'reflections'
act one.

chapter nineteen: almost, not quite

"waiting room, no place to stand. greatest fears in ringing hands."
-call your mom, noah kahan

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HOSPITALS BROUGHT BACK LOTS OF BAD MEMORIES.

Not just for Vienna, but for everyone. Something bad had probably happened to most people, involving a hospital. That was what Vienna was thinking about.

She remembered her ten year old self sitting in the hospital waiting room, after her dad died, trying to distract herself from the reality by reading the pamphlets about cancer and common colds.

Now, seventeen year old Vienna sat in the waiting room, tapping her foot against the carpeted floor.

Just yesterday, she'd shot someone. She was almost positive that she had a concussion too, but that wasn't why she was here.

She was waiting to see Michael. The Michael that had been shot, twice.

He lived, but he wasn't in good condition yesterday. Speaking of poor condition, Genevieve Ridgerton survived the attack, but just barely. She also refused to see any of the naturals, which was understandable.

She needed to know that Michael would be alright. He was hauled to the hospital last night, along with Dean. Vienna probably should have been taken in, but the concussion was the least of her worries, she was too busy thinking about Michael. and dean, but predominantly Michael.

"Vienna Prescott?" Vienna looks up to see a kind woman in light blue scrubs, walking toward her.

"Yes?" Vienna replies, her voice sounding a bit too hopeful.

"I'm Michael Townsend's nurse. He's awake now, and he's asking for you."  

Vienna smiles, standing up to follow the nurse. "How is he doing?"

"He's doing better, tired, but he said that you'd be here. And his doctor told me that you were in the waiting room."

"Well, thank you for coming to get me." Vienna says as they turn down the hall to where Michael's room is.

"Are you his girlfriend?" The nurse asks.

"Oh." Vienna pauses, her face turning red. "No, just a close friend."

"Alright." The nurse smiles softly at Vienna's almost as if she knew exactly what she was thinking. "The doctor will be back to check on him in about ten minutes, and i'll give you guys a few minutes alone." The nurse stops in front of the door to Michael's  room.

"Alright, thank you." Vienna says as the nurse gives three hearty knocks on the door, to which Michael gave them the green light to enter.

The nurse slid the door open gently, peeking her head through the door. "Michael, you've got a visitor."

With that, Vienna stepped through the door, the nurse shutting it after her.

"Michael." She says, crossing the room at once, relief flooding through her body. He was the same Michael he had been yesterday, except in a hospital gain, looking a bit paler than before.

"Vienna, thank god you're alright." Michael smiles a bit as Vienna pulls her arms around him in a gentle hug.

"Michael, oh, Michael, I was so scared for you." Vienna pulls apart, her face mere inches from Michael's. The gleam in his eye was still there despite everything. How could he seem so alright?

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm alright. You don't have to cry."

"I shot her Michael, she was the killer. I killed her. She's dead, because of me."

"A killer like her deserved to be dead." Michael reached up, brushing a single tear from her cheek with his thumb. "And you killed her for me, that's pretty badass if you ask me."

Normally, Vienna would've laughed at this or fired some smart remark back, but she didn't even feel like that now. There was something gnawing at the pit of her stomach, attempting to claw its way out of her body, like an itch she just couldn't scratch.

"Sorry, no time for jokes?" Michael looks at her.

"How did I not realize?" Vienna asks, her voice hopeless. "Two years, Michael. She practically lived in our house. I didn't know."

Michael shook his head. "Nobody could've known."

"But I should've. You've told me before, I'm the 'house genius' right?"

"Yeah, you are. But I also told you that I would think you're just as amazing if you weren't a genius. You don't have to figure everything out all at once, alright?"

"I know. But you could've died."

"Hey, you could've too." Michael said.

"I wasn't worried about myself, I was worried about you." More tears spill from Vienna's eyes at a more rapid pace, trying to hide her face from Michael, but truly, there was no hiding from him.

"You were the one that got shot. Twice."

"I wasn't worried about that either, Vi. I was worried about you. Even when I was unconscious, nearly dead. But you were ok, we're both ok."

Heat rose to Vienna's cheeks at his words. He seemed to be able to calm her with just his words alone, and he was very sweet with his words when he needed to be.

"I cant believe that's actually real." Vienna ducks in a breath, a tear dropping from her chin onto her sweatpants.

"Me neither, it's bizarre." Michael looks at her, even though she was trying to avoid eye contact, he stared at her as if she was the only person in the world. "But luckily we're alright."

"I don't know what i'd do if you weren't alright." Vienna says. "I was so scared, when you got shot.  I wished she would've shot me instead of you."

"No, I'm fine, Vienna. We're all fine, alright?"

Vienna nods, looking at Michael, her eyes becoming lost in his, and for the first time in months, she thought that everything would be okay.

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MICHAEL WAS DISCHARGED from the hospital after two long weeks, Dean had been able to go home after only two days, but even though everyone was home, things were far from normal.

Cassie was taken aback after finding out that her aunt was not only Lacey Locke, but was now dead.

Dean was disappointed in himself, at the fact that he never noticed Locke's faults.

Michael had lots of grueling physical therapy and a lengthy recovery ahead of him, but he was trying to make the best of this just as he always does.

Sloane had been talking almost non-stop about how it was nearly impossible for a serial killer to pass FBI-level psych evaluations without even a trace of insanity.

And Lia was done with everyone's moping around the house.

Two weeks after she pulled the trigger, those last few moments where Agent Locke was still alive played through Vienna's mind. She'd never be the same person as she had been before that.

The incident was forever ingrained in her brain.

Lacey Locke had been very careful with her kills, she didn't kill within the same state lines, that is until Cassie joined the program.

Cassie and Vienna were sitting in a cold silence on the opposite sides of the couch, staring into nothing in particular.

Lia suddenly walks into the room. "Cassie, if you're going to leave the program, then go home. If you're not, then quit moping. And Vienna, you've got to get over Locke. Yeah, you shot her. But the world is going to keep spinning. Now come on, Judd's making his famous spaghetti for dinner and you guys have got to get into the kitchen, or else Michael is going to eat it all.

Vienna and Cassie were both taken aback by Lia's forwardness. So much so that they couldn't even formulate a response before she had already left the room.

They sat in silence for a moment, until Vienna turned to Cassie.

"Well, Cass, Lia's right." She mutters.

Cassie nods. "I just really wanted closure about my mom."

"I know you do. We'll get it though, alright?" Vienna reaches the distance on the couch, squeezing Cassie's hand in her own. "But for now, there's only one thing we can do."

"Eat spaghetti?" A grin slips its way onto Cassie's face for the first time in two weeks, a genuine smile.

"Exactly." Vienna laughs as they both stand up, looping their arms around each other as they walk into the kitchen for dinner.

There was a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of struggle to come, Vienna knew this. But she did know that she didn't have to do it alone, she never had to go through anything alone again.

Because she had finally found her people, the kind of people that her eleven year old self had dreamed of, and she wouldn't trade any of them for the world.

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cam's notes!

FINAL CHAPTER OF ACT ONE ;))

i cant believe that it's already over, im so excited to continue michael and vienna's story !!

i may not update for a bit because i like to plan out the entire act before even publishing the first chapter, and also finals week are coming up for me soon so it may be a bit, unless i find some time! :)

thank you all so so much for your support so far, i love all of you so much and i wouldn't have been able to do this without you!'

qotd: what was your favorite vienna and michael moment in this act? i LOVED their talk in the pool and also their romcom watching.

i love you and i'll see you all in act two !!!