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The Ladies are still playing the end of the Megasix as Jane books it to the dressing room, obviously furious but trying to keep it together. Cathy's not far behind, hands clawing at her costume as the familiar signs of a meltdown become stronger. Catalina sprints after her girlfriend, a shouted promise to Anne and Kitty that she can keep their cousin from killing something, they need to worry about other people. Anne’s shaking like a leaf and is only partially verbal, but she manages to help Cathy to the other dressing room and start to help her girlfriend to change out of her costume.
Anna and Kitty aren't great, but they're more frustrated/angry than anything, so Anna volunteers to go tell Stage Door that the 10 of them (6 Queens, 4 Ladies) are going to go straight home tonight and that security can go home early too. Kitty gives her a grateful nod and a quick kiss before she goes. The fifth Queen is about to go and help Anne when a frantic-looking María darts in front of her.
"Joan...meltdown...a little help?" She pants, clearly having run off stage as soon as the curtains closed. Kitty immediately starts heading back to the stage and tells María to go keep an eye on Parrlyn.
Good God the show had not gone well tonight. Cathy's mic had cut out twice during Ex-Wives (which really should have been their first hint tonight was gonna go to shit.) Anne had been having a fragile day already, and that fragility had only increased when she'd screwed up in the second verse of Don't Lose Ur Head (not massively, she'd just stuttered a bit on 'somebody hang you') and she'd barely held it together to the start of Heart of Stone. Jane had almost tripped over 4 times and had actually tripped coming off stage after Haus of Holbein, both Maggie and Bessie had slightly messed up their solos at the start of the Megasix, Anne's mic had totally cut out during said Megasix and right at the end, the person that Cathy and Anne had gone to take a phone from had said: "get away from me you fucking r-words."
Yeah, bad show all 'round.
Kitty could hear some of the crowd leaving as she made it back on stage, where she found a very pissed off-looking Maggie pacing, Joan on the floor by her keyboard sobbing and Bessie crouched next to her, trying to calm her down. Kitty went over and knelt in front of Joan, taking one of her hands. Joan looked at her immediately.
"K-Katherine," She started, and Kitty instantly knew this was bad because Joan never full named her unless she was really freaking out, "I-I'm sorry! I should have ch-checked with sound better and I-I forgot to ask Anne if she was okay before we went on and it's all my fault!" She whispered the last part. Bessie gave Kitty a look, then glanced at the still-pacing Maggie.
"I've got Joan." Said Kitty, as calmly as she could manage, "Get Mags backstage, soon as everyone's changed, we're going straight home." Bessie just nodded and went to Maggie, while Kitty pulled Joan into a hug and started muttering gentle reassurances.
Meanwhile, Catalina was working on getting Jane calmed down.
"Jay-"
"No, Lina! How the fuck are you so calm!? That asshole called them-"
"I know!" Catalina walked forward and wrapped her arms around Jane, "I know." She said, softer this time, "But yelling and seething and wanting to kick some heads in isn't going to help anyone, okay?" Jane took a few deep breaths, relaxing slightly into the hug, before pulling away and going back to getting ready to leave.
The sooner she was ready, the sooner she could get her family home, where she could make sure they were safe.
Catalina sighed and went back to changing too.
Cathy and Anne are quietly sitting in the corridor by the time everyone else is done with everything, María a little way from them. The two of them were silent, bar the occasional sniffle from Cathy, and they both looked exhausted. It wasn't often that María saw both of them so burnt out, with neither of them even attempting to mask: Anne was tapping a random pattern on her leg and rocking slightly, while Cathy flipping the switch on a fidget cube almost rhythmically.
Anna was the first one to get to them. She and María exchanged a look, before María cleared her throat, "I'm gonna...go check on Bess." Anna nodded and crouched down in from of Cathy and Anne as María hurried back up the hall.
"Scale of 1-10," Started Anna, softly, "how verbal are you two?"
Cathy just shook her head and stopped flicking the switch on the cube. Anne hesitated for a moment before holding up four fingers. Anna gave them a small smile. "Okay. Are either of you hurt?"
Anne shook her head, then looked at her girlfriend. "Cathy..." She said, quietly. Cathy looked at the floor, then rolled up the sleeve of her left arm to reveal a few marks that were already starting to bruise. "Started hitting 'fore I got there." Explained Anne, though her words were far slower than normal, "Pissed off." She added, rocking a little faster and pulling her knees up to her chest.
Anna nodded in understanding. "You've got every right to be. Both of you do." She slowly reached forward and offered Cathy her hand. The sixth Queen immediately reached for it and squeezed.
"They don't look too bad." Said Anna, looking over Cathy's arm, "I keep saying we should put a punching bag in the dressing rooms." That drew tired laughs from both the women in front of her, Cathy even gave a thumbs up. "Soon as everyone's ready, we're going home, okay?" Both of them nodded again. Cathy pulled herself forward and rested her forhead on Anna’s shoulder, releasing a shuddering sigh as she did. Anne continued rocking herself.
Kitty and Joan were next, with the fifth Queen all but dragging the MD.
"Wha' happened to you?" Asked Anne quietly, as Joan sunk down to sit between her and Cathy. Joan just leaned against the wall and glared at the floor.
"OCD, she’s having an episode." Explained Kitty, her voice as soft as it had been on the stage. The pink Queen placed herself to Anne's right, "You okay to touch?" Anne immediately flinched away from Kitty and shook her head. Kitty gave her a sad smile, "Okay."
Bessie and María came down the corridor a few minutes later, a slightly dishevelled Maggie following them. The guitar player's jacket was only half zipped up and she was slouched far more than normal. Joan stood up and pulled her girlfriend into a tight hug as soon as she saw her. Cathy gave Bessie a tired, but clearly confused look, then pointed at Maggie half-heartedly.
"She was struggling with her zip and she didn't have the patience to deal with up doing it." Said Bessie, as Catalina and Jane finally made their way out.
Jane immediately went and knelt in front of her cousins, accepting Kitty’s (slightly desperate) tackle hug and offering a hand to Anne. Anne didn't take it, but she did reach for, and start to fidget with, the soft material of Jane's sleeve. Catalina and María helped Cathy up and the sixth Queen immediately linked an arm with her godmother and leaned into her. María then linked an arm with Lina too and let out a tired and frustrated sigh.
Anna wrapped an arm around Maggie as the Cousins™️ got to their feet, while Bessie took Joan's hand. The three groups then made their way to the exit, with Anna occasionally having to guide Maggie away from small obstacles or catch her when her balance gave out.
Kitty had fully barnacled onto Jane and Anne seemed to slowly be coming down from her overload, since she was allowing Jane to wrap a very loose arm around her shoulders. Cathy still wasn't talking, but she wasn't sniffling anymore either, and María and Catalina where muttering to her in Spanish. Joan was leaning against Bessie so hard that Anna worried she was going to collapse, but the pianist still had a visibly tight grip on Maggie's hand.
By some miracle, they managed to get back to the Queens' house without anyone getting worse. Catalina, Anna and Bessie led Cathy, Maggie and Joan to the kitchen and began the process of making hot chocolates, teas and popcorn. Jane grabbed the first pizza menu she saw, then sat down with María so that the drummer could find everyone's preferred order and give Jane the number assigned to each item.
Kitty and Anne beelined upstairs and returned as the food was delivered: Kitty's arms full of blankets and stuffed animals, Anne's full of pillows and fairy lights that normally stayed in the attic. Kitty and Jane built a truly impressive blanket fort and the ten of them piled inside. Some of the lights were placed on the floor just outside, but two strands did find their way into the fort and into the hands of Anne and Cathy.
Cathy shrugged when Catalina gave the lights in her goddaughter's hands a questioning glance. "Moth brain." Was all Cathy said, drawing smiles and slight chuckles from the others. Cathy and Anne both liked fairy lights, neither really knew why.
A laptop, presumably Anna’s, was placed near the entrance to the blanket fort and a very small (and mostly whispered) argument quickly arose as everyone debated what they wanted to watch. A quiet mutter of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit sounds good right now" from Maggie eventually won, with a promise to Catalina that, if they were still awake after one movie, then yes, they would watch The Aristocats.
"Everyone okay?" Asked Bessie, as they settled down properly. Aramour and KatAnna responded with yeses and a 'mostly' from Kitty, before all eyes went to Parrlyn, Maggie and Joan. Joan gave a small smile and nodded, leaning back into Maggie. The guitar player smiled at her and kissed th top of her head, "I'm good too. Uh...sorry for all the pacing Bess."
The bass player just laughed and reached over to ruffle her hair, "Don't worry about it, I managed to heard you into the office pretty well."
"We're good...I think." Said Cathy, quietly, gesturing to herself and Anne. Anne just made a thumbs-up from where she was curled up between her cousins and girlfriend, already half asleep. The others laughed and began their pizza and movie night.
Bad days might suck, and so might people sometimes, but it really wasn't that bad as long as they all had each other.