#countybled

" john . . . hey john, wake up. carter! " voice rises in volume & she moves to turn on one of the ambient lights along the wall. her other hand holds a plate overcrowded with food that could only be categorized by a quarterly potluck. " you missed free food. probably haleh's best work. "

@countybled asked: why  didn't  you  tell  me?

" i didn't tell you because you spent three hours in a trauma & were starting to look like you had one foot in the grave. you needed the sleep, it's fine." it's said with equal doses of care & humility. carol wouldn't claim to have mastered self - care, but she knew when it was long overdue.

there's a note of surprise on her face at the statement from john. she glances over at the sofa and indeed there is extra blanket there. it's a rare friday night off for them both. there's no juggling of schedules tonight. no working out who is picking up their son when. no one of them rushing into the hospital as the other rushes out with only long enough to exchange the briefest of conversations in passing. some days they barely spoke. days like this they did nothing but speak.

"just because you don't want me using your legs to warm my feet again." she's teasing. she knows her feet are always cold, no matter the season. the chill of winter is in the air and an extra blanket while they watch a movie on the sofa is warranted. they'd even found time to head down to blockbuster earlier and rent a stack of dvds. maybe they'll get through them all this time.

"i should arrest you right here, right now." perhaps an over reaction to most, but that didn't stop the detective from pointing over in his direction as she spoke. "because this is the most disgusting cup of coffee i've had in my life."

it was a part of their job. working in a county hospital, they didn't work in the flashy halls of a private hospital blocks away. no, it was real. it was gritty. sometimes it came with danger. it was a risk that they were both willing to accept, however it didn't make it any easier when the danger emerged. it was over soon enough, the enraged pair pinned to the ground but not before jing-mei had inadvertently found herself in the middle of the pair.

her cheek will be swollen and bruised for a few days, but she's gotten off lucky. she's been ordered to the break room, a ice pack still pressed to stem the swelling that's already started. she's pacing, unable to keep still when the door swings open. there's barely a second for her to turn before she knows who it is. john's stumbling across the room to her, a frantic look in his eyes as he bumps into one of the chairs in his haste to get to her.

"i'm fine, john." jing-mei speaks first, as if it's going to ease any of the worry in his eyes. she allows him wrap his fingers around her wrist to pull away the ice pack to see the damage beneath. "they barely got me. it's just red becau-"

she's laughing. not in a callous harsh way. but in a 'look at how red your cheeks are getting' way. there's plenty more names where those have come from. it's just a matter of waiting for the opportune moment to use them. today he's baby girl. last week he was pencil dick. who knows what he might be tomorrow.

"oh johnny, johnny, johnny..." when carter's forehead thumps against the admit desk, maggie's surprised for a moment that it's not a hollow sound that it makes. but she keeps that thought to herself. it's not as much fun to kick him when he's already down. she'll save that quip for another day when he's going to appreciate it more.

soft ship meme

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙰𝚂𝙺𝙴𝙳 𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙾𝚄𝚃 𝙵𝙸𝚁𝚂𝚃? it's gotta be jing-mei who made the leap. though it's less asking john out and more confirming that they are in fact in a relationship

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝚆𝙴𝙽𝚃 𝙸𝙽 𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙵𝙸𝚁𝚂𝚃 𝙺𝙸𝚂𝚂? john did. even if they were so rudely interrupted by room service. it's a good thing they ordered a bottle of wine to make sure they really get that kiss in later that night

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙶𝙸𝚅𝙴𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁 𝙽𝙸𝙲𝙺𝙽𝙰𝙼𝙴𝚂? considering john never stops calling jing-mei 'deb', he's the winner here. he's absolutely the only person who's allowed to use that name. jing-mei will throw in a sweetheart or darling down the line, but even calling him john feels a little special after long shifts hearing everyone (and herself) call him carter

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙲𝙾𝙾𝙺𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙼𝙴𝙰𝙻𝚂? jing-mei. she's got a handle of it.

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙷𝙰𝚂 𝙱𝙴𝚃𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝙰𝚂𝚃𝙴 𝙸𝙽 𝙼𝚄𝚂𝙸𝙲? john. jing-mei has never had a lot of time for music aside from the kinds of classical music her parents would have raised her with and made her learn. john could teach her a thing or two.

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙷𝙾𝙶𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙱𝙴𝙳? ru. they never stand a chance when he crawls into bed with them. whenever baby number two comes along, john will end up on the floor.

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝚆𝙰𝙺𝙴𝚂 𝚄𝙿 𝙵𝙸𝚁𝚂𝚃? they're constantly rotating depending on what shift they're on, but if they happen to be on the same shift then john will always get up first to check on ru

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙼𝙰𝙺𝙴𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙲𝙾𝙵𝙵𝙴𝙴? jing-mei. she doesn't trust john with the coffee machine and will keep making it herself

𝚆𝙷𝙾'𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙱𝙸𝙶 𝚂𝙿𝙾𝙾𝙽? john. and never has there been a cuddlier big spoon.

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚈𝚂 𝚄𝙿 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙻𝙰𝚃𝙴𝚂𝚃? again they're all over the place with their shifts, but it tends towards jing-mei. she gets caught up reading medical journals and definitely has to be pulled to bed on occasion. by any means necessary

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙲𝙷𝙴𝚂 𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝚆𝙷𝙾'𝚂 𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙳? john reaches for jing-mei's hand

𝚆𝙷𝙾'𝚂 𝙰 𝙵𝙰𝙽 𝙾𝙵 𝙿𝙳𝙰? john again. it's definitely part of how jing-mei was raised, the culture she grew up around. she definitely relaxes in time and being readily more intimately without john being the first to prompt the exchange

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝚂𝙽𝙾𝚁𝙴𝚂? john. jing-mei's still threatening to throw him out of the window for it.

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙶𝙴𝚃𝚂 𝙰𝙽𝙽𝙾𝚈𝙴𝙳 𝙼𝙾𝚁𝙴 𝙴𝙰𝚂𝙸𝙻𝚈? john. jing-mei manages to keep her cool a lot more. or at least she's a lot better at maintaining a straight face even when she's annoyed

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙸𝙽𝙸𝚃𝙸𝙰𝚃𝙴𝚂 𝚂𝙴𝚇? they're both more than guilty of it. it probably tends more towards john, but the ratio's still pretty even. particularly when they're trying for a baby, jing-mei has it worked out down to the minute for when is best for them to try and conceive and she'll let john know about it

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙰𝚂𝙺𝚂 𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝚃𝙷𝙴𝙸𝚁 𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙸𝙽 𝙼𝙰𝚁𝚁𝙸𝙰𝙶𝙴? john asks for jing-mei's hand, but it's still something they've planned before it happens. it's really just sealing the deal for them by that point

𝙼𝚈 𝙼𝚄𝚂𝙴'𝚂 𝙵𝙰𝚅𝙾𝚁𝙸𝚃𝙴 𝙼𝙴𝙼𝙾𝚁𝚈 𝙾𝙵 𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚁𝚂: there's many of them. many of them surround the family that they forged together. john with ru. john with baby number two. john literally falling for jing-mei when she returned to county. if she had to pick one, it would be the day that she realised john had intentionally or not moved in with her and ru. the day she realised he's spent every night with them for longer than she can remember. for weeks she'd been waiting for him to leave. for it to be her and ru alone against the rest of the world. but he never left. you might even call it the day that jing-mei fell in love with john carter. she just hasn't worked that out yet.

𝙰 𝚁𝙴𝙶𝚁𝙴𝚃 𝙼𝚈 𝙼𝚄𝚂𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝚂 𝚁𝙴𝙶𝙰𝚁𝙳𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚁𝚂: not seeing the signs of john's substance abuse problem sooner. that it got so far before she realised. she thinks if she saw it sooner then it wouldn't have become so bad, that she could have helped him before it reached that point where rehab was the only option.

𝙸𝙵 𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚈 𝙲𝙾𝚄𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝙾𝙽𝙴 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙶: defining the relationship with john sooner. they were living together from when ru was a newborn, planned their lives around each other, planned a future together, planned to have another baby together before they considered what they were. in reality, jing-mei wouldn't change it for anything, but on the other hand being able to call john hers a lot sooner would have been nice.