[Marie and Jennie] Sunday Morning

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Marie responds to Crystal's email about Jennie and goes to check on the girl. Jennie is not doing very well.



The email Crystal had sent Marie had been pretty worrying. Unfortunately, she hadn't been herself when she received it and it had taken her a couple days to regain enough control to go visit the girl. The other presence that had been running the show since Alcatraz was still pretty loud, but finally seemed content to take a backseat again, confining itself to commenting on her actions.

Walking into the suite, Marie paused in front of the door to Jennie and Crystal's suite. Knocking, she reached down to try the handle. "Jennie, you in there? It's Marie," she said as she pushed the unlocked door open.

They were still there. Hiding in the cracks of the tile, where if either she or, heaven forbid Crystal, stepped on it, the glass shards from the shattered cup could cut their feet, Work their way into their bloodstream, where it would hit the heart and pierce the aortic valve and either she or Crystal would just drop dead, sputtering blood. Which is why she'd been cleaning the floor diligently all morning, ever since she'd dropped the glass in a fit of clumsiness, she picked up each and every shard, went over the ground with a towel for the remaining bits but they were still there. So she was scrubbing, scrubbing, trying to get the last of it. The blood from the cuts on her fingers was getting in the way though. She barely registered the RA's voice. "Door's open," Jennie called over her shoulder, "be out in a minute, I almost got it all." But she didn't move from where she was hunched over, cleaning.

Normally, Marie wouldn't dream of entering a resident's room, let alone bathroom, without their express permission. But this wasn't a normal situation. The email from Crystal was enough to get her into the room and her remaining enhanced senses were enough for her to register the smell of something metallic. That's blood kid, you might want to do something.

Dashing into the bathroom, Marie halted in shock at the scene that was in front her. "Oh my G-d Jennie, sweetie, what happened?" Crouching down, Marie grabbed Jennie's wrists, watching the blood drip from her hands with a combined expression of horror and concern.

"Don't step on it!" Jennie cried, oblivious to the fact that her hands were bleeding, "There's glass on the floor. I haven't got it all yet!"

Marie kept a firm grasp on Jennie's wrists as she attempted to return to the task she'd been working on. "Ah don't see any," she said as gently as she could. "Why don't we go sit out in your room?" She knew Jennie had OCD, but this was extreme for the girl. Then again, she'd been through a huge traumatic experience and this might be an indication that the after effects were worse than people had originally thought.

"I-just a second. It's still there and it's dangerous." Why couldn't Marie understand? The glass on the floor was very very dangerous, she or Crystal could get hurt! She tried to shrug off the older girl.

The beige cotton of Marie's gloves were dotted with blood from Jennie's hands and she cursed herself for not having come to check on the girl sooner. "Shh, it's ok...why don't we clean up your hands and then we can figure out how to deal with the glass?" she said, keeping her voice as soothing as she could. Marie had realized that arguing with Jennie wasn't going to get her anywhere, but she needed to somehow convince the girl to stop and get the bleeding taken care off. "We can close the bathroom door and make sure no one enters until it's all taken care of..."

Jennie blinked and for the first time noticed her hands. She jerked back in surprise. "My hands, Oh my God, what the hell?" She allowed Marie to take her out of the bathroom and shut the door. "I-I, I'm sorry. I should, I guess my hands got all cut up, but the glass was on the floor and I just sort of freaked because nothing's felt right all week, I just can't leave the room and I'm so sorry-"

Marie wrapped her arms around the rambling girl, rocking her back and forth gently until she she seemed to have calmed down slightly. "It'll be ok. We'll get it figured out. With all that you've been through, this is a normal reaction," she said firmly, though she was shaking a little inside. Walking to the door, Marie cracked it and was relieved to see Crystal in the lounge. "Can ya grab me a first aid kid? Yeah, everything's ok, just need a band aid." Closing the door once she'd been handed the kit, Marie sat back down beside the brunette. Taking one of Jennie's hands, she began to clean it gently with gauze.

"Is there something wrong with me?" Jennie whispered.

"Ah don't know Jennie," Marie answered. She wanted to calm the girl down, but it wouldn't be right to lie to her either. "Something isn't right," she said as gently as she could. "You haven't been out of the room and you hurt yourself cleaning the bathroom without noticing. Ah don't know if something is wrong, but something isn't right." Bandaging up the girl's right hand, she moved on to take care of the left one, being careful to make sure there was no glass left in the skin.

"Something isn't right." Jennie repeated dully, "No, something hasn't been right for a long long time." Her hands shook. "I'm tired," she confessed. "I'm tired of the cleaning and the sorting and the organizing, because it doesn't do anything. I can't, I'm not. I'm so tired." She put one shaking hand to her face.

Marie secured the bandage on the girl's other hand, carefully fastening the edge of the tape. "Then let's see what we can do to help you feel better, help you stop this." One hand drifted over to pull at the glove on the other. "If Ah leave for a minute, would that be alright? Or do you want me to get one of your friends to sit with you?"

That got a slightly hysterical bark of laughter. "Friends, oh, right friends. I barely know anyone that lives in here now and I don't want any of the others to see me like this and there's really no one here that I would... oh poor Crystal--" Jennie broke off. "She shouldn't have to deal with this. It's not fair, I will..." Jennie forced her thoughts to be cohesive, to not THINK about the glass in the bathroom that she just knew was still there. "I will be fine. But I think I need to leave." She eyed the door to her room.

"And go where?" the brunette RA asked her, watching the younger girl with concern. There was leaving and there was leaving. "Crystal is handling herself remarkably well, but Ah know she's worried about ya. Ah'm sure she'd be more than happy to sit or walk with you if you don't want to be alone." She brushed a white bang out of her eyes, tucking the strand behind her ear. "But if you need to be alone, Ah understand."

"Out," Jennie gestured wildly with one hand. "Out of here, I'm not going to sit in here until my hair gets all long and my nails get gross and I don't see the sun. I need to leave my room." She stood, shaking off the older girl. She took three determined strides to the door and froze, as her anxiety swelled up again. She sank to the floor on her knees.

"Nothing feels right anymore." Jennie hissed. "Everything's changed, everything's different. " I don't feel safe.

Marie felt a giant swell of pity rise in her chest. Walking over to Jennie, she sank to her knees beside her, one hand automatically going out to squeeze the shoulder of the other girl. "That's why you need to let me, let us, help you. Please."

Jennie broke down then, putting her hands to her face and crying softy. "Fine," she muttered, voice muffled by her hands. "Fine. Just, I want to stop. I want this to stop."

Marie didn't say anything, just wrapped the girl in another hug. She knew the help Jennie needed was more than she could give and was already figuring out exactly who she should tell, but right now all she could do was reassure Jennie that help was coming.