"patton," julius eyes her from across the counter, focusing moreon the vivid redness around her neck than anything else, "you're one of my best employees, but i can't let you work here looking like this."

molly sighs, fingers pushing through her hair. she knows how bad she looks: black eye still a riot of color on her pale skin, split lip, neck red, and leaning on her left leg. and she doesn't have to be psychic to understand what he's thinking at the moment. "i could do behind the scenes. i know you guys need hands."

"we do, but," he shakes his head, "you look like hell. go home, take the week off and get better. and be careful who you hang around, okay? you've got time to spare, and you'll be paid. we'll see you when you get back from your normal vacation."

ha. molly wishes she could explain. she can't, though; just taking her purse with her outside, into the cold. it makes her jaw ache, pulling out her phone to call an uber.

it's back to her apartment, and really, she wished she had more to do than to go back. waking up on sunday, sore and tired, hadn't been ideal at all. she had found a post it note, a garish orange, on her cabinet that implored her to drink the broth there. and, hell, madelyne had gone overboard, putting enough broth in there to last molly for a damn long time. for once, though, she didn't second guess it; the awful taste in her mouth and the delicate way her stomach felt didn't incline her to protest.

once dropped off, her purse got dumped immediately on her couch, feet taking her to the kitchen. one bowl of half eaten soup in front of her and molly finally decided that she couldn't ignore the moleskine waiting for her. of course maddie had picked something a little expensive to use. it gets propped up against her knees, fingers flicking the book open. it's already bulging in the back; molly twists her fingers, her powers popping it open, reciepts falling out. one by one, she looks at them each -- and well, it was a good thing molly had gotten paid before she blacked out. and, she supposed, it was a good thing that maddie was thorough. tucking the reciepts back in, she turned her attention to the front.

"jesus," she muttered. there were at least twenty pages, back to back of information to sort through. "maddie, a video would be easier," she muttered to herself, flipping past the name and address madelyne had written, brows furrowing as she read the first real paragraph.

molly --

as you can see, no legal pad this time. i think our situation has changed to the point that using a legal pad won't really cut it. i bought this notebook in order to keep a more succinct record of things. we can also use it to talk to each other in a way i think email doesn't suit.

"how is that?" molly mutters to herself, squinting at the page.

find it easier to simply talk to you here and leave better notes than go through emails or use the laptop. i know that you currently have questions regarding how you woke up this morning. the pages after this will explain everything in detail. for now, you should know that you don't have much in the way of internal damage. anything that would have required a hospital stay, i've already taken care of. what's left are bruises, minor lacerations and some soreness. i bought broth as well; i don't think you'll be much up for rich foods in the upcoming days. i could barely get the food arthur made for me down.

i wish i could give you something more in the way of this week, but you'll find out soon enough. i'd hide this journal somewhere if i were you and not tell anyone about it. if you're able to access my magic later on, we could enchant it, perhaps.

please feel better soon.
- maddie

none of that soothes anything for molly. in fact, she has a half mind to pick up her phone and compare notes with adam and lainey before she flips the next page. And is greeted by a graph. every single day from last week, filled out by hand by madelyene over several pages. molly's eyebrows raise as she reads every single one, from the details of diane's bakery being flooded, to the fact that five days had been spent eating slop and water.

the names, the lists of who, didn't really help with her stomach situation, either. the more pages she turned, the more information she found. there was just too much for her to digest all at once, and she puts the journal down, feeling nauseous. there were shifters everywhere in boston. there wasn't any where to really escape this unreality.

"fuck," she mutters to herself. she eyes her half eaten soup, rubbing at the sore column of her throat. all of this is so overwhelming, laid out like this. she feels as if she's on the edge of a panic attack, with all of this information in her lap. and yet she feels compelled to continue on, reading every note until her eyes are sore, and afternoon turns to evening.

and when she finally hits the last page, molly puts the notebook down and buries her head in the hands to combat the headache welling up on one temple. it is so frustrating -- scary--- huge to have all this at her fingertips like this. that everything that's going on, behind her back, to constantly have weeks missing, to know just how far out of control this was. from what maddie told her about the mojodome, everything could change at an instant. it was possible that one day she'd wake up and find that there were months of time missing, that she could be pregnant again or in an entirely different reality, even.

the frustration digs under her skin, legs aching as much as her neck as she shifts on the couch. she had hoped, maybe, that the blackouts were going to eventually end, that the powers could be kept, and that there wouldn't be anything much left over from it all. except... now? it was clear that that wouldn't be in the cards. there were people who were now permanently two people all at once...

and that is what really, really scares her. the convergence, weeks ago she'd experienced had felt so strange. she could hardly remember most of it; only that she and maddie weren't at odds. and felt like so much more. and something -- something in her wanted that again. maybe even welcomed it. a place of being that didn't feel so odd with who she wanted to be, who she pushed herself to be, and show she actually was. even if the memories weren't there, the feelings were. being whole in a way she'd never thought she could be. and given what maddie had told her last time, about wanting to be here and not wanting to go back to being dead....

it felt easier then, to read that. she didn't feel as if she were about to careen to an entirely different existence, with different questions and an even more uncertain future.

molly sighs, and lifts the soup bowl. she sends the bowl careening to the sink. it clatters there, as she reaches for the notebook again. it feels almost heavier than before, as she opens the pages back up, and looks at it again. maddie had asked her to write back, didn't she?

she looks for a pen, and opens it up to a fresh page, unsure what to write besides, what the fuck are we going to do?