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Tweak says, "Steppin to the bad side"

Joe Russo (notalongtime) wrote in heureuxlake,
@ 2024-06-02 20:46:00

Entry tags:

Δ complete, Δ text/email/phone/mail, → giulia de sanctis, → joe russo, ∞ 2000: 06

Phone call: Siblings reunited
Who: Joe Russo, Giulia de Sanctis
What: Joe gets in touch
When: 2 June 2000
Where: Phone call
Warnings: None
Completion status: Complete

Joe was off duty but had spent the last few hours exercising with his partner, Dax. It was one of those days where he just needed to spend time with the simplicity of a dog. He and Dax had been working together for a few months now but he would still take any opportunity to build that bond. She didn't ask for much, just her favourite toys as a reward for following his commands and a few fun things to sniff out. The German Shepherd had a high drive to work and he was grateful for the distraction that working with her provided.

By the time he led her back to her kennel, Joe finally felt ready to make the phone call that he had been stewing over for most of the week. He had programmed Giulia's number into his cellphone but hadn't yet been able to press the call button.

His thumb hovered over the button and he grimaced, screwing his eyes shut before he pressed it and bringing the phone up to his ear. It rang a few times before the call was picked up and he felt like a ball of anxiety as he waited.

"Hi. It's me. Uh, it's Joe. Joe Russo. We met the other day." He winced silently. Man, that was a bad start.

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notalongtime
2024-06-08 12:01 pm UTC (link)

"No, she lives in kennels with the other dogs." Joe loved his job and if that was an option he might have taken it, though he did like that it meant his living quarters didn't end up smelling like dog.

"She already had her name when we met," he admitted, hand dipping into his pocket to fish out the damp tennis ball. Joe tossed it into the air and caught it. "I think the breeder gave it to her. Someone told me it was from Star Trek? I don't know, not my sort of thing. But I'm her first handler. We've been together a few months and so far, so good." Joe was proud of the way they worked together and he hoped that they would get some good assignments so that she could really show off her skills. He would be sad to leave her behind one day.

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giuliasings
2024-06-08 04:24 pm UTC (link)

Feeling a mild disappointment for him that, though he clearly adored Dax, she wasn't allowed to stay with him. She wondered how long the dogs were kept as working dogs and if their handlers were allowed to adopt them once they retired, but then she remembered Joe's history of short lives, and some instinct held her back from asking, not wanting to know just yet if her suspicions were accurate.

"Ooh, I never did watch Star Trek; it's not really my sort of thing either. But that's lovely. I'm glad it seems like it will work out with her. Are you just training her, or will she be your working dog?" She wasn't sure where the question came from, but she was curious, and it did seem to be a topic he was comfortable with.

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notalongtime
2024-06-08 05:15 pm UTC (link)

"We're all trained up and working together." It had been a remarkably smooth handling course and for once Joe had almost felt as though he was in the right place at the right time, a rarity for him over his many lives. "We'll be together until I move on to my next duty station. Then she'll get a new handler."

Joe realized that might sound a bit cruel that he would have to leave his dog behind, but that was just the way things operated in his line of work. "I had a different dog when I was in Kosovo. Dogs are pretty resilient. They probably find it easier to move on than us humans do."

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giuliasings
2024-06-08 06:02 pm UTC (link)

That was a rather sad thought, but he was probably right; it probably did hit the humans harder than it hit the dogs, though she was well aware that animals could be highly intuitive and remember humans who'd had a large impact on them even years later.

"Ahh, I see," she said lightly. "Do you know when you'll move on to your next duty station?" she asked, hating the thought of it. After over one hundred thirty years, she'd finally found him, and she didn't want her brother to move on anytime soon. Even though she did know that he wasn't exactly her brother, she couldn't seem to separate Joe from Dom entirely in her head.

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notalongtime
2024-06-08 07:35 pm UTC (link)

"I haven't been here long, so probably not for a little while." Joe knew he'd end up somewhere dangerous and deadly sometime before he turned twenty-eight. He'd never celebrated a twenty-eighth birthday in any of his reincarnations. "I'm not really thinking about it," he lied. "Just going to enjoy my time here stateside. Spend time with my grandparents. That's why I was at the picnic on Monday. They live in Sleepy Hollow." That part, at least, was true.

"You don't have to worry about me going anywhere for a while. If you still want to get to know me, that is." He found himself wanting to know that this woman who wasn't quite his sister was OK and happy in her life.

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giuliasings
2024-06-08 08:20 pm UTC (link)

She breathed a soft sigh of relief at his answer, thankful that it didn't seem that he would be moving out of the area anytime soon. "Oh, that's lovely. Have you always been close with your grandparents?" she asked, unable to relate to that concept at all but finding that she hoped that he had that in this life, at least.

Even though he couldn't see here, Giulia found herself nodding. "I would still like to get to know you, very much," she admitted, embracing the vulnerability of the moment rather than shying away from it. "I can't say that I understand what it's like to have memories of several lives lived, and I have no idea how you... relate to each of those past lives, but a part of you is my brother, and I hope you won't think me terribly selfish for wanting to connect because of that."

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notalongtime
2024-06-08 09:39 pm UTC (link)

"Sort of? I moved around so much that we spent years not even being in the same country. But there were always phone calls and care packages." Years ago, Joe had gotten a tattoo of the words memento mori over his heart, a reminder of his inevitable death but also that he should live his life while he could. Now that his grandparents were retired and he was stationed so close, Joe wanted to leave them with happy memories of time with him.

Joe felt his chest tighten a little at Giulia's words, though he couldn't say for sure whether it was for positive or negative reasons. "I can't say I understand what it's like to live continuously for over a hundred years," he countered lightly. "But I get it and I remember being your brother. And I remember doing some horrible things as him."

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giuliasings
2024-06-08 11:11 pm UTC (link)

That sort of warmth wasn't the experience she'd had with grandparents, though she wondered how much Joe remembered of her and Dom's grandparents. "It sounds like they're probably thrilled to have you nearby enough for semi-regular visits," she commented lightly, not wanting to assume that his schedule allowed for very regular visits.

At the reminder that Domenico hadn't been the best sort of man, Giulia felt a truth of her own bubbling up and couldn't seem to stop it from blurting right now. "I killed our parents," she said, feeling her chest tighten with the admission, words she had never said out loud in any of the hundred and thirty years since she'd done so. "After I was turned," she continued a moment later, her voice softer. "I was so angry, and I couldn't control it, and I punished them for every awful thing they'd done. I've never told anyone that. I'm sorry, you didn't need the burden of that knowledge on you," she hurried to say, her tone deeply embarrassed and apologetic.

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notalongtime
2024-06-09 09:33 am UTC (link)

At the other end of the phone, Joe froze, not sure he'd heard her correctly. He tried to think about Cristofolo and Vicenza de Sanctis as much as he did Domenico, namely as little as possible. They weren't the worst set of parents he'd ever had - that dubious honor went to Neil's parents - but they were the people who'd enabled Domenico to grow into the man he'd become. Giulia, sweet little Giulia, had ended them.

He was horrified for her that she'd had to go through that and he was relieved that they hadn't had the opportunity to die peacefully of old age.

"Good," he said simply and it was like a weight he didn't know he was carrying was gone. "They deserved that."

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giuliasings
2024-06-09 03:25 pm UTC (link)

The silence on the other end of the line felt heavy for that long moment, but when he spoke, that simple word reverberated through her, validating her, easing the burden she'd carried for far too long. And at his next words, tears burned in her eyes, but she blinked them back, not wanting to cry when he was going to be performing shortly.

"Thank you," she whispered, emotion thick in her tone.

She fell quiet for a long moment, trying to push the emotions back down. The last thing she needed to do was lose control and unleash all the emotion on the festival attendees. "I should probably go soon. I'm really glad you called, though."

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notalongtime
2024-06-09 03:45 pm UTC (link)

Joe closed his eyes, trying not to let the emotion in her voice get to him. That she had thanked him made him feel like he had said the right thing. He had already come to terms that they were long dead and this new information didn’t change his feelings about them. They didn’t get to have his sympathy, not after mistreating Giulia.

"Uh, yeah, of course." He’d forgotten that she’d said that she was going to be performing today. There were probably things she needed to do before that, even if he didn’t know what they were. "I’m… I’m glad I called too. Maybe let me know next time you’re in town? If you want. I’ll see if I’m free."

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giuliasings
2024-06-09 07:49 pm UTC (link)

"I tend to travel on the weekends more during the summer, but I'm usually back in the city during the week. And my... And Sam lives in Sleepy Hollow, so I'm sure I'll be there quite a bit. We can do dinner or something sometime soon," she said, pleased at the implication that he'd be amenable to visiting with her in person. She wondered if Sam would be open to participating in that sort of visit, and she was thankful that she'd told him about Dom and Cris after meeting Joe.

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notalongtime
2024-06-09 08:37 pm UTC (link)

That sounded like something siblings would actually do and Joe realized that was something he sort of missed in this lifetime. "Yeah, we can do dinner." Maybe by then he would have decided how much more he was willing to share about his curse. "I hope you have a good show tonight. Break a leg." He knew that was a theater thing but did it apply to all performing. "And, uh, I guess I'll talk to you soon."

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