Red Star

After the Fire Part 3

"Same time on Friday?" Frank pulls out his weekly planner from a drawer in his desk and after receiving the nod he was expecting regardless, scribes Brandon's name in block capitals.

Brandon is silent as he hastily wraps a scarf around his neck and retrieves his coat from the back of the chair he had been sitting on. He's also silent as he turns away and walks solemnly towards the door. His hand meets the cold metal of the door handle and he pulls it downwards to release the lock on the door, but then stops and stills.

"Is she coming tomorrow?" Nothing higher than a whisper, but Frank hears it all the same.

"Yes," Frank admits after a brief pause. "She's not fit to go by my standards, but she's adamant that she needs to be there." There's not much else he can legally say, and he has already pushed the boundaries as it is, and Brandon can tell, but it would be obvious to anyone that Brandon needed an answer and it would seem almost cruel to deprive him anymore than he already has been. It's been about two weeks and a half since Brandon's been allowed to see her, and even though during their sessions he's vented about the restriction more than he could count on his hands, Brandon knows it shows in the way he just stands.

One of the first things he's found himself doing more and more recently is staring at himself for hours on end in his mirror. He has no idea what he's looking for. Maybe looking for some sort of sign that he doesn't look like the mess of a person he actually feels. He never finds it, but what he is finding more and more often is that he can't recognise himself at all. He wasn't even injured, but he could have been. That's how he found the deep root of it all. He thinks it should have been him. If it had been him, Rosa wouldn't be here, Douglas would get over it eventually and Ralph would be alive.

If that's how he feels and he wasn't even involved in the incident, he dreads to think how Rosa is.

"Will you be there with her?" He turns around to face Frank, his hand still latched onto the door handle.

"I won't let her go without me. That's the compromise. She goes, but so must I," Frank sighs, running a tired hand through his thinning hair. It's hard to not feel sorry for Frank. Last time Brandon had been here, Frank had admitted that the only clients he was working with were the ones affected by Red Star, which meant him, Douglas and Rosa. Frank always looked tired, but in the last week, he just looks constantly exhausted. Brandon could bet all his money that it wouldn't be him or Douglas causing him the most trouble. Rosa was always stubborn and it feels good for Brandon to know that hasn't been taken away from her. Yet. "I shouldn't say this at all, but there's no way of knowing how she'll react. Brandon, it could be very bad."

"Do you want me to tell people to keep their distance?" Honestly, Brandon knows everyone there tomorrow will not hesitate to gawk or try to ask her how she's holding up, what she's going to do, if she misses him and if she needs anything. Brandon, who probably knew Rosa the best, knows without a doubt that Rosa detests patronising small talk like that.

Of course she needs something. Everyone there tomorrow will need the same thing. They all need Ralph back in their lives.

"If you wouldn't mind," He smiles gratefully. "I may even arrive with her a little bit on the late side so we can just slide into the back row. Honestly, I have no idea, except from what I can gather from her reaction to his passing, to how close they actually were. She won't tell me a thing."

Brandon isn't that surprised. Even Ros didn't really know how close they were until the end.

"Let's just say, if they had both made it through the incident alive, they would have probably quit quite quickly after and gotten together, maybe even gotten marri-" Brandon stops himself before he can feel himself begin to choke up.