“Broken, but Beautiful” Rosemary Walten x Male Reader. Fix-it-fic! Instead of meeting an untimely end, after months and months of searching, Rose’s situation became so bad that she practically lost everything she had left after the loss of Edd, Molly, and Jack. She couldn’t take care of Sophie, especially after her minor outburst on her. She lost her job. Barely scraping by, she found an ad for free therapy for those who are in grief. With nothing better to do, and a barely-there ghost of a hope it might help her, she went, attending while Sophie was at school. She met with other people and a therapist in an auditorium sitting in a circle. She joined in and found solidarity in the familiar pain they all felt. As part of the therapy was activities, trying to build things with others with the broken pieces they shared. Pairing into groups of two to Bond and find solace through shared pain. That’s when she met Y/n. They talked, and got along quite well. They suffered similar pains, though Y/n’s arguably worse. Y/n lost his wife, and his child. He was busy and didn’t pick up his child from school, leaving his wife to. But he forgot to tell her about a problem their car had been having, leading to both his wife and child dying in an accident that he could’ve prevented, if he hadn’t been so careless. The guilt nearly caused him to end his own life. He had lost everyone. Rose still had Sophie… Y/n had no one… Though he held out and got help through this therapy, because he knew that his family wouldn’t want this. As gratingly difficult as it was, he wanted to keep living. For them. To preserve the memories they had, and pass them on to others. Rose said her pain was nothing compared to his, but he refused. He told her that pain and grief shouldn’t be treated like a competition. One person’s suffering doesn’t devalue someone else’s. We all suffer differently, but equally. And together they could make it more bearable with each others help. They both teared up, and shared a hug. Feeling each other’s pain. But for the first time in what seemed like forever, their cries finally seemed to relieve a bit of the pain. After what seemed like minutes of holding, they separated, thanking each other for allowing each other to vent their pain in such a way. Eventually the session came to an end, both leaving with Y/n asking Rose if she’d come back for another session, and saying he’d understand if she didn’t, since it’s hard to look your pain in the eye. She responded saying she didn’t know, for that very reason. When she went picked up Sophie and home that night, her mind drifted. She initially thought the therapy would be uneventful and unhelpful to her, but she couldn’t deny that she felt just a bit better afterward. She decided she would indeed go back. Not only to help her grief, but to spend time with her new companion who, in a way, knew her pain.
Sorry, no explicit romance in this one, mostly cause I figured that Y/n and Rose, both having lost their significant other recently in their lives, wouldn’t be anywhere near ready to move on, but I hinted at a possible spark blooming (get it?) between them. Hey, maybe I’ll make a part 2! Who knows? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see! Anyways, have a good start to the week and stay hydrated!
Helping rosemary deal with her grief
Pairing:rosemary walten x male reader
A/n:while I mostly only write explicit romance i don't really mind this time because giving rosemary the comfort and help she needs is more important. This wil probably be the last walten files post to celebrate episode 5
Rosemary had lost everything, at least that was how she saw it, she knew she still had Sophie but as much as she loved her daughter and wanted to protect her, she knew she wasn't in the right state to take care of her, especially after she yelled at hed. She felt so guilty and horrible, after causing the death of her children and the disappearance of her husband (at least in her mind) she couldn't even help the only thing she had left in her miserable life.
She felt completely drained of her will to live, now that she even got fired from the place she helped create she found no reason to do anything except taking care of sophie. She had really reached rock bottom
One day her daughter approached her while she was mindlessly watching TV and tapped her on the shoulder
"Hm...hey mom, do you think I can talk to you for a second, there's something I wanna tell you"
She looked at Sophie who was clutching a flyer to her chest, she could tell she still remembered the argument they had a few days ago and that made her feel even worse, she tried her best to force a smile to hopefully put her daughter more at ease
"Of course sweetheart, what is it?"
"I saw this around and I thought you could be interested"
Sophie handed her the flyer and she read it. It was a flyer advertising therapy sessions specifically to deal with grief and loss, to help those who had lost loved ones.
"It's free and open to anyone so..... y-you don't have to go if you don't want to, I just thought that.....i-it could help maybe"
Rosemary raised her eyes from the flyer to look at Sophie who was avoiding her gaze
"O-ok i hope it can actually help, even a little"
She knew that Sophie had most likely noticed how terrible her condition was but the fact that she had actually done something to try and help her mother surprised her and filled her with the tiniest spark of hope.
She didn't know if it would actually help her but she figured that she might as well try, it's not like she had any other way to spend her days now anyway and maybe she thought that talking with people who had been through similar situations to hers, who had felt pain close to hers could be better than talking with anyone else.
When she went to the first session she saw what it was going to be like, they guided her to sit down on a chair in the circle of people and introduce herself. After a bit the therapist suggested to talk about why she was here, she simply said that two of her kids died in a drunk driving accident and that her husband disappeared leaving out any details.
A bit later in the sessions the therapist told the people there to talk between each other as an exercise and rose didn't have to wait long before a man she had seen in the circle approached her.
"Hey you're rosemary right?"
"Yeah, and it's y/n isn't it?"
You nodded and sat next to her
"I think I've heard of you before, your name at least. Did you make a cartoon or something?"
"Ah I guess yes, bon's neighborhood, it was to go with a fast food restaurant i helped open"
"Oh yeah now I remember, my kid loved that show, he always insisted on me watching it with him, I probably remember your name from the credits, I actually think I went to the restaurant a couple of times too, bon's burgers right?"
"Yes that's it, well I don't work there anymore anyway"
"Oh really? That's a shame, you must have liked it there"
Rosemary nodded meekly, it was embarrassing and sorta painful remembering all those parts of her life
"My husband opened it with....one of his friends, I actually designed the animatronics there you know?"
"Really? That's really impressive, my kid loved them"
"I'm glad, I guess I must have done a good job then....my kids loved them too, I designed them with them in mind"
You could see it was starting to get easier for her to talk with you
"I'm sorry for your losses by the way"
"The same goes for me of course"
"...if you don't mind me asking...how did it happen?"
You looked at her and that immediately caused her to backtrack
"S-sorry, I'm being insensitive"
"No it's fine, that's why i'm here anyway, to talk about it to other people who hopefully can relate in some way"
Rosemary looked away from you, thinking about why she had even come here in the first place. Was it just to make Sophie happy? Or maybe was it the same reason as you? Not even she knew
"I was too busy working so I sent my wife to pick up the child...it wasn't the first time it had happened and she was happy to do it so I thought nothing of it....I didn't tell her about a problem the car had so....an accident happened and...."
Rose's eyes widened as she saw you gain that detached look she had seen in the mirror many times
"I-i'm so sorry, I can't even imagine how terrible it must have been"
"Well not to assume anything but I thought our situations weren't so different, at least from how you explain it"
".....no your pain is much greater than mine"
Now it was her turn to narrow her eyes and look down
"I still have my eldest daughter, even if i don't know how she can still consider me a mother after everything I did.....if I hadn't trusted him that day then....her siblings would still be here....my little angels"
You saw her wipe a tear from her eyes
"Don't compare yourself to me, i practically murdered my children, it's all my fault"
".....do you know why I started going to this therapy?"
"When the incident happened I couldn't think of how i'd be able to keep living, I was so depressed I didn't know what to do...I didn't think I deserved to live and that it was all my fault...but if i kept thinking like that then that would have solved nothing, they wouldn't want me to think like that would they?"
"I want to keep living because of them, even if it will be hard I want to stop thinking like that and get rid of the pain, even by a little bit to show that I have made an effort for them"
"You're so much stronger than me i-"
"That's not how it works, we all deal with our pain in different ways and reacting like this is natural but trying to change is not a question of strength but more of will, you have to want to change your mindset and get better to actually do it, you might need time and people but....I think you could do it too, I can see it in you, please don't lose hope"
For the first time ever since her tragedies hit her she felt like she was speaking to someone who could understand at least part of her suffering, she couldn't help but fully let her tears flow
Seeing her in that state you slowly started tearing up too, instinctively you pulled her into your arms and she did the same as you kept crying together
"......thank you y/n...I don't think I've ever felt...seen or understood until now....thank you"
"It's nothing.....i-i actually felt the same"
As you got up and got ready to leave you approached rosemary one final time
"Hey sorry to ask so soon but....will you come in for another session?"
"To be honest....I don't know i still need to decide"
"That's totally understandable, it's hard to confront your grief and loss after all, i would get it if you don't come again but...I wanna say just thank you for coming this time, i think you helped me too more than you think"
"....the same goes for you"
As she went to pick up Sophie from school she kept thinking about the session and you even when her daughter climbed in the car and started awkwardly talking with her
".....mom...did you....did you go to that thing I gave you the flyer for?"
"O-oh really? Do you think it helped a bit? I-i know it's hard to tell after only one session but-"
"I think it did in someway"
"Then.....will you go back?"
Her mind drifted to your talk once more and a small smile made its way onto her face
".......yes I think i will"
