𝙍𝙀𝙈𝙀𝘿𝙔- [MAJOR EDITING]

TWENTY

GOOD HEALTH AND PIONEERING
.

If it weren't for Steve waking her up and driving her to the hospital the next morning, Sadie would have slept right through her alarm and missed visiting hours. He'd slept on the couch again, which made her feel impossibly guilty, but if Sadie was honest with herself, even that had been a bad idea.

The morning as it was, was far too blissful. She couldn't imagine what would've been like if Steve had taken up her offer to sleep beside her, and build a wall of pillows between them. Sadie thought he probably understood that the wall wouldn't prove as much of a barrier, and she knew it too. She was glad at least one of them was sensible.

Now, they sat together, Sadie leaning against him, Steve sketching the sunflowers that rested on her mother's table. The movements of his hands were feather light, the strokes of the pencil even softer. Sadie couldn't take her eyes off it.

"You'd think you would be watching me more closely, Doctor Moore." Shan's voice caused both Sadie and Steve to jump- but her momentary shock made way for immense relief. Shan Moore was finally awake, twenty-six hours after her first surgery.

"Ma," Sadie said, with a gasp as she rushed to her mother's side, and kissed her on both cheeks. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling fine, if anything, my head hurts a little but... Strange did crack open my skull," Shan smiled. "Now, Shelly-girl, did I not teach you good manners? We never leave a guest unintroduced."

"Oh," Sadie grinned. "Mom, this is Steve, the one I was telling you about."

"It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am," Steve smiled, politely.

He went to shake Shan's hand, but Sadie already knew that was a bad choice. She smiled fondly at the two of them as Shan took Steve's hand in her own, turned over his palm, and stared at them.

"Do you want to know your future, boy?" Shan said, a grin on her face.

"I wouldn't want to tire you," Steve said, but Shan's contagious smile had already spread, and he was mirroring the expression.

"Mom, let's at least get you a doctor, first," Sadie said, pressing the call button. "Wyatt's the neuro on call, he'll do a good enough job."

"Tsk, Shell, you're no fun- she's no fun, is she?"

"I'm plenty fun!" Sadie laughed. "Aren't I, Steve?"

"Hey," Steve chuckled, putting up his hands and taking a step back. "Not my place— this seems like a family feud."

"You're a traitor," Sadie told him, before handing her mother some new headwraps. "And I'm guessing you don't want these, ma'am?"

"Oh, I never said that," Shan said, inspecting the vibrant materials. "Well, Shell if you won't let me do a reading, then you gotta go to Josephine." Shan then turned to Steve. "Now, Steve. I consider myself a good, Christian woman-"

"Yeah, that's what she puts on her dating profiles," Sadie snorted.

"I took you to church, didn't I?" Shan said, and Sadie couldn't argue with that. "As I was saying- I'm a good, Christian woman, but sometimes you gotta indulge a little. You just take it all with a pinch of salt. Shell, take him to Josephine."

"What, Josephine all the way in the Heights?" Sadie asked, with a laugh.

She'd never been to visit the notorious New York fortune teller, but she'd heard tales of eerily accurate predictions. Rosa Arnold from eighth grade would be the first to marry, and she was. Harry McKenzie from legal would suffer a tremendous loss, and he was fired that same week- even Adrianne had been told she would discover a miracle, the same year young Jacob was conceived.