losttheright: (pic#2993705)
Somehow, it doesn't come as a surprise when she wakes up alone.

Losing Russell and Andrea in one go the way she had, Molly had been thrown for a loop to say the least, left in a state of panic dangerous for her condition at the time, feeling like her entire world had just given way from under her feet. Mindy going not long after hadn't exactly helped much, though she had been preoccupied with Abigail at the time, sleep-deprived and exhausted and not able to stop to pay it too much mine. Before then, there had been any number of others she'd lost, close friends, people who might have been something a little more than that if given half the chance. Lisbeth, Chase, even Stephen, who she still thinks about more often than she would ever admit to, they'd all left her thrown. And it isn't like this doesn't, not by a long shot.

It's just that, sooner or later, she was bound to grow numb to it, and when she finds Lee gone, tries to call him only to hear an automated message that his phone has been disconnected, the most she feels is a hollow emptiness in her chest and the sense that she should have seen this coming.

Then again, for all she knows, time has nothing to do with it. She hasn't felt right since Abby was born, since before then, just waiting for something to click into place that still has yet to come. The other people she knows with children, they're good at it, they're happy about it. Even when it's hard, it seems like something that makes sense. That's never been the case for her. She's always been good with kids, but apparently that doesn't extend to her own, probably in no small part because that connection is something she just seems to be lacking. Oh, she can fake it alright, she can go through the motions and do what she needs to, but that doesn't change the fact that it's been a long time since she felt like herself, with no end to it in sight. Once or twice, she's tried looking it up to find out if that's normal, seen some terms thrown around, read that for people who've been through some of the shit she has, this transition and experience can often be more difficult. Whether there's a clinical term for it or not, though, something is missing. That, apparently, is also the case when it comes to trying to process the fact that Lee is gone, that she's here now on her own with a baby that she's never really known what to do with, just a couple of weeks away from going back to work.

In all the years she's been in Darrow, for the most part, Molly hasn't done much thinking ahead. It's enough just to be here, to know that she gets to have something at all, and if that time runs out, well, so be it. Now, that's just about the only thing she can do, to try to determine where she's going to go from here, because God knows she hadn't considered that this might be where she would wind up, twenty-five and a single parent. Nearly five more years of life than she was ever supposed to get back home is still a big fucking deal, but that's all the more reason why she can't waste what she has. She needs to let herself have a life. She needs to do what's right for both of them, and even before she was on her own with this, she wasn't sure that it was something she would be cut out for. It just seemed like she didn't have another choice. Like she said to Lee once, though, there are choices, and that hasn't changed just because Abby is almost three months old now. Somewhere out there, there's got to be someone who would be thrilled to raise a little girl. When she considers it like that, she isn't really sure that there's even a decision to be made.

Still, it isn't as if she can do any of this impulsively, not least when she doesn't exactly trust herself with it. So, instead, she does the only thing that makes sense: she pulls herself out of bed, calls a babysitter, dresses in jeans and a button-down shirt, curls her hair and puts on a little makeup. Before she leaves the apartment — and, God, she doesn't think she can stay here for very long — she sends texts to Katie and Clarke, two of the only friends she's got left and the two people she trusts the most, to see if they're around for her to stop by. Either one of them, she has no doubt, would tell her if she's making a mistake by even letting this be an option. Deep down, though, it already doesn't feel like one.
losttheright: (pic#2993692)
In the ambulance, they try to keep her awake. She has a concussion, probably, they tell her, and need her to stay conscious until she can get looked at. Difficult as it is to do so, feeling about as exhausted as she does in pain, Molly can't say she minds that. She's lost sleep over less; right now, in the immediate wake of all that's just happened, she isn't sure she'd want to risk seeing what her mind might conjure up if she dozed off. Chances are, it wouldn't be any kind of a break from this at all, and that would be the only reason to let herself fall asleep. Being awake is about the only reminder she has, and one she desperately needs, that she's somehow, inexplicably, still alive, anyway, and she wouldn't forfeit that for anything. She made it this far, survived the night despite all the odds. She can make it a little longer.

Still, she's hazy at best when they bring her into the hospital, dizzy with the blow her head took and blood loss and the residual fear that keeps her breaths shallow, keeps her looking over her shoulder, as if expecting everyone to be someone she can trust. You're safe now, one of the paramedics had told her when she didn't want to go with them, with an unsteady voice that wasn't half as reassuring as the words themselves were meant to be. It may be true, but she sure as fuck doesn't feel like it, and not just because of Patrick. With as certain as she was that she was going to die, she can't quite shake the belief that she still will, that her being here now is somehow a fluke, though she doesn't think any of the injuries she sustained are severe enough to be fatal. She's had too many close calls for that, walked away when it should have been impossible. She shouldn't have been able to be here at all. The clarity she felt when she found herself wishing fervently that she'd stayed dead back in that motel room in Kentucky has left her, but the fact remains that that was supposed to have been the end of her life, and she came far too near to losing that again tonight.

The person who comes in to see her first isn't someone she knows, and she tenses because of it, ignoring the fresh burst of pain it shoots through her. It must be visible, too, because the man asks immediately if there's anything they can do to make her more comfortable. The thought is laughable, given the state she's in, her nose probably broken, her lip cut open, dark bruises around her throat, an assortment of nails scattered haphazardly over her body, but she stops to consider it even so, then nods. Much as she doesn't want to talk about this at all, to have to admit to it, as if it's somehow shameful, she'll be better without strangers. "If — if Dr. Chase is working tonight," she says, "you could get him? And Katie Marks, she's a nurse."

He nods, says he'll see what he can do, and heads off. Molly lets out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding for it, and keeps as still as she can, waiting. It seems like the only thing she's been able to do all night, but with that being the case, she can do so for just a little longer.

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Molly Stearns

April 2022

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