Eleanor Monarch-Sparke is the Black Canary (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} skree) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} doorslogs,@ 2013-06-23 20:04:00 |
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What: The truth about the last week comes out (Part 1 of 2)
Where: Airport to their condo
When: This weekend
Warnings/Rating: Ultimate sads. I mean it's the return of the icons ;_;
It was just after six in the evening when his flight finally touched down in Las Vegas, and though the day was still relatively young, his body was telling him it was well after midnight and time to sleep. The painkillers didn't help that feeling, and by the time he made his way back into the main hub of the airport to the baggage claim where he was to meet Nell, it was all that he could do to put one foot in front of another. Dressed comfortably in dark jeans and a light-weight green polo, he looked like any other twenty-something in the airport, at least if you discounted the black sling keeping his left arm mostly immobile. There was a definite exhaustion hanging to him, and it was more than just the weariness of travel that weighed him down that evening. Seeing Nell was something he was both looking forward to and dreading in the same breath, because things would either go well or they would likely explode; he didn't see that there would be much of an in between considering what had happened in Italy.
A lot had changed for the young man since he had first gotten on the flight a week prior. He had been, at that point, Sebastian Vance-Price, the eldest son of the Price family, owner of the Aria Hotel and Casino, comfortable, well-to-do, and mostly pleased with his lot in life. He had returned as Sebastian Vance, owner of nothing, more than a little lost and afraid, having given up everything that had come with the Price name when he left Italy hours earlier. The decision had not been an easy one, and it still felt like a dream, a nightmare, something that he would wake from sooner rather than later, and everything would be as it was. But for the moment, he was floundering, unsure of what direction was up. The only constant was Nell, and even that wasn't something guaranteed to him after what had happened, how he knew she would feel.
But he had to pay the piper for all of that, and he couldn't put it off any longer.
His bag came around on the carousel, and he edged through the crowd to snag it off the belt and drag it towards him, his face creasing with pain as stitches pulled, healing skin screaming in agony. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath, his voice tight, and it took him several moments of simply standing, still, breathing, calm, before he could move again. The doctors had recommending putting travel off for a few more days; blood had been lost, his arm had only begun to heal, and the trip was long. But he couldn't stay there any longer, not after he and Calvin had had one of the most difficult conversations Sebastian had ever had to have in his life. He needed to go back to the life he was eking out for himself in Vegas.
It was the only thing he really owned.
Sighing, Sebastian pulled up the handle to his bag and glanced around, looking for that familiar blonde, the smile, the eyes, the person that he loved more than anything else, and the main reason he had left his family and everything that went along with it behind.
Nell cursed a blue streak under her breath, hurrying as fast she could towards the baggage claim. She was supposed to have been here 20 minutes ago, but for some inexplicable reason, had been caught in traffic. At six in the evening, on a Saturday. Somebody somewhere was laughing at her expense. She had only been able to stare helplessly at the phone alerts updating her on Sebastian's flights, impatiently tapping her fingers against the steering wheel as she waited. Waiting patiently had never been one of Nell's fortes.
At least she was finally here. She couldn't sprint outright in the dress she was wearing, but she moved briskly through the idle population of the airport, successfully dodging and weaving when necessary. He wasn't hard to spot through the crowd, even dressed casually (for him) as he was, and Nell rushed those final few steps towards him, concern clearly lining her face. "Hey, Sebastian. I'm sorry I wasn't waiting for you when you got here." She put her arms up to embrace him, but stopped short, unsure just how much pain she would cause if she touched him. Deciding it was better not to risk it, she leaned forward and kissed him. "What happened?"
Seeing Nell, there was no helping the way his shoulders relaxed, some of the tension that had been building up there for some days draining away just by being in her presence, but the relief didn't last long enough. "There's no need to apologise. I just got here a few moments ago myself." He could see the worry on her features, and he hated that he was the cause of it. It was one thing to console her when the worry was for Anton and his health, quite another when it was about him. But he pushed that to the side for the moment, releasing the handle of his suitcase to bring his hand to rest on her arm, returning the kiss gently. "Can we talk about it when we get home?" Sebastian asked, his voice pitched low. He knew he was putting it off, this important conversation, but there were a lot of things that he needed to say and the airport was the last place he wanted to start on any of them. "I feel ready to fall asleep on my feet, my arm is aching, and I just want to be home with the most beautiful woman I know." He reached up to brush some of the golden hair away from her face, his touch undeniably fond. There were days where he wondered if he was doing the right thing, if the decisions he had made up to this point had been right. All those worries, those fears, they went out the window when he saw her. Life had torn them apart before, his position in his family had forced their separation once, and now, that didn't stand in their way. He wouldn't let it.
Nell frowned but nodded, knowing he was right. As much as she needed to know about what had happened, Sebastian was right. Their lives were too public to be discussing injuries out in the open. Besides, he looked as exhausted as he claimed, and that was enough to melt her resolve. She kissed him again, just to feel his mouth against hers. "Fine, let's get you home." She grabbed the handle of his suitcase and tugged it behind her. "Do we need to pick up anything on the way? Painkillers or a heating pad or anything?" They had a fairly healthy first aid supply in their condo because of Nell's dabbling into vigilantism, but she wasn't sure if he'd been prescribed something specific.
Sebastian let Nell lead the way out of the airport, managing to keep pace with her despite the exhaustion that pulled at his limbs. He could still feel her kiss against his lips, and that was enough to keep him moving. "No, they made sure I was stocked up with everything before I left. Good painkillers. So just home. That's all I need right now." He walked with her on his right, reaching out to grab her free hand as they walked, lacing his fingers with hers, thumb running over the ridge of her knuckles. "I love you, you know that, right?" Sebastian asked, casting a glance towards her, the skin beneath those blue eyes smudged with dark shadows that looked foreign on the young man's face.
"Of course I do." She glanced at him with a smile, looking back towards where they were going before she could ask more questions. All she could think about when she looked at him was what must have happened and why he looked so tired. Not sleeping on the plane was one thing, but this was different. Both their jobs forced them to keep long hours (and her insomnia longer hours still), but they had learned to weather it. This was something else, and it was obvious. But she had promised him that she wouldn't ask him until they got home, and she was going to stay true to her word. "Home it is." She lead him through the parking garage to the car, opening the door of the passenger side for him before dropping his suitcase into the trunk and coming around the other side. "The kids are good?"
He was quiet until he dropped into the passenger seat of her car, a moment's glare to the seatbelt given before he managed to tug it down into place, turning to look towards her as she settled in to the driver's seat. "Kids are good. Growing up really quickly. Each time I see them, I have to blink because they're bigger each time." Something tightened in his chest at the thought, and he reached up without even thinking to rub at the center of his chest, a small nod of his head coming at a question that hadn't been asked. He shifted slightly, pressing back into the seat hard before he relaxed, glancing over towards Nell a moment later, a half smile coming to his lips. "It would have been nice to go over there with you some day," he said without even thinking, speaking in the past tense. "They were so young last time you saw them."
Something about the way he touched his chest filled her with affection. Unable to hold the hand that was in the sling, she ran over the hair above his ear. "We'll go someday," she promised, replacing her hand with a quick kiss. "Or maybe they can come visit us." Nell knew that the latter was the only real possibility; she could never willingly walk into a house owned by the mafia, and not just because of her fathers. But the kids had nothing to do with their parents' decisions, and Nell wouldn't dream of holding them at fault. "You brought pictures, right?"
"Maybe," Sebastian answered, but he knew it wouldn't happen, not now, and that pulled at his emotions, his gaze growing somewhat different as he looked through the front window, leaning his head towards her, his kiss gentle. "And of course I brought pictures. Mom sent me quite a few, and I took some of my own. It'll be like you were just there with all the pictures that you took." He managed a faint smile before he closed his eyes, taking in a long breath, and the quiet came down to pain and nothing else.
"I can't wait to see them." Nell pulled out of the garage and into the city's traffic, occasionally glancing over to see if Sebastian had fallen asleep. His breathing had slowed, but not all the way, and she let him be. It was obvious that he needed the rest. "Baby? We're here," she said gently, about twenty minutes after they'd left the airport. "You awake?"
The sound of her voice, sweet and familiar, was enough to rouse him from the light doze he had slipped into without even thinking. Too many different time zones in the last few days, and it was catching up with him. "Sorry," Sebastian started, reaching over to unbuckle his seat belt, meeting her gaze a moment later. "I didn't mean to fall asleep on you like that. I guess I'm more worn out than I thought." Leaning towards her, he pressed his lips against her cheek for a brief moment before sliding out of the car, a long breath taken in of the warm air, air that was already familiar despite the short time he had called Las Vegas home. "I thought you were still staying with your father," he asked, waiting until she had pulled his suitcase out of the trunk before approaching the building, tall and towering over them, the place the definition of luxury.
"You looked like you needed the rest," she replied with a smile, pulling his bag behind her. "Only in the evenings. I've been sleeping here." There was also the fact that she had spent the last several days worried about Sebastian, and she hadn't wanted that to show. Nell wasn't the best at keeping her emotions to herself at her best, and the last few weeks had put her even more on edge. Even now, she was bursting at the seams with questions. She thanked the doorman who let them into the building and made for the elevator, hoping to get them to privacy as soon as possible. "Honestly, I haven't been sleeping all that much, and I didn't want them to worry." Despite not having raised her from childhood, Nell's fathers had learned quickly how to read her for warning signs, and her recurring insomnia was one of the easiest things to catch. "They've got enough on their plates without my help."
The elevator afforded them some sense of privacy as they rode to their floor, back pressed against the interior, holding himself carefully as he listened to her speak. "Then who gets to worry about you?" he asked after a moment, reaching out with his right hand to reach towards her fingers, giving them a tight squeeze once he had hold of them. "You can't let all of that bottle up inside of you, Nell. That just leads to disaster, and we both know that." He had seen her like that in the past, had been there through some of it during her stint in therapy in London, and the last thing he wanted was to put any more worry on her shoulders. "Come here," he finally said, opening his arm to her and ushering her in close, ignoring the twinge in his arm as he wound his good arm around her, holding her tight against his chest.
Nell allowed herself to be pulled in close, finding comfort in the familiar pressure of his chest against her body. The world seemed much less scary a place when Sebastian's arms were around her, even though she knew it wasn't. She felt safe from every bad thing hurtling towards her when he held her tight, even though she knew she wasn't. "I'm not the one anyone needs to worry about," she finally said softly, her voice muffled against his good shoulder. "You're the one who's come back in a sling."
Sebastian lifted his chin, letting it come to rest atop the crown of her head, and for a moment, he allowed himself to believe that everything that was going to happen would turn out alright. That what they had between them was stronger than anything else in the world; they had been broken apart once, and the world wouldn't allow them to come back together only to cleave them apart once more, would it? But Sebastian knew it was fruitless to ask such questions of the universe. The universe, as some said, worked in mysterious ways, and Sebastian knew it worked in damned cruel ways as well.
He ran a hand up and down her back, pulling back slightly to press his lips against the side of her head, voice muffled by her blonde hair. "But I came back," he murmured to her, and just then the elevator doors opened to their floor, cool, filtered air rushing in to the elevator, and he took that opportunity to untangle himself from around her, reaching down to take her hand once more. "Let's get inside. And we'll talk. And I'll tell you everything." He had no idea, really, how ominous his words sounded coming out in that soft voice, but it was a conversation he was not looking forward to having.
Nell ignored the fifty variations of 'yes, this time' that were floating in her head, instead leading him into the privacy of their living room. It wasn't Sebastian's fault that she had seen as much violence as she had, and constantly expected the worst of situations. He was back, and he was safe now, and that's what she needed to focus on.
Rolling the suitcase up to the side of the large couch, Nell took a seat and reached out a hand to Sebastian. "Tell me what happened, Sebastian."