《 Skip a Beat 》

Flowers and letters

Tina awoke the next day feeling positively lighter. Telling Newt how she felt was a huge weight lifted off her chest- she could feel it now. All smiles, Tina pondered over how she could add another colourful twist to Newt's day as she got dressed.

By the time she'd finished breakfast, she was ready to flounce out the door with a new surprise.

The younger Goldstein sister was already up- there was no trace of her in the house, and her pink coat wasn't hanging on the rack. Tina's guess was that Queenie had left for the hospital already.

After a brief stopover at a small florist, the hospital was Tina's next destination too. She went straight up to Newt's room, a bunch of bluebells clutched behind her back with a hand and tied neatly with a silver ribbon.

The lights were off, unsurprisingly. Queenie was slouched in one of the chairs next to the bed, flipping blandly through a magazine. The only sound was the incessant, albeit slower than yesterday piercing of the heart rate machine.

Tina made herself swallow thickly and offer her sister a half smile.

"Is Newt alright?" she whispered, still grounded at the entrance of the room.

Queenie lifted her wand, silently commanding the door to click closed behind Tina. Any light spilling from outside was immediately extinguished, and the room was bathed in shade once again. Tina didn't move.

"Sleeping off the pain," replied her sister bluntly. Queenie gave her a weak smile. "He does it quite a bit."

When she didn't receive a response, she went on.

"I suggested it, since the side affects from all the potions are making him feel weird."

At last, Tina seemed to deem this a reasonable explanation, and a flicker of sorrow flit across her face. Queenie lowered her eyes to the linoleum floor.

The elder sister strode across the room and gently slid her bunch of flowers into the vase next to Newt's bed, pausing only a moment to let her eyes linger on them, then the heart rate screen- then Newt.

A muscle feathered in Tina's jaw, and Queenie bit her lip, keeping her eyes trained on the ground.

A moment later, Tina had dropped into the chair at her sister's side, both of them sitting right next to their friend.

Tina found herself fiddling nervously with her thumbs again, and caught herself before Queenie noticed. Unfortunately for her, the younger sister was already watching her internal battle.

"Your occlumency isn't always effective," Queenie mused smugly. Tina scowled, severing her train of thought from her prying sister.

"I forget sometimes," she said tautly.

"Forget to shield thoughts like, I like Newt's freckles?"

Tina's stomach flipped, and she resolved to fiddling with her thumbs again, willing her gaze not to meet Queenie's eyes.

That was a yes, then.

Somehow, after a couple minutes, Tina no longer felt the urge to indulge in any nervous quirks, and her fingers stilled in her lap. She fixated her eyes on Newt, the melancholy expression returning to her face.

"It's hard, isn't it?" came Queenie's gentle voice from beside her. Numbly, she nodded.

"Newt appreciates everything you're doing, you know that?"

Tina didn't respond.

"He does, Teen. But everything is going to be a lot harder this time round. He's going through so much pain, ya know? I read his thoughts earlier- he's hurting. This recovery is going to be hard for him."