Aftermath

It was a short, ten, maybe fifteen-minute taxi ride from the coffee shop to the hospital, but for Zora it seemed like an eternity. Every stop sign, traffic light or pedestrian crossing only added to her agitation.

Today had been a day full of unexpected encounters and surprises, fate put in motion, and a very distinct feeling at times of running towards something that couldn’t be avoided. As the taxi pulled up in front of the hospital, Zora paid the driver handsomely, not even thinking about the bills she passed him as she hurried out of the vehicle, slamming the door hard as she almost ran across the pavement up to the hospital doors frantic and just wanting to know what had happened.

She only vaguely knew what had happened at the coffee shop between Broen, Jude and Crawford. She had caught snippets from people that had been in the cafe and had seen everything, and from police attending the scene. She had surmised then, after seeing an ambulance appear, Jude being ushered into the waiting vehicle, and Broen on a stretcher, that a fight had broken out and that Frederick, who was in cuffs and being escorted to a waiting police car, was most likely being charged for assault, maybe? She didn’t know, and truthfully, at that precise moment, she could not care what happened to Broen’s father. At that precise moment, the only thing that was on her mind was whether Jude was okay, and what had happened to Broen and if he was fine.

As she pushed her way through the front doors of the hospital, Zoraida was immediately hit with that clinical smell that every hospital had. Glancing anxiously around a spacious open guest area, she saw that most of the tables and chairs were empty except for two or three people talking quietly among themselves.

Seeing a nurse walking by, Zora approached her and asked where admissions was - unsure since the last time she had been at the hospital, she had arrived there in abulance and with the paramedics. Nodding at the woman's directions, Zora headed down a short hall to another waiting area. There she approached the front desk, inquired after Broen and Jude and was told by the girl there that both men had been admitted, but that she’d have to wait. The hospital could not give her any details until they had both been seen by a doctor.

@Romi

After being told she'd have to wait, Zora grabbed a coffee, added lots of sugar, and just waited. She had texted Celeste, told her where she was, then called her son, just needing to talk to him and see how he was. Then she had sat, flipped through magazines, stood and paced the corridors nervously.

After about an hour and a half, she heard a familiar voice and turned around, very relieved to see Jude. Watching him approach, she hurried down the hall to where he was noticing his bandages and the blood on his shirt and looking at him questioningly.

"A fight, I heard there was a fight, an altercation as the officer called it. Somebody said it was a brawl, and that people were hurt... " she told him as she repeated what she had overheard.

"The police wouldn't tell me anything really, and when I got there the ambulance had just arrived and Broen was being brought out on a stretcher," she told him her voice worried and strained, "What happened?"

"Oh, my god... Why would he do that? Broen can be mouthy, yes, but to go at him like that," Zora said in shock and disbelief when she heard Frederick had actually beat up his son. Now more concerned than before despite Jude's attempt to assure her that Broen was going to be fine.

She had been afraid that something like this might happen and had been relieved when Jude offered to accompany Broen. She had thought that being in a public place would prevent a scuffle. How wrong she had been. Also, the idea that Frederick had actually attacked his own son just made her slightly sick to her stomach as well.

And when Jude showed her his bandaged ribs, Zora just winced and then reached out and touched Jude's arm gently, "Are you sure you are okay? Did you want me to call Angelo? Or somebody else?" she asked, concerned that Jude was just saying he was alright just to appease her.

@Romi

"I can imagine that he'd be upset," Zora smiled in understanding, chuckling at his fist fight comment. She'd totally be the same if Jeremiah had was taken to the hospital and she was called in to get him.

"I saw Frederick being lead away in cuffs," she nodded, remembering the surprise and, yes, shock at seeing him in handcuffs. Although, she suspected Crawford was just as surprised at how things had turned out.

"Did he turn off Broen's powers? Is that why they got into a fist fight?" she asked kind of knowing the answer since they were standing in the hospital at the moment, and there had been no mention of magical involvement by doctors, first responders, or bystanders.

Zora just shook her head in amazement at everything Jude told her. She actually wished, on some level, that she had been there to see it. But she also knew that if she had been there, she would have intervened or tried to stop the fight, and that wasn't what Broen needed from her. He had needed to confront his father, and by the sounds of it, he had.

She was oddly happy for him, glad to hear he had kept his temper in check, even though he had been attacked by Frederick.

"You say telling people... like everything?" she asked Jude in surprise, amazed when it hit her what he might actually be talking about. Amazed that Broen had actually gone and told people about Frederick's abuse.