A/N- this is back to the present. And I know I didn't put it in the description, but there will be Karezi. Sorry to anyone who doesn't like it, but it is going to be the secondary couple, so I hope you don't mind too much. Oh, and Terezi wasn't born blind, I'll explain what happened in this chapter. Sorry for any confusion.

"I'm going to work, Gamzee. Try not to do anything fucking stupid while I'm there." Karkat called through the house, as he did every morning.

"All right, see you this motherfuckin afternoon!" Gamzee called back, in a seemingly good mood.

Karkat got into his car, and started the engine, hating the fact that it was fucking January, and the windows had frost on them. He got up and grabbed the scraper, wishing he had money for a house with a garage. He probably would have, if it weren't for the fact that he was also taking care of a kid. Not even a kid, but a grown man, simply acting like a kid. He was constantly having to but Gamzee new clothing after he wore his out, and he had to order them since the little weirdo would only wear those freaking pajamas. He spent his monthly rent of Band-Aids since the moron thought that he could fly, or ride a fucking unicycle, or whatever dumb shit had gotten into his head this time. He had to pay for twice the gas that most people did, since his old piece of shit got about an inch to the fucking gallon, and he himself had a thing for cashmere sweaters. Yes, scraping the windows would be a necessity until he could get that online medical degree he was after. Then he could actually help out the people, without having to adopt them.

The drive to the hospital was long and boring, and the radio had long since broken, leaving Karkat to his thoughts. He wondered if Gamzee would be all right, as he usually did. The boy seemed to be getting worse, and all because he went and fell in love. The fact that this is what occurred was quite obvious, since usually the clown didn't care about anything. He just stayed calm no matter the situation. But now he was ready to rip heads off at the slightest provocation by Tavros.

And then there was his sister. Karkat had recognized Terezi, as she was the eccentric of the hospital, a nurse working in the ER portion. Then again, after his stunt with Gamzee, he was giving her a run for her money as the local crazy, at least if they only counted those who weren't patients.

And yet he had only ever seen her through the eyes of a colleague. He had never stopped to realized that she had apparently lived through far too much trauma for him to have ever recovered from, and yet was one of the cheeriest people that Karkat had ever met, if not the absolute cheeriest. She always had a laugh, even though she knew that everyone was simply laughing at her. The angry, belligerent man that was Karkat Vantas was feeling a strange alteration in the way his heart beat every time he thought about her, and it was feeling suspiciously like the emotion that humans liked to call love. He sighed as he reached the looming building, and parked, getting ready for another day of work.

Terezi was sitting by herself at lunch as usual, eating the same tuna sandwich she always ate, when she heard footsteps approaching her. She smelled the pale skin and black hair that clued her in to this being Gamzee's caretaker.

"Hey, can I sit here?" He asked, and she nodded.

"What is it that you need, my future brother-in-law?"

"Partially to see if you were really shitting about the smell thing. Since you can tell that I'm not old, or even that I'm actually me, then I really believe you now. And partially because sitting alone is really starting to fucking suck ass." He said, and she smiled slightly.

"Thanks for that I guess. And I've never minded much. It gives me time to think."

"Thinking, huh? Seems depressing to me. I'd rather be doing."

"I can respect that."

"You don't seem to talk much."

"What would you like me to say?"

"I don't know. You could fucking talk about yourself, or say something. I heard that you were a spit fire, but your more like a fucking electric blanket right now,"

"So you want me to go off on you? Fine. Your hair looks like you haven't combed it in a week, you wear that same sweater everyday, and probably the same pants, that doesn't look like the cancer sign, it looks like a 69, and I'm surprised you've not been fired for either being out of uniform or sexual harassment. And you also have a really bad overbite."

"So you pay attention to what I wear, huh?" Karkat grinned, and Terezi blushed.

"When you're the only one not wearing light blue scrubs it's hard not to. You're like the annoying emo kid that everyone makes fun of, except no one tells you because we think it'll make you kill yourself."

"And the bright red glasses don't make you stand out? Or the fact that you wear red scrubs while everyone else wears their boring monotones?"

"You don't like the color red?"

"No, it's my favorite actually. But that's beside the point."

"You haven't asked me how I know what color your shirt is." She pointed out, and he scoffed.

"I already said I believe you! I've seen guys do weirder shit." He said, stuffing his burger in his mouth.

"You're the first. Including my own brother."

"So Tavros is your little brother, then?"

"Yeah. And we all know how you came to be taking care of Gamzee. How is he by the way?"

"Don't tell anyone, but the idiot went and fell in love. The voices act up anytime someone thinks about threatening your kid." Karkat said, rolling his stormy eyes. He jumped slightly as his phone buzzed in his pocket. No one ever texted him.

For a moment he thought it was Gamzee, and was prepared to rush back to the town, when he saw his older brother's name flash across the screen.

I will be arriving in town for a visit sometime tomorrow afternoon. I would have called, but you are likely at work right now, and I would not want to anger you in any way by interrupting you with a call. Please inform me if this is in any way inconv-

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Enient, as I would not want to burden you with my presence should you find it so. Please call me when it is most convenient for you, so that we can work out the details of the stay. Have a nice day, little brother.

Karkat wanted to punch himself. Of all the fucking people to show up, why did it have to be his older brother? Karkat was going to go crazy before Gamzee was. It was bad enough sharing a room with the guy, especially after he got onto the high school debate team, and started winning speaking awards. Then he thought people gave a fuck about what he said. Of course, he was now the governor, so apparently someone thought he was semi-competent, but that was only because they hadn't seen him as a kid. Either way, the asshole was paying for Karkat's college, so he should probably at least let him come over.

I'll make the spare room ready. And by that I mean one of us is getting the couch, unless you want to fucking fight Gamzee for it. I'll talk to you later today.

As much as Karkat pretended that he hated his brother, he smiled a little at the text. Kankri was always considerate of everyone but himself, and he was perfectly aware that the politician, used to sleeping in his own king size bed, wouldn't let him sleep on the couch. Even if the thing was just as comfortable as the damn bed. He would wait to be served last, and say that he wasn't hungry; to ensure that everyone else got his or her fill before dinner ran out. At Christmas, Kankri would only ask for things that he could make into gifts for others, and on Halloween, no matter how much his friends protested, Karkat would always be coming with them to whatever party they were headed to. If Karkat couldn't go, then he wasn't going either. He was a genius in everything he did, even if he was a bit of a smartass. Karkat wouldn't have traded his brother for anything, even if he did come with a Tylenol bill.

"Who are you texting, Karkles? Your girlfriend?"

"You know damn well I don't have a girlfriend. That would require fucking leaving that dumbass Gamzee in the house for longer than is absolutely necessary. Shit gets disastrous after a while."

"You love the kid."

"Shut up. Anyway, it was my fucking older brother."

"You have an older brother?"

"Yeah. The fucking Governor, too. Asshat just had to one-up me, and then pay for my fucking college so any accomplishments I make in the future will still be his."

"So don't take the money."

"Shut up! I don't have the kind of cash to do it by myself."

"So he's doing you a favor. You need to get laid."

"Unless that was an offer, shut up."

"Maybe it was, but I'll at least get a movie out of you first."

"Shut the fuck up, whore."

"Anyway, I'm sure that a big strong man like you can handle his older brother for a little while. He can't be crazier than the kid you already have hanging out with you."

"Yeah, but Gamzee takes his pill, and he's fine. There's no medical cure for being an asshat, and his giant mouth is his only occupation."

Terezi laughed as Karkat got up, stuffing the rest of his food in his mouth, no doubt realizing that it was almost time to get back to work and he had to walk all the way back to the psych building. They kept it a safe distance away, to prevent the crazies and the cancer patients getting mixed up.

And yet as he left, her mind picked the most inopportune moment to have a flashback. Constantly blood-shot eyes widened, as she was no longer in the cafeteria.

Summer wind blew past her face as she rushed to the scene of the accident. She had asked her little brother when he called her on their parents' cell phone, what was wrong.

"Mom and Dad won't wake up. Please, I don't know what to do. My legs." He had whimpered, and tears welled in her eyes.

"Are your legs okay? How much do they hurt?"

"That's the thing. They don't. They feel…invisible." He said, and she told him she'd be there in a minute hanging up and sprinting as fast as she could.

What she found there was the worst possible situation. Not only were her parents staring an unmoving, and glassy eyed, but the person who had crashed into them had been Dave, coming to wish her a happy eighteenth birthday. She saw her little brother, clutching their mother's lifeless body, as it chilled, and the blood around them congealed. She saw Dave, his glasses flung to the side, and his red eyes nearly completely white, as well as his skin, the blood that had colored them covering his car. They had hit hard enough that it was instant, neither set of airbags deploying. Tavros had been flung forward so hard that, while it likely saved his life, the seatbelt had cracked his spine like a twig.

"Oh God, why?" She asked, picking the broken boy up and clutching him to her chest.

"Mom wasn't paying attention, and then Dave didn't stop. I think it was the water. They were both going so fast. I'm scared, sis." Tavros said, but Terezi had no words for him. Her vision had gone black, and her hearing was like she was underwater. She simply smelled. The iron tinge in the air, the scent of blood, and her mind decided, as it chose never to see again, if only so that this color wouldn't have to be processed.

"It's okay, sis. You don't have to cry. I'm sure it'll work out okay." He promised her, and she clutched him closer, not believing that she was such a failure as a big sister that her little brother was comforting her as he lost his lower half.

"Yeah. I'm sure it will." She lied, wiping the tears away.