Author Notes - We have a couple of episodes being brought up here, and (if it didn't happen in the last chapter) this is no doubt when the story beings to take one hell of a turn.

CHAPTER TEN - IN HOSPITABLE TROUBLE

1960… It was horrible for any family to have a member in the hospital. It was even worse if there were two beloved family members in trouble...

'It's not working. You broke it.'

'I didn't break it! It must've been you.'

'Oh, it's always my fault!'

'Yeah, my point exactly.'

Middle school science class could sometimes be fun, at least when the teacher didn't constantly pair you up with your own twin sister. Other times, something refused to work and everyone just had a miserable time. Today, it was the latter.

It was the day they learnt about water bottle rockets, something that would only interest their little sister. You know, fill 'em up with water, put in some pressurised air, and you've got yourself a tiny rocket. The first few pairs of students had managed to get their rockets quite high into the air, but - of course - when it was Patty and Selma's turn, the air pump seemingly broke on them.

'You hit it too hard.' Selma said, looking down at her twin. 'As you always do.'

At that moment, Patty was so desperate to get the damn air pump working that she was on her hands and knees, bashing her fist into the pump in hopes of getting anything to happen.

'I never break anything!' She retorted.

'Tell that to the broken Malibu Stacy dolls in the bin.'

'It's not my fault those stupid dolls are so flimsy!'

Some of their classmates snickered to themselves, as they always did whenever something went wrong for the twins. And - as always - Patty gave them a glare and they shut up instantly. Selma glanced over to the teacher. He was supposed to be keeping track of how high the bottles went, but now he lightly bashed the top of his clipboard against his forehead.

'The teacher's getting impatient.' Selma remarked, crossing her arms.

'And I'm getting impatient with you!' Patty yelled. 'What's your point?'

Selma just sighed, and knelt down next to their rocket. As she got a closer look at it, she couldn't see what the problem was for the life of her. It looked just the same as all the other rockets, and she couldn't see any leakage of any kind. The only thing she could guess was that her twin broke it. Again.

The teacher stepped forward. 'Okay Patricia, I think the air pump is broken. We can make do with the results we have.'

Patty didn't listen to him - something he was so used to that he didn't care - and kept trying to get the apparently broken air pump working. Selma peered a little closer at their rocket, trying to figure out what the problem could've been.

'Wait, Selma!' The teacher cried. 'I don't think that's a good-'

Then, it worked. By some miracle, it managed to work. It appeared that Patty's brute-force method actually worked for once, and the water rocket burst from its spot and into the air. However, there was one major problem.

*BAM!*

'AHH!'

It smacked Selma right in the middle of her face, hitting her with all of that initial force. It hit her with enough impact to knock her backwards to the ground.

'Oh my god!' The teacher yelled.

Patty gasped. 'SELMA!'

The redhead ran over to her younger twin as the crowd of students stared in horror. Selma had one hand on the ground to keep herself steady, and had the other covering the point of impact. It left Patty unable to see most of the damage, but she didn't have to. She could easily see the blood gushing out of her sister's nose, far heavier and quicker than was surely healthy.

'OH MY GOD!' Patty screamed, her voice cracking. 'She's bleeding! SHE'S BLEEDING!'

Selma wasn't in the state to think about anything, other than one simple thought - it hurt. It hurt like hell. She couldn't feel anything else, and her vision was beginning to fade quickly. The arm she used to support herself began to weaken under her own weight, and in just a few seconds she collapsed to the ground.

'SELMA!'

Marge rocked back and forth, her stomach churning. What was a good day at school had been abruptly ruined when her parents came to get her, yelling about how one of her older sisters had been sent to the hospital. She hadn't been able to say anything coherent since the news dropped, reduced to nothing but either silence or frightened gibberish.

The hospital waiting room was rather empty, thank goodness, with the remaining Bouviers being among the only people there. Clancy had a cigarette, as always, but he was taking breaths far more often than he usually did. Jacqueline held Marge in her arms, providing the comfort that the middle sister was not around to provide. The young girl looked over to Patty, sitting right next to her. The redheaded twin stared off into space, hardly even blinking, as if she had seen hell itself.

'Patty?' Marge said. 'Are you okay?'

If Patty heard the question, she certainly didn't act like it. It was as if she was nothing more than a statue, unable to react to any outside stimuli. Marge genuinely believed that if she just lightly tapped on her shoulder, she would topple over like a toy. She had never seen her eldest sister - or anyone for that matter - in such a state before.

By the time a nurse arrived to see them, Clancy had already finished his cigarette. Her appearance managed to relieve potential heart attacks for the parents, for she had a soft smile and a calming vibe around her.

'Mr and Mrs Bouvier,' She said. 'Your daughter is fine and waiting to see you.'

The parents, with their youngest daughter by their side, got to their feet and went to see their little patient. They had only taken a few steps when they realised they were leaving someone behind.

'Patty's not coming!' Marge said.

For a moment, the eldest daughter returned to reality. She returned just long enough to realise that her family was about to go without her, and just before she returned to her funk she managed to snap out of it. Without saying a word, she got off her seat and followed right behind the rest of her family. Well, what remained of her family at least. The trip down the hall felt like an eternity, but it wasn't much better when they arrived at Selma's room.

'Oh god!' Patty cried, and that was all she could say before the doctor told her to be quiet.

'Don't be so overdramatic…' Selma said.

The blonde twin had been placed on a hospital bed, and while she didn't need many of those other things that Patty had seen people in hospital hooked up to, it still wasn't pretty. Her face - which Patty would normally call kinda ugly if they weren't near-identical twins - was covered up with a mess of bandages and braces that neither Patty nor Marge could make out. Most of the blood had been cleaned up, but there were still some on her lips and neck.

Despite her position, Selma found great delight in the horrified and upset expression on her twin's face.

'What's wrong, Patty?' She asked, hardly able to talk with that massive brace on her nose. 'Too much for you?'

The older twin gritted her teeth. 'You… stay in this hospital bed for all I care! So what if you're hurt? I don't care!'

She stormed out the door and closed it behind her, and the moment she did she sat up against the wall and buried her head in her knees. Marge approached her bedridden sister, slowly and carefully, and placed her hand upon hers. Selma smiled at the sight of her little Margie, though that worried expression was far more heartbreaking on her than it was on Patty.

'Y-You'll be okay… right, Selma?' Marge asked.

'Oh yeah.' The middle child replied. 'The doctors and nurses really want me to know I'll be fine, as long as I don't stand stupidly close to a launching water bottle rocket again.'

Marge giggled. 'Really? That's what caused it? I thought it was more serious!'

'Hey, don't you know how fast those things launch? It's like getting hit in the face by a bowling ball.'

It shouldn't need to be said, but Selma truly was in pain behind her smiles and attempts at humour. It had only been a few hours since she had been smacked by the water bottle so the pain hadn't gone away completely yet, and she had to breath through her mouth because that brace on her nose was ridiculously air-tight. But she didn't see anything to be so upset about. After all, now she could stay away from school for a couple days.

'The doctors said I'm only gonna be here for a day or two,' She said. 'Just so they can see if there's any real damage. I'll be out before you know it.'

'But what will we do if there is real damage?' Marge asked.

'Listen, I share a bedroom with Patty. If I can survive her, I can survive this.' She paused. 'Uh, speaking of Patty, I need you to promise me something - take care of our older sister while I'm gone, okay?'

Marge cocked an eyebrow. 'I need to take care of her? Can't she do that herself?'

'Yeah, about that… she has spent almost her entire life around me. I say almost because she was born first, wasn't she? I don't know how she's gonna deal with my absence.'

She wasn't being a hundred percent truthful as she spoke - she had a pretty good idea just how her twin would handle being alone, for Patty was demonstrating it right at that moment. In reality, she was more worried about how she herself would handle it. No Patty, no Marge…

'I'll take care of her!' Marge said with a smile. 'And I'll visit you when I can!'

Selma stroked her shiny brown hair. 'That's my little sister.'

As Patty sat in the hallway, filled with so many questions about what would happen now, she noticed her parents in the hallway with her. They weren't paying her any attention, and were talking to the doctor instead. She had missed most of the conversation, but she didn't need to hear the rest of it. What she did hear was more than enough.

'... P-Permanent damage...?' Clancy said, going pale.

The doctor - Patty didn't care what his name was - nodded. 'In layman's terms, there was severe damage to several nerves responsible for allowing the senses of smell and taste to work. We can't be certain right now, hence why we're keeping her here, but…' He hung his head. 'There is a good chance that Selma may have permanently lost her senses of smell and taste.'

All three Bouviers in the hallway, including Patty, gasped. The redheaded twin in particular wanted to say something to express the shock and horror going on in her head, but no words came to her mouth.

'Oh god…' Jacqueline muttered. 'Will she be fine if that happens?'

'If you mean that she'll survive, yes.' The doctor replied. 'Your daughter can continue to live a happy life without her sense of smell or taste. It just might be difficult for her to adjust to it.'

'Have you told her that yet?' Clancy asked. 'It sounds pretty…' He paused to cough, and a little violently too. '...important to me.'

'We won't tell her anything until we can confirm it. There's no need to freak her out if there's a possibility that she will be fine.'

Either her parents hadn't noticed that Patty was there, or they didn't care at that moment. Whatever it was, they didn't acknowledge that she had heard everything that she needed to. For a split second, Patty almost jumped to her feet to deliver the news to her twin right away, before she remembered what the doctor said. All she could do at that moment was hope that everything turned out alright.

Marge couldn't sleep. It was so late at night, and even her parents had gone to sleep, but she simply couldn't. Something felt too off about that night, and it wasn't just that neither of her sisters wished her a good night. Usually, she'd drift off to sleep to the sounds of Patty and Selma trying to kill each other, but tonight there was only silence. She had no idea what the time was, but not even the night-owls were awake anymore, so it must've been really really late. Not only was the silence awful, but she was too distracted by one thought in her mind.

'I need you to promise me something - take care of our older sister while I'm gone, okay?'

The little girl, unable to sleep anyway, hopped out of her bed and made her way into the hallway. Everything was dark, as to be expected, but there was a dim light coming out of one of the bedrooms - the twins' room. Since neither of the older girls liked sleeping with their lamp on, Marge knew in an instant that the remaining twin wasn't asleep either. So, she ran down the hallway and peaked through the open door.

Patty sat on her bed, staring off into the wall. Every few seconds, she glanced down at the empty bed next to hers. Just a few months ago, the twins had been fed up with getting their beds mixed up, so Patty had used a sharp rock to crudely engrave their initials into the heads of both beds. The 'S' above the empty bed just made it seem even emptier.

'Patty?'

The redheaded twin flinched, and nearly jumped off her bed in fright once she noticed her littlest sister watching her from the hallway. They stared at each other in silence for a bit, before Marge took a few steps into the room.

'S-Stay out of my- our room.' Patty said, trying to seem tough. 'S-Shouldn't you be asleep?'

'Shouldn't you be asleep too?'

The eldest sister huffed. 'Okay, you got me. I'm tired as hell, but I just can't get to sleep. I thought it'd be easier cos now I have peace and quiet, but-'

'You miss Selma too?'

Patty glared at her littlest sister, but only for a few seconds. That was as long as she lasted before she had to turn away and bury her face in her hands. Marge, wanting to uphold her promise, entered the room and sat on the bed marked 'P' right next to her eldest sister.

'Wanna talk about?' She asked, hugging her arm.

Patty took a deep breath, and looked down at the brunette. Curse those big sweet hazel eyes of hers. It seemed near impossible that someone so innocent and sickeningly sweet could be related to her.

'Selma is like my second half…' The older sister muttered. 'We've spent almost our entire lives together, and I don't think we've ever been in separate buildings before. We're always in the same house, the same aisle in the shops, the same class at school. We even got sent to detention at the same time! I hate her, and I wanna punch her, but… I feel so empty without her.'

'Empty?' Marge repeated. 'I miss her too, but I feel fine without her.'

Patty scoffed. 'That's cos you're not a twin. When you're someone's twin, it's completely different. It's like a book without words. An artist without paint. A twin without a twin! And… and… did Mom and Dad tell you how it all went down? T-The accident, I mean?'

Marge shook her head. Patty winced, for she had hoped that she wouldn't need to explain the details, but now she had dug her own grave.

'S-See, the water rocket thing wasn't working right.' She said. 'I-I don't know if it was the rocket, or the air pump, or whatever it was, but I got mad. So, I kept trying to pump air into the rocket to get it to launch. I-I can't help thinking that… maybe if I hadn't tried so hard to get it to work, Selma wouldn't be in the hospital right now.'

That did it for the more tomboyish twin, and she had given up on trying to seem tough in front of her littlest sister. She didn't even try to hold back the tears, and sobbed into her hands. Marge didn't know what to do to make it better - or even if she could make it better - so she did the only thing she knew how to do. She wrapped her arms about Patty and hugged her tight.

It was the only time in her whole life that the eldest sister was okay with sharing her bed with someone else.

Usually, going to see Daddy off on a weekend was a joyous if bittersweet time for Marge, and a rather annoying one for Patty. Today, however, the thoughts of their own sister being in hospital - and, in Patty's case, knowing your own twin might suffer permanent damage - ruined the moment completely. Still, they went to the airport to see him off, just like they always did on a Saturday. Like always, they stepped onto the runway in front of the plane that Clancy was supposedly set to fly, as he embarked onto the staircase.

'Goodbye... sweeties!' He called, in-between coughs. 'I'll dedicate this flight…' He coughed some more. 'To my strong daughter Selma!'

Marge turned to Patty, expecting her to complain about being ignored 'yet again'. The redheaded sister said nothing, for hearing her twin's name reminded her of just how lonely she was. Marge didn't want to think about that too much, for she was just too happy to watch her father go and do his heroic job. In fact, on this particular day - perhaps because she wanted to forget what was going on with her middle sister in the hospital - Marge broke away from her mother's hand and ran up the stairs after her father.

'I wanna see Daddy at his work!' She cried.

'Marge, no!' Jacqueline yelled, knowing well that disappointment was sure to follow.

Marge paid her mother's warning no mind, and jumped onto the plane anyway. She looked around for the cockpit, where she assumed her air-hero of a father would be, but she didn't have to go any further than the cabin.

'Now, if you'll all fasten your seatbelts, we'll… Marge?!'

Her father stood right in front of her, not in the cockpit as he led her to believe, but instead serving a drink to a passenger. He had an apron wrapped around his waist, and a little blue hat on his head. As his eyes met his daughter's, there was nothing but silence between them both. Marge looked up at her father, not yet disappointed because she was too busy being confused.

'Daddy?' She questioned. 'Why aren't you in the cockpit? Aren't you a pilot?'

Clancy tried to explain himself, but he was coughing a little too hard to get any words out. Not that it mattered, because no words could possibly explain the situation. So, he just lifted up his apron and tried to hide behind it.

'Don't look at me!' He yelled, in between heavy coughs.

'You're… you're just a stewardess?' Marge asked, sounding the most disappointed she ever had. 'I… I… I THOUGHT YOU WERE AN AIR-HERO!'

Jacqueline had rushed up the stairs with her daughter Patty right behind her, but when she finally arrived all she saw was that she was too late. Patty lifted her hand to her forehead and shook her head.

'YOU LIED TO ME, DADDY!' Marge cried, tears coming to her eyes. 'HOW COULD YOU LIE TO ME?!'

Perhaps if she wasn't dealing with her sister being in hospital, she wouldn't have reacted so angrily. The stress and worry of one of her family members being in hospital, combined with the sudden realisation that another family member had lied to her for years, hit her all at once.

'You lied to me!' Marge yelled again.

Clancy tried to speak, but could hardly say a word through his coughs. 'Now Marge… I can… explain. I just… wanted you to think… that I was… a hero… and I…'

That was all he could manage before he devolved into nothing more than a violent coughing fit. Marge's expression softened as the man collapsed to his knees, unable to stop coughing. Even most of the passengers looked to the scene in alarm, and Jacqueline nearly had a heart attack.

'... Daddy?'

'CLANCY!'

Clancy collapsed to the floor, and fell unconscious seconds later.

'DADDY!'

Two family members. In a family of five. In just two days. The very next day after Selma had been sent to hospital for an accident involving a water bottle rocket, the father of the Bouvier household had to be rushed to hospital as well. The only difference? Everyone was certain that Selma would make it, even if she had permanent damage. As for Clancy… they weren't so sure.

What remained of the Bouvier family waited just outside the building. Marge was cuddled in her mother's lap, absolutely crying her eyes out. Jacqueline held her close for her own comfort as much as her daughter's, trying her best to be strong for her family when her husband's life was on the line. Patty, meanwhile, was the reason why they had to wait outside. The only healthy outlet for her rage was for her to kick and punch at the dirt in the nearby garden. She had kicked the earth and bark around everywhere, making quite a mess. It was a miracle that she hadn't hurt any of the plants yet.

'Patricia, sweetie,' Jacqueline said, hardly able to talk. 'You need to stop that.'

'IT'S NOT FAIR!' Patty shouted, pulling on her hair. 'Two days, Mom. TWO days! First it was my sister, and now it's my father. What the hell did we do to anyone?! Selma might not be able to taste anything ever again, and Dad could be DEAD for all we know!'

Her voice was noticeably raspy and hoarse, thanks to her screaming non-stop since her father had been rushed to the emergency room. The twins had been quite the outliers in their family, for both the parents and even Marge had naturally raspy voices while their voices sounded more - for lack of a better word - normal. In contrast to their personalities, Selma's voice was a little deeper and rougher than Patty's high and oddly gentle one. And yet, Patty had yelled enough to sound a lot like her mother.

'Destroying property isn't going to make it any better.'

'Well, it makes me FEEL better!'

It took the nurse a little longer than usual to find them, thanks to their location. She made sure to have the biggest smile she could, even though it pained her to keep it up. The moment Jacqueline saw her, she got to her feet with a gasp, keeping her youngest daughter tight in her arms.

'Is my husband okay?!' She demanded.

The nurse nodded. 'Alive and well. For now. I'll take you and your daughters to see him, if you would like.'

Jacqueline sighed in relief. Of course, that 'for now' terrified her, but now wasn't the time to let her daughters know about her racing heart or upset stomach. She held her youngest child close, like she could lose her at any moment.

'Patricia,' She called. 'It's time to see our father. He's alright, but-'

The redheaded twin gasped. 'Oh god… I gotta tell Selma!'

She ran right past her mother and the nurse, and charged down the hallway. Many people groaned and scolded her as she ran past them and bumped into some of them, but she paid them no mind. For a moment, she forgot which room her sister was kept in, but after running around for a while she finally found her. She slammed the door open, and collapsed to her knees before she could take even a single step into the room.

Selma had been reading a kid's book - if only because there was nothing else to do - when her twin barged in. She opened her mouth to complain, but stopped when she saw her sister on the floor.

'Patty? What's wrong?' She asked.

'It's… it's Dad.' Patty got out in between gasps. 'He… he was on the plane. Marge saw him…'

'Oh. That's… oh. I take it she was really disappointed?'

'That's… that's not the problem.' She took in a sharp breath. 'Dad. He… he… oh god… he collapsed…'

'He… he WHAT?!' Selma cried, dropping her book.

The blonde twin muttered nothing but incoherent sentences, for her brain couldn't keep up with the news. She had about a thousand questions, but she couldn't piece together a single one.

'The nurse said he's alive, but…'

Patty managed to regain her composure, if only just barely. Taking in another breath, she got back to her feet and looked her twin right in the eyes.

'She said that he's okay… for now.'

Selma's jaw fell. 'For now? That… that doesn't mean what I think it means, right?'

'I don't know! And… and… why is this happening?!' She yelled, stamping her foot on the ground. 'What have we done to deserve this shit?!'

Selma cringed. She couldn't remember the last time her twin had an outburst like this. Just when she had been hoping that this stupid brace would be the worst thing to happen to them…

'Is Marge okay?' She asked.

'How do you think she is?!' Patty yelled back. 'She just found out she's been lied to her whole life, and now her daddy's in the hospital!'

'Are you…?'

'NO, I'M NOT OKAY!'

Just a few rooms down the hallway was where their father was seated. Marge held on tight to her mother's chest, hardly able to look at Daddy. He was lying down in a hospital bed, just like Selma, but all she had was a big bandage over her face. Daddy wasn't nearly as lucky - what even were half of those things he was hooked up to? There was only one thing she could read: a massive 'O' printed on a silo-looking thing, with a tiny 'x' beneath it.

'D… Daddy?' The little girl squeaked, hardly audible to anyone.

Through the plastic mask and pipes covering up his face, Clancy managed to smile. 'The… the shock of seeing ya must've really knocked it out of me.'

'I'M SORRY!' Marge cried, tears flowing down her face.

Clancy cringed. 'Oh, that came out wrong. I-I mean… that job was so stressful for me that this was gonna happen sooner or later. So don't worry about it.'

Marge tried to smile and follow his advice, but how could she? How could she not worry about her father when he was lying down in a hospital bed, his face paler than usual while a machine pumped oxygen into his body for him?

'You don't have to worry about me.' Clancy said. 'It's my job to worry about you, okay? You can worry about your sisters instead.'

Marge nodded. 'O-Okay, Daddy.'

'Sorry that Patricia isn't here.' Jacqueline said. 'She's more concerned with Selma.'

'As she should be!' Clancy declared, coughing some more. 'How has she been taking that?'

'About as well as you'd expect. I found her this morning asleep with Marge in her arms.'

'Wow. I didn't think she was taking it that badly.'

If she hadn't promised both her father and her middle sister to take care of everyone, Marge would've broken down crying on the spot. Luckily for her, she was just old enough to comprehend death and illness but not to understand the full ramifications of it. If she had only been a few years older, she would have been crying her eyes out. Hence why, in just a couple rooms down, Patty had devolved into a weeping mess while Selma still needed a little more time to let the news sink in.

'WHAT THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?!' Patty screamed. 'I just… GAH!'

Selma couldn't pay her any attention. She was too busy thinking about the full extent of the situation - the fact that they could lose their father. After just a few seconds of thinking, she too began to break down. It started off light, but she quickly devolved into inelegant sobbing. The only bright side was that since their parents were about to have a serious conversation with the doctor, Marge was allowed to run off to go check up on her sisters. As she ran out the door, the doctor stepped into the room.

'I've noticed that your twin daughters are experiencing extreme hysteria.' He said, in a completely serious tone. 'If you want, I can easily treat it. If you can afford it, a lobotomy is quite effective. If not, I'm sure electroshock therapy will do the trick.'

Clancy glared at him. 'Over my dead body.'

A couple of days passed by. Neither Selma nor Clancy had left the hospital, but at least the former seemed to be improving. Patty hadn't gone a single night without her littlest sister tucked into bed with her, not that she would ever admit it to anyone - not even herself. She and Marge still went to school, even if Patty's grades were failing more than usual. By the second day, Jacqueline was already fed up with people recommending that she and her daughters go get electroshock therapy for their 'hysteria'.

Selma was quite happy though. Finally, the doctors felt confident in removing that gigantic brace on her face. Her nose was still a little out of shape, but it would fix itself up on its own. It took way longer to pry it off than she liked, but when they finally removed it she took a deep breath.

Man, the place smelled as sterile as could be.

'Good.' She remarked. 'Can I go now?'

The nurse shook her head. 'We'll be keeping you here for just a little longer. We need to make sure that everything is okay. That bottle hit you with a lot of force.'

The blonde girl sighed. 'Ya don't say?'

After just a few minutes, another nurse delivered a small soup to her. It was a rather basic soup, but Selma was so hungry that she'd take anything at this point. The tray wasn't very big and barely fit over her slightly-bulky legs, but she would rather do that than let the boiling hot bowl rest on her lap. As she let it cool down, she couldn't help but note the smell. Or, rather, the lack of any sort of aroma. She didn't realise something like that could even be possible, but it smelled just as sterile as the rest of the place.

'What did they make this soup out of?' She muttered. 'Plastic?'

After a few minutes, it had cooled down just enough so the bowl didn't burn her hand from just convection alone. She picked up her spoon, licked her lips, and took in a big mouthful of the stuff. That's when she realised something was off. While she could easily feel the warm liquid splashing around on her tongue, she certainly couldn't taste a single thing. It was as if she had simply boiling water in her mouth. In fact, she assumed at first that it was hot water, until she noticed the brownish colour and the bits of overly-boiled vegetables floating around in it.

At that very moment, a nurse was passing by.

'Hey nurse!' She called. 'There's something up with this soup!'

The nurse, fortunately, didn't have anywhere urgent to go, so she was able to divert her attention to the blonde teenager in the room.

'What's wrong with it?' She asked. 'Is it too hot? Too cold? Do you not like the flavour?'

Selma scoffed. 'That's just the problem - it hasn't got a flavour! I didn't even think that was possible. How do you make a flavour-less soup anyway? Heck, it doesn't even smell like anything!'

The nurse gave her a rather uneasy expression. While she had no idea what the aroma was exactly, the nurse knew that the soup had some sort of smell to it. She took the spoon from the patient and wiped it with some antibacterial cloth, before drying it on her uniform and dipping it into the soup herself. When the soup fell upon her tongue, the savoury flavour was obvious if a bit bland.

'Are you sure the soup doesn't taste like anything?' She asked. 'It has a somewhat strong savoury flavour to me.'

Selma's face paled. 'Wait, you can taste it?'

The nurse winced. Assuming this wasn't just a one-off issue, or the blonde telling a stupid joke, then it appeared that the doctors' and nurses' worst assumptions had come true.

'Are you absolutely sure you cannot taste or smell a thing in this soup?' She asked.

'Am… am I supposed to?'

The nurse sighed. Unfortunately for Selma, this was a time before proper bedside manners were introduced, so…

'Selma Bouvier,' She said, without an ounce of sugarcoating. 'We have been worried about this since you arrived, and it appears that we have been proven correct. The water bottle rocket damaged a lot of important nerves after it struck you in the face, meaning that… I fear you may have permanently lost your sense of taste and smell.'

For what must've been a solid minute, Selma was silent. Her already exhausted brain could barely process this new revelation.

'I… I…' She stammered. 'I WHAT?! Permanently? But I-'

'It appears to be the case.' The nurse said, in a rather apathetic tone. 'You'll live just fine, but it may take you a while to adapt.'

Selma's face went as pale as a sheet. It was almost too much for her brain to even comprehend. Sure, she would no longer have to deal with foul garbage or yucky vegetables, but was it worth it? No more could she experience the delightful aromas of blooming flowers or lemon soap, nor could she enjoy the delicious tastes of freshly baked cookies or savoury soups…

Permanently…

Even on its own, there was no way she'd be able to take this news well at all. But, combined with how long she had been missing her twin and the knowledge that her father was in a hospital bed only a couple rooms down, her heart and mind couldn't take it anymore. She broke down crying on the spot, heavier than she thought was even possible. The only reason she was able to eat her soup at all was because she was just that damn hungry.

After a few minutes, the nurse awkwardly backed out of the room, leaving Selma to cry her eyes out in privacy. She was so lucky that her father was just a few rooms down to decline any sort of 'treatment' the hospital wanted to give her, or she would've had her 'hysteria' shocked right out of her.

A week has passed since Clancy was sent to hospital. His daughter Selma had finally been allowed to go home…

'Hey Patty, I'm back!'

'Selma…? SELMA!'

'O-Okay, you've never hugged me before and I hope you never do again…'

… but he himself was stuck in a hospital bed. Come nightfall that day, it was the first night in history where all three daughters in the Bouvier family were in the same bedroom. Dinner time had come and gone with silence, and now it was time to sleep. Except none of the sisters could bring themselves to do it.

Selma sat on her bed, unable to be glad that she was back in her 'S' marked home. She had Marge in her arms, who could barely keep herself awake for the sake of her older sisters. Patty lay down on the blanket, and stared up at the ceiling with a blank expression.

'Is Daddy ever coming home?' Marge asked with a yawn.

'Heck if I know.' Selma answered. 'Probably the same day my ability to taste comes back.'

Patty groaned. 'Look, I said I was sorry! I-I didn't mean to make that happen. I-I didn't want to-'

'It's alright. For the one-hundredth time, I understand.'

Patty grabbed fists-full of the blanket and squeezed it tight, trying to take her frustration on something else other than her little sisters. She wanted to celebrate the return of her twin, to cheer about the yin to her yang coming back, but with her father still in the hospital she simply couldn't.

'Why does this have to happen?' She muttered, just loudly enough for her sisters to hear. 'Why does all of this have to happen to us?'

'Because life's a bitch.' Selma replied. 'In case you didn't realise.'

Marge smiled. 'But we shouldn't worry. We'll have a happy ending! Remember Aurora? Everyone thought she was gone but everything was okay. It'll all be okay!'

With that, she cuddled deeper into her sister's arms and fell asleep. Selma held her closer, keeping her warm and allowing her to have a good night's sleep after everything she had gone through.

Patty gave her sleeping sister a look. 'She doesn't really believe that, does she?'

'She's five.' Selma said. 'Let her be a stupid little child, okay? Let her enjoy it before she ends up going to middle school. If she's lucky, if our dad dies he'll die soon.'

She shuddered. No one wanted to think about the Bouvier man losing his life to some sort of illness so soon, but no one - except innocent little Marge - could deny that it was a real possibility.

'If she's lucky?' Patty repeated, sitting up. 'How would that be lucky?'

'Because she's a stupid little child who doesn't understand things yet. She thinks there's a chance that I'll ever be able to smell or taste things again. I just want her to get through our dad's possible death as easily as possible.'

Patty sighed. 'I'd hate to say it, but… I actually agree with you.'

Author Notes - Did I manage to make Selma getting hit with a water bottle rocket dramatic enough and not at all silly? She mentioned in one episode that an accident involving a water bottle rocket resulted in her permanently losing her senses of smell and taste, and while it's played off pretty lightly it's one hell of an incident to go through. So, please, keep reminding me that she's supposed to be completely unable to smell or taste anything from this chapter onwards. I shouldn't forget this, but I might, and it's supposed to be permanent.

As for Clancy, the Season 27 episode 'Puffless' (har har, like 'Duffless') reveals that the Bouvier man died from lung cancer caused by chain-smoking. Which is... an unfortunately reality, especially seeing as his twin daughters have gotten addicted to the same thing that killed him. I haven't seen that episode yet, but I hear it's pretty bad. Which is a shame, really, considering how 'Patty and Selma (try to) quit smoking after learning their father died from smoking' is a fantastic idea for an episode.