Landslide

"Don't Touch My Whiskey!"

Bo, Gaga's friend and assistant, came bursting in through the door just minutes after Gaga was installed in her room.

"Thank god. They wouldn't let me see you until now. I brought a bag with things you might need." She hugged her a little too hard and rubbed her narrow shoulders. "Don't scare me like that ever again."

Gaga felt the tears start running as soon as she let go of Bo. "Thank you so much. I love you so, so much. You're the bestest friend ever." She inhaled and wiped her nose. She tried to hold back the snot that suddenly wanted to bubble out. "Are they really gonna keep me here?" She looked around the room and then accidentally noticed the O2 monitor on her finger and started crying even harder. "They even cut my nail to fit this fucking thing on it," she slurred through wet blurbs as she inhaled while audibly crying.

"Stef, please. You're just confused right now. You need to rest. You need to catch up. We'll fix your nail." Bo caressed Gaga's cheek. "Here, I brought your glasses."

Gaga closed her eyes and pinched her nose between two fingers, before putting the glasses on. "Oh my god, thank you. I'm blind as a bat and I can't see shit in here... All the faces are a complete blur."

"Have they told you anything?" Bo sat down on a chair and leaned as close as she could. She took Gaga's hand and squeezed it.

"No," Gaga moaned. "Just more tests. I guess they'll come back when they have the results. Right now I'm just attached to all this..." She raised her arms and let them fall to the mattress again. "...these machines."

"They want to make sure you don't pass out again. Also, you hit your head really hard and Marta said it looked scary."

Gaga ignored Bo's concerns and gave her a stern look. "Bo-babe. Don't call my mom."

"I won't call your mom."

"You already did it."

"Yes, I did."

"Fuck," Gaga sighed. "There's absolutely no reason for her to travel across the entire country f-"

Bo inhaled and swallowed as if she prepared to say something important and interrupted her. "Look, all day long you sit out on the porch, chain smoking with the door closed behind your back. What is going on, Stef?"

Gaga exhaled. "I don't know." She paused and a few seconds passed while they both were waiting for the other to continue.

Gaga looked at Bo and suddenly decided to talk because she felt cornered. "Look, is this going to be a discussion about what you all think I do wrong because I have just been so fucking tired lately, I mean after everything that happens I just feel like I hit a wall... over and over and over again," she talked fast and started crying again. Her hands were behind her frames, covering her eyes.

Bo caressed her cheek. "I'm not gonna pressure you. Please try to sleep and I'll be here when you wake up. We just want to help. You're not doing anything wrong."

\o/

Far away Gaga heard voices. Two familiar ones and a third one. Her name was brought up. She was about to turn around and let them know she was awake, but decided to pretend to sleep to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Gaga's mother stared at the man approaching her, she could've sworn it was Idris Elba and thought she had walked in on a movie set for a second before she snapped out of it.

The doctor smiled. "You're miss Germanotta's mother, I'm told. I'm Dr Clinton and this is Alicia, who's our head nurse here today." He made a gesture towards the woman next to him and let her continue.

"We've had your daughter here over night. Kept her under observation and made sure she's catching up on some much needed rest. And I think she needed that because she's slept all night, they told me." The nurse gave her a comforting nod.

"Yes, hi! I'm Cynthia. I just got here and Bo here has told me a little about what has happened." Cynthia shook hands with both of them and looked into their eyes. They both looked reassuring enough so she trusted them.

The doctor spoke again. "Nice to meet you, mrs Germanotta. Physically there is nothing wrong with your daughter. We ran some basic tests and compared with her journal and she's fine. We think she simply collapsed due to some dehydration and lack of sleep. Apparently she had been sitting up all night... playing poker?" Clinton looked at Bo, who nodded.

"Several nights, in fact." As if it was a disease, she thought and rolled her eyes at herself inside her head. You don't pass out and slam your head against a table because of poker.

"We're keeping her here until the afternoon, and then I see no reason to keep her here. Will you be taking her home? It would be good to know someone can keep an eye on her for a few days." Alicia looked at Cynthia and Bo in turns.

"Yes. She has a lot of people who are there for her at home." Bo bit her lip and realized how stupid it sounded. Who had been there for her in the first place? Letting her collapse like that. "We'll do a better job, I promise," she decided to add.

"There will be a meal served in about 30 minutes and after that I'll sign her out." He looked at his watch. "It would be great if you could keep an eye on her alcohol consumption, just for a day or two. Just so she can get fully back on track. Some classic TLC."

Gaga decided she had heard enough. Nothing wrong, yeah right, as usual no one knows shit. They were all talking over her head like she was a toddler and suddenly the doctor spoke directly to her.

"I know you are awake, Stefani. Your pulse went up 2 minutes ago so I know you've been listening." He chuckled and pulled out a chair to sit down next to her. Leaning closer as he lowered his voice and said, "I know you know what's important here. You're a smart woman. I'm not gonna tell you off." He looked over his shoulder and pointed out into the hallway. "There is a whole waiting room out there full of people who care about you. Please let them do that. I've had to let one or two in at a time and they have been watching over you all night."

Gaga sucked her lip between her teeth and felt the tears burn behind her eyelids again.

"I also know you have skipped seeing your therapist. I know you are upset and you claim that she says she's not buying your bullshit. The choice is yours, but maybe it will really help talking to an outside person. I know you're in pain, both physically and mentally. And there is help available. My advice to you. Take it." He stood up and said a few words to Bo and her mother before he and the nurse continued their round.

Cynthia stared at Gaga with teary, round eyes and Gaga stared back. "Mom," she whispered and opened her arms.

After a few seconds her mother took the few steps to her bed and wrapped her arms around her. They both stayed like that for a while. Gaga took slow breaths and tried to keep herself calm while she prepared to let her mom know that she knew what she was thinking.

"You're not touching my whiskey!" she said out loud.

"Stefani," Cynthia said with a stern voice and let go of her to look into her eyes.

Gaga gave her a fiery gaze. It wasn't about the alcohol. It was about people trying to run her life for her and telling her how to deal with things they had no idea about because no one could relate. "Don't touch it. I forbid you to even think about it! If I come home and it's gone I won't be writing any kindness notes for you. Just saying."