Everything comes back to you -J.MARIANO

[1.26]

𝓐s promised the day she lost her game of poker, Taryn got her surgery despite how reluctant she had been in the first place. The morning of, where they had driven to the hospital, she hadn't said or signed a word. Her dads by now understood that it was just worry but still tried to keep her somewhat included in the discussion as a distraction.

She woke post surgery in a chair with a blanket draped across her lap, a pressure around her hand and a distant ache within her head. She blinked rapidly as her eyes readjusted to the light, hoping that the act would remove some of the grogginess she felt. Her fluttering gaze landed on a face she hadn't expected to be currently present and she smiled as he gently squeezed her hand. "Morning," Jess chuckled ever so softly but spoke with enunciated letters as she had taught him to do post surgery. It just made understanding him, without the limited help that her hearing aids brought, slightly easier.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have work?" she asked with a certain heaviness to her voice as she pushed herself up in the chair with her fizzy feeling arms.

"Luke gave me the afternoon off to come and see you," he explained slowly. Taryn paused, her eyes full of such confusion that he instantly repeated himself so she could understand.

She smiled groggily,  "That was nice of him."

"Rare occasion I know-" Jess cut himself off as her parents walked into the room, having just been on a quick coffee and snack run. Her parents grinned as her Da set down a third coffee cup in front of Jess.

^How are you feeling?^ her Dad signed once she was looking in his direction.

Feeling too out of it to even lift her arms to sign, she replied, "Cold and sleepy."

^But okay other than that?^ Da signed as Jess pulled the blanket on her knees up further so it covered more of her body.

She nodded and quickly smiled her thanks to her boyfriend before asking the once question that had been on her mind since she woke. "Did it go okay?"

^Perfectly. You're booked in to get them turned on in four weeks.^ As her Da replied, the Doctor who had worked on her ears knocked on the door. Taryn could only hear it faintly but it must have been loud enough to make both of her parents jump and practically run to go and see if something was wrong.

"Did the surgery go okay?" Jess asked somewhat quietly, the same concern flooding his eyes as it had hers only minutes ago.

She nodded once more, not bothering to attempt to understand the conversation her parents were having with the doctor.  "Sorry, forgot you don't know sign. It went fine apparently, I get them turned on in a few weeks."

"That's good, right?"

She shrugged as the warmth the blanket had suddenly brought started to add to her sleepiness. "If they work."

"They will."

"I hope so," she replied softly, this time unable to filter out her want for the surgery to work. She had created a belief that she didn't care how it went as a sort of protection for herself. It would just help if things were to go bad or if the implants just didn't work for her. "I want to listen to the birds at the lake. I don't know what chirping sounds like."

"We can fix that soon enough," he promised and she couldn't help but smile at the mere idea of hearing such things. She just adored this side of him, the side that only came out when they were alone and he wasn't thinking of all the other stresses going on in his life. She leant upwards and he met her lips before she could move too much, not wanting her to strain to much and cause damage even though she was sure she wouldn't.

-

Almost four weeks on the button passed and Taryn found herself sitting in her usual doctors office only this time the nerves caused her leg to bound rapidly. She was completely unaware of the conversation her parents and the doctor were having as she had her back to the doctor and was too nervous to read her parents lips. Instead Tas did his job as best friend rather adequately, using the only thing he knew how to distract her. Mirroring the appointment where they actually discovered her hearing difficulty, he attempted to make her laugh through various hilarious expressions that never failed to make her laugh. Slowly and subtly, Taryn  became aware of some static and looked at her Dads anxiously. Tas, in confusion, asked a question that made her jump.

^You're loud,^  she explained after Tas looked concerned and confused. ^And swampy.^

"Your brain just needs to relearn the sounds, that'll go away," the doctor explained and Taryn  smiled softly as she could comprehend some of what was being said. "I'll just turn it down for you... Is that better?"

Taryn  nodded and attempted to listen to some of the background noises within the room though they were still subtle and difficult to hear completely. She tried to listen to the tapping of the keys on the doctor's keyboard and the sound her shoes made against the floor as she swung them back and forth. She looked to her parents just in time to catch them both wiping away tears as they hadn't seen their daughter communicate with someone without looking at them for the majority of her life. "I thought you'd sob or something."

She laughed softly and could hear it within her own ears, though it currently sounded high pitched and slightly muffled. "You sound like a blobfish Tas."

Tas, unable to say anything in reply to that, just chuckled as she did. Taryn  had not heard her best friends laugh in such clarity in an extremely long time and, though she would never admit it, she felt tears prickling in the corner of her eyes. The floodgates opened just a little more when the swampiness dulled a little more and her parents began to talk.

-

On the drive home, Taryn  had full control of the cd choice. Whilst the music was greatly overwhelming and still sounded funky, she refused to take off her processors. After a seconds convincing, her Dads dropped her off outside of the diner. She took a breath and enjoyed the silence of the afternoon for a moment before stepping into the building. Dinner rush had never been so overwhelming. The crashing from the kitchen, clinking of cutlery and Luke's yells got to her way too quickly and she found the need to leave almost as soon as she walked in the door. Quickly, she found Jess and made wide eye contact with him before leaving the diner.

She waited outside for him to have a second to come out and talk to her. She paced and jumped at how loud cars seemed to be, especially ones that tended to rev their engines. By the time Jess walked out of the diner, whilst pulling a jacket over his shoulders, Taryn was so overwhelmed that she only wanted to climb into bed and take off the processors. "How'd it go Tee?" he asked as he approached her, gaze fixed on hers to read a response before it occured.

"Woah," she blurted without thinking. Her hand flew to her mouth, as if to prevent what had already occured as soft laughter fell from her lips. 

"Woah?" he echoed, brow furrowed deeply.

She grinned as she stepped towards him. She draped her arms around his neck and connected her hands behind his head. She pressed a quick kiss to his lips then whispered, "I like the accent Mariano." 

Finally having an explanation to her reaction, he chuckled within his chest and the sound only increased the warmth within her stomach. He wrapped his arms around her waist, one hand resting in the small of her back, as he grinned into the kiss as joy for her overtook all thoughts.