chapter eleven: visible
"El?" It couldn't be Seven, obviously. The blonde didn't show an exaggerated, girlish disposition that could indicate the teenage alter either. It could only mean one thing.
She smiled, hiding behind her lashes as Anna confirmed that, yes, this was El. Anna couldn't help the grin that came to her as soon as she figured that out. Meeting her again was way overdue. She was glad to see her.
The host was back.
"Hello," El greeted quietly, still unsure of what to say as she bit her lip. The blonde was shy, that much was evident. Amusing enough, the way blue eyes peeked at the nurse every so often was brave even if their owner wasn't.
Anna's beam grew wider. "Hi. How are you feeling?"
"A bit dizzy, but nothing out of the usual," she said, eyes darting around the room, surveying her new environment. "Are we in…?"
The brain had switched into another identity. Anna knew that the girl in front of her had really no idea where she was right now. The amnesiac walls separating her from Seven or any other alter were high up.
"We're at Middleton Psychiatric Hospital," Anna supplied patiently. "In room 031."
"Oh, I… I think Doctor Pablo told me that already." Brushing a hand on her face, El asked, "Has it been long?"
Anna didn't have the answer to that – her hunch was an insecure thought, so she countered with, "When's the last time you remember?"
"Uhm, I remember… afternoon counselling with Doctor Pablo." El squinted her eyes briefly, recalling the details. The blonde looked lost in thought before meeting Anna's eyes once again. "I think I was about to come… here."
"This room?"
El nodded, blinking a few times as she did so. "Yeah, I think so."
"Alright." Anna's smile was soft, calming. "Were you able to make it here?" Her gentle questioning was going somewhere. Anna knew El didn't, of course but asking outright inquiries might be considered invasive.
She settled with unassuming ones.
El was rubbing her eye lazily as she yawned. If it wasn't for her bright orbs looking at Anna so attentively, the nurse would've thought the blonde was sleepy. Then again, it was almost evening. Shaking her head, El said, "I don't think so… I think…" the blonde sighed as she met Anna's gaze again. "I think somebody else... might… have."
The blonde sounded as unsure as she looked. Anna took a mental note of everything she heard. Based on her answers, El might not know who she switched to. "Was it Seven?"
"Uh… I don't know," she confessed ruefully. The crumpling of her forehead implied El was telling the truth. "I don't really know most of the time who fronts after or before me."
Understanding struck the redhead. The walls made sure of that. She nodded, adjusting herself in her seat. Ann let the topic go, wondering all the while who it was that brought them to the rooftop.
There was a bit of wariness in Anna. She'd have to review the blonde's chart again and attempt to identify this alter. Definitely not Seven if his words yesterday was anything to go by. It could have been Lilly,
Maybe she should ask the director what he thought happened. The other alters refused to switch according to Seven, but maybe whoever it was, woke up confused.
Her heart thumped as she was hit with a thought. What if it was a little?
"That's fine," Anna smiled through her anxiety. "Are you still dizzy? Do you want to lie down?"
El busied herself staring at the floor as she said no. The blonde had been chewing on her lip for a while now. Anna was actually scared she'd draw blood if she didn't stop anytime soon.
Catching the blonde's eye was futile as El's attention was solely focused on the ground, on the wall, on the window just beside them, everywhere except the space Anna occupied.
The air between the two of them grew heavy, and heavier until the thoughts of their last conversation hit Anna like a truck. Knowing how everything ended up, how she acted, well, it was a cause for shame and discomfort. El didn't have the opportunity of setting everything right between them the last time she could, and so Anna had to think of ways to make sure she, herself, would.
Because, honestly, if Anna wasn't such a bitch, then there'd be a chance El could look her straight in the eye.
It's amazing how with Seven and Lilly in front of her, Anna hadn't thought of their relationship outside of the hospital – if you could call it that – not in-depth anyways. It was always like talking to new people, strangers even. Her butchered up friendship with El only came to the surface when the host returned.
And that was the hard part. Anna was faced with El now, the girl she just so happened to have budding feelings for. She couldn't help but be conscious of herself, recalling Seven tattling about El's nervousness around her. That was something Anna couldn't work with. If her presence made the blonde uneasy, what else could she do?
"You should've been nicer to her when she told you that she'd have something to do back then," the devil in her shoulder taunted her. "Then you wouldn't have this problem."
On her right, the little angel shook her head, adding, "He's right."
Anna breathed heavily, shaking the invisible creatures away. El's presence was making the redhead uneasy, too. It was more because of the butterflies than anything else. El, however… Anna wasn't sure what the host thought of her right now.
She sat up straighter but it failed to catch the girl's attention. Clearing her throat atrociously wasn't successful in doing so either. El was content with the view of anything else except Anna. The latter leaned back on her seat, feeling a little prickly with the silence.
Was she dissociating?
It didn't seem like it, but what the hell did Anna know? The blonde was avoiding her watchful gaze. The social butterfly in the nurse died at least twice, mounting a pile of obviously stifling air around them.
Not knowing where she was going with this, she leaned closer to where the blonde was looking, trying to catch blue eyes. "Do you want me to go?"
El shot up at that, body jerking back as she stuttered, "W-What? Why?"
Finally!
Anna resisted the urge to smile. Rubbing her nape, she shrugged. "Are you uncomfortable with me? Do you want to–"
"No!" El yelped, shaking her head before coming back to herself and adding quietly, "I, uh, I don't want you to go."
Anna didn't want to go, either. With a smile, she relaxed, even if just a little, but the silence came back afterwards. Blue eyes dropped to the white tiled floor and Anna was boring holes into a blonde head.
This was harder than what Anna thought it would be.
She wanted to talk to the blonde, but the words kept getting stuck in her throat. The imaginary creatures on her shoulders were right. It was kinda her fault. Not that she could be blamed, but still. She should apologise. Really. Just clear the air between them by admitting that she was wrong and that she shouldn't have–
"I'm sorry."
Anna snapped her head so fast she was sure she experienced whiplash. Just when she was starting to second-guess what she heard, the blonde looked up to her slowly. So slow, Anna could count the seconds as they passed by.
"I'm sorry," El repeated, blue eyes wide with guilt, sighing deeply. "I didn't mean to leave you hanging."
And what was Anna supposed to answer to that? The blonde didn't owe her any explanation, especially now that the redhead fatefully knew what it was that the woman was busy with. It wasn't a nice reunion at all. Not something anyone could have expected.
"You don't have to apologise," Anna started gently, because, really, El didn't have to. "I… was hurt, yeah. That's why I didn't answer your texts but…"
But meeting her as she was getting admitted was enough of a reason for Anna to start taking back every bad thought she made about Elizabeth and enough for her to kick herself in the ass each time she saw the blonde.
Especially now as she talked to El.
The blonde didn't want to lose contact with her. She knew it from the numerous texts and calls she received. If Anna only had stopped for a second to think, it wouldn't have ended there. But it was too late for regrets, she figured. Hopefully, Anna could make it right.
Anna wanted to make it right.
"–but I realised how stupid I was for just ignoring you like that."
El swallowed, shaky breath leaving her body. "I… I couldn't tell you about this… the way you saw me would change." Sadness swum in her eyes. "And it did."
In a way, she was right. Anna's view of the blonde had changed. El's condition guaranteed that – but that was not her patient's fault in the slightest. None of these were. That fact only made Anna feel ashamed of her response. Nervous eyes surveyed her face, an action that warmed Anna's heart due to its tenderness.
"It did," she confirmed. The blonde flinched at that. Anna continued quickly, "But not in the way you think it did."
El was at a loss of words, brows drawing together slightly. Blue eyes stared dolefully at her, puzzled. Anna just shrugged, offering the best smile she could muster.
"W-What do you mean?"
"What I mean is," green eyes turned coy, "it's not that important."
That caused the blonde to deflate. "I don't think that it isn't important."
The way El was glancing at her – skittish like an untamed cat – Anna could tell that the girl really was curious about what she had to say. Wary, yes, but there was a certain kind of warmth and emotion behind those blues. It was one Anna had never seen before, not on Seven or Lilly. By chance, it made a sense of hope pop inside her chest and struck a dizzy spell in her head.
"Actually, it isn't," Anna reinstated, quieter, but made no further arguments.
It just wasn't. The nurse in her was rousing, not a crush or a childhood friend could lull it back to sleep. Although overdue, her sense of duty was being poked awake.
It was not important what Anna thought or meant. It was irrelevant, insignificant. What was important was for the blonde to get better, here in Middleton Psychiatric or anywhere in the world, and Anna, as her nurse, had to make sure of that.
Call it a little happenstance – or a fucked up saviour complex – but Anna was more invested in what could happen than what did. With the way El was looking at her, a little baffled and a little mesmerised, her opinion only got louder.
Take that angel and devil sitting on my shoulders.
Anna's guilt could only go so long, deciding right now to focus on her patient's condition was better than anything she could come up with. El's eyes, although still as beautiful as ever, held something Seven or Lilly didn't.
Anna had seen it countless times on the patients she'd known. There was this gravity, this complication that lied within it. It might've taken steady eye-contact with the host herself, but their situation right now was sinking in.
When El realised that Anna wouldn't clarify what she meant, she sighed, rubbing along her arm as she resigned herself to never knowing. "If you say so… but still, I should've told you something." Anna kept perking up with every word she said. The blonde took a deep breath. "I… am here, uhm, because I–"
"You don't have to tell me anything," Anna swiftly interjected with a shake of the head. That's definitely a conversation for another day. "I… you don't owe me anything. Really."
"But I do."
Anna's eyebrows climbed up, El was certainty shining through the words she was speaking.
She could see where the girl was coming from. In fact, Anna was sure that it was the same place she had been. This could get complicated really quickly. She had to make sure it wouldn't be, even if a little part of her didn't want to.
Having your crush as your patient sucks.
"Then do this," Anna began, grabbing the blonde's interest. "Tell me about it when you're really sure you want me to know."
El considered her for a moment, studying her green eyes cautiously before a giggle escaped from her. Anna smiled inquiringly at that.
"Aren't you, my nurse? I think you should be overly interested in what made me end up here, of all places."
That cheeky grin was what Anna remembered best. Laughing lowly, she moved up her shoulders. "I'm just your nurse. I think that's Doctor Pablo's field of expertise." But after a second, she seriously added, "If you're going to tell me, then I want it to be because you trust me, not because you think you owe me an explanation."
"As a friend?" El asked tentatively.
Anna shook her head, a wistful smile on her lips. "As someone who could help you."
..
Taking care of the blonde was more exciting now.
Anna shouldn't have been thinking of work as something either boring or exciting, but really, her life was the hospital. Being professional even in her own mind wasn't something she could do, as good of a nurse as she was.
So she looked forward to the little things. At least now, even if the blonde spent most of her time still tired, her patient was more interactive.
On the day El returned, Anna went home with a giddy fluttering in her chest. Of course, she did remember her decision of focusing on the blonde with more professionalism than she used to, but seeing Elizabeth, may it be El or someone else fronting, was turning to be her favourite part of her job.
If she was going to be truthful, then maybe it was because El hadn't switched yet again. She figured it was because she felt better now, more comfortable, that her alters weren't making an appearance.
Anna was happy with herself. She thought the host was well now, but as she and El walked back from a stroll from the gardens today, Lilly came out and went after a flustered Tadashi. The teenaged girl spent the rest of the day talking to him, and Anna wondered what brought upon a switch when El was happily talking to her about Mr. Wilde's latest antics.
Learning more about her charge wasn't always easy. Just when Anna thought she had it all figured out, it was different from what she believed.
"What about Seven?"
Right at the moment, Anna was doing her weekly report in the Director's office. The doctor was busy jotting down notes as he asked the nurse for the things she'd observed over the blonde's stay.
"If I recall correctly, Lilly was wary about eating breakfast once because she said that Seven would 'snatch the front'. I think food is a positive trigger for him." Anna pressed her lips in thought. "But since Wednesday, when El has eaten, she hasn't really switched to him."
"Alters don't come out in a fixed manner," he told her. "Triggers, even positive ones don't work all the time. It has something to do with chance or the overall emotion of the system, that brings about switches. Stress is one thing for certain but also are other feelings. If the system had a complete manual of everything that could trigger a switch, then people with the disorder wouldn't have much stress handling it."
"Does that mean that even if there's nothing notable happening different alters could still front?"
Grand Pabbie looked up to her from where he was writing, giving her a measured stare. "Yes. You can't expect a system to work without the other would you?"
Anna never thought of the system as that way. She figured that alters take on roles the host didn't want to deal with. "But the whole system exists to protect the host, doesn't it? So if there was no stress or problem happening outside then… they wouldn't have to switch."
"Nurse Anna," the doctor started, clicking his tongue. "It doesn't really work that way. Although it is similar, the system doesn't revolve around the host. Alters are individual parts of the self, not an extra or an armour made to shield away the world. Their role is to assure the system function at its best. Technically, the host is also an alter. They're just meant to face the everyday part of life." He gave her a weighty nod. "The host is a part of the system, not the whole."
Certain that an alter could only come out when triggered, Anna was proved wrong once again. Still, she was feeling better now that El felt secure enough to come back.
"Is it true that the fatigue happens because of recurrent switches?"
She had thought over Ralph's words from before. Researching it through her texts didn't tell much. The discourse online was something that she hadn't finished yet. Studies showed when an individual's brain had to change to different phases when switching. It could cause the body to react accordingly.
"When switches happen, the fight-or-flight response is most often triggered. The brain processing the information takes time. Due to the course it undertakes, more stress is added to it, probably causing exhaustion. Is Ms. Arendelle still bed-ridden until now?"
Anna shook her head, tickled by the choice of words he used. "El still complains about being tired all the time, but she wasn't spending all day sleeping anymore."
"That's good," he remarked with a smile. "We'll just have to work down to where the problem lies and we could finally make progress soon."
As Anna left Doctor Pablo's office, the downward turn of her lips was apparent. Did he mean that there wasn't much progress was happening?"
El didn't really show much distress, although that could be attributed to her being the host and an Apparent Normal Part.
That meant that she didn't have traumatic memories. Anna weakened as she thought about it. The blonde's stay at Middleton Psychiatric was already half done its course. Nothing had been resolved yet.
Maybe she shouldn't have interrupted El when she was about to tell her the reason she was here. Anna couldn't very well ask Doctor Pablo outright, her words to the blonde would be obsolete if she did so.
The redhead just had to think of ways to figure it out, and soon.
The outpour of evening rain outside was making Anna more lethargic as she changed her clothes. It was Friday, which meant that Anna wouldn't see the blonde for another two days. This time last week, she was sweltering due to Seven's silence, dreading the next Monday to come, but as she put on her shoes lazily, she wished it would come quicker than ever.
"I wonder why she's acting like she's the heroine of a coming-of-age film. Right during the scene where she'd have to leave her love interest which she met, like, a day ago."
Anna's ear prickled, sniffing loudly as she placed her phone back on her bag.
"I know right. Days ago she was wilting because the Keaton girl broke up with her and now she's looking more in love, like a sad puppy waiting for her princess."
"Do you think they reconciled?"
"Maybe. It'd be a miracle if she told us anything, though."
Anna closed her locker door, glaring at her friends from the corner of her eyes. "I can hear you."
"That's the point, banana," Cassandra rolled her eyes.
Anna's friends could be such dunces sometimes. She turned around, unamused. "And what for?"
"For you to at least consider telling us what's up with you these past days," Tiana provided with a smirk of her own. With their shift over, they, once again, met on the four walls of their locker room.
They weren't alone though.
Silently listening to their conversation were their new colleagues. Ella, Ariel, and Mulan were smiling at them from across the room as they, too, packed up for the day.
They were a nice addition to their growing family. Their three new nurses were still adjusting to their new life but seeing new faces aside from familiar ones was enough for Anna to welcome them with open arms.
But not like this, though. Blowing through her nose, Anna tried to wave the statement off. "Psh, there's nothing up with me," she huffed, "I think boredom has incapacitated your judgement skills and now you're making rumours up."
"As if I'll ever be Nurse Herc," the curly-haired woman retorted. "But seriously, Anna, what's up with the," she gestured to her face, "I'm-so-in-love-but-the-world-couldn't-know eyes?"
That was, quite frankly, bullshit. Anna did not have a lovesick look in her eyes. Worried, maybe. Loathing to leave, possible. But so-in-love eyes? Nope, not a chance.
"What do you know about love?" Anna scoffed making the other woman gape at her.
"You've gotten better at avoiding our questions!" Tiana exclaimed, "That girl must be changing you. The changes are blatantly visible."
Groaning to herself, she ignored her old friends and decided to change the conversation by talking to the other redhead in the room. She heard Cassandra mumbling about how not fun she was being but she paid it no mind.
"Ariel," Anna chirped, "Did you get to tell Mrs. Meg about Ms. Ursula?"
Their patient had developed an antagonistic attitude towards the new nurse. Ariel had told her about it just a few days ago. Anna had advised the woman to tell the Head Nurse so she could change turns with anyone available when dealing with the woman.
Ariel nodded at her, smiling gratefully as she replied, "Yes. Thank you for telling me about it. I would've just sucked it up if you didn't but my days are actually easier now, thanks to that."
"Actually," the blonde in their group piped up. "She pussied out and told me to tell Mrs. Megara about it." She gave a pointed look to Ariel. "So I should be thanked also."
That got chuckles to erupt in the room. With a teasing tone, Mulan added, "I'm sure you were quite nervous, too, so maybe the both of you should just stay quiet."
"Ha!" Cassandra wheezed, clapping her hands and pointing to the brunette joyfully. "I like you, Mu, you're exactly my twin-soul."
As the short-haired girl crossed the room, she met Mulan with a high five, much to the discontent of the two girls.
"Alrighty then," Ariel rolled her eyes. "We're sorry we're not a buff gym rat that's not scared of anything or anyone in this hospital."
"Well, it's not like you should be." Anna gave her a look. "There's nothing to be afraid of in this hospital."
Especially not the patients. Although troubled and unpredictable, Anna knew fear would only serve as a hindrance to the healing process. For healing to take place, it needed to be in an environment where it could be done so freely, wholeheartedly by the patient and their carer.
"It's not like it could be avoided, Anna," Tiana mused out loud. "They're new, still getting used to everything. It takes time before they feel comfortable around here."
Anna nodded, seeing her point. "Well, you got a point there."
"Not everybody could be like you, Nurse Laurent," Cassandra jibed, tossing an arm over her shoulder. "Give the newbies a break."
"Yeah, right." Anna laughed at her silliness.
Ella looked between the two, curious as to what Cassandra was talking about. "What does being someone like Nurse Anna mean?"
"Fearless," Tiana replied immediately without thought. "Jumping head-first into anything no matter what's happening."
"Friendly as fuck enough to tame Cruella the Devil," Cassandra mentioned.
"Nice to everyone and anyone."
A smirk. "Crazily determined."
"Unbelievably hard-headed."
"Stupidly optimistic."
"Hey!" Anna interrupted with a frown. "That's just nicely-phrased insults now."
"We haven't said one bad thing," Tiana fluttered her eyelashes at her innocently. "You're jumping into conclusions."
Their new colleagues laughed at their antics. Anna pouted, sliding away from Cassandra's half-hug and returning to her locker to continue organising it. "Whatever."
The girls went back to their previous occupations. It was getting later and the outpour of the rain wasn't even nearing its end. None of the nurses wanted to try their luck on the storm brewing outside and so, the light conversations they were having kept them company as they waited for it to stop.
At one point, Mulan sat next to Anna, giving her a bewildered look.
"How the hell did you tame Ms. de Vil?"
Anna giggled at the incredulous expression on her face, folding her scrubs neatly in place. "By not thinking of 'taming' anyone."
"She threw her plate of food to my face the other day," Tiana shared with a poorly hidden scowl. "If that's just your secret, she would've been nicer to me by now."
The hospital, even if they'd tried their best to transform it into a safe space, was not always a fun place. Anna felt bad for her friend, knowing that sometimes things could get stressful, if not outright tiring. Cruella had always been one of their difficult patients and until now, Anna didn't know what she was doing differently than the rest to earn at least a spoon of respect from the older patient.
Anna sighed dejectedly, not knowing what to reply to the nurse's grievances.
"You're just plain unlikable, Ti," Cassandra tried to lighten the mood from beside her locker. "Don't take it personally."
"Hardy har. As if you're any different," the girl sassed back.
"At least I don't complain about it."
"Well, not everyone could take care of a sweet little angel that looks like a Hollywood actress, can we?"
Anna, for the most part, didn't think the statement pertained to her as she listened along, but Cassandra was quick to let her know it was by pushing her on the shoulder roughly, whispering loudly, "So what's up with your new charge, Nurse Anna? She seemed pretty normal to me. And that face," she whistled, "Well that's what you call a bombshell."
Credits to the auburn-haired woman, she didn't actually make any obnoxious outward reactions with what Cassandra said even if her heart went crazy at the mention of her charge. Her movements just stilled, not liking that the attention turned to her blonde patient.
She didn't answer, opting to send a shrug to the teasing. Cassandra poked her again in the shoulder, sighing dramatically. "Okay. I know you're pissed that we won't leave you alone about the Keaton girl and all that shit, but please, that's no excuse to withhold information from us."
"Yeah," Mulan piped up, "Although I remember code Waldo being called because of her last week, right?"
Anna had never really been a stuck-up bitch that acted like she had more upstanding morals than the next nurse out there. She had talked shit behind patients' back, too, in this exact room with the people she was with, but the information, as Cassandra called it, regarding Elizabeth and the system was lodged firmly in her throat with no means of getting out.
In a way, Anna didn't want to share the blonde with anyone else, so she gave her friend a blank look. "I don't know. We don't really talk that much."
"As if," Tiana scoffed. "You don't even spend lunch with us anymore. You're glued to her side all thirteen hours of your shift. What, is she combustible that you need to be there for her all the time?"
"That's literally my job, Ti," Anna defended herself.
"Is it because she's hot?"
Anna blinked at the smug look in the nurse's face, disbelief in hers.
Unbelievable.
But not unexpected. An alarming amount of reasons piled up on the end of her tongue, thinking of ways to shut down the harmless joking.
Opening her mouth, she stuttered, "Well, not everything is–"
The door slammed open, banging on the wall and interrupting the pathetic excuse she was starting. All heads turned to the gate crasher, the room hushing as they scrutinise their surprise guest.
Wearing a brown jacket Anna was so familiar with, their visitor took one sweep of the room, blue eyes landing finally on the green-eyed girl sitting by the lockers.
Arriving like she was summoned randomly, the blonde, barefoot and with perfectly braided hair, entered the room, stopping in front of her gaping nurse with a devilish grin.
"Hi, Nurse Anna!" a high-pitched voice greeted her, "I've been looking everywhere for you."
Taking advantage of the surprised nurses, the blonde squeezed herself between Mulan and Anna, studying briefly the faces in the room as she scoffed, "God, it's a boob-fest in here."
Anna shut her mouth with a click. "Lilly?"
So she hadn't left yet. Or slept. Her afternoon after-sessions was spent with Lilly. After managing to pull the blonde's claws out from a suspiciously entertained Tadashi, she swore that she was a bit successful in putting her to bed already.
Okay, that was possibly an hour prior, but that was ample time for the hyperactive alter to calm down and sleep, right?
Especially since it was already 8:30. Their residents were asleep by this time.
Well, except for Lilly that was.
"Yes, hello," the blonde replied to her, grinning from ear-to-ear. She didn't look sleepy, not one bit.
She should ask her a lot of things. For one, maybe 'what are you doing here?'. 'How did you manage to get here?' was another. 'Are you okay?' was a safe one.
Instead, Anna blurted, "Why are you barefoot?"
The nurse could hear the collective blinking of her colleagues and the need to hit her face with her palm grew. Lilly looked at her sceptically then peeked at her feet with a puzzled expression. "Oh, I didn't notice."
As the girl eyed the other nurses in the room, her face brightened upon seeing Tiana, leaving the dumbfounded redhead on the bench. "Oh my God, your eyeshadow game is so a-mazing."
Tiana blinked before realising what she was being told. She giggled, brushing her hair to the side of her face. "Thank you, uh, Lilly."
"What are you using, pray tell," the blonde asked kindly, genuinely examining the artwork drawn on Tiana's face.
"Uhm." The woman's eyes flitted to the patient in front of her and to the gobsmacked private nurse on her side. "Stila Matte, I think."
The blonde's face grew brighter at that. "That's actually wonderful! Can I borrow it?"
With slight hesitation, Tiana obliged and reached to the locker behind her. Anna, having come out of her stupor, gently approached the blonde with a hand on her arm. "Lilly? What are you doing here?"
"I was looking for you…" she trailed off, stopping with a frown on her face as she exhaled heavily. "Yeah, I was looking for you."
"You're not supposed to be here," Anna said, chiding gently. "C'mon, let's go back to your room."
Gripping the blonde's arms softly, she tried to steer her patient away from Tiana. Rolling her eyes, the blonde snatched it back harshly, "I'm seventeen now, Nurse Anna. I don't have bedtimes."
"You've been seventeen for a long while," Anna rebutted, "C'mon. Let's go."
"No," she whined, looking around to the pairs of eyes watching them from the side-lines uncomfortably. "I'm still talking to Ms. Gorgeous over here."
At the subtle yet strong resistance against her, Anna conceded, noticing the widening of blue eyes and what it could mean.
Tiana came to Anna's rescue in a second. Holding the palette to the blonde with a warm smile, she said, "Don't worry. You can return it tomorrow if you want."
Lilly gasped, the twinkle in her eyes returning. "Really?"
"Really," Tiana confirmed.
With a squeal, Lilly gave the nurse a hug and retracted back swiftly. "Thank you, thank you! You're the best!"
Anna successfully dragged her patient back to her room after that, not without the blonde taking her makeup kit and essentially shutting the door on her face as they reached 031.
Lilly was starting to interest her, that was for sure. Her eyebrows were stuck in her forehead as she chuckled at the door. Poking her head back in a minute later, she saw the blonde silently humming to herself as she applied lipstick from her bed, her smile visible from the small rounded mirror on her hand.
hello, my dudes! I totally didn't take a break from updating, swear! There's just these two hugearsed storms the past two weeks and... yeah. Shout out to SheAlwaysDIes, my beautiful, wonderful editor, thank you so much for the work you've put in here. I appreciate it more than I could ever say. Thank you to everyone who reads AMGA and everyone who's kind enough to leave reviews. You guys are awesome! I hope you enjoy this chapter. The second arc's coming to town soon so there's that to look forward to (or be scared of)! Hope everyone's safe and choosing the best for themselves! cheers xx