Peter Kimura Whelan (itakunai) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2015-09-25 14:17:00 |
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Entry tags: | # 2018 [09] september, daniela diaz, pete whelan |
Who: Pete Whelan & Dani Diaz
Where: One of the examination rooms at the UMCB
When: Backdated to September 7, approx. 4:30PM after this
What: Pete tries to check on his friend
"That detective came in asking about Dr. Zeckendorf and then he just ran off and then --" Helen took a deep breath, steeling herself before she relayed her conclusion to Pete. "I didn't see it myself, but Melanie said she saw him taking his body out. And the word is that he'd tried to kill Dani, Pete, can you believe that?"
He shook his head, his mouth pressed into a thin line as he tried to get his brain to function and process everything Helen had just told him. Zeckendorf was the Annihilator? His colleague? Someone who'd supposedly devoted himself to promoting health had decided it was also on him to decide when people would die? Pete felt sick. Like, seriously close to vomiting.
Helen was still talking when the rest of what she'd said before hit him. Pete knew Dani had been targeted by the Annihilator, that she'd temporarily moved to the Capitol for her own protection. But apparently their best precautions hadn't made a difference and his friend had still found herself in danger.
"Where is she?" he asked, interrupting Helen brusquely to get her room number before he took off in a run down the hallway. He hadn't had a shift scheduled for that day so he was clad in casual wear, a simple striped button-down shirt and shorts. It turned out to be all the better for him to be clad in something nondescript while he waited next to the door, hoping the doctor assigned to her examination would be out soon.
When Pete slipped into the exam room, Dani didn't even look up. She was sitting on the edge of the gurney, staring at nothing while one foot absently swung back and forth. Her hand was at her throat and her fingers rested right at the spot where Zeckendorf had held the knife. There wasn't a mark or anything, but she remembered.
The doctor who'd examined her -- she'd flinched when he touched her, then glared at him like he was at fault -- had insisted that the APD had requested her clothing as evidence. Dani knew it was true. She was the one who would process anything that they found. All the same, she hated the idea of wearing a hospital gown and refused point blank to change unless they brought her something else. Which was how she'd ended up in a pair of scrubs, with a top that fit too snug across the bust.
Considering how things could have turned out, she didn't look that bad. There was the beginning of a bruise on one side of her face and her forearm was bandaged. Aside from these minor injuries and a few others like them, Dani had escaped unharmed. She was lucky. She got to sit here with her face freshly washed and her hair tidied into a ponytail, alive, while all the other women were dead. Dani didn't feel guilty, exactly, but it was unsettling to think that just a little while ago she'd been counting herself among the victims.
"Hey," Pete said, the panic still on his face. "I -- He didn't do --" Pete's eyes scanned the room and equipment, looking for signs that could clue him in on what Dani had gone through before she replied. He'd worked with survivors of assault and trauma before, but he was at a loss now that it was one of his friends. "Dumb question, but are you okay?"
As Pete spoke she finally turned her head in his direction, but it took a moment for her eyes to follow. "Hmm? Oh, Pete." Then Dani blinked, focused. She frowned slightly, taking in his casual clothing, the panicked look on his face. Glancing down at herself next, she caught sight of the position of her hand and snatched it away from her neck.
"Pete, I --" Her voice broke and Dani winced, shaking her head. She reached a hand toward him, though whether to reassure him or herself, she wasn't sure. "No, no, I'm fine. Don't worry."
He stepped closer, worrying at his lip with his teeth, and tentatively took her hand in his. His grip was loose, his eyes on hers. Pete would withdraw at any sign of discomfort, but there was none; Dani clasped his hand tightly in return. "Okay," he said doubtfully. Her physical appearance looked fine, all things considering -- what he could see, at least -- but that didn't mean there couldn't be any other kind of trauma that may not be reasonably evident at first glance.
"You would tell me if he tried to --" Pete already knew that Zeckendorf had tried to murder her, and it hadn't sounded as though the Annihilator had wanted more from his victims besides their deaths, but his mind was replaying all of the cases he'd ever worked on and settling on the worst ones. "It's important that you tell someone about everything that happened. It's okay if it's not me, but. When you talk to the APD, make sure you tell them everything."
Was he really lecturing her about how to handle her own assault? It certainly hadn't been his intention, certainly not as the first topic, but there it was.
"Of course I plan to tell them everything," Dani replied, slightly confused by the idea that she wouldn’t. Already she’d had to field more than one round of repetitive and intrusive questions, and as soon as the doctor cleared it, the APD would be back to go through the whole thing again, for the official record this time. Zeckendorf might be dead, but Chandless would still need to be prosecuted for his part in the killings, so there wasn’t any purpose in telling anything less than the complete story. Why Pete thought -- oh.
It was a sign of just how sluggish her mind was that it had taken Dani so long to catch onto what he was implying. As it finally dawned, her eyes widened slightly and she shook her head in response to his unspoken fears. “Nothing like that. As far as I know, that wasn’t one of Zeckendorf’s motivations."
Though she opened her mouth as if to continue, Dani closed it again without saying any more. If Pete really wanted details, she would give them, but he was probably happier without. God knew she would have been.
"Good." His grip tightened on her hand and his jaw set as that hot anger bubbled up inside him again. How could someone feel so entitled to a person's life that they would choose to do something like this multiple times? And why now? Two whole years of semi-normalcy had passed before Zeckendorf went and decided there wasn't enough death in the air.
Dani seemed at a loss for words and, frankly, so was Pete. He was used to talking about health and new life, shining bright lights through the cloudiness of the way life was nowadays, not considering the realness of his friend's near-death experience. But he also couldn't help but think that this was exactly what Zeckendorf would've wanted: the two of them quiet, grappling with what to do or say, letting his ghost reign supreme.
So instead of asking about her health again, he put on a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Are they going to keep you here overnight? If not, um. Do you want to hang out later?"
"They might try," Dani replied, giving Pete her own tight smile. "So, yeah, that would be -- I'd like that. And I might need to borrow your phone, too." She appreciated his offer more than she could admit, as well as the way he'd phrased it like nothing out of ordinary. Drawing attention to the fact that she dreaded being alone in her empty room, with its easy access to the ventilation system, would only have made Dani refuse out of stubbornness.
His smile widened a bit, then, glad that she had seemed to pick up on what he was trying to do by changing the subject. "Of course. How about I just leave it here with you and I'll go find Helen?" He'd need to apologize too, probably, for running away like that. He took his phone out of his pocket and set it down next to her. "Text me when you're out and I'll come meet you."
Clearing her throat, she added, "Thank you, Pete. Really. When Zeck-- " Before she could finish that thought, the handle on the door to the room she'd been sequestered in began to turn. For a split second Dani went pale, her hand tightening around Pete's, but then reason reasserted itself -- this was only the APD representative, come to fetch her.
Pete turned as the door opened, his hand still on hers as he adopted a protective stance. There was an irritated, almost belligerent look on his face. He'd barely had a few minutes to be with Dani, to make sure she was doing all right, and they were already sending him away?
"Miss Diaz, if you'd follow me." The officer shot Pete a suspicious look, one he returned in full, before gesturing for Dani to join him in the hallway. With a last squeeze, she dropped Pete's hand and stood, automatically tugging at the hem of the damn top that didn't fit right. He averted his eyes politely, wanting to give her the privacy she'd likely been lacking for a long while today. Dani was always so put together; the last thing he wanted to do just then was see her without that defense.
It had never been Dani's way to be demonstrative with her affections in unwarranted situations, but she still leaned in to swiftly kiss Pete's cheek. He was comfortingly solid, real, and somehow smelled lightly of cologne, despite the rarity of such a thing these days. "Thanks again," she said, completely ignoring the officer's impatience as she picked up the phone and tucked it into her pocket. "See you later."
"You, too." Pete settled his hands in his pockets and watched them leave. And then, once he was alone, he turned to press out the creases in the paper that covered the gurney, where Dani had just been sitting, to distract himself from his thoughts.