Distractions

Overwhelmed

Part two: Overwhelmed

For  those of you who have read Terrifying Potions Mistresses Rule the World, yes. Yes it is the same Roxanne and Lukas.

Trigger Warning: Excessive use of the word 'hell' throughout the entire drabble and descriptions of being overwhelmed.

There are days that feel like all hell is just going to break loose. Days where all you want to do is go home and curl up in your favorite spot and just go to sleep so that when you wake up, it no longer feels like all hell will break loose.

For Everest, nearly everyday felt like all hell would break loose. Granted, it wasn't always world-threatening, common sense-defying things that made it feel like all hell was breaking loose like when Valentine was around or Johnathan kept coming back to life. Now it was mostly things like too many emails and phone calls, not enough time in the day for everything Everest had to do, mundane things like that. Somehow, those things were worse than when Valentine and Johnathan were around. At least when those two were causing problems, there was hardly ever a sense of monotony, it was hardly ever the same problem occurring more than once. Now Everest's life was full of meetings with stuffy old people, calls with editors and publishers, and too many emails to count.

Today had been one of those days that especially felt like all hell was breaking loose. It had mostly just been a bunch of little things that had piled up all day: the stack of unopened mail on the counter, the lack of breakfast sandwiches in the freezer, the rain that was more sleet than anything, the near-double amount of emails in her inbox than she usually had. And then there were a few bigger things that had just added to the day sent from hell. Things like having to go on a mission to various places to discuss treaties and apologies from the Clave and fill out paperwork.

It wasn't that Everest wasn't glad that the Clave was trying to make amends, she was. It was just that they insisted on sending her to help make amends every time and she really didn't know why. Clary said it was because she knew so many people, but so did Izzy. Why wouldn't they send Izzy? Izzy was better at dealing with people than Everest was for the most part.

Everest slunk into the apartment, bag low on her arm and eyes dropping. She diligently ignored Lukas Jacobs's shouting for his sister to let him into their apartment. (Roxanne Jacobs-Simmons, even at nearly thirty years of age, had a petty habit of locking her brother out of the apartment she and her wife lived in. Roxanne's brother and his fiancé's house was being renovated at the moment and so the two were staying with the Jacobs-Simons until it was finished, even though Roxanne had been reluctant to allow it at first.)

"Everest?" Alec's voice rang through the apartment as Everest set her stuff down on the bench by the door. "That you?"

"Yeah!" she called back, hopping onto the island counter.

Alec came around the corner, dressed in sweatpants and a tight fitting tank top, hair dripping even as he worked on toweling it dry. He smiled and pressed a sweet kiss to her lips. When he did so, he let the towel go and it draped cutely over his head. Everest's arms wrapped around his torso as she rested her forehead on his shoulder, the action easier than usual due to the added height she got from sitting on the kitchen island.

"What's up, Darling?"

Everest shook her head. She didn't want to talk about it yet. Alec hummed softly, tracing mindless patterns on her back while she just breathed deeply, grounding herself in the familiarity of Alec and the apartment.

"The Clave is stupid," she said at last. Her voice was soft and there were pauses in odd parts of her sentences, but it was fine. "And emails need to start to answer themselves or I'm gonna ditch—no. Boycott. I'm gonna boycott emails."

Alec chuckled low in his chest. "I'm sure everyone you work with would be thrilled."

"Yeah, they'd be delighted, I'm sure."

Alec rubbed another set of patterns on her back before speaking again. "What did the Clave do this time?"

"I had to do their paperwork and negotiations. Again. Why couldn't Izzy have gone? Izzy knows just as many people as I do and she's better at peopling than me!"

Alec rested his chin on Everest's head as he spoke, "The Clave doesn't exactly trust my sister not to get distracted and not finish the paperwork or negotiations."

"And they trust me not to get distracted?" Everest asked, incredulously. "Are they insane?"

"Probably."

The apartment was silent after that, only the faint sounds of the cars outside and Lukas shouting in the hallway were heard. They just stayed like that, arms wrapped around each other and heads bent close together, until the stress and frustration from the day melted away and Everest felt like she could function again.

Everest unwrapped her arms from around Alec and jumped from the island. Alec followed her to the couch and they both curled up in their usual spots on the soft sectional—Alec on the end with the black and grey ombré pillow and Everest in the corner with her head in Alec's lap. Alec turned on one of the shows they were watching, carding his hands through her dark sunset colored hair while she fidgeted with the weighted stuffed animal beside her.

Everest smiled as she began to doze off, relaxed and happy finally. Sometimes it felt like all hell was breaking loose, but when it felt like that, Everest was lucky enough to have people who would help her rangle hell back up and shove it back where it belongs.