I'm so happy to get this story back into regular updates! I hated putting this on hiatus out of all of my projects, but I needed some time to finish up other loose ends before fully coming back to this story because I feel like this is at least one story I have which really deserves my full concentration. And because I've gotten so much amazing love and support so far on this story from all of you, I want to do you all justice. So thank you all very much for giving this story its wings, I really appreciate it. This update's all for you
Special thanks to the support of the-unintelligent-hologram, freshzombiewriter, washingtonstub, analiarvb, sroloc–elbisivni, secretlystephaniebrown, fasterthxnyou, ephemeralelysium, staininspace, Yin, ephemeraltea, and locrianrose from AO3 and tumblr!
New Jazz Age
Chapter Four: Family Secrets
Carolina's time working in a leadership position taught her several key things, not the least of which is the lesson that she must be made to expect the unexpected.
Anything could have come through that door before North answered it, and yet Carolina is the least surprised when the officers make it clear they're here for her.
"An accident?" York repeats from the officer. His hand is rough as he puts it on Carolina's shoulder, brushing against her as he steps forward. It's the kind of tactile familiarity that he has with everyone, and the reason Carolina conceded to this situation they're all in to begin with. "What kind of accident? And who? I mean," he looks back to North then to the officers, "everyone's here?"
She can see the officer begin to open his mouth, begin to answer and she just can't have that.
Stepping away from York, Carolina turns on her partners and gives them a straight face. It's at least enough to quirk their eyebrows at her.
"This is something I need to handle alone," she tells them. "Please, just go back inside and finish dinner. I'll explain everything when I come back in."
"What?" North asks, face screwed together in confusion.
"You can't be serious," York says, head tilting. "Carolina, is something wrong? You can–"
"In a minute," she says firmly. "Now go inside, please."
At first, neither man makes moves to go back in their house, especially as the officer pulls awkwardly at his collar.
"Ma'am, we are offering to escort you to the hospital. You may not want to go back inside," he says.
"Hospital?" York repeats again. He stops, flinching back as North grabs his arm and pulls him closer inside.
She looks to North, prepared to convey her gratefulness to him only to see an untrusting eye thrown her way. Carolina accepts it, watching as North pulls York all the way to the kitchen behind them and begin arguing the action almost immediately.
After a moment, she turns back to the officers and hugs her arms, taking a breath.
Imagining preparation for a briefing, Carolina cools her nerves then opens her eyes, looking at the officers. "I'm assuming this is my brother we're talking about," she says calmly enough.
"Miss Church," the officer says lowly, "it seems as though your oldest brother–"
"He wasn't the oldest," she corrects, a little harsher than perhaps intended.
"Was speeding tonight and lost control of his vehicle, hitting a cliff facing head on," the man continues.
Her fingers, almost of their own volition, tap against her arm. "Lost control," she muttered under her breath. "Did anyone else get hurt?" she asked, looking back to them.
"Your youngest brother was not in the vehicle with him," they say, beginning to look suspicious of her reactions. "We have someone waiting with him in the emergency room as they operate."
Carolina opens her mouth, surprised at the lack of words. Her brain seems to have halted at the information, trying desperately to restart itself and understand what she is being told.
"Theo?" she finally manages. "Theo is there but… Why isn't he with his mother? Why is…" The information clicks together and Carolina runs her fingers through her hair. "Goddammit."
"Ma'am, your brother is severely injured, and our investigations are continuing," they explain. "And your youngest brother, still being a minor, needs to go to the closest living relative's custody for now while we straighten things out."
Carolina lowers her head. "I understand, officer. We've had to deal with something similar before," she explains before taking a breath. "I'm guessing the nearest hospital with an emergency room is here. We service the five hour radius."
"It is," the first says. "Do you need us to wait for you to grab some things. We understand this is quite a shock–"
"No," Carolina shakes her head. "I work at the hospital. I can drive myself there. I have to explain to… my roommates what's going on. Thank you. I'll figure it out as I get there."
When she begins to move back for the door, the officers look to each other then back. "Ma'am, we must insist that you let us take you to the hospital. It's to ensure your safety. We understand that this must be shocking news–"
"I'm a soldier, sirs," she says firmly. "I can appreciate protocol, but I can also take bad news. Thank you and good night."
She shuts the door just in time for her arm to shake loose, the tremble moving throughout her body. Teeth clattering for a moment, Carolina allows her forehead to rest on the door as she attempts to even her breaths.
"Carolina?"
Glancing back, she sees her partners still in the kitchen but both looking at her warily, as if she's some sort of fragile creature. It makes her grind her teeth.
"I'm going to the hospital," she informs them, moving to the stairs. "You guys continue eating. I don't know if I'll be back tonight or not."
"What? That's it? That's all you're giving us?" York demands, racing from the kitchen to follow her.
"Drop it, York," Carolina orders.
"The hospital… so there was an accident at the lab where you work?" North asks, a note of hope in his voice, as if he's grasping at the last logical thread he can for the situation."
She hesitates halfway up the stairs. It's tempting – tempting to let the available explanation slide.
But if she's coming home with someone else, well, it'll be a mess to clear up later and she doesn't know if she'll have the energy to deal with both of her roommates angry with her at once.
"I…" she begins, turning back to see their confused but attentive faces. "My brother was in a car accident, they think."
York blinks. "Brother? What brother? You have a brother? You didn't tell us you had a brother."
"Two," Carolina corrects. "I still have two brothers. It looks like my half-brother was staying with him, too, which means I'll need to let him sleep in my room for the night perhaps."
North squints at her. "You have family? You have family nearby?"
"It wasn't relevant until now," she tells them. "We're… none of us are close anymore. I don't even know how they found me except that they brought Ellison to the hospital I work at."
The taller man's face hardens, shadows falling over him. He doesn't say anything to that.
"Okay, let me grab my jacket," York says, turning and heading toward the hall closet.
"You don't need to come with me," Carolina attempts to argue.
"That's bullshit," York declares as he grabs three jackets and throws one at North's head and the other to Carolina. "North, you're driving. Carolina's not driving with her mind obviously fragged by all this. And I'm sure as hell not getting left behind. Now come on."
And with the same motivations that got them all to agree to live together to begin with, York rushes out the front door. North merely glances at Carolina with something blank and unforgiving about his expression before following York out.
With a moment to herself on the stairs, Carolina closes her eyes and allows the shakes to return before she goes upstairs and takes her time grabbing a tie to pull her hair up.
The drive she makes herself to the hospital nearly every day is stretching out for ages as the three of them make it together in North's car.
It's the first time since the three of them first got together that a car ride has had more noise from its engine than any of them. And the silent mistrust and blame does not escape Carolina as she sits there, fretting, fingers curling as her nails dig into her jeans and releasing.
She avoids the awkwardness of sitting next to the overly concerned York by choosing instead to sit beside the silently raging North instead.
It's the lesser of two evils.
When another minute lasts a second too long, Carolina shifts her body entirely and looks toward the window.
York shifts noisily for the hundredth time and leans forward with his forearms pressing into their headrests. North doesn't so much as flinch from it but Carolina can't help how her eyes are drawn to York in response.
"How old are they?" he asks, breaking the silence by going straight to the bare bones of it.
"Excuse me," Carolina says back all the same.
"Your brothers," he presses. "I mean… are your parents going to be there–"
"No," she answers sternly. "They're dead."
Rubbing at his jaw, York lets out a long breath and seems to be racking his brain for a way to salvage the non-conversation as best he can. Carolina hopes almost childishly that he gives up because she's simply not in the mood for it.
But she also knows York too well to imagine it will end there if she doesn't take charge.
"Ellison is twenty-two," Carolina answers at last. "Theo is eleven. But he wasn't in the wreck so there's that."
At that news, North's grip on the steering wheel tightens noticeably, a vein on his jaw jumping. Carolina can't help but raise a brow.
"Eleven?" York repeats, nearly choked. "But… Damn, Carolina. That means he couldn't have been more than a baby when you enlisted."
Looking very matter of fact into the rearview mirror back at him, Carolina nods. "More or less. I left home not long after the wedding." She glances off again, scoffing. "Missed the divorce."
"You said your parents are dead," North suddenly cuts in, voice coming out unusual and barkish. Any of his usual gentleness is erased. "Is that dead or not bothering to reveal they exist?"
"North," York chastises.
"Dead," Carolina answers. And it surprises even her how little emotion that revelation carries for her. It's just nothing, not compared to admitting her brothers exist.
North grits his teeth. "Your eldest brother has has your youngest this whole time, Carolina? You just said he's only twenty-two–"
"He's not the eldest," Carolina snaps. "Not really."
York sits back, scratching at his head. "There's another?"
"No," Carolina hisses, officially finding her patience gone. "I am not having this conversation right now."
"We're on the way to the hospital to meet the brothers you never bothered to mention to us, Carolina," North reminds her sharply. "I'm almost curious to know when you think is a good time to have the conversation."
Her answer is on the tip of her tongue, but Carolina refuses to utter it. Instead she shifts in her seat and presses as tightly against the door as she can, looking listlessly as the trees speed by them.
She barely feels York's hand on her shoulder before she shrugs it off.
After a moment, York sighs and gives into anger over the situation as well. He crosses his arms and shakes his head in disappointment, looking more like North than either of them would ever realize.
And it stings but Carolina relishes in her pick of seats.
At least North didn't have to build up to the disappointment. Lesser of two evils indeed.
She walked into the hospital every single day, and had for months. But this time, walking in through the Emergency Room doors, approaching the information deck, completely ignoring the line, it feels completely foreign to her.
And even if deep down she knows it makes her truly terrible, Carolina can't help the inching forward of the thought in her mind.
Why, her brain racked itself. Why did they bring him here. To my place. To where I feel safe and normal and removed from everything.
The nurse at the front desk looks at her expectantly, brows arched high in suspicion. It only grows more skeptical as two men flank Carolina from behind, both infinitely more out of place in the hospital than Carolina looks even at her most frazzled.
York in particular scratches at the corners of his bad eye and shifts his gaze around the ER more than once.
"Ma'am, if you need help, you can fill out a form and we'll be getting right to you," the nurse begins to say, reaching for said forms, before Carolina reaches forward and pushes the clipboard back to the nurse's side of the station.
"I just need to be told where to go," she says. "I work here," she clarifies after a moment. When it does nothing to wane the nurse's look, Carolina ran a hand through her bangs. "I'm sorry. I'm not used to being on this side of the table. My brother was in a car accident. They're supposed to be operating on him right now."
A spark of understanding comes into the nurse's eyes and she releases a breath before moving her hands to the keyboard of her computer. "Name?" she asks.
"Caroline Church," Carolina responds before sinking her head into her hands again with a long sigh. "Sorry. His name is Ellison Church. E-l-l–"
"Carolina?" York speaks up, tugging on Carolina's sleeve.
"What?" she asks, looking in his direction only to find that York isn't looking her way at all but over toward one of the hubs in the waiting area. Her eyes focus and she sees the little boy who has captured both York and North's attention.
There is a woman in a suit attempting to speak to the boy, failing miserably to keep his attention it seems. He's wearing a jacket an too big t-shirt that doesn't quite match the pajama pants and untied sneakers. His bright red hair and green eyes are nearly as distracting as the freckles.
Carolina holds her ground, but she's unable to really find any words for the moment as it stretches on.
"He's been staring at you the whole time," York informs her. "Is that him? The one you said was younger?"
She's concentrating on her breathing more than anything else. Wondering when he got so big, how the hell he managed to get her nose over the years. But slowly she thinks over York's words. "Yes," she says. "I think so."
North visibly bristles, a kind of quiet fury tightly contained on his face as he looks at Carolina. "You think that's your brother?" he asks critically.
Even York doesn't seem thrilled with her hesitation. And by that point the woman in the suit has taken notice of where the boy's attention really lies and is staring at Carolina, too.
Everyone is staring at Carolina, and she's never felt more disgust at that.
"Ma'am," the nurse at the counter says, finally tearing Carolina from her frozen stupor. She's holding up a pager – dent and scratched up, but judging by the barely lit screen and the calmly flashing light on the side, still operational. "This will keep you updated throughout the surgery on your brother. You can sit anywhere in the waiting room. There's also a few stations in the cafeteria still open at this hour if you need food or coffee. We'll have a doctor come and update you on the extent of your brother's injuries and progress shortly."
For a moment, Carolina lets it sink in just how unreal it is to be there, to not be there as an employee.
And more than that, to be there for the brothers she had actively avoided for years.
"Ma'am," the nurse says, pressing the pager into the palm of Carolina's hand. "Do you need help finding somewhere to sit down?"
Carolina tears her eyes from Theo for a moment and opens her mouth to respond, but nothing of substance comes out. Really, nothing at all comes from the attempt.
When York's arm wrap around her shoulders and start to pull Carolina away from the desk, she moves with him stiffly but not in conscience resistance.
"It's alright, thank you," York tells the nurse as he moves their tiny group away from the line at the desk to avoid any further clogging. He then turns a wary eye on Carolina. "Are you going to be okay?"
She scowls at him, not even sure how he can expect an answer to such a ridiculous question, when North steps up closer to them.
"You need to go check on your brother," North says snappishly. "He's a kid, Carolina. An honest to god kid."
York relaxes his grip on Carolina enough to turn and face their third partner. "Okay, ease up a bit. She's shocked."
"I can see that," North responds, but there's none of his usual warmth in his voice. "But there's a child involved here and Carolina needs to step up. And I need to see that she can do it before I take off."
"Take off?" York asks, looking surprised himself. "What do you mean take off?Take off where?"
"Home," North says. "I need to sleep, I have to teach tomorrow–"
"You can't be serious," York scoffs. "You're going to leave us here? Carolina needs us!"
"We don't know what she needs. She's didn't tell us to come, and she definitelydidn't tell us that she has a family here, York. We don't know anything about this situation and not once since the police arrived has she offered to explain any of it to us," North fires back.
Carolina looks away from the arguing, ignoring what she can of it, and refocuses on Theo. He's staring at her again and by this time the social worker looks ready to walk over and introduce herself.
If Carolina never has to introduce herself to another social worker again it'll be too soon.
There's laughter and crying and shouting still printed in the back of her brain that's threatening to resurface and make itself known if she has to spend too long with the woman in the suit. So instead she pulls from York's arms and without explanation to either of her partners, moves toward her half-brother.
"I'm sorry, are you Miss Church?" the woman with exhausted eyes and a bit of frizz to her hair asks as she offers a hand.
"Yes," Carolina says, side stepping the woman entirely. "I'm sorry, I'll talk to you in a second."
Putting off that conversation as long as possible, Carolina makes her way instead toward Theo. It is amazing how, giving herself something to run from makes approaching her forgotten family that much easier.
Theo straightens up in his seat, eyes widening a bit. As if it is genuinely surprising to have Carolina come close to him. And she supposes, really, it kind of is.
Then, just feet away from her brother, Carolina comes to a stop. She isn't entirely sure what she had been expecting once she got to him, but her mind is utterly blank once she's finally there.
"Hello," she says numbly.
For a moment, the younger Church simply squints at her. His hands clench at the fabric around his knees. "Hello," he says back.
"I am…" Carolina thinks for a moment. She isn't sure what she should say to introduce herself. Her name? That she's his half-sister? That she's only barely able to process that the last time she saw him it was in a hospital, too?
"You're Caroline, aren't you?" Theo asks for her. "You're Ellison's sister."
"And Alphonse," she corrects without even meaning to. She watches the uncomfortable shift that causes from Theo and immediately regrets it so she lowers to one knee in front of him instead. "And yours," she says instead.
Theo, rightfully so, looks at her with complete apprehension. "Is Ellison going to die?"
"I don't know," she answers, feeling her throat begin to knot up.
"I've only seen you when people die," he continues. "So… maybe you should go away now."
There's something blurring Carolina's vision and she forces herself to swallow. "Maybe," she agrees. "But, just for a while, I can sit here with you? It's better than sitting somewhere else in this waiting room alone. For both of us."
He thinks about it for a moment, before nodding.
Carolina concentrates on breathing as she stands back on her feet momentarily before taking the seat beside Theo.
They sit together quietly.
She can see now that the social worker is deep in conversation with York and North, with the former giving animated gestures throughout the conversation, his full East Coast self working its way out in the hysteria and confusion.
Rather than jump in to take over the responsibilities being thrown at her new family, Carolina looks to the pager she was handed and waits for it to change its updates.
Occasionally, Theo leans in to look at the pager as well. So much like another brother too smart to sit idly in another waiting room ages ago.
It's enough to keep Carolina lost in the chaos, sitting silently between the current horror and haunting pasts. Letting the world burn all over again.