(no subject)

[aspectabund.insanejournal.com]

Who: Maddy, Emma, Thomas, Jamie, and Charlotte Kemp
What: Waking up
When: Wednesday night/early Thursday morning
Where: Maddy's hospital room
Warnings: Discussion of torture, language, TBD


As soon as Maddy had burst through the hospital doors on her stretcher, she felt herself marginally unclench. True, people were shining lights in her eyes, and everything hurt. And they asked her all sorts of questions. And she had to get her head examined and patched up, and that kind of sucked. But the doctors had determined her concussion was mild, and put something in her IV to help her sleep. Oblivion came knocking quickly, and Maddy embraced it gratefully.

When she woke again, it was in a dim, private room. Her hands and arms were covered in clean white bandages, and she had an IV in one arm. She felt lighter than she had in the past three days, and it took her a while to put two and two together, and to realize she was on painkillers. Good ones, if the blissful feeling was any indication.

She tried to sit up, but that made things pull funny, so she didn't try too hard. She looked around for someone, so she could ask where she was. She hoped her mother would show up soon.

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[aspectabund.insanejournal.com]

Maddy tried to sit up again, which thankfully went a bit better the second time around. "I think I can manage, if you put it next to my right hand," she replied. "But thanks, Mom."

[thomas_kemp]

Emma did so and then she planted a kiss on Maddy's head again before heading back out into the waiting room where Thomas, Charlotte and Jamie were looking deeply concerned.

"She says someone took her and among other things, played mind games with her. She said...it wore your faces, Tommy and Charlotte. And that's why she screamed when she saw you."

"Wore our faces?" Thomas asked, confused. He glanced at Jamie, wondering if it was something supernatural. Jamie was the only one here who knew about that.

[aspectabund.insanejournal.com]

Jamie looked back at his father, one eyebrow raised. That couldn't be anything good.

"I could hear her from down the hall, she sounded terrified," he said aloud. "Whoever took her must have been severely fucked up."

Maddy, meanwhile, had managed a few sips of water and some deep breaths. She was starting to calm down, and a nurse had come in to check on her. "Doing alright, sweetie?" she asked, checking Maddy's vitals. "You gave us quite a turn a little bit ago. Pain coming back?"

"A little," Maddy said, only fibbing a bit. Her torso was starting to hurt again, but she couldn't even begin to explain her reaction to the nurse.

The nurse wrote some things down and checked her IV bag. "It's time to switch the bags anyway, I'll see about getting you some more painkillers," she promised.

"Thank you," Maddy replied, laying back down after a few more sips of water.

[thomas_kemp]

Charlotte didn't understand what any of it meant, but she did know she wasn't going anywhere. Not until she knew Maddy was okay. "Fucking hell. If I'm just going to freak her out, I'll stay out here," she said firmly.

"Me too," Thomas echoed.

"Tommy, you need to go home and get some rest. You can come back tomorrow," Emma informed him.

He knew she was right, but he wanted to be with his sister. And if this was some immortal messing with her, he was going to have to explain it eventually. It was probably going to come off better when she didn't scream upon seeing his face. Hell, he should probably tell his mother, Anna and Charlotte too. But it would have to wait. "I suppose-" he said, non-committally. Instead he looked at his son to see what Jamie wanted to do.

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"Dad, Grandma's right," Jamie said. "You're still recovering, you should get some rest. I'll stay here, maybe once she's calmer, I can go in and see her. She didn't say anything about me, did she?" he asked his grandmother.

[thomas_kemp]

Emma shook her head. "She didn't mention your name, Lovey."

It made Thomas feel a little better if Jamie was staying here. "I'll take you home and come back. And someone can drop Jamie home later," Charlotte promised Thomas.

He groaned, but finally nodded. "Okay. Just...tell her I love her?" he said, and he gave his mother and son a hug before letting Charlotte help him to her car.

Emma gave Jamie's shoulder a squeeze. "Let me just ask her if it's okay for you to come in," she said, and she ducked back into her daughter's room.

"Darling, Jamie's here. Is it okay if he comes in?"

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

Jamie hugged his dad goodbye. "I'll tell her," he promised. "You go and get some rest, OK? I'll call you if anything happens."

Maddy sat up when her mom came back in. "Hmm? Oh! Sure, sure," she said. "Send him in." For some reason, her tormentor had never changed into Jamie. She supposed that, when it had gotten the desired reactions out of her by turning into Tommy and Char, she didn't have to. Maddy still couldn't help but feel absurdly grateful.

[and-in-between.insanejournal.com]

Emma waved Jamie in as well and then she returned to her seat. She was relieved that, whatever had happened, it hadn't made Maddy afraid of her. "Do you need anything else, my darling?"

[aspectabund.insanejournal.com]

Maddy waved tiredly from the bed. "Hey, kiddo," she called softly.

"Shit, Aunt Maddy," Jamie said, coming over to her bedside and bending down to give her a gentle hug. "God, I am so sorry this happened to you. It would be great if the people I loved stopped ending up in the hospital."

Maddy managed a small smile. "You and me both, little dude," she said. "But it's good having you here. Tommy and Char...I just can't look at them right now."

She answered Emma, "Maybe a little more water, please? Other than that I'm OK."

[and-in-between.insanejournal.com]

"They understand," Emma assured Maddy as she went to pour more water. "And they love you. How did you get away?" she asked as she handed the glass over.

[aspectabund.insanejournal.com]

"I love them too," Maddy said, clumsily wrapping her good hand around the glass. "At least, I know I do beneath the knee-jerk reaction of terror."

She took a few swallows before answering. "She let me go," she said at last. "She kept complaining that I was too boring, that I didn't put up enough of a fight. So she ditched me in an alley. But she was sort of right," she added, looking down at her hands, unconsciously picking at the bandages. "I didn't put up much of a fight. I folded like a cheap lawn chair. She'd cut and I'd scream, or she'd stab, and I'd just keep crying." She had started to cry a little again, and she angrily wiped them away. "I felt so helpless," she whispered.

[and-in-between.insanejournal.com]

"Maddy," Emma leaned forward to wipe her daughter's tears, even though Maddy had done so as well. "You did put up a fight. You asked to be brought here and you got yourself to safety when you could. You're talking about what you went through. That's fighting, my darling." Emma felt like she might burst into tears as well. Her daughter had experienced such horrible things and yet she was so strong and Emma was so proud.

[aspectabund.insanejournal.com]

"It didn't feel like it, not...during," Maddy replied. "You know how people say they's sell their soul for something? I would have given mine to get free."

Jamie looked up sharply at her comment. If Lucifer was running around, who's to say deals like that couldn't actually happen? At least she said 'would have'.

He took hold of her good hand, squeezing it gently. A strand of her hair got caught between them, and it triggered a memory. "You remember when we were kids?" he asked. "And my hair started growing in like a black dandelion gone to seed, you thought it was the best thing ever and tried to weave flowers into it."

Maddy managed a soft laugh, despite herself. "Yeah," she replied. "All sorts of flowers."

"And that was how we found out I'm allergic to roses," Jamie finished.

[and-in-between.insanejournal.com]

"I have thought the same thing on occasion," Emma replied about the soul business. "Usually to help someone else. But you're free now."

Emma wanted to hug her darling grandson for distracting Maddy with happy memories. He was so precious. "You did look darling before the sneezing began," she added with a fond smile.

She didn't know to worry about someone mentioning selling their soul. To her, it was a figure of speech.

[aspectabund.insanejournal.com]

"Yeah," Maddy agreed. "I am, and I really glad to be free."

Jamie snickered. "Yeah, and I had a rash for a week. But it was fun up until that point."

"You ran around with daisies in your hair all afternoon one summer," Maddy said fondly. "I said I'd take them out before we went home, but you informed me they were your daisies now, and you wanted to wear them." Jamie just laughed.

[and-in-between.insanejournal.com]

"Well the rash disappeared and the memory remains," Emma said with a grin. "I remember the daisies too. Pretty sure there's photos of it somewhere."

[aspectabund.insanejournal.com]

"I'm pretty sure there are photos of all the moments when I'm acting ridiculous." Jamie let out a huge, fake sigh.

Maddy actually smiled. "Probably," she agreed. "But that's because you looked so cute while you were being ridiculous."

[and-in-between.insanejournal.com]

"She's really right. You went through a phase where you loved building forts out of the couch cushions and you liked wearing one of the lampshades on your head because it was round and looked a little like a helmet."

[aspectabund.insanejournal.com]

"Well, yeah," Jamie said. "Forts are awesome, OK. I still think that. But the lampshade probably wouldn't fit over my hair anymore. I also remember a Maddy-phase where she'd paint my nails neon colors and send me home like that."

Maddy snorted, which hurt her head a little, but she didn't mind too much. "Nobody else would let me!" she protested. "You were the only one who sat still long enough."

[and-in-between.insanejournal.com]

Emma didn't remember that and she laughed. "What on Earth did Thomas think of that?"

[aspectabund.insanejournal.com]

"He just sort of rolled his eyes fondly and sighed," Jamie laughed. "It always gone by the time I left for school the next day, he started keeping nail polish remover on hand just for that reason. Glitter is a bitch to get off, by the way."

Maddy snickered. "Feel my pain, little man."

[and-in-between.insanejournal.com]

The idea that Thomas kept nail polish remover around to clean up the antics of his sister was amusing to Emma and she chuckled. "Of course he did," she said fondly. "Though he used to paint his black with this really cheap stuff that smelled terrible. That took forever to come off too and it stained everything. I was glad when he grew out of that."

[aspectabund.insanejournal.com]

Maddy and Jamie both pulled faces as Emma talked.

"Dad wore cheap black nail polish?" Jamie asked. "I can see that, actually."

"I don't remember that," Maddy added. "Then again, Thomas already...9, I think, when I was born, so when he was being all 'rebellious teenager', I was only 5 or 6."

[and-in-between.insanejournal.com]

"He did. And while most of it was stubborn and took forever to remove, other bits would flake off everywhere and I kept finding nail polish in everything. And when I asked him to try to be more careful with it, he flipped me off. Ah, it's nice to know those days are behind us," she said with a nostalgic smile.

[aspectabund.insanejournal.com]

"I had a yellow nail polish like that," Maddy recalled. "Took me an hour to take it off, so I pitched it in the bin and never wore it again."

"It is," she agreed. "I mean, I don't really remember much of those days, but I like the Tommy I know now."

[and-in-between.insanejournal.com]

"So do I," Emma agreed. She had always known Thomas would grow out of it, though she hoped he would do so before he ended up in prison. Not that she had expected him to do so because he had a child, but that was the way it happened.

"Are you tired, or should we continue to be distracting?" she asked her daughter. She was still quite worried about her.

[aspectabund.insanejournal.com]

Maddy yawned, she was pretty tired. "I could definitely sleep, since I haven't for a few days. But I don't really want to be by myself, either."

[and-in-between.insanejournal.com]

"I won't go anywhere," Emma promised her. "I'm staying right here. I love you, my darling girl." She had such retroactive fear, but her daughter was here now, and safe. Horrible things had been done to her, but for now she was out of danger and that was what mattered.

[aspectabund.insanejournal.com]

"Love you too, Mom," Maddy said, yawning more widely this time.

Jamie stood and hugged Maddy again. "I'll go and sit with Aunt Char for a while," he offered. "See how she's doing."

"Tell her I love her, and that I'm sorry?" Maddy asked, squeezing Jamie's hand.

"I will," he promised, hugging his grandmother too, before heading back out to the waiting room.