ArchivedLogs:Caring

Caring
Dramatis Personae Kay, Melinda
In Absentia	2014-04-07 '
Location In a Car
Melinda is released mid morning after a long night of worrying and beeping monitors. She waits outside in a wheelchair, texting a few people while she sits there. She's placed a couple calls and is now just content to sit and stare at the game of 2048 that she's playing on her phone. She is barely dressed, wearing pajamas and a fluffy bathrobe, her hair braided over one shoulder, the dark circles under her eyes starting to grow. Mel must be getting /used/ to the sight of that approaching speedy little VW van by now, roaring up alongside the curb like a rusted Mystery Machine. The driver's side is shoved open actually /before/ it's stopped and Kay is hopping out, striding long-legged around the front of the van. "Christ, they just leave you out here?" It doesn't matter if she wheeled /herself/ out. He's grinning, yes, looking over Melinda's sleepless face and first things first - he is administering an enveloping hug, all wiry and spidery and, for a moment just... holding tight. "Hey, momma." "They don't really care. I mean, I'm checked out. It's kind of like a hotel at that point. I just sit here and wait for my ride." Melinda puts her phone in her purse and looks over at Kay, only to find him hugging her. This causes her to blink and blink rapidly. She raises her arms and wraps them around him, sniffling a second later. "Hey fireball." "Fuck that shit, we got people trying to kill us off. You're a god damn sitting duck out here." Kay says it says it chuckling into Melinda's hair, "Someone could just snap you up." He finally leans back, scrubs a warm, warm hand through Melinda's hair until it cups the back of Melinda's head, gripping a bit /firmly/ for a moment to let her know he's being serious for a moment, "They treat you okay? What's the doc saying?" His other hand is reaching for the passenger door. "Oh. Well." Melinda swallows hard and releases him, her hands resting on his arms before dropping to her nearly nonexistent lap. "I guess I ... don't know. I just got tired of being in a hospital and thought you would be along soon. The rain is nice and I don't exactly... get to go outside much." She sounds disgruntled as she sits there. "Doc says... I have to try to cut down on my stresses. I explained, he agreed he didn't know how, but I should try anyway." She shakes her head. "Yeah, it was okay." "Fffff," Kay swoops down his head and shoulders, hauling Melinda's arm up and over the back of his neck to help her hoist herself up into the passenger seat, "Be a little more careful, huh? You're livin' in the trenches too, lady. We can't replace your lush buns if they get lost." Maybe... maybe he gives said buns a patting to help her on her way. His cheeks fill up with air, pushing out a stream of air while looking over his shoulder at the hospital looming tall behind him, "...would it be easier? Staying further away?" "I don't know. I don't exactly have somewhere else to go, Kay," Melinda is still slightly disgruntled when her buns are patted, but she gets in the car anyway. "Besides, what am I going to do? Stick my head in the ground and hope that everyone who isn't visiting me is actually fine and dandy rather than missing and dying? Plus, who the hell knows how you get on these nut job's radar. Maybe they already have designs and me getting out of the way and far from people who could help protect me is exactly what they are waiting for." She stops talking when she finally settles into the seat, the process taking a lot longer than normal. "I rather be surrounded by people, Kay. I'd rather know what's going on." Kay is letting Melinda talk - openly /listening/ too, his pouchy upturned eyes moving to her face at intervals while he leans across her to buckle her seatbelt. Check that it's not sitting badly across her. Giving it a tug. "Yeah," he hops down, flashing a grin once more, "Me too." After a moment of wrangling her chair into the back of the van, he comes around and hops back into the driver's side. "When's it safe for your timer t'go off now." You know. The bun-oven timer. "Two weeks and the kid'll be full term, if you will. Not really supposed to deliver until May twelfth, but I don't think the universe is quite... keeping with that schedule." Mel looks a teensy bit embarrassed when Kay helps her get buckled. "Thanks. How are you? Found anything good in the Bronx?" "The ding-ding man was out," Kay offers? "Mexican waterice, yo. That five or so minutes when the sun was peeking through. Guess you missed that." Whups. He doesn't sound too bummed, though. Sitting next to Kay even on a rainy 50-something degree day is still like sitting at a distance from a pleasant hearthfire. VRMM! He kicks the engine on and drags the van into gear, pulling out. His voice gets brighter, "You got names picked out?" "Yeah. Maybe. I don't know. I have a couple but I can't settle on them. Keep wanting to ask Jim, but he's far away and a tree. He'd probably get mad at me anyway." Melinda takes the cup of horchata and sips quietly. "Thanks for coming. I appreciate it. This is pretty good too. Is it from next door?" There's a pause and then, "Who is the ding-ding man?" "Y'know. Pushes a little handtruck with a--," Kay flicks a finger up from the wheel as he navigates actually rather smoothly into traffic, settling comfortably into the slow lane, "ding-ding bell on it. 's name's Mauro. He's got a son, Manny. Cool kid, skateboards around the hood sometimes." Random information, but Kay's never really had a lack of things to say, chatty mild. And he adds, just as mild, "Also, fuck Jim. That's /your/ kid, momma, if he gonna get mad at you, you don't need it. What names d'/you/ like?" "Well. I don't know. Arden is near the top. Maybe Tansanee." Melinda starts grumping as she wraps her arms around her belly, settling the drink into cup holder. She sighs and closes her eyes. "I just wanted someone to help. Freaks Jim out though. Now all this shit is going down and everyone's running and stressed and ... I gotta stop whining." "Fathers're overrated." Kay says firmly, simply, eyes still fixed forward out the windsheild. "You got family, and they /do/ like family, or they /ain't/ family, yeah?" He grins over at Melinda, "What kind of a name is /Tansanee/. It mean something?" "Tansanee is Thai. Means beautiful view." Melinda leans back and listens to Kay, her head resting as far back as it will go. "I... I see what you mean. It's just hard when you care about people." And that's it. "Sorry. Just... kind of tired." "So care." Kay shrugs, easing the Mystery Machine around a corner and up a side alley, "Just don't depend. Learned that a long time ago." He still smiles, ever smiles, bright as a lance with his bad teeth and his focused forward-facing eyes. "Enjoy 'em. Love 'em, if they deserve it. Let 'em make you /happy/." He turns steady bright eyes back to Melinda for a moment at a stop light, "But don't give 'em a damn thing more. Not a single damn thing." Whups, green light. Back to going forward. "Put your seat back, if you needa rest. We'll be in traffic a while." "If I put my seat back too much, I won't really be able to breathe," Melinda replies with a bit of a dry laugh. "At this point, I'm kind of stuck sleeping on my sides, which isn't all that comfortable, or sleeping sitting up, which isn't exactly something I'm used to either." She rolls her eyes a little and shakes her head, taking a moment or two to just breath, and then sleep.