Revival of the Forgotten {Ky & Vy//Marr}

Staying in the hospital was never my strong point at all. Never had I thought that I would take on this roll but here I am, dressed in a light grey scrub top with pants to match. My hair done up in a ponytail and a clipboard in my hand as I stand behind my boss. I am a healer in training now. So much has changed in the past year that I can only recall the major components that have landed me in this position. First, it would have to be Matthew. Someone that I fell head over in hills in love with and then ended up with component number two. My precious baby girl, Mira, who is making me grow up unbelievably quick and in a hurry. She's taught me so many things in the past year that I can't even comprehend how I'm able to keep going and have all this courage to keep going. Those smiles though keep me positive that life has to be taken one day at a time. Naps are the regeneration of a bad day to turn it good. If you don't like it, spit it out and try something new. Things my baby girl taught me about life is that you can only try to get back up again when you fall.

If only she didn't keep trying to walk and grow up on me.

"Ms. Ruze. What do we want to do for Mr. Summerlee?" She turns around to me, asking me a question as I quickly divert my eyes to my notepad, examining the notes I transcribed from our recent visit with the patient in room three.

"X-ray. 500 mg of a pain reliever to be administered orally in office. Hand brace if it's just a minor sprain, or to be wrapped and immobilized if the ulna is fractured." I state with confidence and look to her with the utmost fear that I might have missed something or said something wrong. Though, Healer Hollins only give me a very slight nod in my direction and walks away. A breath of relief escapes quickly, leaving a smile in its wake as I trudge quickly in her direction and follow her like a lost puppy.

"Room two needs the wound cleaned out and if you don't mind, tell him to wear gloves next time he decides to climb the rope and act like a fool. He'll never get far in the games if he takes this career stuff as a joke."

"Yes'm. Will do." I tell her and knock on the door to the room with a silent answer to enter. Inside, I look at the twelve year old boy, barely even able to start training here with us, yet here he is and in a good amoount of pain from the open wound on his left hand. I tilt my head slightly and give him a 'tisk, tisk' from my voice.

"Next time you show off in front of your friends, might want to practice a little bit of intelligence. It's all fun and games until you are the one left to look like a fool and end up in my office. Might I suggest gloves next time, dear? They really do come in handy." I tell him, and he scowls at me. Almost seven years ago I was in his position with my hand crushed in a battle with Jins. A burn and a crushed hand are totally different things, but the pain is no less irritating to deal with. I can see the tears wanting to well up in his eyes, so I smile at him.

"What happens in this office, stays in this office. If you want to cry, do it. I won't judge you. It hurts. I understand that. I've been in your situation before." Humiliation is the most damaging of all wounds. So, I set to work on his hand, cleaning it gently with a rinse and putting the skin back to where it should be so that the healing can take place. Only a few minutes later, do I hear my name being called out into the hallway. "Seems that I'll be busy today."

I take another ten minutes to finish him up, putting a salve on it and wrapping it to cover the open wound before letting him walk out of my office a new kid. No more tears lingering in his eyes and his impressionable youthful stupidity no longer going to be a problem for him in the next couple days. The voice that called out earlier though settles in my mind.

"Vy?" I state, washing my hands and exiting the room after getting it ready for the next patient. The moment I lay eyes on her, my heart leaps with joy. Even though we have different careers to attend to now, it's nice to know that I will get to still see and enjoy her aside from being at home. "Come on in, dear. We'll get you taken care of."

Inside, the young boy sits down. He probably isn't but two or three years younger than me, but I'll be nineteen just around the corner and then this will become my entire profession from here on out. No longer eligable for the reapings have put me into a calmer mindset because without Matthew at my side, I no longer have to worry about her well being if I am to be sent off.

"My trainee here believes he broke his knee." I nod my head and immediately look to his gait before he sat down and then how he moves when he does. I can already see the way his knee don't bend right, but the fact that he can still walk on it gives me a good vibe that Vy is indeed on the right track. Her body movements screams that he's not as hurt as he is thinking. Perhaps a sprain, but nothing more. A pulled muscle could also be doing the damage, but a little investigation would be needed first.

"How did this happen, Sam?" I ask him, without even asking his name. My job is to know the faces and the names that go along with them. Afterall, I see them on a daily basis.

"Sparring..." He offers up quietly, and then Vy comes in with a right good statement.

"Tell your trainer that she needs to be compassionate when there are injuries." I give her a side eyed glance, but with a hint of a smile. However, I feel the need to make the situation a little lighthearted as well. "I only seemed to complain when I sunk a knife deep into someone's buttox after he impaled my shoulder with a training knife."

The look on Sam's face is priceless and elicites a good chuckle with the situation. "Those were real injuries, but all injuries aren't suppose to be treated the same. Let me look at ya, Sam. Roll your pant leg up for me." With a waiting stance, he lifts the fabric up to reveal a bruising knee, but only in two small places on either side of the knee cap.

"Vy, will you mind staying with Sam here, and I'll go check with Healer Hollins on getting him an x-ray." As if I run this place myself all the time, I turn to the small fridge and retrieve an icepack and gently place it on his knee. Before I step out of the room, I give a passing glance to Vy. "Would you also mind making sure he keeps this ice pack on his knee until I return?"

Excusing myself from the patient and his trainer has to be done. The matter of the boy's knee was going to cause a little bit of concern for a minor sprain or hopefully nothing worse than just a muscle strain. Those can be healed within a couple weeks and being eased back into training and by the looks of it, this boy is definately no Vy. This kid will need time to heal. It makes me wonder why Vy is training him when he is clearly not the fighter type. He's soft. A little weak around the edges, yet he does fight and show up for training. Maybe, he's just doing it so that he's prepared should he ever have to be pushed into the games. I wonder if he's going to turn out like me? A healer of sorts? It would be interesting if he did. I would love to have my own protege running along side my heels and doing what I need at a quick call or nudge of my head. One day...

"What it is Ms. Ruze?" Healer Hollins asks when I step into her office. She looks up to me from her paperwork, setting the pen down and tilting her head just slightly. "Well?"

"New patient came in followed by his trainer. Already did assesment on him injury, and was needing to have your insight on the injury. I'm goign to be ordering x-rays on the young man's knee. Some bruising, pain and tenderness."

"Are you asking for my permission to let you do this or do you think you are not qualified to make your own judgements? If I have to look over your work before you're finished, then what am I teaching you?"

A nod of my head respects her words. "I'll go ahead and get the x-ray ordered, Healer Hollins."

A quaint, "Mhm" escapes her before she picks the pen back up and I go off on my way to seek the tech that will actually follow through with the procedure and just like that, I'm reentering the room, greeted by Vy and Sam's presence as the nurse is helping Samuel into the chair to be escorted out for an x-ray. A whisper turns to me when I glance at Vy. Apparently, the time has been lost to me as it's getting late and the daycare will be closing soon. That means, that my shift will be over in no less than thirty minutes depending on how Sam's x-rays turn out.

"Well, once the x-rays are done, it'll take about fifteen to process. After that, it's letting Healer Hollins read them and then we'll know where to go next with him." I tell Vy. Information about my patient is given to me about his mother working downstairs and I give her a nod. "I'll take care of that. I'll inform his mother that he's here, but if you wanted to go and pick up the girls for me, that would be great. My shift should be over quite soon... depending on Sam's disagnosis."

Sam exits the room with the nurse in tow, leaving both Vy and I to listen to the silent room and I walk over to the sink and clean my hands. "You aren't going too rough on him are you Vy? Don't want to break your little fighters. Though, as many times as you've had your knee broken and shoved and pushed in directions that it shouldn't go, you should be more considerate of his pain.. even if his pain threshold isn't as high as yours. You're a monster. He's just a kid." I try to reason with her, and turn around with the towel in my hand.

"Take it easy on him, okay? At least lighten up on him just a little? He's different than you. He reminds me of me, a little. He's got a soft heart. He'll grow better with a different regiment. Endurence instead of strength. Make him stretch his limits. That... or I'll take him away from you and train him as my own..."

I chuckle. One thing I know she hates more than anything is competition and I remember how much competition we had in the past years growing up. I fold my arms up in front of me, and shake my head. "In all seriousness though, Vy, he's a good kid. You're doing good. Being tough on him is good. He responds well to it, whether you think he does or not."

A sigh escapes my lips and then a more lighthearted question soars, "What do you want for dinner tonight? I'll make sure to go to the market before I come home since your picking the girls up."

"The only thing I remembered whining about was when your daughter, well, sister at the time, wouldn't leave my bedside and continued to try to get on the bed shortly after the surgery. So, yes. I did whine, but not over the pain nor the break. Kinda funny now that I have my own daughter and I love your daughter more than life. We were horrible kids, weren't we Vy?" I have to add in by the time, she gazes ut the window to watch something. I can only assume there is more bustle outside going on since the end of the shift is nearing. All the rest of the healers are probably wanting to finish their rounds before any more careers are brought in to doctor someone else.

And just like that, we see eye to eye. If he did break his knee, then she'll go easier on him. Maybe even feel bad that she made him walk all the way here. However, she also wants me to train him in the art of healing. That will obvsiously have to come later on when I get fully certified to do so. For now, it's nice to hear her say that.

"Thank you." Is given and accepted from Vy, with a smile to go along with it. Real life interrupts for a moment, breaking all rules of being formal in the work place and when food is mentioned, Vy could really care less. She would much rather deal with the rugrats then brave the chaos that is the marketplace. I nod. "I'll get something good, then. Put some water on to boil when you get there if you have the time."

I stick my tongue out at her when she mentions seeing me at home, and behind her back when she wasn't looking. Back to my patient, I walk through the hallway and down to the x-ray room to await the results of my curious disagnosis.

....

"What do you mean, you're out of it? You always have the fish." I argue with the vendor. Fish can be rare sometimes to have, but this guy will always have some stashed away for late comers, except for today. Today, he has ran out and leaving me without a dinner dish to prepare for me and Vy special, so I quickly sigh and leave to go to another stall. With my eyes glinting toward the muliple vegitables, another idea strikes my fancy and I collect the colorful veggies and slip my coin into the hands of the vendor with a pleasant nod.

"Kyanite..." I hear my voice being called and from the other end of the market. My eyes quickly scan the area, curiousity peaked. Only, I dont' see anyone of interest, so I conclude that I must have just imagined it and so I turn around to go home when I hear the voice again, but closer.

"Brittany." I state when I nearly bump into her when she sneaks up too close to me, and her full smile entices me with nothing but bad memories and harboring hatred. "To what do I owe this honor?"

I try to be nice. I don't want to make this any more awkward than it already is. I just know that in the past, Brittany and I don't have the best of terms. She hurt Vy too much and tried to take Brooklyn more than once. She deemed Vy a horrible mother and that I'll never forgive her for. But to be civil is to be professional. So, I slip into my healer mode and address her that way.

"How's my granddaughter doing. You taking care of her alright? Fed? Clothed? Bathed? You keeping her all safe and sound whereever it is you live?" I straighten my posture and clasp my hands together in front of my body.

"Yes'm. Sure am. Full belly every night. Happy as a lark. Loved so much by both me and her mother and new little sister. A nice, big happy family. Thank you for inquireing about her, but I do have to get home. Supper is on the stove." Two steps are taken away from the blonde, whose eyes are staring me down as if I was suppose to submit to her, then her attitude changes completely.

"That's alright. Take care of my grandbaby. Tell, Vanity, that I'd love to see her again. Set up a meeting for us, will you, lovely?" She asks before she turns on her heels and sashays away from me. I turn to go home with very little care to even mention this meeting with Brittany.

....

At home, I walk through the door; arms full of fresh produce. Even then, I can hear the sqealing of Mira complaining of hunger and Brooklyn's noise of disaster with something falling. I laugh immediately and rush into the kitchen to set the bag down. "Vy? Vy, where are you?"

I turn to the stove to turn the boiling water down, and then go to search the upstairs for her and go to the girl's room to see her standing there with Mira on the changing table. "ARe the girls giving you a hard time already? Want me to help?"

Watching Vy take care of Mira makes my day great. To see her interacting with the little one alongside her own daughter puts such a good feeling in me. She loves her and her own daughter. My lips part in order to offer help to her and instead I get potty training advice and timing for when to start teaching her. She's barely even walking yet Vy is already wanting her to become potty trained because she's simply a genius. I shrug my shoulders, not going to deny Mira my words of such other. She will be smart and take to all tasks with ease if she's anything like me.

A chuckle escapes me because of my own thoughts and as Vy finishes with her, she scoops her up and then passes her off over to me. Immediately those drool covered lips go to give me kisses, making me retaliate with a gross effect only to have Mira giggle at my attempts to avoid her. Her fingers latch on to my hair, pulling me closer to her and then I dip her down to my knees and back up. Her instincts kick in, grabbing hard to my hair, pulling it so she doesn't fall although my hands are already on her back and below her bottom to keep her from falling from my grasp.

"Momma's girl. Mira is mommies little baby girl. How was daycare? Huh? How was it my precious girl?" I kiss her cheek and then pretend to eat on her arm as I follow Vy out and to go down the stairs where we end up meeting with Brooklyn who's block tower is all over the floor and the sound realized as to who it was in the first place when I walked in. "Brookie, baby. Kyky is home. How was daycare?"

Even though I know not to bring work home with me, Vy questions about her trainee's diagnosis. I shrug. "Well, it's not as bad as he was thinking, but it's not as minor as you were hoping it was. Just a lateral collateral ligament sprain." I watch for Vy's eyes to flicker in my direction and then when she does, I shake my head. "It's just a knee sprain, Vy. Simple as that. Some ice, rest and relaxation and a brace and he'll be good in a couple weeks. Very minor though. If you can give him about a week and a half before starting him training again, it would help him. Though, after that, he should be needing to get that strength up again."

Mira's hand touches my nose and then she pulls at my lip in which I have to back my head away from her to keep her nails from digging into my chin. "No, no, Mira." I condone her, and just by the simple coo of the negative reaction, has her bottom lip poking out. My lips turn down adn i look at Vy. "What have you been teaching her? Brooklyn? Are you teaching her to be a pouty face?"

I cuddle the little one before sitting her back in the floor by Brooklyn and putting my hands on my hips. "Well, Vy... I'm going to get the food started. If you wanna help, we can put Mira in the highchair and we can double team supper adn get done faster. I don't know about you, but I'm absoluetly starving after that market place fiasco..."

I pause a moment, a flash of Brittany coming over my memories as I turn abruptly and go into the kitchen and turn the stove back on high to get the water to boiling. Slice after slice, I put the cut vegitables in the pan and then mix up a sauce to go on top. "Vy... can you come in here?" I question. "I got some news from Jeran today, I forgot to tell you."

In the quiet of the room, I also mutter something else. "...and something about Brittany, too."

Vy refuses to help me at first, stating that she was going to ruin the food if she stepped foot in the kitchen. She somewhat reminds me of Matthew in that instance, but I resolve to let it go and get the food going per the norm. That is, until I call her in there to talk about more personal things like my brother.. and her mother. I know the way to ease into it because I'd rather have the good news first and then the bad so it wouldn't linger over the good and be missed in conversation.

"Watch Mira, Brooklyn." I hear Vy's sultry voice call over to Brookie and then await her in the kitchen where I'm stirring the pot. Vy's question about what is going on comes up immediately. I don't look at her though. I barely even glance in her direction until I take a wiff of the food's steam and inhale the scent.

"Jeran's been assigned to another district. He'll be leaving for district ten in a few weeks with a few others. Recruiting and stuff. He sends his best for you. He misses the house. He misses Mira and Brooklyn." I start and look over to her as she occupies herself with the dishes. "Thank you!"

I add in a great amount of enthusiasm cause that's one thing that me and Vy have in common. She's the yin and I'm the yang. I cook and she will clean. We work well together in this little flip flop of a family that we've concocted. "Do you miss him? Jeran?" I wonder outloud.

I lay the spoon down on the counter and walk nearer to the sink where I prop myself against it. I look at Vy, searching her eyes and stature for anything or any sign of missing him. Anything to tell me that what my brother and her went through wasn't going to effect our friendship. Both of us has had to deal with breakups and goodbyes. I'm surprised we're both still whole.

We depend on each other right now.

"So, there was something else I was wanting to talk to you about and please, just don't get mad, okay?" I ask her, warning her even before I even go any further. I know the situation that she was in right before Jeran had went to get her from that horrid person of a mother. I know the way she looked when she was being helped in. The look on Brooklyn's face about being so concerned about her mother. From what Jeran had said, Brooklyn was having to take care of her own mother at just three years old. Talking about her mother is making my insides boil with rage already and the words havn't even passed my lips just yet.

"Your mother found me today." I glance at Vy up and down, and then let my eyes linger on Vy's feet as if I was ashamed to admit this, but it's the anger inside of me that is making me hide my eyes from gazing into hers. I"m sure she's going to be pissed as well. "She wanted to know about Brooklyn. She wanted to know if we were... taking care... of her, properly?"

I scoff at the idea because it's literally so ludacris because she was the most horrid thing to Vy. She always had been and always was, but toward Brooklyn, she wasn't - until she made her take care of her own mother. "She wants a visit with her... and I told her that she was loved by both me and you and her new little sister. A big, happy family, is what I said. Then I left."

A sizzling occurs beside me, and my eyes dart to the stove as the water is boiling out of control and popping water bubbles out onto the burning embers of the coils under the pan. I race over and turn the knob down to control the intensity. "I didn't know what else to do other than to just kinda put her off and leave. Does she know where I live? Where we live?" I look at Vy honestly, and stir the vegatables and then take the pan to the sink to drain them.

No matter how easy I tried to bring on the news of Vy's mother, it stains the air with a pungent smell. The distaste is still there as I can tell immediately how Vy's posture changes and as much as I've been around her, the sudden silence is enough to tell me that she isn't happy. I wouldn't be either and I'm not. I'm pissed at her mother but I try to keep calm and cool. Vy's curiosity gets the better of her and she questions how I handled that monster of a woman. The air around Vy steadies out immediately and even though I can barely see her reaction through the steam of the water draining into the sink.

Calming words reach my ears, curse word or not, I can hear Vy's enjoyment of how I handled that woman. Very lightly, I grin and glance over to Vy just as her vision is forced into another direction with a down tumble of blocks creating a huge noise.

"I'm not going to anymore..." I state as she suddenly says something that turns that light grin into a full blown giddy-like smile. "Thanks!"

I turn to watch her walk out of the kitchen and that gives me a few moments to stare after her and sigh. So much I wanted a confident hug from her because I feel like that we could have used that at a moment like this. The need is gone though just as she walked out and my mind clears and goes back to the task at hand. "Vy, you will not have to worry about your mother if its the last thing I do." I say as I pop a peice of a vegitable into my mouth, testing the doneness of it.

I move fast to get the matching peices of tumblers for the girls to drink out of and the plates for all of us and set the table. With Vy out of the room tending to the girls, I make haste to get the next thing ready for the food. The bread is thrown into the oven for a quick browning and before I even know it, dinner is done, and the girls are at the table.

As the night settles near midnight, Mira's wide awake. Her lovely green eyes keep staring straight up at me without even the littlest little sign of her going to sleep despite the yawns that keep occuring. Her fingers latched onto my shirt without letting go. Her lower lip puckered out as if to make me suffer to the ways that her big sister has taught her. "Come on, Mira. Everyone else is asleep. Time for you to do the same, baby girl."

I hum a gentle tune, and her eyes clench close but not for long as she whimpers and straightens out her back and demands to be put down. I hold on tighter to her and try a new position with her head on my shoulder and start to pat her back. A gentle rocking motion does nothing for her and her whimpers start to get louder as I shush her; comfort the sleepless child. "Mira. Come on my sweets. You miss daddy don't you? He could always get you to sleep. You never gave him any problems..." I fuss with a gentle and coo like voice to her and start to pace the living room floor, occasionally stopping at the window to glance outside at the rising moon and the starts that are twinkling.

"Once upon a time, in a beautiful land there was two little girls who wanted to play forever. They would wake up early every day and follow the path to see the end of the waterfall..." I start a story, hoping that she'll start to settle.

This fussy, sleep fighting baby of mine pulls the nerves in one bad direction while I'm forced to still keep my motherly attitude about. Perseverence and patience will put her to sleep eventually, but I feel that she'll wear me out first and formost before she'll even get a wink of sleep. Though, with Vy putting Brooklyn to bed upstairs, I'm unsure of how long she'll actually be up there. Perhaps she will fall asleep and then I'll be up all night trying to sooth this little one into the dreamland I want her to visit. As much as I try to rock her and sing and tell her stories, it doesn't work for sleeping but it does for calming. The story of the two little girls continue as they frollic and play in the meadows nearest the waterfall and when I mention the word cat, Mira perks up again and grabs a handful of my shirt and refuses to allow me the win of the war.

"Want me to try?" A saviors voice comes from the other end of the room and I turn to look at Vy with a surprising glance. She didn't fall asleep, despite my earlier thoughts and the sight of her gives me hope. However, her comment of having two parents is a little tough to swallow even after the past three months. Though, I only nod at her and kiss Mira's cheek as she is coddled into Vy's chest and arms wrapped tight around her. It's enough relief that I find myself yawning as I watch Vy sway with the little one to coax her into sleep though she does still seem to fight her. She talks to her, asking her questions in such a tiny voice that Mira is in awe of her for some reason. In a way, she treats her like Matthew did but not quite. He wouln't let her get away with being that tired and fuss girl she's suddenly become around me.

While Vy has given me such a break, I turn and go to the couch and sitting down and laying my head over on my arms over the arm of the couch. Comfort evelopes me. The cushions of the couch lulling me to exhaustion and thankful for the one person in the world that has been to stay. "You are a life saver, Vy." I comment just a few minutes into her rocking my daughter. I would have to say though, watching her put Mira to sleep has a certain amount of feelings wanting to invade my thoughts, though I push them away in awe that in just a few short minutes, she's put her to sleep and the silent sound of her breathing crowds the room.

"You little turd." I say to Vy as she starts to walk off with the sleeping princess and leaves me to the quiet room to fall prey to the sandman. Slowly my eyes fall and for a few moments I feel my body being lifted into the sky. Perfectly at ease, I drift in and out of consciousness until I hear the footsteps that loosen my hold on the dreamland that my body was attempting to escape to.

"Mira's a year old now... the girls slee pthrough the night. I think it's time we have a little fun..."

I perk up. I sit up and lean my head on my hand and glance to the bottle of wine that she now reveals and my lips are already lifting with excitement; sleep disappating.

"I could definately use it, Vy." I move my legs and give Vy the space beside me. I pat the seat and then look at her. "Where are the glasses? Never you mind... I'll go get them. Pop the cork." I tell her as I race into the kitchen and grab two different glasses perfect for such an occasion, though I'm careful of my gait so my rushing around don't create noise to wake the sleeping ones.

Back in the living room, I twirl the glasses in my hand and then take a close seat next to Vy, sitting at an angle so my body is turned toward her and my legs are now tucked under my body. "Relax... drink... I havn't had a drink since ... well... a little over a year ago. Having a child... a baby really takes things away that you normally want to do." I place the glasses on the table and then steal the bottle away from Vy.

"I'll pour!" Each glass is given the same ammount and I sit the bottle down and grab the two glasses, handing one to Vy. "To... kids... life... and the lack of a great sex partner." I giggle, and shake my head. "Nah, seriously though... Thanks for helping with Mira..."

I take a drink of the wine, and then look to Vy. With a grin, I study Vy a little too long and then sit the glass down. "Hey Vy..."

The urge to do something crazy hits. Something weird and unconventional as I gently, yet quickly close the distance between the two of us and kiss her without warning. A flood of embarrassment hits me though a moment later and I resume my position on the couch and the glass of wine is promptly back in my hand and a gulp taken.