OOC: Takes place during the big AU plot and totally backdated to then.

The final showdown was something to behold, but in all the motion and movement, two of the women became separated from the rest, the sound of heavy boots on the ground after them as they found a corner to hide in.

Neither Jennifer or Kris were particularly physically strong, and Jennifer's mind was still trying to recover from having used her powers, so the trembles were wracking her body and she needed as much support as any injured person.

"Stop!" Tobias shouted, his weapon drawn and raised as he chased them, shooting two electric bullets after the women. Against his other leg rested his pistol that fired brass stakes with a silver tip, effective on the human and were enemies they had. He flicked his wrist to recharge his gun and pulled the other. "Submit and be purged or I will shoot!"

He was one of the best marksmen in this unit. Not the best, but one of them.

( Run! )

( Suffering )

After their eventful landing in what they now knew to be some place called 'Lincoln Park', Jenny and Alec had branched out to see whether or not they could find anything that would be of help to the others. They needed medical supplies, food, water and clean clothes, preferably of the kind that the women here wore. The tattered remains of Jenny's dress hung at her knees and she fiddled with the hem as they walked, loose threads tickling her skin.

They'd branched out pretty far from their initial landing spot, but now exhaustion was beginning to get the best of them. They were both half-starved and exhausted, the adrenaline coursing through their brains not being enough to keep them going for long. Jenny's hands were already shaking, she couldn't remember the last time she'd had a decent meal. The vampires were not the only ones that struggled to eat. In fact, they probably had it easier as many - including Jenny herself once or twice - had offered themselves to be a small snack to tide the vampire over for a while.

As they had walked side by side, probably looking every bit as tired and strung out as they were, Jenny's hand had slipped into Alec's for the reassurance, and also so that they wouldn't get separated in the crowds. Apparently, there were people out and having fun at such a late time of night. Well, it was early in the morning, she supposed, and the people that were out did look like they were the last dregs of a heavy night of drinking and partying, whooping and cheering and vomiting in nearby bins.

"We need to find somewhere to rest, and we need to get something to dress that cut," she said quietly, knowing that their base was somewhere behind then, but there was not a lot that they could do to get back there now. They needed to get supplies and things first, and the cut on Alec's head looked nasty. She knew the one on hers had stopped bleeding, at least. She didn't think she could walk that far, and more than that, she was hungry and dirty and she wanted to just get clean and find somewhere to sleep for a while that wasn't a bunk or a hard, wooden or stone floor. She wrinkled her nose and then looked up at him with something approaching a grin, adding teasingly, "And you still need to have a wash."

( Thousands Of People )

( Close Encounter )

( Stopping For The Evening )

When Alec had agreed to come back and settle his beef with that asshole he had no idea what he was getting into. The race itself was insane and it had no rhyme or any reason, every rider was out for themselves, the more confident ones muscling others not so confident off the track.

He'd already watched two guys go down and not get back up and he was trying very hard not to think about it, simply accelerating before braking to handle a sharp turn. The back of the bike swung out and the bike's weight balanced on the front wheel, precariously and dangerously, but Alec shifted his weight and manipulated both gears and brakes to allow the bike to hit tarmac again.

He breathed out and pressed down again, letting the bike handle the road ahead with as much speed as he could pull from its tank, determined not to let the guys behind him overtake and try to muscle him out. Alec's hands tightened around handlebars and pressed down, shifting through the lull that accompanied the next corner, drawing his weight up a few moments later.

( One More Lap )

Alec pulled on the split in his lip and grunted faintly as he spat out a mouthful of blood, hissing in a breath that caused his teeth to rattle in his jaw. Apparently he'd taken a bend too fast, cut somebody off and the brute hadn't taken too well to coming in last. It really wasn't Alec's fault that the dude couldn't ride.

"Look," he began, immediately cut off by a set of hands in his collar and hauled to his feet. Okay, wow, strong. "It's not my fault you lost."

"You cut me off!" He snarled before drawing his hand back.

Thankfully this time Alec saw it coming so he had the good sense to duck and figured fuck it if the guy could try and kick his ass then he might as well give as good as he got. Alec slammed himself into the other man's stomach and took him down to the ground, managing to catch his own knee at the time, not that it mattered. Alec was currently focusing on making sure the other man couldn't and wouldn't get up anytime soon.

( Tomorrow )

At three in the morning the streets of Chicago were practically empty except for a stray cab here and there, meaning the long stretches of tarmac were free to anybody to roam. Perfect for those adrenaline fueled junkies that got a kick out of pushing themselves to the limit, hitting the gas and seeing how far and how fast they could go.

Street racing - it was highly illegal, but exactly what a stressed out overworked doctor with a weakness for adrenaline rushes needed. Alec had his friend from work to thank for having found out about the races, without him he never would have gotten near the place. He'd said something about vouching for Alec.

It was risky, anything could happen, one wrong fall and you could quite easily wipe yourself out, but hell, that was half the fun.

Alec had watched several races, winced at a couple and then talked to the guys involved. Thankfully he could strike up conversation with pretty much anyone so getting to know about the races was easy enough. The circuit was well known amongst the more seasoned riders and they took their time in detailing it to Alec, pausing only long enough to ask about his curiosity. It was then that he admitted he wanted to race, get involved and see how well or badly he did at it.

( Ready... Steady... Go! )

Alec was out with his co-workers again, wondering once again why he'd agreed to this night out, his co-workers were insane when they were out. It was like they were trying to forget all their worries and just live excessively because they could. He supposed it was all about the pressure and ultimately the stress that came with being a doctor, the whole having somebody else's life in your hands.

After the next round of drinks and having watched the most senior doctor on staff hit on the youngest nurse on staff, Alec decided enough was enough, he needed to get home. "Alright," he announced over the ruckus. "I gotta get going." The group he was with groaned in protest, but let him go easily enough, too preoccupied with the latest rounds of shots that had been ordered and now delivered.

He grabbed his leather jacket on the way out and slid into it just as he opened the door and left the bar, glad to take his first lungful of clean air, or relatively clean air. He blew out a breath and did up his jacket, closing the collar around his neck.

Tonight was a cold one.

( In Need Of Medical Attention )

( Highlight Of The Night )

The knock knock on the front door of Alec's house was shaky, stuttered as if she wasn't entirely sure she should be knocking. Jenny was stood outside Alec's front door, looking up at it. Lights were on inside, so there were at least people awake. It was getting late, but it wasn't unacceptably late. She hoped he wouldn't mind even it if was.

Inside she could sense minds, two animal, warm and comforting and more, people, she guessed Alec and his housemate, Toby. The houses around them were giving off noise too, conversations that filled her up. Her eyes burned, stinging from the wind and from the tears that were just waiting to fall.

It hadn't taken her long to realise that she needed someone. The house had been empty and she was still afraid.

She knocked again, a little stronger this time and the door was pulled open by someone she didn't recognise, his glasses sat on the end of his nose and he looked at her the way someone might look at a randomly tearful stranger standing on his doorstep. It was a very 'what the fuck?' look, which was what Toby was thinking.

( Can Alec come to the door? )

( Sleeping Over )

Since moving to Chicago, Bastian had alternated between going to the local VA hospital and a public institution for his medical care. As a veteran, he felt comfortable enough dealing with military doctors, especially when it came to his leg, but sometimes he didn't feel like spending all day sitting in a waiting room rehashing his days as a Marine with boys young enough to be his sons. So over he'd trundle to the nearest hospital, parking his truck in the pay lot before taking the elevator downstairs to the big reception area.

The Cajun was sitting in a molded plastic chair reading an outdated issue of Time magazine, picking the order forms out of his lap as they fell out from between the pages. Just a routine checkup for the most part, although he expected to hear more about the bits of metal in his calf. He fully intended to have the shrapnel removed, just not until after the boxing tournament. If he stood a chance of losing some mobility in the limb, he wanted to make the most of the full capacity of it while he could.

"Mr. Sonnier?" Bastian looked up over the edge of the magazine, glancing towards the receptionist. "Dr. Reed will see you now. You can just go on back." The big carpenter got up from the chair, leaving Time behind. He hitched his pants on the way past the desk, his wallet chain jingling as he walked. He wasn't really wild about hospitals, but this was a necessary thing.

"And remember just because the cast on your arm is solid that doesn't mean your head is," Alec muttered to the patient he was finishing up with. The kid was only 15 and big into skateboarding, but Alec figured it didn't hurt to say considering the skate-fanatic had already been in three times this week to have his cast fixed. He ushered the teenager out and turned his eyes to the man approaching.

( Consultation )

It took some time for her to gather her courage to drive to Toby's house to speak with him in person after work. She felt a terrible sense of guilt for lashing out at him in her email last month. Her first attempt to mend their friendship with an email had gone unanswered, and she was a little worried. Shortly after sending the email she did not think anything of it when he did not reply immediately, and possibly for a time did not care if he did, but it was different now. She wanted to reach out and fix it.

After parking her vehicle down the street and walking up to his house, she stood before his front door taking in one deep breath before pressing the door bell. Ding dong. She straighten her suit jacket as she waited for someone to come answer the door.

Alec was at home, having managed to score some time off in his somewhat busy and very hectic schedule. His plan of moving to Chicago to make friends and socialise a lot more was apparently failing miserably. His mother had already lectured him about not having a girlfriend, like that somehow made him less of a person. His mother had weird priorities.

He rubbed at Spacey's ears and then moved the cat as he got to his feet, placing a file down on one side. What? Nobody said he couldn't bring work home with him, it wasn't like there was a whole lot to do at home. Toby was doing that MIA thing and Alec was worried that he might get another call at ass o'clock in the morning again with another 'I've been attacked by a vampire' story. Next time it wouldn't be one bite, Toby would be dead and what good would that do anyone? He still needed to talk to the other man about what in the hell was going on. Something was, Toby just wanted to pretend otherwise.

( Here goes ... )

Nathan was out on one late evening, having pulled himself from the isolation he'd lost himself in for a while, it was a necessity at times given the dreams and the endless hours of one's eternal life. Sometimes you just needed to escape and forget the world and all its inhabitants existed.

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world this was the last place that Nathan thought he would find Toby, but it would certainly seem like the man frequented these places when he wanted to scrape the barrel. That reminded the vampire of somebody else whom he scared off with the display of his true fangs.

Whatever happened to the dear neurotic, miserable Rebecca?

"Don't you know that stuff'll kill you," Nathan drawled as he picked up a nearly empty glass of brown liquid. He dipped his head and took a sniff of it, determining it was scotch, before he finished it off, catching a wayward droplet in the corner of his mouth with the edge of his thumb.

( All is Not Right )

( Questions and Answers )

( Scratching an Itch )

( Pick Up )

An hour after hearing the little bleep on his computer, Toby was still at a loss as to how to reply to the email message he had received from Kathleen. What did one say to something like that?

Okay, maybe he deserved a bit of an ass kicking for not getting into contact, but he had never claimed to be a super awesome friend, he was very shit at communicating when it wasn't in his face. It wasn't that he had forgotten about Kathleen, and he had wondered where she was, it was just that with his coffee shop being in the works and he was supervising that a lot, getting his hands in with the painting and everything, and now Kris disappearing, staying in contact with people wasn't something that had jumped straight to the forefront of his mind.

He nudged the coffee table with his foot. Wolf whined pitifully from where he was sat at Toby's side, his head on his master's lap. One hand scratched absently behind Wolf's ears, the other was petting Spacey who had finally decided that she loved him enough to notice when something was wrong and she had curled up on his stomach as he was slouched in the couch.

He wanted to be angry. He should have been angry at the comment Kathleen made about his wife. She had no right, she didn't even- He had never really spoken about her but he always thought it had been clear how much he loved her. Instead he was just reeling, hurt from the comments and entirely unsure how to deal with what had just happened.

( Not Tears, Dust )

( Strictly Not Allowed )

( Workaholic )

Jenny was restless. It was unnerving, the silence in her mind. It actually allowed her to hear her own thoughts above any other extraneous noise and that was a strange feeling.

She caught herself looking at people in a new light, how everyone looked so different without that sparkle around them, the lack of radiating light that told Jenny how healthy they were, how close to death.

She was at the hospital again, sitting in the waiting room and waiting for Alec to come onto his lunch break so that they could go and get food, or coffee, or something. She had already had a fairly good conversation with one of the nurses about anti-psychotics and she had spoken to a couple of patients, but that itch underneath her skin was crawling, knowing that she should be able to see and hear more than she could was unsettling. It was wrong in so many ways; why couldn't she hear them? Those idle thoughts that plagued the minds of everyone? And what had happened that meant she couldn't see people's lives anymore?

She supposed she should be grateful? She was normal now. She was better. Fixed. Whatever her father wanted to call it, she wasn't a freak anymore. But she wasn't special anymore either. As much as her 'gift' had plagued her, she missed it. She didn't like the silence.

( Catch Up )

( Table for Two )

( Idle Conversation )

To: Java Man
From: Super Alec

Am bored. Very bored. What're you up to besides pursuing your business venture? I'm supposed to be catching a couple zzz's given that it's my first break in what has been an 11 hour long shift of weird behaviour and crazy people. Thing is, I can't sleep, so I'm bugging you instead. Text me back.

Knock knock

Toby stood outside Alec's room with a hand on the doorknob, almost pressing his ear against the door but not quite. That might be a little bit creepy. Not that lurking in the hallway outside his housemate's door wasn't creepy, but still.

Since Alec's return from the hospital, Toby had barely seen him. They had bumped into each other in the kitchen but Alec had always disappeared off before Toby could get anything other than 'hi' out of his mouth and to be honest he was a little terrified that he was going to open the door and Alec would be unconscious on the bed or something. Or in the bed.

Or dead.

That wouldn't be good! Toby had freaked himself out on more than one occasion with that thought crossing his mind, sending him into some what of a panic.

( Can I come in? )

( Superhero )

Personal Journal Entry of Alec Lee Reed

This whole coughing up cancer thing has... let's just say I'm not in the best place, mentally speaking. My physical health has never been better, which is just weird, considering I felt like I was dying a couple days ago.

So far I haven't actually run into Toby and oddly enough I'm okay with that. Maybe it's lame, but the last thing I want to be doing right now is explaining something I don't even understand myself.

( Teenage Antics )

Alec's attending had finally signed off on him being released and whilst he knew he should call home and ask for a lift he didn't think it was necessary so he just called a cab.

Outwardly it didn't look like anything had changed - he was still the same old Alec - but inwardly? Everything had changed. He'd coughed up a massive amount of cancerous tissue for God's sake; there was no ignoring or denying that.

It didn't make sense.

He wasn't special - not in that way - it wasn't possible, and yet the test results were saying the complete opposite. He knew he needed to speak to his parents, but it wasn't exactly something he was looking forward to given their reaction the last time something strange had happened.

( Not Crazy )