charlie west, also known as 'cactus the angry elf' (littledeadly) wrote in immune_ic,
This was turning out to be one of the weirdest nights in recent memory. First, there had been the weird-ass cougar assault story O'Brien had overshared with her (which she still felt like she needed brain bleach for-- thinking of O'Brien in any sort of situation like that was weird as hell to her, and the image of a crazy lady in leopard print made it that much more gross). Then, she'd actually started repairing a bridge she thought burned. Charlie knew Leah might never actually forgive her, but they did have to work together. And they couldn't do that if Leah was expecting a shot in the back. Hearing about Leah's daughter had made her realize they were more alike than she'd realized, and Charlie couldn't say she blamed the other woman for her animosity. If the situations had been reversed... well. There wasn't much point to imagining that now.
And then O'Brien had told her that Rodeo had apologized, and she began to think that maybe this was a vodka-induced fever dream. Now, after watching them have what appeared to be a mostly-civil conversation (aside from a few threatening finger-jabs from O'Brien), she wouldn't be entirely surprised if she woke up on the floor of the makeshift boxing ring at the firehouse, an empty bottle in her hand. Maybe she'd been hit in the head too many times during her boxing matches, she mused as she made her way down to them main arena floor from the top box she'd been using as a perch. Her face certainly looked worse for the wear-- mostly superficial bruises and cuts, nothing out of the ordinary for an intense match, but that didn't make it look any nicer.
For a moment, as she made her way towards Rodeo, Charlie considered leaving. It would be so much easier to just run, head back to the firehouse and drink until she passed out. But what good would that do? She'd be right back where she started in the morning, only with more of a goddamn hangover. No, this was something that needed to be confronted eventually, no matter how painful it was. And it was painful-- even now, her insides felt like they would tie themselves into knots and there was still a dull ache in her heart that hadn't gone away.
"Walk with me?" She asked him quietly, forgoing a greeting and hoping her nerves didn't show on her face. There were things that needed to be said that she didn't want anyone overhearing. Especially not the guards.