Playlist for the Apocalypse (Sweet Pea/Betty)

Track 23: San Luis

3 Days Post Awakening; March 19, 2019

Betty slept a lot. That was Sweet Pea's analysis. Sure, he wasn't a doctor, so it wasn't the best of conclusions, but it was the only one he knew how to make. He was pretty sure Brad was shutting him out of the important shit, just to annoy him. Either that, or he was a totally fake doctor in it for the chicks.

In his head, Sweet Pea imagined wild scenarios where Brad lied to a girl in this post-apocalyptic world that he had his MD, and then it just snowballed, and now here they were at the end of time, and he was just making it up as he went along.

Yeah, Sweet Pea liked that answer, because at least on some part, it would mean that Betty sleeping so much and seeming so out of it was just because Brad was someone who should get his fake license taken away, not because it was out of their hands.

Sweet Pea knew he was hardly in control of anything lately, but he'd fucking fight fate if they were going to try to take Betty away again.

Yet, in the back of his mind, he knew this to be illogical. He knew he couldn't fight fate. He knew Brad was actually a real-live doctor. He knew that they were doing all anyone could. He knew that Betty's ability to heal was not based on anything he could do...and that's what sucked the most.

He tried to be next to her as often as he could. To make sure nothing tore of went wrong, he'd been gently (as gently as Brad knew how) suggested to sleep in a different bed than her. He'd dragged an armchair sofa right next to her, and though it was about as comfortable as sleeping on a box of rocks covered in a semi-itchy blanket, no one was going to hear a peep out of him.

So, at least, when Betty was unconscious, he was by her side.

When she was awake, he was less so, though not by any choice of his own.

He knew that they should properly, really, seriously talk about their confessions to each other and what it meant going forward, but Betty was always yawning and had bags under her eyes and just seemed so weak, that it didn't seem like the time or place.

Plus, if Betty was awake, Jellybean was basically glued to her side.

And fine, whatever, he got it. The kid probably had some trauma regarding losing people, and so it made sense she clung to Betty so desperately, unwilling to spare a moment away from her.

Sweet Pea didn't want to be that asshole; the one that kicked a kid in need out and told her to scram...but heck. He really wanted to.

He wanted a moment alone with her, just to try to sort through what she'd told him and what he felt. Each passing day that this conversation didn't happen weighed upon him uncomfortably, like a thorn lodged in his skin, becoming more irritated each day. An itch he needed to scratch.

One day, he told himself as Jellybean talked a mile a minute about her former middle-school class, and a math teacher that had been downright villainous, and Betty nodded with interest and bright smiles.

Sigh. One day soon.

5 Days Post Awakening/ March 21, 2019

The downstairs basement, which up until now had been comprised of a storage area, Sweet Pea's music hall, and not much else, was now taken over by a million papers.

It seemed weird and lucky that there would be so much information nicely written down on something physical, and not like a computer with eight passcodes, but then again, Octavia had flipped to see an iPod. No one uses technology much anymore.