tansy flowers are derived from the greek word for deathless. they symbolize immortality, and a declaration of war . . .
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FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 2018
All five of (Y/N)'s roommates were getting restless. They'd been in the waiting room for three and a half hours, and still── no word about (Y/N)'s condition. It left a lot of room for anxiety. No, anxiety wasn't a strong enough word. They were terrified. This sweet, sweet girl that'd found her way into their lives... might not even make it. How could anyone do this to her? And how were any of them supposed to possibly begin to live without her?
"How... How bad was the wound?" Naoki asked. None of them had talked much while waiting. Other than Elijah giving a vague explanation of what happened── as his own understanding was still pretty vague, in truth── they'd kept mostly quiet. It wasn't that they were angry with each other. No, jealousy seemed so trivial now, when (Y/N) wasn't safe. Rather, it was the fear tearing each of them apart that kept them silent. They weren't sure they could say more than a few words without crying. But Naoki broke the silence to ask what they'd all been wondering fearfully. He looked to Elijah, standing in the corner of the room. All of them were feeling restless, it just manifested differently. Elijah refused to sit, and remained standing. Lori was pacing around. Silas was tapping his foot, and chewing on his fingernails. Aziza's leg was bouncing furiously. And Naoki couldn't stop shifting in his seat, finding any comfort impossible when he was so afraid.
Elijah turned to Naoki, but slowly looked at each of them, as he realized they were all listening intently. "It was... really, really bad... She lost so much blood, it was all over her shirt── and she was so out of it. She kept passing out, a─and sometimes when she was conscious, she wasn't making any sense──" His voice was breaking, as he blinked back tears.
None of them had ever seen him cry before.
"She'll definitely need stitches," Naoki muttered. Even with his incomplete nursing education, his medical knowledge was pretty extensive. So he was trying to use that to analyze (Y/N)'s condition and what she might need for care later on. "A blood transfusion, too." He looked back up. "Did they get her blood type?"
Elijah nodded. "She was able to tell the EMTs while we were still in the ambulance, and they told the surgeon."
"Surgeon?" Lori's voice wavered."They're doing surgery?"
Swallowing back tears again, Elijah hummed. "Yeah, they... they're worried the knife pierced her stomach, and it may cause digestive issues."
That sucked all of the air out of the room. She'd lost a lot of blood. The wound was deep. Might've been deep enough to pierce her organs. None of this sounded like good news.
"I can't lose her..." Silas mumbled, tears forming in his hazel eyes, and dripping down his face one by one.
"We won't," Aziza said insistently. All at once, she went still. As if she were forcing herself to be calm by putting on a show of confidence. But they could all see the fear in her dark eyes. "It's gonna be... rough, for a while. But we're not losing her."
They each nodded to themselves. Even Aziza, as she was still desperately trying to convince herself her words were true.
'(Y/N) promised...' Elijah reminded himself. 'She promised she would be okay. And she has to be. I have to protect her.' For the very first time all day, his thoughts shifted a little away from (Y/N), and towards her attacker. She'd described him as a creepy man in an alley── what a cliché── whom she'd seen before. And, while they were waiting for the ambulance to come and she was slipping in and out of awareness, she'd cried and talked about his cold, blue eyes. It wasn't much of a description to go off of, but it would have to be enough. Elijah needed to find this man, and──
"You're all here for Miss (L/N)?"
The nurse's sudden voice snapped them all out of their troubled thoughts, as their eyes shot to her.
She smiled, somewhat nervously. Something about these guys just seemed a little... unhinged. But stress does a lot to a person, and it affects everybody differently, she reasoned. "I have good news," she started, signalling to them that they could breathe again. "(Y/N)'s stomach was pierced, but it was small. The surgeon was able to patch it up, and though it'll cause her some discomfort, especially at first── she shouldn't suffer from too many complications." She smiled then, more genuinely. This was the good part of her job. Getting to tell patients' loved ones that they survived. She wished it were all good news. "She's gonna be okay."
Relieved smiles broke amongst the five of them. They couldn't begin to express how thankful they were that she would pull through...
...And how determined each felt to ensure nothing like this ever happened to her again.
"Can we visit her?" Lori asked immediately. She needed to see (Y/N), to have physical evidence proving her well-being. And to cherish each of those beautiful features of her's in a renewed way. Knowing she could've lost her made Lori all the more focused on worshipping (Y/N) for as long as she could.
"I'm sorry, visiting hours are over," she apologized, gesturing to the clock on the wall reading 10:13 p.m. "But I recommend you go home, get some rest, and come back and visit her at 7, when we allow visitors again."
Each of them immediately dismissed the idea of going home. They would stay right here, as close to (Y/N) as they could.
"We're staying," Elijah spoke for all of them.
The nurse sighed, and nodded. "I understand," she said. "Alright, if you need anything, I'm Nurse Lopez── Andrea. Whichever works. Just ask for me, yeah?"
Aziza smiled softly. "Thank you, Nurse Lopez. We appreciate you."
As Andrea walked away, presumably to go attend to other patients' families, each of them slouched a little. Lori sat down in one of the stiff, plastic chairs. Elijah walked forward, but ultimately just ended up standing in a different corner. He couldn't let himself relax until he saw (Y/N).
"Fuck..." Aziza breathed out, laying her face in her hands. She was exhausted, but sleep was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment.
Silas looked around at each of his roommates, recognizing the same panic and vehement insistence on protecting (Y/N) that he felt in each of them. He knew they were slipping. Was a bit more lucidly self-aware about the darker side of these thought patterns. But he also knew that he couldn't stop himself. And neither could they. He sighed. "What do we do?"
Naoki rocked back in his chair once, before standing up and taking a few steps. "I... I don't know..." All he knew was that he needed to keep (Y/N) safe. Even if he didn't deserve to stand by her side, he wouldn't let anything happen to her.
Elijah shook his head, and shifted. "I know exactly what I'm gonna do," he muttered, pacing around the room at a very slow pace. "I'm gonna find the son of a bitch that did this, and I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna gut him for hurting her like this."
Lori was the only one who seemed surprised by this. "Wait, are you serious? Would you really..." She lowered her voice. "...kill someone?"
Naoki scoffed. "Like you don't wanna do the exact same thing."
Lori didn't respond. She wasn't sure what to think about that. Truth be told, she was yet to consider her darling's attacker. Lori was only concerned with her safety. But... there was a strange darkness brewing in the hollow of her chest at the thought of someone hurting her sweetheart. (Y/N) deserved to be safe and happy. Lori was supposed to make sure she stayed that way. But someone... someone had gotten in the way of that.
But she'd never wanted to hurt anybody like that. She was very anti-violence! But her darker desires, though undefined at the moment, were slowly building in depth and assurance that whatever it took to protect (Y/N) was completely necessary and forgivable.
Silas watched the look on Lori's face shift, and looked down at the floor. "We all love her..." That much was abundantly obvious── to everyone but (Y/N) herself. "What do we do?"
Aziza looked up. "We wait for (Y/N) to recover, and then we take her home." She looked at all of them seriously. "Anything else can wait. Our first priority is keeping her safe."
They could all agree on that.
The hours spent in that waiting room seemed to crawl by at a snail's pace. It was agonizing, waiting to see (Y/N) like that. Of course, they were always excited to see her, but knowing how close she came to dying made them incredibly anxious being away from her at all. None of them slept, but they switched back and forth between standing, sitting, and pacing around. Except for Elijah, who remained standing in the corner by the window.
Though, at one point, he did go with Lori to the vending machine to provide some snacks for each of them. As they walked back, snacks stacked in their arms, Lori slowly glanced to look at Elijah.
"What... do you know about the man who stabbed (Y/N)?"
Elijah kept staring forward, though a look of surprise did flash in his blue-gray eyes for just a moment. "He was robbing her. He looked creepy, and she'd seen him before in the same alley. And she said he had cold, blue eyes." He kept his voice steady, as if reciting from an unseen list. But there was a noticeable tension to his form.
Lori hummed. "Do you think we can find out more?"
Elijah hesitated. "Not much. The whole thing scared (Y/N) really bad. I don't wanna bring it up any more than I have to."
She nodded.
Finally, he glanced to the side to watch her. "Why do you ask?" His voice was quiet, as if he already knew what the answer was... and how dangerous it would be.
"Because I may be able to find him."
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SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 2018
The sun slowly rose in the sky, replacing the black of the night with an array of beautiful hues slowly growing more and more vibrant, until it all erupted into the clear blue of the day. After a seemingly endless night of torment, it was finally 7 a.m.── visiting hours.
The nurse from earlier, Andrea, came back out to greet them. "Good morning," she said softly. "I just got Miss (L/N)'s vitals── she's awake, and she's doing good. A little loopy, but good. Just make sure she takes it easy, yeah?" When they nodded, she smiled. "Alright, ready to come see her?"
They definitely didn't need a second invitation.
As soon as they appeared in the doorway and began entering the room, (Y/N)'s pretty (E/C) eyes lit up. She was clearly tired, and not feeling her best. Based on the bucket at her beside, it was a safe bet to say she was nauseous, too. Still, despite the exhaustion evident in her features── the bags under her eyes, the slowness with which her smile appeared on her face── she was clearly excited to see them.
So it was pretty ironic that her first words to them were, "Wow, you guys look like shit."
Naoki exhaled a light laugh. "Yeah, worrying'll do that to you, I guess." He shook his head with a soft smile, taking one of the chairs at her beside. "You still look as beautiful as always."
(Y/N) laughed lightly. "I appreciate your consistency, Naoki, but I do not believe you."
"You always look beautiful, (Y/N)!" Lori beamed. "You just need some rest is all."
"Psshh, no..." (Y/N) lightheartedly waved them off. "I could go to work right now if I..." She paused, holding her hand over her bandaged stomach and twisting her face slightly in pain. "Fuck, that hurts..."
They each stepped much closer at that.
"Do you need anything?" Silas asked first, watching her with a wide-eyed gaze. "Water, food, heating pad?"
(Y/N) winced. "No, nothing hot..." She all but whined, the combination of pain, exhaustion, recovering from anaesthesia, and apparently a possible fever all making her fairly loopy. "Burning up..."
Naoki was already looking at the doctor's chart. "Looks like they prescribed you with some antibiotics... good thing, I think you have a fever." He stepped closer, placed the back of his hand on her forehead, and frowned. "Definitely hot..."
"You flirtin' with me again, Naoki?" (Y/N) mumbled weakly.
Naoki cracked a small smile at that, but altogether remained focused. "I'm gonna go get the nurse, and get her up to speed." He smiled softly down at her. "It's gonna be okay, (Y/N). We got you."
As he disappeared, Elijah took his place at the closest spot to (Y/N)'s face. He sat down in the chair beside her bed.
Now that he was with her, he could finally rest.
"Hey, (Y/N)..." He exhaled, smiling down at her so tenderly.
Had he called her something else before? It seemed like he did, back in the ambulance. She couldn't quite remember what, but it seemed like there was something. But it was all so hazy, she could've just imagined it. "Hey, Eli," she mumbled.
"How you feeling?"
(Y/N) smiled weakly. "I─I'm okay..." Her attempt to sound strong didn't quite work out as planned. "Just gonna... be in pain... for a little while..."
"It's okay, (Y/N)..." He stroked her hair gently. As she thought about it, she realized each of the four currently in the room was touching her in some way. But it was hard to think clearly, so it was easier to focus on one person at a time. And as Elijah was the one currently speaking, he was who she was paying attention to. "We're right here... we're gonna take care of you, babygirl..."
'That was the name...' (Y/N) thought, but it was only as she was already drifting off to sleep. It wasn't likely that she'd remember the moment with much clarity.
But she would remember the feeling of loving care each of them was providing for her. And, for the very first time, the thought finally crossed her mind:
'Is it... is it possible that they like me?'
She was distantly aware of people moving around the room, and she could tell her IV bag was being changed. 'Probably Andrea, then,' she concluded absently. But still, even as she was drifting off into unconsciousness, the question persisted in her mind. Was it possible that they weren't jealous of her, but jealous for her? Could they really see her in a romantic light?
But she ultimately concluded that it was impossible.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
apparently you guys are not a fan of Elijah calling (Y/N) babygirl LMAO. sorry, but in my head he's just such a babygirl dude. the others will have different names for her, though, i promise.