"Late nights got me staring into the moon."

[headingforsomething]

Who: Reecy Chester-Wilson and Jude Willis
What: Late Night Deep-and-Meaningfuls
Where: Sydney, Australia
When: After this

The night sky was clear and covered in stars while the near-full moon cast a glittery streak across the surface of the ocean in the distance. There was something about the Australia sky that just seemed so much more crisp, clear, and fresh than Reecy had ever seen in her home country. She had a soft spot in her heart for this place, considering her baby brother in every way but blood was half-Australian. Though, some days, Justin seemed 100% Aussie. It had only really been since his real birth mother appeared that it was obvious how much of her genes he also shared. It was common for people to say Justin was Mark all over, which he was in so many ways, but you could see Alexis in his looks and there was no doubt all his musical and artistic talent came from her. Reecy thought Alexis was amazing and absolutely stunning. She wished she'd been able to spend more time with her and the way they would come to do that now was awful and made Reecy's stomach hurt far beyond even what the morning sickness was doing.

She picked up her wine glass and took a sip of the pretty decent non-alcoholic prosecco, trying to let the peaceful view of the ocean and beach beyond the backyard fence calm her. It wasn't really working. Her heavy heart was struggling with the enormity of knowing she had to try to visit Justin - and Sash - in the hospital tomorrow. It was unclear how his condition was and he didn't want visitors, though Justin's grandmother called her earlier and told her that Sash's mother was finally able to get to the hospital after all the covid roadblocks and Justin hadn't turned her away like he had been with everyone else. Right at this moment, even at this late hour, Mrs Stanford was still with both boys so no one really knew if she had any success breaching Justin's severe depression and grief trying to deal with the consequences of the car crash and hearing his dad had fallen off the booze wagon. Reecy was so worried about him. But she was also conscious she wasn't a blood relative and that trying to push Justin when he wasn't capable mentally or emotionally seeing people. He only ever shut down like this when he was having a severe episode with his bipolar or C-PTSD.

Further along the upper floor balcony where she had been sitting alone with her thoughts, she heard one of the glass doors slide up and Jude stepped out in just a pair of boxers and went over to lean on the railing, taking in a deep long breath and letting it out slowly. "How's the patient?" she asked, hoping she wouldn't startle him when he spotted her sitting there alone with only the moon and some fairy lights strung over the railing for light. "You look like you need a drink but I can't offer you anything with a kick, I'm afraid but it's as close to the real deal as you can get."

Comments

[underyourskin]

Jude was used to sleep deprivation but add a healthy dose of jetlag to that and he was pretty sure parts of his brain were about to leak out of his ears. It had been ages since he was last on an overseas trip. He was pretty sure it was back when they all went to London for Clint and Lincoln's and Ange and Em's double wedding. He definitely wasn't a seasoned traveller so sleeping on a plane didn't come easy for him. He had to work an ER nightshift before their flight to Sydney, the plan being that he could sleep during the flight but shit didn't work out like that. He was tired and a bit moody, so he wasn't much company. Then about a third into the flight, Winston hesitantly told him he had a bad headache that felt like it was turning into a migraine. That's when Jude realised he was being a moody bitch because Winston admitted he didn't want to bother him with it when he was so tired from his shift. It was still early days of their relationship, they were learning each other and the last thing Jude wanted was Winston feeling like he could tell him if he was feeling unwell. Thankfully he did, though, because being on a plane with the cabin pressure, jumping timezones when it was the middle of the night back home in NYC, and probably being a bit dehydrated, Winston's headache morphed into a demon migraine. They regretted telling Reecy they wouldn't need a lift from Sydney airport to the house they were staying at, so the cab drive was a nightmare for Winston too. Despite being exhausted, Jude was right in nurse mode trying to help. He was glad they were finally here and Winston could sleep it off. But Melotonin wasn't even helping Jude sleep, damnit. At least the location they were staying was stunning, so he came out for some fresh air so he didn't disturb Winston while jetlagged insomnia had him by the balls.

Hearing Reecy's voice, Jude jumped, not expecting anyone else to be up at this hour. He smiled and came over to drop into the other sun lounge beside her. "I'm so fucking tired that my brain's forgotten how to sleep. We basically left straight for the airport after I finished a friggin terrible twelve hour shift, and even though that seemed like a good idea at the time, definitely didn't think to factor in that Winston might end up with a bad migraine from the long flight. The back half of the flight was rough. It's okay, though. His meds finally kicked in and he crashed. Didn't want to disturb him tossing and turning trying to get to sleep." He picked up the bottle sitting beside her and read the label. "Virgin prosecco, huh? Didn't even know that existed. I mean, I know it's not booze but sitting out here drinking alone in the dark? You okay? Is it Justin?"