birds of a feather, obx

010. tannyhill

Rosie is curled up in one of the chairs in John B's hospital room. She's half asleep, the girl not having gotten much last night. She tries to stay awake, wanting to make sure nothing happens, but with each passing minute, it's harder and harder to keep her eyes open.

Sarah is sitting on the bed and holding John B's good hand.

"Hi." Rosie's head shoots up when she hears Sarah's voice.

"Hi." John B weakly greets.

Rosie gasps, scrambling off the chair and over to her brother.

"You're alive." She grins, leaning down to hug him.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." John B says, lightly patting her on the head. "Where am I?"

"St. Olive's. You fell from the Hawk's Nest." Sarah tells him. "You have a concussion and a broken wrist." She informs. John B looks over at the cast on his left arm.

"Whoa."

"Pretty cool."

"I need to get outta here. We-- we need to get outta here." John B says, glancing over at Rosie. He groans in pain as he sits up. "DCS is gonna find us--"

"Hang on there, kid. Hang on." They turn to Ward as he walks in. Rosie frowns, not liking the vibe he gives off. While he always acted nice whenever John B took her to work, she still could never get passed some weird feeling she gets around him. She doesn't like it. "Sarah told me everything. About your little adventure, about you running from the DCS, about how you were protecting her in the tower."

"John, I believe I owe you an apology." Ward tells him. "You were honest with me about a small indiscretion, and I went ahead and fired you anyway. And I shouldn't have. Unfortunately, from time to time, I have a bit of a... short fuse." He says. "Ask her." He nods to Sarah who nods.

"It's true." She confirms.

"Anyway, I'd like to make up for it, if you'll let me." Ward says. "I spoke with Sheriff Peterkin, and... I've offered to be your kids' legal guardian, if you'll have me."

"What?" John B asks.

"I'm good." Rosie says.

"It'd mean a roof over your head and no more running from the DCS." Ward says.

John B looks at Sarah who smiles.

"Sure, yeah." John B says and Rosie turns to him with wide eyes, her jaw falling slack. "Sounds good."

"Okay, then, kids... welcome to the family." Ward smiles. Rosie grimaces. The only family she cares about is her brother and the other pogues. "I can go get the doctor to come check on him. Be right back." Ward leaves.

"I don't wanna live with them. Ward's creepy and Rafe is mean." Rosie whines. "And they're kooks. I don't wanna live with kooks. I'd rather live with Cora and JJ."

"Trust me, you would not rather live with Cora and JJ." John B says.

"I'll, uh... let you two talk." Sarah says, leaving the room.

"Look, Rosie Posie--"

"I hate that name."

"I know, but I love it." John B teasingly grins earning an eye roll from the girl in return. "Look, we're just living in their house. It's not like we're about to be wholesome family dinners or anything. We'll barely be there. It's not a prison, we're not gonna be trapped there or anything."

"But--"

"And Rafe won't touch you." John B promises, smoothing down her stray hairs. "It's just a place to live so we don't have to worry about DCS right now. That's it."