Happy Endings and December Snow. An RHPS winter story.
This is going to be sad at first. TerminalGenta/Bradgenta, Columbanet, also Frank/OC. Hopefully y'all will like this. It ends well.
Also the chapters will shift POVs, sometimes go into 3rd person. For now I'm mostly just doing Bradgenta to start off since it's my favourite out of these ships.
This will be done before Christmas. Hopefully. Most likely. If not, by New Years.
Chapter 1, Silent Night.
Magenta. December 16th. Denton
The cycle started last year.
My family kicked me out when I got pregnant, I lost the baby a month later. When the bleeding didn't stop for two weeks, I went to the hospital and they told me I had leukemia. I had to pay for medication somehow so I took a job as a phone sex operator, a stripper and a prostitute because those were the only jobs that would hire a homeless girl of 21 like me.
This morning, a fresh blanket of snow was spread across the driveway of the church that I spent the night in. Everything I own is kept in a black bag, summer clothes, winter clothes, medication, a pair of shoes for summer or winter, makeup and a few other insignificant things. Along with all the money I own. A solid but somehow small nine-hundred dollars from work.
I go out into the cold as cars are starting to pull into the driveway for mass. I start towards the hospital and begin a new day.
...
Columbia. December 16th. Denton
"Thank you for shopping at Target, have a nice day!"
I have to re-iderate this same banal sentence all day five days a week. I'm trying to get some money for Christmas shopping, even though I live with my parents. I guess I have a good life, I'm in college right now, studying photography and dance, I'm probably the only person at my place of work who is actually focusing on the future.
...
Brad. December 16th. Denton.
I will never understand how I came to be working at the front desk of a hospital, am I a receptionist? Because if I am, that's a job for a post-menopausal, mousy-headed soccer mom. I never thought I'd like this job until the woman in the black coat with the red curls came in.
...
Janet. December 16th. Denton.
I get out of my car and go into the church for another Advent mass, I see a woman in a black coat with dark red hair leaving the church and heading towards the hospital. She must be homeless, I was always told never to talk to those kinds of people. My ex-boyfriend must be one of them. I never want to see him ever again in my life.
...
Frank. December 16th. Denton
If anyone had told me I'd be spending today waiting in a passport office, I'd have thought they were insane. But I am. For the sole possibility of leaving this stupid town on the one holiday I can stand. I can see Target from here, a girl with short pink hair is wrapping a blender in green paper for a middle-school age boy in a preppy jacket. The lady behind the desk calls my name and I stand up.
...
Kiara. December 16th. Denton
I take a lid out of the box on the bar at Starbucks while the barista sputters whipped cream onto the top of my grande Peppermint Mocha. A young woman with soft but tangled red curls and dark bruises on her face walks past outside the window and a kid feeds his pet rabbit a cake pop. The people who work here seem to all be ideal. From the curvy blonde cashier to the barista making my drink who looks like the product of a one-night stand between Tyra Banks and Channing Tatum. Then there's me. Short, chubby, vaguely resembling what you would get if Michelle Obama had an addiction to Kalteen bars.
Sometimes, I just have to fight fat with fat and have another latte.
Brad. December 16th. Denton.
I slam the phone down in a rage, basically over this damn job. I am 22, I am a man. I'm at University of Denton to become a goddamn oncologist and I'm stuck answering phones at this stupid hospital.
The day brightens when she walks in.
She looks sad. Her hair is disheveled and she has bruises on her face, she almost stumbles to the front desk and I stand up fast to intercept her,
"Hi, I'm here for radiation-"
"Do you have an appointment?" She looks at me like I'm on crack, I take it as a yes, "Uh, what's your name?"
"Alvarado." She whispers, "It'll be under Magenta, uh-" I glance up and she's suddenly not there, it takes a while for me to notice she's passed out.
Magenta
I open my eyes to the bright lights of a hospital. Some guy's face passes in front of my vision, his glasses make him look like a douche. I'll call him Dr Douche until I learn his name
"Where the hell-" I start to scream, I sit up but Dr Douche holds me down, "Are you a doctor?"
"I'll be one soon, for now I'm answering phones. Just lay down, you passed out and you were coughing blood."
"Great." My vision starts to adjust to the room,
"So, what do you have?"
"Leukemia, is it any of your business?"
"I'm studying to be an oncologist!"
"Then are you going to give me free treatment?"
"What?"
"I'm h-" my doctor barges in before I can tell him, Claudia Pearson,
"Magenta, what's wrong?"
"I came in for radiation and according to your receptionist man, I passed out and started to bleed again."
"Brad. Thank you for helping."
"Do I have to leave?"
"No, you can stay, I want to talk to you, Magenta, you can just rest for a while."
I lay down and 'Brad' goes with Claudia behind a curtain.
Brad.
"Brad, that woman who came in... she's homeless. Her parents kicked her out last year. She works as a prostitute and a stripper to pay for her meds, I've been taking care of her for a while but I haven't been able to take her in because my family isn't quite on board with it, but I look out for her, sometimes give her a little bit of money to keep her off the pole for a while"
I glance behind the curtain, this Magenta is laying still in one of those little beds they have here. Everyone hates me here. I don't know what the hell those beds are called.
"So what are we going to do with her?"
"I don't charge her when she comes in. A lot of people think that homeless people just come in for the drugs but Magenta tries to stay away- I want you to talk to her and make her feel better."
I shove the curtain back and sit on the end of Magenta's little hospital bed, she sits up slowly and I put my hand on her leg, she gives me a weird look.
"So... she told me you're homeless."
"Here it comes. I'm not here for drugs, I promise."
"Oh, no, I totally believe you, but... how would you like to stay with me?"
She looks shocked, "You wouldn't..."
"Oh, yeah I would. You need to stay out of the cold."
For a second I can't tell whether she's going to say yes or not, she looks like one of the deer that my dad shoots around Thanksgiving, with those huge eyes and the lost expression.
"...Okay." she agrees. "Fine."
...
I live in a loft, possibly the only one in Denton. Basically, in case you didn't know, it's an apartment with an extra half a floor. Magenta glances around and gets a look on her face.
"So... you live here?"
"Yeah, so, you're welcome to take a shower if you want, I'll make your bed and start dinner. The bathroom's up those stairs."
"Thank you... so much. I used to shower at the hospital... but they charged me."
"Well, this is free."
Magenta smiles and walks away down the hall, I take some reheated pasta-with-beurre-blanc out of the microwave, this should work, anyway, she doesn't really eat every night so I don't want her to make herself sick eating too much. The water turns on down the hall then I realize she left her bag in the living room. The bag she obviously lives out of. I find a few articles of clothing, some tampons, an iPod which she obviously took from her old home. A charger goes along with it so she must charge it at the hospital. There's a bunch of money scattered around the bag and some other random things. Also makeup.
I put the bag down and just kind of let myself space out. I can hear the water running and what sound like sex noises, she must not shower with hot water that often. I would think the hospital could afford hot water. I want to fix those bruises on her face somehow, they'd probably prevent her from getting a safe job.
I realize she's a complete stranger, but I can't let her live on the street anymore. She's obviously vulnerable because she's sick, and her customers are obviously going to take advantage of her weakness.
Unfolding the hide-a-bed in the couch is weird, I've never really had anyone stay over, as I put the sheets on I start to think about how long she'll be staying. I guess she'll leave when she's ready so I push the thought from my mind.
I hear the water turn off and Magenta comes down the stairs and into the living room wrapped in a white towel, she looks gorgeous with her hair clean but there's even more bruises covering the rest of her pale skin.
"Dinner's in the kitchen, I'll wash your clothes if you want."
Magenta smiles a little bit, "Thank you." she takes a pile of clothes out of her bag and hands them to me,
"You can wear one of my shirts for now."
Magenta laughs a little and walks towards my bedroom. It takes about half a minute and she comes out in a grey plaid shirt, it hits about her mid-thighs, she's so skinny it's unbelievable. Then I think about how it's all she's wearing, and I starts wanting her worse than I should, suddenly I just want to touch her the way I used to touch Janet. She's gorgeous, she doesn't even look real sometimes, she stays silent for a while and I almost forget she's there until she stares at me over her empty plate and says,
"Is there any more?" I point into the kitchen, she goes and fills her plate again, "This is really good."
"Truth is, I just reheated it from yesterday."
"It's not from a dumpster, so it's automatically good."
"You ate food out of a dumpster?"
"Sometimes I didn't eat, but when you don't have any food you can't afford to be picky Then again, people were sometimes generous enough to give me food. I think it's better than giving money." She stuffs a forkful of pasta into her mouth. "Are you sure this is reheated?"
"I got it from the restaurant down the street and just put it in the fridge."
"Mmmmm I love this so much." I glance over at the digital clock on the oven, it's 10:45 already, it's snowing outside, it sparkles under the streetlights and somehow makes the inside feel warmer, Magenta looks over at it, "Snow's beautiful when I'm not sleeping in it." she gets up, "I'm going to bed."
"Okay, goodnight." I head towards my room, as she's laying down.
...
At about 1 am, I wake up, and can vaguely see the outline of someone standing over me, before I can scream and/or attack them I see the silhouette of curly hair and sit up, turning the light off,
"Magenta?"
"...I'm sorry..." I hear her squeak, tears are spilling heavily down her face,
"What's wrong? If you're sick I can drive you to the hospital-"
"No... I..." she pushes some tears off her face, "I've just missed a lot of human contact since I've been- Can I sleep with you?"
I move over and push the sheets back, she lays done next to me and buries her face into my chest, I have no choice but to gently rub her back,
Then it starts to heat up.
I start to feel her leg touching mine, I start to move my hand down her back, considering what she'll be like after about a year of prostitution.
No fucking way. She's probably tired, she was living on the street, she probably just wants to rest, maybe if I'm just gentle. Maybe if I do it fast,
"Brad?" she whispers in my ear, "It's fine, I have a box of Plan B in my bag."
...
Magenta
I wake up warm. Which doesn't usually happen for me, Brad is laying next to me with his arms around my waist, this is a typical morning for me on work days, I have to admit, except my customers are usually gone by the time I wake up and something is almost always bleeding. But Brad was so gentle. Or maybe he isn't sleeping, maybe I scared the fuck out of him and he passed out and just hasn't recovered yet. It seemed like this was only his third or fourth time. This may sound weird, but I feel safe with him, and I feel like we could potentially have a relationship, I know I'll staying around for a long time.
Brad starts to wake up, I move closer to him and he glances at me,
"How'd you sleep?"
"Pretty good, I sleep better inside anyway."
"So... you want to move in?"
"Yeah... yeah, I do."
"...and... uh... are you interested... in a relationship?" I nod slowly, "Okay, then while I'm at work, you need to buy more clothes, if you feel well."
"I feel fine."
"Also, I want you to quit your job. You're with me now, I promise it'll be fine. You need to quit." he gets up and starts to put clothes on, "I'll be home from work at about 6. I'll get dinner while I'm out." he hands me a few hundred dollar bills. "Here's 500."
"Oh god..."
"What?"
"That's a lot of money..."
"Yeah, clothes are overpriced." He strokes the hair out of my face, "I should be getting to work, I'll see you later."
Brad
When I get into the hospital, Dr. Pearson is standing in front of the glass wall facing the parking lot with a disappointed look on her face,
"Snow." she shakes her head disdainfully, "The silent killer." she faces me, "You like snow, Majors?"
"Um... uh..."
"Didn't think so. So how's she doing?"
"How's who doing?"
"See, this is why you're working at the front desk, how's Magenta doing?"
"Fine. She's fine, she's probably buying clothes right now, actually."
"So she's staying with you for a while?"
"Forever, actually. We had sex last night."
Dr Pearson shoots me a confused smirk, "Majors, do you love her?"
"Dr. Pearson, I know it was a one-night stand but there's something different about her, she's really special."
"You know," she stares harder at me, "Sometimes you come off like the kind of person who would cover feta cheese in salad dressing and try to call it salad, and salad isn't salad without lettuce, and you know, this oncology department is kind of like a salad, and I'm the lettuce that holds it all together, I'm the lettuce over all you cheesy people. You're a crouton, Majors, because you're a square."
"I'm not actually sure if that was a compliment or not..."
"What I'm saying is you need to watch your step if you want to be an oncologist, yesterday, I had a six year old kid walk out of this hospital completely cured of her lymphoma. And guess who cured her? This lettuce leaf."
"Now you just sound stoned."
"I'm stoned on success, Majors, and you know how I got to my salad bowl of success? I didn't SLEEP WITH MY PATIENTS, especially the prostitutes."
"She's quitting, and, you married one of your patients."
"I was 28 and he was my FATHER'S patient."
"That doesn't make you a vegetable."
"Well, your sexual exploits with my leukemia case aren't something to brag about."
"I was never bragging!"
Dr Pearson glares back at the snow, "Goddamn silent killer snow, and one last thing, tomorrow, you'll be doing radiation, that means you're in for a Bring-Your-One-Night-Stand-To-Work-Day."
...
When I get home at six, Magenta is asleep on the couch surrounded by bags. I set the dinner I got down on the counter and sit down next to her, she opens her eyes and starts to sit up,
"How long was I sleeping?"
"I don't know, I just got back."
"The money I didn't spend is next to the microwave. What did you get?"
"I got more beurre blanc."
"What's that?"
"What we had last night." Magenta nodded, the conversation was beginning to get awkward, "So, I'm doing radiation tomorrow, and Dr Pearson said you had an appointment, so I'll just be taking you to the hospital in the morning."
"Okay, that sounds good."
Magenta
Brad drives into the parking lot of the hospital at about 6. It's snowing when he parks the car which I don't mind now that I'm dressed appropriately for the weather. I catch him staring a hole through me halfway through unfastening my seatbelt,
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine... You're just so effing beautiful."
"Wait until you have to burn me alive, I start to become a lot less beautiful." I get out of the car and we start towards the hospital.
"I've never done radiation on a real person before."
"I'll be mostly naked so I think you'll enjoy it." He puts his arm around me and borderline-drags me down the hall to radiology, once we're inside the room is starts to get awkward. He stares me down,
"So... you can just strip... now."
I start taking off the majority of my clothes and Brad glances around the room, he doesn't really know where to look I guess. When it's just my bra and panties, I give him an expectant look,
"You have the marker?"
"...I...marker?"
"To mark the points on my body for the treatment."
"I get to touch you?"
I hold my arms out and he looks at my medical chart, putting dots across my chest, abdomen, the sides of my face, before he can start touching me I lay down on the paper-covered bed under the cancer-killing beams of light,
"You'll be fine." I tell him as he drops the charts nervously,
"Yeah... I know... I-" He turns the radiation machine off.
"What are you doing?"
He lays on top of me, "I'm sorry-"
"Don't apologize, but people are gonna think you're raping me-"
"Let them, I'm a receptionist, no-one even knows me."