"Come on, Stitches." Mina said, pulling open the curtains in their shared bedroom. Thomas walked in after her, a cup of tea in his hand. He placed it down on the side table and Stitches gave a small, grateful smile. It had been a month since the accident, and it had been a slow recovery.
"I don't want to get up." Stitches huffed. Mina sighed.
"Come on, you gotta get up, we've got to clean your wound, then it's anti-biotic time! Come on, sounds fun!" Mina said, brightly. She had taken a lot of the responsibility regarding Stitches' care, considering the way that she got the wounds.
"Sounds like fun." Stitches said, sitting herself up gently and taking the cup of tea off of the bedside table. After sliding her glasses on with her bare hand and took a sip of the tea.
"Stitches, come on. You've got to get up and start training again." Mina said, sitting on Stitches' bed.
"I don't want to." Stitches replied, a scowl on her face. Mina sighed.
"Well, you're gonna. Now, come on. Your parents are going to be here in twenty minutes." Mina said, taking the mug from Stitches' hand and making her lay down. After pulling out some antiseptic wipes and some adhesive bandages, Mina turned to Thomas.
"Out." Mina said. Thomas did not argue, and simply stood up, walked out of the room and shut the door. Mina sighed and turned to Stitches, Stitches taking her shirt off, a crop top her only covering.
"Right, ready?" Mina asked. Stitches nodded and grit her teeth. Mina grabbed the corner of the large bandage and began to rip it off, painfully slowly.
"Holy mother of- Just rip it off!" Stitches screamed. Mina made a noise of confusion, placed her hand on one side of Stitches' stomach and ripped the dressing off in one foul swoop. The look of pain in Stitches' eyes was almost hidden by the rage. After several profanities, Stitches' words became coherent once more.
"I'm going to kill you!" Stitches yelled. Mina winced and nervously spoke up.
"You gotta lie down." Mina said, adopting a defensive stance in case Stitches formed. Stitches gasped and laid back down, her hip and stomach hurting.
"Is it sore today?" Mina asked. Stitches nodded.
"It's been a month. It's supposed to be better." Stitches said, trying not to cry. Mina sighed and looked over at Stitches.
"Honey, you knew it was gonna take a while." Mina said, kneeling down beside Stitches.
"It's not fair. I just… I just want to get better, you know?" Stitches said, through sobs. Mina sighed and pulled Stitches' hair out of her face.
"It's okay, sweetie." Mina said, gently. Stitches snivelled and rubbed at her eyes.
"Come on, let's get this cleaned up." Stitches sighed, propping herself up a little on pillows. Mina took one of the wipes and cleaned Stitches' wound. She still felt responsible for the injury, even though Stitches had told her time and time again that she wasn't.
"You've got that 'I'm-gonna-kill-you' look on your face, Stitches." Mina said. Stitches squeezed her eyes shut.
"That's because I'm gonna kill-"
"Finished!" Mina said, swiftly. Stitches smirked and sighed with relief as Mina finally put another bandage back on her wound, allowing her to sit up and pull her shirt back on.
"I reckon you finally scare me more than your father scares me." Mina said.
"My father doesn't scare you at all," Stitches said, sliding out of bed, shakily, "I remember you once describing him as 'a big, stabby teddy bear.'"
Mina looked up, trying to remember. She then smiled.
"Well, congratulations, you're scarier than that." Mina said. Stitches rolled her eyes.
"Oh, ha, ha, ha." Stitches said, walking out of her room and swiftly flopping down on the couch.
"C'mon, Stein, you gotta get up." Joseph said. Stitches turned to the pistol and huffed.
"Really? You too?" Stitches asked. Joseph nodded and Stitches groaned.
"Your girlfriend roped you into this, didn't she?" Stitches asked. Just then, a knock on the door signalled the entrance of Marie and Stein.
"Hey, baby girl. How're you doing?" Marie asked. Stitches pushed herself to a standing position and shrugged.
"Meh. So-so, I guess." she said, walking over to her mother and hugging her gently.
"How's your recovery going?" Stein asked his daughter. Stitches shrugged.
"Not great. But what can I do?" Stitches walked over to him, hugging him gently as to not hurt her wound. She stepped back and Stein began to speak.
"Well, you could start by going outside." Stein crossed his arms. Stitches looked up at him and sighed.
"Do I have to go out and do things?" Stitches asked, shuffling over to one of the dining chairs and sitting herself down on it.
"It's been a month, honey. I know it's going to be hard, but you've got to get out." Marie said, quietly. Stitches sighed, swinging her legs back and forward. Stitches was short and the chairs were relatively tall. Mina smiled at her friend.
"I'm sorry, but how on Earth are you so short with a father like the Doc?" Mina asked. Stein rolled his eyes and smirked.
"Marie, have you got something to tell me?" Stein asked. Marie smirked.
"Oh, yes, because I slept with a lot of other silver haired men around the time she was conceived." Marie replied.
"Oh, no, Mama, don't." Stitches said, sticking her fingers in her ears. Mina laughed slightly and jumped off of the kitchen counter where she was sitting.
"Come on, Stitches. We'll go up to the laboratory. You just need to get out of the house." Mina said, grabbing Stitches' wrist and standing her up. Stitches sighed.
"Mama?" Stitches asked. Marie shrugged.
"I'm on Mina's side." Marie said. Stitches gasped.
"But… Papa?" Stitches asked. Stein shook his head.
"You've got to get out of here." Stein said.
"Papa! Not you too!" Stitches exclaimed. Stein crossed his arms and shrugged, and Stitches gave a large huff and an exasperated glare.
"Hurry up." Stitches huffed. Mina squealed and smiled.
"Let me get my phone." Mina said.
Stitches sighed and looked down at her canvas sneaker-clad feet as she sat one of the benches out the front of her old residence. Mina, Thomas and Joseph were chasing each other around like five-year-olds, and Marie was simply sitting and watching them. Stein walked over to Stitches and sat on the other side of the bench, looking over at his rather upset looking daughter.
"Are you alright?" Stein asked. Stitches looked up at Stein and shook her head. Stein sighed and slid over to the gloomy teen.
"I feel completely inept." Stitches said.
"Why?" Stein asked. Stitches looked over at her father and sniffed slightly.
"I… I…" Stitches murmured.
"Come on, you can tell me." Stein spoke quietly, and Stitches looked up at him, on the verge of tears.
"I – I can't form, Papa." Stitches whispered. Stein sighed and gently grasped Stitches' shoulder.
"It happens to a lot of people, Stitches." Stein said. Stitches looked up at Stein and sniffed.
"Really?" Stitches asked. Stein nodded.
"You've been through trauma. You don't expect to come back just like that." Stein said.
"I just… I don't want to let people down." Stitches said. Stein shook his head and chuckled.
"You're your mother's daughter. You're the only people in the world who care about other people more than themselves when they're trying to get better." Stein said. Stitches looked down and rubbed at her eyes.
"Wh-What i-if it…" Stitches trailed off. Stein glanced down at her and she looked up at him, the same look in her eyes as Stein had when he came back from an episode of madness – vulnerability.
"What is it?" he asked. Stitches snivelled and she tried to stop the tears from welling up in her eyes.
"What if I never form again?" she whimpered, and she couldn't hold back the tears any longer. Her shoulders shook and Stein's eyes widened, and he glanced up at Marie, who noticed the scene. She stood up and walked over to the two, which piqued Mina's attention. Stein glanced up at the redhead and walked over to her while Marie wrapped her arms around Stitches.
"Sweetheart, what's the matter?" Marie asked. Stitches gave a small hic and squeezed her eyes shut.
"Mama, I can't form." she sobbed, and Marie held her daughter tightly.
"Baby, it's okay." Marie whispered. but Stitches shook her off.
"No, Mama! It's not okay! I'm useless!"
The cry rang out through the entire yard, all eyes flicking to the silver-haired girl.
"So, no, it's not okay! It's not even close to okay!" Stitches cried again, standing up and running into the laboratory, leaving Marie and everyone else shocked.
"I'll go." Mina sighed, but she felt a hand grip her shoulder.
"Don't. I know what it's like – if I was in her state and I had a meister preach at me, I'd punch them in the face." Joseph said, walking past Mina and into the laboratory. Mina stood, eyes wide, but let Joseph go nevertheless.
With a small knock on Stitches' bedroom door, Joseph received a groan.
"Go away." Stitches said. Joseph opened the door anyway and Stitches' head was buried into her pillow, save for a millisecond glance at the pistol.
"Who sent you?" Stitches huffed. Joseph held his hands up as if he was surrendering.
"Hey, I'm neutral. I'm Switzerland." Joseph replied. Stitches snivelled and turned over, pulling her pillow over her eyes, trying and failing to stifle her tears.
"Hey, hey, come on," Joseph walked quickly over to Stitches and wrapped his arms around her, "don't cry." he said, quietly.
"It's not like I'm capable of much else." she mumbled. Joseph clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, pulling the pillow away from her.
"Don't do that. You know that's ridiculous." Joseph looked at Stitches, and she looked up at his defiantly, her eyes narrow and staring.
"Don't gimme that I'm Doctor Stein's daughter and I'm going to cut you up look. It doesn't work on me." Joseph said, crossing his arms.
"I… I know." Stitches sighed, exasperatedly. Joseph rubbed circles into Stitches' back.
"You can talk to me whenever, you know that? There's only so much a meister can do." Joseph gave a smirk, and Stitches blinked up at him, laughing despite herself.
"Come on." Joseph stood up and Stitches followed him.
"And if anyone asks what went on here, I came in and flirted with you a bit, then didn't do anything nice." Joseph continued. Stitches walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and Stitches stood on her tip-toes to kiss him on the cheek.
"Thank you." she said, quietly. Joseph laughed and smiled, turning back to leave the room. Stitches felt a strain in her wound, and she stopped.
"You okay?" Joseph asked. Stitches clutched at her stomach and nodded.
"Yeah, I… Yeah. You go." Stitches insisted. Joseph walked away nervously and Stitches grabbed the doorframe.
As a weapon, Stitches was acutely aware of her own soul. The way it felt, the way it moved and the way it acted.
And, at that very moment… something felt wrong.
A/N: Well.
Factoid #5: While Stitches and Joseph don't interact heavily very often, they are quite close. Their relationship is almost a big brother/little sister relationship, and is somewhat based upon the Spirit/Marie relationship headcanon that can be seen in this series. Like Spirit and Marie, Joseph and Stitches bond over their common weapon status.