Who: Luke and Quinn What: Breaking the news that Wren is gone. Where: Bathos 101. When: Uh... recently. Warnings: None.
Luke wondered if he should have told Quinn about Wren being gone before he went over, but it didn’t seem right to say something like that in a text message. Even over the phone wouldn’t do. No, he’d have to do it in person, like Thomas had done for him. He took the motorcycle over to Bathos and parked it in the garage Max had first left it in, not minding that he had to walk the distance between it and the apartment building. It wasn’t far anyway.
There was no need to take the elevator when Quinn and Oracle only lived on the first floor, but he paused just outside their door. Maybe he should have planned what he was going to say first. By then it was too late, though, and with a stifled sigh he raised one hand and knocked.
As much as Quinn hated to be at home not doing anything, Quinn was spending most of her time hobbling after a puppy. She kept her cellphone tucked carefully in her pocket, still waiting for Wren to return her phone call. If she was being honest, she was worrying in ways she couldn’t help. Wren hadn’t returned any of her phone calls, but Quinn couldn’t remember where Wren was staying whether she was in Aubade or Hamarita was keeping her from pounding on doors.
She paused when she heard someone knock, almost wanting to wait until someone else got the door. Realizing no one else ever answered the door, Quinn huffed and dragged herself back to her feet to hobble to the door, trying to block the way of an excited puppy. “Runt, go,” she elongated the o as she pointed at the other side of the room. Instead, Runt flopped over on her feet, panting happily. Quinn rolled her eyes as she opened the door, brightening when she saw Luke, “Hi.”
Luke couldn’t help grinning down at the puppy despite knowing that Wren helped pick him out, crouching down for a moment to rub the top of his head. Runt was definitely a fitting name. “Hey,” he said, glancing up and registering that she was on her feet. He tried to keep his expression from falling entirely into concern, but some of it still slipped through. “How are you feeling?” There was a brief moment of hesitation before he kissed her, though it was quicker than it would have been if he wasn’t aware of Oracle and overstepping boundaries. “You should be sitting down.”
Runt practically fell over himself to get to Luke, sniffing his hands expectantly and sneezing abruptly as he finally padded away towards his food bowl. Quinn’s expression still was full of amusement and looked happy to see Luke, even giving him a good natured eye roll at his concern. She was pushing it, she knew that, but sitting all day wasn’t helping her. Giving him a quick peck back, Quinn replied, “Better. Just hurts little bit.” A minor lie, but the pills took off the edge. “Sat all day. Can be up.”
Quinn stepped out of the doorway to let Luke in, shutting it behind her and doing the locks carefully. She was oddly cautious about making sure the locks were done now. “Want anything?”
He was still doubtful, but at least she was staying at home instead of trying to run around at night like everything was fine. “Okay, if you’re sure.” Luke moved around the door so Quinn could shut it, taking note of how careful she was with the locks. It was understandable, though. “No, I’m good.” He tugged lightly on her hands and motioned towards the couch. “I need to talk to you about something, and I think... sitting for it might be good.” He was probably making it sound far worse than it was, like someone died instead, but he wasn’t quite sure how Quinn would take it. Prolonging the inevitable wouldn’t do them any good either.
Quinn hesitated, but let Luke take her by the hands and lead her to the couch. She didn’t like the look on his face. Settling carefully down on the couch next to Luke, she couldn’t hide the concern any longer. Gently tugging at his hands, she asked him quietly, “What’s wrong? Something bad?” Whatever it was, she needed to know since the look on his face just filled her with dread in waiting. “Tell me?”
Luke only knew what Thomas had told him, even though he had a feeling that he hadn’t gotten the whole story. “It’s... about Wren.” He kept hold of Quinn’s hand and gave them an unthinking squeeze. “She’s gone, Quinn. She left town.” He didn’t know how to soften the blow or ease her into the knowledge, and all he really could do was tell her what he could.
Quinn stared at Luke, not quite comprehending what he was saying. It was if she knew the words, but it just didn’t make sense. Because it didn’t at all. Wren wouldn’t leave, but if she did she thought she knew her friend well enough that she wouldn’t go without an explanation or a goodbye. Her expression went from puzzled to dubious, “Not funny joke,” she warned him, pulling her hands free from his. “Wren not gone.”
He hadn’t believed it at first either, so Quinn’s denial wasn’t completely unexpected. It did hurt a little that she’d think he would actually joke about something like this, but he shrugged it off. “It’s not a joke, Quinn.” Luke looked down at his hands and exhaled heavily. “She’s gone. When I got home Thomas told me that she’d sent her kitten over, along with a message saying she’d left town. I don’t know why or where she went.” That was all he had, really.
Quinn sat back heavily, sinking against the pillows and staring at Luke. Nothing he said really made any sense to her. For a moment, she wondered if she had made Wren run away. Why wouldn’t her friend have contacted her? “Oh,” she said dully, looking down at her hands. She wasn’t even sure what was there left to say. No words seemed to come together to why she wished her friend wasn’t gone. “No...information? No idea?” she asked, she wanted to at least be able to talk to her friend. “How supposed to talk? If don’t know where go..”
Luke shook his head slowly. He still didn’t understand why Wren would have left without telling them, never mind leaving behind any kind of information, but just because he was bound to Seattle no matter what happened didn’t mean everyone else felt the same way. “Thomas doesn’t know anything. Neither do I. She... didn’t leave any way to contact her, so I don’t think she wanted us to.” He couldn’t help wincing while he said it, aware of how it sounded, but it must have been true. Why else would she have left without a word?
None of it was truly making sense to Quinn and she was starting to wonder if it ever would. A cold, hard rock of numbness settled in the pit of her stomach and she frowned. All she could think about is that she wanted to tear something apart, a brief flare of anger that she cared and she walked out without saying goodbye. Swallowing around the lump in her throat, Quinn nodded her head a little, “...Oh. Okay.”
He watched her expression carefully to gauge her reaction, and he didn’t like what he saw. “You... were her best friend, and I know she cared even if it doesn’t seem like it now. I’m sure she wouldn’t have left unless she felt like it was the right thing to do somehow.” Luke only believed half of what he was saying, but it wasn’t for his benefit. Thomas hadn’t known how to soften the blow and neither did he, but at least he knew how to try. He was silent for a moment before reaching out again and taking her hands in his, waiting to see if she would pull away.
She curled her hands back, tucking them under her thighs as she sat. Quinn didn’t even seem to realize how quickly she was just closing it off. Not having raised her defenses this much around Luke since they first met, different to see the guard come up. “Still left,” she muttered, almost cringing at hearing Luke go on about the ‘right thing’. It wasn’t the right thing to have someone you shared everything with decide to not even say goodbye, walk right on out the door and didn’t bother to look behind her as she left. “Not good best friend. If couldn’t even say goodbye.”
Luke didn’t try again and pulled his hands back instead, fighting back a frown. He knew she was upset but Wren was important to both of them, and Quinn knew better than anyone else what it felt like to lose her. “I know she did,” he said, resigned. Part of him was angry but a larger part didn’t want that to overshadow the good memories, or the fact that Wren was one of the few people who was always there when he needed them without judgement. “But you don’t mean that. She was a good best friend, even if... even if she left.”
Quinn didn’t think Luke really understood. She didn’t know how to explain it either. Luke had friends, more than just two people who were persistent enough to punch down her walls. Wren had been the first person who was persistent enough to get through to her first. The first real friend she ever had that didn’t mother her, but was like a sister to her. Someone she had thought of as family and loved. It was a brutal sting that she put a clamp on, rather looked hardened and cold. Not looking at Luke anymore, but at a spot on the floor. “Of course,” she just agreed.
It wasn’t hard to figure out that he’d said the wrong thing. “You don’t have to agree just to... agree,” he said carefully, not giving up just yet. He was far from an expert on talking about things with other people, but the way Quinn had suddenly closed off was too familiar for his liking. “Do you want to talk about it?” Luke doubted she’d say yes, but he figured he had to try. He didn’t know what else he was supposed to do, and ironically enough he realized in different circumstances he would’ve asked Wren for advice.
“What to talk about?” Quinn asked, still not looking at Luke. “Wren goes. Can’t do thing about it.” What was there left to talk about? How she was apparently not good enough to get a goodbye to? The improvements she’d need to make in the future if she didn’t want everyone to run out the door? Quinn shrugged her shoulders impassively and looked around for Runt for a moment, barely even muttering, “Get used to it.”
“I don’t know. Just... how you feel about her being gone.” Luke shrugged halfheartedly. If she wouldn’t even look at him then he doubted she’d be very inclined to talk, especially so soon after her defenses went back up. He just barely caught her muttered words, but they had his attention pretty quickly. “What do you mean, get used to it?”
Quinn made a little ‘hmph’ noise at him asking how she felt. She didn’t bother to give him another response to that. Snapping her fingers at Runt, she seemed more preoccupied with the puppy dog than anything Luke had to say. “Get used to,” she finally said, “Rely on people. They go. Let you down or hurt or leave. Just how goes.”
Luke shook his head firmly. “No, it’s not.” He’d heard this before, but there was no point to anything if they assumed everyone was going to leave sooner or later. “Sometimes people leave or let you down, but not everyone does. Some people don’t.” He didn’t say that up until a few hours ago he would have counted Wren among the ones who’d stay. “I wouldn’t leave, and neither would Oracle. Just like I know you wouldn’t either.” He sounded confident enough about that. “You can’t base what other people will do on the actions of one person, Quinn.”
Quinn pressed her lips together in a thin line as she listened to Luke. “Know how many people...count as friends before Wren?” she asked then held up her hand with a big O for a zero. She dropped them down on her lap and looked away. “Was like sister. Never thought dumb or weird and...” she faltered and shrugged again helplessly.
“Oh.” Luke knew they were close, the two of them, but he hadn’t known just how close until now. “I don’t know what that’s like, Quinn. I didn’t realize...” He trailed off with a weak shrug. “I’m sorry. But her leaving doesn’t mean that it had anything to do with you. I can’t explain her actions, even though I wish I could, but I do know that much.”
“She helped me a lot,” she finally admitted to Luke. “Talking to you. Talking general.” It felt like the anger wall she had was deflating, more just falling in to feeling sad and sorry. She tentatively said to Luke, “Maybe Oracle could look...?” Oracle could find anyone under the sun if she wanted to, especially if Quinn asked.
Luke didn’t know what to say to that. Thomas clearly thought that Wren hadn’t wanted to be found, or she would have left some way to contact her or even a location, and secretly he agreed. If she’d wanted to be found then she would have made sure there was a way. “I don’t know,” he said helplessly. “I want to look for her too, but... I don’t think that’s what Wren wants. If she did, she would have told us where she was going, or at least left some way to contact her.” Normally this would have worried him a lot more, but if there was any doubt that Wren hadn’t left of her own free will he was sure Thomas wouldn’t have been so sure that it was best to just let the situation be.
Quinn ran her hands through her hair and looked frustrated at Luke. “Why wouldn’t look? Make bad choice, you look,” she pressed on it. “Ran after me when gone. Why not Wren?” She didn’t even know why her anger had flared. Maybe the feeling that they were just going to give up and let her disappear in to the past scared her.
Luke frowned, almost insulted at the apparent accusation that he was willing to let Wren go without a fight. He couldn’t exactly say that he wasn’t looking because Thomas told him not to, since he didn’t have a stellar track record of doing what he said anyway, but he couldn’t explain his reasoning. If Wren didn’t want to be found wouldn’t going after her just make things worse? Maybe it was better not knowing the reason instead of being forced to hear it. “You didn’t leave the city, Quinn,” he said, sounding more defensive than he’d intended. “You think I don’t want to run after her? I just have no idea where to start. Thomas won’t help, and she could be anywhere by now.” He took a deep breath. “But if you want to look, we’ll look. See what Oracle can find.” He couldn’t go running all across the country trying to find her, though. There were other people he had to stay for, and Wren had known that.
Quinn looked at Luke and sighed gently, finally just dropping her head on the back of the sofa and looked miserably at him. “I don’t get it,” she stated plainly, “Why leave us? Why no notes?” With no prompting, Quinn scooted closer to Luke and rest her head on his shoulder. “Don’t understand it, Luke.”
He leaned backwards against the couch as the tension drained out of his shoulders, leaving a sense of helplessness behind. Luke had no idea why Wren left and he had a feeling he never would. “I don’t know. I wish I did.” Reassured that Quinn wouldn’t pull away this time, he let one arm hang loosely around her waist. “I knew she’d been… upset lately, with everything happening, but she never even hinted that she might leave. I never thought she would,” he confessed. At the very least he would have expected a note or something, considering how upset Wren had been when Bunny only left an e-mail to explain her departure.
“Thought she could talk to us. Would’ve listened,” Quinn said sadly, turning her eyes up to Luke. Feeling the same sense of helplessness settle in her chest made it feel like it was physically aching. She wondered for a moment if she failed at being a friend if Wren didn’t feel like she could talk to her. It hurt so much more to think of all the things in her room that Wren had gifted her with and how they were the only things she’d have to remember her by. “Miss her already,” she sighed gently in to Luke’s shoulder.
Luke nodded, since that was exactly how he felt. Wren should have known that they would’ve listened no matter what was wrong. That was what friends did. “There must have been a good reason for her to leave. Maybe... maybe she was just trying to protect us.” He could understand that, at least a little. The fact that she left her kitten with him only reinforced the belief that she hadn’t meant to hurt either of them, even though it was inevitable. “Me too. She was a good friend.” He couldn’t help but smile, albeit sadly. “She helped me a lot with you. I had no idea what I was doing, but now... here we are.”
“Maybe,” Quinn agreed, but didn’t look quite so settled with the idea. Maybe she hadn’t meant to hurt them, maybe she thought it was inevitable, but Quinn still didn’t. There was nothing Quinn wouldn’t have done everything in her power to help Wren. Quinn glanced up at Luke with a little smile, “Helped me with you too. Helped me write card and stuff.”
“She did?” Luke shifted slightly on the couch, recalling the card Quinn had given him at the carnival. “I kept that card, you know,” he added with a faint smirk. “So, she helped you figure out what you wanted to say and stuff?” He didn’t think much of it, since Wren had often helped him figure out what to say to Quinn too.
Quinn rolled her eyes at Luke and poked him in the ribcage, “Read it every day?” Poking some fun at Luke briefly. Quinn nodded a little to his question and explained, “Had in head.” She tapped her temple for emphasis. “But not good getting on paper. So explained to Wren. Wren made sense of it.”
He gave a casual shrug, but his grin ruined the effect. “Maybe. Depends on whether that counts as cute or creepy.” Luke thought about what the card had said and there was a faint tug in the back of his mind, like there was something he was forgetting or not quite making the connection to, but he couldn’t figure out what. “Oh. That was nice of her.” It was the kind of thing Wren always did, selflessly doing everything for everyone else but often neglecting herself in the process. He glanced over the back of the couch and lowered his voice. “So, how long do you think it’ll be before Oracle comes to ‘check’ on us?” He laughed, trying to shrug off the ache of loss that grew stronger while they talked about Wren. It was too soon to go away. “Or does she only not approve of being behind closed doors?”
Quinn poked him again with a little more insistence at that retort. She looked over her shoulder and admitted honestly, “She doesn’t want you here right now.” It was a reluctant admission, but Gwen was pretty firm about it. “Not in best mood.”
“Oh.” His expression fell a little, but he was more resigned than surprised. “So... I probably shouldn’t overstay my welcome.” The last thing Luke wanted was to get Quinn in trouble or overstep his boundaries, fragile as they were, but in all honesty he didn’t want to leave either. It was times like these that made him wish even momentarily that he still had his own place.
Quinn leaned up to give him a peck on the cheek, “Probably not.” As much as she hated to agree with it, she didn’t want him to get in to trouble. They both were losing privileges left and right, might as well try to hold on to the ones they had. Gently she nudged him, “Thank you. For coming over and telling.”
Luke had a bad feeling it was going to take a while and a fair amount of effort to get back on Gwen’s good side. “You don’t have to thank me. I just... thought I should tell you in person.” He didn’t want to push his luck so he gave her a quick hug before getting to his feet. “Hopefully I’ll see you soon,” he said, pulling a face. “If not, I’ll... call or something.” He lingered by the door before throwing a quick smile over his shoulder and slipping out, making his exit much quieter than his entrance had been.