Daisy Hughes (cyberblonde) wrote in invol_rpg, @ 2013-01-04 11:55:00 |
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Here they were again. Of course, that wasn't really true - they weren't in Nevada, but instead in Alberta. Alberta was more home than the previous base, and irrationally, that made Isla angry. Then again, everything made her angry now. She'd put aside her despair and her inadequacy once the orders came. Finally, something she could do, after those awful videos had aired. They'd found the American Vols, and they were going to get them. Nothing had given her more grim pleasure than announcing to the rest of the rescue ops team, ten miles out from the lodge, that they were there: Daisy, Jack, and Damien at least. She'd never been able to make the appropriate connections to Kieran, though she knew she must have met him at one point. Now they were waiting, and Isla was bristling with impatience. She could feel them all - the kidnapped, the rescuers - and she kept checking the battery on her walky talky, adjusting the earpiece, and stomping in the snow. What was taking so long? The sooner they got this over with, the sooner she could make sure her friends were safe and out of harm's way, the sooner she could turn her focus onto Mette and getting her home. Mette. She'd looked so small, so depleted. Her chest tightened and she huffed a great, frustrated cloud of breath. "Come on already." Carter grunted in assent, although his eyes were focused not on Isla, but on the tiny video transmitter in his hand. It flashed quickly between the different rescue teams, showing first one, then the other in rapid succession. There was chaos inside, gunfire everywhere -- and while Carter could not hear anything on the small device, he was sure the soundtrack of this silent movie was predominantly shrieks and screams. Fix the odds. And he did. Bullets missed their target, other kidnappers or stray objects getting in their way. People who might otherwise have died were saved, and those who might have been injured were not. He could feel his power at work, shifting first the probability of one action and then the other, but it was dizzying, exhausting; Carter had never before used his ability in such rapid succession. Slowly, slowly, the sound of gunfire began to subside. Isla was holding her breath, glancing between Carter and the video transmitter in his hand. It seemed like it was going well. Everyone she held in her mind stayed there, all shining and strong, alive. Every one of her nightmares from the past few nights withered in the face of their triumph: nobody would die today. No lights would wink out before she could get to them. Finally, finally, noise jumped into her earpiece. “All clear. Begin transfer.” Isla took a deep breath, and flashed Carter a huge smile. “You ready to see your girl again?” Not everyone was safe, but Daisy was. Jack was. Damien was. Kieran would be, too. She didn’t wait for an answer; she just reached out and called that bright point that was Daisy to her. And just like that, Daisy was there. The bright light of the noon sun hit her hard, effectively blinding her after so many hours in the relative darkness. She brought a hand to her face to shield her eyes. She'd been prepared for the teleportation, but she felt weak and unstable. So many questions were running through her head -- where was she now, was she supposed to run, had people been injured in the rescue -- She pulled her hand away, squinting. Carter hated PDA. He hated it, whether "public" was defined by one person, a dozen, or several hundred. But right now, outside in the cool winter air, with snow all around them and his breath coming out in short puffs of white, he did not care. Not about who was watching, not about what they thought, not about his own countless insecurities. Carter didn't care about anything except Daisy. In two long steps, he was there beside her, wrapping her in his arms and squeezing her tight. He didn't want to let go. He didn't think he could, for fear that she'd disappear again, a wisp of smoke in this wintry terrain. Pulling her close against him, he breathed into her hair, inhaling that sickly sweet scent that he'd missed so much, the smell he'd dreamed of every night since that fateful text came his way. "Daisy." Isla spared a glance and a smile for the reunited couple. Then she finished her task, reaching out for the next bright points: one, two. Jack and Damien were suddenly there, and safe, and all her attention turned to the unwell boys, signalling Anthony over to help. Daisy felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. Everything had happened so fast. She'd been in the cell, she'd been standing in the cold, Carter was there. Daisy was having trouble believing that it could even be true. When her lungs finally found air again, she gasped for it, burying her face against him. Her arms lay slack at her side, almost as if she had forgotten how to return an embrace. She couldn't even cry. Everything felt so unreal. Daisy found that she was so overloaded with questions, she couldn't quite process any of them. So she concentrated on one thing -- Carter. Carter was here, Carter was alive, Carter had come for her. "Oh my God," was all Daisy could think to say. She tried to raise her eyes to his face, no longer concerned about the bright sun. "Hey," he murmured, pulling back so he could study her face. His hand found her cheek, his thumb rubbing gently at a smudge of dirt by her eye. His relief had initially predominated any other emotion Carter was wont to feel, but as he looked at her, worry wormed its way back into his chest: she was so pale, her face so drawn. What had they done to her? He had not even thought to check whether she was injured. He did now, his hands wrapping around her arms and pushing her gently backwards. He needed to confirm that she was fine, unharmed and whole as ever. "Fuck," he breathed, noticing how the coveralls she was wearing seemed to drown her, how her ordinarily glossy hair had lost its sheen, hanging in thin, limp strands around her face. She was still beautiful, her eyes still shone with the same not-quite-hazel sparkle they'd always had, but -- "What did they do? What did they do to you?" His careful inspection made Daisy feel suddenly self-conscious, so very aware of how she must look. A hand went to her hair, pushing the greasy strands back behind her ear. They'd given them a bucket of water to clean up with and she'd tried washing her hair in it after everyone was done, but Daisy knew that the effect undoubtedly left something to be desired. She remembered the girl she'd seen in the mirror and wondered if that was what Carter was seeing now. "I don't -- I'm okay," she stammered. She didn't know where she was supposed to start. What did he want to know? How could she even begin to explain what had happened, especially when she still had trouble understanding it herself? She didn't know how. It seemed unimportant, somehow. She was having trouble focusing on anything other than Carter's face. She felt so certain that it might disappear at a moment's notice. "You're really here," Daisy said, almost to herself. "I am," Carter said softly, looking down at her. "But more importantly, so are you." And then his lips were on her, kissing her first gently and then with more passion, his fingers in her hair and hand at her waist. He kissed her like it was the first time, the last time, and every time in between -- like he'd never seen her before and would never see her again. Carter had questions, many of them (what did they do to you? are you safe? are you hurt? are you okay?) but questions could wait. All he wanted right now was her hand in his, her lips against his own. All he wanted was the reassurance that she was real. It wasn't a dream, this time. Even though it seemed like ages since she had been allowed a shower, even though she knew that she probably looked awful and maybe even broken, Daisy couldn't help but get lost in his kisses. The seemed more valuable now, like they were worth something she'd never realized before. She'd never taken her relationship with Carter for granted -- circumstances had made that difficult to do, as it seemed like they'd never been able to have more than a few stable, happy weeks strewn together at a time -- but it had renewed value now. Daisy realized just how large a part of herself had been missing, now returned. He was holding her now, and Daisy didn't want him ever to let go. When the kisses finally subsided (Daisy was blind to the activity around them, although a panicky voice deep inside reminded her to check on the others, to see if anyone was hurt, to make sure Jack and Kieran and Damien were okay, to tell Carter that Astrid and Vanessa were gone) she made no move to separate herself from him. "Stay with me," she said, a fear voiced as a request. The din that surrounded them was growing slightly louder. Daisy was terrified that soon someone might try to tear her away from him. She didn't quite understand how to predict normal outcomes anymore. She had no idea what was going to happen next. Carter reached out his hand, gently tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. It had lost some of its luster, but it was no less soft, no less familiar, than it had been Christmas morning. Had it only been a week and a half? It felt like months. "After all this, you think I'd do anything else?" There's only one girl he's ever come back for, Peg had said. That had been true in December, in that tumultuous year of 2012. He'd left New York City for a far-off place; not of his own volition like Carter had always desired (he'd wanted to travel, travel America and Europe and the whole fucking world) but under unexpected duress. And under duress of a different sort, he'd returned to his home, the city of cold grey skyscrapers and countless crimes. He'd only come back for one reason -- for one girl. But it was a new year now. And as much as Carter was loathe to admit it, this life of his at IVI, with Daisy and Javier and even Omar and Lo -- it was a new life. A new life filled with new opportunity and renewed potential. There had been only one girl Carter had come back for, but now, in this new year, that number had been upped to two. |