oh when the clouds swirl and all the world is waking with the wind

[forthsofar]

It's only once it's all over, once Nick's been delivered into the far more capable hands of a doctor at Darrow General and there's nothing to do but wait and hope, that Rosie lets herself think about going back home. She could stay, she knows; clean off the dried and drying streaks of blood on her skin as well as she can in the bathroom by the emergency waiting room, look for something clean to wear in the hospital gift shop, stay with the remainder of the same small group that had convened outside the bar only a few hours ago. Maybe she even should, but the thought of a shower, of clean clothes that are her own, of seeing Neil and knowing that everything they'd just done had kept him safe too--all of that is enough to make up her mind.

She makes Charlie promise to text once there's more news, promising him in turn that she'll come back as soon as she can. Someone drives her to Candlewood, drops her at the door. There's a long mirror on one of the lobby walls by the elevator, some attempt at elegance or class that doesn't really fit with the rest of the building; spotted and streaked though it is, it's clear enough that Rosie gets her first proper look at herself. What she sees--rust-colored smears on her forehead and shins, hands gone crimson, stains on her blouse and skirt--makes her go pale and sends her stomach lurching unpleasantly. When the elevator chimes open, it's empty, a small miracle that she doesn't dare question, and she rides up to the eighth floor in silence.

Rosie unlocks the door to the flat, slipping inside as quietly as she can. Now, she just needs to get to the bathroom, get the door locked behind her and the shower on without Neil realizing she'd ever been gone in the first place. Once she's clean, she'll be able to face him, to start explaining what still seems to her more than a little unexplainable.

Comments

[shadows_have_offended]

Neil doesn't know what is happening, but he knows something is.

It began during the run of the Shakespeare plays, a couple weeks ago now. He thinks of how effusive and kind Nick was, the first few times they really talked, and then he thinks of the strangely cold, dismissive boy that played Oberon, and he knows that something happened. He knows, through gossip in the other actors, that something happened between Nick and Sabrina, and there was definitely the word break up--which strikes Neil odd, because he knows Sabrina and Charlie were together; was she seeing Nick to the side? And he remembers Rosie coming home one evening, quiet and rattled, but unwilling to speak of what happened, so he hadn't pressed.

But he's been on the cusp of things. He's not sure if that's because he's older than the lot of them or if it's because he's just not knotted in the same way they are to each other. In any case, he knows something's wrong.

So when Rosie's out and Neil can't get a hold of her, he worries. He tries texting her. He paces. He calls Harry just to have a calming voice tell him not to worry, though he knows that's a silly thing to make him do.

Nothing's coming back that she's gone--no unknown number responses to the texts or anything like that--so all Neil can do is fret, until she finally walks through the door. He doesn't even see the blood at first. He's just overwhelmed to see her. He launches out of the couch and strides across the room to the door, hauling her into a hug.

"Jesus Christ," he breathes against her hair.