Author's Note: Chapter title from the song 'How It Ends' by Devotchka. I honestly intend to ease up on the angst soon enough... but not yet, apparently.
Chapter Eleven: You Already Know How This Will End
"It's good news, though, right?" Nico asked his blonde costar, who was curled up in the windowsill of her uncle's hospital room, knees to her chest, staring at the floor. "I mean, after everything, at least there's that."
He had come down to show his support, like all her castmates had, and he'd also come with the news from the studio head, Mr. Condor, that he would be footing the hospital bill and would pay for a temporary apartment for Tawni and her uncle. After news of what had happened had reached the media, he found himself needing to do a little damage control- it seems some parties were blaming his lack of overt support for Tawni and catering to conservatives, which in turn, somehow, made him liable for what had happened. It was ridiculous, but leave it to the Hollywood gossip rags to contort things beyond reason. In any case, she was one of his biggest stars and people wanted to see him show support in some grand way and so they got it. The personal motives behind it did not go unnoticed by Tawni, however.
"Anyway," Nico attempted to start another conversation. "Grady and I have some new sketch ideas..."
She wasn't listening. She had too many things on her mind.
Had her father actually gone so far as to set the fire himself? Or was it just an unfortunate accident? The police had nothing to say yet.
Her new manager had suggested she move to New York and work on Broadway for a time. He thought she'd make an excellent Glinda and the current actress would be departing soon. She obviously couldn't move across the country with Charlie in his current state, though, tempting as it might be to start fresh.
And then there was Sonny. Her mind always seemed to wander to the brown-eyed girl whenever it got the chance- as soon as she stopped consciously focusing on something else, Sonny's face came into view. Or her hands. Or her thighs. Or her breasts.
"Damn it," Tawni breathed, shaking her head as though doing so would eliminate the memories.
"What is it?" Nico asked, not understanding how his sketch proposals could warrant such a response.
"Nothing," she said, getting to her feet and walking over to her uncle's bedside. "You don't have to hang around here, Nico."
"I was just stopping by to see how things were. We are friends, after all. In a weird sort of way."
"I know, but you don't have to feel obligated."
He nodded, not sure how to respond. He did feel obligated- she was his friend, maybe not the best, but a friend all the same. They'd worked together for six years. How could he not come by and check on her? There was no way not to feel obligated in this sort of situation, was there?
He rubbed his head. "Look, why don't you come out with me for a bit? Just get a cup of coffee from somewhere other than the hospital cafeteria. I know you could use a break. Just an hour or so. There's a place right down the street. We could walk to it."
"Why? We don't hang out normally, Nico. Not just the two of us. Why should we hang out now? Just because the only person who actually cares about me, and the only person I actually care about, is laying here, all burned and bruised and..." she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"I think we both know Charlie isn't the only person you care about," Nico said, crossing his arms. "And he's certainly not the only one who cares about you."
She didn't look at him. "I appreciate you stopping by, Nico, but you don't need to pretend like we're good friends all of a sudden."
"I'm not pretending anything, Tawni," he insisted. "We are friends. Not the best, but still friends. We've hung out before. Remember that time we pulled that prank on Chad? With his energy bar endorsement deal?" he couldn't help but chuckle at the memory."With the hearing loss and the funhouse vision."
A slight smile crept onto her face. "And then I made you think you had the funhouse vision too."
"Yeah, you did," he conceded with a grin. "Come on. A quick break. We can plan another prank on Chad, for once everything gets back to normal. Which it will-eventually. I know it will."
She sighed and looked over at him, hesitant. A cup of coffee sounded good, though, and the hospital stuff was gross. She reached over and gave Charlie's hand a quick squeeze. "I'll be back in a bit."
Nico threw his arm over Tawni's shoulder and walked out of the room with her. It was the first time he had ever been successful at putting his arm around the blonde, who was normally quick to shove it away.
Inhaling deeply as the elevator doors parted, Sonny stepped out onto the ICU floor, a bouquet in hand. She gone over what she planned to say to Tawni a hundred times already. She wasn't going to put up with being shoved aside just because things got a little dangerous. She wasn't going to not be there when she was needed the most. Tawni had no right to make the choices for her. She had no reason to push her away.
Sonny had been surprised to learn that Tawni had broken up with her out of concern for her, combined with a heavy dose of fear of getting hurt. Zora's microphone had worked superbly and she had replayed entirety of Tawni's confession to Chad over and over, as well as the memory of the argument she herself had with Chad the following morning.
"Leave it alone, Sonny!" he yelled.
"I can't."
"Yes, you can. You're just going to make things worse and get yourself hurt. This is serious. Tawni wants you to stay out of it."
"No, she just thinks that she needs to. She doesn't and she doesn't-"
"What part of 'you could get seriously hurt' do you not understand?"
"Yeah, well, it wouldn't be the first time someone tried to kill me over my romantic choices," she said with an eye roll, referring to the time Penelope had tried to blow her up due to jealously of her short-lived relationship with Chad.
"Sonny-"
"It's not your call Chad. It's mine, OK? I don't need everyone protecting me. You, my mom, gosh, even Tawni! It's ridiculous. I can take care of myself."
One more deep breath and she stepped through the door and into Charlie's room. Tawni wasn't there.
She sighed and set the flowers at the foot of his bed, taking a seat beside him. Tawni would undoubtedly be back soon.
"You know, Charlie," she mused aloud. "Everything would be a lot easier on everyone if you would just wake up."
She looked at him, waiting for a response. "You could tell the police what happened. You could talk some sense into your niece. You seem to be one of the only people who can do that. And you- at least as far as she's concerned- you're all she has left. I don't know what she'll do if you don't wake up. I don't really even want to think about it because Tawni... she always has to be so extreme about things. And I'm afraid she'll do something..." she hesitated. "I don't know. I haven't been myself lately. Except with the meddling. I've kept up with that, apparently."
She tilted her head to the side and took his hand, squeezing it tightly. "Here's the thing- I need you to wake up. And it's completely selfish of me and I hate that, but it's the truth. I need you to wake up because I need you to make Tawni understand that she can't live her whole life afraid of caring about anyone just because they might get hurt. And if you... if she loses you... I don't know how I could convince her. But if you make it through, you could. And she'll listen to you. She doesn't want me anywhere near her and she thinks I'm just naive and- I need you to make her see that it's worth the risk. She showed me that coming out was worth the risk- even after she got jumped and after her parents took all her money and after she almost got fired... she said she wouldn't take it back. And she gave me the courage to be honest about myself and I... I want to be able to give her the courage to not hide from this. She's braver than that, I know she is. And she is strong enough to get through it if anything ever did happen- that's just... that's life. You deal with it and you move on, but you never plan on the bad things happening. You can't plan on them happening because if you do, you'll be miserable forever. I need you to wake up so you can tell her that for me, OK? Because I have so much to say to her but I don't think she'll hear a word of it. Not from me."
She let go of his hand and leaned back in the chair, taking a deep breath. After a few more minutes, she got to her feet and turned toward the door.
Stepping through the door she collided with Tawni, causing the blonde to spill her coffee all over the floor.
"Damn it!"
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"There's no food or drinks in the ICU for a reason, Tawni," a nurse scolded her while simultaneously gesturing for a janitor. In all honestly, the woman seemed more amused that upset.
"Sorry," Tawni mumbled.
"Tawni, I-" Sonny started, only to be interrupted by the blonde.
"What are you doing here?" Tawni's voice came out far more meek than she wanted it to.
"I just wanted to see how he was," Sonny replied. "I wanted to see how you were."
The janitor appeared beside them and set about mopping the floor, handing Tawni a paper towel for her shirt.
Annoyed, she dabbed at the stain on her blouse to no avail and retreated into her uncle's room. "Everything's fine, Sonny. Go home."
Sonny followed the blonde into the room, placing a consoling hand on her shoulder, only to have to shoved away and her eyes meet with an icy glare. "Go home."
"No," Sonny insisted. "Stop ordering me around. You have no right to do that. I care about you, Tawni, and I'm here because you- you need me to be here. You need someone, at least, and even though you think Charlie's the only one who loves you, you're wrong. I-"
Sonny was cut off by a sudden string of quick, sharp beeps, followed by the ominous long shrill sound of the heart monitor.
"What's happening?" Tawni asked, whirling around as a team of nurses and doctors flooded the room, a crash cart in their midst, and surrounded Charlie's bed.
The same nurse who had scolded Tawni moments before ushered her and Sonny out of the room and directed them to the waiting room.
"No, I want to stay here! What's happening?"
The nurse shut the door to the room, leaving Tawni and Sonny stranded in the hallway.
After a few moments, Sonny attempted to lead Tawni to the waiting room, but the blonde simply shook her head and wordlessly slid to the floor, her back against the wall across from Charlie's room, and stared intently at the closed door.
Sonny sat down beside her then. She hesitated a second, but then reached over and clasped Tawni's hand.
Tawni made a weak effort to pull her hand away, but Sonny didn't let go and Tawni stopped fighting.
They sat in silence on the floor, waiting for the door to open again.
