Begin Fall
September 28th, 2013
The crisp fall air tickled her nose as Juliette Reid rose from her Jeep seat, her mission clear in her mind like a warrior's undeniable duty. The dark, crunchy leaves carpeted every step she took as she walked, mixing itself in the fat droplets beginning to fall from the gray clouds.
Juliette saw herself through the foggy morning trying her hand at picking out the best pumpkin she could find. She stood by the farmer's patch, cuddling in her cozy cardigan as she contemplated the decision of which fat pumpkin she wanted to take home. Her mother would be looking forward to its arrival, in order to prepare the beginning of everything pumpkin-flavoured.
The maturing sun shone above the misty air, barely visible. Albeit the light breeze, the air was jittery. The mid-morning coldness cut through Juliette viciously. Her black tights clung to her skin, her protruding goosebumps fairly obvious from beneath the thin, sheer cloth. The hat on her head barely supplied any heat for her. But despite the biting cold, Juliette crouched by the smaller pumpkins to pick one out for the love of her life— Montgomery. His joyous laughter when she'd say she got a pumpkin for him to carve would warm her chest, and worth being out here in the sharp coldness for.
Quickly making his way across the farm, but not looking at where he was going, was an annoyed, agitated and aggressive young man. His dark eyes reflected his opaque, mysterious person, and also his absolute anger. Juliette saw this and drove away to avoid hitting his vicious phone-tapping figure.
Her boots crunched the hardened leaves under the lady walking in front of him, so Kanda, naturally, despite typing angrily to his colleague Wenham, moved out of her way— just as she tried to avoid his step. Quite crudely, they toppled into one another, and onto the crusty floor.
"Hey! Watch it!" Juliette yelled at the man, causing a proud, red-breasted robin to skwak unceremoniously and huffily ruffle its wings to take off. She started backing away from him with her hands, still on the floor. The guy sat up, clutching his head. "Ow, woman! What was that?"
A farmer looked on at the pair, curious of their rude behaviour to each other. It was usually common courtesy to be polite after an accident, rather than pin the blame on each other. Perhaps they knew each other?
Juliette angrily reached out and plucked a phone off the ground. She turned the screen on and scrolled through what she saw. They weren't her texts. She looked up, only to see the strange man do the same on her phone.
"Oh, sorry." She said quietly, getting his attention. "Your phone?" Kanda, to this, nodded. She tossed it at him, and he caught it easily. She raised an eyebrow when he didn't return hers.
"Excuse me? My phone, please?" The sarcasm was rising again in her tone.
"Hm," he said, but continued to scroll through her texts, sitting comfortably on the floor of the farm.
"What are you? Can you give me my phone?!" She scrambled over to him angrily. As she reached over to him to grab the device out of his pestering hands, though, she sneezed. Loudly. Four times. Suddenly the cold increased, and then dramatically decreased until she was close to sweating. Then her body temperature returned to normal. She shivered at the series of odd feelings. Giving her an odd look, Kanda scooted away from her, still looking through her phone. She realised he wasn't afraid of catching whatever she had; he was getting out of the way to keep going through her one text to her GP doctor.
"What are you doing, you squeamish little asshole— OW!" The phone hit her in the head when Kanda threw it at her.
"Bastard," she muttered.
He rolled his eyes. "You're ill." He stated as he stood up, brushing off rogue leaves.
"What? No shit, Sherlock. What were you doing on my phone?"
"You should go to the hospital. That GP you talked to is wrong."
"It's just a flipping cold." She dismissed. "My phone?"
Without a word, the older man removed the deep orange scarf he had looped around his neck, and placed it around hers. It matched almost perfectly with her dark brown hair. Genuinely freaked out, Juliette glanced from the scarf, to the man, and back. The gesture left her stunned, enough to leave her speechless.
"That's not just a cold. Trust me. Go to the hospital." He left before she could utter another word.
"Montgomery?" Juliette called as she entered the house. Thundering footsteps echoed as hard footfalls fell against the wood, signalling Montgomery's coming down. She met him halfway, dumping her bags at the door and enveloping him warmly.
"Did you miss me?" She asked. He nodded into her shoulder, and she planted a big kiss on his cheek.
"Well, big guy, you want to help me with my shopping?"
"Yes!" He screamed, jumping on every stair until he reached the bottom.
Because of several mistakes Juliette had made as an eighteen year old girl, she gave birth to her son at the young age of nineteen— she'd been nothing but a mother since then. Her own mother had been extremely supportive, albeit disappointed at her daughter's ignorance.
Juliette smiled at her endearing child as he tried dragging her plastic bags to the stairs. She was about to tell him that he was going to sprain something when she sneezed violently, and continuously. After each sneeze Montgomery blessed her:
Sneeze!
"Bless you, Mommy."
Sneeze!
"Bless you."
Sneeze!
"Bless you, Mum."
Sneeze!
"Bless you, Mommy."
Sneeze!
"Bless you... That was five! Hahaha Mommy, that was five sneezes... Are you okay?"
Juliette's stuffy head was pounding, and her vision was fuzzy, so all she could see was her four year old son drop everything in his hands and run as fast as he could toward her as she slipped on one of the stairs...
The first thing Juliette felt when she woke up was in more of a mental state than physical. It was the gaze of dozens of eyes staring expectantly at her still form, her eyes still not opening. They felt glued together, as they had been entirely dysfunctional after the incident. They had yet to check the condition of her eye after the accident.
"Montgomery?" Juliette called, hoping to find her son in the midst of the silent staring-fest. It was very uncomfortable feeling their eyes upon her, and her inability to see them only increased her self consciousness.
"Monty?!" She felt her surroundings; there were metallic bars parallel to the mattress she lay on, and her clothing was lightweight and drifty. She couldn't feel the tight, thin material of her leggings anymore, but rather she was left with bare legs tucked into a semi-rough blanket she knew wasn't hers. The room was achingly cold. With more fast movements of her hands, a wire attached to her skin (possibly an IV) jerked and tore her skin a millimetre or two. Juliette flinched. Ow.
"Hey, there, honey. Careful!" A high-pitched, and aggressively annoying voice told her, punctuated by a squealing giggle. Albeit hating the fact that she was unable to view the woman who was obviously a nurse, Juliette gave in to her command to lay down calmly while the annoying voice reported her condition to her. She was experiencing a particular allergic reaction, one the doctors had not yet managed to figure out. Her eyelids were swollen due to the allergy, and her head had been stuffy when she had fallen down the stairs. She felt the bandages wrapped over her head. Six stitches. A part of her nervous system was damaged. She wasn't allowed to try walking for a few days. She was told that she was extremely lucky that Montgomery was a smart child who had learnt the 911 system pretty quickly, or her lungs would have become swollen by the time Leda came home, which could have lead to a possible passing. That had almost happened in the ambulance. She was now in the ICU Ward.
The nurse then proceeded to chat about the types of medicinal liquids they had poured into her blood to reduce the risks of that. Juliette nearly fell asleep until another nurse announced the special permission approved by the head of ICU department to allow Montgomery in. She went to fetch him, and thankfully took the chatterbox nurse with her as well.
Her mouth, Juliette noted, tasted terrible. She decided she must have been out cold for at least six hours, and she did not like that one bit. Her mother, Leda, soon came in with her grandson in tow, who ached for his mother.
"Mommy?"
"Come here, baby. Mummy's alright." She felt her boy's small, lean limbs climb over the bed and onto her chest, hugging her tightly.
"What can you do for her, Matron?" She heard her mother ask, with more concern in her voice than anyone could ever remember her have since Juliette had been in the seventh grade. The Matron, head of the Emergency ward, was an old family friend. She had treated Juliette as she grew up as her own, giving her free medicines and prescriptions whenever she needed them. The Reid family wasn't a rich one. The Matron was one of the most respected nurses around, more qualified to be a doctor than just a nurse. She had delivered Montgomery in a private room, and treated him too whenever he had needed it— all for free. Whenever Juliette ever asked her or her mother why so, they preferred to diverge onto another topic.
"I can get the doctor, if you'd like, Mrs Reid, but I'm afraid I have no idea what to do at this point.
"Please," Mrs Reid asked again. The Matron must have nodded, because soon enough Juliette was left alone in the room with her clinging son. She pet his hair carefully, telling him she as going to be fine, and they were going to go back home soon.
"I wouldn't think so," a deep voice said from a far corner. She couldn't place his voice, but she was almost certain she had heard it before.
"Can you help her, Doctor?" She heard her mother's voice again.
"Yes, I do believe that I'm aware of her condition, but not in its entirety. Give the hospital some time." doctor said. Damn, where had she heard that soothing, deep voice before?
Before she could figure it out, though, sharp stinging erupted on her eyelids. She almost jerked back before she realized the stinging was nothing more than just something cold, applied on her eyes. It smelt flowery. She felt Montgomery's cold, small finger poke whatever odd substance was on his mother's face, and squealed like a little girl seeing a cockroach for the first time.
"This," the doctor said, tapping her eyelids lightly through the soft material, "is a cotton pad heavily soaked in natural rose water. It can soothe the swelling in your eyes caused by whatever allergy you have, and you'll be able to see pretty soon. We are currently trying to figure out what it is you have developed, as it must be pretty rare. Any questions?"
There was a calm silence, until: "Is my mommy going to be better?" Montgomery asked quietly.
Everybody became quieter, if that was even possible. Juliette then heard to ruffle of cloth. Damn, she really did hate not being able to see things.
"Do you love your mother, Montgomery?" Depending on her hearing, Juliette could tell the man had kneeled beside her bed to reach the eye level of her child.
"Yes, sir, I do." It was cute to see the manners she taught her son finally show.
"Well, then you can believe in her as well. She'll be fine. Any other questions?" He addressed the crowd.
"No, Doctor. I believe not. Thank you for your help."
When Juliette next woke up, the cotton pads were gone. She could open her dry eyes and finally look at her surroundings.
It was dark out, and dark in. Montgomery and Leda were gone, probably asleep. Juliette would have preferred if Montgomery was there by her side, but it was against hospital policy to harbour a child under the age of twelve overnight.
She only saw one dark figure in the room, probably the nurse to check on her. Even though when she first woke, her side was hurting and full of rashes, during her sleep she seemed to have turned into this comfortable position. She wanted to move again, as her arm was numbing, but found herself unable to move. She wondered how her subconscious self had managed to do it. She grunted once more as she gave up trying to turn. Alarmed, the shadow nurse came to her side. Turns out, it wasn't the nurse. A doctor, one she was sure she had seen before, came into view. She groaned as the dim light caught on his sharp features.
"Not you," she moaned.
The doctor raised an angled eyebrow at her. "Problems, Ms... Juliette Reid?"
"Yes, actually. I never caught your name, before. You know, when you were crossing my private boundaries by fishing through my phone. What's your name?" His nametag was impossible to read in the darkness. She pretended to squint at it. "Doctor Asshole?"
Because her sleeping schedule had been tipped off balance, over the next few days Juliette became almost nocturnal. Eating her mother's cold pumpkin pie hours after it had been set down for her was like eating rock. Pumpkin-flavoured, large pieces of rock. Sometimes she asked a nurse to heat it up, and the rock would turn into cake, which she shared with roommate, dear old Froi Tiedoll.
She met up with the doctor in the wee hours of every night— he preferred to do all the work himself, and always took long nights. He tried day by day to figure out her allergy type, but failed. She became his main concern in the ward, with a priority level well past his own father. At least they knew what was wrong with him and were working on making him better. The hospital didn't know what to even diagnose this patient with. It was frustrating for everyone, especially Montgomery. Every day he brought her a different flower before they withered in their backyard.
Tonight the doctor —Kanda— had to check her rashes, which had formed mysteriously over the one day he had left her alone. She had no courage to move herself, as every time she did, her rashes rubber against each other and left a burning sensation. Kanda was forced to grab her by an arm and a leg, turning her manually for her to get comfortable, (like he had done so in the middle of the night of her first day to examine her problems, even though she didn't need to know that), and simultaneously allow him view to her new scars. After lifting the hem of her hospital dress to inspect her rashes closely— much to her uncomfortability, even though he was gentlemanly in ignoring her long, bare legs— and medicating them delicately, he began circling her bed, eyes narrowed in observation. It was getting too out of hand. Twelve days at a hospital where no one knew what was wrong with her? It was unheard of. She was already on a first name basis with her doctor!
His clipboard lay discarded at her feet, the only thing remaining in his hand a long, black pen that he subconsciously twirled within his fingers.
"Autumn allergy." He said. It was abrupt and caused her to jerk unceremoniously. His voice was right behind her ear, close enough that she felt his breath by her neck. It gave her shivers. It felt all too intimate and familiar. She didn't like that.
She turned her head to face him, and glared at him directly in the eye, "Is this the face of someone you actually want to mess with? Stop fooling around and tell me what's wrong with me."
"Tell me," Kanda said, straightening up,"How long were you out of the house that first day? Two hours? Three?"
It was a new question. It made her think. She couldn't remember. "... Four and a half? I'd been out all morning, I don'tknow."
"Autumn allergy, then," Kanda repeated, as he pulled another syringe from the inside of his jacket. "Prolonged exposure. Pollen infection. I'm sure of it. If there's any time in the 24 hours that my brain works best, it's during the night."
"Oh? And here I was beginning to think your brain didn't work at all."
"...It's time for the third dose." He said, ignoring her statement.
The first and second time the doctor had injected her that day, Juliette had been unable to see the anaesthetics. She had been asleep. Her pain was so horrid, the doctors preferred if she stayed asleep most of the day with intense tranquillisers and painkillers. The orange-red liquid made her squirm in her small, thin hospital dress. He didn't even ask if she was ready. He held her arm and before she could register what he was doing he had pressed the needle to her skin, and the dark coloured anaesthesia surged through her veins, acting quickly. After confirming she was drifting off into a dreamless sleep, Kanda left her to her rest. After all, tomorrow her physical therapy started.
"GET UP, JULIETTE!" Her doctor yelled as she fell against the carpeted grassy floor again. Everything was blurry.
"I'm trying, Kanda! Give me a bloody minute!" The pollen was catching in her lungs—
She tried holding onto a free again, to pull herself up, but that tree was her one weak spot. She'd get calluses and rashes on her palms if she even touched it. The autumn air was flooding her brain, and she had only been here for two hours.
Just as she had gotten back on her knees, she fell onto her hands again.
"Get up."
"I can't!"
"There's no 'can't'. Get up."
Juliette tried again. Her legs could no longer respond to her command.
"You're really in the fall spirit, aren't you? Falling all over the place? I said GET UP!"
"OKAY!" As she yelled that one syllable, her voice cracked.
Shaking his head, Kanda made his way over to her. She didn't want to cry, but tears already laced the sides of her cheeks.
"I can't, Kanda. I really can't." She whispered, her voice shaking. She felt his hand on her hip, helping her onto him. She didn't knew him well, but she accepted this as an invitation for a warm hug. She wrapped both arms around his neck, and sobbed. He had no way to get her off. He let her.
The allergy had taken its toll on her more than anyone could have thought it would. Her nervous system had been temporarily damaged, but now she couldn't walk without physical therapy. Her eyelids got swollen with every step she took outside, and pollen clouded her lungs. Her head got too fuzzy to function whenever she came close to a tree. And autumn had been her favourite part of the year before her allergy developed. Now, every year until the day she died, she would either be trapped in her home or at the hospital every time Fall came around. She hated that. So for once, that day, she let herself cry.
That night, Kanda decided against saying something snazzy when he came into the ICU ward.
To his great surprise, he caught his father in a deep conversation with his most recent patient, and that was always a bad thing.
"... So, he's your foster child? I get it now! Even though he's still really mean..."
Tiedoll turned pink in the pale moonlight "My, oh my. That's Yuu-son for sure. I'm afraid—"
"Oh, I didn't say that offensively! It's really great that he's got a no-nonsense attitude. It comes in handy in this life. He's definitely been raised greatly, I assure you. Especially his manners, even though his language is a bit coarse." Juliette said. It all came out in a sort of rush, to comfort Tiedoll of his son's upbringing, but not an ounce of it wasn't true.
"Why, I do believe—"
Kanda cleared his throat. "You guys done?"
It was Juliette's turn to redden. "We are now."
"Good. Old man," he addressed Tiedoll, "back in your bed, and don't ever get back out without a nurse here."
"But Yuu~~"
"Now." After that, Tiedoll obeyed. Kanda turned to her.
"Give me your hand." He said.
"What—"
"Now!"
"Okay!" She shoved her hand at him. He grabbed it, and pulled Juliette into a sitting position. ("OW?!") He started removing her blankets and said, "Get up," several times before she actually consented. She got to a standby position on the edge of her bed, and gingerly tried to gain control of her toes, and then her ankles, and then her calves. Her determination only lead her to function in her brain, telling her it was not going to work.
Kanda had other plans. He was going to make this patient stand if it was going to be the death of him. He reached for her other hand, and pulled her toward him. Still holding her hands, he managed to balance her, and she was off the bed for a good eight seconds before she felt like tipping over again. On human impulse, she had to grab the closest thing to her. Her one hand slipped out of Kanda's and grabbed his shoulder, bringing him even closer to her. She refused to let herself breathe; she could feel his breath on her neck, tickling.
Most of her weight was transferred onto Kanda in that instant. He was the sole reason she could balance at this point, but it also seemed he was the sole reason she felt she was going to trip and fall. Her heart pounded loudly inside her chest, betraying her as her fast heartbeat reverberated off her doctor's skin.
"Oops," she muttered. She still had her arm looped around his neck, and the hand she had let go off had landed on her hip.
Neither of them dared move, both fearing for her safety if either let go. Juliette still clung to him like he was her one remaining lifeline. She took her first, shaky breath since the incident that could have become a terrible accident. After many minutes of absolute silence, came an old, preppy voice, urging: "Oh, you two just keep getting it on, pretend I'm not here," from behind the curtain. Tiedoll chuckled.
Kanda cleared his throat quickly, trying to cover up the fact that he had just been staring at her eyes. That was way too out of character for him. He was a strict, strong, independent guy who needed nothing but his work and those eyes to keep staring back.
What? No. NO.
Carefully, Kanda placed his patient back on her allocated bed, and after medicating her rashes and giving her the third shot of the day, quickly left.
Juliette couldn't forget getting lost in those dark, beautiful cobalt eyes. And she probably never would. She thought about the universe beneath her doctor's eyelids until her own grew heavy and pulled her into an empty dream.
Her alarm clock the next morning was her son jumping on her bed to wake her from her deep slumber in Kanda's request. Unable to remember in her sleepy state that she had been in the hospital for two weeks, she pulled Montgomery toward her and hugged the life out of him.
"Stop fooling around, kiddo. Let me sleep~" she whined. She shifted her position to shove her face in the pillow, and suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her side.
"Ffffffffishsticks," she said, filtering her curses. "Sour fishsticks and flamingo cheesy paint. OW."
"Cheesy paint?"
"Shut up, Kanda." Juliette groaned into the pillow, clearly in a lot of pain. Quickly and bravely, Juliette shot into a sitting position, her back to Kanda and the other nurses. Her scars burned, but only briefly. She allowed a volunteer to lift the back of her dress to reveal a deeper, redder gash in her skin than the night before. Montgomery gasped.
"Fishsticks," Kanda said. "Someone get the kid out of here!"
"No! My mommy! What happened?!"
"Baby, you need to go," Juliette told him, "Wait outside for Grammy, and I promise I'll tell you later. Okay? Take Mr. Tiedoll with you."
Montgomery, with tears in his eyes, obeyed. A nurse ushered him out with Tiedoll, and sat with them, trying to be comforting.
"FUCK!" Juliette yelled. "Fuck fuck fuck— argh!" She protested against every prod Kanda gave her skin. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and even though she couldn't see her wound she could only just imagine it. Her cheeks were a glowing red, dampening from the tears she was trying to keep in. Her breathing was incessant, as she tried calming herself. Her chest heaved with every intake of air, and her nails were digging into her palms.
Coming up to face her, Kanda placed one hand on her neck, the other comfortingly on her thin thigh under the blanket. Their faces was inches apart.
"Kanda?" Her voice cracked, asking him to tell her. She finally let her tears roam free.
"The muscles under your skin is infected. By pollen, nothing less. It acts like sand to an oyster. The only way to get rid of it before the disease creates a tumour is if you blaze and cut away parts of your skin, Juliette. It's too dangerous of a disease to leave in your body." He whispered. He could see the look in her eyes. She was deeply scared. The horror was obvious, reflected in her widening pupils. But she nodded.
"I'll sign you up for Friday. I'll be there. You just need to trust me."
It was Friday when she next saw him. Nurses had escorted her bed to the operating theatre. Kanda and two other doctors were waiting for her when she got there, half of their faces covered in masks. She caught Kanda's eye. He nodded at her.
On a metallic tray, Juliette saw many scary instruments. The scariest; a short lighter the doctors had attached to a scalpel. They wouldn't be using any anaesthetics. Her body needed to be awake for this, as Dr. Leverrier had mentioned to her that morning. He was Head of Surgery, but would not be participating in this operation. Unfortunately, the doctors needed her reaction to pain to show them where the bits of pollen were, or it would never work. That meant she couldn't be numb. Today she had Kanda, Dr Walker, and Dr Wenham. Head Matron had assured her they were the best in their field.
"Ready, Ms. Reid?" Wenham asked.
Juliette had nothing to lose at this point. She also had no reason to delay this any further. She nodded her head once, and as the three doctors slowly lifted her nightgown to reveal her bare back, she shivered. The air was cold.
That didn't last long. Soon, there was a sharp, burning ache in her hip. She resisted the urge to scream, but it was too impulsive. Her throat let out a loud whimper, which she was not ashamed of. Because it hurt, having your skin burnt off, more than any pain she'd felt before. Kanda's gloved hand pressed down on her shoulder, letting her know where he was. It was Dr. Walker with the lighter, acting carefully with the sharp scalpel. Wenham was in charge of pulling away the pollen infestation, and Kanda the stitching up of what remained. It was a long, painful process, most of it spent with Kanda's gloved hand in her squeezing, trembling one. When he was working on her body, she kept track of his every movement, which played a small role in helping her distract her mind off the fact that he was placing stitches onto her back. Most of the time she had her tongue between her teeth, biting hard enough to draw blood multiple times. Whoever denied her the anaesthetics for this surgery was obviously a sadist. Even Kanda felt bad for every shred of skin they removed from her body. By the end of the operation— an hour later— she was sobbing into the metallic table she rest upon, with both Wenham and Kanda's hands on a shoulder, steadying her body for the final steps. As the last stitch fell into place, Juliette let her tongue go from its painful cage, and she passed out. What worried everyone the most was that the slumber was not medically induced, but the next time she opened her eyes it was three days later.
Juliette, from the minute she awoke, found herself in a blurry, moving world. She tried squinting her eyes to make everything clearer, but it didn't work. She didn't know where she was, so she didn't call out for someone.
She tried sitting up, but the bandages around her chest warned her against it. Around her neck was a long, deep red-brown knitted scarf. She didn't remember where she got it from, but it was helpful in shielding away the cold of the room.
"You're awake," a familiar deep voice said from the foot of the bed. She didn't know why, but she smiled when she heard him.
"Can I get up?"
"I wouldn't advise it." He said as he stood up from the edge of the bed, where he had been waiting for her for a few hours, and into her view. He held a strange circular contraption.
"Got cocoa," he said, placing it on her bedside table.
"How considerate," she replied as she reached for his hand. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Thank you, Kanda," she whispered.
"For getting you a chocolate drink?" He bent forward to meet her gaze.
"For... Everything. Thank you."
Their faces, inches apart now, were practically sharing the same air bubble. Juliette's ever-present grip in his hand remained, which sent shocks of electricity sparking through her body. Her heart started racing again, as his face was getting closer. Their foreheads were now touching.
"Kanda—"
He crashed his lips against hers, but after realising what he'd done, backed off.
"What the fishsticks—" she started. She grabbed his neat collar and yanked him toward her, making their lips meet again. To avoid him backing off again, she had one hand in the back of his neck, keeping him in place.
Instead of backing off, Kanda broke off the kiss, saying, "I would need my scarf back soon, by the way."
"What..? It's mine now."
Kanda snorted but didn't take away the personal item back. Instead, he stared right into her eyes (a tactic he was willing to try to get the scarf back). After a few moments his plan completely disintegrated at the back of his head, as their lips met again.
A throat cleared at the doorframe, quite obviously a childish voice. Kanda and Juliette jerked away from each other.
"Why are you kissing my mom?" Montgomery asked menacingly.
"Montgomery! Stand down, solider!" Juliette warned. "We need to welcome Kanda. He saved my life, you know."
"I did no such— Ow!"
"Really?" Montgomery exclaimed, rushing over to surround the doctor's legs with his arms. "Thank you, sir!"
"...Anytime, buddy."
One year later:
"G'bye Monty! Bye Ma!" Juliette called as she left the house, three days before autumn officially started.
Because of their lack of experience and resources at home, the hospital and Leda Reid had congruently agreed to allow Juliette back into their dorms until autumn ended, on the sole condition that she worked shifts at the emergency or ICU department, for 10 hours a day. Naturally, she chose the night shift.
It was made clear on the contract that if she ever fell ill due to her rate allergies during the time she served in the hospital, she would become a priority to treatment and be medicated immediately.
Mrs. Reid had way too much fun poking fingers at her daughter and her latest boyfriend. She teased them every time they left or entered the house, and every time they worked together.
It was no different now. "Don't go reproducing in the science lab!" She yelled down the stairs, just as her daughter locked the door. Juliette went red. Ten minutes later when she got out of her car and into the ICU ward, she turned redder. She had the night shift in the science lab. (12am–7am)
She met all her colleagues before treading into Kanda's office, licking the door behind her. Neither of their shifts started for another six hours, and she thought they should make the best of it.
Kanda, his eyes closed and shoes on the desk, slept soundly. To wake him up, Juliette placed butterfly kisses on his neck. The Heavens knew he hated anyone—anyone— near his neck. Which is precisely why she did it. He groaned and lightly tapped her face, used to her butterfly-kissingness.
Even Montgomery had gotten used to seeing Kanda around the house. Every time he couldn't sleep because of a nightmare or horror story, naturally, he tread into his mothers room with his blanket. Keeping in mind that Kanda stayed the night a lot, (mindless reproduction) Montgomery had found a comfortable space between the two. Sometimes it took a long time for his mommy to unlock her door, which never happened. His mother was always wearing a too-big ruffled shirt when she opened the door, or when she walked around the house every time she woke up late. Montgomery thought Kanda was taking up too much of his mother's time, and even though he thought it unfair, Juliette still payed her baby the most attention, with no exceptions, but when Montgomery slept between the couple, he usually did end up curled against Kanda by morning, whose arm wrapped around him safely. Juliette found this a sign that everyone in her life was becoming accustomed to this change and that was great.
In what remained of the night they had left, Kanda tossed his laptop onto the sofa, making room for Juliette to sit on, their lips not parting, just like the pair never would.
Well, hey. All she was told was not to do it in the science lab.
Sorry for procrastinating guys. I got a new metallic slinky. Nuff said.
