#quinn bailey and anika kiyoko mentions

[ghostfaceaddams]

Tara Argh Carpenter - a scream drabble

summary: Tara is having trouble juggling her scars and finding a Halloween costume. Sam, as always, is there for her.

warnings: cussing, scars, mentions of violence. I think that's all?

word count: 1,567

a/n: This lil idea just popped in my head the other day and I shared it with @psychofreakforc who loved it. So this is for her and any other lovers of the Carpenter sisters! Hope you all enjoy.

The doctors told Tara that regaining full sensations in her left hand was slim. 

The doctors also told Tara that she’d always have a limp and metal stuck in her leg because the break was so severe. 

But the doctors had also advised her not to play sports due to her asthma, and she had been the reigning star player on her soccer team for five years straight. 

Surviving seven stabs and a broken leg was impressive enough. Surely these docs were just quacks. They didn’t know her. They didn’t know Tara. No one knew exactly who the Tara Carpenter was except for one single person. 

And that person was her older sister: Samantha Carpenter. 

Sure, Sam had abandoned her five years. But Sam had come back when Tara needed her most and she apologized for her absence. “I’m never going to leave your side again. I promise.” That’s what the older, taller Carpenter had said to the younger, smaller Carpenter. 

Sam had her reasons and her apologies, and the sisters had shared trauma from their boyfriend and girlfriend trying to murder them and their friends. They both had Christina Carpenter as their mother. 

With all of that being said, Tara knew - she knew that there was one person who always believed in her no matter what and that was Sam. Besides, Tara was constantly proving people wrong. She proved Christina wrong when she said she wouldn’t last a week after her birth, she proved all those taller kids wrong at soccer, and she proved Amber wrong. 

Tara knew she wasn’t going to magically heal over night and that some parts would take longer than others. She’d waited five years for Sam to come back to her, she was a patient person. 

But it’s October now, and Halloween is only a week away, and she can’t find a costume for the big party one of the frat houses were going to throw. Every outfit either looked weird on her or clashed too much with her scars. And she still needed that damn cane to walk on, which didn’t match any costume. 

She guessed she could go as an old lady. Old ladies use canes to get around. But Tara’s cane was also special. 

With a cane, you use the hand opposite of the injury. Which is fine and dandy if your ex didn’t snap your right leg in half then shove a knife through your left hand. So, her grip wasn’t the best suffice to say. Google Kerry Weaver from ER and you’ll know exactly the type of cane Tara had. 

She growled as she tossed the cowgirl hat Anika had given her to the floor. Anika and Quinn had suggested a Cowgirl Barbie (Margot Robbie representation!) and Tara figured it was worth a shot. It almost worked. Almost. 

“Hey, sweet girl.” 

Tara glared at the visitor as she eased herself down to her bed. 

Kirby tossed her hands up with her eyebrows in surrender. “Woah. What’s the fuck-the-world glare for?” 

“Maybe this is just my resting face, Kirby.” 

The blonde shaped her lips into an o. She just got called her first name, that meant Tara was in a mood. Kirby said nothing as she left. 

Tara figured that was it - hoped it was, she didn’t have the energy to deal with any bullshit at the moment - but of course it wasn’t.  Barely two seconds later and there Sam was, standing in the doorway with her head innocently cocked to the side. 

“Hey, babygirl. What’s wrong?” 

That was a hilarious remark. Tara almost told Sam she should be a stand up comedian. 

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong is that my body is fucked up and I can’t find a fucking decent Halloween costume to wear! What nineteen-year-old shows up to a party with a legit limp and cane?” She went with that instead. 

Sam didn’t say anything. She just sat down next to her trembling baby sister and cupped the shell of Tara’s tense shoulder blade. 

Tara’s entire body twitched as if she’d been stung. She moved away from her sister with a whiny, “Sammy” but it was no use. Sam saw the way Tara was trembling with rage and knew that soon enough it was going to fester into sobs. 

Sam just rubbed Tara’s back soothingly, easing the younger girl into the crying stage. And when Tara ended the next phase, Sam was there to pull the small girl against her. As Tara curled into Sam’s side to hide away from the world, Sam wrapped her arms around Tara and solidified the wall between Tara and the darkness of the world. 

It wasn’t until Tara’s sobs had receded to shaky breaths that Sam spoke. She made sure to give Tara her spare inhaler so that she could have a clear mind and not a clenched chest to listen to Sam. 

“Tar, your scars-“ 

“Sam, I swear, if you say that my scars are beautiful and I should embrace them, I will throw myself down the stairs.” Tara threatened with a wobbly voice. 

The both of them shared a terse, watery chuckle before silence settled over them. Sam took the moment to admire her baby sister’s side profile. Her eyes picked up on the barely noticeable scar on Tara’s chin. It was just a speck, barely noticeable, but Sam remembered it as the plate Christina had thrown and a shard had nicked Tara. 

It wasn’t bad at all, but Tara had sobbed and sobbed after it happened. Sam cleaned the little girl up and took Tara to her bedroom to read a story to the younger girl until she was calm. 

Sam was always taking care of Tara. Tara wanted to be able to take care of Sam too. 

Tara took another puff from her inhaler, blowing Sam from the past to the present. 

“Your scars don’t have to be a bad thing, Tara. They don’t need to be the focus of you.” 

Tara screwed her face up in bewilderment. She didn’t want any sort of motivational speech about her scars to love them. 

“Sam-“ 

“Come on, what was your favorite episode of Scooby-Doo as a kid?” 

Okay, now Tara was lost. “I don’t know, that was forever ago.” 

“It was the one with the pirate! Remember? What was his name? It had something to do with a beard…” 

Tara shook her head. She couldn’t believe she was actually playing into this. 

“The Ghost of Redbeard.” 

Sam clapped excitedly and gave a slight nudge to Tara. “Pirate Redbeard! Yes!” 

Tara nodded her head, a grin slicing across her lips despite not wanting to. “Yeah, but it was the movie I was obsessed with. Pirates Ahoy!” 

Now it was Sam’s turn to be lost. “They did pirates more than once?” 

Tara laughed at her older sister. 

“Okay, even better then. There’s numerous representation of pirates in Scooby-Doo, and there’s a whole movie series based on pirates.” 

Tara raised her eyebrows. “You mean Pirates of the Caribbean?” 

“Yeah, that.” 

Tara snorted at her sister. 

“Pirates are very common. And what do you think of when you first hear the word pirate?” 

Tara wrinkled her nose up as she shrugged. “I don’t know. Arrrrg matey! Give me yer money!” 

Sam couldn’t contain the laughter from bubbling over at Tara’s (awful) interpretation of a pirate. At first, the younger girl could only blush and shake her head, pouting at her older sister. But then Tara started to grin, and she ended up laughing along with Sam. 

It felt like Sam needed an inhaler this time, she couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed that hard. Or when was the last time Tara laughed that hard. She wiped the tears from her eyes and sniffed before continuing. 

“No, but good guess.” 

“A plank?” Tara guessed next. 

Sam shook her head again. The other girl sighed, clearly exasperated. 

“Come on, Sammy. I’m tired of guessing.” 

“A wooden foot and a hook for a hand!” 

Oh. 

Tara stared at her sister, not really knowing what to say to that. 

“It’s your leg you’re most worried about, right? And there’s no way to hide the scar on your hand. So, use it to your advantage! Be a pirate!” 

It was true that boats, jewels slash money, and those replacements were the first thing to come to mind when associating pirates with things. And it was true that, in a way, Tara did have a wooden foot and a hooked hand. 

The third truth was that Tara used to love pirates, only because she’d play it with her friends and Amber would get to save her at the end. She missed having Amber as her hero instead of her villain. 

“Okay. A pirate it is then.” Tara confirmed. 

The squeal that came out next wasn’t from Sam but from Quinn. The Carpenter sisters scoffed with a smile on their faces as the redhead went into a long spiel about helping Tara be the sexiest pirate anyone had ever seen. “Maybe someone has a pirate kink.” Had been said. 

In the end, Tara was still limping and she couldn’t feel everything in her left hand. But she did go to the party and have a good time. That was proving the people who thought her injuries would ruin her life, wrong. 

And Sam was there with a beaming smile on her face.