It's a Graves thing (soundofwings) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2012-04-18 10:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | alfred pennyworth |
Who: Iris
What: Being taken into police custody (Narrative)
Where: From the hotel to the Johnson's home
When: The afternoon of Gus' kidnapping
Warnings/Rating: Iris' thoughts - nothing too bad. Police.
The mornings that Gus went to church for bible study were leisurely ones for Iris. At one point in time, she likely would have made herself a nice breakfast, taken extra time in the shower to wash her hair with the shampoo she saved for special days. More and more lately though, she was giving the time to Alfred, letting him take care of morning tasks that he didn't always get a chance to. She didn't have to rush to get back from the hotel though at least, and could take her time and show up part way through the day. The smoke smell from the fire still lingered in her apartment, even with the windows open almost constantly, so she had begun to carry her morning's change of clothes with her, slipping into a coffee shop on the way to pick up Gus and changing in the restroom. She would stop home again after work to get ready for the next day, and her daily cycle of recent habits would start again.
Another reason that she chose to give Alfred so much time was to keep herself distracted from thinking too much about the bruises that she'd seen on Gus' skin. She knew she had to do something, to either report his parents or make some other change in the boy's life, but she was caught in indecision. Even with the troubles between them, Iris couldn't stop thinking about Wren. How often had the woman had waited at the park just to catch a glimpse of the boy - what would she do if he was removed from the house and placed somewhere else? Iris didn't know the entirety of the situation, but she knew that things were complicated far past what they might normally be. And she was caught in the middle, a place she never wanted to be. So while she knew she would need to do something, for the moment all she wanted to think about was spending the afternoon with Gus, figuring out something to do that would put that wide smile back on his face.
As they always did, Iris' thoughts tended to wander as she walked toward the house. Would they go to the park today? Or maybe something different - the children's museum maybe. Gus was still awfully young, but she was certain there would be something there that he would like. Especially things about animals. Or dinosaurs. Decision made, Iris' attention began to return to her surroundings, taking in the fact that there were police cars around in the neighborhood where there were rarely any. It made her curious, but she didn't think much of it as she approached the house. Until she saw the presence there, at least. Her stomach tried to drop and claw its way up at the same time, and it felt like a full minute passed before she could take a breath. Something had happened, and after the appearance of bruises on Gus, all her thoughts were bad. She hurried her steps to the front of the house.
An officer was coming out of the front door as she practically ran up to it, and he stared at her in disbelief. It took a moment for Iris to find her breathless words, and her voice trembled around them, a shaky butterfly thing. "What happened?" she asked, sound barely carrying on the air, and she tried again. "What's going on? Is everyone okay?" That time her voice carried better, and after another stunned silence from the officer in front of her, a shriek came from inside the house. "How dare you! Where is he? What have you done with him?" Iris had barely seen any sort of emotion from Amy Johnson other than annoyance or derision, so the screeching woman that rushed toward the door from inside was a strange creature to behold. Iris' eyes went wide behind her glasses, and she took several steps backwards, foot coming dangerously close to slipping off the porch step. She was glad when someone - another officer by the uniform - blocked the woman's way, murmuring calming words to get her back inside. Iris took another step backward, carefully down off the step, wanting to put more distance between herself and the waves of anger she didn't yet understand, but there was a sudden hand on her arm, wide and strong, and she blinked up into a rough face. Suit, not uniform, but with the authority that betrayed his profession. Detective then, not officer.
"Iris Russell?" He asked it in a way that made it clear he alread knew the answer, but she nodded anyway since he seemed to expect a response. "I'm going to need you to come with me," he continued at her nod. Iris nodded again, following the guidance of the unyeilding hand around her arm, not tight enough to hurt, but with the threat of it should Iris try to do something drastic. Amy Johnson's shouts still rang out from inside the house, and Iris' words were almost lost among them. "What's going on? ...Where's Gus?" Her second question was even softer, eyes soft and worried and curious on the detective as he sat her in the car, taking her bag from her nerveless fingers. She didn't fight it.
"That's what we're hoping you'll tell us," he replied, and shut the door firmly to end the conversation until they arrived at the police station.