Regroup (RP)

"She should have thought of that before whispering in my husband’s ear" She had that dangerous look in her eyes. Like she was a road roller, and he could either step aside, or end up like a human pancake. Standing up, she left the bedroom and deliberately closed the door behind her, then headed directly to the living room where Sarah was already busy packing.

Whatever her intentions were didn’t matter to her. She wanted to make sure there weren’t any ‘misunderstandings’ this time:

"You have five minutes to pack your things and get out of here" she looked coldly at her "And I don’t ever want to see you again. That includes my writers’ circle" She didn’t care if Sarah took some of the clothes she’d bought her, or a few hygiene products. All she wanted was her out of the apartment, and it couldn't happen fast enough.

Persephone smirks at Circe and replies, "Are you afraid I'll see your sexts? Or that I'll see your browsing history again? My land line doesn't send texts, silly girl. And I'm not old!" Then, looking at the gorilla in the Twilight shirt, Persephone comments, "Do you believe this girl? No respect for her elder. So, hi, I'm Persephone, this one's older sister. This is my place. And you are?"

If Sarah wanted to sob, she could do it in the hallway, or out in the rain, for all she cared. That girl crossed a line, and Emma didn't feel the least bit sorry for her. She locked the door behind her, then walked back to the bedroom, feeling even more at ease than after one of the massages at the Lanesborough.

She sat back down on the bed next to David, and looked at him before sighing softly:

"Have you seen a doctor? Chicken soup is nice and all, but you've been running around outside in the rain for weeks. I’m worried you might have caught pneumonia."

Persephone smiles at Edward and laughs an artificial laugh. Then, still smiling, she asks, "Oh yeah? Like how? What respect does she lack?" She glances over at the other guests; do they seem to be Edward's buddies? And does Circe react, upon seeing me speaking to this guy?

Her jaw tightened with irritation when David felt the need to defend Sarah again. But she kept her tone calm, careful not to let her mood show. "No, I wasn’t too hard on her. Don’t worry about it." And as far as she was concerned, that was the truth. She was just hard enough, given what Sarah had done. If the girl couldn’t grasp that whispering in another woman's husband’s ear like that was out of line, that was her problem. She certainly wasn’t going to lose any sleep over her.

She brushed a hand through David’s hair, smoothing it back from his forehead, then touched her palm there for a moment to feel his temperature. Her voice softened, if only a little. "If you’re not feeling better by morning, I’m calling a private doctor" She didn't leave him any room to argue, just like she didn't when she told him Sarah had to go. He was clearly too sick to think clearly. If this was something serious, he couldn’t wait a full week. Muttering under her breath something about the 'useless NHS', she stood and reached for her phone, only then noticing the new email notification waiting for her.

"Get some rest. I’ll be right here if you need me" she turned off the light before closing the door behind her.

Once in the living room, she opened her phone and looked through Persephone’s rambling message. She already counted her for dead, and though she didn't exactly grieve (Pers has only recently drifted back into her life, and could just as easily drift out of it again), she was still very much relieved to hear she was alive and well. There were lots of questions she wanted answers to, and it wasn't clear from the email what exactly happened. But writing back and forth emails to get the full story could take forever.

Sitting down near her laptop in the kitchen, she typed a quick reply and hit 'send':

'Pers! Thank God!! I’ve been worried sick about you.
David has come down with something nasty, so I don’t want to leave him alone right now. Come over as soon as you can.
We’ll talk about it all here.
—E'

Persephone frowns as Edward backs down from his questionable statement and retreats. When Circe questions her, Persephone laughs and says, "I think I scared him... He said you weren't respectful enough, and I gave him some trouble, but... I guess I came across a little too intensely? I'm sorry; I can be a bit over-protective of you, I guess."

She gives Circe an apologetic smile and touch on the shoulder, then gets a concerned look on her face. She says, 'Circe, I'm worried about Emma. She and I were at a party, and she was... well, she was with another man. And I gradually realized that there were some really bad people there. At one point, Emma and I were not together and I had to leave -- it wasn't safe any more. But... I don't know what happened with Emma. And I haven't heard from her yet. So ... Yeah. Circe, I'm scared about her."

Persephone smirks to herself, thinking, Good, Circe can do better than some meat head in a Twilight t-shirt...

When the topic turns to Emma, though, Persephone nods sadly and replies, "No, I won't tell him. Emma's been my friend since forever, and I've only just met David. But yeah, she's... maybe not making great decisions right now. Not that I can talk...

Persephone trails off, leaving her last comment unexplained. So she changes the subject and says, "Here, give me your phone again--I have to call her. I need to make sure she's OK. At the very least, I can probably get ahold of David and, well, just ask if he's seen Emma, I guess..."

Circe has Emma's contact card, so Persephone calls Emma's cell.