---

There was a large smile on Eva's face, her arms wrapped around Connor's shoulder so she could pull herself close to him as possible. It was a bit of a stretch, she didn't mind. She could barely hear the music end, someone climbing up the stage and begin the next song. It was only until Eva pulled away for air, turning her head slightly towards the stage as she breathed in the oxygen she needed, did she realise that it was Jeje and Echo up on the stage, in the middle of an emotional duet.

Her cheeks were still flushed, and she slowly moved her arm off his shoulder, returning back to the soles of her feet instead as she was barely able to look Connor in the eye. "I'm sorry for being so... forward," The girl said, "you probably didn't even want to..." Well, if he didn't want to kiss her, he wouldn't have pulled her back in for a passionate kiss, one that sent shivers down her spine and still left her knees shaking, but Eva couldn't help but feel unsure.

Connor again put his finger to Eva’s lips, again shushing her gently. “Shhh, Eva. It’s all I’ve wanted for a while now, okay? Don’t be such a dummy. And I say that in the most affectionate way possible. There’s no way I would have kissed you like I did if I didn’t want it.” Connor smiled down at her and pulled his fingers from her lips, his arms still lightly looped around her waist. “...so how’d I do, anyway? I thought it was kind of a pretty big longshot, but I guess the whole ‘serenading’ thing worked, huh?”

Eva's heart was pounding in her chest, listening as Connor explained everything. The girl's spirits soared, and a bright wide smile made it's way onto her face. "You did great- ha, it was amazing." Her cheeks were still flushed, but Eva was too happy to care. "I didn't know that you were such a great singer, you should sing more often."

Connor smiled as Eva complemented his singing, then rolled his eyes when she said he should sing more often. “Oh, no, let’s spare Claire and friends.” He said decisively, kissing her quickly, softly. He took his arms back from around her and looked around, frowning slightly as he looked around the room, where most of the people have dispersed. “...so Eva, wanna go back to my place? This party’s kinda… donezo, I think. We can go to my place and do whatever, instead. I’ll give you a ride there, too, if you want, huh?” He offered, smiling brightly as he looked into her eyes.

"Spare everyone? More like depriving everyone of your amazing voice." Eva quipped, unable to stop herself as she laughed. Her laugh slowly died down as she realised that the party was getting dull, sadly, the only source of entertainment being Tas' glorious singing up on stage. Eva took Connor's hand, linking their fingers together as she looked towards the door, contemplating whether or not to just leave with Connor.

Eva nodded finally, looking at Connor with a smile, ”sure, but please tell me you’ve come to the party in a car.” The girl winced, she wasn’t sure whether she would be able to ride on Connor’s bike, with her being in such a short dress and it being somewhat cold out, being on a bike would probably freeze the girl before she even arrived at Connor’s place.

Connor stared down at Eva and frowned. “Uh, no, no car… But, uh. Oh, I know!” Connor said, slipping his arms out of his jacket and draping it over Eva’s shoulders. The jacket is… huge on the girl, but it’s already warm from Connor wearing it all night. “That oughta keep you warm, right? It’s a little big, I know, but it should be pretty nice since I’ve been wearing it all day. It’ll keep you warm on the bike, babe.” Connor decides, nodding and sliding one of his arms around her waist and pulling her close to him, slowly guiding her out of the building.

“See ya later, nerds,” He says to everyone in the room, giving them a wave as he opens the door for Eva, a model gentleman.

Eva sighed, going on a bike was definitely not something she was looking forward to, even if she’d get a reason to cling onto him on the bike. ”Thank you,” Eva slipped her arms through the sleeves of the jacket, the ends flowing past her hands and making her look even shorter than usual. The ends of the jacket almost reached half-way past her thighs, the warm material brushing her skin every time she moved. It felt intimate, but the girl just smiled and held onto the lapels, covering herself as Connor led the way out.

Eva waved in Nat’s direction, ”I’ll text you later, Nat!” The girl promised. She felt bad for leaving Nat’s birthday party early, but things were going downhill since the Eddy business. She was sure that the party wasn’t going to last much longer anyway, the karaoke machine could only entertain a group for so long.

Once outside, the girl shivered. She was glad for the warm jacket around her, almost burrowing into the warmth as the cold wind bit at her skin. Eva looked at Connor, concerned. He was only wearing a shirt, his jacket now over her body. ”A-aren’t you feeling cold? Do you want your jacket back?” The cold made Eva’s teeth clench and chatter. If she was still freezing, she was sure that Connor should’ve been feeling at least somewhat cold.

Connor smiled at the girl and shook his head as she asked if he would like his jacket back, or if he was cold. “Sure, I’m a little cold, but you’re more important, ye?” Connor squeezed the girl’s hand and smiled again, leading her over to his bike. “Look, just hold on tight as you can to me, and we’ll be there faster than you can blink. You won’t even notice the cold, and the apartment’s all nice and warm anyway, okay?” He asked, swinging his leg over the bike and kicking the stand up. He hit the button to turn the bike on, and it roared to life as he looked over at her.

“The jacket’s pretty warm, right? I don’t usually let other people wear it, so… feel special, Eva.” Connor said with a grin, teasing the girl as he waited for her to climb on.

Eva hesitantly stepped towards the bike. ”Your place isn’t too far from here anyway, I think we should be good.” The girl said, more to reassure herself. She gave Connor a short smile, before climbing on the bike. She sat sideways, tucking the skirt of her dress carefully so she wouldn’t accidently flash any passing strangers while on the bike, tucking her arm around Connor’s waist and holding on tightly.

”I feel so special,” Eva rolled her eyes, grinning slightly as she pressed her body against Connor’s back. She couldn’t help but notice how warm Connor’s body was, subconsciously moving closer so she could lean her cheek against his back. ”I’m ready whenever you are. Just promise me you won’t go too fast.”

Connor frowned slightly when she requested that he not go too fast, and he took his hand and put it over hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Eva, don’t worry. I gotcha.” He said, though he had carefully made sure not to agree to the promise of not going too fast; what was the point of the bike if he wasn’t breaking the speed limit? He revved up the bike before he shifted it into gear, and away they went, expertly weaving through the curvy, zig-zagging roads of San Francisco.

In a matter of minutes, they arrived at the apartment complex, Connor slowing the bike to a stop, pulling into his spot and shutting the bike off. He put the stand down and got off, throwing his arms out and shaking his head slightly, jumping up and down once or twice before he helped Eva out. “That was a little colder than I thought it would be!” He grinned and laughed, smiling at her. “Hey, that wasn’t that bad, was it?”

Her cheeks were both hot and cold, the wind biting into her skin as she pressed her face into his back to hide from the cold winds. Eva used Connor like a shield against the wind, her fingers digging into Connor’s chest. She could only mumble out an apology, worried that her nails might be hurting him. Not too long into the journey back to Connor’s place, Eva slowly began to open her eyes, squinting slightly as she looked around.

The city streets looked much different at night on a bike, with students out drinking and all the lights flashing by fast. It was still too cold for the girl to fully enjoy the experience, plus with her heels and dress, she was nervous about accidentally revealing too much. She was glad for Connor’s jacket, the one item that was pretty much keeping her dignity intact. After finally reaching his place, Eva immediately got off, almost stumbling in her heels as she did so. The model’s hair was a mess and her cheeks and the tip of her nose were red from the cold. ”Colder? That was freezing!” the girl exclaimed. She then shook her head, her hands trying to fix her hair, as she smiled at Connor. ”Thank you for the ride anyway, it was fun even if it was really cold.”

“I’ll take you on a ride when it’s warmer and give you more of a warning next time, am I right?” Connor asked, rolling his eyes as she tweaked her hair. “Don’t worry about your hair too much. And… if it makes you feel any better, I think you look… so cute with your nose and cheeks all red like that. Seriously, I could just… eat you up.” Connor commented as she messed with her hair, smiling slyly at the girl, winking at her as he took her hand and pulled her into the red building and up the stairs, unlocking the door to the apartment he shared with Feliks. Well, step two was complete, get her into his apartment. “Ready to take the jacket off?”

Step three? Step three was getting all of her clothes off, and he figured he might as well start with the easiest article first. “Then I can toss it in the closet. Or you can if you want, either way. I can turn on some music, too, if you want. I dunno what you wanna do.” Connor explained as he kicked on the lights and his apartment came to life--as slightly messy as always.

Eva wrinkled her nose in response, pouting childishly as he commented on her cheeks. ”I’m not cute,” Eva said, as he took her hand and guided her up to his apartment. ”I’m… just… uh, hot. Well, cold actually but you know what I mean.” The girl wanted to call herself hot, but her embarrassment stopped her from continuing.

It definitely wasn’t the first time Eva was at Connor’s apartment. Being pretty close friends with Feliks pretty much ensured that she was there any and every night the two were ready to party. But this was a first that she was alone with Connor. The girl felt nervous, but excited at the same time. ”But your jacket is so waaaarm.” Eva tightened her hold on his jacket, as a joke of course, but she wasn’t lying about how warm it was. It wasn’t long before Eva slipped out of his jacket, sighing as the warm material left her skin, goosebumps raising as she did so. She handed him his jacket back, thanking him again as she rubbed her arm and looked around. ”Well, how about we watch some anime? I heard that you had some pretty cool collections.” The girl grinned, referencing to before when she had stupidly flirted back with Connor.

Connor rolled his eyes as she told him how warm the jacket was. “All good things must come to an end, Eva. Wearing my jacket is one of them.” He took the jacket and tossed it onto the couch nonchalantly, before turning his attention back to Eva. “Hey, if you wanna do anime… that’s alright. But you know, we didn’t stay long enough for me to get that dance you promised, he said with a smile, moving over to her. He reached up with one hand and brushed a lock of her hair back, hooking it behind her ear. “I’ll turn on some music,” he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone, pushing a few buttons to fire up its connection to the speakers throughout the apartment.

Another button press and the music came on. Connor looked down at Eva and furrowed his brow. “Oh."

Eva raised an eyebrow as Connor threw his jacket carelessly towards the sofa."That jacket could've gone to a good cause y'know." She teased him, a light-hearted laugh escaping her lips. Her laugh died down as Connor suggested dancing, and her cheeks flushed again - it was pretty much the norm for her cheeks to be inflamed in Connor's presence. The close proximity and his hand brushing her hair back behind her ear definitely did not help.

"W-well, I don't mind dancing and all if you really w-want to." What little confidence the girl had before was now gone, reducing Eva to a blushing, stuttering mess. She cleared her throat, and her brilliant mouth made the situation even better.

"I mean, if you really want to be stepped on that bad, I don't mind doing so. Once realising what she had said, she barely resisted the urge to slap her forehead. Thankfully, Connor was busy tinkering with his phone to play the music, so she could only hope that she didn't speak loud enough for him to hear.

'Mister boombastic'

Eva bit down at her lip, covering her mouth as she began laughing uncontrollably. The music was playing loudly through the speakers around the apartment, every passing second causing her laugh to grow louder. "Nice choice," The girl breathed out between laughs.

Connor grinned as she started to laugh. “Only the greatest of songs for you,” he stated, moving closer to Eva. He gently looped his arms around her waist, staring into her eyes as the incredibly inappropriate music played. Connor laughed and leaned down to her lips, stealing a quick kiss. “May I have this dance, Eva, my darling?” He asks softly as the lyrics continue around them.

‘She say I’m Mr Ro...mantic’

Eva definitely felt a lot more comfortable at this point. Her body was relaxed, and she was still between laughs as Connor wrapped his arms around her waist. Eva wrapped hers around his shoulders, holding on as she looked up at him with a lingering smile. "You really know how to choose 'em." The girl commented, before he leaned in for a kiss.

The girl's smile widened, and she nodded in response to his question "You may." She considered this moment to be one of the best in her life. Or at least in her romantic life, that is. Her heart was steady, surprisingly, but it was probably because of the laugh earlier. "So, is this how you woo all your dates?" The girl asked, curiously.

'I'm ro... Smooth just like silk.'

‘Soft and cuddle me up like a quilt’

Hearing Shaggy’s words, Connor smiled and pulled Eva closer to him, tighter against him as he started to move along in an exaggerated waltz-like dance to the beat of the song. “Yes, it is. And sixty percent of the time? It works all the time.” He laughed and lifted her hand above her head, twirling her gently as they speak. “So. Eva. What’s your favorite thing to do in your free time and why is it fantasizing about me?” He teased, the song playing around him.

‘I’m a lyrical lover no take me for no filth’

She laughed as they danced - quite horribly, but she wouldn't say that out loud - to the beat of the music. She should've felt jealous, or even hurt, but the fact that she was dancing with him just made her too happy to care. Eva grinned, "you have a very high opinion of yourself, don't you? What if I told you that I think about Feliks more than I think about you?" Eva couldn't help but tease.

'I'm just like a turtle crawling out of my shell'

Connor eyes rolled when she suggested that she think of Feliks more. Staring at her, he realized just how pretty Eva was… ‘I wonder what she looks like naked.’ He mused silently, twirling her again. The entire scene was wrong, the music wasn’t appropriate for their dancing, but for his thoughts… it was perfect. He rolled his eyes again, a huge smile plastered on his face.

‘Gal you captivate my body put me under a spell’

“Oh, please. No one thinks of Feliks over little ‘ol me. I’m purty” He teased, a chuckle following quickly afterward. “Thanks for coming with me. I didn’t think you’d want to, at first.”

"'Purty' huh?" Evalyn repeated, an amused grin on her face. "Fine, you're a very purty guy, but you're not the only purty guy here." Her every senses were just overwhelmed with Connor; his voice, the feel of his body pressed against her front, his smell.

'With your cus cus perfume I love your sweet smell'

"Why wouldn't I not want to hang out with you?" The girl asked, before she let out a laugh. "Where else am I going to get my anime fix?"

With every passing moment, it was somehow getting easier for Eva to actually hide her nervousness. The girl just hoped that she wasn't trying too hard and somehow push Connor away.

You are the only young girl that can ring my bell

“You’re right, I’m not the purtiest guy we know. That honor goes to your new roommate, after Dom and Jeje and crazy-leprechaun-bitch bashed his skull in. But you, Eva? You’re always the purtiest girl in the room.” He beamed down at the much shorter than him girl, thinking to himself. Eva was the most attractive girl in their group, and the one he was most interested in. Granted, he only wanted to bang her, which might have been more than a little rude… But she was a model, it just wasn’t fair! And now he was much, much closer to his goal.

And I can take rejection so you tell me go to hell

“So… Eva. Wanna go to my room after this? We can get comfy, lay down in the bed, and watch some anime.” He suggested with a sly ‘you-know-what-I-mean’ glint in his eyes.

Eva's eyes widened in surprise, blinking twice as her brain took a couple of moments to process the compliment. Her mind thankfully glossed over the jab at her roomie, but the fact that he thought she was pretty? It was a riot up in there.

"I- uh," She was blushing furiously, heart suddenly pounding against her chest. She was sure that he could hear it. Any witty comment - if they were even witty at all - was long gone, just leaving the model a stuttering mess in front of her crush.

Thankful for the change of subject, she nodded, an odd smile on her face. "T-that's the best way to end the night, so wh-why not?" Eva avoided his gaze, still embarrassed. "C'mon," she moved away from their dancing position, taking hold of his hand instead, leading him towards the sofa first so she could grab his jacket. "You should hang this to avoid any wrinkles." Was the only thing she said, blinking as an envelope fell to the ground.

Letting go of his hand to pick it up, the girl looked at Connor briefly before giving into her curiosity and peeking inside, an eyebrow raised. "Oh..."

Connor’s watched as Eva snatched his jacket. He was still smiling, silently stunned by how cute her nervousness and stammering was. He raised an eyebrow when she grabbed his jacket, shaking his head. “It’s not that big of a deal, I don’t usually hang it up till I go to bed.” He explained, then frowned when the envelope hit the ground. “Hey, don’t you know it’s a felony to open other people’s mail?” He asked, frowning slightly.

“Whatever. Just don’t tell anyone, that’s my surprise for Nat.” Without another word, he tugged her arm and led her into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him and flicking the lock.

'I'm Mr. Boombastic say me fantastic touch me in my back she says boom
boom
boom'

---

"I'm messed up." he said softly, breaking the silence as it left a bad taste in his mouth.
"Hmm?" Didi questioned.
"I'm so sick of this feeling. Uneasy, Afraid. I feel like a burden to you, Didi..." It was the reality for him and he just can't keep it in right now... with Didi, Didi's one of the few people he can actually share these kind of things to.
"Dont even." she interrupted him, her hand warming his.
"One thing for sure Kazuhiko, is not once, did I ever think of you that way. And you shouldn't either. You've been through a lot and even though i will never understand how you're still sitting here talking to me after all that insane crap. I'm just glad you're here and I'll help you get through it all the way." the sincerity in her voice left him speechless, tears swelling up his eyes, the gratitude he was feeling was too much to hold in. He scratched his tears away, afraid of ruining the moment from the impending bawling he might do.
He wanted to say a big thank you but his tongue was twisted in knots. Oh, Kip don't be such a crybaby, he thought.
"Remember that one night I came knocking on your front door with a busted lip and a box of old dvd's? Just turned 16 and what i got was a night of drunken bitching and a good right hook from dearest mom." Kip remembered it well, the image of Didi with a forced smile, a messed up lip and teary eyes standing in his front door, shaking slightly. It was a frequent occasion, accompanied by countless marathons of cartoons.
"Was that the night we binge watched a whole season of Daria?" That one time was when he chanced upon a box set of Daria and immediately bought it for his dear friend, who was absolutely obsessed with 90s cartoons.
"Yeah. Half a season, you mean. Then you suggested we watch Chucky, For chrissakes. Still. I never got to thank you properly for the present."
"You didnt have to. I was glad you came when you did, the nightmares stopped for some reason." Yeah, the nightmares... chills ran through him as the images flashed by.
"That's because I secretly wrestled the dream sasquatch under your bed while you were sleeping." her smile brought him back in the moment as he let out a little laugh. Didi would definitely be the type to bring nightmares down, he came to thinking.
"Well then, makes perfect sense." A genuine smile came on his face.
"Remember the first week that we met?" he blurted out, reminiscing.
"I was taking photos of the beach side and then from afar I could see you approaching... or at least I thought you were going to."
"Weren't you just taking snaps of me?"
"I was... I mean, how could I help it? The golden hour was upon us and a pretty girl was in front of me, you were the accidental muse." he commented, a smirk in his face.
"What were you thinking? I was this close to calling 911. You could've just approached me and said hi you know." Her hands ruffled his hair jokingly.
"I was so out of it then, I didn't know how to even look at people without my camera." he replied, a bit flustered.
"Oh and remember how I just approached you then? I was actually about to confront you and be all like 'Hey, little creep, what do you think you're doing?' but then you put your camera down and I saw that lost,sad little kid in you."
"You actually said 'hey, little creep' and then ruffled my hair like you just did a few moments ago."
"I did?" They laughed heartily.
"Selective memory." He took a final sip from the can.
"right... well." She stood up, "Let's head back. They probably think we bailed out for good."
"And you would really like to get your karaoke on, wouldn't you?" he mused.
"You know it." she winked.

---

---

---

---

---

"I took my love, I took it down" they started softly, Kip's rusty voice being a bit overpowered by Didi's little off-pitching.
"Climbed a mountain and I turned around" he gripped the mic tightly as he went a little louder to get over Didi. Let's not half-ass this, he thought to himself.

"And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills"
"'Til the landslide brought it down" Didi let Kip take it away as she lowered her voice.

"Oh, mirror in the sky"
"What is love?" He sang, taking a peek at everyone through his peripheral.

"Can the child within my heart rise above?"
"Can I sail through the changin' ocean tides?" Kip was a natural tenor and had voice lessons as a child, the perks of having had rich parents... he can sing decently if he wanted to and so he did.
"Can I handle the seasons of my life?" he held a slight and short vibrato.

"Well, I've been afraid of changin'"
"'Cause I've built my life around you" He looked at Didi with a smile and a tiny nod, as if asking for her to catch up with him.

"But time makes you bolder" Didi went in, the song was easy enough for her to actually sing this time.
"Even children get older" Their hands held together, swinging their torsos left and right with the melody.
"And I'm getting older too" They sang, it was just sincere and honest singing at this point, unlike everybody else Kip couldn't do much for goofs and antics on the karaoke.

The guitar solo came in as they continued swinging with smiles on their faces.

"Well, I've been afraid of changin'"
"'Cause I've built my life around you" they continued, somehow some of the others started humming and singing along.
"But time makes you bolder, even children get older"
"And I'm getting older too"
"And I'm getting older too" they all kept going, Kip felt so warm and comfortable as if their voices were a warm little blanket wrapped around him, he started feeling something in his core again.

"Oh, take my love, take it down"
"Climb a mountain and turn around" that something in his core continued building up but he just continued, ignoring it as much as he can.

"And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well the landslide will bring it down" the sincerity of their voices, filled the room. For a sad song, they sure were taking it well.

"And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well the landslide will bring it down" That something came out as a hearty loud burp, as if to ruin the entire moment as he let out an in-containable laughter, well at least it gave a contrast to the sad song.

"The landslide will bring it down" he struggled, still giggling from the inside.

And so the song ended, he quickly jumped out of the stage, still smiling. That turned out better than he expected. He then retrieved his camera from the table, hugging it to his chest.

"Hello?" Sam said, answering his phone.

"Sam?" The voice on the other side chimed back. "Sorry I had to ditch you right before the party, Ryan needed someone in the office for a late night shoot. I really did want to meet your friends though, I mean you talk about them all the time!"

If there was ever a moment in Sam's life that felt like an eternity, it was right now. He set the knife in his hand down onto the cutting board and brought them to his lips, running his thumb across it and his pointer finger on his chin. Sam was frozen as was the time, he had forgotten that before the night started he was bringing a date to Nat's party. He had invited her as his plus one a week ago, in hopes of getting lucky and just showing her off to his friends. She was a nice girl he worked with, someone who he had found both physically and mentally attractive. The two connected and blended pretty well, having spent many hours with her for the past few months as interns. But strangely enough being with Tas tonight at the party had made him forget about her, obviously up until this point now.

"... It's totally...fine." Sam replied, slowing having his thoughts come back to him. "Thanks for going though, I mean if it wasn't you then it would have been me in the office. So let's say I owe you one."

"You're right!" She giggled, "You do owe me! Maybe you can cook me one of those famous dinner's I've heard about? Unless they're just rumors."

"Well I can't really deprive a pretty girl of food, especially if it's a pretty girl who hasn't had my cooking yet either." The man laughed jokingly. "So, Soli Turner, would you like to have dinner sometime?"

As Soli answered Sam's dinner date proposal her voice was covered by the vibration and chime from his phone, notifying him that he had received a text. He slipped the phone to it's speaker mode and read the text, which was from Tas:


Sam cut Soli off halfway through their conversation so he could concentrate on Tas as she was now re-entering his mind, charmingly telling her that he would call her tomorrow morning and they could go out for brunch and then plan the dinner date he owed her.

"Alright! You better call, I mean, if you don't we'll just awkwardly see each other at work!" Soli said, obnoxiously laughing like a maniac. "It's not like I'm crazy or anything..."

"Good night, Soli," Sam chuckled. Ending his conversation he went back to Tas's text and hit reply.


Hitting the send button stared blankly at his phone screen as it brought up the rest of his text messages. The first two that appeared were that of Tas's, which was obvious as he had just finished texting her, and right under was Soli's. Noticing the amount of texts he had for each woman he chuckled. The number of texts that he shared with Tas was more than his top five most texted people combined, but Soli's number had grown a lot in the past week, as was his feelings for her now that he took a second to himself. Sam hadn't really thought much of Soli other than he wanted to sleep with her, but if he really did want to he would have done it a week ago and not after Nat's birthday party. Subconsciously his mind had played him into getting to know the girl and actually liking her. But, again, he was now making headway with Tas, and that took him forever to work up the courage.

Not more than an hour ago he was ready to profess his undying love for Tas to her, but a simple phone call from the girl he works with made him hesitate on what he was going to say once she arrived. He laughed again, which was becoming a bit strange, and went to the fridge, popping open a bottle of cheap white wine. "Cheers to me and my night."

---

---

Tilting the glass back, Tas took a sip of water; it didn't stay in her mouth long, heck she didn't even get a chance to swallow... like omg, Becky cause her to spit her water all over the bar tender. She gave the man a whoops look as she laughed and turned to watch the duo sing. It was hilarious, she should have expected those two to pull a stunt like that. Similarly Claire ended up blowing beer out her nose as she laughed, her brothers rolling against the bar laughing. It was surely a sight.

Then Tas noticed something she hadn't expected, Connor and Eva slip out. All she could was smile, it was nice to see him make an actual connection like that, it was about time in her book. Time for both of them to stop chilling and start living.

When Kip got up on stage, he had the doctors full attention. She smiled softly to him as he sung, he had stepped out of the shadows for once and it made her happy to see the progress. Pulling out her phone she recorded the performance, clicking some still shots in the process. The song hit home for her more than she expected. As he scurried off stage she slipped over to him and rested her hand on his shoulder.

"Looks like my shadow became a white winged dove tonight, keep flying. It suits you," she said quietly before stepping over to Claire and grabbing her bag. Hearing her phone go off she pulled it out and read the message from Sam. The smile on lip grew and she sent a quick text back.



Slipping the phone back into her bag she made her way quickly over to Claire and pulled her away from her brother a bit so she could talk to Claire without Murphy trying something, she wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible now.

"I need to go, can you make sure everything gets wrapped up here for Nat?" she asked as she hefted her bag onto her shoulder. Claire perked a brow, then a look of understanding came to her features.

"Sam?" Claire asked and Tas simply nodded. "Yeah, go, it's about time," she teased, shoving Tas towards the door.

Tas slipped out, quickly hailing a cab and giving the driver the address to the apartment building as she climbed in. In the car, she leaned back gazing out the window; thinking about the day. There had been ups and downs but maybe she could find some good in all the bad. She thought about her lunch with Sam, about her slip of the tongue; "Just you."

Just him...

As the taxi pulled up, she paid the cabbie and made her way to Sam's apartment. She just stood there in front of the door; staring at it and finding herself suddenly nervous. She knew this feeling; it happened before. That moment right when she found herself growing close to someone. That moment she always ran away.

She was already close to Sam, the feelings where there; they had been for such a long time. She had been in denial, to afraid to admit them; knowing as soon as she did she would want to run. She found herself turning, taking a step away; she was about to run.

"You're perfect," she heard in her mind. His own personal slip of the tongue at lunch. She heard it, she remembered. Was that why she finally let herself slip? A subconscious effort to let him know she felt the same way?

She started to turn back, but remembered he had left, after she asked him to save some food for her. Had she scared him off? Was that why he left? Sighing, she changed her direction yet again, a little sting forming in her chest.

Letting out a sigh, she drew a breath and the smell of pasta, vegetables and... lemon... came to her senses and a warm smile crawled across her lips. Sam was cooking; it was late and he was cooking... Like he did every night he knew she would be hungry. He left to make her dinner...

He was always there; laughing with her, talking; they'd curl up and hang out for hours. She was always comfortable around him. No, she was happy around him. Why should she run from that? Turning her direction for the last time she raised her hand and knocked on the door.

"Sam? It's Tasha," she called out, still feeling nervous; butterflies fluttering in her stomach but she was tired of running. It was time to take a leap forward.

---

---

It was a simple idea, he hoped she'd like it and that it would make up for disappearing earlier. Of course Dom knew that Nat would understand him needing space, he still felt bad. Arriving back at 2C, the mountain man quickly hurried into the bathroom and got a quick shower, shaving his thick month old reddish brown beard back down to a nice stubble. He changed into some dark jeans and a long sleeve black t-shirt before getting to work. First, he lay the petals of Natalya's favourite flower all over their bed and scattered them across the cool wooden floor. Next, he sat a bottle of wine in a bucket of ice on the table and lit a few scented candles that he had littered around the room with a mixture of all the smells he knew Nattie liked. He was definitely putting in the work tonight. Dominic stuffed an envelope in the back pocket of his jeans just as he heard the keys rattle in the door. Hurrying over to the coffee table, he pulled out the record player he had brought home earlier that day and slid an lp from it's packaging, placed it onto the old school stereo and dropped the needle just as Nattie walked in.

"Surprise"

After saying goodbye to everyone and thanking them once again, she hugged them all with smiles and finished her small conversations then exited the club. She still reeked of alcohol and made a small, disgusting sound when she closed her car door. She didn't know where Dom had ran off to but she didn't even get a see you later or goodbye so she was a little ticked off at him right about now. Natalya drove to their apartment complex and sat in the parking lot for a few more minutes before sighing, opening the door after grabbing her purse, mask and keys out of the ignition. She huffed slightly while having to walk up the flight of stairs then was at her apartment door. She stuck the key in and turned it while pressing the door forward, opening it. When Dom said surprise, it seriously startled her. She held a hand over her heart, eyes closed as she almost had a heart attack.

"Jesus, Dom!" Her eyes glared at him then raised a brow as she closed the door, leaning against it with hr arms folded over her chest. "Where did you go? I needed you and you weren't there. Yeah, you kicked the crap out of a guy for me but then left. What's up?" She said then asked him while waiting for a response before going on. The aroma of her favorite smells filled the air but she didn't even comment about that, right now.

"I'm sorry Nat" Dom spoke lowly as he took a step towards her. "I lost control in there, regardless of the reason, it happened and I promised myself I wouldn't let my temper get the best of me. As long as I had you, I would be fine. But I lost it in there, Nattie, I never wanted you to see me like that" He placed a soft hand on each of her folded arms and pressed his head against hers. "I let you down tonight, I am so so sorry" He knew no words he could ever say would be the right ones; Dominic was know fool but he hoped that Natalya being Natalya, she'd be able to let it go, not that he deserved it. She understood him more than any other person he had ever met. He needed her more than any words could do justice. A corner stone in Dominic and Natalya's relationship was their ability to communicate with each other, it's what got them to where they are. Tonight that communication failed but Dom truly hoped it was a momentary glitch, a one off that was beyond his control....or at least that's what he hoped.

Natalya sighed softly to herself as Dom explained himself. She leaned in and hugged Dom right as their heads were pressed together. "I'm sorry. Tonight didn't go exactly as planned." She muttered while breaking the hug and looking past him at the Champagne bottle then eyed Dom. He had changed clothes and even shaved and she was just now noticing it. There was even a small tune being played, too. Natalya opened her mouth slightly to speak but no words came out. "Uhm.." Her eyes glanced at Dom, raising a slight brow. "What's going on?" She bit her bottom lip a little nervously before grabbing his hand and walking a few inches towards the Champagne. She still reeked of alcohol and just wanted to shower and put on something else to wear.

"Let me go shower really quick and change." She muttered as she ran into the bedroom, seeing her favorite flower scattered across the floor and all over the bed. She turned to raise a brow at Dom, slipping out of her dress right before him then kicking the door shut. Natalya liked to tease him a little bit. She quickly showered and washed her hair then slipped into yellow t-shirt and black pants, walking out of the room and standing behind Dom, wrapping her arms around his waist while placing her chin upon his shoulder. "So, now what?" She whispered in a sultry tone.

"Like you said, tonight didn't go as planned. This is my way of making up for it"

Dom watched with his tired hazel eyes as Nattie rushed into their bedroom to change. She still reeked from all the booze that dick Eddy had poured all over her. Bless her heart, today was supposed to be her day. It wasn't fair, it just wasn't. It was going to take all of Dominic's control not to lash out again if he saw Edgar. He chuckled lightly as Natalya dropped the once beautiful green dress she wore earlier and closed the door behind her. "You're a tease, Natalya Olsen! I love you!" He called just before the shower started running. Dimming the lights slightly, Dom finished lighting all of the candles and then took out a few nibbles from the cupboard he had hidden away. Just little bowls of Nattie's favourite snacks littered across their table, he quickly switched the song as he heard her get out of the shower. He ust wanted everything to be perfect.

youtube.com/watch?v=97mboSy4Wu8

As he was fixing the table, he felt Nat wrap her arms around him and he placed his hands on hers. "What now? Well if you check my back pocket, you'll find four tickets in there for next weekend. You, me and a couple of our choosing will be heading to the Fillmore to see City and Colour" Turning into her embrace, Dominic scooped Nat into his large arms and held her there, just looking into her eyes. "As for right now, for one night only, you Miss Olsen, get to hear me sing. I didn't get to do it on karaoke:

I wish I could do better by you,
cause that's what you deserve
You sacrifice so much of your life
In order for this to work.

While I'm off chasing my own dreams
Sailing around the world
Please know that I'm yours to keep
My beautiful girl"

Natalya reached into his back pocket and saw the tickets then heard his words. "Oh, Dom, you know how to make me happy." She said with a slight snicker then eyed him with widened eyes when he said that he was going to sing. "You don't have to..." But she was cut off when Dom started to sing anyway. She didn't know whether to laugh or what to do. Instead she placed the tickets on the table then walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, gazing into his eyes and slowly started swaying with the music.

"Dominic Mason..." She purred softly into his ear then went back to looking into his eyes. "I love you so much." Natalya said while continuing to sway her hips and body to the music, waiting for Dom to say something and hopes that he doesn't sing it - Though, his singing voice wasn't as bad as she had thought.

Dom stopped singing and looked into her beautiful brown eyes and smiled. "I love you too" He leaned and turned both their smiles into a deep kiss. She tasted divine, she always did. God he missed how she tasted, how she smelt, how she felt and everything in-between. "One last surprise....well not really a surprise but you know" Dominic grinned suggestively as he slowly peeled off her shirt and soon his own, taking her hand and leading her into the bedroom for her final present.

"Happy birthday baby"[/center]

---

---

Tas stood there outside the door after she knocked. She felt nervous, much more than she had felt in the past. As each second slipped by she felt more and more like running. She could make an excuse; she was tired. She had been up for nearly forty hours straight at this point. He would understand if she just wanted to to home and sleep.

Doubt began to set in, reasons why she should run creeping into her mind. That it wasn't the right time, there was too much going on in her life, that if he felt anything for her beyond friendship he would have said something already. Tas figured Sam was a bit better at going after things he truly wanted than her on this level. At least that is how she saw it. Maybe she was just being silly, misreading the signs.

No, that couldn't have been it and even if it was, she needed to do this. She couldn't keep hiding and running. Life was too short. She saw it every shift in the ER; people drawing their lasts breaths. There was always regret in it; things they wished they had done, things they had said. She didn't want that type of life. Tomorrow wasn't promised to anyone. Taking a deep breath she held her place and knocked again, for better or for worse she was not going to run again.

"Tas?" Sam said, opening the door to his apartment. "The pasta just finished. Hopefully it's good enough for tonight's hero." The man gave his guest a charming smile and wink before leading her to the kitchen. Tas smiling nervously towards Sam, she never felt nervous around him but tonight was different and it was showing. She tried to push it down but it wasn't exactly working. He was acting smooth so far, but his mind was going at a rapid speed of 200 miles per hour. Thoughts went left and right, with him trying to figure out what to say and how to say it.

"It smells wonderful," she said as she followed him into the kitchen, tucking her hair behind her ear. She was glad she had at least had a chance to change out of the blood covered outfit the night had produced and into her scrubs. It wasn't exactly the best outfit to try to look pretty in but it was better than the remains of Eddy Munster.

He questioned himself constantly, was he going to do it or was he not? Should he do it or should he not? Is it the right time or is it not? Too many self-doubting questions came into his brain as he saw the look on Tas's face. She was tired, or so it seemed. Something was troubling her and Sam knew then that he had to do something to make it right. Maybe saying how he felt wasn't going to cheer her up, but he knew that him feeding her always did.

The chef of the house pulled a plate from the cupboard and placed it down in front of his beautiful guest, filling it up with his vegetable pasta with a three cheese cream sauce. "What's on your mind?" He asked, seeing her thoughts in her eyes.

Tas stepped over next to him, watching him and biting on her thumb nail slightly; it was something she only did when she was nervous; a bad habit she had never been able to shake. As he asked her what was on her mind, she nearly stuttered you, but took a deep breath instead.

"Um, a lot actually..." she said as she pulled her hand away from her mouth, finally realizing she had been biting at the nail. "Remember what you said earlier today? You know, about me leading the hospital one day and people pitching your ideas?" she said, bringing up their conversation at lunch that she had to run out on. Running her fingers through her hair she paced a bit before sitting down in the first available seat she should find and looking back over towards him.

"Well, is it bad I don't want to see that happen?" she said, trying to figure out a way to word this and finding herself stumbling over to a completely different topic. Smooth Tas, real smooth. "Not that you aren't good with your internship there and such but um... Well this is what you do, this is what you love," she said getting out of the chair and walking back over to him, motioning towards the food.

"And you're awesome at it. This is what you should do," she said, finding herself a little less nervous but knowing that was only because she wasn't talking about what she needed to and was sidetracking.

"Reaching for and doing what I want and love is easier said than done," Sam sighed, glaring at the girl who had a piece of his heart. Tas looked away from him for a moment, he had never glared at her before; she didn't know what to think.

"My parents are expecting me to run their restaurant from the office not from the kitchen." He stood silently before grabbing his guest her own cup of wine. Things were easier said than done, that was just how it went. He told himself he was going to express his undying love for the woman when he saw her tonight, but that all changed because now he was both too afraid of rejection and because of feelings he could possibly have or not for another. And now she was talking about him becoming a chef, something she already knew that was almost impossible for him unless he wanted to hurt his parents.

Sighing she looked back over to him; she knew how hard it was to go for something. She knew the situation about his parents, how they wanted better for him. Umma pressed him for a lot of things; no being in a kitchen, to have a relationship, and more. She adored his mom, was even envious a bit over her meddling; wishing she had a parent who cared much even if it was a tad misguided in her book.

"There is something that I want to say to you though," Sam said. He was attempting to work up the courage and finally say what he had to say, but for sure he needed a bit more of liquid courage.

"Sam, before you say anything, please... let me explain," she said nervously as she fiddled with a fork laying on the counter. "Every day I see people die, I hold their hand when their loved ones can't be there or if they don't have any," she said in a depressing voice.

"You know what they tell me? That they wished they had done this or said that. I don't want that for you, I care about you too damn much to see that happen," she said looking back over to him slowly. She was nervous, her heart feeling like it may leap it of her chest it was beating so fast; even her hands were trembling as she dropped the fork back onto the counter.

"Those that love you just want you to be happy. I.. I just want you to be happy.. Don't let fear or doubt stop you from what you truly want. You're amazing, you could have anything you wanted if you just went for it," she said softly as she stepped in front of him, gazing into his eyes with a gentle smile coming to her lips.

"I want you," Sam's inner voice shouted. "I love you, Natasha." That's all he wanted to say, that's all he wanted her to hear, he knew that now, but still he was hesitant. She was helping him work up the courage that he needed, she was telling him to reach for whatever he wanted and to just try because that was everything that rejection and regret wasn't, it was at least trying for something that you wanted instead of being afraid and regretting your choices later.

Reaching up she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she looked down, trying to figure out how to say what she was so desperately trying to tell him; she felt terrified to tell him. But how could she stand there and tell him to take a chance if she wasn't willing it.

"You're perfect," was all she could manage to say, echoing his slip of the tongue from earlier; her eyes drifting back up to meet his, biting her bottom lip slightly.

"I'm not perfect." Sam chuckled, blushing at the thought of him being the spitting image of perfection. He let out a deep breath and inched closer to the woman of his dreams, bringing his hands to her face and cupping her cheeks. Tas felt her breath catch and her face warm as he touched her; her hands coming up and resting against his chest, fingers trembling. Then he spoke and she froze in place, unable to even blink.

"You're the one who is perfect, in ever possible way. I... I love you, Natasha Paige Brinne. Most of the time you confuse me, I'm dumbfounded around you. You hurt me unintentionally and you leave me with nothing to go on at times, but you make me want to become a better person. You make me feel like I can do so much more and I want to do that for you, because again... I love you. I was scared to say it before, but like you said, I don't want to regret anything anymore. So I'll tell you as much as I can from here on out, even if it destroys our friendship, I just want you to know, I love you, Natasha. I love you."

Tas stood there, she felt as if she was in a dream. Did he really just tell her he loved her or was she just so utterly exhausted that she was hearing what she wanted to hear? No, he had actually said it. She didn't know whether to scream out in joy or faint. He felt every bone in his body loosen up, like the heaviest burden he had ever had just became lifted. He held her face and inched closer this time whispering the three words that were exploding from his every being. "I love you."

Slowly her hands slipped up his chest, draping over his shoulders as she gazed up into his eyes; a nervous laugh softly escaping her lips as they curled into such a happy smile. Leaning closer to him as she rose up onto her toes. "I love you Sam," she breathed against his lips as her eyes drifted close before her lips pressed against his; he tasted like lemons...She loved lemons.

---

---

Tas sat on her bed, curled up as she wrote in her journal; trying to put to words the events of the last week. She had just gotten off shift and taken a shower and had a little bit before she headed off to do her daily routine. Shifting the towel on her head she flopped back and stared at the ceiling. It had been an interesting week to say the least and it all had started with Nat's birthday party; which honestly could be looked at by some as one of the worst days and on some level for Tas it had been.

Then again, as she thought about how the night ended she couldn't help but smile. Turned out all the problems and drama of the day had lead both her and Sam to their own individual epiphanies about how they felt about each other. Biting her bottom lip she chuckled to herself thinking how silly they both had been by not just speaking up earlier but right then that didn't matter. At least it was out there now and they were trying out the dating thing.

It had been a huge change for Tas, normally one to run from these types of situations but life had been tossing her curve balls lately; she didn't want to run from this. Granted, not really knowing how fast to move in a relationship they were both nervous about had created a bit of awkwardness; like how fast should they move? She loved him, there was no doubt in her mind about that and she was sure that he felt the same way; so that wasn't an issue. The issue was the only intimacy she had had in a very long time had been of the chill variety and there was no emotional attachment there.

Throwing ones heart into the mix seemed to make it a lot more complicated. This had lead to a few tense moments over the week but despite that Tas honestly hadn't felt this happy in as long as she could remember. That was something worth fighting for in her book, something that made taking things slow well worth it. Looking back at her journal she just doodled a bit before closing it up and tossing it to the side. She'd write later.

The last week had flown by. Work had been hectic, between the ER and checking up on Eddie each shift to see how he was healing she had been a bit swamped. She didn't talk to Eddie, mostly stopping by in the middle of the night to check in with him and speak with his assigned doctors to see about progress. She doubted he was even awake when she popped in to check his vitals at night and read his chart.

Tas was almost done with her residency and had two job offers on the table to take over as attending for various ER's. One was right where she was, UCSFMC; which she was over joyed about. The other was back in Chicago... Northwestern Memorial. She didn't want to move back to Chicago but it was one of the top Er's around. What she could do and learn there in a year would take five here at UCSF. She was torn right then between rational versus emotional reasons. Rationality told her to take the job in Chicago, hands down. Her heart on the hand, chose to stay right where she was.

And then there was Claire. The two were kind of tense after everything that went down. It wasn't that Tas was mad at Claire for defending Nat; Claire in all honesty had done the least amount of damage to Eddy. The only real hit from her being a punch to the face. Tas had taken a worse beating from Claire in the ring at the gym. A single punch in Tas's mind was called for but of course that had not been the only hit the man took. Having said that, Claire and Tas had a bit of a tiff about Claire needing to stop by and see how the guy was doing. As far as Claire was concerned, it was over and she'd buy him a beer later as long as he didn't pull anything else on Nat. Oh well, Claire was loyal to a fault; so Tas couldn't exactly stay mad at her. Better to have Claire back you up than be in her path it seemed.

Groaning she rubbed her temples, she had a headache and was hungry. Then she remembered the chocolate mousse in the fridge Sam had made her and she smiled. "Oh yeah," she thought to herself. Hopping off the bed she scampered into the kitchen, the living room window open and a nice breeze blowing through the room. Opening the fridge Tas froze in place as a loud SPLAT! rung out.

Slowly Tas turned around, her mouth slack jawed as she stood there with a face full of chocolate mousse that was dripping down onto her shirt. She was in complete shock for a minute before she took a deep breath and screamed. "WHAT THE FUCK!!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Outside she heard laughing and narrowed her eyes, running over to the couch and putting her head out the open window. Down on the street there was Claire laughing her ass off and snapping pictures of Tas as drops of mousse fell from the doctors face and hit the side walk floors below.

"CLAIRE!!!!" Tas bellowed.

"Happy Early April Fools!" Claire laughed as she posted images of Tas onto instagram. #Shithitthefan #Chocolatefacial #DocIsPissed

"You're dead meat you Irish bitch!" Tas yelled as Claire sent out a mass message to everyone in the group with a picture of Tas hanging out the window covered in the chocolate mousse.



Hitting send Claire ran off, she had a client she needed to meet up with this morning before anything else and it wouldn't be good to be half beaten by a ticked off Russian when she showed up. Tas screamed at her as she ran off. Turning she slumped down on the couch and huffed. Wiping some of the mousse off her face with the tip of her finger she tasted it and sighed.

"Damn... what a waste..." she grumbled.

---

Buzzzz!

Pulling the girl out of her thoughts, Eva turned the switch, the water stopping abruptly. Eva carefully stepped out of the shower, wrapping the towel around her tiny frame before reaching out for her phone, blue eyes peering down at the slightly condensed screen.

From: Mama-Nat @Squad Chat

It's been at least a week since we hung out. Should we all get together for lunch?

Grinning, Evalyn typed out a response, or at least, she tried.

To: Mama-Nat

Snouds good~ I'm in! d=(´▽｀)=b

It was difficult for the girl to type out her emoji, but glad she was at least able to send it off without a hitch - well, the typo didn't count. She was sure Nat was going to understand anyway. Setting her phone back down onto the counter, Eva wiped at the mirror she was stood in front of, staring at herself with critical eyes. Eyeing a few marks at her collarbone, the girl dabbed some concealer over it, before starting out her daily routine; brushing her teeth, make-up and all that jazz.

She stepped out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later, shivering at the sudden coolness of the room. Heading towards the closet, she spared a single glance at the fort of blankets still curled up on one side of the bed, a giggle escaping her lips before she turned back to choose her outfit of the day.

Dressing up into the sweater quickly to ward off the cold, Eva moved towards her bed. Poking at the barely visible cheek, the girl hummed, "c'mon baby, wake up. Nat's texted everybody." Eva reached over to the side, where Connor's phone laid before slipping it inside beside him. "She's planning on a get-together, maybe you can finally announce your surprise to everybody." Eva reminded him, before standing up again. She caught her eye in the mirror, the concealed mark on her collarbone still somewhat visible. Sighing, the girl returned to her closet to pull out a scarf, wrapping it around her neck.

It was warm and it covered up her neck, what more could a girl ever need in a time like this?

"I'll make us some quick breakfast before we can get going. Got anything special to request the chef?" Eva asked, tying up her still-damp hair into a messy bun as she waited for a response.

The events of the party still fluttered around in Echo's head but she had managed to distract herself for the time being with school, work and of course, video games. She stood behind the counter at the Mighty Bean in her standard work "uniform" consisting of black jeans and a white blouse, covered by a white apron with a "Hello, my name is Echo" tag plastered across her left shoulder. She wasn't the biggest fan of working at the place most visited by almost everyone she knew, nor was she impressed about the 6am start of her shift, but a pay cheque was a pay cheque. That and she got free coffee out of it.

She glanced outside after hearing what sounded like Tas throwing a fit, but decided to make nothing of it. She had her own problems, like trying to figure out how she was going to act like she was still mad at Je-Je for what he did to Edgar. Her heart fluttered a bit at the thought. She hadn't seen him since she slightly blew up the day after the party after she had sobered up a bit. She walked over to the cafe's music controls, turning the volume up ever so slightly, putting on Me, Myself and I. To hell with the company rules for music, this was her moment.



She gently drummed on the counter to the beat, mouthing the words to herself as she dug a muffin from her lunchbag. Her stomach growled. The early start often meant she had no time for a proper breakfast and today was one of those days.

She grabbed her phone from her purse and checked the message from Connor with a rather exagerated roll of her eyes. She swiped over to Je-Je's number, pausing for a minute as she stared at the blinking cursor on the screen. She had no idea what to write to him. Would it seem too friendly right now to say good morning? Perhaps a simple "Hey" would be fine. In the end, she decided on a middle ground between the two.

To: Jejomar
Morning.

She quickly checked the time before tossing her phone back in her purse, watching her co-worker cross the street. Finally, the end of her shift. It took long enough. She quickly ditched the apron and let her hair down. With a swift movement, she dug the keys to her father's mustang out and shouldered her purse, walking out the front door. After unlocking the car, she hopped in and tossed her bag onto the passenger seat, revving the engine on her Mustang Shelby. It had quite the power for being from 1965, the purr of the engine music to her ears. She flipped down the aviators that had been sitting on her head and pulled out, flooring it down the quiet road.

Thoughts rushed through her head. Had she been too mean to Je? I mean Edgar had kind of brought it upon himself, but still. She had completely lost it on him, said some things that she now regretted. It had all happened so fast. Tears ran down her face as she tore down the road. She hit the clutch and dropped it down to the sixth gear, moving the car up to 100 Mph. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking in a breath as she sailed through a red light. Then everything went black.



Natasha's phone would ring. "Ms. Brinne? There's been an accident."

---

Jejomar opened his eyes to stare at the blank white ceiling. Eyes unflinching, the only signs that he was even alive was the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. He wasn't sad, he had gotten over that phase a few days ago. He was simply unthinking, devoid of thoughts and emotion. He hadn't had realised how such a thing could affect a man. He sighed deeply, a current of fresh air flowing through the window as he did so. His breakfast lay neglected along with his phone as it kept notifying him message after message. His room was quite minimalist, everything was tidy and clean, either a dark blue, black or white colour. As his eyes kept staring at the wall, as if willing it to move, his first sentence of the day came from the far reaches of his mind. "It was your fault." It was a few seconds before he recognised his voice and snorted. "Keep saying that jackass. It was your fault." he replied with apathy before returning to silence.

He was used to this, the silence. It was different today, as if something wanted to burst out of him. Something hurt but he couldn't care enough to do anything about it. He did what he always did. It ached now, the thing. It thumped, it bumped around. It felt... painful. No matter, he thought, it would go away. Like it always did, fade away into nothingness only to reappear the next day. He wasn't sad, he accepted it. So why did it hurt? He blinked sleepily before rolling off the bed, falling on the floor with a quiet thump.

Without as much as a grunt, he picked himself up from the floor and slowly headed to the bathroom. If anyone had called to him or even stepped into his line of sight, he wouldnt've given more than a grunt of acknowledgement. He shuffled into the white tiled room and closed the door behind him. He turned to look at the mirror, analysing himself. "You are a mess." He agreed with himself as he looked to the homeless-looking man in front of him. He hadn't showered in days, ate little and drank only enough to keep living. It wasn't like he wanted to, he just didn't feel like doing much. Especially after that. He blinked again to wake himself up before turning the tap on and refreshing himself with cold water. He turned the tap off and looked back at himself. It was the same image as before, only difference was the face. Contorted with anger.

"It was your fault, Jay. It wasn't mine, I didn't do that to Ed. it was you." He crossed his arms, glaring and snarling.

He sighed, as if expecting for this to happen. "It wasn't my fault. I am you and you are me. Actually, you are more me than I am you. Don't lie to yourself. You are disgusting." He recoiled, memories flooding as he stepped back a bit. He sank downwards on his knees, tears held back as he felt himself choking. The thing was pumping again, louder and fiercer. A headache formed, pounding and howling, emotions exploding in his head. Pain. All he thought was pain. As if a giant was crushing him, his lungs were being crushed. And then it stopped. He took a deep breath, a tear falling onto the cold tile. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. One hand clutched the place where his thing was, the other barely supporting him. He slowly stood, whoozy on his feet.

"I am not you. I did not hurt Ed. You did. I am no monster. You and I are different. I am good. You are bad. And you shall feel pain." He gasped once more as the sensation came back, everything flooding back once more. Strong. Powerful. Vengeful. Arguments and tears, shouting and neglect. Fists flew, teeth careening in the air, bruises and gashes forming. He fell, clutching his throat as blood trickling from his nose. And once more, it stopped. He coughed violently, blood splattering on the floor. "I should be in control. You are weak, I am strong. This should be my body. I should be Jejomar." He stood as he left, leaving him sobbing and crying. Soon he came to his senses as sympathy appeared in him. He's just getting it out of his system, he kept saying. He was just letting things out, he would be back to normal soon.

Jejomar mopped up the blood and wiped the tears away. Slowly dragging himself into his room, he slammed the door shut and reached for his phone. Skipping through, he paused on the latest message before smiling. Things would be back to normal now.



He smiled to himself. Everything would be alright now. Nothing will ever go wrong. He heard a loud sound in the distance but dismissed it. No use in thinking of someone's misfortune. Everything was normal now.

---

Didi scrolled down a bunch of webcam selfies on a client's used to be malfunctioning laptop. That's right, after almost three weeks since her douche boss fired her, Didi finally got a job in some nifty tech shop. The pay sucks but it was better than plan B, w/c was getting herself a harmonica and hanging out with Bob at the subway station, plus, her boss is so chill that he even allowed her to work at home. Didi stared at the cheesily posed woman and her groping boyfriend's 1000+ photos ,scoffing at every pic while adjusting her granny glasses w/c she never ever dared to wear in public. Her eyesight's bearable, but its nice to not squint at the screen all the time. She managed to retrieve the lost files that the client asked, and decided to snoop check if there werent any lost data in addition to installing a couple of maintenance softwares. Among the selfies w/c occupied a good quarter of the 1 tera hd, some work documents, and a suspiciously hidden folder with a suspicious looking thumbnail, everything in the laptop was in good order. She closed the device and notified the client of the job through text, to w/c she hastily replied a thank you plus a smiley. That concludes her activities for the whole day, and the date this afternoon with Kip at his painting spot almost slipped off her mind.

To: Detective Conan
Hey, are we still on this afternoon? Also, did you wear my favorite shirt again?

She hit send, not long before she received another message.





Didi jumped from her seat and headed over to the wardrobe, rummaged through a bunch of clothes and fished out a pair of faded skinny levis cut just above the knee. She forgot she even owned a pair of shorts and proceeded to fish out Kip's kabuki printed shirt. It has been a normal thing for the two to borrow each other's wardrobe, a perk of both having almost the same body size. She donned over a gray zipper hoodie and tied her hair into a pony as she grabbed her satchel bag and headed out to meet her dad.

---

Saturdays were waffle n' bacon mornings, and Didi never missed those mornings with Geoffrey. This has been a regular thing every once a week in a retro diner a bike ride away from the apartment, the only time the two ever spend quality bonding between busy schedules. Didi's father is a wealthy businessman, although by law, his paternal responsibilities towards her were needless, he was truly caring and supporting of his daughter, even if he does so privately, without his family and her mother's knowing.

"It's wonderful that you have been providing for yourself Dolores but, if you're short on money don't be afraid to ask me, I more than glad to add an extra on your allowance." The man across Didi wiped his mouth with a napkin after taking a sip of his finely brewed coffee.

Didi was chomping a piece of bacon strip, looking up at her favorite parent. He was well out of place sitting on this substandard joint, wearing an elegantly fashioned suit, lightly graying hair slicked neatly and an appearance of a high standing 50 something year old man. "It's not in my short list of long term aspirations to be a beggar all my life. And besides, I wanted to fill up my schedule, it was getting a bit dull with all this free time I have."

He nods agreeingly, taking a bite of waffle " Extra curriculars can fill up a good amount of your free time. Have you ever considered joining in sports activities? Tennis or fencing perhaps, probably swimming?" Didi surpressed a chuckle at the thought, it was still too obvious for the man to notice w/c made him raise his brow. "I dont think sports was ever for me. My body isn't entirely built for excessive physical exertion.

"Well, it wouldnt hurt to try still, honey."

"In highschool, I've had a good number of dodgeballs to the face to finally conclude that physical sports will never be my thing."

"I suppose the ones that are mind related is more of your "thing" then?"

Didi momentarily dropped her fork, and mockingly placed both hands on her chest. "You are looking at a long running junior chess champion for three consecutive years." The man smiled, "Bravo." he said smiling while making a clapping gesture.

"Do you ever want to get back on that?"

"I already get a lot of mental tortu... I mean exercise in school so, meh, probably."

The two talked the whole morning. Didi shared the events that had happened to her last week, Nat's birthday, the hang over she got the next morning, a new program she's been fiddling with and Kip's project that she's been helping him out with.

"How is Kip by the way?" Geoffrey has been very fond of the young man her daughter's been friends with since high school. He knew him so well that he considered him as part of the family.

"Good. Same old Kipper since the last time you saw him."

"I have to see for myself if he should join us some time."

Geoffrey was a very busy man, between work and his (legal)family he rarely had time to unwind, with the exception of these hearty Saturday mornings with Didi. It didn't bother her much that his dad has a different family he goes home to and keeping her exsistance a secret from them. She understood, or tries too, it would be scandalous if such news were to spread specially a well known man such as Geoffrey and the last thing Didi wanted was to be the reason of a family breakup. Her father, however, was very open to sharing his life with her. He mentioned a daughter, the eldest, and two sons all whom have lives and families of their own and it was nice that he has Didi to spend the bonding moments that he missed doing with his own children.

A text arrived from Nat that morning asking the gang to hang out at lunch.



Another arrived from Claire, with a picture of Tas looking ugly mad and splattered with cake. It was the most awesome thing she had seen all day and couldn't help but grin at the sight.

"I hope that's not a boy you're talking to." Geoffrey said, with a youknowwhatimean.jpg look on his face

"If I'm texting a boy, I'll let you be the first to know."

"Make sure that you do." he said smiling.

A call arrived from Geoffrey, Didi was a little disappointed when he said he had to leave for a sudden meeting in just three minutes from now.

"I'll drive you back to your apartment." He said as he gestures Didi through his fancy car.

" I'm good. You should go before your meeting starts." Didi unhooks the bike lock from the rail just in front of the diner.

"I insist, and I doubt they would be starting without me." He said opening the car door, but she held up a hand to decline.

"Really, it's just a ride away. And beside the traffic's bad over there so drive your ass outta here Mr. Bigshot." Didi teased but Geoffrey was insisting.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't mind a little traffic. Dolores, like I said before, don't be afraid to ask me anything. It's my way of making up for the years that I..."

"Dad." Didi never actually call him that, but it made the man pause. It was weird to say it, but it felt good knowing that she's saying it as a real thing. "It's alright. Really. I'll see you next week, yeah?"

Geoffrey nodded with a smile, as if what Didi had said made his whole day "Of course darling. But let me take you somewhere much better to eat next time. How about Quince?"

"Do they serve waffles n' bacon there?"

"No, but they make the best pizza in the whole bay area."

"Say no more. Next week." He entered the car after giving her a wave and drove away opposite the intersection from where Didi went.

---

The weather turned gloomy as she rode through the bay trail while tuned to her spotify like she does everytime on the way home, trying to focus on what she have to do for the rest of the morning. She still has to wait a couple of hours for the gang's lunch date, Kip is still in class and Felix is still probably snoring away but she sent him a text anyway.



Chewing a strip of gum, and elbows on the handlebars, she scanned through her calendar memos while glancing on the road every once in a while. She paused at the saved memo of Claire's work schedule, vaguely remembering the time she put it up there and was initially planning on giving her a visit after the last time she invited her. A couple of times she tried to drop by again, backing out at the very last minute, because she might think it was a bit odd not to mention, creepy if she starts lurking in there like some weirdo. The reason for her frequent visits was simple, Didi enjoys watching Claire do her thing on the ring, how she works out, and kicks ass w/c doesn't sound very creepy at all. Then again it's been a week since she was there and it's probably okay now to drop by, without nothing better to do, she took a deep breath and shoved her phone on her satchel, turning her bike around to head to the gym.

A week had passed since Sam had confessed his undying love for Tas, and things were going great. They spent even more time together, as if they hadn't before, and were becoming more and more familiar in a deeper level. Sam loved the way Tas made him feel and he hoped that she was feeling the same with him. Dating the woman of his dreams was something he never thought he would accomplish so soon, maybe in a few years after he settled down himself and found a place he could be comfortable, but right now, it seemed right.

"Earth to Sam?"

He was caught with his head in the clouds and was brought back to reality in an instant by a surprising voice. It was one that he had let down not too long after his explosion of feelings for Tas. Soli, the girl he was going to show his friends; the girl he was going to cook dinner for; the girl that he could have ended up dating instead of Tas. She was standing in front of him, tapping on his desk with a smile.

"You've got a dopey face when you're lost in thought." Soli laughed jokingly. "But it's still cute."

"Hey now," Sam said, grinning back at his fellow intern. "I just want to say sorry about canceling the dinner plans, some personal things came up."

"It's fine," she said, "Maybe another time. You're needed in the conference room though. Ryan wanted you."

"Thanks," Sam said with a nod. Lately as the week was passing, Sam did everything he could to avoid Soli when he was working with her. Things could have been more awkward than what they were, but neither Soli or Tas really knew about one another. But the thing was, Sam believed that they didn't need to know. Sam never did anything with Soli, so he that negated any conflicts with Tas. And as for the opposite, Sam had never done anything with Tas and he also wasn't going out with either girl, so that gave him the ease of mind that they didn't need to know about one another even more.

The thought stuck in his mind though, that even after a week, Tas and Sam had never really done anything. He knew both had obviously been with other people, but the intimacy portion of their relationship wasn't really booming with lust. Sam was okay with that fact, but it as he thought harder on the subject his mind became much more concerned. Being intimate with someone who can see that you wear your heart on your sleeve for them is much more difficult than just having a single night connection, and Sam wanted to do it right with Tas. He wanted their relationship to last. They had known each other for a long time so he wanted every single detail to feel just right. It wasn't just the imtimacy that bothered him, it was the other situations in where they would be able to grow together. Things like telling his parents about Tas, her parents, and even their friends. He thought about their relationship and thought about the fact that they still hadn't told anyone really, and that's when more thoughts of the right time and place twirled around his head.

"Sam!" A voice shouted. The source was from the conference room, knowing full well that he was taking his sweet time with his thoughts, and that he should probably hurry on over.

"Sorry, coming!" Sam roared back as he sped down the hallway.

---

Feliks woke up late to an empty apartment. He also woke up in a pillow fort. It was a pillow fort of grumpiness. Last night had been the literal worst. Firstly, Connor and Eva weren’t around for reasons too gross to think about. Secondly, neither was anyone else apparently. Benj hadn’t even come by to crash on the couch! To make matters worse the fancy shmancy gala he’d been planning on sneaking into got cancelled. Who cancels a gala?!

Okay, full disclosure, the host had died, and it was a tragedy, and a totally legit reason for cancelling a gala, and he absolutely shouldn’t complain. But still.

He spent the night alone. With his thoughts, and his pillow fort of grumpiness.

He had been stalwartly avoiding such an occurrence for some time because he really didn’t need to have so much time to think things through. Okay, maybe he did need it, but he certainly didn’t want it. Because when he’d finally finished fishing out every pillow in the house, finally finished making a comfy cave-nest, finally turned himself into a blanket taco person in his temple of fluff, he was forced to finally think things through. He wasn’t too happy about the conclusion he’d reached.

Feliks needed to move. For financial reasons, and so he could get over the ickness of Connor plus Eva. But it was totally mainly the financial reasons. Because sure, maybe he could come up with rent if he worked his butt off till the months end. But still. School was kinda a thing he kinda needed to do, and he kinda wasn’t doing it. Maybe if he gave up going out he could do both, but that wasn’t going to happen. Merg. He just, well, he just needed to figure out what do and where he was going to go. Not go as in new apartments, although yes that was a thing as well, but go as in go in life. He needed to find his thing.

Feliks sighed grumpily and uncurled from his blanket taco before carefully crawling out of his fort. Blinking angrily at the sun he got dressed and meandered into the kitchen to make coftea and check his phone.

Smiling at the group messages and a text from Didi he sent off a few replies as he waited for his drink to finish brewing.

Re: Di re mi

Ah yes, I have seen his calls. I fear that he has fallen for me and I must break his heart, for I must run free and wild like the majestic praire dog. Our time together was glorious, but we must each move on.

But speakn of wld lovin…Claire? You tap that yet? Because rly, needs to have happened like yesterday.

Re: The group

Be at Ryans in 10, and by lunch you mean breakfast right?

Feliks grabbed his completed mug of coftea and headed towards the door. When he got to the threshold he sighed, paused, and pulled out his phone again. He really needed to discuss all the whatnot with someone.
To: Kip

Hey, so ik stuffs weird and whatnot b/c me. But can we talk soonish?

Putting his phone away Feliks headed out to Ryans. After a short but delightfully distracting walk filled with interesting conversations with street randos Feliks reached the restaurant. Upon entering and striking up a conversation with the hostess he was directed to a large table where Natalya was sitting with the same dude who’d dumped his beer on her at the recent b-day party.

“Hey dudes,”
he smiled as he slid into a seat across from Nat, “ Glad to see you got all your whatnot sorted.”

Turning to the sketchy new guy Feliks held out a hand, “I’m Feliks by the way. S’nice to meet you- your presence is going to make this lunch much more interesting.”

---

Tas grumbled as she sat there on the edge of the couch, pulling the towel off her head and making her way back into the bathroom. She was furious at this point, not so much over the fact that Claire had pranked her; but more so over the waste of the mousse. Okay, maybe not as furious as she was letting on to be but she was anything but happy right then. Letting out a sigh she looked at herself in the mirror and began to clean up the mess; washing it off and changing her shirt as she stepped back into her bedroom.

She had a few appointments this morning at the hospital that she needed to make but with Claires little fridge bomb, she was running late. Her phone chimed and her eyes narrowed as she was welcomed to a picture of herself hanging out the window screaming. "Oh pay back is going to be a bitch," she thought to herself as she slipped her shoes on and quickly sent a text to Sam.



Hitting send she grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder, about to stick her phone in her pocket it began to ring. She didn't even bother looking at the caller id as she answered it.

"Tas here, what's up?" she answered as she propped her phone up between her ear and her shoulder, trying to dig her keys out of her bag.

"Ms. Brinne? There's been an accident," the voice on the other side of the line said. Tas's brows furrowed as she took her phone and switched ears.

"What do you mean there's been an accident?" Tas asked quickly. What did they mean accident? And why would the hospital be calling her to tell her if there was one? She had just gotten off shift, unless it was something major she wasn't due up for rotation for forty-eight hours.

A sigh was heard on the other end of the line, then a pause "One Echo Young had you on her emergency contact list. She was in a car accident fifteen minutes ago. She's still en route right now, no word on her condition." The nurse on the other end of the line went silent.

Tas's heart plummeted into her stomach as a lump formed in her throat. She froze in place, trying to process everything. Calm down doc, doesn't mean it is bad, just means there was a crash. She could be perfectly fine, Tas told herself, though if it was something small she doubted they would call her.

"Right, I'll be right there," Tas said as she ran out the door, gripping her phone against her ear as she took the stairs two at time and burst through the Cafe, nearly knocking one of the staff over as she did.

"Let the ER know I'm on my way, prep center stage just in case," Tas said as she hopped in her car.

"Will do Doctor, it'll be ready when you arrive."

Tas thanked the nurse on the other end of the phone and hung up as she started her car up and peeled out of the parking lot and down the road towards the hospital. Maybe she should have let someone know but Tas wasn't thinking about the others right then, her mind was on Echo and getting there as quickly as she could.

"Come on Echo, be alright," she said to herself as she weaved through the morning traffic. It didn't take long before Tas had pulled up to the back of the ER and parked, leaving her things in the car, minus her phone that she tucked into her back pocket. Swiping her card she pulled the door open and rushed in, grabbing the first nurse she spotted and asking where the car accident patient was. She was pointed to center stage and Tas nodded before tearing off in that direction. Least they had listened.

"Echo?" she said running into center stage.

Echo looked like she'd been run over by a transport truck rather than hit by one. Her nose was broken and her face scratched and covered in blood. Her breathing was shallow and wheezy, hinting at a collapsed lung. She looked up to Tas, fear in her eyes. It was obvious she'd been crying. Tas stopped in her tracks, looking over Echo and having to choke down her initial reaction of just breaking down into tears seeing her friend the way she was.

After a brief moment Tas went into Dr. Brinne mode, this was no time to get emotional. Echo needed help and the last thing she needed was to see worry in Tas's eyes. Holding her arms out one of the nurses pulled a gown onto Tas and tied it off in the back.

"Alright people, we have a potential pneumothorax, get me a chest tube and a scalpel. I need 4 units of O Negative," Dr. Brinne said calmly as she stepped over to Echo and took her friends hand.

"Hey girl, I told you that driving without enough coffee was dangerous to your health," Tas said with a faint smile as she reached up and brushed Echoes hair out of her face and leaned down close to her. "Listen, I got you girl. Not losing the Yin to my Yang," she reassured her before holding her hands out across Echo for the nurse to slip her gloves on.

"You know, I bet we could ebay that shirt of yours off now; Splatter Sirens, art work by Echo," she teased, trying to lighten the mood. "Alright, push 120 of Sux if you would," Tas directed towards the nurse as she took the scapel. "Going to be one hell of a pinch Echo but it won't last long," she said as she cut away Echo's shirt and made a small incision.

Echo let out a loud yelp as Tas made her incision, having a death grip on the bed sheets. Her chest was bruised and she had at least three broken ribs visible. She closed her eyes while Tas worked, tears streaming down her face. Tas looked over to Echo for a second as she set down the scalpel and took the chest tube."Almost there girl, just a few more seconds" Tas said calmly before inserting the chest tube between the ribs and the light sound of a hiss rushed out as the lung re-inflated. Securing it into place she smiled over towards her friend.

"Better than that crazy straw I had to use last week," she said as she righted herself.

Echo looked over to Tas as she finished up. She looked exhausted, having hyperventilated for the first five minutes before a nurse hooked her up to oxygen. Now, she laid still, not even having the willpower to move her head that much. "...C-can you call Je....I need to say sorry..."

"You can talk to Je yourself in a little bit, I want to get you up to X-Ray first, see what type of damage we have inside," Tas said before turning to the nurse. "Status?"

"Pressure is 120 over 90, she's a mid B right now, pulse Ox at 95% on 6 liters," the nurse rattled off.

"Alright, alert Xray we are on the way, let's move people," Tas said as she kicked the lock for the gurney into the off position and began to wheel Echo through the hall with the help of a couple of others. "Time to get your picture taken, remember to smile."

"Dr. Brinne, we have someone out front saying there are Miss Youngs father," a nurse said as she rushed over.

"Be right there," Tas said before looking back over to Echo. "Gonna go let pops know you need some ice cream, I'll see you after X-Ray okay?"

"....My dad's here..?" she asked in a worried voice. She cursed to herself. She'd wrecked his antique Mustang and really didn't want to face him about it, unsure of what he'd say.

"Yeah, no worries. I got this. Take a deep breath and relax," Tas reassured Echoed as she slipped out of the blood covered gown and gloves, tossing them into a bin before looking back over to Echo. "I'll be right back," she said before she hurried out to the front of the ER to find Echos dad and explain what was going on.

Upon arriving at the Xray room, Echo looked around nervously. She'd never felt so exposed in her life. So many people could see her, so many strangers. She suddenly wished Je-Je were here and tapped the nurse beside her. "Could you possibly call this number and get him to come over?"

"Soon as we are done," the nurse said as she wrote down the number and put it in her front pocket. The few there helped to move the gurney over to the X-Ray machine and began to get the images that Dr. Brinne had requested as quickly as possible.

It didn't take long for Tas to find Mr. Young and make her way over to him; she hated this part, having to tell a family member what was going on but she had at least met Echo's dad a few times. They hadn't ever really talked but he seemed alright from what she knew.

"Mr. Young," Dr. Brinne said as she walked over to him and shook his hand. "Listen, before anything else. She is stable," she said quickly. It was always the first thing she wanted to let any family member know, if she started with the injuries it never went well. Granted telling a family member anything usually never went well but there were different levels of bad.

"She was in a bad car wreck, but she is awake, responsive and even talking. These are all good signs. I have her up in X-Ray right now so we can see the extent of the damage and plan where to go from there. I promise, we are doing everything we can to make sure Echo makes a full recovery from this," she said in a calm voice as she rattled off what she knew already. She wasn't about to go into detail about the chest tube or the broken bones yet; that was need to know and patient privilege right then. Echo could decide if she wanted to tell him later.

"Right now though, I need you to stay calm. You can't see her yet but I will bring you back as soon as I can, if you would like I can show you to the family private waiting area," she added as she looked at him. Tas was in full Dr. Brinne mode and knew she couldn't afford to get personal right then; emotions and medicine never mixed well.

Echo laid in the bed. The Xray had revealed four broken ribs: one of which had punctured the lung, a broken tibia on her left leg left unoticed until the pain meds lessened the pain in her chest and finally some minor lacerations on her forehead. She also showed heavy signs of bruising around the bridge of her nose and had a moderate concussion.

Tas didn't wait around as her pager went off; deciding it was best to have a nurse show Mr. Young to the waiting room as she headed back to the Er to review the X-Rays. They showed no internal bleeding, which was a relief. The lung puncture had caused the collapsed lung but it didn't appear to be a large tear; leading Dr. Brinne to decide to wait and see if it would close by itself in hopes surgery could be avoided.

Tas checked the time and grumbled, yeah, there was no way her or Echo were going to make the lunch but she wasn't going to tell anyone yet. That was Echoes choice, so she opted to send out a mass text to the group and leave it vague.



Hitting send, she sent out one more as she made her way back to Echo.



At the nurses station, the nurse made the call, waiting for someone to pick up the line. "Yes, is this Je? I'm calling for Miss Echo Young, she is in the hospital and is requesting you be here."

After being brought back down the elevator where she promptly puked upon exiting it, she was put into a room by herself. She hoped the nurse had called Je-Je. She soon fell asleep. Tas made her way back into where they had wheeled Echo and shook her gently to wake her up.

"Sorry girl, you have a concussion; I can't let you sleep until we are sure there won't be any bleeding into your brain," she said softly as she pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Okay, you are going to need a cast on your left leg, we're going to have to set and wrap your chest because of the ribs. Right now you have a punctured lung, but we are just going to keep the tube in for now in hopes it closes on its own; trying to avoid surgery if we can," she explained calmly. Taking a small breath she leaned forward and rested her hand over Echo's.

Echo groaned and very reluctantly opened her eyes, evidently not wanting to do much. She groaned as she looked over to Tas as she explained the various procedures, but went suspiciously quiet when she asked what happened.

"Echo, what happened?" she asked concerned, Echo was always so careful and from the extent of her injuries Tas knew this wasn't the usual in town wreck, this was high speed.

She looked away, taking the oxygen mask off of her face, a few tears rolling down her face. All the emotions and the guilt rushing back into her mind. The rhythmic beat of the cardiac monitor sped up rapidly and she began to hyperventilate. Her whole body was done, she was mentally and physically drained but her mind was going a mile a minute.

Then it all faded out as she lost consciousness. Tas stood up and quickly put the mask back in place as the nurse rushed in to see why the monitors were going crazy.

"Just anxiety," Dr. Brinne explained. "Page Ortho, we need a consult and to get her set soon," Tas instructed as she sat back down. She wasn't on shift, she was even supposed to be there today but things change. Leaning back in her seat she kept a close eye on Echo. Resting her hand over Echos she wondered what could have caused this and why the sudden break down, other than fear.

Standing she paged a nurse and told her to remain with Echo. The nurse agreed and Tas stepped out; she didn't go far, just over to the family waiting area to update Echoes father and informing him once Ortho had taken care of what they needed to she would be back but that he still had to wait.

He really didn't, family could go back but Echo was obviously upset and Tas would hold people off until she was ready. Sadly, friends could not come visit yet, which she had a feeling would be a problem; especially if anyone contacted Jeje. Sighing she wandered back into Echos room in the ER and waited for Ortho as she relieved the nurse.

---

Echo opened her eyes about an hour later. This time, she didn't talk or move, she just laid there feeling the pain from head to toe. The gentle hiss of her breathing through the oxygen mask was the only noise she made. While Echo was sleeping, Tas stayed by her side, having a quick consult with the Ortho Tech to work out the cast and chest bindings.

Once Echo was awake, Dr. Brinne administered some pain meds now that she was stable enough to actually handle them and to make the moving around during the cast less painful. She wanted to Echo to feel as little as possible without knocking her back out. She wanted her alert so she could monitor her progress.

The Ortho Tech did not take long, getting her leg cast on; Tas took over for the chest bindings, knowing that Echo would prefer her to do it than some stranger. Dr. Brinne was extremely careful and had a gentle touch when she worked. Once they were done, she had Echo moved to a private room on the third floor of the medical center; she would need to stay a few days for observation to make sure the lung puncture closed up and to make sure there was no long term effects from the head injury.

"Here we are," Tas said as they wheeled Echo into the new room and Tas opened the window. Plopping down in a seat she pulled up next to the bed she let out a tired yawn and got comfortable. This wasn't the first time she had had to sit with a loved one while they were in the hospital and she doubted it would be the last. She didn't mind. Echo was her friend and if things got overwhelming for her, she had no problem kicking anyone out.

---

Hearing the door slam, Eva wiped her hands on a hanging kitchen towel beside her. She stood nervously in the kitchen, ears peeled for any other sound from Jeje's room. For the past week, since Natalya's birthday party, Jeje had been - for the lack of a better word - moping in his room. She had barely seen the dorky guy since then, her attention being taken by Connor.

Everyone's love life seemed to be blooming ever since the party, including Eva's. It was a surprise, even to her, that Connor was even willing to be in a relationship with her - especially since there was nothing intimate happening but she was in no place to complain. Eva felt relieved that Connor was willing to wait until she was ready, it definitely relieved most of her tensions. Their week had consisted of a mixture of dates and hang-outs at each others places - including last night.

She knew that she was being selfish; just focusing on her own romantic life while Jeje was feeling down, but the girl couldn't help it. She was still concerned, however. Nothing would stop her from worrying, not even Connor.

Deciding it was best to at least try to check up on her roomie, Eva quickly finished up cooking for their breakfast and plating it up; bacon, some slightly burnt toast and a cup of good ol' OJ. It definitely wasn't what Connor had asked for, but it would do.

"Connor! Get your ass over here, breakfast is getting cold!" Eva called, cupping her hand around her mouth so Connor would be able to hear her through her bathroom. Stepping out of the kitchen and towards the direction of Jeje's bedroom, the girl stood outside the closed door silently.

Standing outside, she was unsure what to do. She didn't understand why he was still so affected by the incident. Sure, Jeje had beat a guy to the brink of death, but at least Eddy wasn't dead. There was still a chance for them to reason with each other. Preparing herself, the girl folded her hand into a fist, gently tapping her knuckle against the shut door.

"Jay...?" Eva asked, voice quiet. "Is um.. everything alright in there?" She asked, waiting for a response.

"You're coming to lunch with Connor and I, right? We're meeting up with the rest of the gang." Trying to sweeten the deal a bit more, to coax the gentle guy out of his room, she added: "Echo'll be there--"

She was interrupted by a ting! from her phone. Peering down, she noticed two texts: one from Claire and the other from Tas. Deciding to look at Claire's text later, she read Tas' carefully. "Or not."

---

Jejomar smiled for the first time in days. Everything was going all right now, everything was okay. He almost had a spring in his step. The voices were gone. The sneering, snarling voices vanished from his mind. His brain was much clearer, emotions surging inside of him and his heart was pumping at a relatively normal place. He was no longer a husk of his former self, he was now Jay. The calm, quiet, kind thinker that knew how to keep a level head most of the time. It was normal now. He decided to do something productive while waiting for Echo's reply and so he got into his usual attire. Game tee, black jeans, vans and a fedora to top it all off, he looked damn classy if he asked him. The Ryan's Restaurant idea was brilliant, he said to himself. He could meet her over there.

And so he patiently stared at the phone on his table, waiting excitedly for the response. When he had none, he just stared at the phone. He needed to stay positive and as he gently put the phone on the table and started to pace around. There was a reason for this, he said confidently. As seconds turned into minutes and minutes into tens of minutes, worry started to seep into him. But he steeled himself. There must be a reason. She was probably busy, he assured, nothing to worry about. And so he kept walking from wall to wall until he heard a soft voice come from the other side of his door.

He let out a small smile, recognising the voice immediately. He reached for the handle and opened the door, smiling wide for Eva. "Don't worry sis, I'll be coming to breakfast soon. Come on in will ya?" He gestured for his kind-of-sister to come into his room as the familiar Mario theme tune blasted from his phone. He smiled apologetically and went for his phone, immediately noting the down look on her face but deciding to deal with it later. Swiping right and bringing the phone to his ear, he sent a goofy grin to the girl in his room before greeting the person on the other side.

"Hello there, this is Jejomar speaking." As he listened to the nurse speak, he felt his mood immediately sour. His shoulders drooped, face set in a look of astonishment and sadness, his whole demeanour changed in mere moments. The hand on his side began clenching, his eyelids began shut close as tears ran down his face. He bit his lip and let out a shaky, fearful sigh before nodding slowly. "Yes. I-I understand. I w-will come there as f-fast as I c-can." He slowly dropped the phone on the table, emotions surging inside of him. Sadness. Anger. Worry. Hurt. Shock. He sat down quietly, silently staring at the wall opposite from him. To Eva, it would look like her brother had just endured years of burden, turned into a hollow husk with a thousand yard stare. To her, it would've looked like he had grown older and worn from the years. She wouldn't see Jay. She would see a man broken into two.

A minute of tense silence and he slowly turned his head towards her with a tearful look. He bolted towards her, enrapturing her in a fierce hug. He let his tears fall on her shoulder, hands wrap around her. He let himself sob, the tears flowing like a river. He hugged her tightly, grip like steel holding her in place. 'Decided to switch huh? Hugging a girl, someone you use to have a crush on I might add, while yours is in some hospital. Disgusting, I like it. Lemme have a go, I'll give her a nice time.' He stopped, eyes widening like saucers before he forcefully pushed himself away from the embrace, breathing quickly. He muttered to himself, shaking his head. "No. No. Not like that. Is like sister to me. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet."

Used to have a massive crush, he taunted, you weakling couldn't even ask her. He jeered and snarled as Jay clutched his head in pain. He kept mumbling to himself, a crazed look on his face, eyes twitching madly. "No. No, no, no. Stop. Not true." He started breathing quicker as the headache became more painful, memories of the first few days popping in his head. It was true, he kept saying, you followed her like a dog. He felt himself cough violently, blood splattering on his hand. The headache got worse and he coughed even more, mumbling and muttering nonsensical words to himself like a maniac.

Jay kept a stash of migraine and pain killers in his drawer, working on a computer all day could bring serious headaches. He stumbled towards his desk, brought out the small bottle of migraine killers and swallowed two in one swift motion. The migraine seceded and the memories were drawn away but the disgust in himself wasn't. As he stabled himself, he couldn't bring himself to look Eva in the eye. "Don't tell anyone about what happened Eva. I'll be sent away. Please, just keep this silent. I..." He choked up tears as he wiped the blood from his hands "I-I don't want t-to be s-sent away, sis. Don't t-tell no one, n-not even Feliks. I t-trust you. I'll e-explain it l-later okay? I need to g-get to Echo." He gave her one last, blood smeared, fake grin before going. He kept his head down as he moved past her and out of the door, running towards his car. He opened the door and shut it behind him. He looked towards the apartment, emotions rising and crashing like a wave before revving his engines and taking off towards the hospital.

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Jay had sat silently in the waiting room, awaiting the nurse to let him inside. His hands were jittery, sweaty palms clasped together, head swerving towards the door every few seconds. His legs were shaking, feet tapping on the tile, stomach growling from starvation. Tired eyes stared at the ground or the door most of the time, breath deep and slow. His head swivelled around towards the sound of the door opening, boring his eyes into a nurse that walked towards him. The nurse stopped in front of him.

"Mr. Salinas? You are free to visit Ms. Young now in room 3D." He didn't even wait for her to finish before he bolted upright and sprinted towards the room. After 22 minutes and 7 seconds of just counting the time, he had politely asked the nurse to give him the layout to the hospital. He had memorised every inch of the layout she was allowed to give and was quickly running towards 3D. He abruptly stopped in front of the room and gently pushed through. The sight made him crumble.

The emotions he tried to lock in came out in waves, tears once again forming in his eyes. He didn't mean to ignore Tas but he focused all his attention on Echo, her quiet breathing, the bruising. He rushed towards her side, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead, tears dropping down on her gentle face. He brushed them away, kneeling down next to her. He softly grabbed her hand, softly brushing the tears in her forehead. He closed his eyes, taking a sharp intake of air. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Ecks. Forgive me, please." He bit his lip, eyes closed shut as he whispered to her.

"I'm sorry for hurting Ed. I'm sorry for disgusting you. I'm sorry, so sorry Ecks." His bottom lip quivered as he drew blood but ignored it, focusing on his... girlfriend? He leaned down and gave her a light, soft kiss on her forehead once more before breaking down in tears.

Not even the sound of Echo's father entering the room could take him from her.