Chloe Deacon (chargedphase) wrote in commandhq, @ 2018-05-04 11:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | chloe deacon, kelly deacon, p: mena, p: mj, p: squid, scott deacon |
Who: Scott, Kelly & Chloe Deacon
What: Family meeting
When: 8pm (after the message was sent)
Where: Scott's office
Rating: Low
Having met Kelly in the common area, the two of them had headed towards the building where Scott was waiting for them in his office. Chloe had never walked the green mile, but as they approached the building that suddenly had a bit of a loom to it, she wondered if this was what walking to your death felt like. Scott was her brother, and Kelly's hand on her lower back was keeping her moving forward but doing little to reassure her, and while she knew that he probably still loved her, after everything that had happened she thought that he probably didn't like her that much anymore. She hadn't told Kelly what the officers had said in the hospital, and the prison, she couldn't bear the possibility that Kelly confirmed they had been speaking the truth.
As they moved inside and headed up to the second floor, Chloe could feel her steps getting heavier and she was holding her breath, feeling herself sinking into the carpeted floor with each step, a slight breeze kicking up around the siblings as she lifted herself up and focused on just staying solid. She hadn't been lying when she told Susie that her control was all over the place; it was like being back at the beginning again, sinking through her bed, stomach twisting in restless anxiety at what Scott was going to say.
He was mad; she knew that. She could tell from his tone. He managed to sound like their momma over text and that was an achievement in itself. She picked at the skin of her thumb that was already raw and on the edge of bleeding, an anxious behaviour she'd developed when she was a kid and had never quite been able to get rid of.
The door to Scott's office was dark wood and it had his name on it embossed on a silver-coloured plaque that slid into a holder: Handler S. Deacon.
Glancing at Kelly, Chloe lifted her hand to knock but it went through the wood both times she tried, so she didn't try again, just stepped back a little, half behind her sister, waiting for Kelly to knock and for Scott to answer, looking at her shoes and picking at her thumb.
To say that she thought things would go smoothly would be a lie, honestly, Kelly expected that there would be a lot of trials to come from this, but she didn’t expect it quite as soon. Of course, she forgot to factor in the fragile emotional tension that was currently circulating. She wasn’t blind to Chloe’s fragility, right now the girl was barely holding together, and that was understandable. It was also why Kelly had chosen to do what she did, regardless of the cost.
When Chloe’s hand went through Scott’s door a second time, she offered a somewhat strained smile as she shifted to allow Kelly to knock -she had at least managed to not have any random outbursts of powers. That she knew of at least. She was still keeping a lid on her pheromone abilities, and she would do so for as long as humanly possible. Or superhumanly possible.
Giving Scott’s door a sharp knock, at least waiting for a response before entering, lest he still be trying to compose himself for this shindig, Kelly took a breath to keep herself steady -she’d never gone into a ‘family meeting’ with her lawyer head on, but there was a first time for everything.
Scott was quite honestly trying to process a lot of things, the first being the most obvious and that was Louis’ death and then the next one being the sudden appearance of Chloe before that was then replaced by Kelly. Both sisters, both supers, and Scott was in that weird position of not really knowing what to think or believe. He was hurt as well, that neither of them had felt like they could tell him, and had kept the secret for so long. And now they were both in the Regiment and that wasn’t where Scott wanted or really needed them to be. No, he needed them to be out there in the world, living their lives, but instead, they were now soldiers for a top secret programme that he himself worked for him. It made him feel as though this sudden invisible wall had just gone and put itself between Scott and his family.
That was why he’d called a family meeting.
They had a lot to talk about and discuss, the sooner the better. Admittedly he could have done this sooner but he’d been trying to work out how to go about it whilst juggling his role as a Handler, family was after all the most important thing in Scott’s life.
And then there was a knock and Scott pushed out a breath, slowly and evenly, rounding on his desk to lean back against it with his arms folded.
“Come in,” he said.
Chloe was fully aware that it shouldn’t be this intimidating, Scott was her brother, the one who had taught her to ride a bike (and Kelly had been there the first time she’d fallen off and picked her up, kissed her forehead and helped turn the bike around so she could cycle back to Scott). They were family at the end of the day but that made this prospect no less terrifying.
Kelly had knocked, so it made sense that Chloe walk in first. After all, it was her fault they’d ended up in this situation in the first place. It was her fault Kelly was here, it was her fault that they needed to have this talk. She didn’t even understand why Scott was here, working for the Regiment or what that even meant. She hadn’t really spoken to Lucas past that first interaction on the journal system. Honestly, she’d just done whatever she could to avoid seeing anyone or leaving her room.
Now Kelly was here it seemed she’d struggle to just keep to herself and interact with people over the journal system where it was easy for her to pretend to be okay.
She took her sister’s hand and took a deep breath, focusing on staying solid as she pushed the door open and walked in, initially kind of pulling Kelly behind her but when she saw Scott, Chloe’s steps faltered and she retreated back to stand just behind Kelly and off to the side. He might not have actively looked like he was pissed, but he was definitely radiating something. It was easy for her, right now, to consider that was directed more at her than Kelly after everything she’d done.
She could feel the tension from Chloe, even as she gave her little sister’s hand a quick squeeze as they entered the office -she knew Scott knew it was them, he’d told them to come, he was waiting for them. She didn’t know if he was trying to put some distance between them and his job or if this was going to be a mostly Scott yelling at them and asking them questions then not letting them answer -that had happened to her once, in the past, with their dad, and honestly, she wasn’t looking for a repeat without mom there to get someone to calm down.
“Hey Scott,” naturally, Kelly went with an icebreaker, “love the office. Bit serious though.” There were questions, from every angle. Ones that Kelly wanted to ask -like how long had Scott worked for a secret government agency that turned super-powered people into little tools and weapons, to why on earth he insisted on frowning all the time because it was definitely going to age his face far sooner than he wanted it to.
And she knew that this was undoubtedly going to be more about serious stuff than jokey family bonding; this wasn’t a fourth of July picnic, they weren’t going to grill burgers and sip beers, there was probably going to be some crying (Chloe), maybe some yelling (Scott), some really lame attempts at humour (Kelly) and definitely a headache (all three). “I’m guessing from that constipated look on your face you weren’t the one that wrangled that I’d be placed where Chloe went, huh.” Kelly had been assuming that much since she’d talked to Holly, but apparently, that assumption was making an ass out of her.
“You may want to lay off ‘cause in case you hadn’t noticed the last time I checked you both were just normal regular ladies who didn’t have secret superpowers that they kept hidden from the rest of the family,” Scott pointed out with a distinct look that said he wasn’t much in the joking mood. It was good to see them, both of them, Chloe more so than Kelly because he hadn’t seen her in a long time and he didn’t know what had happened to her until now.
He pushed a breath out of his chest, unfolded his arms, and proceeded to clasp restlessly at his desk because much like Kelly he could practically feel that nervous energy radiating off Chloe.
“Hell, c’mere, Bambi,” he said after a moment as he held out his arms and wiggled his fingers. Regardless of personal hurt feelings and confusion, she was still his sister and he was still very much her big brother.
They’d already lost enough.
Chloe hesitated only for a few seconds, glancing at Kelly before she stepped forwards and flopped into the waiting arms, expecting that Kelly would follow soon after. She'd missed the funeral; the chance for family comfort and solidarity. The chance to have her family around her to be part of it all.
She didn't raise her arms at first, not even as she felt Scott's come around her, not until she'd been there for a moment but she did, clutched at him the same way she had at Kelly.
"I didn't lie to you guys," Chloe mumbled, "I didn't wanna get taken away like the others. Kells neither, right Kell? Cause if we'd said somethin' then they woulda taken us away." They'd have ended up in here anyway.
She leaned back a little, looked at her sister, and then back up at Scott. "'m sorry, Scott." Because he had to be upset. Had to be hurting just the same. "Guess we all got a lot to talk about, huh."
It was true enough that she might want to chill with the comedy approach, but nervous energy made her compensate in some of the worst ways. “Exactly, Chloe.” She just smiled a little when Scott dropped the seriousness for a moment, just to give Chloe the comfort and assurance she no doubt needed. She had to know by now that Kelly was utterly there for her, there was no blame or stigma coming from her, regardless of if Chloe had let go of the guilt yet (she doubted it, but there was time). “It wasn’t something I wanted to burden anyone with, especially with you going off with the forces, then Matt doing the same. No one needed secrets to take with them.”
Kelly had never intended on letting anyone know, and while the shift in her life wasn’t her plan, it was something she’d adapt to. She loved her brother dearly, but she wouldn’t let those choices she made, ones to protect everyone, be questioned. “I think it’s just as well we never told you, looking at where you work. Think of the conflict of interest this would’ve been.” They weren’t the only ones keeping secrets was what she was getting at.
But no one needed the finger pointing game right now, there was enough going on that they didn’t need to be at each other’s throats over silly little things. She was close enough to give Chloe’s shoulders a comforting squeeze. “Lots, but none of it needs to be about who didn’t tell someone else what. Okay?”
As Chloe flopped against him Scott merely wrapped his arms around her and tightened his grip until she would be in no terms unclear or uncertain about how he felt about her.
"So better you both carry the weight of this then share it with your family?" He countered Kelly with an arch of his eyebrow and that all too familiar big brother Scott look. "And this- Well, this as a lot of my career was classified as top secret so if I had said anything then I would have been court martialed and y'all would have been in trouble as well." Finger pointing or no Scott still wanted to explain.
He pressed an affectionate kiss to Chloe's hair. "You two holding up okay?"
“Pretty sure that ain’t the point,” Chloe muttered, “that’d’a been one helluva conflict of interest,” she agreed. “Top secret or not. Besides, if you’d told us what you did, what’d they have done, locked us up?” She couldn’t help the tiny amount of sass that escaped her she waved a hand at their surroundings even as she tucked herself underneath Scott’s arm, plastered against his side. It was a space she’d declared was hers when she was very little and only willingly shared his other side with Kelly. Even then it was a toss up, sometimes. Or had used to be.
She grumbled under her breath. “And Kell’s right. I mean, ain’t like it’s- I mean y’all were off doin’ your own thing when I fell through the damn house and broke my tailbone,” though everyone had known about that. Chloe had been gently ribbed about breaking something by falling out of bed because she hadn’t been able to tell anyone she’d actually fallen three stories onto solid concrete.
Glancing at Kelly, as if she were daring her sister to say something to the contrary, Chloe rested her head against Scott and looked at his desk. “Mm, ‘m okay.” Because if he couldn’t see her, he couldn’t call her out on anything. And Kelly would probably lie too, and Scott could focus on that first.
There was a lot they hadn’t told each other it seemed, and while she knew it was something uncommon with them, since they tended to share everything, each of them had reasons to do it. “I didn’t have too big a problem, of course I was terrified I’d end up with eight legs and twelve eyes and web spinners for a while.” Being sixteen and starting to develop spider traits had been crushing on her self-esteem for a while. Long sleeves in Georgia wasn’t the best idea in the world, but Kelly had made herself do it just because those bumps could’ve been anything.
The less said about the pheromones the better.
“So, you had top secret, classified information to keep, and so did we. Tit for tat, Scotty. You’re going to need to get over that hurdle now.” There was a really tiny twang to her voice, something that came through the more she spent time with her siblings. The lawyer voice started to fade and the country girl crept in little by little.
“We’re gettin’ on okay. It’s good we’re on the same team, that was a nice surprise.” That she’d been put in the same place as Chloe at all, and that it happened to be where Scott was, maybe one of them was having a bit of a luckier time. “How about you, big brother? Has the shock worn off?” Holly had said something about him hiding, and she bought that, she did. But this at least signalled he’d dealt with the surprise of it all on his own -or with Holly.
Scott squeezed Chloe’s shoulder as she settled against his side like she had every time he’d come home and from the day she was old enough to walk. “I saw that,” he said with a nod before he just reached out with his other arm to give Kelly a one arm hug as the other remained steadfastly rooted around Chloe. Mostly out of fear that if he let go that she might disappear.
“Still working on the shock,” he admitted with a rueful smirk. “And really wishing you were both out there still living your lives instead of being locked up in here, but that’s where we’re at so no point getting all worked up about what could have been.” He like Kelly had lost a lot of his southern twang but around family it came creeping back in.
“Coulda been worse,” Chloe offered, “I coulda been in jail still.” She’d hated it there, even though it had only been three weeks it was quite possibly the worst three weeks of her life. If she had to go back, she didn’t know what she’d do. The circumstances of her release into the Wraiths programme had been circumspect; she was told to do as she was asked, behave herself and cause no waves. If she did, though, it was right back to jail for her. Life sentence.
She rested her arm around Scott’s waist, other hand finding Kelly’s when she was tugged close too. This was what it was about, right? Family.
“For what it’s worth, ‘m sorry I said nothin’,” she admitted. “‘Sides, why isn’t Kelly gettin’ her ass kicked for turnin’ herself in? You need to give her an ass kickin’, Scott.”
Bringing her hand up to Scott’s shoulder as he gave her the half hug, squeezing her own comforting reassurance and twining her fingers with Chloe’s, Kelly felt so much more settled now than when they’d first walked in. “Please, those charges were ridiculous. I’d’ve had you outta there quicker than you can say gross misconduct of justice.” Removing the super aspect, there was no way it was right how they’d handled Chloe’s case.
But that wasn’t something to discuss either. Maybe later, if they SEA passed and they got out of there.
“Oh really? You’re tossin’ me under that bus?” Although, Kelly could hold her own, and she wasn’t about to apologise when she didn’t know that Scott would be here for Chloe. She didn’t even really know that she’d be here for Chloe, but she wanted to make that choice either way. “I am a grown woman, I can make my own choices.”
Scott snorted a little at the exchange between his sisters, hating but also loving that he had his family right there with him, at his side and tucked under his arm. “Now, now,” he murmured softly. “Let’s not fight this early on, huh? Ain’t got as much space here to escape one another if we do.”
Kelly was right, however, she was a grown woman who was more than capable of making her own choices.
Just not in men, she had the worst taste in men.
“Pretty sure three or four days in the same place without any of us fightin’ is already a record,” Chloe pointed out from where she was comfortably settled where she belonged in her spot. She shifted, flexing her toes inside her shoes and fiddling with the back of Scott’s shirt nervously while she waited to work out what to say next.
It wasn’t… awkward, but there was a weight in the air. Honestly, she was surprised so far that neither of them had asked what had happened. That they hadn’t asked each other what they could do. What their powers were. What Scott was doing here. But she supposed she ought to count her blessings.
“So, Scott, you called a family meeting and we came…”
They hadn’t started sniping at each other yet, something they were very good at doing after too long in close quarters. They might love each other to death, might be prepared to go to the ends of the earth for one another, but they were still siblings, and they were still going to have those moments.
“He totally only did that so that he could check on us, you know without looking like a softie.” Kelly made a point in giving Scott’s shoulder a light bump, she never liked when things got tense between them all because it meant they tried to force conversation, and then they’d end up somewhere they didn’t want to.
Scott snorted quietly before he smirked. “She’s got me there.” He definitely had a reputation and that was one of the many reasons he liked to keep work and family separate because he was a lot softer when it was family just a matter of fact.
“Just wanted to see you both with my own eyes and make sure I wasn’t going crazy ‘cause hell anything is possible right now.”
Life definitely had a funny way of throwing curve balls at you until you didn’t know which way was up and which way was down.