still learnin';

MATIAS: Yeah, well. [He winces, audibly.]

MATIAS: Uh ... [bedsprings creak.] I think I can make it, but I might need a shoulder to lean on when we get to the stairs.

BASH: Nah. I jus' didn't know how bad it might be- you stay. I'm comin'.

MATIAS: It’s not nothing, it’s the middle of the night, but, uh, I need a ride to the hospital.

BASH: What?! The second I picked up ya' should have jus' said 'get your ass up now' or something. [Sighing, shuffling sounds can be heard in the background.]

MATIAS: Hey, I’m so sorry for calling so late, I– [he sighs, a thousand apologies in the sound] I need a favour.

Harlow was dozing in and out of consciousness, a result of being on medication and also being insanely bored. She didn’t remember much from the fire, only trying to help Salem, then waking up in the hospital with a throbbing headache. Her throat felt raw from the smoke inhalation, and she’d been on oxygen since she’d arrived. The cannula didn’t both her so much as actually breathing did, the scratchiness in her lungs annoying to say the least. The TV was playing the news quietly, but Harlow wasn’t really watching it. She was surprised the nurse had even let her turn it on with her concussion, but watching it gave her a headache anyway. 

She had her eyes closed when Sebastian entered the room, but she was very much awake, hearing the footsteps and turning her head to the source of the sound, squinting at what appeared to be a large animal on two human legs. Laughing, she pushed herself onto her elbows into more of a sitting position, realizing that the animal was in fact a moose. “Bored out of her mind is right.” Harlow said, her voice raspy. “Hi,” She grinned, reaching out to hug Sebastian briefly. “Thanks for coming. And for the moose,” Harlow said, pointing to the giant animal, “Does he have a name?” 

         Hearing the raspy tinge in Harlow’s tone did inspire an empathetic frown, but it only lingered on his features for a blink of an eye before Bash was offering her a kind smile. “I thought so,” though the conclusion was based on himself. He knew that in her situation, he would possibly be going a bit out of his mind. Sebastian bowed his tall bulky frame over the side of her bed, giving Harlow a cautious hug. “I thought maybe there mighta’ been a line outside your door,” he’d teased. Insinuating that he presumed she was fairly popular, and that she’d probably had quite a few visitors since the Valentine’s day tragedy. 

“Ah, nah, don’t thank me. The pleasure is all mine ma’am.” Shaking his head, Sebastian diligently held the animal out towards her. “Nope, no name. Figured i’d leave that part ta’ you.” It was for the best, he’d mused, as knowing him the name it would have ended up with would have been a bit odd. Technically, Natalie had been the one responsible for naming Cerb, and still-- most would say their shared-custody dog had a rather odd name. It seemed to make sense once either explained it, but the young man had explained the name’s origin to people in passing more time than he could count. He was starting to understand why Hagrid’s three-headed dog was simply named Fluffy. Besides for humor sake, that is. 

Blake had mulled over the text for a few hours now, and with each hour that brought her closer to lunch, she began to dread it. Half convinced that he was prepared to break off whatever it was that they were doing, the officer retired her uniform for some fitted jeans, a loose white t-shirt, black jacket and matching booties. A simple attire that she felt wouldn’t scream she’d put too much effort into this only to be semi-dumped. Of course, she’d have to be dating him to actually be dumped. As the brunette approached, she let out a small exhale and smiled up at him. “Hey there, handsome.” She said with a nervous laugh, pausing in front of him. “I just want . you to know that I’m nervous about dinner because your text was kind of…. ambiguous. So, if it’s something bad — I’d rather you do it here so we can prevent the whole sitting awkwardly at a dinning table for an hour.” Truly, she was bracing herself for the impact of him explaining that perhaps he wanted to return with an ex, that he wasn’t into her — or started getting the feeling that she was more attached than he was.

         Sebastian froze, blinking at her in quick succession as Blake delivered him her determined line. “I didn’t mean ta’--” Okay, he meant to leave it vague, but only because he didn’t like to discuss important things over text. It left room for miscommunication, such as now. “Wait, do it here?” Seemingly slapped in the face with the realization as to what his date had thought it might be about, Bash quickly stepped forward to close the space between them and affectionately cupped her face in his large hands. “No, no -- it’s not.” Cutting himself off, Bash left his attempt to assure her to a fervent kiss instead. Running a thumb tenderly along her cheekbone, he’d broke off the kiss to give her a pleading expression. “Please. Let me take you ta’ dinner, you look real nice an’-- i’ll explain everythin’. It’s jus’ family matters mostly.”

  Well, she had been expecting a reaction, but not as forceful as the one she received. Flinching a bit when he stood, her eyes stayed on him as he went on, tone angry, digesting everything he said. It took effort on her end to not cringe when he mentioned their once-future - oh, she knew, she knew all too well what they would have been, and sometimes, she still found herself mourning for it. The picture perfect, white picket fence life, with little mini quarterbacks and cheerleaders playing in the yard, just as the two of them had… it was a life she’d accepted, and then lost, and now couldn’t even imagine for herself. This wasn’t how she imagined finally seeing Bash again, and guilt crept over her features as she registered how truly hurt he was by his parents. 

  It didn’t mean that he should still ignore his sick father’s possibly dying wish, though. Angelica had always believed in grace and forgiveness, and being the better person. “I know,” She finally said quietly when his rant had stopped, nodding to show she really did understand. It had taken months to pry a version of the story from Mr. Taitt about why his children had left, and then years more to get the real story. Hearing it from Sebastian’s side, well… it really cleared things up for her, but she’d come to Wilmington for a purpose, and Angel wasn’t ready to let that go. “He was wrong, really wrong, honey - I know, but- Bash, he’s your pa. You don’t have ‘ta forget, just forgive, or you- maybe he’s changed, you’d never know if you don’t just go to him. Please, I came all this way, ‘n I can’t… I can’t go back ‘n tell him, it’ll break his little heart.” 

          Sebastian’s cerulean hues settled somberly upon her features, meeting Angel’s gaze quietly for an elongated moment. Reflexively, Sebastian half-flinched at the way she’d called him honey. Partly of the mind to reprimand her, the way people there in Wilmington tend to when he called them ma’am. Instead he’d let it slide, sighing as the young man shook his head. “I don’t have ta’ forgive neither. Hell, it ain’t even me whose forgiveness he really needs-- an’ did he ask for her?” His tone was still sharp, but dulling some. Losing the steam that had originally rocketed him up from the table. 

As he paced around the restaurant, his large hands were tucked awkwardly into his front pockets. “Doesn’t much seem like it,” Bash huffed, but still Angelica did have a point. He would never know if he didn’t go and see him. “-- Good, break his heart. If us leavin’, if when he finally realized we weren’t jus’ going ta’ come walkin’ back in the door, wasn’t enough ta’ do it-- maybe this will.” A bitter shrug decorated his shoulders, but his tone betrayed that perhaps he did not mean his own words as fully as he would like to. “My only regret is you wastin’ your time on me,” again. 

Floor 17 Room 1707

Bexley fought the pain with every fiber of her being, fought the need to scream and cry as it felt like her flesh was being ripped from her bone. Her arms shook as she held herself against the bedside table, the tears fell down her cheeks, and her eyes remained glued shut. The oldest Maxwell was prideful and stubborn, letting anyone see her like this broke her spirit in a way. Let alone letting her coworkers see her as a victim, as a patient, was anything but acceptable. “Dr. Maxwell, it looks like you have a visitor”, the nurse chimed, though she was neither a doctor or in the mood for visitors. Bex opened her eyes to see him there, quickly turning her gaze away from Bash as if that would hide the tears. “I don’t want you to see this”, she spoke, words being interrupted by her own cries as the nurse finished pulling the old dressing away from her shoulder. @sebtaitt

         Stubborn, as always. Sebastian had to try to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Though, it was not really all that hard to do; concern was a far more powerful emotion than being irritated that Bexley would try to brush him off in a moment like this. With a sigh, a polite smile was offered to the nurse, he’d persisted forward into the room. “Too bad.” Sebastian himself had been lucky, got out without much discernable damage; but, it was far worse to see Bexley in pain. The young man would have taken her place in heartbeat if fate had given the opportunity, but the world didn’t work like that. “Ya’ know me too well ta’ think I am jus’ going to turn around back out that door, even for a minute.” Sebastian was just as capable of being stubborn as she was, a facet that perhaps had allowed them to end up being as close of friends as the pair were. He wasn’t defying her just to make a point however, no. Bash physically couldn’t so much as take his ocean blue eyes off of her. The pain was etched into her features as the blonde had been unable to help but cry out. The sound stabbed at his heart. He actively tried to keep his expression placid. For Bexley’s sake, he knew the last thing she was going to want was to feel as if he was ‘pitying’ her. Needing care at the hands of others was not her strong suit. 

        Sebastian unfortunately didn’t really know what the blonde liked, but-- to him, she’d come off as a rather endearing young woman. Someone who might appreciate that instead of just picking up some flowers from the hospital gift shop, Bash actually got something for her elsewhere. It was unnecessary, possibly, and he had no idea where it was going to live while Harlow was in the hospital but that had not stopped him from buying her a semi-obnoxiously large stuffed moose from a local toy shop. Visitor hours had come around, leaving him to sign-in and escort himself back to the room number the nurse had given. When he first walked in, Sebastian held up the enormous stuffed animal in front of himself; his very-long legs still visible from behind it. “I heard a’ very nice young lady was here, an’ maybe bored outta’ her tree?” He’d tried to give the moose a voice of its own, but his thick Savannah accent seeped through and he immediately gave up. Lowering the plushie to give Harlow a semi-sheepish smile. “Hey,” 

   “Ya’ know,” Sebastian pointed a finger around his glass towards the beautiful woman his opposite at the side of the bar, “you’ve kinda’ tapped into my inner lush.” He was laughing, features warmed in a slight flush of intoxication. “I’m really understandin’ how this helps,” okay-- it did not really help but it at least allowed him a distraction. A distraction from his empty apartment, from the conflicting guilt and resentment associated to his family these days; and, the weirdly complex relationships he’d seemed to form with the women in his life. Before the initial self-deprecating binge in which he’d met Penelope, Sebastian had not really been much of a drinker-- nowadays it was far more common. He was being a little bit less of the ‘dad friend’, if only because on nights like this he was in no state to go pick up Natalie or one of his other friends who might be out at a bar not too dissimilar from this one. “Ya’ ever see that film, Bruce Almighty?” The question seemed posed from nowhere, but the dirty-blonde couldn’t get a very particular scene out of his head. 

CASS: did you get out okay???

CASS: i am still staring at this blaze eat this whole building ARE YOU OKAY

BASH: [ message unread. ]

BASH: sorry, phone died. great timing yeah?

BASH: hear from Matias and Harlowe yet?

BASH: or seen Bex?

         This was weird, right? Oh well. Sebastian was outside of the police department, pacing back and forth with his hands awkwardly stuffed into his pockets. He’d sent Blake a vague warning, at least, seeing if she was able to have lunch with him. The ‘we need to talk’ line was far more ominous sounding than he had meant for it to be. The sous chef would have given a limb for things to not be such a cliche Hallmark movie this early on, since Sebastian was very-much afraid of sending Blake running for the hills. Yet, as awkward as it might be for him, just being upfront with the young woman about his plans seemed to be the best bet. Even if, maybe, she might tell him he didn’t ‘need her permission to go’ or something along those lines. “Hey there darlin’,” Bash put on a smile once Blake stepped out of the building.

“I don’t got any issue with it. They gotta’ market it as a substitute to appeal to their audience, yeah? Bacon is jus’ a word. Means whatever we say it means. Same with turkey bacon. I’m not eatin’ it... but, don’t got a problem with it.”

“I don’t got the biggest sweet tooth, honestly-- y’all should be askin’ Matias about chocolate chip cookies. I’m pretty indifferent.” @matiasgarcxa

“Are we talkin’ out of a’ box at the local grocer? That stuff is garbage. You always want ta’ make your own fresh pasta, if at all possible. That’s what ya’ want for most things. If it’s got a shelf life it’s full a’ too many preservatives to shake a stick at.”

“I don’t know. I’m tryin’ to not be so awkward, but then I went and mentioned Angelica and things seemed to get weird again? I -- have no idea what i’m doin’. If me an’ Esme being friends wasn’t odd enough, now I gotta’ try and make things work with Aubrey too... it’s a mess.” @aubreytaylcr

“Er, it’s the best way ta’ get a’ good night's rest?”

“I– really, really like her. An’ i’ve got my fingers crossed that as long as I remain upfront with her about Angelica and all this other unexpected drama that’s landed in my lap; she’ll stick ‘round? Maybe that’s hopin’ for too much.” @blakestvens