InsaneJournal

WHO Ari Patrowski and Luz Martin
WHERE New York Presbyterian Hospital
WHEN Sunday, July 29th, early afternoon
RATING PG
SUMMARY Mickey stabbed Luz yesterday, this needs to be discussed.
STATUS Complete


The doctors told Luz that rest would be the best thing for her, and that she should try to get some sleep. Well, it was day time so Luz couldn’t sleep. Hospitals were boring as all Hell when you couldn’t just sleep through the day. Luckily Luz was apparently popular. Between BAG, and her parents and sister, and her roommates, and various other people, nurses were practically having to ask people to leave Luz alone. She had, after all, been stabbed yesterday.

Which wasn’t so bad. Luz had a beautiful, glorious, amazing, wonderful boyfriend who was healing her. He could, probably, heal her up all of the way, but hospitals found it funny when people receive life threatening stab wounds (from a mugging, that was the story, and oh, the tale she told the police) and were absolutely fine the next day. So Luz was out of danger, Brady would be there in case she went into danger, so all she had to do was lay still for another day or so and look sicker than she was. Though she thought the nurses didn’t like her very much for some reason.

For the time being, Luz thought Brady was off sleeping somewhere (or she hoped he was, he needed it) and her parents had just left. It had taken Luz awhile to get her mother to understand that Brady could heal, and he wouldn’t let Luz get worse, or get bad. Luz was fine, she’d be fine, but Pilar had still terrorized the staff to make sure Luz got the best care, and the best pudding. Carl, once his nerves settled, had understood that Luz would be fine, and calmly sat beside her and talked about the Olympics, jotting down what Luz told him about how they were going to go. China. China. China. But even Carl had lingered after he’d run out of things to talk about with her, not wanting to just leave his daughter in a hospital. But he had another daughter, and a wife who seemed to grow closer to collapse the longer they stayed there, so Carl had gotten Pilar to leave with him, to give Luz some time to rest.

So Luz had a minute or two to herself, to lay still and look around her hospital room. It was unexciting, she was hooked up to things, things were blinking. She had some painkillers, which were nice, though they didn’t really make anything too nice. She was by the window, but the curtains were closed. She should have asked her parents to open them before they left. She sighed, a shallow sigh because she had just been stabbed. She had a book, and while she’d felt like reading it (Pleasures of the Night which was, she discovered, egregious in its sex scenes) when everyone was around, now that she was alone she didn’t feel like reading at all.

Luz felt like staring at the curtain across the window, thinking about how Mickey had tried to kill her.

***

This was not how things were supposed to go. This was betrayal of the highest tier. Mickey was supposed to be working with Ari to protect their friends. She had always seemed fragile and unsure, but Ari had thought she was being brave. He thought she, like him, realized that there were people for whom it was worth sacrificing themselves. They were to be the shields to bear the brunt of the danger. Never were they to inflict that danger on those they were protecting. Perhaps it was madness; perhaps she was forced to choose between her actions and a worse fate. Perhaps. But Mickey refused to explain herself, and Ari could only work with what he knew: she had purposefully hurt Luz.

It put Ari in a bad position. Mickey knew about his and Simon's plans. Not all the details, perhaps, but enough. However, she certainly could not be trusted now. If her actions were not her own, it meant that she could be easily manipulated and compromised by their enemies; if they were, well, that was even more dangerous. Who knew now where her allegiances lie? She had become a wild card, and that sort of chaos would be costly to their plans. They were walking on a wire as it was.

These issues would have to be dealt with swiftly, but for now, Ari was focused on Luz. He had rushed to the hospital as soon as he had been able to discern where they were headed and stayed close by, running around the building to get whatever Brady and Luz's parents needed. His co-workers at Nectar had been more than understanding about his need to take off and had even sent a box of pastries to the hospital. It was with this and a thermos of hot chocolate that Ari approached Luz's room. Her family had finally left to rest, and somewhere they had managed to get Brady to do the same. Luz was probably tired of visitors, but now that the VIPs were away, he wanted the chance to see her.

He knocked softly on the door and popped his head around the doorframe. "Hey, Luz," he said softly. "Mind if I come in?"

***

She'd been sitting there staring at the pages of her book but not really reading them. Luz knew she should of, because if she was going to get lost in thoughts, it should have been about bad plot and strangely described sexy things, and not the way her stomach was still tender. Not to mention covered in stitches and gauze and anti-bacterial gross stuff. She felt a bit like Frankenstein's monster so she was glad for the gauze, at least. And the hospital gown (though 'gown' seemed like too good a word) which, in addition to being securely fastened in the back, hid her stomach pretty well. And everything really. Which was good, because Luz didn't even know where her bra was... Or any of her clothing aside from her underwear (which her mom had brought her more of, because, well, moms.) She was sort of curious now about what happened to her stuff, she really couldn't remember much about yesterday after Gus brought her to the hospital. She'd have to ask where her stuff went.

She looked up to see Ari coming in with food and drink. A lot of people had brought her food, she was going to get fat, so she was glad she wouldn't be in hospital for very long. Luz did smile at him, though, and closed her book. She meant to lean up slightly but, uh, no... and leaned back. "Come, come, come," she said, adjusting the blanket over her a little so it covered her feet again. She looked much happier to see him perhaps than he was to see her, which made no sense, since she was the one in the hospital bed.

"Open up the curtains for me, though. I have no idea if I have a view. The nurses were keeping them closed so I could rest, but it's daytime so I was like, 'I'm not going to rest, I'm just going to sit here,' so I should be able to look out the window but they were like 'no you need rest,' no matter how many times I told them. And then Mom heard what the nurses were saying and then she refused to open them. But it's day, seriously, I'm just going to sit here and not sleep no matter if they are opened or closed, so they might as well be open. I'm a sun demigod, I'd like to see the sun. Or even the rain, I don't care. What's in the box?"

She probably should have taken a breath after that, but instead just looked at the box and cup in his hands with her eyebrows raised, eagerly awaiting one of whatever was inside.

***

Ari smiled back at Luz and entered at her bidding. She seemed to be in good spirits. That was encouraging. It was likely she was probably suppressing the event right now; that was natural and probably good. When she was stronger in body again, then she could deal with the emotional wounds that had no doubt come from that knife as well. After all, if even Ari was feeling betrayed, then Luz most certainly had some dark feelings that she would have to deal with.

But that didn't need to happen now. Ari acquiesced and crossed to the window. He tucked the thermos under his arm and used his freed-up hand to pull the curtains aside and let in the afternoon sun. It brightened the room considerably, reflecting off all the pristine, sterile white. Ari blinked a few times to readjust his eyes, then walked over to Luz's bedside, grabbing hold of a chair on his way. He positioned it so that Luz would be able to see him without moving, then deposited himself in it.

His smile widened at her eager eyes. "The lot at Nectar sent this for you," he said. He placed the thermos by his feet, then opened the box to display the treats within. "There's a little bit of everything, aye. Danish, scones, muffins, cookies... Rachel even sent along one of the 'Ari' tarts." He chuckled. "Which do you want to start with? I've got some hot chocolate as well. Not sure if it's hospital sanctioned, but I reckon you could use something better than what they serve here."

***

Luz hadn't been to Nectar in awhile, she admitted. She fully intended to go all of the time once school started because it was an incredibly collegiate thing to do. And she had, after all, met Ari and there, and told him the first lie she'd ever told him there. She said she'd been a college student. Seemed only fitting that she should make it true. Plus with Brady gone she was going to need to hang around Ari and Gus more. Learn about guy stuff. She knew nothing about guy stuff. The only other guy she really knew was Simon, and he seemed to know more about girl stuff.

She was going to get so fat, though. "What's an Ari?" she asked, looking everything over. And then she looked up at him. "Aside from you, of course. Why are you a tart?" It seemed a very strange thing for Ari to be, he was really not a tart at all. Well, she supposed he was a bit custardish. If Ari was going to be a dessert she thought he'd make a much better... smoothie? She'd be a muffin. Gus would be a banana split. Brady would be a milkshake because milkshakes were awesome.

No, Ari would have to be tiramisu, wouldn't he? Wasn't that coffee?

"I've been really bored. Mom and Dad and Marielos just left," that was probably for the best, the fewer hunky men her parents had to meet the better. "Brady is off somewhere, Anya stopped by a long time ago. Lydia's been really busy lately, with the oracle thing. A lot of people have been making appointments. She got real mad at me yesterday for leaving work early, but I had to go meet..." Luz paused. "Her."

She frowned, but reached for a muffin. It looked ridiculous in the best possible way. BAG all had good jobs. Brady healed. Gus worked (or would, Luz was sure) around publishing. And Ari worked around tasty things. They were pretty awesome, if aggravatingly male sometimes. She broke off a small piece of muffin and put it in her mouth before deciding to talk around it. "What kind of muffin is thif, anyway?"

***

Ari laughed again. "An 'Ari' is a kiwifruit tart," he replied, pointing it out in the box. "Since you misguided Americans tend to leave the 'fruit' part off the word, Rachel thought she was being pretty clever. It's actually quite good, though I reckon the muffin is better." His brow furrowed when Luz uttered the pronoun. He, of course, knew who she meant. He wanted to know what happened; if Mickey had said anything or done anything that might suggest a reason behind the sudden turn. Looking at Luz's frown, Ari knew he wouldn't make her tell the story if she wasn't ready. Instead he answered, "It's raspberry and white chocolate."

He put aside the box and picked up the thermos. Unscrewing the top, he put it on the hospital bed tray, open side up. It was obviously made to serve as a cup, as a small handle protruded from the side. Ari filled it halfway with cocoa. It had cooled somewhat, but it was still warm enough to be worth drinking. Glancing around, he reached for a water glass and poured himself some of the chocolate drink as well. Carefully placing the thermos back on the floor, he leaned forward and tapped his glass against the thermos cup. "To a speedy recovery," he saluted, taking a sip.

"Brady's around here somewhere. I think one of these nurses finally bullied him into a nap. They might have even let him use their sleeping room," he said. His friend had been by Luz's side unceasingly, healing her whenever the opportunity presented himself. Ari smiled slightly. "He really is crazy about you, you know. You've got a real winner there."

***

Luz nodded, still eating her muffin. She knew about kiwi fruit, she had always expected them to be named after the bird, because they were both brown and fuzzy. It was cool, though, that Ari had a dessert named after him. She wanted a dessert named after her, it would be awesome and tasty. Of course she just needed to know someone that made desserts, first. Maybe the people Ari knew would make her one, though, Luz suspected, whoever made it fancied Ari. It was easy to fancy Ari. Basically you needed a pulse and you would fancy Ari... Though Luz had fancied him even when she didn't have a pulse. Christ that was so long ago.

"Raspberry and chocolate is good," she said, reaching for the little cup of hot cocoa. The thermos reminded her of camping, both back in March, and then just a few weeks prior. Thinking about a few weeks prior made her tense slightly, which hurt her stomach, so she focused on the cocoa instead. "Salud," she responded to the toast and took a sip of the hot cocoa. .....Sweet mother of God... Luz looked up at Ari, eyes a bit wide. She had wondered if, coming near death, her sense of taste had changed, since everything the hospital gave her tasted the same bland. But clearly, the hot cocoa would suggest her sense of taste had only improved.

But her face softened at the mention of Brady and Luz just sort of dorkishly smiled up at Ari, hot cocoa in one hand and muffin in the other, the front of her hospital gown covered in crumbs. "He's the best," she said. "Did I show you this?" Luz asked, setting the cocoa down and reaching her right hand out toward Ari so he could see the pretty ring on it. She probably had shown it to him, a few times. "Brady gave it to me, it's a promise, that when I'm ready he'll buy be another ring. Isn't that awesome? And he saved my life..." she paused, and her dorky smile faded slightly. "Has anyone ever saved your life, Ari?"

***

She looked like such a young girl there, almost waifish in the hospital gown. Her smile was so bright as she displayed her ring. Yes, Ari had seen it a few times now. Normally such a gesture would cause Ari to shake his head in amused puzzlement; a promise ring was, really, an unnecessary step. If you are ready to be engaged, then be engaged. If you are not, then don't be. The strange halfway level indicated by a promise ring seemed more like an emotional trap. A hope without the full commitment of another kind of ring. Easier to back out of, but still useful for tethering the other party. Well, he certainly never claimed to be a romantic.

For Brady and Luz, however, the promise ring seemed right. Perhaps it was that glimpse of the future that Luz had given him that opinion; he had the knowledge that the promise would be fulfilled. His two friends were both hopeless romantics as well, and it was clear that the ring was something that they truly believed in. So Ari smiled at Luz's outstretched hand. "It's pretty awesome," he agreed. He tilted his head, trying to see the grown Luz he had encountered in her, crumbs and all. He thought he could glimpse the foundations of the person she would become. She had already been through so much. Maturity had snuck up on her, although she had plenty of youthful exuberance yet.

Her question drew a look of surprise, and it melted into a more thoughtful expression as Ari considered it. "Well, I don't flirt with death quite like you and Brady do," he replied. "I reckon there are a couple people I consider 'life-savers,' that lead me down the right paths and kept me from making wrong turns. But actually, physically saving my life? Not yet." He shakes his head and takes a sip of chocolate. "So how long are you stuck in here?"

***

Luz's muffin and ring-related smile softened slightly at the idea that she and Brady 'flirted' with death. It did not seem so much to her like flirting, and more like messy one night stands. Brady had never been dead for very long, thank goodness, though at this point he had died more often than she had. He needed to stop that, they both needed to stop that. Not that it was Luz's fault this time! But, she was glad that Ari had never needed to have his life saved like that. That'd he'd never come so close to death. She supposed he was too smart and too strong to ever find himself in danger he couldn't get himself out of. "I'm not sure how to thank him," she said, returning to her muffin and taking a sip of her hot chocolate again. "I know he's Brady, I know he doesn't want to be thanked, but I'd be dead if it weren't for him. Dead for real. So far all I've done is apologized for almost quitting on him, but... I don't know how I can thank him, too."

She tilted the little cup of hot chocolate back, looked at the bottom of it, and then held it out to Ari again. She would need to remember to go get hot chocolate from Nectar the next time she was on her period. Would it be greedy to ask if he'd brought marshmallows? Luz loved marshmallows.

"Healthwise I could be out of here today. Brady's amazing and he could heal me right up, but the hospital might be a bit baffled at such a speedy recovery from near death, so I am waiting until about the first, I think. Go home still a bit damaged and have Brady just heal me up there. Get rid of these stitches, they itch." Luz explained. It was strange it was the first of a month again already. She had moved into her apartment almost a month ago. She'd been living on her own (with Anya and Lydia) for almost a full month. Though Luz had spent a lot of that time camping, now in hospital, and at the BAG place. But still, she'd been very adult for about a month, that was pretty awesome.

"Has anyone found her, yet?" Luz asked, her voice a bit low, her smile gone, and putting another bite sized piece of muffin in her mouth.

***

He nodded solemnly as Luz spoke of her desire to thank Brady. It was a feeling he knew well. Brady and Gus, and Luz as well, had given him more than he would ever be able to return. They had given him a home and a family. It wasn't that he was ungrateful for the family he had in New Zealand; his mother Annette and sister Julia had been the first people to ever show him an open heart and unconditional love. Where his true parents were judgmental and mistrusting, they gave him hope that there were people worth knowing in the world. It turned out to be true. Ari met many amazing, worthwhile people on his travels, culminating in New York, where he had met the very best people he would ever know.

And now... now he would thank them in the only way he knew how: by giving up everything to protect them.

Ari took up the thermos and leaned forward to refill Luz's cup. "Don't worry," he replied. "Without even realizing it, you'll be thanking Brady a little bit every day. You light up his life, Luz, and it's something that not just anyone could do. It's something he needs, and the fact that you can give that to him is the best kind of gratitude you can show him." He sat back again, smiling, although his eyes shone with a solemn light. "You will always take care of each other, and that's something that I will always be thankful for, aye."

The soft expression hardened when the topic turned to Luz's attacker. "She's been in contact via the GN, but nobody I know has seen her yet." He paused, then added tentatively, "Did she give any reason?"

***

Luz may have blushed as Ari seemed to go on and on about how awesome she was for Brady, and by extension how awesome they were together. She knew people loved her, but Luz had never really been good at doing things for other people. She'd always thought of herself and her needs first. It had practically been her motto. Or maybe her defense, she wasn't certain. But she didn't feel that way anymore, now Luz felt like sacrificing, like working hard for other people. She loved knowing that she could give Brady what he needed. Because he did need so much, more than Ari, more and Gus, more than Luz had ever needed. Brady had lost so much, Luz wanted to give him some of it back. She wanted to make sure he had a family at Thanksgiving to pass around the mashed potatoes.

Which is why she had laid on the ground, bleeding, only able to apologize to him. Because she had come so close to making him lose something else. That was the last thing she wanted for him. Brady didn't need to lose anyone else.

She would have preferred an answer like 'yes, you don't need to worry about that bitch face anymore.' Luz wanted justice, she wanted demigod justice, which was probably more akin to revenge but it would suit Luz fine. Mickey had almost ended everything. Luz was finally happy, she was an adult, she was loved, she was so beautifully and miraculously on her way, and Mickey had almost ended it.

Luz had a solid frown, and didn't take a sip of the hot chocolate for a long moment. "Does it matter what her reason was?" she asked, finally taking a sip.

***

Her response triggered an echo in Ari's memory of his conversation with the future Luz. When he had asked what she thought his reasoning had been for the actions he was planning, she had avoided answering, asking him if it even mattered. He resisted a shake of his head, the set of his mouth grim. To him, that response suggested that Mickey had, in fact, given a reason, and that it was important. It was also something Luz didn't want to talk about. That only made it more important to hear. If what she had said to Luz before stabbing her had any bearing at all on their plans, it could change how Ari approached Mickey or what kind of role she could still have.

He leaned forward and touched Luz lightly at her elbow. Trying to catch her gaze, he said quietly, "Look. I understand that it's not something you want to talk about. But I swear, I wouldn't ask if I didn't think it was important, aye. Mickey was a friend, and whichever way you look at it, it doesn't make any sense for her to have randomly done what she did. If I knew her reasoning, it might help me make this right. I'm not saying she doesn't deserve some punishment. She does. But I've got to have all the facts in order to move forward." Ari watched Luz and waited patiently. Every bit of information could help, but he wasn't willing to force her. It was still fresh, and he was ready to back off.

If she wasn't willing to share, however, that left going to the source. While Ari thought himself quite capable of handling Mickey one-on-one, more uncertainties definitely uped the risk.

***

Luz looked over at him at the touch. All of the drugs they were giving her seemed to make Ari's Power of Adorable Concern even more powerful. Or maybe it was the hot chocolate. To a part of Luz, Mickey's reasoning really didn't matter. She had stabbed Luz, whatever rhyme or reason she had to justify herself didn't negate the fact that she had stabbed Luz. Luz had nearly bled to death on the cold, dark, quiet ground, and there was nothing that would reason out of that. There was no excuse, so any excuse Mickey might have given really didn't matter. They were all useless.

She swallowed hard, the sweetness of the cocoa making her mouth water slightly. It was hard to look at Ari while he was being gently concerned. She had to blink a few times and solidly frowned at him, but a soft frown. Nearly sad. "She said she..." Luz actually had to think. Her memory was so sketchy, everything had happened so fast and the only things Luz really, really remembered was being afraid, Brady, and how horribly quiet it had been. Mickey spoke, she knew that. Mickey had cried, she remembered that too. Luz stared to get afraid when Mickey had begun to cry. It had not been a cry for Felix, it had been a dangerous cry, and Luz had felt it.

"She said she wanted me to hate her. I think," Luz's eyes sort of drifted to Ari's shoulder (which had less power over her than his face) and focused on that as she thought back to the day before. "She wanted everyone to hate her. Like... like she wanted to be some grand villain. I don't know." She swallowed again, painfully, the muscles in her throat growing tighter. "I don't know why she stabbed me. I don't... I don't know..." The muffin and the cup of cocoa came to rest in Luz's lap, her eyes still set on Ari's shoulder. "I don't know what I did that she'd want to kill me for."

***

Ari sat quietly, his fingertips still on Luz's arm, as she struggled to bring up the details. It wasn't easy to recall a trauma. Adrenaline changed perception; the details that were important to Luz at that point, the details that she honed in on as her instinct to survive kicked in, were not necessarily the parts that he needed to know. He had enough training to be able to control his perceptions. For Luz, everything would have been tinged with panic. If she had said that she was unable to remember, Ari wouldn't have questioned or pushed it.

But she responded, giving him enough to get the wheels turning in his head. So Mickey was trying to push everyone away. Well, alright. They were about to go into a battle with completely unsure consequences; distancing herself to help cushion the blow was a reasonable action. But to go as far as to stab Luz? That was more than just the impulse to create a gap in her relationships. There had to be another impetus; either that, or Mickey's actions were out of her own control.

As Luz fell quiet, Ari stood and stepped to the side of the bed. He draped his arm across her thin shoulders and gently squeezed. "You didn't do a thing, Luz. Something is at work here that hasn't got a thing to do with what you have or haven't done, aye. What Mickey did, and why she did it, are not your fault or your doing, alright? And from here on out, you don't need to worry about her. Just forget her. You're here, and Brady's here, and that's all that matters. Alright? Lay all your worries about it on me, and never let it trouble you."

***

Luz moved her focus to her feet when Ari moved beside her. She wasn't hooked up to a lot of machines, so he didn't have much to navigate, and she didn't push him away, or really seem to acknowledge his movement at first. She just stared at her feet at the thin, ugly hospital blanket. Over the course of the day she had thought a lot of things about Mickey. Or rather one thing, and thought it very loudly. That Mickey was a bitch face. A bitch face who had stabbed her. Luz knew that she didn't understand. She didn't understand why Mickey would stab her. Why sweet, kind, easy to talk-into-things Mickey would stab her. But this was really the first time Luz had wondered why Mickey would stab her. The idea of Mickey trying to kill anyone was confusing enough, but a part of Luz had ignored the question of why her? Why had Mickey stabbed Luz?

"She called me to meet her," Luz told her feet. "I thought she wanted to talk about Felix. They were roommates. But she wanted to go for a walk so I thought fine. I was trying to be comforting. I was... I was trying to make her feel better. And then she took me into this alley and she just lost it and..." Luz stopped. She remembered very vividly the stones in the walls, the worn ground, the lack of light. She remembered that place very, very well, if Mickey not so much.

"But she called me. She had the knife, hidden away. She planned it. She... she planned it, and she lured me there and she tried to kill me. And I don't know. I don't know. She didn't stab just anyone, Ari. She didn't lure just anyone into that alley. She wanted me. She wanted to kill me." She closed her eyes, thinking back to Roger and Jack Merridew and the boys with the war paint. The boys slicing a knife into the freshly killed body of a pig. Boys covered in blood.

***

Ari kept his arm around Luz's shoulders. He thought he knew why Luz. There were a couple reasons why the younger girl was the ideal target, if Mickey's motives were as Luz said. First, superficially, Luz was the most vulnerable of them all. Had Mickey attacked Brady, Gus, or himself, she was unlikely to have been successful. Perhaps she could have done some damage if they had been taken completely by surprise, but from what Ari knew of Mickey and Luz's description of the encounter, she wasn't exactly able to hide her emotions about the decision, something that would have but him or his roommates on the defensive. Luz was still more trusting than them, even after all she had been through. It was admirable, but dangerous. She didn't have the experience and training that the boys had in violent situations, and she was more of a match physically to Mickey than any of the men. Tactically, it would have to be Luz for the physical advantage.

Telling Luz that she was the weakest of them was hardly going to do her any good, however, so Ari told her the other reason. "Well, you said that she was looking to make us hate her, right?" he replied, his voice low and comforting. "So she had to strike at the heart of us. And you, you've somehow wriggled your way right into the deepest parts of us, aye. There's not a one of us, Brady, Gus, or me, who would ever stand to see you hurt. We love you to pieces. Besides being something incredibly important and special to Brady, you've become like a sister to me and Gus too. We want to help you, protect you, keep you safe. Mickey knew that, and she knew the best way to hit her goal was to go after what we all want to protect the most."

He gave her another little squeeze. "She won't be coming anywhere near you again. Please trust me when I say, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you are always safe from now on." He tilted his head to catch her eye. "Do you believe me?"

***

The idea of being the heart of BAG did make Luz feel a little better, though it didn't quite show on her face. She did so many things wrong, that she wasn't quite certain how she had gotten stabbed for doing something right. Luz had fallen in love, she was loved, she had formed really important, lasting, difficult was amazing relationships with people. She had been bold and silly and pushy and demanding and giving and considerate and protective. Luz had friends, she had family. And she had gotten stabbed because of it? And she had tried to give those things to Mickey. She had gotten stabbed because she had tried to give family and friends to Mickey.

So Luz kept frowning. What Ari said made sense (as usual) but the bigger picture of it made no sense at all. Luz had been stabbed because she was loved. Someone tried to kill her because she was loved. Because Mickey did not want to be loved. Well, she was wrong, by why hadn't she just said so? Why did she have to try and kill Luz? She could have just walked away.

She looked up at him, having completely forgotten about the power of the Ari Look and just couldn't take her eyes off him. He was doing his perfect, supportive Ari gentle look thing. It was oddly mesmerizing, he had to know it was mesmerizing. At least he always seemed to use that power for good. "I believe you," she reassured him, not that she had much choice in the matter. It was hard to look into the eyes of Gentle Ari and not believe every damn thing he said. He could have told her he was becoming a priest and she would have believed him. "Just don't do anything stupid. I don't want anyone else getting stabbed."

***

Don't do anything stupid. It wasn't a promise Ari could make. He knew there was an element of stupidity to the plans that were taking shape. After all, when you knew from the beginning that the odds were not in your favor, the most logical action would be no action. That wasn't an option, however, so he had no choice but to embrace the folly. So for an answer, he simply shook his head and replied, "Well, I certainly have no plans to be stabbed." He gave Luz one more squeeze, then stepped away and returned to his seat. He picked up his glass of chocolate, now room temperature, and took an untasting sip. Now, he needed to find Mickey. He needed to determine what state she was in. He needed also to talk to Simon and figure out how this changed things going forward.

He gazed at Luz, so frail in that hospital bed. All that mattered was that she was there, breathing, living on. Mari still existed in the future. That future was worth protecting. That's all that mattered. "Drink up," he said cheerfully, finishing his own glass. "You'll be out of here before long, back as our unofficial fourth flattie. Does your mother know how often you spend the night?" he teased. He grabbed the box of pastries and placed them on the tray, where Luz could reach them if she wished, followed by the thermos of hot chocolate.