Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Charlotte was waiting for her at the entrance to the psychiatric clinic when Amy screeched into the parking lot and stumbled hastily out of her car. "Where is she?" the redhead demanded. Her colleague grimaced in a way that made dread flood the pit of Amy's stomach. "Charlotte, out with it!"
"I only left her alone for a minute," the young blonde said defensively. "The girl was hysterical; I thought some lithium would help. Literally a minute, I swear…but when I got back to her room she was gone."
"Gone?" Amy repeated faintly. "You have got to be kidding me."
"I'm really sorry," said Charlotte, looking shaken at the unfortunate turn of events. "What do we do now?"
"Did she have any lithium with her?" asked Amy, knowing the answer from the apologetic despair in Charlotte's eyes before the younger girl shook her head. "Damn it; this day just gets better and better."
"She took her purse with her," Charlotte pointed out. "Maybe she'll have enough sense to pick some up?"
"Did she really seem in the right frame of mind to think of her meds?" Amy retorted, and Charlotte let out a shaky breath. "Yeah, I didn't think so." Amy closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her temples, the dull ache of the previous evening, returning under the strain of the moment. "We have to find her." With that rather obvious statement, she took charge of the situation, sweeping past Charlotte and into the clinic to make some calls.
In Tree Hill meanwhile, Haley was standing in her busy kitchen engaged in a staring contest with Taylor. Her older sister was ignoring the icy look as she snapped her fingers over the bowl on the counter. "Jimmy Jam, get the sugar into this dough, stat!" Her nephew obligingly tipped the carefully measured sugar into the pan and began to stir the contents. Having made sure her instructions were being followed, Taylor turned to her baby sister once more. "Is there a problem, Hales? I'd say I'm doing a decent job of getting shit done in here."
"Language, Aunt Taylor!" Jamie piped up, and his aunt ruffled his hair with a smirk, then moved around the cluttered kitchen counter and put her arm around Haley.
"Chill out, baby sis, just look at our little elf go."
"If I called him an elf, he'd chew my head off," Haley remarked with ill-disguised irritation. "What are you even doing here, Tay?"
"I already told you," said Taylor airily. "I didn't feel like spending Christmas alone, and you were the best option. Viv and J.J had family commitments, and Frank's wife thinks I'm a bad influence. Nicky actually likes me, but it's the first Christmas since Laura's Dad died. Obviously, he had to go with her and the kids to be with her mother." She glanced around the room; "I'm actually shocked Quinnie's not crashing this party too. How's her little midget doing?"
"Logan is just fine," said Haley. "She's not here for the same reason, actually. They decided to spend the holidays with Logan's grandparents in Raleigh this year."
"She's going to be the one with ten kids; I can see it now," said Taylor, and at the conviction in her voice, Haley couldn't help but laugh.
"Easy girl, let them start with one," she said, returning her gaze to Jamie's attentive measuring task. "She's so excited; it's such a joy to watch."
"Save that freaking cheesy grin for when the heart girl comes home, Hales," said Taylor, nudging her sister playfully. "You two are disgustingly sappy sometimes."
"It's Christmas," Haley retorted defensively. "Holiday cheer and babies, this year is so going to end on a high. I can feel it! You're such a buzzkill, Tay."
"Not according to my last fling, I'm not," Taylor corrected her with a mischievous grin, and Haley grimaced at her in disgust.
She grabbed a dishtowel from the counter and flung it at her sister. "Taylor! That's disgusting, not in front of my baby, please."
Taylor dodged the flying rag with ease and moved back around the counter to observe Jamie's progress with the ingredients. "I don't know about you, but I don't see any babies in this room. Mama's got some growing up to do herself, right, Jamie?"
"That's what I keep saying," the twelve-year-old sighed. "Maybe you can get Mom to do some of that before you take off again. Merry Christmas, Aunt Taylor."
"You've got yourself a deal, monkey face," promised Taylor and stuck a finger in the cookie dough. Licking it experimentally, she gave Jamie a one-armed hug; "Babies can't bake this well, for one thing, Merry Christmas indeed. You would have given your Grandma a run for her money with this stuff, well done." With identical smirks, the two glanced at Haley; "Told you, the kid is great, Hales."
"As if there was ever any doubt of that, he's a Scott man." The sisters turned at the sound of Nathan's voice while Jamie began to press the cookie dough into shape. Nathan entered the kitchen holding one hand over his eyes. "Has Hurricane Taylor wrecked everything in here yet? I'm afraid to look."
"Shut up," Taylor squealed in protest. "Just you wait till Quinn comes home; we'll show you the power of James girls times three, sucker!"
"Except Quinn's not coming home for like two days," Nathan pointed out. "Think you can take me on your own, missy?" Taylor tackled him in outrage at the mocking tone, but Haley straightened up alertly and stared out the window instead.
"Help me, Haley!" Taylor gasped desperately when Nathan began to tickle her relentlessly. "What are you staring at?"
"Guys, am I seeing things, or is that Quinn's car out there?" said Haley seriously. Nathan let go of Taylor at his wife's grave tone, and they both moved towards the window near the front door. Before any of them could reach it, the door banged open without even the courtesy doorbell clang.
"Well, this feels a little too familiar," Nathan remarked when Logan stumbled over the threshold and darted up the stairs without a word.
Haley barely heard him tell Jamie to hurry upstairs and find out what was going on. As soon as Logan let go of her hand and vanished from view, Quinn crumpled in her sister's arms. She had left her coat in the car before approaching the house, but Haley didn't even flinch at how cold her skin was. "Quinnie, what are you doing home?" asked Haley gently, exchanging a worried look with Taylor, who was wordlessly rubbing Quinn's back.
"It's gone," Quinn choked through painful sobs. "Haley, I ruined everything! I had to come home…I just had to."
"Q, you're not making any sense," Taylor told her impatiently. "What's gone?"
"The baby." Haley's head snapped up at the broken voice from the doorway. Clay was leaning against the now-closed front door looking on the verge of collapse. "She was like this all night at the hospital. I don't know what to do anymore." Haley made a face at Taylor, and the older girl obligingly tugged Quinn into her arms instead, so Haley was free to move towards Clay.
"I can't believe it," she said sadly. "Did you drive back after all that?"
"The only thing I could get out of Quinn since it happened was that only you could help her," he told her. "Haley, can she just stay here with you today, please? I swear I am this close to losing it just like her, I need a break." He held up a forefinger and thumb almost touching to illustrate his point, and Haley could see them trembling.
"I feel like I jinxed Christmas now," she sighed as Quinn's cries and Taylor's awkward attempts at comfort continued to be the only sound. "Taylor and I were just talking about how perfect this year was going to be as it ended. Come here." With those simple words, Haley had Clay returning the fiercest hug she could muster. "Thanks for getting her home. Your Mom must have absolutely hated letting go so soon; I remember how she can get."
"Right now, the feeling was mutual," he admitted shakily, rubbing his eyes when he pulled back. "To make matters worse, there was a major crash on the outskirts of town, took us forever to get off the highway." He glanced at the staircase wearily; "Where did Logan go?"
"Did something happen with him, too?" asked Haley. "He literally barged in and ran upstairs without talking to anyone. I think Jamie's with him now." She turned towards the staircase for a brief moment then eyed Clay in concern once more. "We can get him home if you like? You look absolutely shattered, go and get some sleep."
The hesitant relief on his face didn't escape her notice. "Are you sure?" he pressed, and Haley nodded firmly. At the reassurance, he released a shaky breath. "Thanks, Haley. Take care of my family, okay? I owe you."
"They're my family too, you goof," she pointed out, but it was apparent Clay no longer had the energy to smile. "I'll do everything I can, I promise."
Clay kissed her cheek gratefully, but when he pulled the front door open to leave, Quinn stepped quickly away from Taylor. "Clay, wait!" He turned to look at her, too tired to even speak anymore, and Quinn wrapped her arms tightly around him. "Call me if you feel like talking, okay?" she begged. "I'm really sorry about everything."
"How is a miscarriage your fault?" By now, the pain in her eyes was testing every last ounce of his self-containment.
"I meant everything that happened after that," Quinn sighed. "You can always talk to me, okay? Please don't forget that. I love you."
He nodded stiffly, and she could sense that for right now, she was losing his attention. "Got it. I love you, too. I'll see you later, okay? Right now, I just really need to crash."
"Okay," she said softly, but watching him walk away, it felt almost as bad as the moment when the miscarriage was confirmed in Raleigh. The dread of losing more than she already had made her feel weak at the knees, and Quinn didn't object when her sisters guided her over to the living room couch. Not needing to say anything, Haley and Taylor simply sat on either side of her like pillars of the strength she no longer had.
Back at the clinic in Atlanta, Amy slammed the telephone receiver down yet again, just as Charlotte peeked into the reception office. "Any luck?" she asked timidly, fully aware that her co-worker was beyond stressed and furious with her right now.
"She could be anywhere by now," Amy groaned. "You really screwed this one up, Charlie. I'm getting no leads here, and she went without her meds, this is really bad!"
"I might have one lead," said Charlotte carefully, wary of getting her hopes up with how the redhead was glaring at her right now. "Don't ask me how, but in the few minutes that I left her alone, Katie somehow got outside and managed to hotwire my car." Amy gaped at her in pure horror at the revelation. "Yeah, I know it seems like a stretch, but it's kind of…gone. Just like her, see what I mean?" The blonde shifted nervously from one foot to the other. "So should we get onto tracking my ride, or what? Do you think she could have done something like that?"
"I don't know what to think anymore," said Amy coldly. "All I know is that we have to find Katie before she hurts herself because she's out there right now with no lithium and emotional overload. Call the cops and report your car stolen, now!"
En route back to Tree Hill was the car in question, driven by Katie, who was focusing on her path as hard as she could to avoid her mind going to very dark places. The clinic had been chilly even indoors that day, a fact she was now thankful for because it meant she was at least wearing a hoodie against both the cold weather and inquisitive eyes. With the cotton hood raised as far up as it would go, she pushed the speed limit mercilessly, one of the last things her sister had said to her rushing to mind against her will; "We need you, Kate." The phrase echoed in her head on a loop, never letting her forget her goal.
A / N I honestly wasn't expecting to get this done, but I guess my shipper heart decided a dose of destruction was overdue. Appreciate every fave and follow as always, thanks, everyone! xx