⚠️flashback of domestic abuse
Onyx bends his back as he sucks on his pacifier. He straightens his legs out before bending them a little to kick as he rolls over. He lands on his stomach and immediately lays down, tired from the work of getting there.
Harper looks at him through the mirror in her room as she brushes her hair down. She applies some gel to the sides and slicks it, as much as she can, into a low bun.
Yoongi secured an interview for her at the hospital. It's for a receptionist's position but he isn't sure which floor she'll be placed on or in which unit. The woman that he spoke with said that she had a few other interviews to do as well because they need two to three receptionists. They'll be placed based on experience and/or their ability to function in whatever each environment will require.
All of them will essentially have to do the same job. But depending on the unit, there may be more or less work demand and some are faster paced and require better organizational skills than others.
Harper gasps excitedly when she see her son on his stomach. "You did it!" She claps excitedly and Onyx giggles. "I'm so proud of you." She goes over to pick him and kisses his cheeks.
The alarm on her phone goes off, signaling the time of 9:30. She turns it off and looks at herself in the mirror. In dark brown business pants and a creme colored shirt, she's dressed and ready for her interview. Her hair is slicked back, she did a bit of makeup today and she can't find her glasses but that's okay.
Hopefully the lights aren't too bright and she's not given anything with tiny words. Impossible to avoid in a hospital, she knows. But she's got to work with it.
Harper grabs her purse and phone along before walking to the living room. Two knocks on her door alert her that her neighbor is here.
She opens the door and Yoongi looks from her to Onyx and right back to her.
What he's seeing isn't a very vast change but her hair is pulled away from her face again. Her eyes are less dull today and she's even smiling when she sees him.
"Good morning, neighbor."
"Good morning." He replies before swallowing thickly. His brows twitch and Harper steps aside as he looks away from her.
"So I have everything he'll need in the kitchen on the counter. His formula, bottles, two water bottles. There's a pack of wipes and some diapers on the couch. There's some extra clothes too in case he has an accident. You know, the whole thing. Oh-. Let me go get his baby pillow. Probably going to need that." She says as she hands Onyx to him and rushes back to her room.
Yoongi takes the baby and Onyx promptly reaches out for the string to his hoodie again. He grabs hold of it and brings his fist to his mouth.
"I didn't use any dryer sheets when I washed it this time so you're in the clear. Not that you mind anyway. You were gonna eat it either way, huh?"
Onyx smiles at the sound of Yoongi's voice. It's an enjoyable sound for the infant. It's deep but not in a raspy or gruff way. In a smooth, even toned type of way. One that could lull you to sleep from the reading of your favorite book at night.. or just the telling of a story of his.
Onyx finds it calming... soothing.
"Okay. Back with the baby pillow." Harper's out of breath as she hands it to him.
"Thank you. When did he eat last?"
"I just fed him and burped him about 20 minutes ago. I changed him right before I did my hair so like ten minutes ago. He's been staying up a little longer after but he's probably going to be tired soon."
"Okay. I'll probably be popping in and out today. I got a cat and I don't want to leave him completely alone all the time.
"Oh. You can bring him over if you're okay with that. Onyx isn't allergic to cats or dogs so he should be fine. He isn't shedding, is he?"
"No, he isn't. And he's house trained so he won't go anywhere unless it's his litter box. He'll let me know if he has to go."
"Oh, that's good." Harper says with a smile.
Her second alarm goes off and she looks at the time. "Okay, that's my cue. I'm not sure what time I'll be back because I don't know how long this is going to take. But please just call me if you need me." She says, backing out of the apartment.
"I will. Just relax, breathe. You've got this."
"It's been a while since I've been to an interview. I'm a little nervous." Harper admits.
"You'll do great. They're not intimidating people, I promise. They're all really sweet. You'll fit right in." He says with a grin.
"Oh. Thank you." She smiles as her cheeks warm. "I'll see you when I get back. Thank you, again, for doing this for me."
"It's no problem at all. Good luck."
"Thank you." Harper calls as she walks down the hall.
Yoongi watches her get into the elevator before walking over to his apartment. Jewel comes out from the hallway, stretching and yawning after just waking his nap.
Yoongi waits for him to eat and drink before picking him up and bringing him over to Harper's apartment.
"Look, Onyx. I got a new friend." Yoongi says as he sits on the couch. Jewel rubs himself against the man's legs before jumping onto the sofa.
The black cat sees the baby and cautiously sniffs him. Jewel boops Onyx on accident causing him to giggle. The sudden sound makes Jewel move back and look the infant up and down.
Yoongi laughs to himself and reaches out to pet his cat. "It's okay, Jewel. He's just laughing. He's a baby. A tiny human."
Jewel looks at the way that Yoongi holds Onyx comfortably, at a close proximity. If he doesn't deem him a threat, then Jewel figures he shouldn't either.
He sniffs the baby some more before rubbing his back onto his legs, going belly up on Onyx's lap.
"There you go. See? He's harmless." Yoongi uses the infant's hand and pets Jewel's stomach. Onyx looks up at Yoongi with a smile, not paying attention to the petting going on.
"Ready to watch Sesame Street? We can eat applesauce after." He bounces the baby on his leg causing him to cackle. Yoongi can't help but smile with him.
"Look at the difference a better sleep schedule makes. Maybe I should take some notes from you, huh?" He grabs the remote and turns on Sesame Street. That gets Onyx's attention and his big brown eyes focus on the television.
Yoongi also watches the show as Jewel lays against his lap on the couch. He looks to Onyx every now and then as the baby starts to fidget around. He kicks his legs and looks around the living room as if he's never seen it before.
"Are you getting bored?" Yoongi asks him. "You can roll over now so this is probably a little boring for you, isn't it?"
Onyx coos and looks at him. He pulls on the string of the hoodie as he moves his arms up and down and kicks his legs.
"Okay. Come on. Let's play on the floor then." Yoongi sets him down on his back and he rolls over onto his stomach.
"You have a play mat, right? I think so. I should have asked." He talks to himself as he looks around the living room. "Why didn't I think to ask her that?" He questions himself.
The questions did make its way into his mind. Well, in a way. He meant to ask if she had any toys for him that they could play with while she was gone. But for some reason, every thought he had in his mind seemed to disappear the second that she opened the door for him.
"Ah, found it." Yoongi says as he pulls it from the side of the couch.
He unrolls it and sets it up with hanging toys included. He puts Onyx on it and he reaches up for the toys as soon as he sees them. Yoongi lays down on the opposite side of him with his head and shoulders on the mat.
Onyx pulls at one of the hanging toys and frowns when he can't get it off.
"That's a butterfly." Yoongi tells him as he points. "They start off as smaller bugs called caterpillars and when they eat enough and are nice and chunky, they cocoon themselves up and chill in trees for a while. Then they come out as these really pretty butterflies."
"This is a sun." Onyx's eyes follow his fingers.
"It's in the middle of our solar system. Our planet and the other planets revolve around around it. But we also spin on our own too. When we're close to the sun, we get the summer heat. And when we get a little further away, it gets cold like it does for Christmas. And we spin on our own to get day and night.
"And this is a flower. It's a tulip, actually. It's a type of flower. There's all kind of those. Roses, dandelions, carnations, dahlias, peonies. I like tulips, though. They come in all sorts of colors. Yellow is the most popular though I think, along with orange. They come in red, pink and white, too." Yoongi explains to Onyx.
Said baby is blinking slower than ever as he sucks on his pacifier. His eyes roll back as his lids flutter. Jewel jumps off the couch and sniffs his nose and neck before lying next to his warm body and putting quietly.
"And this is a bee." Yoongi continues on, oblivious to the baby falling asleep to the sound of his voice.
"When I work in the emergency room during the summer, people come in for bee stings. They need epi-pens so they can keep breathing properly." He yawns and covers his mouth.
"Oou, sorry." He blinks the tears from yawning away. "Where was I? Oh, the bee."
######
Harper walks into the hospital, looking at the signs as she steps on. She goes to the elevators and pushes the up button, waiting patiently for the lift.
She's nervous already. She's grateful to Yoongi for this opportunity but she feels so out of place all of a sudden. As if everyone's staring at her, looking at her. She's not here for a patient and she doesn't work here. Can they tell? Do they know that she's the odd man out?
The elevator doors open and she compares her attire to that of everyone else's as she steps in and pushes her floor. They work here, she reminds herself.
They're nurses and doctors. She shouldn't compare herself to them. She won't be wearing what they will anyway.
But is what she's wearing okay attire for a receptionist? Should she have worn white? Or blue? Maybe she'd have blended better instead of the shade of the outfit that she chose to wear. She stands out like a sore thumb in a sea of white.
The elevator dings and the doors open for her floor. She gets off followed by a few other people. They disperse, knowing exactly where it is that they need to go. Harper reads the signs and looks side to side, trying to figure out where it is that she should be.
She walks to the left on a whim. If this isn't the right direction, she'll turn around and go back the other way.
Luckily, she finds the receptionist's desk.
The man looks up and greets her with a smile.
"Good morning. What can I help you with?" He asks politely.
"Uhm, I'm actually here for an interview with Dr. Mitchell."
"Ah~ okay. She did tell me that she had one this morning." He says as he stands up. What's your name?"
"Harper. Harper Taylor." She fiddles with she strap of crossbody bag nervously.
"Nice to meet you, Harper. I'm Garrett." He holds his hand out and she shakes it. His grip is firm and professional. Harper arm is kind of limp but she tightens up upon feeling his strength.
"Just give me one minute. I'm going to go back to her office and let her know that you're here."
"Okay." Harper replies quietly.
Garrett steps away from the desk and Harper looks around as she waits for him to come back. It looks like a regular hospital floor. Equipment that she doesn't understand, papers hung up that confuse the hell out of her. A list of the doctors nurses that work the floor.
Harper sees Yoongi's name and looks next to it so see MS.; MD, PhD. She bites the inside of her lip as her eyebrows dip slightly. She knows what MD and PhD are but she's never seen MS before.
She looks at the photos on the wall and her eyes stop their search as they land on Yoongi's photo. His eyes are bright and there's a small smile on his face. It's a professional photo but he still looks happy nonetheless.
She smiles a little at the sight of his before turning back to the desk.
Garrett is walking back over and smiles at her. "She's ready for you. You can come on back, follow me." He waves her on and she follows him down the hall. They walk past rooms and nurses that they both sidestep with ease.
Garrett leads her to the office and she walks in to find a woman with curly hair and skin rich in melanin sitting behind the desk. She's flipping through some papers but looks up when she realizes Harper is there.
"Hello. Good morning!" The woman brightens up immediately.
"Good morning." Harper says back. Garrett closes the door behind him as he leaves.
"You can sit in either one of these chairs. I apologize for the current mess on my desk. There's a lot going on today."
"It's alright. I understand. It's the trauma unit, after all." Harper says and Dr.Mitchell nods with a smile as she quickly organizes the papers.
"That it is." She pulls the folder containing the paper copy of Harper's application and resume out and opens it up. "Okay, let's get started on this. I know you were referred by Dr. Min." She says as she looks over the resume.
"Do you have any receptionist experience? Or direct customer service? I see retail and food service on here."
"Yes." Harper answers. "The most recent job and the one before that are both direct customer service. They should be on that second page. The first is a call center for wireless device. I was the person they'd connect you to for upgrading, bill pay, general questions and basic troubleshooting, things like that. The most recent is an assistant for a therapist's office downtown. That's where I worked before I had my son."
"Ah, I see them. Okay." Dr. Mitchell nods. "Experience with Microsoft Word, Excel, schedule organizing and planning, customer and public outreach, typing proficiency. Good stuff. Why did you leave the call center job? You were there for just seven months."
The question is simple. However, the answer is not. Harper opens her mouth as the memories hit her. The yelling, the screaming, the arguing. The mental and physical abuse on the daily.
"You need to quit that fucking job! I'm not gonna tell you again!" She's yelled at as she cowers against the wall. "Them niggas in there brag about fucking bitches left and right!"
She's snatched up by the collar of her shirt and pulled to the man in front of her. He gets in her face, angry and fuming. Her heart beats erratically in her chest as her warm tears continue to spill over her cheeks.
"You fucking one of them niggas?! Huh? That's why you won't leave?! Trifling ass bitch. I should beat yo' fuckin head in! Quit, Harper!"
He releases her shirt, pushing her body back by her shoulders in the process. She hits her head rather hard on the wall and her arm is pricked by a loose nail.
She grabs her head as she slides down the wall onto the floor. The back of her arm begins to bleed and she chokes up a sob.
"Shut the fuck up with that crying shit. That's all you ever do. You can't see shit you do wrong, you just want to cry about everything." He kicks her over with his sneaker covered foot and she falls over onto her side.
She knows better than to try to get up so she just lies there, curled into herself as she forces her cries to silent sniffles.
"Uhm," Harper swallows thickly and looks down at her hand, intertwining her fingers and rubbing the skin of them. "It was mentally draining for me. We'd get calls everyday being yelled at, cursed out, called out of our names, called slurs sometimes. It's nothing that I can't handle but..."
"It takes a toll." Dr. Mitchell finishes and Harper nods.
"Right."
"I understand." She nods, "I worked at a call center through my college days." She shakes her head. "It's a very under-appreciated job, I'll tell you that."
Harper forces a huff of humor through her nose. Her eyes burn and she blinks rapidly, composing herself before her mind can think to break. She can get through this interview. That's all she needs to do. She can make it just that far.
For Onyx, I need this job. I can make it through this.
"What about the assistant job? You worked there until your maternity leave?" Dr. Mitchell asks.
"Yes. I did." Harper nods.
"Did they not offer you the option to return?" She asks, genuinely curious.
"They did." Harper says. "I couldn't go due to... personal complications."
Dr. Mitchell looks a bit confused by the response and Harper licks over her lips as she looks at her.
"There a compromise of my safety there so I couldn't go back."
"Mmm." Dr. Mitchell nods in understanding. "I understand. I apologize for the confusion. You don't have to explain any further." She assures with a small assuring smile.
"Thank you." Harper says quietly.
Dr. Mitchell goes over the rest of the resume with her and continues the interview on her end with scenario based questions and explaining the requirements and description of the job. Harper listens attentively and nods as she speaks.
"Does this sound like a job you'd be willing to take?" Dr. Mitchell asks and Harper's heart stops as she slowly smiles.
"We do need people for the night shift in both the emergency department and the trauma unit. Based on experience, I would prefer to put you in trauma and then if and when you're comfortable, you could pick up overtime or shifts in the emergency department. I know that you have a little one and I do plan to hire two more people as well. So I can try to be flexible or as stickler with your schedule as you need me to be to accommodate for that."
Harper grins listening to the woman speak. She's hired. She's got the job. She has to thank her lucky stars for this moment. Her lucky stars and Yoongi.
"The night shifts works perfect. I'd prefer if I had a set schedule, if possible, just so that it's be easier for me to plan my son's appointments and things like that."
"Of course. How old is he?"
"Four months."
"Oh, yeah." Dr. Mitchell makes a face of knowing acknowledgment. "He's still learning his own schedule so you've got that to adapt to as well. I definitely understand that. I've got three."
Harper pokes her lips out and raises her eyebrows.
"Right." Dr. Mitchell laughs lightly and Harper joins her. "My youngest will be two in a week and they're all two years apart so I'm sure you can imagine."
"Mhm." Harper hums and nods. Dr. Mitchell laughs at the expression on her face.
"I'm going to email you tomorrow morning with the onboarding paperwork. I'm sure Yoongi told you this but I'm just going to tell you again. Our schedules are made a month out, a month in advance so the schedule for November has already been made. So we'll start training at the end of the month. Uhm, let me see." Dr. Mitchell taps her keyboard on her laptop to unlock it and pull up the scheduled calendar for the month.
"Yeah, so the earliest training day that we have available is November 27th. But I'll email you with all of this information and the employee handbook as well, things like that after you complete the onboarding process. After that, we'll get a tour scheduled of the hospital and the trauma unit itself so you know the environment where you'll be working."
"Okay."
"Sound like a plan?"
"Yes, ma'am." Harper says.
"Alright. Good stuff." Dr. Mitchell pushes her chair back from the desk and Harper stands up. The doctor reaches her hand out and she shakes it. "It was lovely meeting you, Miss Taylor."
"It was lovely meeting you as well. Thank you."
"My pleasure." Dr. Mitchell opens the door for her and they walk out together, parting ways in the hallway.
Harper has a smile on her face as she walks down. She sees Garrett at the receptionist's desk and he looks up at her. Her smile gives her away and he smiles along with her.
"Welcome to the team, Miss Taylor."
"Thank you." Her face warms as she becomes shy. She walks faster down the hall to get to the elevator. She gets out of the building and it the parking garage.
Once she's inside of her car, she inhales deeply and exhales. She did it. She got through it. Now she can get home to her baby.
She pulls out of the parking garage and drives home. She walks into the apartment building and is impatient until she gets to her floor. Harper takes her keys from her purse and unlocks her apartment door.
The sight that she sees stops her in her tracks.
Yoongi is laid out on the activity mat with Onyx curled up against his side. Her son's head is on his bicep and both males are knocked out. Jewel is asleep with his head against Onyx's.
Harper steps into the apartment and closes the door behind her. The sound of the door clicking closed startles Yoongi awake and he snaps his eyes open. He looks in the direction of the door, rubbing his eyes with one hand, allowing Onyx to stay sleep on his other arm.
He sits up and cradles the sleeping baby boy in his arms. "How'd it go?"
Yoongi pushes his hair back and looks at her. His tired expression is soft and just as welcoming as his usual one.
"I'm hired."
He wakes completely up at those words. "What? On the spot?" He tilts his head and Harper nods with an abashed yet proud smile.
Yoongi makes an impressed face and smiles as he stands up. "That's great. I'm happy that it went well. Did she say that she was okay with the night shifts?"
"Yeah. She said that that's what she's hiring for anyway so it won't be a problem."
"Look at you." Yoongi says with enthusiasm in his voice. "Congrats on the job."
"I couldn't have done it without you. Referring me and watching Onyx really are helping."
"All I did was give her your name and send you the application link. Everything else, you did on your own." He smiles as he passes Onyx to her. He scoops Jewel up and puts the activity mat back by the side of the couch.
Looking around, he makes sure that he has everything of his that he brought over.
"How was he?"
"Great. We watched Sesame Street but I think that he got bored because we weren't moving so I took out the activity mat. He fell asleep on it and then... I fell asleep. I didn't realize I was tired like that. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. You don't have to apologize for being sleepy or sleeping. Onyx is okay, you napped at the same time so nothing happened to him. Everyone needs their sleep. Especially surgeons."
"That is true. I'd just prefer to be awake while I'm with him, you know?"
"I understand." Harper nods. "But if you'll be with him after your day shifts then napping with him is likely to happen and that's okay. You'll be tired."
Yoongi realizes that she's right. He will be tired. He always naps when he gets off of work.
"Well, that'll be our thing then. Sesame Street and naps with Yoongi."
"That sounds like a good plan."
Harper smiles at him as Onyx turns in her arms. She adjusts him so that his body is against her while his cheek is pressed against her chest. She and Yoongi walk to her front door and he opens it up.
"I'll see you." He says as he leaves. His eyes are focused on her.
"See you." She replies with a small wave before she closes her door.
And when the lock clicks, the dam breaks.
In the comfort of her own home, Harper hugs her son to her as she breaks down.
A|N
#Our Healing Harper Yoongi <3