mason || magical and miserable

[CHLOE ALICE CAIN]

OUTFIT

All things considered, Chloe was taking things pretty well. After her initial outburst, which was heard by more people than she would like to consider, she'd managed to keep her own emotions in check, and while she was exhausted from the effort, she was ignoring most of the emotions around her. Now, though, it was time to head home. Something told her that within the confines of her own home, without Sam there to support her, things were going to be different. It was easy to convince herself that things weren't going to be completely ruined while Sam was there telling her as much. No one could do that for her at home. Not unless she told Mason, anyway, and she had no intention of doing that at the moment if she could help it.

Letting out a long sigh, Chloe parked her car in the driveway of their house and stared at the front door for a few seconds, trying to clear her head. Her brother wasn't psychic, but he did know her well enough to notice when something was amiss most of the time. The last thing she needed was to walk into the house wearing her heart on her sleeve. Checking her reflection, she nodded in satisfaction. She didn't look any worse for wear, which was good. Once she figured she had her emotions in check, she grabbed her purse and headed into the house.

At first, she didn't bother to even let Mason know she was home. She just dropped her purse on a counter in the kitchen and got herself a glass of water. Truth be told, she would have preferred coffee, but one of the things she'd learned today was that she needed to cut back on the caffeine. As in only one cup of coffee per day. It was going to be hell, but if she let herself focus on that right now, she'd be completely miserable.

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[MASON MIEL CAIN]

Mason had been at work when he'd gotten a call from George, the manager of the general store, who had managed to still like him even after the jail sentence. They weren't friends by any means, but George didn't actively hate him and wasn't afraid of him, and that was quite enough on its own. In any case, Sam had ducked out of work early because his girlfriend was in the hospital, obviously the girlfriend was Chloe. Almost everyone knew that now. George had the decency to call Mason and leave a message about it.

Mason hadn't heard the phone in the shop and got the message late. "Dammit," He swore under his breath, rushing to get things together, put up the 'closed' sign and leave. He went home and tried to find the address of the hospital that Chloe went to. It had been a while and he had no idea which one she could be at--it also depended where she was. He tried her phone but didn't get a response. His next try was to text Sam, whose number he had in cases like this. Sam didn't give him much, only that Chloe was safe, no major injury and to ask her about.

Mason paced around the house, waiting for her to get back. What could be wrong that Sam couldn't tell him? Broken bones, or a trip and fall or dehydration would have been easy to say. What wasn't a major injury but still big enough that he felt he couldn't tell him?

He heard the door open at looked up at her, and sighed. "I'm so glad you're okay. I heard you were in the hospital. I got a very cryptic text from your boyfriend." Mason said, flipping open his phone to read his message. "Hey Mason, she's fine. No serious injury. You can ask her for details."

"What couldn't he tell me Clo?" Mason asked her. But suddenly, as the question came out of his mouth, something dawned on him. Sex related? STDs were easily treatable so it couldn't be that...

Mason leaned on the couch wordlessly.

Was Chloe pregnant?

Mason didn't know how to feel about that, or how to ask. He cleared his throat and looked at her carefully, hoping she would tell him and that he would be wrong.

[CHLOE ALICE CAIN]

Chloe ought to have been smart enough to realize people would already be talking. The hospital was in the next town over, and it was a big deal for someone to be there for longer than the allotted hour it took for most appointments. Added to that, her frantic call to Sam was bound to have garnered some attention. She hadn't counted on his being at work and having to make excuses, but now that she thought about it, it did make sense. And it was no huge leap to determine how her brother had managed to hear that she was in the hospital. Chloe frowned at the realization. So much for keeping things quiet. Mason wasn't going to just let things slide. He'd always been overprotective, and having to hear from someone else that Chloe had been "in the hospital" (which was hardly an accurate explanation given that she hadn't actually been admitted), he wasn't going to accept a non-answer.

She was about to open her mouth to correct the town's apparent assumption that being at the hospital and being in the hospital were the same thing when he mentioned receiving a cryptic text from Sam. Frowning, Chloe tugged her own phone from the pocket of her jeans. If he'd wanted to know what was going on, he should have called her! Even as the thought registered, though, she realized that her telephone wasn't working. She had a tendency to forget to charge it, so the battery was probably dead. Sheepishly, she tucked it back into her pocket and tried to ignore the blush creeping up her neck. Hearing her brother read Sam's text aloud did little to comfort her. While he hadn't really given Mason anything to go on, he had also set Chloe up for a serious interrogation. Letting out a long sigh, Chloe shook her head at him and let out a short laugh. "I wasn't in the hospital at all," she told him. "I was just at the hospital. For a checkup." That much was true, but she knew it wouldn't be enough to get her brother off of the topic.

As she'd suspected, he pressed on, wanting to know just what was going on that was so big that Sam couldn't have told him himself. Chloe rolled her eyes and turned away from her brother, composing her best poker face as she made her way to the refrigerator, emerging with a piece of string cheese. She'd just been to eat with Sam, but she needed something to keep her busy, and food seemed like an easy enough answer. Returning to face him, Chloe frowned at the sudden change in his mood. He was still anxious, but it seemed like a completely different sort of worry. Briefly, she wondered if he'd actually managed to put the pieces together himself, but he wasn't a mind reader, and no one had given him a great deal to work with, so she figured it was highly unlikely. In general, guys just didn't go around assuming girls were pregnant. "I'm fine," she assured him. "They said I need to quit smoking. And drink less coffee." But assertions were true. She was just pointedly ignoring the reason for which her behaviors needed to change.

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[MASON MIEL CAIN]

In the hospital, at the hospital. She wouldn't have called Sam in a frenzy if it was just a check up. Mason hadn't gone to college, but he wasn't stupid. Chloe seemed a little more defensive than a check up would warrant anyway. It could have started out a check up...Smoking and coffee? That was all she had to offer him. "We all knew that would be a good idea."

Doctors never wanted you to smoke and always wanted you to cut back on caffeine Chloe had never actually taken up their demands before now. What hade her suddenly so health conscious? It wasn't like she was fat or something... Cancer? Would that explain it? Probably, something mild maybe. Sam wouldn't have said she was fine though... well, technically he said Chloe didn't have a major injury.

"Can you please just tell me whats going on?" Mason said softly. "Because I just went from suspecting you were pregnant to that you have cancer... my imagination can only get worse from here." He said, hoping his sister would just put him out of his misery, so to speak.