#closed:colt

[avery-grayson-blog]

at ( colt’s house ) with @coltcandler.

In some ways it felt like mere hours since she’d last traipsed her way through the halls of Colt’s house, all five dogs licking at her heels, when in reality it’d been over a week now. In other ways, it felt like an entire lifetime passed. So much had happened between their homecooked meal and this moment--- enough that Avery wasn’t even sure how to wrap her head around it all. One things was for sure, though... she needed to get the rest of her things. Honestly, it was something she’d planned on doing from the start, but between her own injuries and his hospital stay it’d been all but impossible to find the time. Now, cutting a path through the front foyer, Ave took a hard turn into the living room and came to a skidding halt when his face appeared over the back of the couch. “Oh--- sorry. I uhm--- kinda just let myself in.” The silence that followed after that felt awkward and full of tension. It felt wrong. “Just a habit, I guess.” One that she’d surely need to break. With the lining of her cheek trapped between the bite of her teeth she scratched at the side of her head, careful to avoid the stitches, and invested her attention in a speck of fuzz on his floor. “You mind if I grab a few things?”

[avery-grayson-blog]

--- THE INMAN PARK FIRE STATION WITH @coltcandler ---

She could’ve been standing beneath a thousand heat lamps in that moment and Avery was still certain she wouldn’t be able to get warm. Then again--- that probably had more to do with the memories spinning through her head than it did the fact that she was soaked to the bone. The fabric of her pale blue dress clung to her thighs as she moved through the crowded room, shivering beneath the tight wrap of her arms and looking as if she were worlds away. Storms and the blonde hardly went hand in hand. In fact, putting the two together almost always spelled disaster. A boom of thunder shot through the station and it was only the jump she gave in response that pulled Ave out of her thoughts. Just up ahead she spotted Colt standing near one of the trucks and immediately headed for his side, a rueful smile already in place. "So much for a special night at home...”

[avery-grayson-blog]

@coltcandler

A disjointed collection of flashes and memories from earlier in the evening played on repeat in Nikita’s mind as she lay curled over on the hospital bed with her back to the door. When she’d first been taken to Grady Memorial everything had been a rush of activity as the ER doctors assessed her wound and the damage the bullet from Hades’ gun had caused. It hadn’t been pretty or fun but, considering the fact that she had been shot, it certainly could have been a hell of a lot worse. After what seemed like an eternity she’d finally been moved to a private room upstairs and knocked out with a heavy dose of pain medication.

That was hours ago. For at least thirty minutes now she’d been laying awake in bed, too tired to do much of anything other than stare at the wall but too awake for sleep. Then again, the thoughts that wouldn’t leave her brain probably had something to do with that. The worst part about laying there alone was that she didn’t even know who else had been hurt or who had made it out okay. All of her belongings like her phone and bag, even her shoes, had been left forgotten back at the country club in the midst of all the chaos. Rolling over on the mechanical bed she was about to reach for the nurse call button when the door to her room eased open with a slow push. Bloodshot eyes flickered over toward the motion, watching and waiting to see who would walk through.

[avery-grayson-blog]

@coltcandler

The soft fabric of her peach colored dress clung to the backs of Nikita’s thighs under the heat of a relentless Georgia sun. She was blessedly used to this kind of weather after growing up in Charleston but, if anything, that only made things worse. The blonde could have kicked herself for wearing synthetic fabrics on a day like today; she knew better. Nevertheless, her goal had been making a decent first impression... not comfort. She’d be inside soon enough, anyways. Tucking a bottle of twenty-four year old bourbon into one hand she balanced a covered pie dish on the other and gave the Candler plantation a long look as it loomed up ahead. Yep--- she was definitely back in the south.

With a deep breath to calm her nerves she crossed the drive and carefully made her way up the steps. For a moment she was left wondering how on Earth she was going to manage a knock with everything in her hands but her worries were for naught. Before she knew it the massive double doors opened wide. “Good afternoon,” She announced as she pushed a tentative smile across her face. “I came bearing gifts.”