Reach -- It's Not As Bad As It Seems {OPEN}

[KERRIGAN ROSELYN FLYNN]

In the latest midnight hour
When the world has gone to sleep
You gotta get up
When doubts begin to rise
And the world is at your feet
You gotta get up

Reach, It's not as bad as it seems
I cleanse in the river for somebody else,
For anyone but myself

Kerrigan had come a long way from the Mid-Atlantic city she'd been living for the past 7 years, hoping for a fresh start. Her white lace dress seemed a bit too formal for this town, but until she could change out her wardrobe, she was stuck with her city-girl style. She left her hotel room and ventured into town in search of new clothes and job offerings.

Her tan heels clicked as she made her way down the sidewalks that ran in front of the stores in Hope Harbor. This quiet little town was the perfect get away, or so it seemed at the time. Since she was currently running out of funds from her previous job in Philadelphia, PA as a model, she needed a job quickly. She wasn't too sure that she'd want to model again up here, or if she'd even get the chance to. There wasn't much of a chance for a modeling agency to be located in a tiny harbor town. Either way, with each store she entered, she kept an eye open and an ear out for any chance of a job opening.

She carried her brown leather clutch into another boutique, having already walked through countless shops and found nothing that jumped out to her. The word on the sign outside, "Studio", caught her eye before she came in, so once she was through the door, she looked around at all of the racks of cute and classy clothing. She made her way over to one of the racks which held a collection of dresses and started searching for one she liked. She found multiple dresses, some short, some long, and pulled them all off of the rack to try on.

With the dresses draped over her arm, she looked around for a sign of the dressing rooms and when she wasn't able to find them, made her way over to one of the workers. "Hi, is there anywhere I could try these on?" She asked the person who seemed to be an employee. It didn't matter to her if they actually worked there or not, she just wanted to try on her dresses, so if they knew where she could, more power to them.

(not much better, but I promise they won't all be this boring... she doesn't exactly have a backstory to work with, so we're winging it)

[KERRIGAN ROSELYN FLYNN]

Good going, Kerrigan... You just about gave this poor guy a heart attack. She thought to herself as the person she bothered spun around looking like he was ready to attack. His military uniform should have registered with her before, but she hadn't been paying nearly enough attention to it since she didn't normally want to talk to people in a strange town, let alone know what they were all wearing.

Know she knew why she went over to him; he was fixing a rack when she had scanned the store for someone who looked like an employee. It was clear to her now that he was just a normal guy, not just because of his uniform, or his confusion, but rather because of his downright embarrassment at being in such a store and having to buy a dress.

When he finally spoke up, having not heard what she said, just that she'd said something, she sighed lightly, looking back down at the dress. "Never mind, actually. I'm really sorry that I startled you."

[/i] She said to him with a small laugh, which was more out of nerves and embarrassment than out of humor. She knew that she could have gotten hurt had he chosen to lash out when surprised, so she was thankful he hadn't. "Are those for your sister, girlfriend or wife?"[/i] She asked him, leaving out the part that they may be for him, though it was clear that they weren't, she wasn't one to judge.

The way his face was set made her think that he'd already been out on active duty. It was so cold and stern, unattached almost, that she wouldn't ever doubt that this man had seen some horrible things. She wondered what exactly he did and in what branch of the military, but she didn't want to pester him any more than she already had, so she kept quiet. She'd known a few guys in high school who went off into the army and some to the marines, and each time she saw them on leave something else changed about them. They cared a little less, they spoke fewer words, and they shook a little more. This guy didn't seem to be shaking, however, which was good for him. She hated to see people who'd seen so much that their mind and body stopped working correctly.

She had seen him putting a few of the dresses back onto the shelf which he must have just stood up again and she decided to help him out. "You want to make sure they go up in size as they go down the rack..."[/i] She said to him softly as she took a few from his hands and placed them on the rack based on what their tag said. "I honestly didn't even hear this thing fall over... I guess I was in too much of a hurry to find a dressing room."[/i] She laughed lightly, glancing sideways towards him to see if he was calming down at all.[/center]

Outfit

[KERRIGAN ROSELYN FLYNN]

When he assured her it was not her fault, she looked at him with a doubtful glance. Surely his bumping into the clothing rack was not her fault, but she was almost 100% sure she was the one who had spooked him in the first place. She shook it off, however, not looking to start a petty argument over it. He seemed a little flustered at the moment, wide-eyed and antsy.

As he looked down at the pile of dresses surrounding him, she couldn't help but notice how utterly lost he looked. He was definitely forced to come into this store and would have never been caught in here otherwise. She felt for him, but then again, he didn't seem like the kind of guy who wanted sympathy... Either way, he was receiving it from her silently. He simply said that his sister was pregnant, and though he seemed to be confused as to why he said it out loud, it cleared up all of her questions and made perfect sense as to why he was there. "So she sent you here to buy her a new dress?"

[/i] She assumed, looking back down at the pile of clothing on the floor. "Right... well I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you have no idea what to buy her, right?"[/i] She guessed, hoping she wasn't being too annoying, but at that point, she just didn't want him to grab the first dress he saw and go back to an angry sister. Especially if she was pregnant.

She may have been new around here, but she had a feeling that he was a local, and if she was right, that meant that the shop owners or other townspeople had to know who his sister was and what size she'd be. She figured he'd have trouble knowing his sister's size, especially since she was larger than normal... If he did know, however, he'd be a lot more prepared than she would have expected. She laughed lightly when he said his sister had given him "orders". It was very military of him.

He knelt down to get the rest of the dresses as she organized them again, knowing how to since she was used to the clothing racks from the studio back in Philly. When he handed her the rest of the dresses, she hung them up accordingly and laughed quietly at his joke, looking at him with a smile on her face. "Well maybe we should fix that."[/i] She suggested with a grin as she readjusted her bag on her shoulder and fixed the dress she had laid out over her arm that she wanted to try on later. "Which one did you have in mind for your sister?[/i] She asked him.[/center]

[KERRIGAN ROSELYN FLYNN]

"So you are a military man, then?"

[/i] She observed after he explained how he got his clothes. "I had a hunch. She winked with a small smile, her manner slightly joking and playful, trying to get him to feel more comfortable and not be so tense all of the time. As he looked all around the store and tried to make sense of some of the clothing, she followed his eyes and saw the store through his eyes. She sighed and nodded her head. "In all honesty, I can't even tell you what that is... I've always thought of it as the store's way of knowing who is insecure and therefore would be an easy target to trap in a dressing room and shove clothes at... They do that, by the way."[/i] She warned him at the end, remembering her first time in one of the clothing stores in the mall and how she had to sneak out of the dressing room before the Sales Associate came back with another mountain of clothing for her to try on and hopefully be forced into buying. After that experience, she only ever went into that store knowing what she wanted to buy.

After all of the clothes were placed back on the rack, organized in the correct way, and she'd laughed at his joke, he seemed to be a little less stressed out. His smile nearly stretched from ear to ear, which made her smile again. She'd forced one out of that cold and stone-set face, which to her was an accomplishment to be proud of, even though she'd just met him. When he said that they should change that sometime, she took it as an open invitation to do something with him soon.

She saw him narrow his eyes when she resettled her bag on her shoulder and her eyes narrowed a bit in return, wondering what it was that he was so torn about now. She was about to ask him what he was thinking about, and then decided not to, since she might just be reading too far into his facial expressions. When he looked at the racks on either side of him and blindly grabbed one of the dresses hanging there, she raised an eyebrow at him. "Alright... so while that is a dress, do you even know what size she is now?" She asked him with a small laugh. The dress in his hand was a fairly small size, a 2, which she doubted a pregnant women would fit in, even though she'd never seen his sister, and she was sure she had a great figure, she was still expecting, which meant her stomach area would be much larger than normal. [/center]

[KERRIGAN ROSELYN FLYNN]

Kerrigan nodded with a small grin. "It works on you, though. Seems pretty natural."

[/i] She assured him. He just had that mannerism about him which seemed like the ideal kind of soldier. It helped that his face seemed to be set in stone as a stern and cold expression, and that he was a fairly tall and muscular guy.

The poor man looked more lost than a lone child at Sea World as he tried to figure out if there was some secret formula for picking out a dress. As he tried to describe his sister's size to her, she let out a small laugh, "Did you just call your sister fat?"[/i] She asked him with a false look of shock upon her face. "How far along is she? Probably pretty close if her stomach is out to here." She laughed as she did the same thing he had done to her, holding her hand out in front of him. "Alright, well-"[/i] She started to suggest they leave these dresses alone and go look elsewhere when she took a look at the one he had just pulled out. "Honey... her stomach may be bigger, but I doubt her shoulders and rib cage grew as well." She laughed quietly, taking the dress from his hand gently and putting it back on the rack. "Let's go look at the maternity section. That might be closer to her fit."[/i]

She said as she turned around and led him to another part of the floor. Each dress was normal until it reached the mid-section, where it allowed for a larger bump. "These are the ones in my size, allowing for a baby bump, pick and choose, and I'll go ask one of the workers if they have a fake bump so I can make sure they would fit, okay?"[/i] She asked him as she started to walk away.[/center]

[KERRIGAN ROSELYN FLYNN]

He was obviously too serious for his own good, having taken her comment about calling his sister fat literally and seeming frightened by her "interpretation" of his words. "Just a joke, don't worry."

[/i] She laughed, waving her hands in a "no harm meant" way. Her eyebrows raised at how far along his sister was. "Well then, no wonder her belly is so big!"[/i] She said with a clap of her hands. Eight months pregnant was... really pregnant. It wasn't a surprise that she was ordering him to go buy her a dress. She was probably stressing out. Kerrigan didn't know much about babies and pregnancies, but from her old coworkers, she knew that women could get moody and mean when they were pregnant.

"I mean... yes, I'm sure her belly wasn't the only thing that got big, but that dress wouldn't have fit her in the right places."[/i] She explained. She motioned to her ribcage area and her shoulders. "If a dress is big here, even if these are bigger than normal, it won't fit, and therefore more of these will show, which, as her brother, I'm sure you wouldn't like that." She said, having picked up that he was a bit protective of his sister, and a guy like that wouldn't want his sister to show any more skin than necessary.

When she heard his confusion about the fake bump, she couldn't help but smile, though she did manage to refrain from laughing. "Looks like you're gonna be learning a lot today, huh?"[/i] She asked him with a wink as she turned around and went to find a clerk. She then heard him begin to stumble over words as he tried to form a thought. He followed her out, not wanting to be left alone in the maternity section of a department store, and she couldn't help but laugh quietly as he caught up to her. "Whatever floats your boat, though I totally would have pinned you as a guy who is comfortable and secure enough to stand in a women's clothing section and not feel weird."[/i] She said with a wink, shaking her head to let him know that she was kidding and not judging him.

As they made their way down the aisle, she searched for one of the workers, finally spotting one fixing a few of the shirts on the racks. "Excuse me, could I try on some of the dresses back in the Maternity section? I'm not too far along yet, so I'll need the baby bump to make sure they'll fit."[/i] She asked the clerk who smiled, looking to both she and Coleman and nodding. "Of course, I'll go grab it and meet you back by the dressing rooms." She said to her, turning around and heading to go find it. Kerrigan turned around and gave Coleman a smile. "About face! Go find some she'd like and I'll try them on."[/i] She said to him.[/center]

[KERRIGAN ROSELYN FLYNN]

She was a bit taken aback by his straightforward statement. Didn't like his sister being pregnant? Well, it made sense. Would any guy want to think of his little sister as old enough to do that stuff? Probably not. Yet, something about the way he said it, and now the look on his face, implied that there was some story behind it. She wasn't about to pry, however, as that would just be a little creepy. Plus, she knew very well that she would get it out of him or someone else at some point or another. Maybe even that day if she played her cards right.

She offered a small smile as he sighed, "I know it's not the most fun to learn about, but it'll be helpful when you're dealing with your sister, right?"

[/i] She said to the obviously uninterested and seemingly lost man beside her. She'd never had to deal with guys when a woman was pregnant, it was only the girls that she'd handled. At least three of her coworkers had gotten pregnant when she was working back in Philly and she was always their go-to girl when they needed anything. She ran errands, she made coffee runs, she gave massages, and anything else they wanted her to do. She always needed extra money, and since she was an all-around worker when she wasn't modeling, and she always needed extra money, she did it without hesitation. Now that she was seeing how a guy handled a girl they knew being pregnant, she felt as if she knew more about what the girls were going through when they were expecting.

She wouldn't have known what to expect if that pregnancy test had been positive... She sure as hell knew that she wouldn't have any guy buying her a dress just because she wanted one. In fact... she wouldn't have any guy at all. If she were pregnant, she'd be stuck working as a make up artist and maybe she'd find some store that wanted a model for a maternity section, but they had baby bumps for that... not actual pregnant girls. She'd have some help from the other girls who'd already had babies, but they were all married or they were perfectly happy in their relationship with a boyfriend. She'd be all alone in a seemingly empty apartment, ignoring the phone calls from her family which always seemed to come every other day at the same time. She wondered why it was that they always called, even when she never picked up. It wasn't the time or place for her to think about that, however, so she shoved those thoughts back down her throat. She was not pregnant. She was not still in Philadelphia. She was not about to fall back into that life.

She looked to the man as the woman walked away and suppressed her laughter as she caught the last of his panicked expression as it faded back into his stone cold face. "You definitely need to relax, bud." She said to him with a shake of her head.

When she saw him smile at her joke and then actually salute her, she did laugh out loud, loving that he went along with it. After a quick step to the side, [will fill in later].

Once back into the section of dresses which she let him choose from, she stood back and glanced at a few, seeing which ones she liked, but double checking them with his skin tone, guessing his sister's would be similar, and it was different than her own, which was more Irish than Italian, unfortunately.

After a few minutes, he seemed to have a good selection on his arm for her to try. "Whenever you're ready, it's in the second dressing room. Just let me know when you want to try anything on and I'll take you back." The sales clerk said to them as she walked back to the rack she was organizing. "You think you've got enough?[/i] Kerrigan asked him, wondering if he saw anything else he wanted her to try on. [/center]