Close as Strangers [Haruu & Hana]

She wasn't surprised that after she said her name: Hanako, a short silence followed. She wasn't sure if she had made it up during Christmas but she had the idea that she had not been... welcome, yet perhaps. She did not know, all she wanted to do was ask Haruuhi how she was doing in person and well give her stuff. She had wanted to show her first but maybe it had been smarter to drop it off at home. Had she hoped her gifts had made it better, surely that's how shallow she could be or more like naive. 

She expected Haruuhi to be in her bed and looked at her with surprise when the girl stood at the window sill, "I was about to ask how you were doing." She said politely, holding on to, still too many bags. She closed the door softly behind her and got out of the way in case a nurse would come in or anything. She did not walk too close to Haruuhi but stayed closer to the door in case she wanted her out. "How are you feeling?" She eyed her, obviously having no idea if the girl still had to be in bed. She noticed the braces and the bandage around her arms and wondered how that all did add up. She only had been in the story once: to prevent news about Bucket but that was about it. It did not matter now to her at least, it more mattered if Haruuhi was doing okay. "I actually came to bring you ehm..." she had not wanted to call it stuff. "I found your backpack as well as, how to say it?" She said out loud and took the second back, with the electronic parts, she hoped she gathered everything, she had checked about three to four times if there was nothing left around, she had even worn her glasses to be sure.  The reason why she had not told G was because she had promised to stay indoors, which she had not done. "Well, I would say you should see for yourself. I tried to gather everything," She would walk closer to Haruuhi if she would let her and show her the bag, opened to show the parts that she got. 

Great on making a second, first impression, bringing her broken... toys? 

Maybe it wasn't so bad that she was here without G, if she ha any guesses and there was a lot swirling in her mind, she still had the feeling that Haruuhi wasn't happy about her. She could understand that she would see herself as the Nanami to Haruuhi. Interesting how the roles had changed after a long time. However, it was her intention to be liked by Haruuhi in the end, as she had told G, and not to be an egocentric girl like her sister. I'm fine, was that still teenage language for shut up and get over it? She was probably seeing too much alarm bells that weren't even there. Her eyes followed the girl, walking towards her bed, Hanako was rather impressed by the perseverance that the girl showed. 

When Hanako mentioned she came to bring something, her heart stopped for a few when a harsh and short I don't want anything was added by Haruuhi, was that a silent: from you...? She did not want to be stuck by that and pretend not to hear it, saying she found her backpack and showed her the other bag that she got with her. The one with the metal scraps, she did not know what was important so she had taken everything with her that she could have found. 

"Well, eh..." She had no idea how fast the police had been there. "I have no idea how they have been searching but the weather must not have been helpful, I just decided to take a look." Also because your father mentioned something about a name and I wanted to make sure I did my work right and well... she prayed in her mind that Haruuhi wouldn't tell him because... he would ask when she would have left her building. She might not look the part, with her long black hair, stylish outfits (even if she said so herself) and her long black hair, "I noticed how close you were so I wanted to make sure I could find your robodog but I am afraid it, well you know." Obviously, she did not have to explain, Haruuhi was there and she should not treat her like a stupid child. Which reminded her of something she did not want to be reminded about at this point and she just took a deep breath into her nose, hoping to forget. If she could not bond with Haruuhi, how would she ever be okay with her own child? She did not say anything anymore but watched the motions of Haruuhi looking through the scrapes, that had given her some ice cold red fingers when she went to find all through the snow. She waited as she noticed the girl hug a small black box, now she wasn't all too smart with technology or electronics but it reminded her of a black box in a plane and that could explain why she hugged it. 

Shit. She had made her cry. "Ara, that's good, right? Can you fix it?" She frowned, obviously worried but did not dare to come closer and push Haruuhi further away from her already. Okay maybe now was the time to bring up that she could bring her to such a conference, so she could pick up new pieces, she wouldn't mind paying for it, better spend money on something useful than buying more unnecessary clothing but she wasn't sure how to bring it, depending on how the situation was too. 

Hanako felt slightly uncomfortable, not per se because of Haruuhi but the effect she herself had on the girl. She did not make it any better at this point. She did not know what to say to make things better and not even if she was able to say anything to make things better. She wished she could sit down but she did not dare to ask, it only made it look like she would stay longer, it was just that she did not feel well but she had told G to not tell anybody yet so that was a thing that she could not show any weakness! She bit her lip softly and softly held her breath when Haruuhi spoke to her, she would breathe softly again once the girl stopped murmuring. There could not have been better words said at this point. This was the best moment to continue the conversation that she had had before and that she wanted to tell Haruuhi. She still wondered how she should start about the question in general. 

She opened her mouth but Haruuhi looked at her with a glance and she closed it as soon as possible again and looked at the girl with big blue eyes out of surprise. "Oh, well ehm, it's okay, I mean I wouldn't be entirely happy if I meet someone for the first time at Christmas either." She tried to shift the blame to the big universe anyway. "But I am glad I could help a bit with your dog." She took a deep breath before she would continue the next sentence. "As about that, you said you need new parts. I ehm, I actually wanted to invite you to the electronics fair or conference. I have to go there for work but I can ask for an extra ticket." Okay, this sounded very creepy but she had said she wanted to bond with his children and well here was she starting on that. G had told her that Haruuhi liked electronics so here she was trying that out. Besides, it was the best timing ever.  

Hanako did not want to think too much about the impression she must have made, she hated how she had behaved during the days of Christmas and New Years, it was a miracle that her meetings with Macabre had been going fine, maybe it was less pressure? Even if it counted after an important meeting and working on an article. She took a deep breath, trying to take it so softly that no one else would hear. She had no idea what the girl thought and maybe for now wanted to keep it that way as she could become way too emotional. She was a bit blown away by the over-excited reaction of the girl when she spoke about the tech convention. She got an amused smile on her face now that she noticed the little blush on her cheeks and it looked as if Haruuhi was a girl for once. She was trying to hard to become an adult in the opinion of Hanako. 

"I do have to warn you that I have to work but we can mostly see the convention. As for why, well I hoped you would like it, your father told me that you liked electronics and such since I have to go there why not take someone who likes it?" She hoped that she worded it right because she knew and Gil knew that she was obviously trying to bond with her to get along and to become better at whatever you wanted to call this, avoiding the word mom, stepmom, anything, she was just Hanako, her dad's girlfriend. "It's in a few weeks and well now you say that you need new parts for your dog, it is only better than it will be soon." Hopefully at the right timing that Haruuhi could be out of the hospital. 

"Oh, I am a columnist in a magazine, Metropolitan, maybe you have heard about it, so I work with the news and everything." She brushed away her long black hair back over her shoulder now she did not have to be that nervous any more. Haruuhi apologized, not that it was necessary but it at least showed her the girl was thinking about it and she seemed to be interested. "People want to know about the tech convention, so I would write about it. Keep people up to date, so we have to go on the first day it is in town of course. I hope it will not be at a moment that you have to skip school." But that sounded so airy and maybe even cynical that she hoped Haruuhi would not point her out for skipping class, they could always go after class, she could pick her up if Haruuhi wanted. "We will see what you need, I don't mind helping you with finding it." And buying it but if this girl was any like her father, she would not accept the money, she assumed parts for a robotic dog would not be cheap and she wasn't sure if Haruuhi would ask G and if he would help fund it and she had no idea how much it paid to be a security guard at metropolitan for that matter. She assumed more than enough. 

So she told her that it would be in a few weeks and Hanako thought it might be best to leave it at that and ask her in a few weeks again when she had the tickets and the date was drawing near. Better to not stretch this point now. She wanted to introduce her leaving by taking a step to the door but Haruuhi surprised her with the last question. "Why would your dad come too? I thought it would be nice to just be the two of us." Unless G was totally into technology and stuff but he could just play at that game console thing or youknow, work. She really needed a hobby. "Unless you want him along of course?" She should consider what Haruuhi wanted, not what she or G wanted. Especially if Haruuhi didn't want to spend the time alone with her. She would wait for the answers before letting Haruuhi know that she would inform her of the date later and what they could do, she fished out one of her business cards so Haruuhi had her phone number and could text her so Hanako had hers, if she did not mind, it would just make it easier to make appointments after all. She hoped the girl understood that she did it for her, to have something fun once out of the hospital.