mk robinson wants to be a star. (hitjackpot) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2012-05-13 09:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | damian wayne, mary jane watson |
WHO Roger and MK.
WHAT Paying bb Gus a visit.
WHEN Earlier in the week, after her release.
WHERE CPS Offices.
WARNING Nothing!
MK hadn’t really wanted to get out of bed that morning. The conversations from the night before tired her greatly and continued to weigh heavily on her as she sat in bed trying to will herself to get up. But she had made a promise, hadn’t she, to Roger about visiting Gus, and Roger had been good to her over the past few weeks when most people weren’t holding back their judgement. He was like her big brother, the one she never wanted but still cared for anyway, and she did like it when he said she was part of the family now. Because Luke and Wren, and now Roger and Gus, they were her family, far more than most of her own blood had ever been. So, with that thought, she pushed herself out of bed and pulled on a nondescript pair of jeans and a button-up and tucked her hair into her Mets cap. Something to keep her as unnoticeable as possible. Usual sunglasses on, she left out of a side entrance of the hotel and hailed a cab to take to Roger’s office. From there, the pair made their way to the CPS offices, where they hoped to appeal to see the young boy. She wrung her hands nervously as they stood and waited for the word. Roger should be able to either way, he was family after all, but she still worried about herself. She was arrested for helping kidnap the boy in question. She feared that they would not let her anywhere near him, release from jail or not. Glancing over to Roger, MK flashed him a shaky smile. Okay, her nerves weren’t all from just not being able to see Gus. What if she was able to? What would she do or say? She could just hide in the corner, she supposed, but if Gus recognized her and began to freak out, that would put everything twenty steps behind, no doubt. Thinking over the tons of different circumstances brought a frown to her face, and she wrung her hands together even more. MK had the privilege of seeing Roger actually scared out of his mind. It wasn’t something most people got to witness and it sure as hell wasn’t a pretty sight. He thought he was good at hiding it, all tight lipped with eyes hidden behind reflector glasses like a highway patrolman. But there was a shake in his voice even when he joked. This wasn’t how he thought he’d meet his first nephew. This wasn’t how his family was supposed to turn out. Still, Roger knew it wasn’t right to complain, even if it was just in his head. Truthfully, he had a good family made up of people that he knew he could trust. That would do anything for each other. So what if they didn’t get that Hallmark greeting card reality? Roger spent a good half hour talking to a CPS officer alone. He had already made tentative arrangements over the phone and discussed how to act and speak to the boy. It all felt like trying to take care of a dinosaur. He knew once he saw the kid, that’d all change, but so far it had all been unfamiliar territory. After some persuading, Roger managed to talk the officer into letting MK in. She was family, he insisted. If Gus was given over to his brother, he needed to know the people that would take care of him. The officer relented and Roger poked his head out of the office to wave MK over. “All right, kiddo.” Roger took his glasses off, the fear in his eyes wide like a cat before he managed to stable it somehow. “We get a little time with him. Gus is awake and ready to hang out.” By then, MK had taken off her hat and sunglasses, eliciting a couple of whispers from those in the office. She ignored them, mostly, opting to take a chair in the corner of the room and let her nerves get the best of her. Maybe this was all a mistake, coming here and even thinking of trying to see Gus, and maybe she screwed up Roger’s chances. The thoughts and the guilt brewed in her mind until his head popped out of the office and beckoned her over. “Okay, good,” she said with a slightly more confident smile even if she was still scared shitless. She recognized his fear for what it was because she was just as nervous, and she reached out to squeeze his hand. “It’s going to be fine,” she assured him as she let his fingers go, even if she didn’t quite believe it herself. The officer lead them down the hall, and MK trailed behind the men observing all the ostentatiously decorated ‘kid-friendly rooms.’ They were all so unnervingly fake, and in that moment, she was kind of glad that the system never caught onto her situation at home. God, she would have hated it here. She couldn’t imagine what Gus was feeling at the moment. But she shoved all the other feelings aside as they stopped in front of a room towards the end of the hall. It had one of those two-way mirrors, and inside, curled in a corner with his thumb stuck in his mouth, was Gus. He looked scared out of his wits, and MK’s heart ached considerably. The door opened, and the officer nodded towards them and she hesitated a moment. “Ready?” Looking to Roger, she tried to look brave and gestured for him to go ahead. “I think he should see you first.” Roger smiled when she grabbed his hand and squeezed back as if to tell her that he’d stop being a pussy about this whole thing. His mentor, the man in the desert with no hair and bright tattoos, was laughing at him in the back of his mind. Scared of a little boy, are ya? He would have said between biting off a piece of cactus meat and cleaning his guns. That’s why the old man lived in the sand all alone. No one that lived a life like a bounty hunter deserved to have a family, did they? Taking in a deep breath, Roger walked through the door and smiled down at Gus. “Hey buddy.” Roger smiled at the resemblance to Luke. It was uncanny and so was the wide-eyed fear that this kid was trembling with. “I’m Luke’s big brother, Roger. I wanted to come meet you because I heard you might be living with him soon.” MK followed in after Roger, but hung behind a bit. The little boy could certainly recognize her, and who knew what he would recall? Nothing positive, that was sure. So, she stayed towards the door for the time being, watching the miniature Luke and his uncle speak. Gus, who hadn’t moved even after the two adults entered, took both Roger and MK in with wide, teary eyes, searching both with his thumb still firmly in his mouth before he pulled it out with a faint pop sound. “Luke?” he asked in that small, boyish voice with a hint of lisp behind it. He didn’t move closer, still obviously wary even with the connection to Luke. “Is he coming?” “No, Luke’s busy trying to help Wren.” Roger took a couple more steps before kneeling. “I brought you something, though.” He unzipped his jacket and pulled out a soft Batman toy the size of a teddy bear. “I spent four dollars on a claw game to help him escape.” Sure, this might have been considered bribing children for affection, but that’s what uncles were supposed to do. They were supposed to take the kids out for ice cream before dinner, buy them toys and steal them away for adventures when their parents needed a little break. “You like Batman, right? He’s my favorite super hero.” Gus nodded, but eyed him and the stuffed Batman for a moment before scooting a bit closer, just out of Roger’s grasp. His eyes were still glassy and he sniffed a few times before speaking in a low voice, as if it were the biggest secret in the world. “Luke says he’s friends with Batman.” That earned a quiet laugh from MK, still in the corner, and Gus’s eyes shot over to her. She offered him a reassuring smile and took a step forward. “Guess what?” she said in her best stage whisper, trying to inject as much playful happiness as she could in it. “Roger knows Batman, too. They’re friends, too.” And Gus seemed to take that at face value. He didn’t smile, but he did look at Roger a little warmer. “Does he get scared?” he asked, his voice even quieter. “Luke says he gets scared sometimes too.” Roger smiled up at MK and then looked back to Gus. “Oh yeah. Did you know Batman used to be afraid of bats? But, he knew that they couldn’t hurt him. That they’d actually protect him.” He took a seat on the floor, holding one of his knees with his hand. “And, MK? She’s friends with Spider-Man. You got all kinds of super heroes looking out for you little guy.” Roger looked back at MK with an expression of encouragement to come a little closer. Things weren’t going terrible yet and even though Gus might end up asking for Luke or Wren until he started bawling, Roger really thought that he was making a decent enough impression. Gus seemed amazed by the thought of a bunch of heroes on his side. Batman and Spider-Man all for him? His lips twitched into a small smile, and he didn’t return the thumb to his mouth. His tiny hands reached out for the plush Batman instead, and once in his possession, he hugged it tight. Though still full of jittery nerves, with Roger’s reassuring glance, MK took a few more steps into the room, enough to join the conversation while remaining a safe distance. She couldn’t know how much Gus remembered and how well he would recognize her from the other times he had seen her. “Hi, Gus,” she said, as she finally sat cross-legged on the floor, too. “I’m Wren’s friend, remember? MK.” The little boy nodded, hiding his face behind Batman’s ears a little. Well, fuck. She hadn’t known before if he heard the argument between she and Wren, but that was good proof that he did. She smiled at him, as warm and reassuring as she could, and folded her hands in her lap. “I miss Wren,” Gus said after a moment, and MK had to bite her cheek to quell the sting of the tears in her eyes. “I do, too, buddy,” she said, wringing her hands together and trying her best to fight those stupid tears. She was terrible with kids, but god, did she hate seeing them upset, especially this boy with his face like Luke and eyes like Wren. “But I promise you’ll get to see her soon. Luke, too.”’ Roger swallowed hard, looking between the boy and MK. It was tough seeing a kid that looked just like his little brother be so scared and it made him instantly protective over him. Over MK. “Luke and Wren think about you every day, little guy. And, MK and I love them a lot. We’re going to do everything we can to make things better, okay?” It almost felt like he was taking care of Wren again. Those big grey eyes staring up at him soggy with tears, just asking him to fix everything and make it better. Gus was silent, burying his face in the toy again, while MK nodded, agreeing with all of Roger’s sentiments, and took a quiet, steadying breath to bite back the stinging in her eyes. She didn’t want to cry, not in front of Roger or Gus, but the wibble in the little boy’s lip made her want to scoop him up in her arms right then and there. She couldn’t though, she knew that, already pushing the boundaries just being there in the room when she had been connected with Gus’s kidnapping. “Yeah, we are. Everything is gonna be okay, Gus. Promise. You’ll see them soon. Finch, too. He’s a really good dog, isn’t he? I remember when he was really little. He used to be just a little bigger than your Batman there.” The little boy shot her an incredulous look as if Finch not being enormous was ludicrous. Someone knocked on the door and Roger nodded. “Okay, MK, we got to get going.” He slowly stood up and smiled down at the kid. “We’ll see you soon, buddy. Keep Batman safe.” Roger pointed to the plush Batman and held out a hand for MK to help her up. In seconds, a man came in to escort them out. Roger thanked him, shook his hand and then gave a wave towards Gus behind him. Leaving the kid behind was tough and he could see how Wren wanted to scoop him up and just take him away every time she saw him. Roger had to be the dad, though. He had to be strong, patient and only occasionally lenient. “MK,” Roger said as they walked out into the Vegas sunlight. “Do you know a diner that has beer? I’ve already had my annual limit of one glass, but I think I can break my rule just this once.” Drinking with a potential alcoholic probably wasn’t the smartest thing he could do, but Roger was content with just getting buzzed and stopping right there. “Off the Strip, yeah, I’m sure we can find a place. God knows I need a drink too.” MK had already put on her makeshift disguise, but she knew Roger probably saw the red rims of her eyes before she slipped her sunglasses on. She sniffed and bit her lip hard as she stepped off to the curb to hail a cab for them. Yeah, she definitely needed a drink. Or five. |