Hi again, two stories in two days - I must be feeling inspired.
This one is Tia/Jeff, and written for Accio14Anna who asked for it yesterday. I'll be working on the other two requests I received soon, and if anyone else has a pairing or scene they would like to see written, please just drop me a review or PM - I love getting them.
In other news (I can't believe I forgot to mention this on yesterday's story) but two stories that aren't written by me! Yay! I love reading other people's take on the series, and just more 'Sparticle Mystery'-y stuff in general, there is not nearly enough out there.
Also, who is enjoying the new series (I've been on holiday, and thus am catching up on iPlayer, so am only up to episode 3 so far, but it seems just as good, if not better than the last series - bit miffed that Kat's gone (she was my favourite character), and Ami and Jordan just jumping ship for France seems a bit weird (especially Jordan, who didn't use to want to leave his brother at all, let alone go to another country without him), but Reese is really cool, with the chair thing in the first series, and I like Serena (and you really don't have to read this, you can just get on with the story, which is what you undoubtedly came for) and her and Holly seem like a formidable team (like I said, only up to episode 3, if anything happens to them in the later episodes, please - no spoilers).
Erm, rambled there for a bit again, sorry about that - I'd like to know what you think though, of the new series, of my stories, of stories you'd like to see written ... yeah ... anything.
And, on with the story.
A lot can change in a year, and more can change in two - a fact that Tia was extremely aware of.
No, not Tia. Carmel.
It was still strange to think of herself by that name, but if she didn't want to end up a prisoner of Fizzy and his 'Dims' (though why anyway would voluntarily want to join a Tribe, or sub-Tribe in actuality, that degraded them so much in name alone was beyond her - but people did funny things for money, or fizzies as they were now known, always had, always will) she had to get used to it.
She (they, all of them) knew that there would be some who didn't want the adults to return home, who prefered the freedom that they never would have gained under the watchful eyes of those older and more intelligent.
She just didn't realise how far those people, those should-be children, would go to stop them.
Nor did she realise how far little Fizzy's reach would soon extend, how much the child who could be no more than eleven would soon control, how much of a grudge he would hold against them for nicking his train.
Still, if it brought the adults home, she'd face a thousand Fizzys.
If it was strange to think of herself as Carmel, then it was stranger still to think of herself as Nurse Carmel – in the Old World, (with adults and real doctors and real nurses, who are taught their skills and don't just read a book, and pray what they do won't make it worse) she would never have become a nurse. She doesn't know what she would have become, she'd never thought that far ahead into the future, but nursing (nor even healthcare in general) would never have been a path she would have chosen.
But she liked looking after Frankie and Liam, she liked being their 'parent', and this wasn't so much different, at least Jeffrey was still with her, (though now needed his wheelchair less and less, and had traded his old poles for what used to be just another fallen tree branch), still made her laugh, still made her feel like the most important person in the world (just as he always had done) and cheered her up on the longest days, when she (they) missed their new found family, when she (they) missed their old families, when she didn't have a clue what she was doing, when not one of the many medical books she had pored through provided the answer, when there was a child in pain and she didn't know what to do.
Ami and Jordan came round occasionally and helped out as well, but only when they felt like doing so which, in the more recent times, had become less and less, until even Jeff barely saw his brother, never mind the gymnast.
She had caught the two of them discussing moving over to the continent, taking a lift on a boat and trying for a new life far away from Fizzy's reach, in a château where no one could reach them.
Tia thought it sounded nice, even if a bit of a case of 'greener grass', a case of two boys looking for an adventure, looking for a way out, a way out not properly thought through.
"Nurse Carmel, we've got a runner," a voice broke through into her thoughts as she wandered through the previously empty corridor, and she took off after the hospital gown clad runaway with what looked like a broken arm.
Just another day at the office.
So here she was, hiding with a name that wasn't hers, a boyfriend (a best friend) that was, and a job that was slowly becoming so.
It wasn't the easiest job, nor the most fun, and there were many days she wished she could simply lie down in bed and never get up again.
The blue uniforms were growing on her though.
Thank you for reading, and please review,
Mia.