Cassandra (predicted) wrote in musingslogs, @ 2010-12-12 11:34:00 |
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Entry tags: | batgirl, roxanne, sam winchester |
Who: Kyle, Wren, and later Quinn
What: Kyle and Quinn to the rescue!
Where: Hamarita 203 to Bathos
When: After the kidnapping plot
Warnings: None
True to her word, the door to Hamartia 203 was unlocked. Wren had come home, and she’d showered and dressed in so many layers you’d think she lived somewhere much colder than she did, and then she’d tried to have something to eat and drink. It hadn’t worked, and while she didn’t understand the science behind the body shutting down after not having liquids for 72 hours, she knew she had to get some liquid into her system quickly. She worried about Luke, but she reminded herself that Thomas would make sure he was taken care of. She considered going to Charlie or Hal, but she still hadn’t talked to Charlie since he’d gotten mad at her for not telling him about his sister, and Hal, she didn’t think Hal would want to deal with this. She considered Quinn, but she didn’t know how to look her friend in the eye right now, and she considered Tristan, but she didn’t want to dump this on him, not when he had a sister to care for.
Kyle had offered to help her, and as a police officer, he could probably keep anyone from asking questions. That had sealed the deal, along with the fact that she really wanted somewhere safe to stay for a few days, and she suspected Kyle was well off enough to be able to spare the space on a couch. It wasn’t that she was scared, not precisely, but now that she was alone, she kept startling and thinking someone was behind her and hearing the sharp snap of gunshots at her ear. So she’d called Kyle, and she’d curled up in a ball on the bed, shivering despite the layers upon layers, the lack of water making it nearly impossible to retain heat. She fell into a fitful, scared sleep, and she tossed and turned and pulled at a hood that was not over her head as she slept.
Kyle was in a rush, and on the phone with a paramedic friend of his who owed him a favor before he was out of his apartment. He was in a hurry, he didn’t explain much more than he needed some medical attention at the Hamartia building and he needed it on the down low. He’d mentioned her possible dehydration, but he didn’t know what her full condition was so he told him to be prepared for just about anything, including a trip to the ER.
He arrived quickly but his friend, Tony, had beat him there and he shook his hand. Tony had his bag of supplies and Kyle said his hellos, but was more concerned about getting up to find Wren. He told Tony to wait outside the apartment before he entered, “Wren?” he called out firmly once he entered the apartment. He found her on her bed and knelt down next to it, with his hand on her forehead brushing the hair out of her face lightly, “Wren, I have a friend here who can help you, is it alright if he comes in?” he asked seriously.
“Bonjour, Kyle.” Wren looked a mess. Mike had bruised her up fairly well, from head to toe, and she had rope burns on her wrists and ankles. The striking thing, however, was the sunken circles beneath her eyes from no sleep and no food or liquid. She opened eyes that were unfocused, and she smiled at Kyle weakly and nodded. “We can’t report anything,” she reminded him, because that was the most important thing. They didn’t get this far, get Luke out the way they had, only to have her mess everything up. She closed her eyes again. “Can I stay with you, after? Just a day or two,” she said, exhausted. “I keep hearing guns.” It was a vague statement, but true. She didn’t worry about the friend Kyle mentioned, because she trusted Kyle. If he said his friend was safe, then he was safe.
Kyle took in the sight of her and sighed, she was a mess indeed, and it pained him. And made him furious, but the questions could come later. He nodded when she said not to report anything, what he really wanted to do was beat the shit out of someone. “We won’t,” he assured her and rubbed her cheek lightly. “You can stay as long as you want,” he said, and had to smile slightly, because really like he was going to let her stay anywhere but with him after this. He didn’t care if she’d argued with him or not. “Tony,” he hollered out, turning his head so he wasn’t hollering in her face.
Tony entered the room hastily, medical bag in hand and Kyle stepped out of the way, but didn’t move far. Tony took one look at her and got to work immediately preparing some fluids for her, he gave Kyle a look that said he was concerned, but Kyle motioned for him to get to work. “I’m Tony, I’m a paramedic,” he said easily, “I’m going to get you rehydrated, but if it doesn’t start to help quickly I’m going to want you to see a doctor, alright?” he took her hand gently, getting an IV started in a person so dehydrated wasn’t easy, and he apologized for how long it was taking. He had brought two bags of IV fluid with him, and did his best with his surroundings to set it up on a lamp that was higher than she was. It was crude, but it was sanitary and with any luck it would start to help. He was taking her pulse, and looking into her eyes. She didn’t look well, but he was trying to be as optimistic as possible.
Kyle moved over to the other side of the bed and sat down next to her with his hand on her back, “It’s gonna be alright,” he said in his normal gruff tone, but it was sincere.
The IV needle startled her enough that her eyes flew open, and she looked at Tony with pure panic in her eyes for a moment, but Kyle’s hand at her back was warm and safe, and she pressed back against it, rather than trying to fight the needle and Tony. Once the liquid started its slow drip, the portable machine beeping reassuringly, she looked over her shoulder at Kyle and gave him the best smile she could muster under the circumstances. “Thank you,” she said, quiet, but heartfelt. She assumed he thought a john had beaten her up, or that she’d gotten into trouble with a pimp. There was no good reason for anyone to think she’d been with Luke, and no one would have noticed her missing for a few days. Still, she was surprised he didn’t ask, but grateful, too, even if it meant she couldn’t ask after Luke.
She waited for Tony to wander away to take a call before speaking, and her own cellphone was ringing within arm’s reach, but she ignored it right then. “Where do you live?” she asked, her teeth chattering from the cold she still couldn’t ward off. “I promise that I won’t bring any trouble,” she told him, even as her eyelids fluttered shut once more, the slow drip of fluid lulling. He knew what she did and what she was, and for a cop, letting someone like her into his home was a big risk; she wasn’t going to make it any more risky than it had to be.
Kyle watched her carefully and kept his hand on her gently as he spoke, this was fucking ridiculous. “Bathos, and you let me worry about trouble, Wren,” he said seriously. “It’s going to be fine.” He would make it fine. When she felt better he’d want answers, but she wasn’t someone he was questioning in relation to a crime. He had been forced, on more than one occasion, to question victims from all different situations about things that they should never have to be questioned about. If this wasn’t a real case, he could afford to show the compassion he always wished he could in his day job. He didn’t have to separate his emotions for this, not for her.
His response soothed Wren through the two IV drips, and she dozed on and off, waking to speak to Oracle and Quinn, and falling into a deeper sleep when he and Quinn were talking. When the shivering didn’t stop, the paramedic gave her something to calm her, and then something for pain, and she was well out of it by the time the man left, after whispering cautionary words to Kyle about what to look out for in the next 48 hours, and the fact that he’d come by with another IV drip come morning. Wren heard none of that, though.
When she opened her eyes, Wren was in a strange bedroom. The quality of the walls alone let her know it wasn’t Hamartia. The paint wasn’t cracking, and it was oh, so warm. She stretched, and she whimpered at the pain of bruises that could be felt now that the numbness of dehydration had begun to wear off, the liquid in her body making them swell when they had not before. Her temple and jaw were the worse of the bunch, and she touched her fingers to them lightly. As she did, she noticed something furry at her side, and she looked down to find a black, furry, unfamiliar dog, and she tentatively touched an ear. She’d never had a pet.
She looked toward the door, and she called out. “Hello?”
As soon as Quinn was off the phone with Wren and Kyle, she was pacing by the door of Bathos 105 before she headed up the stairs to 406. She was a bundle of exhausted, worried tension coiled through her limbs. Her friends were safe, but she had to make sure of it. The knot of worry wouldn’t dissipate until she saw them both, but first she needed to see Wren. A sick feeling settled in her stomach as she climbed the stairs, Quinn had felt useless the entire time. No amount of pounding the pavement had mattered and she was almost scared to see what she hadn’t been able to prevent. That was buried deep under a need to be right there for Wren, make sure she was alive and with her still.
She knocked in a quick succession, impatient and shifting foot to foot. When Kyle opened the door, he was confronted with Quinn’s worry lined face and her voice loud enough that if Wren was there she’d hear her, “Wren? Is here? Is okay?”
When Kyle had gotten Wren home, and settled into the guest room, his dog Charlie keeping her watchful eye on the new house guest, he tidied up his kitchen a little, and every ten minutes or so he’d go look in on her to make sure she was alright. He did it quietly so as not to disturb her, but he did it none the less. He tried to keep the temperature comfortable and he put a glass of water by her bed in case she woke up and was thirsty. He had a drawer full of pain killers in his own bedroom, for once he wouldn’t be stingy if she needed them.
He was drinking a beer in his kitchen not doing much of anything but thinking to himself when he heard both Wren call out, and the door at the same time. Damn. “Wren hold on I think Quinn’s here,” he called out so she’d know she wasn’t alone. He opened the door and nodded at Quinn stepping aside, “She’s in the back bedroom,” he said nodding towards it. He closed the door behind her and wondered if he ought to accompany her back there, but he assumed he ought to give them some time. They’d holler if they needed anything. He hoped.
Wren made a move to sit up in the bed, but she was too tired and achy to manage it. She turned onto her side with a wince, and she watched the door, waiting for Quinn to walk through it. The dog propped its furry chin on her hip, and she burrowed further under the blankets. She didn’t want Quinn to see how bruised up she was; she knew her face was bad enough. She was, luckily, too medicated and exhausted to feel the guilt that would come crashing back down eventually (over her perceived wrong to her friend), and she was grateful of the visit in a way she normally would not admit. “In here, Quinn,” she called out, voice quieter than she realized it was. “Come tell me about Luke,” she said, because she suspected Quinn would have learned something between the phone call she hazily remembered and now.
Quinn nodded to Kyle, giving him the barest hint of a smile in thanks as she slipped past him. She followed her friend’s voice and stopped in the doorway of the bedroom, looking at her friend with face drawn and eyes filled with concern. The bruises she could see already and anger surged up inside her. If the Bat didn’t kill whoever did this, she would. She’d go against every fiber of her being and make that person hurt. Her feet carried her quickly to her friend’s side, sitting on the edge and reaching out to gently touch her face and smooth her hair back.
“Wren,” it was a sad exhale, but the knot loosened inside her to see her friend alive. There was so much fear that she would have never had a chance to. With a hand still gentle touching her friend’s hair, she told her, “Hadn’t heard yet. About how Luke is. Bat has him. Very quiet.” She could never lie to her friend and could only tell her what she knew. “Oracle says okay though. Will see him...when allowed. You though. You hurt. How bad..?”
Quinn’s presence was an immediately soothing thing, and Wren closed her eyes and relaxed as soon as Quinn’s fingers found her hair. “I’ll be okay,” she said and, “it looks worse than it is. It wasn’t about me; it was about Luke. I was just bait... no...” she was quiet too longer trying to think of the right word, almost falling back into sleep in the warm bed with the safety of her friend. “Convenient. I was just convenient, to make him do what they wanted.” There was guilt in that, guilt that whatever Luke had been forced to ensure had, in some small part, been her fault. If not for her, he might have fought. “I don’t know what they did to him,” she admitted, because she didn’t know very much; they hadn’t had a chance to speak very long when they had been alone together. She moved closer to the warmth and safety Quinn offered. “Are you okay? When did you notice he was missing?”
There was a moment of hesitation before Quinn toed off her shoes and laid down next to her friend, staying close and wanting to be near her. “Not okay,” she chided a little, examining Wren’s face. “Hurt never okay.” She wasn’t about to let Wren try to play off something like this. She knew what terrible people did, she’s seen it before.
There was a long pause of silence as Quinn considered an answer to her questions. “No,” she finally said, admitting quietly to her friend. “Scared. Don’t remember...last time that scared. Worried.” She faltered again, scooting forward to gently put an arm around her friend, trying to be so careful as if Wren was made of glass. “Sent me letter. Included his sweatshirt,” her voice tightened a little at remembering, “Wasn’t good.”
Wren knew nothing about the clothing that was sent, or the way the people Luke cared for outside of the warehouse were taunted. All she knew was that the way Quinn admitted she was scared almost broke her heart, even after everything else. She hugged her back, wrapped her arms around her friend despite the bruising and the shivering weakness. “He’s okay, Quinn. I promise. He and the Bat, they left before Nightwing and I did. He was walking by himself, and he’s going to be okay.” It was a promise, an offering given because she realized Quinn had worried for as long as they had suffered. “I can’t imagine not knowing what was happening to people I loved for that long,” she admitted. “Have you slept?” she asked, dragging open heavy eyelids to take a good look at Quinn’s face.
Quinn was careful when Wren curled up closer, holding her carefully and staying quiet to compose herself for a moment. She spent days overwrought with emotions she didn’t know or didn’t wish to have. It was hard to collect herself together again. “Know he is,” she nodded a little, “Bat take care.” Shaking her head a little, Quinn looked regretful. “No sleep,” as if admitting she hadn’t taken care of herself was hard. “Busy looking.”
“Sleep now,” Wren said, tugging the blankets up around both of them and making the dog bark once, loudly, before turning in a circle and resettling at their feet. “Just for a little bit. Luke is probably asleep too, just like we will be, and maybe you can see him once you wake up,” she said. She curled closer, shivering less now, thanks to Quinn and the dog and the blankets. “Fewer nightmares with you near,” she admitted thankfully.
There was a little hesitation about falling asleep. She wanted to stand guard, protect her friend until her own body gave out. Quinn couldn’t say no, though, when Wren wrapped the blankets around them and curled against her. The worry was still there gnawing at her gut about Luke, but Wren’s quiet assurances were enough to keep her settled. With a gentle hug, Quinn vowed quietly, “Will protect you. Sleep now.”