Susan had suspected in the years following the phase pistol incident that Meg had never fully recovered from it. The changes were noticeable, to say the least. A day after it had happened, Meg was walking about, but she was quick to fatigue. She had even collapsed at one point. Susan remembered how tense Meg was when Susan had draped her over Susan's shoulder to transfer her back upstairs. Susan cringed when she remembered being pissed at Meg over that. Thankfully, she didn't verbalize it, but she could tell Meg had noticed after being laid down.
At least I had it in me to feel ashamed of my anger towards her when I saw the expression on her face. Susan thought bitterly to herself. She recalled the day that Meg had reviewed that Eddward fanfic and she had confronted Meg after the review. Meg was a lot better then, but it was still obvious that she wasn't healed. Her movements were stiff, and she wasn't as agile as she was before the incident. A month after the incident, Meg was no longer fatigued and could do normal chores like mowing and whatnot, but her movements were not as quick as they used to be, and that hyper energy of hers that had made her "FanFic Critic freakouts" all the more hilarious still hadn't returned.
It never would. Susan closed her eyes as she took another sip of her tea. One month had turned into a year, and a year flew into present day. Susan knew, all along, that Meg had never fully recovered. But the confirmation from Meg herself did make it the more devastating to Susan. She understood why Meg hadn't told her. Still, she wished that Meg had. Perhaps something could have been done?
You know nothing could be done. You had already had Meg go to the hospital a few days after what you had done to her. They couldn't do a thing. Susan was sitting at an angle so that Meg wouldn't notice her while she was mowing. The day was a more tolerable 80 degrees Fahrenheit. It wasn't muggy either. Meg's mowing outfit was slightly better, though she still wore dark colors. Susan shook her head slightly before taking another sip of tea. Meg's stubbornness was probably the other reason why she didn't tell Susan about the phase pistol injury; she was just going to pretend it wasn't there.
It's hard to pretend that it isn't there when it sometimes flares up, my dear. Susan thought to herself. She had a sneaking suspicion that the injury flared up a lot more than Meg had admitted to her a month ago. She had been keeping an eye out for signs. Those signs consisted of the following: Meg avoiding bending down by kneeling to get something instead, Meg briefly placing her hand on her abdomen, Meg being more tired than normal (and also more irritable), just to name a few. Susan had noticed some of these signs the day following her review of that blasted Spongebob Squarepants fanfic where she had exploded at Meg afterwards over the outfit she had worn to mow the lawn. Of course, she had felt bad and had, once again, apologized to Meg, in which gave her a confused look and said that it was fine.
It apparently wasn't fine considering she had a nightmare several days later. Susan glared up at the ceiling. She only knew about that nightmare thanks to the web show spying on them, the web show a.k.a. The Creator. Meg was so mortified after Susan had warned her about the episode. Even though she was doing better after Susan had made her vow of loyalty and protection to her, Susan could tell that Meg was still angry that her nightmare had been broadcasted for the internet to see.
I think her uneasiness towards me before I gave her my oath was because she thought I was mad at her. Susan had suddenly realized. Of course, she hadn't been mad at Meg. Even when she had mentioned the nightmare in the episode following the Loony Tune stories, she thought she had made it clear that she was mad at The Creator and the web show itself, not Meg.
Do you honestly blame her for thinking so, Susan? You used to get mad at her over the stupidest things in our younger years. And then there was you blowing up at her over something as silly as mowing the lawn! Susan leaned forward to look out the window. It appeared that Meg was done, for she was putting the mower back into the shed outside. Susan finished her tea and made her way into the kitchen. She fetched Meg's cup from the table and filled it up with fresh, cold water.
Susan couldn't ignore it any longer. She had noticed the tell-tale signs when Meg had first come back in from mowing. Meg's movements were very stiff when she had entered the kitchen and she bore a strained look on her face. After drinking the water Susan had offered her, Meg looked slightly better, but it was obvious that something was still troubling her. This went on as the day passed. It was now 7:30 PM and the two of them were down in the living room watching television. Meg was sitting on an oddly straight position and still looked a bit pained. Without a word, Susan got up and went to fetch the heating pad.
The heating pad will be far more effective than the heating sock. She thought to herself. She put it in the microwave for one minute. When it was heated, Susan made her way back into the living room with a determined look on her face. Meg noticed her enter (and probably noticed her expression) and stiffened up with cautious alertness.
"Lay down on your back, Love," Susan ordered. Meg blinked.
"Sue, what-"
"I know your injury is flaring up. I noticed it when you first came back in from mowing this afternoon. Lay down," she said more firmly. Meg stared at her for a moment before she obliged. When Meg was settled, Susan lifted Meg's shirt and gently placed the heating pad on Meg's stomach, causing Meg to gasp slightly from the heat of it. Susan then carefully pulled Meg's shirt back down over the pad, "There. Hopefully, that will help ease it."
"Um, th-thank you, Sue," Meg muttered sheepishly. Susan nodded at Meg before returning to her own seat. Meg looked unsure about something, then appeared to make her mind, and turned her head in Susan's direction, "It, um...it isn't flaring up because of you."
"...that's good to know, dear," Susan replied as she returned Meg's gaze, "But I would understand if I was the cause, considering what happened the last time you had mowed."
Meg bit her bottom lip, "You weren't. And I do get why you were annoyed at me last time." Susan shot Meg a look.
"Me being annoyed did not justify my blowing up at you, Meg. You need to stop excusing my behavior when I am being an ass," Susan stressed. Meg nodded slightly before looking back at the program they were watching. Susan after a moment, did the same.
You know she won't, actually. Another change that she had endured after me blasting her with the phase pistol is that she is far less likely to get confrontational with me unless I have really made her cross. Susan frowned as she cast Meg a glance. It was true. Meg had become rather timid towards Susan since the incident. The only time that timidness had completely, yet temporarily vanished, was when Meg had found out about Susan murdering Earl. Susan shuttered at the memory.
I honestly thought she was going to kill me. That was the scariest I had ever seen her in a long time. When Susan had come home that day, she found Meg staring her down with the straight blade gripped in her hand. The look on Meg's face was like that of an enraged lion. Meg had held up the blade and angrily asked Susan if she really had slit Earl's throat with it. When Susan, stunned, had admitted her guilt, Meg had growled ferociously as she flung the blade to the ground. She then went off on Susan, pacing about the room like a caged animal and was shaking with rage. She had, though, kept her hands strictly to her sides and had her fists clenched so tightly that Susan could see the blood dripping from them onto the floor. Meg had also made a point of keeping her distance from Susan. Meg had eventually left the house to go on a walk to cool herself down, advising Susan to think long and hard about her actions. When she had returned several hours later, she was still angry, but it was her eerily calm fury. She had grabbed Susan's wrist, though she was oddly gentle about it despite being angry and had forced Susan to follow her outside. It was in the dead of night and the Dragon Balls were in the middle of the lawn. Meg had summoned Shenlong and made Susan wish for Earl to be brought back to life. After Meg had then forced Susan to apologize to Earl, who was clearly traumatized by the whole ordeal, Meg had used the remaining wishes to erase Earl's memories of the ever meeting them and transported him back to his home.
If she had decided to kill me for what I had done to Earl, I really wouldn't have blamed her for that. Susan thought to herself. She, of course, did feel bad for what she had done to the poor guy. She hadn't back then, not until he had been brought back and she had saw the state he was in because of her. Seeing him like that had finally made her understand Meg's guilt for killing her.
About an hour had passed when Susan had turned her attention back to Meg, who appeared to have fallen asleep. Susan switched off the television and then made her way over to Meg. She carefully lifted Meg's shirt so she could retrieve the heating pad and then gently pulled the shirt back down. She gently shook Meg to wake her up.
"Hmm...hm?" Meg grumbled to consciousness. Susan helped Meg to her feet.
"You've drifted off, Love. We should call it a night," Susan said softly as she placed her arm around Meg's lower back. The two then made their way up to their room. They got changed and turned off the light before slipping into their bed. Susan was spooning Meg from behind, burying her face in the back of Meg's neck as Meg had immediately fallen back to sleep.
And if I only could, I'd make a deal with God, and I'd get him to swap our places. Susan thought sadly to herself as she planted a gentle kiss on Meg's neck.
The End
Author's Note: The show Stranger Things has introduced me to Kate Bush. Her music is amazingly good. Her song made famous by Stranger Things inspired me to write this one-shot. It is very evident that Susan feels great guilt for what she has done to Meg and probably would trade places with Meg in a heartbeat if she could.
I would like to thank Ryoko368 for her review on my last story and I also would like to thank the "new" FanFic Critic, Susan, for her review on the new web show. Though I don't have a YouTube account, I do have your channel bookmarked and I have been keeping tabs on it.
I am sorry that the last story I wrote was cringy. No, I never groped a girl that I liked, nor did they grope me. I didn't mean for that scene to come off as creepy. It was intended to be sweet. I do hope that this story is better, if you do choose to review it in the future.