Uh, so I got really bored in class and this was kind of the outcome. It falls after season ten but after that, there's no real context. It's also my first attempt at really trying to write Georgie or Jade so I'm hoping that kind of went okay.
~TLL~
It wasn't really the type of thing that anyone expected to hear. Georgie went to bed that night, same as she always did. She maybe stared at her phone a little too long but that wasn't unusual either. Lou had already said her goodnights; it wasn't as if anyone would ever know. She had fallen asleep with her cell phone dropped on the pillow next to her. She had dreamt of being in the barn. At least, she thought she had dreamt of being in the barn. She didn't really remember. She guessed it really didn't matter now. What mattered was vaguely waking up when she heard the phone ring and then turning over in bed, because it was three a.m. and it certainly didn't matter to her. None of her friends would call her at three a.m. and not on the house phone, either. It was probably a dude ranch booking, some misguided future tourist messing up the time zone conversion.
She hadn't cared, until Lou shook her awake.
"Georgie, honey, wake up."
Panic. The thought blearily struggled across Georgie's mind. Lou sounded like she was panicking. It forced Georgie to sit up, flittering through the possibilities. Phone calls. Peter. Something had to have happened to Peter. Georgie almost didn't know how to ask. She had lost parents before, when she was too young to really know what losing parents meant, but she knew these parents. Loved these parents like she hadn't been given the chance to love her biological parents. She didn't know what she would do if something had happened to Peter.
"Come on, get dressed. We're going to go."
"Go where?" Georgie asked, already throwing the blanket off her. Awake. It was time to be awake.
"Tricia called."
Georgie stopped cold because that wasn't what she had been expecting at all. Her feet were stuck to the floor and her hands were half-sunk into her mattress but she didn't feel any of it. She felt a wind rush around her ears, even though the room was impossibly still. She couldn't make the pieces click in her head or, perhaps, she just didn't want to.
"Tricia?" she whispered but she also wasn't sure that the voice was actually her own.
"Jade's on her way to the hospital. She wants us to meet her there."
"Jade?" Georgie whimpered.
"I'll tell you in the car. Let's go."
Go. She had to go. Jade was hurt; Tricia didn't really have friends in Hudson. They needed to be there. She needed to be there for Jade. She was sure it wasn't bad. If it was bad, wouldn't Tricia want to be alone? Alternatively, Georgie thought as she pulled on her jeans, if it was good then wouldn't Tricia leave them alone and just let Jade call her later? Jade would think it was great, funny, maybe, that she had ended up in the hospital. She'd show off bandages like war wounds and complain about the rodeo boys' heads getting too big for their own good while she was in a cast.
Georgie never thought she would be hoping to see Jade concussed and in a cast but it seemed to be the best-case scenario, didn't it? Dressed and in a sweater that she would probably too warm in come daylight, Georgie held her mother's hand as they walked down the stairs, trying to be quiet as mice. She felt like Katie did but there was a certain warmth and protection in feeling like a child. She let Lou tuck her into the passenger seat of the car and she held her breath until they had cleared the gate.
"What happened?"
Jade wasn't even supposed to be in Hudson. She was supposed to be away. Tim had found a rodeo to take his students too. Jade was supposed to be going until Monday morning and Georgie knew that it wasn't Monday morning. Sunday, maybe. But it definitely wasn't Monday.
"Apparently, she decided to get a ride back with a couple of other people last night. They were close to Hudson. They think the driver fell asleep."
"Who was driving?"
"I don't know, Georgie."
Someone should know. Georgie thought that someone should know. She looked out the window but it was too dark to really see anything else.
"Was anyone else hurt?" she should ask. She should at least do that much.
"I don't know."
No answers. Georgie turned her attention straight ahead, watching as they approached the hospital. She hated hospitals. As Lou found a parking spot, Georgie found herself thinking of Amy and of Ty, walking into the hospital for each other, years apart. She was sure they'd been scared but they had walked out with good news and happy endings. Hospitals couldn't be all bad, if Amy and Ty were here now. Georgie didn't even know why she was so worried. Jade could be totally fine! She might be overreacting! Tricia could have overreacted!
But, deep down, as she walked through the front doors, Georgie knew that she wouldn't be here if it wasn't a good time to overreact.
(-.-)
Georgie decided waiting rooms, specifically, were the worst things about hospitals. She hated the feeling of suspended hope that draped across them like a shroud. She hated that Lou kept plying Tricia with herbal tea, as if that could make up for the fact that Jade was in surgery. Mostly, though, Georgie hated that Matt and Randy, the other two passengers, had fallen asleep on one another, despite their refusal to leave until they knew Jade would be all right.
Georgie pushed herself to her feet, feeling Lou's gaze snap to her.
"I'm just going for a walk."
She just needed to wake up.
Georgie wandered. She wandered until she found the front desk and then she wandered until she was sitting outside, on a bench, watching the last of the sun rise. It was going to be a beautiful day. She should be at home, close to heading out to the barn for the early morning chores. She should be staring at her ceiling, having a debate on whether or not to jump this morning and take a trail ride after lunch or take a trail ride this morning and jump after lunch. It would be normal. She'd text Jade and Jade would send her photos of the rodeo grounds and complain about the boys and then grip none too quietly about Clay, again, and not just because he was a stupid boy that left but because he was a stupid boy who'd ended up in the same town as the rodeo and had glued himself to Tim's side like he was a prodigal son returned. Georgie would read all of the texts and she would type out all the things a best friend should say – point out all the other hot rodeo boys that were bound to be around and that Jade should focus on them the way Georgie didn't focus on the bundle of nerves that exploded in her stomach every time she and Jade talked about boys now. She knew that it shouldn't be there. She and Jade talked about boys all the time. Georgie liked boys.
Most boys.
Except for the one she was about to punch in the face.
"She doesn't want you here!" Georgie shouted, storming toward him.
Clay hadn't been driving. He probably hadn't even known that people were leaving. He hadn't been there with the rodeo school, after all. But Georgie had no one else to yell at and Clay had hurt her best friend.
"Did she say that?" Clay asked. "Is she awake?"
Clay was taller than she was and definitely more muscular. Georgie had even liked him once, thinking that he could be a decent enough friend. None of that stopped her from punching him as best she could in that too straight jaw and wincing when his bone hit her knuckles.
"What the hell?"
"Clay, get out of here."
Clay glared over his shoulder at Tim.
"I said go," Tim repeated.
Georgie hadn't really expected Clay to slink off but that was exactly what he did.
"Stay gone!" Georgie screeched after him.
Jade didn't need to wake up to his face. If Jade woke up.
"Okay, okay. Come on."
Tim's hand rested on Georgie's shoulder and before she realized she was going to do it, she started crying – crying ugly, half tears that weren't even sure if they were going to fall.
"Or not."
Tim sat her down on the bench she had just vacated.
"What if she dies?" Georgie asked Tim. She hated that advancing feeling of death, creeping in and getting too close. It was too familiar to her and she just wanted it to leave forever.
"No one's dying," Tim said sternly, so confidently that Georgie almost believed him on the spot. "And no one's doing anymore punching. I'm sure Lou has told you it's not the way to do things."
Georgie nodded. It seemed that everyone had jumped in to lecture her after she'd made the totally right decision to punch Olivia. She knew right from wrong which meant she knew when the right time to fight was.
"How many times have you punched someone?" Georgie asked. It was an easier question that anything starting with 'what if'. What if Jade never came out of surgery? What if the last time they'd seen each other was the last time? What had they talked about? Georgie couldn't remember the specifics. "How many times have you been punched?"
"We can't count that high," Tim said. He sat down on the bench next to Georgie. "How's Jade?"
"In surgery. She … apparently wasn't wearing a seatbelt."
According to Matt, she'd been asleep in the passenger seat.
"Bad?"
"Don't know. What if something happens?"
"It won't."
Georgie had heard the stories; she had known Tim for years. She knew Tim wasn't always the best person in a crisis. She knew she wasn't either. She knew what could go wrong. Yet, when she looked at Tim – uncomfortably trying to be comforting and optimistic – and Georgie heard herself confess. She had never confessed anything before – to her family or her friends or even, really, herself.
"I like girls," she blurted. "I like Jade. She can't die because I have to tell her that."
"You will. Let's go sit upstairs, all right?"
"That's all?" Georgie asked, sitting on the bench and staring up at Tim.
"What do you want me to say?" Tim asked. "If she rejects you, I'll kick her out of my rodeo school."
Despite everything, Georgie felt a small smile come over her face. Really, what else could she ask for?
(-.-)
Tricia was fixing the blanket over Jade's still body but Georgie couldn't move from the doorway. She looked at Jade's slack face and just gripped her hands together.
"Jade's going to wake up soon," Tricia said. "The doctor said that the medication should be wearing off. Everything went well. She's going to be just fine."
"Really?"
"Really."
It was enough for Georgie to take staggering steps into one of the chairs by Jade's bedside. She dropped down, feeling heavy. That was what the day had been: heavy. Georgie just sat there and let out a long heave, even as Tricia's cell phone started to ring.
"It's her father," Tricia said. "Don't leave her, okay, Georgie? I don't want her to be alone when she wakes up."
"I won't go anywhere."
She couldn't. She felt anchored here. She couldn't leave until Jade looked at her, until Georgie felt the warmth in her stomach that came from Jade's smile. She looked over her shoulder to make sure that there was no one around to eavesdrop and she leant forward.
"I told Tim something I didn't tell you," Georgie whispered. "So, you have to wake up so I can tell you. I think I'm kind of in love with you, Jade."
She had probably liked Stephen. She had definitely liked Adam. She might have had a chance at developing a real crush on Wyatt. She liked boys. She really liked boys. But she also really liked girls. Girls that were Jade. Other girls, too, probably, but Georgie had only really looked at Jade. It had been Jade that had made her realize these things. Georgie didn't know what Jade would say but she also knew that death was permanent and if someone had to die, she'd rather not have them die wishing there was more that she'd said.
Georgie sat in her chair. Tricia came back and sat in her chair. Quick to the doctor wasn't quick to anyone else. It still took Jade a while to start stirring, longer still to open her eyes and look around, her hand reaching up to grab at her oxygen tube. Georgie got her hand around Jade's wrist, keeping her from ripping out any of her wires.
"Georgie?" Jade managed.
"Oh, thank God," Tricia said. "I'll get the doctor."
Georgie was glad that Tricia said it because Georgie couldn't quite bring herself to move. She left her hand around Jade's arm, her thumb pressed into her soft skin.
"My leg hurts," Jade complained.
"It's broken," Georgie told her.
Jade rolled her eyes and then winced. "That hurt too."
"I punched Clay in the face for you," Georgie blurted, hoping it would distract her.
It did. Jade laughed and then she looked like she hurt from it.
"Did you break his nose?"
"I couldn't reach it."
"Could've kicked him in the balls."
"Should've," Georgie agreed.
"Jade!" the doctor cried, bustling in. "How are you feeling?"
Jade groaned dramatically.
"Do you know where you are?"
"Hospital."
Georgie sat through Jade's question and answer period with the doctor. She sat in her chair while Jade was taken away on a stretcher for her tests. She left to get lunch for she and Tricia because she knew it wouldn't be fair to make Tricia go and get lunch for her. She called Lou, down in the cafeteria, and then she went back to Jade's room and sat. Jade was on pain meds by the time that Georgie had finished.
"Mom, you've hovering."
Jade slurred like she was drunk and it made Georgie smile a little bit because she didn't sound like she was in pain anymore.
"I'm worried about you."
"I'm going to live. Go nap. Georgie will stay."
Jade turned her head. She looked young, lying in the hospital bed without any make-up on. Her hair flopped into her face and she was too lazy to clear it away.
"I don't have anywhere to be," Georgie said.
"I'm not going anywhere," Tricia said firmly. "I'll nap here."
Jade sighed and looked at Georgie like they were conspiring together, but she couldn't seem to figure out how to make herself whisper. "I had to get it from somewhere."
When Tricia was asleep, Georgie took a deep breath.
"Can you sneak me in some chips?" Jade asked and Georgie promptly laughed.
"I'm not risking the wrath of your mom."
"I'm scarier than my mom."
"And you look it."
Jade didn't find her amusing, Georgie could tell, but the fact that she was still making her same facial expressions and was attempting her quips made Georgie feel better. It almost made her feel like she could let the fear leak from her bones and have some faith that Jade would be okay.
"Whatever. I want to get out of here."
"You just got here."
"Doesn't that suck."
"Jade …" Georgie started. Having bravado was fine when she didn't actually have to do anything about it.
Jade made a sad non-committal sound and Georgie realized that she was about to fall asleep.
"I'm glad you're okay."
"Me too. But let's not get too hopeful. My brain could still explode."
Georgie chuckled. "You're my best friend."
"Don't get mushy," Jade warned. "Or I will feel like I'm dying."
"I love you, Jade," Georgie said.
"She loves me," Jade said to no one and then the relief Georgie had felt in her chest burst when Jade looked at her and said, "I love you too, kid."
Georgie frowned, that wasn't how she had meant it at all.
"Jade –" Once she had started, she just couldn't stop, right?
"Shh," Jade whined and it was such an unusual sound from her that Georgie had to smile. She didn't want to find it endearing, she just did. "I'm going to sleep now."
"Okay, you sleep."
"Be here when I get up," Jade ordered.
"I will," Georgie promised and the simple thought that Jade wanted her here made her feel fuzzy all over. She was half-cross with herself for it; she almost had a disdain for people who got crazy over crushes and became so wrapped up in the love lives. She was better than that, wasn't she?
Georgie would like to think so but that didn't stop her from putting her arm up on the side of her chair and leaning onto it. She watched Jade sleep and tried not to think about anything too much.
(-.-)
"Am I pathetic?"
Georgie's voice echoed around the barn, empty but for Phoenix and Spartan. Even Amy, Ty, and Lyndy weren't home. They had gone to visit Lisa at Fairfield before they all came back here for dinner. Georgie looked at her horse and then hopped up on one of the hay bales stacked against the wall.
"You didn't answer me," Georgie said to Phoenix. "Am I pathetic?"
Phoenix stretched his head over the door, his lip lifting.
"I know you have hay," Georgie lectured him. "I just fed you."
Phoenix huffed and shuffled back into his stall. Georgie sighed, kicking her heels against the hay. She noticed a small white flower drifted toward the hard floor. She frowned and half-turned. A pile of daisies were sitting next to her. She picked one up, thinking of how her little sister had probably carefully picked them. A child's game came back to her and she plucked a petal off, singing softly to herself.
"She loves me, she loves me not, she loves me, she loves me not."
The first flower revealed a she loves me not. Georgie quickly dropped the stem; that was why she had a pile of flowers.
"Majority wins," Georgie said.
Phoenix ignored her but she thought Spartan was agreeing with her.
She loves me.
She loves me.
She loves me not.
She loves me not.
She loves me.
Last one. Tie-breaker. As if it meant anything.
Georgie let each petal drop carefully, trying not to count ahead and give away the answer.
"She loves me not," Georgie finished. She twisted the stem into a knot and then hopped from the hay bale. She let herself into Phoenix's stall and took his head into her hands.
Phoenix's breath ran hot over her wrists and Georgie reached up to scratch under his mane.
"It's too pathetic, right?"
Looking into his dark eyes, Georgie thought that this was why everyone should have a horse. They were steady and rock solid; they could put things into perspective without saying a word. Georgie trailed her hands along his body until she could rest herself against his stomach. Phoenix was still under her, just supporting her.
"What do I do?"
"Stop whining would be a great start."
Georgie slung herself over the stall door. "Who let you walk?"
"No one tells me what to do!" Jade grinned but she had to struggle to get herself up onto the haybale Georgie had just gotten off of, her cast thudding dully against the wall. "Plus, my mother is driving be crazy. I have a broken leg! I'm not going to kick the bucket!"
"I can hover over you, you know, if you like it that much."
Jade rolled her eyes. "Want to go for a ride?"
"You're in a cast."
"Like that'd stop you."
Georgie pointed at her. "I'm putting you on a slow horse."
"Whatever," Jade snorted. "Hey, do you have on that will lay down so that I can just … sit. Amy's got a whole collection here, there's gotta be one."
"I'll take care of you."
"Oh, hey, a daisy!" Jade exclaimed and Georgie turned, watching Jade pick up the flower that she had missed. "You know that old game, loves me, loves me not, loves me, loves me not."
Jade half-sang under her breath and Georgie tried not to watch, instead fetching tack for Phoenix and trying to figure out who would be best for Jade to ride.
"Hey! Loves me!"
"Who loves you?" Georgie tried to make it came out snarky, her usual tone. She didn't want to be one of those hopeful but still rejected girls and she didn't want to be the girl thinking that she was all out of daisies and sitting on a tie.
"You said you did," Jade said. "But I was all drugged up and I might have been hallucinating."
"You weren't."
"I didn't think I could hallucinate you saying that. Hey, come here."
"Need help getting down?" Georgie asked, slinging the saddle over the stall door. "You're, like, two feet on the ground. How are you getting off a horse?"
"I'll land on you," Jade retorted. "Come here."
"What is your problem?"
Georgie planted herself in front of Jade, watching out for her cast. She put her hands on her hips and stared up Jade. Then, before she could realize anything, her face was between Jade's hands and Jade's lips were on hers. Georgie had always imagined that if they ever kissed, she would be too scared to kiss Jade for long. She would have to duck her head, run away, avoid it. Her history of relationships and first kisses wasn't so great that she could kiss someone and then stand there, looking at them and asking what they were going to do about it. Georgie had never imagined that Jade would kiss her. Jade would kiss her, smelling like shampoo and tasting like chap stick and yet, here they were.
Jade kissed her.
And that was when the panic response she'd been expecting set in.
She pushed Jade away, her heart thudding in her chest and she just stared. Jade was pretty. Georgie knew Jade was pretty, even before she started thinking that she had feelings. But Jade, after Georgie had just kissed her, was kind of hot, and that scared Georgie a little bit. She didn't like being scared; she actively resisted against being scared.
"Jade! What?"
"Georgie, you don't talk like that! I knew I wasn't dying and I was pretty sure you weren't dying so the only option is that you were into me." Jade grinned that slightly arrogant grin that Georgie hated and loved in equally extremes. "Which, you know, is great, because boys suck and you don't."
"You're just mocking me now."
"No, I mean that. You suck way less than any boy I've ever met."
"Jade –"
"I'm going to kiss you again."
Georgie took a hesitant step toward Jade, feeling as if she was moving in slow motion compared to last time. She closed her eyes slowly and tilted forward, feeling her chest constrict until Jade was kissing her again and then Georgie felt as if she had been burst wide open. Her heart was thudding and she felt like she couldn't breathe at all. Her hand reached out and she grabbed Jade's waist. It didn't feel like kissing Adam had at all. Jade was soft where Adam had been bigger, a little more rough. There was less of Jade to hold onto but it made Georgie grip her all the tighter.
Georgie just stood there in the barn and kissed her because Jade liked her back and nothing but that mattered, for the moment and everything after that, would fall into place. Georgie knew it.