Sapphire ended up spending another week in the hospital because apparently another infraction had been growing. It'd explain the slight burning feeling she had been feeling before that she kept ignoring.
But today, Sapphire was sitting outside of Sweet Pea's house with a sense of dread. Grammy Sweets had wanted her over for dinner thinking that the reason Sapphire had wound had gotten another infection was because she wasn't taking proper care of herself.
"You have to go in at some point," she whispered to herself. She looked down at the light pink blouse she was wearing and acid washed jeans and her white combat boots before she got off her motorcycle. She ran a hand through her hair to try to tame it from the mess the wind made it before continuing up the small pathway.
She bent and petted Hotdog, the Third as he barked and yapped at the sight of her. Sapphire barely had time to knock on the door before SP's younger triplet brothers attacked her in a hug. She beaned down and smothered each of their faces with kisses and loud smooches.
"Ew, gross, Sapphire," TJ, the youngest triplet groaned while his brothers MJ and AJ swooned. Sapphire laughed a little before rubbing each of the triplets' hair.
"Oi! I hope Cerberus haven't been giving you any trouble," Mama Sweets called out from her spot at the door. Sapphire snorted at the nickname she and Sweet Pea had given his little brothers.
Sweet Pea
Her heart hurts knowing that she was going to have to sit through a whole dinner pretending like everything was fine between them. Pretending that she didn't want to fall in his arms and cry. Pretending that she didn't also want to take the center piece off the table and smash it over his head.
Sapphire shook her head, "No, Ma. They've only hugged me, but you know I'm gonna keep an eye out in case anything worse comes."
She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and didn't take notice of Mama Sweets zeroing in on her bare wrist. Or how intently she looked at her and could physically see the sadness surrounding her.
AJ grabbed her hand began to pull her to the house, "Come on, Sapphire. We can play Mario Kart. I'm gonna beat you this time."
I think the fuck not. Mario Kart Champion
"We'll see about that, AJ," she replied instead and followed Cerberus into the house. They paused for Mama Sweets to give Sapphire a kiss on the cheek and paused again so that she could speak and hug Grammy Sweets in the kitchen. Sapphire nearly drooled the second she smelled her favorite soup scent wafting in the air before Grammy was shooing her out.
She was pulled down the hallways and MJ had stopped in front of Sweet Pea's door and said, "Don't you wanna speak to Sweets?"
I wanna kill him to be honest.
She shook her head quickly and gave them a little smirk, "I'm more interested in beating all of you and keeping my title as the Reigning Champ."
She knew her deflection work the second the looks of determination dance onto their features before AJ was once again leading her towards their room. The game system had already been set up, so Sapphire took a seat in bean bag chair in front of the television while the boys each took their places back on their beds.
Per usual, she picked Wario because the triplets still hadn't figured out that he was the fastest one on Mario Kart 8. The board was quickly picked, and they waited the standard few seconds before they began racing.
Of course, she won each round they played. She refused to lose to the little demons. This was just payback for all the pranks they used to pull on her.
When it was time for dinner, the triplets moaned and groaned about Sapphire beating them again. She only laughed and followed them back to the kitchen while carrying TJ on her back. Some would say that he was too big to be being carried around, but honestly, he wasn't just the youngest of the triplets. He was also the smallest. He was so small that if it weren't for the fact that three of them were identical, you'd think he was a single.
"Sapphire," he asked leaning forward a little on her back. "Are you going to start back coming over?"
"Yeah, you haven't been over in like three weeks," AJ piped up from in of them. MJ had already run into the kitchen and more than likely claimed his seat and set aside a chair to make sure Sapphire sat beside him.
"Aw, did you guys miss me," she teased dodging around the question. "I knew you liked me."
"Don't be stupid, Sapphire," TJ groaned. "Girls have cooties."
"TJ, I am literally carrying you on my back," she snorted. She set him down as they made it to the dining room, but she froze the second she saw Sweet Pea and Cheryl fucking Blossom sitting at the table.
Great, now I have to pretend that I don't want to kill both of them.
The second she stepped fully into the room Sweet Pea and Cheryl both turned to look at her. Cheryl sneered at the sight of her and Sapphire childishly stuck her tongue out. She ignored when Sweet Pea scoffed and rolled his eyes as she took her seat in-between MJ and Grammy Sweets seat. Like her actual seat, Grammy has a name tag and everything.
MJ pulled on her sleeve and she leaned down so that he could whisper in her eye, "Who is that and why is she here? Why did Sweet Pea bring her?"
"We have to wait until Ma and Grammy get out here," she whispered back. He pulled away to look at her in irritation and the look was so adorable to her that she couldn't help but to tickle his sides and pinch his cheeks.
She hears the small conversation that Sweet Pea and Cheryl were having on their end of the table, but she tuned them out and continued to listen to the sounds of MJ laughter. It was another minute before Grammy and Ma started to come out from the kitchen with the food and Sapphire stood from her seat at the same time as Sweet Pea to help. There was an awkward moment as the two of them looked at each other and the tension spiked darkly before Sapphire felt a small hand on her wrist.
She looked to see MJ staring at her in confusion before she slowly sat down back in her seat. What neither of them had noticed was the looks shared between Grammy and Mama Sweets.
Sweet Pea carried on back into the kitchen to help bring out the rest of the food. Once that was finished and everyone took their seats, they all joined hands for Grammy's "blessing" of the food.
"I just want to say that," Grammy paused a little as she looked at Cheryl waiting to gauge her reaction. Sweet Pea, himself, grimaced knowing his current girlfriend wouldn't be prepared for it. "Me and my baby spent too much damn time slaving over that stove so each every one of you little demons better clean your plates."
Cheryl's reaction was priceless. She looked so confused and lost. She had honestly no idea what was going on. Everyone but Sweet Pea ignored her as they began to pass the food around. Sapphire taken care to fix MJ's plate herself because the little guy can eat to feed three grown men and she wanted some food to take home to her brother.
The table's conversation was filled with idle chatter, but it was obvious that something was different. Sapphire and Sweet Pea weren't making teasing remarks across the table at each other. They weren't talking to each other at all.
Sapphire's eyes flickered around the table to see Grammy and Mama looking confuse to what was going on, so she kept eyes on her plate as she casually asked, "So, Sweet Pea, how long have you been seeing Cheryl?"
Dead silence.
She looks up once again, but this time she makes eye contact with Sweet Pea and a bitter smirk crosses her features at the look of his betrayal. She rose a brow waiting his answer as she casually ate a bite of the spaghetti.
"I thought Sapphire was your girlfriend," AJ piped up from his seat and both of their heads turned towards him.
"Yeah, that's why you bought her that bracelet," MJ stated confused from beside her especially when everyone turned to take notice of her bare wrists. Sapphire sat back in her seat a little and watched as Cerberus bombarded their older brother with questions. She looked to her left to see the calculating look Grammy was shooting between the three teenagers.
"We haven't been dating for long," Cheryl said. "Only a few weeks."
Shouldn't have said that darling.
"Oh," Mama Sweets quipped. "How long are a few weeks?"
Since the first week after my stay in the hospital.
"About three weeks, Ma," Sweet Pea replied, and Sapphire ducked her head to hide the look of heartbreak that crossed her features. She refused to look broken in front of the two of them.
"Three weeks," Sapphire heard Grammy whisper under her breath.
"Three weeks ago, you were telling me about how much you loved Sapphire," Grammy started, and Sapphire's head snapped up. She blinked before turning to scowl darkly at Sweet Pea. Its one thing to lie to her. He didn't have any right to lie to his grandmother. "You were even planning on giving her one of your grandfather's rings. What changed?"
Sapphire felt her mind go blank. He was planning on giving her one of his grandfather's rings? No. That couldn't be true. He was probably just lying to Grammy to make himself feel good.
Sweet Pea squirmed in his seat at the looks of disappointment on his mom and Grammy's face. He wanted to curse so bad and what made it worse was that Sapphire kept her head ducked the whole time. She took no part in the chaos she had just created.
"Things change, and people change," he tried to shrug it off, but the look his Grammy was giving him let him know that this wouldn't be the end of this conversation.
Grammy only hummed and continued to eat her food before she turned to Cheryl and innocently ask, "So will you be inheriting your father's drug pin?"
Sapphire choked on her soup. Fucking savage.
The triplets were looking around a little confused to what was going on, but Sapphire peeked at Cheryl to see her trying to fight off a scowl. That's what you get for thinking you could come in here and try to take MY place.
Sapphire broke off a piece of her bread and dunked it in soup before accepting the glass of lemonade that MJ pushed towards her. She took a bite of the bread then took a drink of her lemonade patiently waiting for Cheryl's answer.
But it never came.
"Excuse me," Cheryl said as she stood up from the table and walked away. Sweet Pea sighed and took after her. Sapphire almost felt pity towards the girl, but then she remembers that Cheryl started dating her boyfriend while she was in the hospital. If anyone should be getting some pity, it should be her.
"Well that was eventful," Mama Sweets commented.
Sapphire had been riding her bike down the roads of the Southside once again ignoring the doctor's orders to do the exact opposite. She had just turned the corner towards the Whyte Worm when something… or rather someone caught her eye.
A homeless woman sat on the curve. The No Man's Land between the Serpents and the Ghoulies territory. She stopped her bike and that's when she noticed the small homeless kids hiding under boxes a little closer to her.
Her eyebrows furrowed. There were actual homeless people on the Southside? And she never noticed them? Sapphire shot off a quick text to her publicist before she hoped back onto her bike and continued to the bar as an idea began circulating in her head.
As soon as she got there, she had wanted to leave. Mainly because Tall Boy was outside, and he knew she was under doctor's orders to not be riding her bike. He gave her the standard disappointed look before snapping his fingers. Two of the older Serpent lackeys came forth and took her bike. She watched them hook it up to the back of Fangs' car before she gave an innocent smile and slipped inside of the building.
Sapphire took another second to gaze around her and taking a prideful moment as she noticed all of the chairs and booths that had been added to the bar giving off the 50's vibe. She continued inside of the bar before making it to where her group of friends were.
A part of her felt a little guilty. She rarely ever spent time with them anymore. She was always coming up with different excuses to not see them. Heck, she was so deep into her family's business that she thought the board would die of shock from seeing her so much. Not to mention that she didn't sit with them in class and stopped eating lunch at school. But she couldn't be around her friends.
No, not when the northsiders were always around them. Always coming to the Whyte Worm because its where they can be without being judged and without their parents seeing them.
Oh, how far the mighty had fallen.
Another reason was because the Northsiders were always around. She felt as she trapped in a never-ending loop from seeing Sweet Pea and Cheryl cuddled up together or her giving him congratulation kisses every time he won a game of pool.
A part of her felt a little smug that he wasn't winning as many as games as he used to. Guess without her around, his good luck was running out.
Sapphire continued and threw a mocking smirk in Cheryl's direction when the girl turned to look at her. She even knocked on one of the unoccupied pool tables before she kept walking as the other girl turned away sneering.
Bitch.
The second Sapphire got into the view of her friends... Toni, Fangs, and Jughead were flying out of their seats to hug her. She laughed lightly and hugged them back just as tightly as they were doing her.
"Sapphire," Fangs started. "It feels like I haven't seen you in forever."
She chuckled awkwardly as they pulled away before she was pulled into a hug by her brother. Yes, she has even been managing to avoid him and they live in the same house.
"I actually need a favor," she laughed awkwardly. The four of them looked at her wondering what it is she wanted before she turned and stood on the closest table to her.
"Get some paper out," she told them before facing everyone and looking at Joaquin so that he could let out a loud whistle.
Immediately all eyes landed on her and she waited a second for things to quiet down.
"Everyone, now that I have your attention," she started. "I just want everyone to know that I have a new project going on. This project will not include any buildings being closed down…"
She laughed right alongside everyone else at their loud sighs of relief. "You all know me. You've known me since I was a little girl growing up inside of my family's manor by myself. Most of you had even came to my parent's funeral. Some of you have babysat me, helped me with homework, and taught me how to cheat at tag."
"That was me," Pamela yelled from her seat at the bar. Another laugh went through the crowd.
"You all have accepted me into your family and into your community. Now I want to do the same for other people," she continued. "I'm actually ashamed to say this, but today was my first time ever seeing homeless people on the streets of the Southside. Its getting closer to winter and I doubt any of them have anywhere to go. And it wasn't just homeless men and women. There were children on those streets."
She watched how all of them looked around uneasy. None of them liked the thought of someone living on the streets let alone on the streets during winter. "I'm offering the proposition of opening up Stone Manor to serve as homeless facility for the time being."
She looked down at her feet to see Toni, Jughead, Quin, and Fangs each with paper in their hands. "I'm asking for your help as my family to help me bring some happiness into their lives. If you do wish to lend a hand, please come forth. Toni has the list for those that can help with food. Fangs, has the list for those to help with clothing. Jughead and Joaquin have the lists for those to help round them up."
People began to move but she tapped Joaquin's arm and he let out another loud whistle. "Wait, I'm not finished."
"Once I leave here, I will be heading straight to Stone Manor to open the doors. I want to do this as soon as possible," and with that she stepped off the table as everyone rushed forward to crowd around her friends.
I should stay and help with that.
Nah.
She continued towards the doors and had to pause when she remembered that her bike was locked onto the back of Fangs' car. But in the next second a smirk crossed her features when she caught sight of her brother's bike. Sapphire chuckled lightly to herself before pulling out her phone sending a message to Mama and Grammy Sweets to bring basically all the supplies off their shelves promising to transfer money into the store's account the next day. She pulled out her brother's key from her keyring and took off down the rode and straight towards her old home.
It didn't take long for her to get there. And she took a moment to take in the beauty of it. Even eight years later, the lawn was still cut to a crisp and the bushes were freshly wacked. No weeds were in the flower bed.
From the outside, she could almost believe that she grew up in this Manor. But she shook her head quickly and entered the gate code to get in. 6998
She rode the bike through the driveway before making her way up to the door. She pulled out the house key from the keyring and opening the door. She swore it sounded like the house said Welcome Home as she opened it.
Sapphire made her way through the manor as long forgotten memories pushing their way forward as she looked through each room. She remembered her lawyer saying that the cleaners still came every week to keep the manor clean. Sapphire had avoided going anywhere the manor, so it made sense on why she never saw them.
She sighed and made her way towards the breaker room to cut back on all the lights and the ventilation system. Honestly, she was just flicked on all the switches to turn everything that needed to be on. She waited another five minutes before she heard a vehicle pulling up as she makes her way back down the hallways.
She opened the door to see Mama and Grammy Sweets in their family truck with some of the boys from her den pulling up behind them. The triplets jumped out the truck and ran right for her and giving her hugs before running through the hallways of the manor.
"Don't go too far," she yelled after them before making her way outside to her den with some of the boxes of supplies. Shampoos and conditioners, soaps and bath wash for sensitive and dry skin, pads and tampons. Medical supplies. She even took notice of the Serpent's medic pulling up to the manor.
"Come on boys," Sapphire stated. "I'll show you where to put these boxes."
She motioned for not only her den to follow but also for the medic to follow them as Grammy and Mama Sweets unloaded a few more boxes and sat on them on the ground. She led her den into one of the family ballrooms easily making her way to it as if she had been walking those halls forever.
As the boys placed their boxes down and went back to get more, she showed the medic a separate room for them to unload their own supplies in and to set up. While they did that, she headed back towards the front and was rewarded with a small group of beings with bags of food following behind Toni.
Sapphire only nodded as she headed in the direction of the kitchens motioning for Toni and the others to follow her.
"Fangs and his group should be here soon," Toni told her once they made it to their location. Sapphire smiled at her best friend before she walks back towards the front. She ended having to walk back to the kitchen to lead Grammy and Mama Sweets there before she once again headed for the front right as Fangs and his group were walking in with boxes and big bags filled with clothes.
She leads them towards the ballroom with the supplies from Grammy Sweets' store. Tall Boy moving into motion ordering everyone to unpack everything and sort them out by sizes and age appropriateness. Fangs had pulled her aside before she moved to leave, "This. This is why you're basically the Serpent Princess, Saph. You deserve the world. Give it some time. It won't be long before Sweet Pea comes back to his senses."
"I'm not doing this for him, Fangs," she whispered harshly taking it into mind of the people surrounding her.
"I know you're not," he stated. "I'm only stating facts. You deserve the world and when he gets his head out his ass, he'll do his best to give it to you. Otherwise I'll have to kick his ass."
She ended up laughing lightly and accepting the kiss on the forehead he gave her as he pulled away, so they could both go back to their respective duties. When she made it to the front, her brother and Jughead (and the Northsiders) were pulling up to the manor with dozens of cars following behind them.
She blinked at the sight. She had only saw a small handful of homeless people, but it was obviously more than she had previously knew. Guilt hit her full force before she pushed away. She was going to make things better for them. She was going to help them.
As they all walked through the doors, she motioned for them to follow her to the ballroom so that they could choose their clothing. She'd wait for everyone to claim what they need before she steps back to let Fangs and Jughead choose rooms for them to stay in. Cause she wasn't that good at it and she swore the two of them could do a damn well good job when it comes to planning and organizing things together.
As all the kids and adults walked around finding things for them to claim as their own, Sapphire pulled Jughead away and rolled her eyes at blondie with the ponytail.
"I have a proposition for you, JugJug," she stated as innocently as she could. He rose at brow at her unconvinced, but she only smiled.
"I know since what went down with Mr. P that the Red and Black has been lacking," she almost trailed off at the sight of Sweet Pea walking into the room with only a muscle shirt on before she abruptly turned away. She cleared her throat before looking back at Jughead.
"How would like to be the new writer and editor for Southside Segments?"