Putting the EX in reconciliation...

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Kacey hugged him tightly when he pushed himself into her lap. "Yes, the doctor says she'll be fine," she told him simply. "It's a scary thing, what happened, you know. But I think she's going to be okay in that way, too." Kacey thoughtfully rubbed her friend's paw.

The nurse bustled back in with a tray, loaded with a syringe, cotton balls, a couple of bottles of medication, and an eye dropper. She smiled at Chance and set the items on the side table, carefully avoiding the flowers. Turning to Sinead, she gently shook her to rouse her.

Sinead was groggy and slow to wake up, and a bit confused. She flailed her good arm, breaking Kacey's hold on it, mumbling and whining.

The nurse called her name until Sinead calmed down and woke up properly. "Miss Teague, we're just going to give you some pain medication, as well as some drops for your eye," she said gently. "The pain meds will make you sleepy, so you'll be able to get a good rest, alright?"

Sinead was shaky and breathing fast, but nodded mutely at the nurse.

The nurse efficiently and gently gave her the injection, and the drops, before checking her pupils and her wounds. Satisfied, she lowered her head a bit, but left her legs elevated so she'd be comfortable, and left the room.

Kacey pulled Chance to her and hugged him again, this time for her own comfort.
 
Tig sighed and moved out of the way of the nurse, heading back to the doorway. He looked around a little, then looked at Kacey. He wanted to leave so badly. He sighed and leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes.

Chance sighed, leaning against Kacey. "She's gonna be ok, right? She looks so bad..."
 
Kacey nodded, unable to speak at first, fighting tears. She finally coughed, wiping her cheeks. "Yes, it's hard seeing her look so rough, but she'll be back on her feet before we know it, and soon it'll all be like a bad dream," she said a bit hoarsely, reassuring herself as well. "It's just right now that's hard..."


Alexa looked worriedly at Cecilia as the car pulled up to their house. She was worried being away from Sinead, as well as Kacey and Tig, but right now she was worried for Cicero and Cecilia. She sighed. There was so much to be worried about right now, it made her tired.
 
Cecelia sighed and got out of the car once she heard it turn off. She leaned against the open door and waited for her friend to climb out as well. "Lets go up to my room. You can help me pick out clothes."

Cicero got out of the car as well and looked over at the two girls. "I will have my own bag ready soon. You two hurry along." he said, heading up to open the door to the house for them.
 
Alexa held her paw tightly and climbed out after her. She looked about the house as they came through. She'd only ever been there when Sinead was there, so it felt very odd and empty with her not there now. "Kay..." she answered to the both of them. She rubbed her nose with the back of her paw and followed her friend up to her room.

Once Sinead had fallen back into a drugged sleep, Kacey relaxed back in the chair, still hugging Chance and letting the tears roll down her cheeks. She had to cry, even though she didn't want Tig to have to worry about her as well. But she couldn't hold it back always. Her friend was hurt, her husband was blaming himself, and her baby (and body) were very quickly and uncomfortably approaching maximum capacity. She should be allowed to cry without feeling guilty.
 
Chance looked up at Kacey. "It's ok to cry, Miss Kacey." he said, reaching up to pet her cheek. Leaning against her belly like he was, he could feel every kick of the baby. "There's a lot goin' on, an' sometimes you just gotta cry. Even if you're a mom. Moms cry sometimes. Momma Mara even cries when too much is going on. My momma cries a lot too. So it's ok. You should cry." He sat back and dug out a handkerchief, holding it up to her face.

Tig moved back into the room, standing beside Kacey's chair. He rubbed her shoulder gently, forcing up a smile for her. He could distract himself with taking care of her. It was a good distraction. It would honestly help him if she cried. He obviously couldn't leave and give into any of his urges if she started crying. "It's alright, dove." he leaned down to kiss her head. "Let it out. I donnae t'ink there's room enough in there fer all o' that an' tha baby too." he laughed softly. "So ye'd better let one or the other out..."
 
Kacey crumpled into quiet sobs, leaning her head against Tig as she wept. She clutched his paw as gently as she could with one hand, vainly mopping at her face with Chance's handkerchief with the other. She wanted to scream her frustration to the sky, feeling helpless and uncomfortable. She cried until she began to doze off, but then the hiccups started. Kacey groaned. She weakly waved her paw at the pitcher of water and the extra glass next to Sinead's bed as if to ask one of them to pour her some. She vaguely remembered the nurse from the night before mentioning that the chair reclined. She peered down the side, looking for the lever. A rest would do her some good, and she needed to put her swollen feet up for a bit.
 
Chance climbed down off of her lap and hurried over to the water to pour her a glass. He came back with it and a straw, holding it up so she could drink from it. "You did really good, Miss Kacey." he looked at her stomach and smiled, reaching out to pat it. "Only good things are coming. We all gotta remember that." he looked over at Tig and frowned, tilting his head.

While Kacey drank her water, Tig dried her face. When she was done, he took the glass and set it aside, moving to recline the chair for her. He looked over at Chance, ears flicking back for a second. "I donnae feel much like a readin' right now, Chance." he said softly. He was around the kid enough, what with him being one of Alexa's good friends and all, to know what that look in his eyes meant.

He nodded some, chewing on his lip. "Okay." he looked around the room for a minute. "I'm gonna go back home then. I didn't tell momma where I was."

"You really need tae tell yer ma those things."

"Yeah, probably...." he shrugged and walked over to Sinead, taking her hand and nuzzling it gently. "Bye everyone." he said before turning to skip out of the room.

"Strange kid that one..." Tig muttered, mostly to himself. He sat down on the cot and sighed, looking at the two women in the room with him. The cold pit of ice began to form in his stomach again. He looked down at his hands, starting to pick at the bandages.

Meanwhile, the good professor was standing by his door, looking down a the bags he had gathered together, trying to make sure he had everything he needed. Well, mostly it was stuff for his daughter. He had her walking stick propped up by the door and sighed, ready for the argument about how she didn't need it and all of that nonsense. This wasn't an easy week...

Cecelia sighed and sat on her bed. "Is that enough clothes? I think it's 5 outfits. I won't need more, will I?"
 
"We cin always wash 'em," Alexa reassured her. "An' you gots yer nightdress an' understuffs. I think you'll be okay wif dis. We better git back t'yer da. He's gonna wanna git back t'th' hospital soon I'm thinkin', an' I'm worried 'bout Tiggy an' Kacey."

Kacey allowed herself to be cared for, leaning against Tig's paw. Sighing wearily, she whimpered and shifted restlessly as she reached for Sinead's paw after Chance left. She'd want to know someone was there for her when she woke up, even if she were asleep. She rubbed her belly and mumbled again, sleepy and sore. She really was very much over this. "When Cicero comes back, I think we should go home..." she told Tig before she could fall asleep. "Alexa can help Cecilia to settle in, and I can get some more rest. And you won't be tortured sitting here..." She gave him a wry, humourless smirk before closing her eyes and focusing on breathing and willing the swollen pain out of her feet.
 
Tig looked at her, no real amusement in his gaze at her little quip. "Aye. I'm pretty sure I'm needed at work anyway." Right, with his busted knuckles, his stab wound, his cracked rib and broken nose...He grit his teeth and looked down at his bandages again. "I'll call 'em when I get home. I told ye Mab got pregnant, aye? Nae that she could really do much o' tha heavy liftin' anyway, but wit' Lathen only havin' one arm an' their daughter-" he was referring to a teenaged feline the wolf and mouse had adopted. "Chasin' after that boy...I guess Emily's there, but it's nae tha' same..."

Cecelia nodded and got up, walking over to where she remembered the bags to be. She picked one of the two up and turned her head towards her friend. "Thank you, Alexa, for helping me..."
 
"Not sure how much work you'll get done with your hands like that," she commented. "But alright. You need to keep yourself moving and doing. I know much better than to try to keep you in one place. Just promise me you'll try not to make anything worse..." She kept her eyes closed as she continued talking. She was much more blunt when she was pregnant and sleepy, honestly being too tired for her usual tact. "But make sure you tell them both that I say congratulations, and that I hope she feels better in her ninth month than I do now..." Her lips did curl up in a self-deprecating smile at that last comment. She thought that it was quite clever, and back on much safer, mundane ground. Her mild complaints over her current state had been a running theme through most of her conversation of late. They were about as common as people commenting on the weather.

Alexa stood, picking up the other bag in one hand, and taking hold of Cecilia's paw with the other. "S'ok. It helps t' have somethin' t'do, an' you helped me las' night. We gotsta help each other. Tha grownups ain't gonna wanna talk t'us too much about Sinead, they're thinkin' about different stuffs than we is. But we cin talk t'each other about what we want. And..." she hesitated. "I kinda know what s'like. Ta git tha shit beat outta ya. I sorta know how she feels..."
 
"I'll pass tha message along, dove, but I don't t'ink she will. As small as she is, and as big as he is?" He shook his head with a slight smirk. "That baby's gonnae be huge compared to her. Ye should be glad we're tha same species...and that I'm nae an elephant or sommat..." He could still manage a little bit of humor, when it wasn't about Sinead or the situation they were in.

"You're right." She told Alexa. "They won't want to talk to us about anything...but I'm sorry you know what it's like to be beat up really badly." She thought a moment. "I know how to fall down stairs without getting hurt...I had to learn when I was little. I've fallen down a lot of stairs..."
Ciro looked over at the girls as they came downstairs. "Cecelia, I'm bringing your walking stick."

To his surprise, his daughter nodded. "Alright, Papa. I think their house has a lot of stairs. It will be good for me to have it."

He smiled. "Yes. Please remember to use it. I don't need my favorite girl in the hospital with my second favorite girl, alright? Now, lets get in the car." he said, gathering up the bags and heading out to pack up the car so they could get back to the hospital.
 
Alexa was quiet as the pair talked, and helped with packing up the car. She was eager to get back to Kacey and Tig. Tig loved to say he was fine, but she'd known when they had left that he was anything but. She needed him to be okay. She couldn't help but feel that it was up to her to make sure that he was. Just a leftover habit, probably, but she always felt the most secure when nothing was going wrong with him.

Kacey couldn't help but giggle at the thought of Tig being an elephant. "Silly," she said, rewarding him with a cracked eyelid and a grin. "Well, give her my congratulations and my condolences both. But honestly, I do wish her good health. I'm sure her body will know what to do and not let the baby be too big for her." She sighed. "Tiggy, my feet are throbbing terribly. You don't have to take my shoes off, but would you mind just rubbing my ankles? Just to help the swelling a bit..." she asked plaintively. "One of the twins, Chance's aunts, made me a little pillow for them filled with buckwheat when he told them about my sore feet. I'm going to pull that out when we get home. They say it's supposed to draw out the heat and swelling..."
 
Cirio held the door for the girls and helped them into the car, then got in and started driving. He was nervous, but being a rather quiet man anyway, he didn't really show it too much. He drove quietly and quickly back to the hospital.

"It's beside tha bed. I'll get it for ye when we get home." he said, moving over so he was close enough to pull her feet into his lap to rub her ankles and her calves. He watched his hands as he worked, trying to focus on the task at hand and not the alcoholic voice that was clawing at the back of his head.
 
Alexa was antsy and more agitated as they got closer to the hospital. "When we gits t'tha hospital," she finally whispered to Cecilia, "I'm gonna run ahead an' go fin' Tiggy, kay? I jes' needsta check on him..." She was just as nervous as Cicero, but for different reasons.

Kacey hummed in relief as he massaged her ankles and finally dozed off, the hand on her belly dropping to unconsciously cradle her large belly. She only mumbled and shifted once, then was quiet as she rested peacefully.

Through all of this, Sinead hadn't moved an inch during her drugged sleep. Her own face was, while not peaceful, at least it was calm.

Someone knocked quietly on the door. It was one of the hospital stewards, who cut hair for those who'd had surgery or were having long stays in the hospital. She knew Sinead would be asleep now, but she didn't necessarily need her to be awake. Besides, she'd be sleeping quite a lot for the next few days. She was accompanied by the nurse. "Sorry to intrude," she said quietly to Tig, not wanting to disturb Kacey. "We're just here to give Miss Teague a haircut. She knew we were coming," she explained as the nurse moved in quietly, cranked up the bed until Sinead was in a sitting position, and began to unwind the bandages around her head. She also propped an extra pillow behind her neck to keep her head straight, and the back of it off the bed.
 
Cecelia nodded. "I understand." She didn't, really. Well, he was injured too, she supposed. He certainly smelled like iodine and bandages, and was pretty sure one of the adults had said something about how he looked. Maybe? Who knew.

Tig had been perfectly happy to sit there rubbing his wife's legs and ankles and ignoring everything else. He had just started to properly zone out when there was a knock and his attention was brought back to where he was and why. He looked up at the nurse and the person she was with and nodded. "Aye. Don't mind me." He didn't like it, but his eyes moved over to Sinead. Not her hair....not her beautiful hair...shit she looked terrible...whiskey sounded really great at the moment...
 
The nurse unwound the bandages around Sinead's head, exposing some of the harsh red stitches and cuts. She helped to hold Sinead's head and turn it so that the steward could trim it evenly. They cut it quite short, so when it was straightened it would fall into a nice bob, but currently it just curled close to her head. It took about ten to fifteen minutes total, and at the end, the steward swept up the hair into her apron, and the nurse rewound the bandages. None of her hair stuck out this time, except at the edges of the bandages. "The bandages will come off in a day or so," she informed Tig. "The swelling is going down very well." They slipped out just as quietly as they'd come.

As soon as the car pulled up to the hospital, Alexa bolted out of the car, weaving through the people, nurses and doctors, back to Sinead's room, almost running into the nurse and the steward. She scrambled onto the bed and pressed herself into Tig's lap, hugging him as tightly as she dared with his sore ribs. She didn't say anything, just pushed herself against him stubbornly.
 
Tig was sitting there, the nurse freshly gone, just staring at Sinead. When Alexa ran in, he almost didn't even notice. He sort of automatically put his arms around her but her squeeze broke him from his daze. He looked down at her and smiled, stroking her hair back from her face gently. "Ye need ta let me up, squirt. I'm gonna be sick." he said in a surprisingly calm voice for someone making that proclamation. He gently ushered her out of his lap and walked over to the bathroom, closing but not locking the door behind him so he could rather violently and very painfully loose the delicious breakfast his wife had cooked for him.

The pair would have a couple of minutes before Cicero and Cecelia made it up, since Alexa was rather adept at running through crowds and the father-daughter-duo were being polite and also carrying up Cicero's luggage. So, the pair had the room to themselves, save the two sleeping women.
 
Alexa blinked in shock as she allowed herself to be pried off. She didn't fully register what he'd said until she heard the retching. Ears back, she crept towards the bathroom and planted herself resolutely at the door. While she waited, she looked over at Sinead and gasped. Her hair was gone. Alexa felt absolutely torn. She needed to stay with Tig, but she should probably warn Cicero as well. She sat down and grabbed her ears, trying to figure out what to do. She couldn't take care of it all. It was just too much!
 
He was glad Kacey was a good cook. Throwing up wasn't ever as horrible when the food tasted good. He cleaned himself up before walking out, scooping up Alexa as if it were a well-practiced motion, puking then picking up his daughter. He stood by the bathroom and held her tightly, hugging her close and starting to sway a bit where he stood. "That's enough o' that, Alexa." he said softly, rubbing her back. "That's enough, now." He shifted her so he could carefully pull her hands away from her ears. "I just got a bit sick from me own injuries." he lied easily, snuggling his face into the girl's hair. "I'm fine, dove. I'm fine. No need for ye tae worry about me, aye?"

He wasn't. He was far from fine. He was a hair's width from snapping. But he couldn't tell her that. "I love ye, 'Lex. More'n anyt'in'."
 
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