Author's Note: This continues to be sad but hopefully still a good read. Also, I hope the formatting issues have resolved, I dont know what happened it wasn't like that when I left it XD.
-SHANDY-
Andy handed his paperwork to Taylor's new secretary and he left the building after saying goodbye to the team. For a good half hour, he just drove didn't quite know where he could go; his brother was still staying with him and their relationship had always been somewhat rocky.
Eventuall,y he stopped driving near the coast, a perfectly placed bench was located on top of a hill and Andy sat himself down looking out at the ocean view. He closed his eyes focussing on the sounds around him, his seat was far away from the hullabaloo from city life so he could barely hear at all. It was his phone which finally brought him out of his thoughts.
"Flynn." He answered pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Are you okay, we were supposed to meet for lunch 15 minutes ago. Nio isn't impressed." His sister asked him on the other end of the line.
"ah jeez I forgot I needed to clear my head and get some paperwork sorted at work, can you wait 20 minutes. I'm sorry" He sighed, he had meant to drive back in but this view was just so incredible, he didn't want to pass it up.
"Ok, just checking in. You kinda disappeared yesterday. I was worried about you, Andy." Sophia told him and he could hear the smile in her voice. Andy then thanked her for her concern and said his goodbye and began the drive back.
-SHANDY-
Meanwhile, Sharon was also dashing to be somewhere. It hadn't been very long into the day that Rose's school had called to tell her that Rose had been sick and was complaining of a headache. Moments after she had hung up Sharon called her, and Rose's, doctor who told her she should be brought in immediately.
"Rose hasn't had a seizure in some time but we can never be too careful" he commented "So take her in tomorrow morning around 9:30 and I'll examine her" Sharon made and note and thanked the doctor. As she walked down it suddenly hit her that if it wasn't epilepsy it could be puberty. Periods could be harsh, with a deep breath Sharon told herself they were going to have to discuss 'it': THE talk.
"Really, Miss, you called my mom. I only need 5 minutes." Rose complained. The nurse shook her head and ushered Sharon into the nurses' office. Sharon could see her daughter was paler than normal and she was sat slightly hunched over too.
"What happened, you ate this morning, is this about stress?" Sharon asked sitting next to rose her hand coming onto her back and gently rubbing.
"I don't know, I should have said yes to dad." She mumbled.
"What did your dad say?" Sharon asked.
"He offered to take me for the day, if I didn't feel like going into school," Rose explained, "I mean Rosa was my grandma after all." Sharon nodded, she could understand that her daughter needed some time.
"Well, we are going to go back to the office for now and if your dad is finished with your aunt and uncle." Sharon smiled at the nurse and thanked her before walking rose back to the car.
"Sweetheart, we need to talk about something." Sharon announced in the car, Rose cradled a bottle of water.
"Oh no, you don't want to talk about Rosa, do you?" The young girl speculated.
"No, I think it's time we discussed puberty. It's perfectly natural and you are reaching that age, where your body begins to change." Sharon began to explain.
"No, stop. Don't embarrass me or yourself. Maura and I talked about this; she got her period first." Rose admitted.
"Well, I doubt the two of you know everything." Sharon quipped.
"Probably true, I'll tell you what I know and you can fill in if I miss anything." Rose suggested and at her mother's prompt began talking about what she knew.
-SHANDY-
"Oh, here he is, Lieutenant Punctuality." Nio sneered as Andy sat at the table. Sophia looked at her eldest brother disapprovingly.
"Nio, please. We are all here because we need to allocate. I am taking on most of the tasks but Nio I want you to handle the obituary for New York and Andy you can look at getting a second for LA. Don't go crazy and just put the village name not Ma's exact house address." She instructed to her brothers.
"Is that it?" Nio asked.
"I guess so, but we still have to talk and maybe you will have some opinions on how we say goodbye to our mother." Sophia retorted at her brother's impatience.
"Now, Eileen has said we can host a wake at her house, so it will be everyone who comes to the funeral plus some extras from the village; neighbours and nurses." She explained.
"Do we know who is coming?" Andy asked quietly, Sophia opened her mouth to answer but a waitress appeared and the Flynn siblings ordered their lunches.
"Well Darren will be there, obviously and Jaime and Karyn told me they could probably get some time off but Lore and Sarah can't. Which I understand and they send their best." She explained, her husband Darren was an estate agent he had thrived at this while in New York and was finding Los Angles to be equally enjoyable.
He and Sophia had four children: Sarah taught biology in New York and Lorenzo was a cop there. Jaime had moved to LA straight after college to pursue cooking and hope to have his own restaurant at some point and as for Karyn she had taken after her mother and gone into nursing; she had moved to Washington several years ago. They were all over the place and didn't get to see each other often and now they were coming together for the worst kind of reason: death.
"Kids didn't answer my calls. I'll try after lunch." Nio stated, he didn't have the best relationship with his children Carrie had been an accident in High school but Nio had taken responsibility and married his girlfriend and made sure to be a decent father and husband. However, after Nio and Emma's son was born things got more difficult. He took on more hours which meant he was rarely at home. Their third baby had been an attempt to fix their marriage but had the opposite effect; Emma worried about money so Nio took on more hours and in the end, he began an affair with a woman he worked with. He never told Emma, he was ashamed by his behaviour and promised he would never tell a soul.
Carrie found out by accident, after finding letters the two had exchanged. He could promise her it had ended but nothing was the same between them and he suspected she had told her brothers. Nonetheless, Nio stood by his wife right up until her unexpected death in 2002.
The three Flynn siblings sat in an uncomfortable silence until their food came, in which the silence become only slightly less uncomfortable as they were eating. Nio finished first he stood up took a note out of his wallet.
"That should cover my share of the lunch." He told them and left the restaurant. Andy watched him go his eyes narrowing.
"He can be so selfish sometimes," he muttered. Sophia looked at her brother for a moment.
"We all are. He needs time, Andy." She told him, Andy scoffed and continued to eat. "We all have our ways, I am working and planning, you are galivanting off places and Nio, Nio is trying…trying…isolation." She looked at him, he grumbled and looked away.
"Well, I'll go get that obituary done then and try the kids again." He told her, he picked up the note Nio left and gave it to her before setting down notes enough to cover the bill and coins for the tip. He smiled and took her hand squeezing it reassuringly. Sophia watched him go and called for the waiter.
-SHANDY-
Andy drove home to find Nio's stuff gone. He huffed and sat down to write his mother's obituary. He looked at the piece of paper for a moment and began to write.
Almost an hour later Andy was still writing; he stopped and started numerous times, finding his words unfit to serve Rosa's obituary. He had never been a wordsmith in fact English and maths had never been his strongest subjects at school. He looked at his watch: 15:15, Sharon would still be at work and Rose in school. He groaned he could really do with some help. He pulled out his phone; his finger hovering over his eldest daughter's number. With a deep breath, he pressed it.
It rang once
Twice.
Thrice.
Four times. Andy held his breath, he always got nervous about calling his children no matter what the situation but after his argument with their mother he felt especially nervous.
"Dad, are you better now?" She asked straight away.
"Yes, I am. I'm sorry about before; it just sorta hit me, y'know." He answered sadly smiling to himself.
"I understand, I'm just glad you're okay and didn't do anything stupid, especially so close to my wedding." Nicole told him.
"I wouldn't jeopardise anything right now. Am I okay to bring a plus one?" He asked cautiously. He raised an eyebrow when he heard her chuckle.
"Of course, dad. You can bring Sharon." Nicole was smiling and Andy could hear her smile.
"Also, your sister, there's no obligation but she might appreciate the invite." Andy suggested, Nicole hummed.
"I want to meet her, I really do but Mom would have a fit; I just want everything to go smoothly on the day." Nicole explained, it made perfect sense to him and Rose was never big on dressy occasions.
"That makes sense, your mother has always been one for drama, no offence of course. You'll get to meet Rose at the funeral next week, I'll text you the address you'll need for the day." He told her and she hummed in response. "What do you remember of grandma?" he asked trying to get some inspiration for her obituary.
"Oh, erm, she was very strict but fair. Dependable never shy. I don't remember all that much; I just know that I never saw her cry." Nicole responded shocked he would ask her, her opinion of her grandma who she met a handful of times over the years.
"That's what I thought. I'm really struggling with this obituary." He admitted
"Well, I can try to help" She offered and he accepted. Andy began to read out what he already had written down, when a knock at the door prompted him to pause.
"Be right back." He told her before going to the door, to find Rose and Sharon.
"Thank goodness you finished your lunch. Rose was sick, we're seeing the doctor tomorrow but I cant keep a constant wath on her right now, I'm sorry this is so sudden" Sharon explained. Andy shook his and let them shuffle into his home.
"Of course not, babe. I am more than happy to look after her." Andy chuckled kissing Sharon as she made a dash for the door.
"Rose, if you try to sleep it should help and make sure you write down everything should a seizure happen." She called behind her, after an acknowledging noise from her youngest she left. Rose looked around the kitchen for a moment, Andy noted that she looked paler and was moving slower than normal
"Do you want to lie down?" He asked but she shook her head and sat down at the kitchen table, her head lulling on the table. That's fine, I'm talking to your sister," he told her, she looked up confused, "Nicole" he clarified, Rose nodded slowly; that made more sense than him talking to Emily.
"Hi, Nicole." Rose greeted, seeing the phone on the table.
"Oh hi, it's nice to hear you for the first time." Instead of smiling Rose let out a low groan, her hand moving to her stomach. "You okay, that didn't sound good." Nicole commented.
"I was sick earlier, my doctor wants me on constant supervision." Rose responded standing straighter and trying to shake the pain.
"That sounds serious," She answered slightly alarmed.
"It's nothing I'm not used to. I used to have seizures a lot, the last must have been at least a year ago; I hope it was just a childhood occurrence but…I don't know" Rose explained. Nicole made noise that sounded like interesting.
"You okay?" Andy asked entering the room, Rose nodded and he sat back down again. He continued his conversation with Nicole as Rose shuffled around in the kitchen making herself some toast. He watched her she randomly lifted her legs to stretch them out slightly. Rose sat down and pointed to the piece of paper.
"What about her humour? Rosa had the best humour, ever." Rose commented. Andy nodded and took note.
"Oh, her cooking. I forgot about her cooking. I think I was 6 when she made the best Spaghetti ever." Nicole added. Andy smiled and nodded as he listened to their additions. The three of them continued to talk until Nicole announced she had to go.
Now it was just Andy and Rose. Rose lay her head down, her toast finished, then abruptly sat up and dashed to the bathroom. Andy's eyes grew wide when he noticed the blood stain on the chair; girls only bled for one reason (other than violence) and that was periods, the menstrual cycle. Panic washed over him he looked around frantically and grabbed cleaning items for the chair, which thankfully could be wiped.
Rose emerged from the bathroom, a shy look on her face.
"What do you need?" Andy asked.
"Erm, sanitary products. They're called Always, that's what Mom said the easiest would be for a start. I need some underwear and some pants too. I'm just gonna" Rose rambled on before dashing off to the bathroom again. Andy grabbed his keys and ran out towards the car; he knew he shouldn't leave her alone, but perhaps her period had caused the sickness.
The sight of the sanitary section once again was a sight to behold, so many colours and variations. He scanned the aisle for always and brushed a hand through his hair seeing the different types of always pads. The word Teen caught his eye and he picked one up, then another one; just in a case. As he began to leave he saw a navy-blue pack with the word Night on the front.
There were different ones for night-time? He grabbed a packet and rushed off to the cashier on his way her picked up a chocolate bar and a packet of ladies' underwear. As he aproached the cashier he realised, Rose's Pants had met the bloody repercussions he picked up a discarded basket and rushed to the clothing section.
Women had so many pant types too. He picked up something dark but didn't feel as heavy as a jean. It said size 4, that looked small enough. This time he made it to the cashier.
"Wife in a crisis" The women commented.
"Er…no, my daughter." He replied, the cashiers eye seemed to light up she finished scanning and turned away for a moment and then handed him his receipt. It wasn't until he was in his car did he notice that the woman had written his number on the receipt. Andy rolled his eyes and scrunched it up; some people.
Upon returning to the house it was mostly quiet. He knocked on the bathroom door; shoving the bag inside the room which Rose accepted.
"Thank You" came a weak call and he made his way to the obituary. It was gone. Andy groaned and made his way to his armchair. Rose appeared and sat down.
"I got bored so I made some additions." She told him handing the piece of paper to him. He read it carefully and couldn't stop smiling at the memories it elicited.
"It's great but a little long. Thank you for your help" He grinned at her and turned on the television. His mother's funeral would be difficult but somehow the support he had would be enough for him.
-SHANDY-
Author's Note: From my perspective size 4 is a UK 8, which was roughly what I was buying at that age. Thanks for reading, I hope it was a good read.
Next Time: "You mean next week, the next week we are saying goodbye to the grandmother I barely knew, thanks to you" Rose snarled.