Outer Limits | ✓

◦ fearless

"HEY, SHORTCAKE," she glanced up and there was Sam gazing down at her with a sympathetic glint in those kind eyes. "Take a breather, yeah? I think I can actually taste your anxiety from here."

⠀⠀⠀ Darcy averted her eyes down only to realise her hands were bawled in fists, fingernails digging crescent moons into her palms. It was three in the morning by the time Jude had been taken in, and ever since, Darcy couldn't stop thinking of her mock exams that were no longer at a seemingly distant tomorrow, but now rather a few hours away.

⠀⠀⠀ If that weren't enough of a fear-inducing prospect, there was also the impending fear of Jude's injury being far worse than she'd imagined, not to mention the mindless vandalism that she'd certainly have to pay off coupled with the fact that she was sitting, quite literally, in the last place she'd want to be.

⠀⠀⠀ To add salt to injury, it was all her fault. It was because of her own bloody temper that she was sitting here, body entirely crossed, dreading what would happen next.

⠀⠀⠀ Stupid bastard, if only Jude wasn't so hostile and had simply listened to her in the first place then neither of them would be here right now. Visibly shifting in discomfort, she nodded stiffly, but she couldn't bring herself to meet Sam's earnest eyes.

⠀⠀⠀ Just a few more minutes, she thought wistfully. Just a few more minutes then this will all end and I can go home.

⠀⠀⠀ She took a lengthy inhale, before saying, "Right. Sorry. It's just that – "

⠀⠀⠀ "You don't have to do that," Sam said softly, "you don't have to explain yourself to me." He placed a hand over her shoulder and squeezed it gently and instantaneously, she felt more at ease. She wondered how he did this, how he always had this gift of knowing exactly what to do, when to say things and how to say them without overstepping his boundaries.

⠀⠀⠀ "Thanks, Sammy," she said, voice thick with emotion. "I'm off to the loo."

⠀⠀⠀ She hastily headed off before her emotions could get the best of her. The last thing she wanted was to further humiliate herself by crying over stupid things that were beyond her control.

→←

It took her ten minutes to find it, but eventually, she did. Not the restroom's but the examining room that her feet wandered into with him inside it. It wasn't easy, it had taken her some serious cloak-and-dagger shit to slip through the hallway, unseen, until she'd begun her search for Jude.

⠀⠀⠀ She heard him before she saw him and it was difficult not to pity him once she saw a pair of beady eyes boring near the nape of his neck. "You'll be fine, lad," the doctor nursing him was saying, with all the reassurance in the world.