okay. What happened to your hand?” She signed, letting her bag fall to the floor next to her.