Just. Keep. Driving.

”What’s wrong with you?” They’d always ask while he struggled to tear off the hospital tags from his wrist. That was the problem with taxi drivers—they were like a lesser breed of human, curious like an animal. Actually, if Zen Howler was a taxi driver now, Ela wouldn’t be surprised. “I have money. Keep driving” was his A-typical response. If they continued to badger him, he eventually stopped replying altogether. So long as he got from point A to point B without passing out, it was considered a successful day. At this point, however, he was sure that none of the blood in his entire body was his own. It was as if he was being transformed entirely from Elastor Ito into the hospital’s pet guinea pig. It sickened him. All too much.

Except if not for it, he could very well be dead this very moment. Being faint and a bit nauseous occasionally was a small price to pay. It could be far worse. So he kept telling himself. And, alas, the day came again when his designated appointment glared back at him from the calendar on his phone. No matter how hard he looked at it, it didn’t go away. Technology had its downsides.

Typically, he had today to himself, but for some reason, Anouk was around. Hovering about actually. Asking him things. Talking to him. He didn’t exactly have the freedom he usually had. He couldn’t just walk out and not say where he was going. And he couldn’t just lie about it and expect her not to catch some terrible flaw in his story. She was sharp like that. It ran in the family.

He was at an impasse. Entirely unsure as to what to do. Usually on the allotted days, he was able to sneak out undetected. Vanish entirely. Today…not so much. The buzz for the cab came and Ela was still standing there at the door, staring mindlessly into the kitchen as if the milk in the refrigerator would burst out and unleash a solution. He was not so lucky. And really not so crazy. It was too late.

”Incognito errands? What’s with the cab, you have a car?” He turned around to face his sister, eyes demanding that she go no further. But of course, it never worked on her. ”Want a lift, save cab fare?” What was he supposed to say, ‘no actually I’m trying to keep this from you so stay the hell out of it’? He was entirely at a loss. For a while, he said absolutely nothing, and then,

“Fine.” He gave up.

Today was nothing short of miraculous, if for no other reason than it was past 9 and Anouk was still in bed. Oh, she'd gotten up- hello dawn, bowls of cereal, peanut butter smashed onto bread in hastily-packed lunches. That was normal routine. Home from the bar by 2 or 3, up with the boys at 7, and get them perpared for school and daycare. But today's little joy came from knowing that after Anouk's darling heathens were in their respective classrooms... she was off work today.

Off work~

Just the phrase made the redhead slightly giddy. Normally, she wasn't off work. She either worked every day, or at least half the day and traded shifts with her musical underling, Tuck. Tuck was a good man and Nu's patrons liked him well enough, and he was pretty entertaining. What he wasn't was good at hustling. Or rather, knowing when he was about to be owned. They were both in the bar last night, Tuck off, and just enjoying the night crowd. They'd got to talking about their odd hours and mingling with the daylight world and tried not to make zombie jokes, even if that's what Anouk tended to resemble without her daily layers of battle makeup, but the woman lived on four hours of sleep a night, or less. But when Tuck casually mentioned the joyful memories of a whole night's sleep while shooting pool, it became a bet; if Nu won she got the day off.

She mopped the floor with the pianist.

Even though it hadn't resulted in any extra sleep. Her days off never did. She was still up with the boys and stayed up to do everything that her life demanded. There was no end to laundry and mending things, and inventory books to look over, and bankers to terrify into submission. Much of that, however, wasn't on today's list. Today hadn't been planned, so there really wasn't one. Nu hardly knew what to do with herself. But what was odd was that Ela was off from work too. What, did he glare someone into trading off days? Sure, she'd been chatty and pestering her brother more this morning than others, but this was the first morning she'd seen her little brother in several. Grumpy, broody, growly thing that he was, Anouk did love him, whether he liked it or not.

And... a cab buzzing their apartment. Yeah, he had the right name and house number, but what the hell? Ela had a car, and it wasn't like him to leave it in bad shape, unless he'd loaned it to Csilla again. Munching the last of her breakfast bar, Anouk was already casually reaching for her purse when she'd asked Ela if he wanted a lift to save cab fare, ignoring Ela's Deathly WonderGlare®. He'd surrendered easily enough, so maybe he wasn't feeling well, or maybe he might have missed her too. Or just didn't feel like going in circles with his sister. "C'mon then." Anouk was cheery enough for the both of them, despite the lack of sleep evidenced under her eyes. That was entirely normal now. Anouk pushed away from the table and grabbed her keys, heading out the door to get to the parking garage. "So where to? I'm off today for a change."

Spoiler:

"C'mon then." What, no questions? He blinked in surprise for a second, hesitating at the sounds of her keys jangling. Was this really happening? His breath caught in his throat, he stood there entirely dumbfounded by his own global warming. Glaciers melting all around him, he was about to drown in the deep. Carefully, he turned his head to the door, catching the tail end of "So where to? I'm off today for a change." He was about to say never mind and attempt escape, but she didn’t have work? Wait, work? A quenched growl escaped from somewhere in his throat, and he nearly tore a hole in the casual hoodie he was wearing. Out of sheer anger, he followed her, the buckles on his doc martens making a metallic cacophony rivaling that of the creak in the door. He slammed it shut, locked it without looking. Stared at her back. Followed her to the parking garage. Ended up standing at the passenger seat of her car. Noted that the pink disaster hadn’t been cleaned in a century. Noted that he was about to get in. Got in.  

That was it. He was about to strangle himself with the seat belt. It would probably be a better fate than his. Csilla would kill him. He sighed—a loud sound for him. He listlessly turned to look out the window as she pulled out. Wait. Maybe this was a horrible idea. Could it take it back now? Shit. He graded his teeth together, recalling how his mother had used one of those to dispose of a carrot for dinner. Reminded him that he hadn’t cooked in a while. God, he was dreading this. Could he even say it?

She didn’t even know where she was driving. Just get out of the garage. He tried to look passive. Really, he was about to jump out the window and beg to be run over. He was always overdramatic. He sighed again and turned suddenly to look right at her. Eyes daring her to ask, he said only one word. “Hospital.” Alright, now would be a good time. Enemy attack? GOOD. He clenched his fist over his knee, feeling the pull of black jean, and wishing he had worn something more formal and less I-just-rolled-out-of-bed.

Speaking of bed, Nu’s only day off since she was Taro’s age had dawned this morning. She still rose with the roosters (even though there really weren’t any in London). She should be sleeping not driving him around like some invalid. Invalid—the word make him feel sick already. His eyes darkened to a cold, vicious blue, glowered behind red bangs. The passing shadows of buildings obscured his face, flashing across his cheeks. She wouldn’t ask. She knew better.

Instead, he would ask. “What do you mean off today?” He hardly recognized his own voice. He sounded both nervous and perturbed. There was no way he could pull that off if he tried on his best day. The mixture sounded…odd. He shifted his weight and turned to look out the window, praying a random building would collapse and end this conversation he didn’t want to have. But he had to. Nervous? Yeah, he was about to get someone else’s blood again. Blood that could be infected. What did they know? Nothing. That was just it. That was why… “I told you not to go to work. And you sent the boys to school again? It’s dangerous! Do you have any idea—”

So Anouk's pink panther desperately needed a trip to the car wash and detailers; she needed a spare her to get some of her lesser needs done, they were overpriced, and somehow always managed to not scrub everything out from the rims enough. It was just one more task on Anouk's neverending to-do list, and it wasn't like Kitaro had written WASH ME in the dirt yet. Mostly it was happy faces, stick people, and sloppy hiragana. Her car was art. So neener.

Ela sighed. Now that was something Anouk didn't hear every day. Sure he often looked like he was mentally sighing, along with mentally beating, mentally stabbing, and other such mental venting of her little brother's seemingly endless frustrations, but it wasn't often they took any audible form. Sure, sullenly staring out the window and looking pissed was normal, but the sighing out loud? Less so. "Hospital." Anouk nodded as she peeled out of the garage, knowing better than to ask. London's hospitals were busy places lately, but so were the clinics and smaller facilities. Even trying to schedule a checkup right now was insane and they kept changing available doctors and locations; Anouk had given up seeing about appointments from most things. At least Ela could get in somewhere for whatever he needed.

As Anouk turned the corner, something pinged her radar. Dark, almost vehement anger was wafting from Elastor and... directly toward her? Whaaaat the hell? Quiet, Anouk tried to think a moment as the light turned red. What had she done this time? The kids hadn't left any nonrefundable stains anywhere visible lately, she'd been coming home somewhat earlier than in past months, there were no outstanding warrants for her arrest, she'd made sure all the twist ties on the bread were twisting the same way and that the cartons of milk and juice hadn't been put back with just a sip left.... Hmmmmmmmmnope. She was drawing a blank. But hard as Ela was glaring Anouk would need to dig glareproof Raybanz from her purse before she disintigrated; if the look were any more heated, the guy might melt the polar ice caps.

"What do you mean off today?" Ohhh boy. Here it came. Dammit, why couldn't it have been something easy, like being annoyed she'd polished off the cherry bordeaux ice cream. Anouk considered for the briefest of moments sarcastically explaining the definition of "off" in context to a work day and her usual lack of them, but quickly thought better of the comment. It was very hard to drive if Ela was killing her. “I told you not to go to work. And you sent the boys to school again? It’s dangerous! Do you have any idea—”

A small sigh silenced itself in the back of Anouk's throat before it could register and convey anything, her tired smile as upbeat as her lack of sleep ever allowed anymore. "—I talked to the school, Ela," Because Parent-Teacher conferences were part of those unfun things that Nu tended to go to herself. She still wasn't sure if the most recent ones being about their attempts to keep the kids safe made her feel any better about any of it. "They haven't canceled classes for now and said they're doing weekly checks of all the students and anyone who even looks like they have a runny nose gets sent home. I asked them about withdrawing Taro, but the principal insisted it was safe." Besides, the better way to stave off a panic and mass hysteria was to keep calm and carry on, right? And God help her if Nu saw any kid so much as sniffle around her boys, she'd be on high alert.

Her voice quieted slightly, even though her tired smile remained like it were nothing, the pink sportscar cruising happily down the highway toward the hospital. "And I told you... I can't just close the bar. The money it pulls in isn't taking care of just us." If it were still only Anouk working there, it might not have been such a difficult thing; she could have at least cut back their operating hours. Besides, alcohol killed most germs. But fact of the matter was, Anouk had Tuck to think of, and his two adorable Hell-spawn. He had side work, yes, but she knew it wasn't enough or he wouldn't have even applied to a nearly-hidden corner bar in a shady area of London. Most people didn't like run-down areas that looked ready to have Jack the Ripper burst from an alley as their first pick of places to work. Apart from Anouk, anyway. "I'm going to talk to him later this week about cutting hours, but so far things are safe. Our regulars are still paying customers, and keeping as much regularity in things is helping keep everyone calm." And only one of her regulars had actually been diagnosed with Deadlights, but nobody since him. It was fine. Yes, it was dangerous. Yes, Anouk knew that. She did. But hiding in the apartment day and night and being kept in a box wasn't going to keep them any safer than not.