(Untitled)

[missingthekeep]

It takes Sean a little more than a week and a little more than an afternoon spent knocking back drinks before he finally gets back to work on building a fence for the dog. He'd been making decent progress before the hurricane had seen fit to undo it all, but with everything else that's been dogging him lately, he just hasn't been able to work up

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[drownondryland]

Not yet two weeks after the hurricane, Meredith's back on her feet, having insisted several days ago on returning to work. She shouldn't have, she knows, she's slowing down her own healing process, though she's careful to take it easy when other people are paying attention. If anyone knows she should be doing that full time, it's her, but that doesn't seem to stop her at all. Without a class to teach today and her shift not until the night, she's still made a point of leaving the house, first checking on the clinic, then going over schoolwork in the rec room. She just can't lie around all the time, not without losing her mind, and there are days that feels like a near thing anyway.

Today's not too bad, but there's always something a little unsettling about seeing Sean at work on this fence. It's not unpleasant, it's just strange in a way she can't explain. Books in her arms, she makes her way slowly up the path. "How's it coming?"

[missingthekeep]

She's the one, the only one worth trying to keep himself together for these days, and even though Sean's really not feeling it at the moment, he does his best.

"It, uh, it's comin'," he says, blearily looking up and setting the saw down as she heads over. She's still healing, still hurting, and as long as that remains the case, she always gets his full attention. He may not have a whole lot of it at the moment, mind, but it's still all hers. "Slower goin' than I remember it bein' the last time." That likely has something to do with the way none of the pieces seem to want to move right, though.

[drownondryland]

"Isn't that just how it works?" Meredith asks, smiling wryly5. It's at once annoying and endearing, how quickly he turns his attention toward her; it's not like he ignored her before, but it seems just a bit faster to her, either because it is or because she's imagining it. It's frustrating enough that, after how fast everything came at them this month, she's still left moving at a crawl. She doesn't need the implication (probably entirely in her head) that she might need help. If there's anything else there, any tell-tale signs, she ignores them readily. "And I'm guessing I still won't be allowed to offer to help anyway."

[missingthekeep]

"Nae on yer life," Sean says, a little firmer than he intends it. He means to ease up on her after that, but further immediate concerns get in the way of that. "Ye shouldnae e'en be up an' 'bout more'n ye have ta."

[polly_okeefe]

I hadn't expected to come upon Sean, but seeing him hard at work on his repairs made me pause. We'd lost touched a bit since our conversation after Bridge's disappearance, but there was also office gossip at the IPD. I tried to ignore that, but I couldn't help but wonder how Sean was doing.

"Hey, there, Sean," I said, pausing by the path. "The hurricane got you too, did it?"

It seemed like an easy conversation starter.

[missingthekeep]

Sean makes a face, and it takes him a few seconds longer than it might normally to school it into something a little suitable for public consumption. "Somethin' like that, aye," he says with a slow nod as he looks up at Polly. "'S jus' a fence, wasnae e'en done yet." Just a fence and the love of his life, no big deal, life goes on.

[polly_okeefe]

I frowned a bit. I can't put my finger on why, but Sean seems a little on edge. I smiled and kept things light. "You got off lucky. I lost my whole hut. Fortunately, I wasn't in it when it happened."

[missingthekeep]

Sean can't help but smile at that, wry and unpleasant. "That's me, a'right. Lucky, lucky, lucky." He supposes he should probably say something about Polly's loss of house and home, but that mostly comes as an afterthought to his own sense of self-pity.

[wormholed]

"Whoa," said John, rounding the corner with half a melon in his hand. He pulled it away from his mouth just long enough to grin at Sean and the impressive glower he had going on.

"And here I was wondering where I could get my own personal storm cloud today."

[o hai, longtime IPD partner with whom I have never threaded XD]

[missingthekeep]

Sean rolls his eyes and suppresses a sigh, pausing in what he's doing to turn and cross his arms, slightly more at ease. He'll be damned if he's going to let on just how bad this is if he doesn't have to.

"Yeah, well, ye know me. Always lookin' t'help."

[wormholed]

"Yep, you're a giver like that." John eyed the pile of wood Sean had going and, to his credit, tossed away the rest of his melon in lieu of offering the last of half-gnawed husk to Sean.

"Need some help?"

[missingthekeep]

"Hardly," Sean scoffs, out of some innate, stubborn pride, but he recants a moment later. It's slow enough going as it is, after all. "I'll take it though, if'n ye're game." So long as he doesn't try getting all chatty, at least.

[fireinthe_hole]

"Friend," Boyd starts after the young man glances up for a moment. "You look like you could use some help. May I lend my assistance?"

That storm was a sign, Boyd had rarely seen a clearer sign of God's warning.

[missingthekeep]

The man's no friend of Sean's, but that's a group he tries to keep small for a reason. Right now, that might just work in his favour, though, because for all that Sean balks at the idea of needing help, having someone around who may have no notion of his girlfriend getting laid up or his daughter making a mockery of herself or any of the other fifty things he's got plaguing him isn't unappealing.

"So long as ye ken what ye're doin', I s'pose," he replies after a moment's thought on the matter, nodding slowly.

[fireinthe_hole]

"I do," he assures him, reaching for the tools. "My name is Boyd Crowder, pleased to meet you. I find myself lacking in occupation around here so this is appreciated."

[missingthekeep]

"Ye new 'round here, then?" Sean asks as he tries to remember where exactly it was he left off in his work. "I mean, if'n ye're the type who needs that sort o' thing ta keep sane, ye'll likely find somethin' 'fore too long." But even then, it's no guarantee of keeping from going stir-crazy.

"Sean Cassidy," he adds after a moment, belatedly introducing himself almost as an afterthought.

[getemtiger]

The sight of building wasn't anything unfamiliar to Mary Jane, her own hut having been under reconstruction for the few days since Peter had been let out of the clinic. It wasn't what she was expecting to see, though, when she came walking by Meredith's, intending to see if she was around. Given the state of everything else, she'd been pretty preoccupied, simultaneously trying to look on the bright side of things while waiting for the other shoe to drop. The effort it took to hold herself together, to even stay on her feet, was draining. She had to try, though, for herself and for everyone around her - present company included, though she never had gotten to know Sean all that well.

"Hey, Sean," she said, summoning up a small smile as she lifted one hand in a wave. "Meredith's not around, is she? I was just gonna stop by and say hi."

[missingthekeep]

"Nae right now, no," Sean says, answering her wave with a nod of his own and straightening up, shielding his eyes from the sun (which, admittedly, isn't all that bright). "She's..." he starts before trailing off, finally realizing that he's not quite sure where Meredith is right now. Some caretaker he is. "She's somewhere else."

[getemtiger]

Mary Jane considered, briefly, asking him to tell Meredith that she'd stopped by, but changed her mind, just shrugging instead. She had half-expected as much, anyway, having a good idea of how much Meredith didn't want to be stuck inside. "Using the time to get some building done, huh?" she asked, gesturing to the cut pieces of wood with a tilt of her chin. "How's the fence coming?"

[missingthekeep]

Sean's not much in the mood to chat, Meredith's best friend or not, but he's pretty sure that brushing Mary Jane off right now would only hurt him more in the long run. It's just the way things work out for him. "It's comin'," he mumbles with a non-committal shrug. Some of the cuts are a little shaky, but overall, he's doing alright. "Figgered I had ta get back at it sooner or later, right?"