#sorry i've had like thirteen or fourteen hours to think about this since the release

[angelsswirl]

Petrichor

Eight

"I've lost heart. The forest's scarred. I hear no birds, just TVs and cars."

It had been seven weeks. You knew because you counted. You counted like you were a prisoner waiting for their release day. You counted like you were a seven year old tallying sheep in their head to help them fall asleep.

You counted seven weeks, two days, 5 hours, 37 minutes, and twelve...thirteen...fourteen seconds since you last spoke to either of them.

You were sick to say the least.

Well, face to face you should say.

Jisoo spoke to you once a week out of obligation. Only to organize days that you hung out with Lia.

Chaeyoung would respond to your texts occasionally. Probably when she felt a bit too bad for not answering your calls.

Somehow, in the middle of all that. You had managed to finish your 3rd year of grad. You're not sure how. You'd been working on autopilot.

You were tired. Exhausted even. And you're not even sure why.

Your phone rung. You'd hate to admit that you had hoped it was one of them. Luckily, you don't have to as your hopes were admittedly dashed upon looking at caller id.

It's your father.

"Hey, Kiddo." You decided not to overthink the dejection in his voice. He better choose his next words carefully because you don't think you can take much more of anything really.

"Hey, dad. What's up?"

"You mind coming down to Mount Sinai? It's your mom."

You must have murdered someone really important in a past life. Surely, that is the only explanation for why you would deserve any of this.

The rest of your afternoon is performed using the ever allusive autopilot feature of your brain.

You stared at your phone for a few minutes after getting dressed. You can't quite remember if you used it. You doesn't feel any worse than you did before so you assmumed you didn't.

You navigated the streets of New York and then the hospital quickly. You had been here a couple of times before.

You caught up with your father and younger brother. Your father doesn't look as concerned as he probably could, and that served to make both siblings feel better.

Kameron, your younger brother, looked about the same as when you saw him last. Which was 2 years ago. He was in his third year of undergraduate at Yale, and rarely left campus. You wondered when he would have found the time to come back up from Connecticut.

"They just took Maria back to emergency surgery. There were a lot of big words that I honestly think the doctor made up but what I think he was saying it was her kidney's again." George shrugged helplessly.

You just nodded.

"Hey, are you okay? What's going on?"

You turned around with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you doing here?"

"You asked me to come."

~•~

Can you come meet me at Mount Sinai? It's my mom.

I'm so sorry, Y/N. I'm stuck at work.

~•~

Can you come meet me at Mount Sinai? It's my mom.

Omw

~•~

"Oh."

Apparently you had used your phone.

"Thank you, Jisoo." You sniffed.

Lia is clinging to Jisoo's neck sleepily.

You gestured vaguely to the waiting room a few feet away, "You can go sit in there. I'll be there in a bit."

Jisoo looked as though she wanted to say something further, but instead decided against it. She shuffled to the waiting room. Lia beginning to rouse from her apparent sleep deprivation.

You're true to your word. Twenty minutes later, you sat heavily in an uncomfortable, slightly outdated chair. Your face immediately found the palms of your hands.

"Thank you for coming."

Jisoo shrugged, Lia grumbled at being moved, "It isn't a big deal. You needed someone so I came."

You, only half listening, nodded slowly.

You both sat in silence. The general hustle and bustle of the hospital fluttering around you.

Jisoo still looked as though she wanted to say something.

You eventually spoke up. You stared straight ahead into the empty room. "I've been so fucking tired recently. Like for no goddamn reason. And tmi but, I keep going to the bathroom like every half hour, and it's not like I've been drinking more than I normally do. I hope I don't have what my mom has."

Jisoo's eyebrows knitted together. She thought back to something you weren't privy to. She grimaced slightly, "No, I don't think you have what your mom has." She doesn't elaborate further.

"I know you probably don't want to here this, but I'm so sorry. To both of you. I met you guys coincidentally on the same day, and I liked you so much, and it all got out of control so quickly." You decided you were all cried out at this point. You shrugged one of your shoulders and shook your head.

"I get it-"

"You do?"

"No, but it's okay. I'm still a bit upset, but I think that's just the alpha being stubborn."

You nodded and took a deep breath.

"Kiddo?" You turned your head in the direction of your father. He gestured for you to come to him.

Your dad had exactly two emotions. 'Just happy to be here', and 'mildly uncomfortable with what's currently happening'. Those two emotions generally caused his face to do the exact same thing, so he was very hard to read.

"The doc just came back for an update. Your mom is stable and everything is going well. Still going to be in the OR for a couple more hours." It was 'Just happy to be here'.

"Did he say what happened?"

George shrugged, "I'm sure he would if I asked, but I feel better not knowing."

"That's fair."

"Okay, just wanted to let you know. You can go back to your girlfriend now."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Yeah alright. Anyway, love you, kiddo. I'll come get you when she's ready and awake."

You blushed heavily.

~•~

"Now you said there were two. Where's the other one?" Your mom inquired. She had gotten out of surgery about two hours before. You had urged Jisoo to go home in the meantime. Lisa and Jennie were on their way, and Jisoo definitely needed to get Lia to bed at a decent hour.

"She got caught up at work. No big deal." You shrugged. You felt a bit bad for Chaeyoung. Your mom was most definitely going to judge her for this.

"I beg to differ, but quite frankly I don't have the energy to rant about it."

"Thank god."

Maria slapped you lightly on the hand.

It's then that your phone rings.

"See, she's calling now." You exclaimed. Your mother rolled her eyes.

"Hey."

"Hi...I'm sorry I couldn't be there. Some days I really hate my job. But nevermind that, is everything okay?"

"Yeah. Everything is cool now. My mother is just very dramatic and never does anything half assed." Maria swatted you again.

"Okay, that's great!"

"I'm sorry, Chaeyoung-"

"You don't have to apologize. It's okay. Um, I'll talk to you again...later." Rosé hung up quickly. You tried to hide your pained frown from your mother.

You didn't succeed.

You turned back to your mother. Her lips pursed. Lisa, who had been sitting uncharacteristically quietly, raised an eyebrow.

You decided to keep quiet.

Unfortunately, it seemed their was only one way to ever get back to somewhere close to where you had been with both Chaeyoung and Jisoo.

You had to finally make a decision.

Fuck.

[i-like-her-like-that]

Do you ever think about how he says "My real wife knows I'm not scared of the water" and that's like

Foreshadowing for Get In The Water and The Challenge

Because Penelope is like "oh golly gee that's a strange storm I wonder what caused it :0 ANYWAYS guess what chat I love my husband I have faith in him"

And meanwhile Poseidon and Odysseus are having their fight

And he's not afraid of Poseidon

And she knows that ?