runs_the_show (runs_the_show) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2012-07-15 01:12:00 |
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Being on a plane for more than ten hours sucked. There was absolutely no other way to describe being confined to the window seat in the very back of the plane but it was the best she’d been able to do on such short notice. Her flight had left Gatwick Airport at 11:25 am London time and arrived, thanks to the magic of timezones, at 2:10 pm Las Vegas time. Despite being exhausted and upset, both from the traveling and talking to Benji, Justine still managed a warm smile for Silver. She waved, phone in hand, at the white sedan that had just pulled up before turning to get her luggage. She’d had all of thirty minutes to pack so her things were stuffed in the brightly colored carry on bag she had next to her and thankfully it had wheels on it or else she would’ve been annoyed on top of everything else. The most noticeable thing about her attire was either the neon blue Converse sneakers she wore or the fact that she currently had a sweatshirt on. Otherwise, she just looked like any other kid traveling on her own. It was her first time too but she wasn’t hung up on that part with how focused she was on talking to Benji. Of course, now that she had, it felt like he’d just left all over again. By the time she managed to walk out the sliding glass doors, a man had gotten out of the white sedan and walked around to the passenger side. Justine assumed it was Silver and made her way over to him. As soon as she was within reach, she let go of the handle and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck for a few long moments before letting go. “Thank you so much for coming to get me. I really appreciate it,” Justine greeted quite sincerely. “I’m sorry for springing all of this on you without any warning.” Silver circled the airport twice as he listened to the girl on the phone babble on about her incredibly improbable but somehow believable career and family situation. How many ballerinas did one know, after all, and how likely were they to be in Las Vegas by way of London and Dubai? It was unlikely to the point of incredible that such a person would be sprung upon him so suddenly, and that he had not known Felicia had been killed until that moment... even Tony was unable to believe that Felicia was truly gone even after Silver’s contact had confirmed it. The two of them drove in white-knuckled shock and suspicion that this string of events was somehow orchestrated, because any string of events that smelled of happenstance made Silver feel that way. Yet there was no one watching the girl closely enough to imply danger. No one moved when she moved, no one looked where she looked. If there was a team, they were good, as good as anyone Silver trained. He’d get them if they followed, for sure, and if she was bait he would have to take it. Silver was taken entirely by surprise when Justine hugged him. She was a stranger on the one hand and he’d been thinking of her as a potential threat on the other, which meant the hug got an awkward pat on her back and every attempt to extricate himself from the embrace. He looked her over, keeping his doubt to himself. “Pepper brought you here?” he asked, still standing in front of the car and waiting for something else awful to happen. If Justine took anything other than comfort from his awkward pat, she didn’t show it. Just seeing him was reassuring to the point where she was absolutely sure, in that moment, that she’d made the right choice coming to Vegas. She had no idea what Silver looked like but she had a sense from what Pepper had told her and he had the same look about him that One and Two did. It was a small dose of similarity that grounded her and the conversation with Benji was temporarily forgotten. His question only made her nod as she shifted on her feet, anxious to stay moving before she was confined to the car. “She did! Well, sort of. See, there was that...thing,” she started, trying to be gentle about the car accident that was nothing more than a nightmare to her, “and then the next thing I know, there’s a strange voice in my head freaking out about how she needs to get back to Passages because Tony was going to need her, what with keeping Loki in the basement. Which, by the way, she still doesn’t think is a good idea. That’s where she was before they were arguing. She ended up taking all day for herself because she wanted to make sure that there were contingency plans for your - his contingency plans. She worries too much, especially about him. Anyway, so Pepper was insisting that I come because Tony needed her and how Thor would be worried, and so would Ben but he didn’t need that with everything going on with him. I was asking her about all these people and that’s when I figured out that Ben to her was my Benji, my brother. He’s an ass by the way, thinking ignoring me was oh so much better than telling me.” Justine started to mutter the last part, but she caught herself before she went too far and shook her head. “Basically, I heard my brother was here and booked my flight as soon as I woke up. The airport was like two hours away from my place and then with the flight, I’m just exhausted. I have no idea where to stay either, but money’s not a problem. I can pay you too, for the ride. Pepper didn’t know how much it would be, but I have-" She pulled out her wallet to rifle through the cash that was there but as soon as she realized that she'd forgotten to exchange money, her entire face fell. "I have a credit card with like no limit?" It was a feeble attempt to still pay but she had a feeling she'd have to call Benji and she really didn't want to do that. "I'm sorry. You probably think I'm insane or something, don't you? Well, maybe not because you have Tony. Which. Does he really look like that? From the movie?" The underlying opinion of 'He is sexy' was abundantly clear in her tone and she was smiling again. Silver wasn’t wearing a gun. There was one in the car and another in a magnetized lockbox under the car (Tony had lent a hand), but not one on him, specifically, and he wished that wasn’t the case even though she’d hugged him and surely would have felt it through his shirt. He was almost fully recovered, working through yoga exercises to get his flexibility back while Tony did cardio to try to work on stamina. The both of them ate as much as they could to work on protein, but right now, Silver was anything but hungry. He was anxious and worried and his habitual calm seemed long ago and far away. Felicia? Dead? He watched her take out her wallet, looking at the cards, practiced eyes searching for immediate signs of fakes or vulnerable points that would suggest her identity was recently acquired. Nothing. Tony was rattling, worried about Pepper, but Silver said nothing, and blinked when he realized that the long rattle of information had come to a stop. “...No, I don’t think you’re insane at all. He looks like that, yes. Somewhat.” Tony was resentful, but Silver ignored it. He had other things on his mind. He cast worried eyes around the airport and made a little gesture toward the car. “We should go. We’re holding up traffic. Can I help you with your bag?” Now that she had a few minutes to sort of process things, Justine felt kind of bad for how all of this had played out. She could only imagine what her mother would have said had she known, chastising her for not thinking about Silver’s feelings before she spoke. There wasn’t anything she could do about it now so she just promised herself that she’d try to go easy with anyone else that went asking about Pepper’s last person. “Huh. Sweet. Pepper’s really lucky,” was her only reply because a yawn caught her unawares. Justine just barely got her hand up over her mouth, wincing at her serious lack of manners. “Sorry,” she apologized sheepishly. “Oh, it’s alright. I’ve got it,” Justine added, not wanting to bother him with her bag on top of everything else. “I’ll just stick it in the back with me, if that’s okay?” They’d taken enough cars to enough places that she knew some drivers didn’t like any luggage in the backseat. Silver seemed not on edge exactly, but again, a lot like One and Two which reminded her of a question Pepper had. Justine debated on even asking that particular question because she didn’t want to give the poor guy a heart attack. Instead, she went with, “Were you in the military? You remind me of One and Two and they’re Navy Seals, just like Mike and Gary. The four of them were assigned to Daddy after we moved to Dubai and they’ve been with us ever since.” Except she was obviously traveling alone but Justine didn’t think that was an important piece of information. Ordinarily Silver would have allowed himself to be charmed by Justine’s accented prattle and her earnest nature, but he was too rattled by recent events. He wanted to see the accident report, the car at the impound, he wanted to be sure this was not some trick, some thinly-veiled attack. Tony wanted to see Pepper, but now that Justine’s alter’s identity was verified, Silver had no more concern for Pepper. He held the back door open for her, allowing her to handle her bag as requested. He smiled when she yawned, a consummate expert at hiding his anxiety whenever it reached this pitch. “I can take you to a hotel, I’m afraid I don’t have a proper place yet or I’d offer you a bed.” Silver had been sleeping in his new shop, and he’d been happy about it up until this point. Leaning on the door, he raised his eyebrows in surprise when she made the military connection. “In a way. When I was younger. Your father was assigned Seal protection?” That was most interesting. “A hotel is fine. If you want, you can stay too,” Justine offered with a smile. She sat in the middle of the backseat and leaned forward, her elbows perched on her legs and her chin resting on the flat of her palms, just to the side so she could look at him properly. “Yea. He’s the...” she trailed off, trying to think of the best possible way to explain what her dad did. “He works for the IMF - the International Monetary Fund - and he’s like the Pepper to the Chairman of the E-Board’s Tony. Except without the sexual tension or the demi-gods.” She kind of liked all this comparing, even if it was really silly. “Anyway, there were four of them. One and Two stay with Dad 24/7 and then Mike and Gary stay with the family. That’s my mom, me, and my three younger siblings. Alexander’s after me, then Daniel, then Angeline is the youngest. She was born just before we moved back to England.” Justine trusted Silver implicitly not just because he had Tony in his head, but also because of the perceived military background. Enemies or not, he was clearly a good guy if he would have offered her a place to stay after everything she dropped on him. In her place, Silver would definitely not have been so trusting, but espionage did that to you. Once you'd been shot a few times--or burned even once by someone you thought as a friend--it was very hard to trust. Silver's calm came very hard-won, and even though he would be checking everything she said, he already had a feeling that it would all check out. Such honest and natural people did exist, they were just rare, and also young. Justine met that description in spades despite her father's occupation, which meant the Seals were good at their jobs. Silver shut the door, and rounded the hood. "What do they think about you running off like this?" he asked, waiting for her to get comfortable and letting his eyes cross the horizon again in a way she would no doubt find familiar. Justine took the lack of acknowledgement as a no and left it at that, figuring she was probably pressing her luck already as it was. She sat back and put her seatbelt on, her feet coming up to rest on the back end of the center console as he moved around the front of the car. The question he asked made her visibly uncomfortable and she turned to look out the window, perfect pearly white teeth worrying her lower lip. She was more worried about Mike coming to get her, to take her back home. No matter what Benji said, even if she was still mad at him, he’d run away for a reason. If Mike came after her, and she knew it’d be Mike, then he’d find Benji too. “I left a note that I was coming to Vegas but it was the morning I left. I don’t live with my family, since the ballet’s in Birmingham, so it was just a quick note kind of thing. Dad probably won’t notice. I think he’s off at a conference until the end of next week. Mom’s got her hands full with three kids so there’s that. She probably won’t worry for a while. I’d call before she got worried.” Justine sounded reasonably confident by the end of it, turning back to look at him with a somewhat forced smile. “How long have you been here?” So far, Silver had been cautious about the questions. He could tell that she was a natural with them, and that being so giving of herself she expected equal cheerful veracity in everyone around her. She probably got it, too. She was all smiles and tired blue eyes, and he liked her. He envied her ease with conversation, a skill that continually eluded him. Settling into his front seat, Silver slammed his door and hit the button that secured the car from the inside. He kept the dividing screen down (it wasn’t even apparent there was one, it issued from the front seats rather than the floor) and the drive friendly. Glancing in his mirror at her, he thought about his answer as he pulled into traffic. Slowly, he said, “I retired here a few years ago. It’s quiet when I need it to be and loud when I want it to be. Thanks for the offer to stay, but it’s not necessary.” He smiled into the mirror. “I would call your folks as soon as you can, maybe after you wake up. Jet lag is rough, I know.” Silver got to things when he got there, no hurry at all. It was somewhat disconcerting, because he seemed to go at his own pace, and it was easy to forget topics from five minutes ago when he brought them back up. Justine nodded, her smile brightening at the sight of his, her blue eyes sparkling just a bit more. She always did better when the people around her were smiling too. “Okay, but you can if you need to. I won’t mind.” She also wouldn’t tell her brother who would definitely have a problem with it. He always had been protective of her and as much as she wanted to shout about how she didn’t care, she really did. “You make Las Vegas sound a lot nicer than all the brochures. I’m excited to see the shows mostly. West End is brilliant, and I’ve seen plenty of ballet performances, but the shows here are like ones that could be on Broadway, right? New York City would’ve been my choice visiting the States for the first time,” she said warmly, all too happy to just talk. It made her feel better, despite how tired and antsy she was. Talking always made her feel better. “I won’t forget, I promise. Mom tries her best, but five kids is a lot. Well, four after Benji ran away and now me. My younger siblings are more of a handful than I was when I was younger. She’s got Mike and Gary helping her out though. They’re like family. We thought they were going to leave when we moved back to the UK but they stayed. I’m still not totally clear on why my dad needs them but,” she shrugged, “as long as Daddy doesn’t end up injured, maimed, or dead, I’m not complaining. It’s always better, the less I know.” A sheepish smile was attached to that particular statement. “I’m really good at keeping secrets usually, I swear. It’s just a lot, yea? Pepper said I could trust you, so I do. I won’t say anything to anyone about anything.” Justine was more than a little earnest because she knew how she always came across and she wanted Silver to have a good opinion of her. Add onto that her difficulty in reading him, and clarification was her best friend. It was unprofessional but not uncommon for protection details to become close to families, and a certain amount of trust was always helpful, but it struck Silver as odd that the American government would find it necessary to continue a detail in the UK, which was hardly a warzone. There were hidden depths there, but ones that he could plumb later if it became necessary. While he chewed on that, he said, “The shows usually go more for the spectacle than the skill here but some of them are very good. I wouldn’t say New York or London good, but good.” Silver was no theatrical review but he’d been around a bit. He couldn’t think of one show he’d actually seen all the way through, but they’re good cover. Silver pulled the car away from the Strip, but not too far from the center of the town. Crowds would be decent protection in this case, make it easier for Justine to scream if there was trouble and attract attention that would make it more difficult for anyone to hurt her without being noticed. He chose a mid-priced hotel, judging from her luggage what she could afford. “Pepper is right,” he added, finally. He didn’t want to commit to too much, still on edge about Felicia’s death. What if he needed to disappear? Best not to make promises. If Silver had wanted to take her to some fleabag motel, she would’ve asked but otherwise gone along with it. Most people didn’t understand her easy going nature or how quick she was to trust certain people, but it stopped bothering her a long time ago. As long as it made sense in her head, that was all she needed. “We should go see one! I saw The Lion King back home and it’s supposed to be really good here as well. It’ll be fun! When you want though, and it’s okay if you don’t. I won’t mind.” Benji had taught her that when she was younger, to always offer someone an out because it was the polite thing to do. Justine laughed when he said Pepper was right. “Of course she is. You’ve talked to her. She’s almost always right. She takes care of all the details to make sure that no one gets blown up too badly.” Of course, that made her think about Passages and the Door and she wasn’t sure how that worked. It honestly bothered her, thinking about giving up her body to let someone else take control. “What’s it like?” she asked quietly, almost like she didn’t want to know the answer. “Going through the door, I mean. In Passages?” Silver shook his head, but laughed, all the same. “I think I’ll pass on The Lion King. I can’t really appreciate musicals, to be honest. I always wonder why they’re singing it and not just talking like normal people.” Silver braked at a light, watching the pattern of cars go by in case anyone was mirroring his path, and then drove a specific path to the hotel he had in mind. As for Passages, he said, “it depends on your relationship with Pepper. I find some people absent themselves entirely from the experience, and some people are very close and practically there themselves. Personally, I can be present if I choose, but Tony is in charge. If that makes sense. You get used to it.” He pulled into the hotel lot. Justine wasn’t offended in the slightest that he didn’t want to go see the show she’d suggested off the top of her head, and that wasn’t because she was more focused on what the voice in her head was going to mean. “I guess it’s something I’ll have to figure out. Okay. Thanks,” she said quite sincerely, comforted at least that there was a chance that she wouldn’t be completely in the dark. “I don’t...” she trailed off as he came to a stop in the lot of one of the hotels, peering out the window to see the MGM Grand looming above her. Realizing she’d not finished what she wanted to say, she turned back to look at him. “I think I want to take a couple days and get settled, instead of going right to Passages.” Justine had to actively stop herself from making that into a question because as much as she wanted to reunite Pepper with Tony, she really needed sleep and a minute to just think. Now that a warm bed was within reach, she felt the full force of traveling for most of the day. Even though it was the afternoon, Justine had a feeling she’d be sleeping well into the next day. “Thank you again for the ride,” Justine said again, and then she remembered about paying him. She fumbled for her wallet as she asked, “Did you take credit cards or I can go in and see if they’ll exchange money for me? If you don’t mind waiting and you’d prefer cash, or I can just owe you and I’ll have it for you as soon as I get it all figured out.” Pulling the car into park and running his eyes over the visible landscape for a last time, Silver exited the car and opened the door for her. Bending down in half, loose white shirt creasing and the sunglasses he’d left clipped under his throat swinging, he looked into the car. Silver’s eyes were astonishingly white around his lashes, but dusky everywhere else, like the sunglasses should be permanently fixed to his face lest the ice white of his eyes melt on the spot. “You don’t need to pay me. Call me, and I’ll come.” He hesitated, then added, slowly, “I need you to be safe while you’re here. If it’s true about... about Felicia.” His voice hitched and he stood quickly, as if to avoid letting the topic sink in. Although she always knew drivers were expected to open and close doors for their passengers, Justine felt special every time it happened. It was no different with Silver, especially after he said she didn’t have to pay. “Okay, I’ll remember,” she promised, silently vowing to memorize his cellphone number. “I’ll be safe,” she added, climbing out of the car once he’d straightened. She didn’t miss the hitch in his voice so before getting her bag, she wrapped her arms around him in a quick tight hug. “I’m sorry about your friend.” Before he could say anything, she tugged her bag from the backseat. “Thank you, Silver,” she said, and then she was walking into the MGM Grand, looking back only once before getting a place to stay. |