C23 Bean Spill

Sierra opened the front door and stepped inside.

Sam was in the living room, stretched out on the couch with her laptop resting on her knees. She glanced up.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Sam closed her laptop halfway, studying Sierra's face.

"You're back. How was your date?"

Sierra slipped off her shoes. "Don't really want to talk about it."

Sam's expression shifted into mock disappointment.

"So... boo team Miles?"

Despite herself, Sierra let out a small laugh. "I need rest, Sam."

"Fine. I'll save my questions for tomorrow."

"Please don't."

"No promises."

Sierra shook her head, picked up her bag, and headed upstairs.

A few minutes later, she changed into something comfortable and sat on her bed. The date hadn't gone badly. Miles had been nice, the restaurant was good, and they'd talked throughout dinner.

Still, something had been missing. She'd spent too much time trying to keep the conversation going, and she wasn't sure another date would make a difference.

She put her phone on the bedside table and switched off the lamp.

Just as she was settling beneath the blanket, someone knocked.

"Come in," she called.

Sam opened the door and peered inside.

"Are you asleep?"

Sierra turned towards her. "Does it look like I'm asleep?"

"You could be sleep-talking."

"Sam."

"All right, all right."

Sam closed the door and walked over to the bed.

"What are you doing?" Sierra asked.

"Move over."

"You have your own bed."

"I'm aware."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because I want to lie down."

"On my bed?"

"No, Sierra. On the counter."

Sierra laughed and shifted to make room.

Sam climbed in beside her, pulled the blanket over herself, and settled against the pillows.

For a while, neither spoke.

Then Sierra glanced at her cousin. "You're taking up half my bed."

"You're exaggerating."

"Your elbow is in my ribs."

Sam moved it. "Sorry."

Sierra turned onto her side, facing her.

"You could've just said you wanted company."

"I could have."

"But you chose to annoy me instead."

"It's one of my many talents."

Sierra smiled. "One of your most irritating ones."

"And yet, here you are, sharing your bed with me."

"Unfortunately."

Sam nudged her gently with her foot.

"Goodnight, Sia."

"Goodnight."

Sam reached over and switched off the bedside light.

The room fell quiet. Sierra settled beneath the blanket while Sam adjusted her pillow beside her.

Within minutes, their conversation had faded, and Sierra drifted off to sleep.

---

The following afternoon, the hospital corridor was unusually busy.

Sierra had just finished reviewing a patient's file when a sharp voice sounded from the other end of the corridor.

"Get the emergency team ready!"

She looked up.

A nurse hurried past her, followed by another pushing an empty trolley. Somewhere beyond the double doors, someone called for a doctor. The usual hospital noise seemed to shift into something more urgent, more frantic.

Sierra set the file down.

Before she could return to her work, hurried footsteps echoed through the corridor.

"Coming through! Please, make way!"

Sierra stepped aside as two nurses appeared, pushing a stretcher at speed. A doctor hurried alongside them, giving instructions while another nurse checked the equipment.

"Keep monitoring his vitals."

"He's still convulsing."

"Let's get him into the emergency room. Quickly."

Sierra's stomach tightened.

She moved closer to the wall to give them room, watching as the stretcher approached. The patient was mostly obscured by the medical staff surrounding him. She caught a glimpse of a pale face, then a hand resting against the side of the stretcher.

Before she could see more, another nurse rushed past her.

Then she heard a woman's voice.

"Please, hurry!"

Sierra turned.

The woman running beside the stretcher immediately caught her attention.

Joan.

Sierra recognized her at once. She had seen her countless times with Samantha, and there was no mistaking her. But the sight of Joan rushing alongside a stretcher, her face tense with fear, was so unexpected that Sierra could only stare.

Joan reached towards the patient, but when a nurse asked her to move back, she obeyed, falling into step beside them instead.

"How long has it been?" she asked urgently.

"Just keep back for now, please."

Joan pressed her lips together and nodded, trying to keep herself composed. She seemed to understand what was happening, or at least what she needed to do. But the longer she watched the patient, the harder it became to hide her fear.

"Come on," she whispered. "Come on."

Sierra's eyes moved from Joan to the stretcher.

Who was on it?

Joan leaned closer to the patient.

"Alex, can you hear me?"

Sierra froze.

Alex?

Her eyes widened as the stretcher shifted while the medical team turned towards the emergency department doors.

And then she saw him.

Alex.

His eyes were closed, his face pale, his body convulsing as the medical team worked around him.

Sierra's breath caught.

For a moment, she couldn't move. The corridor seemed to blur around her as she stared at the man she had never imagined seeing like this.

Joan kept pace with the stretcher. She had seen Alex go through seizures before. She knew to give the medical team room and that panicking wouldn't help him. She was doing everything she could to hold herself together.

But this was worse.

The urgency of the staff, the speed at which they were moving, and the fact that Alex wasn't responding to her made it impossible to ignore.

"Alex," Joan called again, her voice firmer this time, as though he might hear the determination in it. "Come on. Stay with me."

Her hands trembled despite her efforts to steady them.

The nurses hurried through the emergency department doors. Joan followed until a staff member stopped her at the entrance.

"Miss, you need to let us work."

Joan drew a shaky breath and nodded, stepping back even though every part of her seemed to want to follow him inside.

"All right," she managed. "Just please tell me when you know something."

"We will."

The doors swung shut.

Joan stood staring at them, her jaw set as she fought to regain control of her breathing.

Sierra remained several steps away, stunned. She watched Joan, noticing the way she tried to hold herself together despite the fear written across her face.

Sierra's heart continued to pound.

She wanted to go to Joan, to ask what had happened and whether Alex would be okay. But the sight of him on that stretcher kept replaying in her mind, making it difficult to think clearly.

Alex had looked so helpless.

She had never imagined him in a hospital, surrounded by doctors, unable to respond to the people calling his name.

And Joan—who was usually so strong-willed and composed—looked frightened in a way Sierra had never seen before.

Sierra stared at the emergency department doors, panic rising with every passing second.

She didn't know what was happening to Alex. She didn't know what had caused it or what the doctors might find.

All she knew was that it was serious enough to frighten Joan.

And that frightened Sierra, too.