"Nora!" Sally called, shoving her hands in her pockets and running quickly down the stairs, staring at her feet as she did so. Ever since her death she'd been leery of stairs and each step was taken with a carefully-measured, calculated placement of her feet. Once her feet hit pavement she jogged down the sidewalk, barely spotting the blonde figure in the hunter green jacket who had paused at the end of the block, not looking back at her. Nora must have heard her, though she made no motion to acknowledge that she had.
Sally shivered violently and hunched her shoulders against the brisk Boston air. Once she'd been a proud Massachusite, able to run around in nothing but a short dress and boots in the fall, but if there was one thing being dead for a few years ill-prepared her for, it was the delights of temperature. Sally jogged to catch up with Nora and slowed to a walk only when she was within a few feet of the other woman.
"You… are fast," Sally said, giving Nora's arm the most awkward of bro-fists. She let out a sound that was like a laugh if a laugh was slowly dying. Then she cleared her throat and looked straight forward, the way Nora was doing, and dug around in the pockets of the hoodie under her jacket.
"I got your stuff," she said, holding out Nora's phone and wallet to the taller woman. Nora turned to look at her, finally, her eyes red-rimmed and exhausted, and she reached out to take the items.
"Thanks," Nora said hoarsely, averting her eyes and sniffing once, hard. For a moment Sally was stunned that she was, generally, keeping it together in public. Then the facade crumpled and Nora buried her face in her hands, which were still clutching her things, and heaved in a shuddering breath.
"Oh," Sally said, sympathy twisting in her gut as she looked left and right to see if they were attracting any onlookers. Then she took Nora gently by the shoulders and lead her away from the crosswalk, down an access alley between two taller apartment buildings.
Nora refused to bring her face out of her hands even when Sally leaned her against the bricks and rubbed her shoulders in what she hoped was a comforting way. Bridget had been an anomaly in Sally's life—she always got along with and understood guys so much better than fellow females. What was soothing to one was offensive or weird to another and Sally had found herself frequently in one of two categories with other women—either instantaneous best friends for life or awkwardly dissonant.
Nora was different. Not only was she a fellow supe, but she was Josh's girl, Sally's own devoted friend who, to hear Josh tell it, had been positively moony-eyed and doting over her rotting, wrapped-up corpse during the spell that had brought her back from the dead even while Josh reported feeling mildly ill over the whole thing. Nora was beyond her home girl, but lately Sally had felt like she was back to square one with her, making brash jokes and keeping it light because the other woman was so hard to predict these days. Every day something new set her off—not without perfectly good reason, of course—but it was hard to know what to do with someone so angry and violent and their once solid friendship had suffered for it.
"Hey now," Sally said, giving her arms a soft squeeze since, so far, her physical contact hadn't been rejected, "at least Josh is alive. It's the little blessings that are gonna keep you sane."
Nora shook her head, but Sally didnt get the impression it was out of any sort of disagreement. Tentatively, Sally reached out to take the phone and wallet, and when Nora let her Sally slipped them back in her pockets. "Right back where those came from," Sally said with a soft chuckle, and then Nora was leaning miserably into her in a very slow-motion hug. The other woman's hands were still over her face so Sally got on tip toes and hugged her the best she could while pretending to be the taller of the two.
"It's okay," Sally said soothingly, smoothing Nora's messy, tangled blonde hair down her back. "I know it's not okay, but at the same time, it is. We're still alive—in a manner of speaking—" No chuckle from Nora, though Sally hadn't been expecting one. "... And we're all still together. Okay?"
Nora finally released her own face and wrapped her arms back around Sally with startling werewolf strength. Sally made a small sound as the air was forced from her lungs but Nora took the cue and loosened up a little. She was trembling just as badly as she'd been back at the house, and Sally made nonsensical hushing sounds as Nora cried it out, deep, gut-wrenching sounds against her shoulder. Sally's calves were starting to hurt from teetering up on her toes to be Nora's upright "big spoon," but after years of having little to no impact on the physical plane, Sally would rather die (all over again) than cut these precious moments where she could do something for one of them short.
Nora's body-wracking sobs downgraded to soft, despairing keening sounds, then to hiccups, and finally to heavy, jerking breaths. Sally knew she had enough fodder to cry for years, and highly suspected some of those tears had been for Erin. Hell, maybe even some were for Aidan.
As if she'd read her mind, Nora's stuffy voice asked, "Aidan... Josh said he's dying. Why?"
Sally knew this was delicate ground, and proceeded with caution. "Apparently what happened was Aidan got... injected with a syringe, full of that flu blood. I don't really know any details other than that." Sally fervently hoped Nora wouldn't make any more snappish comments about him. They were both her friends but Sally wouldn't be able to sit by and listen for round two of "I'm gonna do the Electric Slide on Aidan's grave."
Again Nora seemed to read her mind, which was getting really spooky. "And he really... told Liam that he killed—" She pulled back from the hug long enough to raise her eyebrows at Sally, not needing to finish her thought aloud. Sally just nodded and Nora closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
"I don't know what to do with this."
Sally wasn't 100% sure what she meant, but chalked it up to a general statement about everything that had happened recently. "Yeah," she said simply, knowing sometimes well-thought out replies weren't as appreciated as simple companionship.
"It's just—" Nora tilted her head back and squeezed her eyes shut. "Josh has tried so hard and sacrificed so much... and I know it hasn't just been for Aidan. It's been for me, too. Just the idea that he's cursed again, and he wound up this way saving someone who clearly has a death wish anyway?"
This was new. Sally hadn't realized Nora paid enough attention to Aidan these days to pick up on the fact that he was portraying some deeply worrisome habits. While she was mulling this over Nora went on.
"Josh told me he would always pick me, if he had to, when it came down to me or Aidan."
She didnt have to go on; the implication was clear. Nora was doubting that was true. Sally cleared her throat and stepped out on the thin conversational ice. "He still would do anything for you, you know. I mean, I love you and I love Aidan, and if you made me choose I'd be really fucking stressed because the answer is I can't. I'd help whichever one if you needed me most at the time, then run straight to the other right after to check that you were okay."
Nora let out what was quite possibly the saddest laugh Sally had ever heard in her life. "Sally, why can't Josh be like you? Do you know what you just did?"
"Um—hopefully not put my foot in my mouth?"
"You told me the truth. Not what you thought I wanted to hear, not what you thought would hurt me least, but the truth." The way she said the word was almost a prayer, soft and reverent.
Sally had no idea what to say to that. Lamely, she reminded her, "Josh loves you. So much."
"And I love him too. More than I know what to do with most days." Nora rubbed her face and left her hands there again, a strange habit Sally only noticed popping up now. "I'm sorry. I know I need to go back there and talk to him. He's scared and hurt and he needs me to be there for him, and ideally to not shove his friends over furniture."
Yes! Sally wanted to cheer. This is the direction we should go in! Luckily she had enough tact not to do so. Barely enough tact. She swung an arm over Nora's shoulders and gave her a little shake.
"Thatta girl. We can get wasted tonight when this is all done."
"I," Nora said definitively, "will take you up on that." Then she paused and turned her face towards Sally's. For a second Sally froze, totally unaware what was going on, but then she realized Nora had given her a big, long sniff.
"You smell good today. Different." Nora pondered it for a moment, then tilted her head to the side, the motion very wolf-like. "Kind of like... meat?"
Sally did everything in her power to be entertaining and distract Nora from that train of thought on the walk home. I am definitely going to need that drink tonight.