You Won't See Me Fall Apart

[greg-bailey-blog]

Life Itself || Greg & Brooke

[greg-bailey-blog]

Greg pulled her towards the elevator, trying not to hurry her too much. He looked over at her as she spoke. “Seven hours or so.” He replied, hitting the button for the elevator. “This is going to be fine.” He assured her, though it was likely that he was talking to himself more than her.

[brooke-monroe-blog]

“Okay,’ Brooke said, nodding automatically. A seven hour flight sounded like the last thing she wanted to do right now, but she knew she couldn’t tell Greg that either. “Have you heard from Tahlia?” she asked, wondering if Greg’s first born was sick too. 

[brooke-monroe-blog]

text || joel/brooke

Brooke: Thanks again for taking Matthew in while we're gone.

Joel: It's no worries. Stay safe and feel better, okay?

Brooke: I'll try. :) Greg is pretty confident that I'll get the best treatment here.

[brooke-monroe-blog]

text || joel/brooke

Brooke: Thanks again for taking Matthew in while we're gone.

[greg-bailey-blog]

Life Itself || Greg & Brooke

[greg-bailey-blog]

Greg checked to make sure that he had his keys and wallet, in too much of a rush to worry about anything else that he might have forgotten in his hurry. He ignored Brooke’s thanks, anxious to get to the airport. He picked up the suitcase by the door, holding his hand out to her.

[brooke-monroe-blog]

Brooke wished that Greg would slow down for two seconds, wanting to tell him that his anxious behavior was making her feel more anxious too. Knowing that would only upset him further and that he really thought this was the best thing to do, she decided not to mention it and took his hand as they left the house. 

“How long is the flight?” she asked, trying to focus on the facts of the situation. 

[greg-bailey-blog]

Life Itself || Greg & Brooke

Greg was packing their bags, not about to take no for an answer. He was going to get Brooke to a doctor he trusted- and not some small-town scrub doing their best. He zipped the suitcase shut, carrying it to the front hall of his condo.

“We can fly out at three.” He told Brooke, his tone not asking for opinions on the subject. 

[brooke-monroe-blog]

Brooke leaned against the door frame, trying to look stronger than she felt. The truth was that she had gotten sick almost as soon as they started broadcasting about the illness. The death rates weren’t looking great, but it still seemed like a lot of people were surviving for the time being at least. She felt that Greg was overreacting by flying her somewhere to be treated, but she also didn’t feel like arguing with him about it. 

“Okay, thanks for packing.” she said instead, knowing she was going to feel indebted to him for a lot of this. 

[brooke-monroe-blog]

sunken dream || Brooke & Open

[darius-scott-blog]

Darius would be lying if he said that he was beginning to regret his moving to Tilden. It wasn’t what he’d expected- or dreamed of. And of course the whole world had gone to hell since he’d taken the new job and moved away from his hometown.

He was out for a walk, hoping to clear his head. He noticed a woman sitting at the foot of some stairs, hesitating a moment before saying anything. “You okay?” He asked, looking down at her.

[brooke-monroe-blog]

“Sort of,” Brooke replied with a weak smile up at Darius. “My son...has the sickness.” she explained, half-expecting him to start running away. She couldn’t really blame anyone, from all accounts this was pretty contagious. 

[brooke-monroe-blog]

sunken dream || Brooke & Open

Brooke carefully shut the door to her son’s bedroom. He was finally asleep, despite the boils all over his body. It had been horrible to watch them spread and Brooke felt helpless in the face of whatever disease was taking hold of him. She had been watching the news and already knew they didn’t have a cure for it yet, and also that she was likely to start developing them very soon due to her contact with Matthew. Because of that she didn’t necessarily want to get too close to anyone else right now, but she was already a little desperate to talk to someone else about what was going on. She stepped out onto her small porch and sat down on the steps, hoping someone would walk by and be willing to give her a few moments of their time just to talk. 

[gregory-bailey-blog]

Circumstances || Brooke & Greg

[gregory-bailey-blog]

“You would think so.” Greg nodded, looking over at her. “I mean, it should give them something more to go on. More than before anyway.” He turned towards her, leaning down to kiss her as he put a drink in her hand. “I know it’s going to be an adjustment with everything but I want you to know that I’m here for you both.” He assured her.

[brooke-monroe-blog]

“Thanks, that means a lot.” Brooke said, looking up at Greg again. She knew this was more than he had bargained for when they started dating and that he probably wasn’t thrilled at the idea of possibly helping her raise her suddenly re-appeared teenage son. 

“I just hope he doesn’t have too hard of a time readjusting.” she admitted, taking a drink from the glass Greg had given her. 

[gregory-bailey-blog]

Circumstances || Brooke & Greg

[gregory-bailey-blog]

Greg poured them a couple of drinks, walking over to hands hers to her. “I know.” He nodded, wrapping one arm around her back. “But it’s good. You’re lucky. Not everyone made it back.” He reminded her. 

[brooke-monroe-blog]

“I know. I feel super fortunate. I still can hardly believe he’s alive.” Brooke admitted, leaning against him. “They have to be able to figure out more about what happened now that people are returning, right?” she asked, knowing he wouldn’t have a real answer but wanting to hear his opinion anyway.

[gregory-bailey-blog]

Circumstances || Brooke & Greg

[gregory-bailey-blog]

Greg poured them a couple of drinks, walking over to hands hers to her. “I know.” He nodded, wrapping one arm around her back. “But it’s good. You’re lucky. Not everyone made it back.” He reminded her. 

[brooke-monroe-blog]

“I know,” Brooke agreed, turning to him with wide eyes at the thought. “It’s opening up more questions, and I hate that we don’t know where he was all this time, but I am very glad to have him back.” she agreed. It was especially difficult because no one knew if they were back for good. Uncertainly was a strong factor in the whole situation, and Brooke hated that. 

[gregory-bailey-blog]

Circumstances || Brooke & Greg

Greg was in the kitchen when Brooke reappeared. He forced a smile, having just spent the evening getting to meet her teenage son. Greg knew it made him a bad person but he had preferred it when Matthew was nothing more than a sad couple of chapters in his girlfriend’s history. 

“You want a drink?” He asked hopefully, getting a couple of glasses down from the cabinet.

[brooke-monroe-blog]

“Yes, please.” Brooke agreed, leaning against the counter. The last couple of days had been a whirlwind of emotions. She was thrilled that Matthew was back, but it was a lot to process since she had really thought he was dead. 

“This is all so...crazy.” she admitted, running a hand through her hair. 

[tahliadechaineux-blog]

“I don’t really think so.”

[brooke-monroe-blog]

“People can’t be allowed to just do whatever they want with no consequences though.” 

[tahliadechaineux-blog]

“I hope that they just all stay safe.”

[brooke-monroe-blog]

“Safety is a privilege, and one that some people give up because of their actions.” 

[clemharper-blog]

News ↬ Clem + Brooke

[clemharper-blog]

Clementine furrowed her brow when Brooke told her that she was going to keep the baby — but break up with the father of her child. There was no way that she understood that, but then again she had never been in that situation herself. She wasn’t the type to want to keep some scumbag’s child.

“Want to call him? I can scream at him on the other line if he gets shitty,” Clementine offered. 

[brooke-monroe-blog]

“I don’t know, I guess I do have to tell him...” Brooke replied hesitantly, glancing at Clementine. She really wanted to just break up with him and never get him involved in her or her baby’s life any further, but she knew that probably wasn’t very realistic. 

[brooke-monroe-blog]

“I wonder if the GR will leave us all the fuck alone now that there have been some real consequences to their actions.” 

[aidenwatkins-blog]

“Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. There’s got to be something wrong there, you know? It’s like, if you don’t want to move on from the Departure, that’s on you, but you’ve got no business keeping other people from doing it.”

[brooke-monroe-blog]

“Exactly. Like it’s not hard enough on us to begin with.” 

[aidenwatkins-blog]

“About as well as you’d think. I’m not even sure they got what I was saying.”

[brooke-monroe-blog]

“Probably not. I’ve sometimes wondered if they’re all there, if you know what I mean.”