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It had been a little over two months since Booker had convinced Quynh to face Andy and the others. This was after Booker first had to convince Quynh not to kill Andy and to instead release her pent up...whatever, on someone else. That someone else had been Booker, given as he was the closest human within reach who would get back up from a sliced throat, albeit grumble and complain about it later. Quynh knew he didn’t blame her. Quynh had not been in the healthiest mindset for the past year and only really started healing when she was finally reunited with her family.
Meeting Booker was something else she hadn’t planned. He was someone familiar yet unfamiliar enough where Quynh felt safe to be around after centuries in her underwater prison. She couldn’t be sure how she would react around Andy or the boys, and after finding out about Andy’s mortality, she is glad she went to Booker first. She knew who he was, to an extent. She’d been dreaming about him for the past 200 years in what she could only call her punishment from hell. The first 300 years had only been blinding pain until her head felt like it was about to explode, then the inhale that burned her lungs and choked her, and finally the sweet release of death.
Then she’d repeat the whole thing.
But sometimes, she somehow managed to obtain a slither of rest, a second of sleep where she would catch glimpses of a man being hanged. A man drinking, a man talking to a younger man who shared his nose and eyes. Sometimes, if she got lucky, that man would be talking to Andromache, Nico, or Yosef.
Those were their names as she knew them though. Things have changed: she has, their family has, the entire world has, and now Quynh was left to catch up with it.
The past two months had been mostly Quynh adjusting to the world, to everything. She never really had the chance too with Booker. His job was being her therapist, and the irony of it all really told Quynh just how desperate she was for help.
With Booker, she learned to function as a person again, and now she had to learn to live as the person Booker helped her adjust to.
Booker was with them officially now. Quynh guessed her return had somehow doused some of the anger still bubbling among them. Plus, her less than healthy state of mind opened their eyes to the possibility that forcing Booker into a hundred years of solitude was probably not the way to go.
Yosef, or Joe as he was now known as, was nott as hostile towards Booker as Quynh expected. Based on how Booker described his reaction to his original betrayal, she had expected that anger to still be at the surface. Quynh knew Joe as someone who wasn’t quick to anger, but as a person with a deep sense of loyalty.
He still had some resentment, anyone would, but Booker and Joe were brothers through and through.
Nicky had some anger bubbling inside him, but Quynh knew his love for anything overcame any type of anger he felt, no matter how strong, and Nile, sweet, young, forgiving Nile didn’t know what it was like to hold a grudge for over 50 years.
And Andy...Andy was just glad to see both of them again before her time came.
Andromache, Andrei, Andy, it didn’t matter what name she went by, because she would always be the one person always by Quynh’s side, always loving her more than anyone else in this world. Quynh would stay at her side for the rest of her life, however long that was.
That promise left them here, in the small but comfortable Airbnb that all six of them were staying in after the mission Copley provided them with the other day.
Quynh didn’t participate in this one and hasn’t been involved in one since her return. She thought she needed a little more time to simply adjust to the modern world, so no one had the idea to send her off on a mission when she hasn’t even got used to the recoil of a handgun.
Currently, Quynh was sitting at the small circular table with a cup of tea resting in her hands. Andy sat across from her, hunched over her bowl of cereal, the new cut right above her eyebrow starting to scab.
Booker was probably still asleep. He did that a lot, sleep, and according to Andy, he’s always been the sleeper of the group, even before his depression got the best of him.
Nicky was sitting in the corner of the couch with his knees up and a book propped up against them. He lazily had his hand holding up his head and his other turning the pages of the old book in a language Quynh didn’t know. That’s another thing changed that Quynh wished had the decency to stay the same while she was incapacitated: language. It was becoming a real inconvenience to her.
On the opposite side of the same couch was Joe, braiding the hair of the newest immortal in their family; Nile Freeman.
She’d dreamed of Nile a couple of times before meeting her, but mostly her mind during the night was plagued by memories of her 500 years under the water. If not that, then she dreamt of nothing. Rarely was it of the woman with braided hair.
Nile sat on the ground between Joe’s knees, who was sitting on the couch. She was watching something on the T.V., a show about a cowboy in Kentucky. At least that’s how Nile described it. Quynh had no idea what a cowboy even was until Andy explained it about 5 minutes ago.
Joe was braiding the last bit of her long, black hair, and the concentration on his face as his hand weaved throughout Nile’s hair made Quynh smile. It brought back memories, the good kind, which Quynh was grateful for these days no matter how small they were. Back when Joe would braid her hair. Hers and Andy’s and Nicky’s.
But the dynamics have changed.
They walked on eggshells when around Quynh. They were careful about what they said, or what in the past they could bring up without upsetting Quynh or making her feel horrible about the 500 years she missed out with them. Nicky, she noticed, had been checking on her a lot. Asking how she is, if she needs anything, offering his own type of comfort. She is thankful for it, and Nicky, especially since he always backed off when Quynh needed to be alone, or if her mind got the best of her.
She hasn’t hurt him yet in one of her violent awakenings from a nightmare, or when she thinks she's back there. She intends to keep it that way.
Part of her hated how they were so careful around her, but part another appreciates it. After just being back with them for 2 months, even with Nile and Booker, she can feel the nightmares dwindling. The flashbacks are not nearly as vivid, and she has learned to disperse her pent up anger in shooting trees or wild bunnies (the first time she laughed around them was at Nile’s reaction when she was told they were having a bunny Quynh had shot for dinner).
Andy had been the only one she had really opened up too though. She talked to the others. She participated, but they didn’t have the same banter as they used too. Lot’s of that was on Quynh and her great ability to close herself off, and the other’s terrible ability to respect boundaries.
Andy had been the most familiar one, the one who she had loved so profoundly and deeply that she opened up to first.
But as Quynh watched Joe braid Nile’s hair, she wondered how he would respond if she suddenly asked.
“He’d say yes.” Andy interrupted her thoughts. She was still hunched over her bowl, but now her eyes were fixated on Quynh.
Quynh smiled. Andy could read her like a book, even now.
“It’s been so long I would have thought he’d forgotten.”
Quynh had noticed how both Nicky and Andy had cut their hair. She couldn’t help but think her disappearance had something to do with that, although she never asked.
When Nile had sat between Joe’s knee’s on the ground about an hour ago with a brush and pick in hand, she was surprised when without even a word passed between them that Joe immediately knew what to do, like it was routine.
She remembered when it was like that for them. Before a battle and she’d sit cross-legged sharpening arrows as Joe carefully produced a single braid that ran down her back. Or just for fun, when the others were asleep and Joe would braid some of her hair and wrap it up on top of her head, some hair falling onto her face. It wasn’t very practical, but Quynh loved it. They both did. Joe did it for the others, but for her it was special. Quynh believed it was special for Joe too. Andy only allowed it because it was practical for battle, and even if Nicky wouldn't admit it they all knew he just liked it when Joe ran his fingers through his hair. Quynh had to admit, it was therapeutic.
“Never,” Andy stated. “He never forgot. None of us did, Quynh.”
Both women knew she was talking about more than the ability to braid.
Maybe asking him would help her. One more baby step closer to healing herself. She’d already improved over the past couple months, and hell, even those first few chaotic months with Booker had helped ease her in. She wanted her brothers back again, and maybe, possibly, to gain a sister.
“Jamila!” Joe’s voice carried from in the living room. Quynh's attention turned to a finished braided Nile, who groaned as she stood up, stretching herself. She looked at herself in the small mirror mounted on the wall above the TV, giving her head a slight twirl so the braid running down her head and her back swirled with her.
“Thank you, Joe” she sing-songed, bounding over to him to wrap her arms around his neck and give him a quick peck on the cheek, and like routine, both just as quickly sat down on the opposite end of the couch to watch the show currently on the TV. As he sat, Joe gave Nicky a quick rub on the knee, and although Quynh couldn’t see his face, she knew he smiled at him. Some things just never change.
Quynh sighed deeply and got up to seal her fate. She gave a glance at Andy who smiled at her and threw a quick wink.
It’s been 500 years for both of them, and these past two months had been mostly Quynh staying quiet, talking with Andy, and only talking to Joe, Nicky, or Nile when she needed something explained to her. She didn’t know NIle that well, and she missed Joe and Nicky more than anything, but she couldn’t manage to start a conversation with any of them. She wasn’t proud of it but adjusting to the 21st century and this new dynamic they all had going on proved to be much more difficult than she had anticipated.
She hadn’t realized all eyes were now on her when she found herself standing beside the TV.
“Um, Joe,” she started. Jesus, why was she so goddamn nervous? “Do you think you could braid my hair for me?”
By the look on Nile’s face, she must have been surprised she asked. Nicky on the other hand was smiling while still perching his head on his hand, and said head was now facing Joe, with questionable eyebrows raised.
And Joe, bless his soul, looks at Quynh, the side of his eyes crinkling as they always do when he smiles.
“Of course, Quynh.”
Joe backs up on the couch a little, gesturing for Quynh to take the spot previously occupied by Nile. Quynh sat down between his knees, wrapping her arms loosely around her own. Once Joe ran his fingers through her hair to part it, she immediately felt the love and comfort from him she once had over 500 years ago. Quynh closed her eyes and sighed out, releasing her worries from before and replacing it with pleasure.
“Single or double?” Joe asked. Once again, Quynh was brought back to those quiet mornings on an open sea when Joe would ask the very same questions before preparing for the rest of the day sailing a windy ship.
“Hm,” Quynh hummed, opening her eyes and turning her head slightly to look at Joe. “Let’s try double.”
Joe smiled again. “Alright.”
Joe tipped Quynh's head back so he could lace his fingers through the top of her head, collected three strands, then began the braid that would run down the side of her head. As he braided Quyhn leaned into his touch, relishing the feeling it provided her after not being able to experience it for so long. She and Joe were in their own little world that the gunshots going off on the TV seemed like a hum in the distance. She felt safe.
“So, um, Quynh,” Nile started clearing her throat with a not so nervous cough. “From what Joe told me I have you to thank for all the braids.”
Quynh huffed a laugh. “Did he tell you I forced him to learn when we met?”
“More or less.”
“Hey now, I said you begged me to learn. There's a difference,” Joe defended. Quynh could feel he was working his way down her head as he allowed her to slowly move her head forwards again.
Quynh was smiling wide now. “When it was just Andy and me, we ran into some Vikings trading in North Africa. They had braided hair and I got a little obsessed.”
“A little?” Andy asked as she walked towards the living room, done with her cereal. Quynh shot her an annoyed-but-not-really-annoyed look that Andy simply returned with a friendly smile. She relaxed on the separate sofa adjacent to the couch, melting into the seat. “She forced my hand to follow her as she chased some Shield Maidens like a puppy, asking them to teach her.”
Nicky and Joe laughed while Quynh turned to both of them to show how their betrayal really burned her. Joe was quick to softly grab the sides of her head and adjust her head back in place, an act he’d done so many times before when Andy or Nicky would distract her.
“Well, it worked, didn’t it? They taught me and I in turn taught Joe.”
“By using me and Nicky as guinea pigs,” Andy complained, but the lightheartedness in her voice revealed she wasn’t really upset.
“Tsk,” Joe scoffed. “Nicky never minded, did you, habibi?”
They all turned to look at Nicky for his answer. Nicky still hasn’t moved from his position on the opposite end of the couch from Quynh and Joe, continuing to rest his head on his hand, book propelled up by his knees. He looked at them all without moving his head or his hand.
“I’m not taking sides.”
A series of offended and betrayed noises erupted from Andy, Joe, and Quynh, while Nile laughed at it all.
“I feel betrayed,” Quynh heard Joe say from behind her after he turned her head forward again. If she could guess, she would say Joe probably had a hand dramatically placed over his heart, and if she made another guess, Nicky probably winked at him. Joe tipped her head back as he began on the second braid, collecting three strands of hairs.
“Who’s betraying who,” came a tired, groggily male voice from the kitchen.
“Morning, sunshine,” Andy said sarcastically, earning her grumble from Booker as he collected himself a cup of coffee.
“I did, apparently,” said Nicky, answering his question from before. Booker came over and shoved Nicky’s legs off the couch to make room for him to sit down. Much like Andy, he melted into the couch with a sigh and a tired yawn.
“About?” he inquired.
“Hair,” Nile offered, and Booker made a face as if to say ah. “You never had long hair, did you?”
“Nope” was his simple answer as he took a long sip from his coffee.
“You should, you could get a man-bun, or Joe could braid it,” Nile joked.
“No, no, and no one is touching my hair,” Booker replied, earning a laugh and a grin from Quynh.
“You don’t trust me, Book?” Joe questioned. He had slightly pushed Quynh's head forward to reach the back of her head near her nape, which meant he was almost done.
“Absolutely. Besides, you have Nile and Quynh now.”
The statement was so simple and matter-of-factly, but the fact that it was true had everyone in the room smiling. Not so long ago he didn’t have Nile or Quynh, and the wounds from everything that had happened were fresh in everyone's mind.
Quynh was stuck in a coffin at the bottom of the ocean.
Booker was exiled.
Nile was a new immortal in a newly broken group of people with less than healthy coping mechanisms.
And said group was missing members of their family.
But now they were all finally together. They were getting help and Quynh was finally healing and learning to be happy.
And Joe finally had more hair to braid.
“And...done!” Joe exclaimed. He ran both his hands down the newly formed braids lining Quynh's head, feeling his handy work, as he had always done in the past.
She unwrapped her arms from her knees and pulled the braid in front of her and looked at the long, black braids safely tied off with black hair ties to match. She then brought her hands up to feel the hairs that have folded into each other. It’s a familiar feeling that she could get used to feeling again.
She turned her body slightly so she was now facing Joe, his face looking for her approval of his work.
Quynh reached her hand out to take his that was resting on his knee, squeezing it in hers.
“Thank you, Joe.”
The meaning behind her words was more genuine and impactful than she could express. She wanted him to know just how much it meant to her. She was still a little shitty at communicating her feelings, so she hoped he understood her.
By the look on his face and the return squeeze, he did.
“You’re welcome, Quynh.”
Quynh let go of his hand and made her way towards Andy’s seat. Andy moved slightly to make room as Quynh plopped down, almost on top of Andy as she laid her head on the older woman’s shoulder. Andy kissed her newly braided hair and wrapped an arm around her waist, squeezing just a little tighter.
Across from them, Joe gestured for Booker to move closer to Nile so he could sit with Nicky. He sat on the corner of the couch and pulled Nicky into him, Nicky finally putting down his book and leaning far into Joe.
Nile was sitting with her legs up on the couch on the other corner of the couch, and Booker had moved into the middle, arms spread across the back and legs sprawled in front of him.
So there they were. Six immortals, lazily watching a TV show at 9 am on a Friday.
Quynh wondered how in the hell she got there, but she didn’t mind.
Not at all.