a world alone [hbo war / band of brothers]

12: plans

A/N: I apologize for the unintended hiatus. I did not plan on updating nearly a year after the last update, but life decided to kick my ass in the second half of 2022/first half of 2023. Between writer's block/plot bunnies, working, and attending graduate school full time, I suffered a terrible loss in my family. To make a long story short, my grandfather's health rapidly declined and he passed away in spring 2023. While I'm glad he's no longer in pain, I was inconsolable and we still have yet to have some type of service for him/what he wanted. (It's a long, complicated story.) Needless to say, that really fucked me over and I'm still hurt, but I'm doing better now...even if I cried in public yesterday.

While I went back-and-forth with this chapter (seriously, a lot of plot bunnies happened here), I decided to finally post it after revising like one hundred times. My rationale is that this might be the last, what I would call, "slice of life" chapter because we are officially diving into our next arc in the next chapter! Unless the plot bunnies convince me otherwise, LOL. Without further ado, here is chapter 12. I hope you enjoy it!

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"Whatcha thinking about?"

Madison, whose chin was resting against the palm of her hand, looked up to see Katharine Phillips peering down at her with a friendly smile.

"Hmm?" Madison hummed before registering her friend's words. "Ah, nothing."

"Well, whatcha got under you?"

Madison glanced down at the papers on her desk. If you looked close enough, you could make out the words. However, Madison didn't have big handwriting, and her writing tended to look like chicken scratch according to her relatives.

So glad Morgan's the writer in the family, not me, Madison shuddered in thought. The best she could do is the bullet point method in her diary and scribble her rage like a preschooler. The only exception was filling out official documents and writing notes—that was part of her job as a medic and she was improving this skill by working at her uncle's law firm.

Ah, legality, Madison thought. It's good to understand but it's numbskulling. I'm impressed that Jack can translate all this bullshit.

"This?" Madison gestured to her paper. "Ah, personal matters. I've been filling it out during my down time. Lunch, too."

"You focus on other things rather than food?" Katharine joked.

"Hey, I can multitask unlike some people here," Madison defended herself. Also, was it just her, or did she sound like her South Philly friends just now?

"Are you referring to me?"

"I was thinking about my uncle's partners and all those other bigshot lawyers, but if the shoe fits..."

The two women made brief, silent eye contact before laughing.

"Okay, but seriously Maddie, it looks like you're creating an itinerary," Katharine noted as she peered closer.

"Well, kind of," Madison admitted. "I...I decided to do something, but I need to convince my aunt and uncle that I can do it—and all by myself, too."

"Ooooh!" Katharine was hooked on Madison's explanation. "What are you planning? A trip?"

"Ja, I want to visit some friends," Madison nodded. "I was thinking about visiting my parents, too. I miss them. My sister and brother too."

"Your sister isn't visiting during her spring break? Or your brother?"

Madison shook her head sadly.

"My sister's real busy with school and her job, so I don't want her to be stressed because of me. My brother's spring break doesn't align with any of our schedules, and I want him to focus on school first."