Adrian Moretti (theneedtofeed) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2019-05-22 23:23:00 |
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Entry tags: | #december 2017, aaron, aaron x adrian, adrian |
Who: Aaron & Adrian
Where: Seaview
When: 3am'ish Saturday morning 12/23
Status: Complete
Leaving the hospital was the hardest thing Adrian had had to do in a long time. Which given the things he had done in the past was probably a little warped. He wanted to stay, wanted to tell everyone who he was and why he had every right to be there for his little sister. She was so alone, it broke his heart, but the last thing he needed was for some fake FBI agents to show up and escort him out of there. He needed to disappear but he couldn't stomach the idea of Mila being alone, even if she was unconscious. He couldn't talk to his parents but there was one person in town who cared about Mila and had already seen his face. Aaron Lucas.
Adrian wasn't stupid, it was risky to go back to Caden's house, he'd probably traumatize the shit out of Aaron just by being there but Aaron needed to know Mila was okay and he probably also needed to know Adrian wasn't going to murder him so he drove straight down to Seaview from the hospital and parked the car down the road from Caden's place.
The windows were all dark but Adrian knew by now which room Aaron was sleeping in. At least he hoped they hadn't switched it all up after he attacked him. Maybe Aaron wasn't even there. He considered not eating for a while, see if he could pick up his scent but he was already feeling like shit and the longer he waited, the longer Mila would be alone. So he took a chance and snuck up to the house, tapping on the window with his knuckles a few times.
Aaron was home, but he wasn’t asleep and he wasn’t in his bedroom. After the late-night visitation of ... whatever Westin had been, he’d been having trouble sleeping. For a good reason, finally, or what Aaron hoped would end up being a good reason. His gut was healed, proof that something had really happened, but he was keeping that covered up. He hadn’t told anyone, as he’d promised, though it was difficult to contain his antsy excitement. Mila was alive, and she was coming home. Aaron didn’t know how or when, or what shape she would be in, but he was on constant pins and needles to see her.
The painkillers he was still taking -- his chest was still stabbed -- helped calm him somewhat during the day, but at night he wanted his senses sharp. Some instinct told him she would be back at night. So he stayed up after Caden and Roxy went to bed, and spent all night peering through the windows in the living room, waiting for some sign of her and daydreaming about their reunion. Everything was so quiet and still, he heard the window knocking from his bedroom. It gave him a start, but Aaron was on his feet in a flash, quick-walking down the hall on tiptoe to be as quiet as possible. His heart was pounding in his chest by the time he got to the bedroom window. Aaron pulled the blinds open, hopes soaring that Mila’s face would be on the other side of the glass ... but it wasn’t. It was Adrian instead, alone. All Aaron could do was gape at him for the moment, his brow furrowing.
Adrian wasn't expecting a warm welcome nor did Aaron have any reason to trust him but it was about Mila and Adrian knew Aaron would listen. He leaned in close to the glass, far calmer now than he had been the last time they met, and spoke just loud enough to be heard through the single pane window. "I found her." It really was all he needed to say and then he gave Aaron a pleading look because they needed to talk and he wasn't there to kill him. Mila needed him, it really was the only reason Aaron was alive now and Adrian knew on some level he should feel bad about it but he didn't.
Aaron stared at him for another few quick heartbeats, feeling a tremor start in his hands. If Westin hadn’t come to him, hadn’t healed him and promised to bring Mila back, he likely wouldn’t have trusted it. But there it was, his miracle. Or at least the start of it. He pulled back, let the blinds clothes and moved quickly again to stuff his feet into boots, pull on a coat, and grab a pistol from underneath the bed to shove it into one pocket, just in case. Caden didn’t know about it, but Aaron felt safer with it close to him these days and it had been easy to walk back to his own house the other night to get it. Once he was outside, he hardly felt the cold slicing into his sinuses as he hurried around the house to where Adrian was. “You found her?” he demanded in a whisper. “Where is she?”
Adrian hadn't really expected Aaron to come outside. He was probably armed and Adrian couldn't blame him for it but it put his teeth on edge. He shoved his hands deep in his pockets, shoulders huddled when Aaron approached him and he was more than ready to speak. "She was in the tunnel, like you said. I brought her to Mercy, she's in real bad shape. They sedated her, I don't know just how hurt she is but she's... She's not okay. She needs you there. She needs mom and dad." She needs me. It hurt not to be there and yet again the hatred for what had been done to him welled up inside him like venom and bile. "I didn't tell them who she is. They can't know who I am so... I don't know what you gotta tell them, how you know about her. Maybe someone saw her being brought in and told you, I don't know how to make this work. But you gotta go."
There were so many questions that flashed through Aaron’s mind -- how did Adrian get her out of the tunnel, did he know Westin, what did ‘real bad shape’ mean, had she asked about him, had she even been conscious -- but he wanted answers less than he wanted Mila. Adrian was absolutely right that he had to go, immediately. She was alive and in the hands of doctors, and he wasn’t going to waste any damn time getting to her. He did step forward before he could think better of it and grab Adrian into a tight, brief hug. The guy had been trying to kill him just a few days ago, but Aaron didn’t care. He’d saved Mila. “Thank you,” he muttered breathlessly, giving him a firm thump on the back. Real thanks could come later, he needed to focus now. Aaron let go and turned to hurry back toward the porch. “I gotta ... keys.” Not that Adrian needed an explanation.
The hug startled the hell out of Adrian who for a split second thought Aaron was going for something completely different. He went stiff, awkward and very nearly on the defensive but he let it happen, going a bit wide-eyed at it. It had been a long time since anyone hugged him, since anyone thanked him for anything and it was so absolutely human that it made him miss who he used to be even more. He'd been a hugger, he'd been a nurse practitioner for fucks sake, he had loved people, he hadn't eaten people - he'd saved them. "Aaron," he said shakily when Aaron hurried away. "When she wakes up tell her... Tell her I'm sorry I didn't stay. I wanted to and I'll... I'll be nearby but I couldn't." He swallowed dryly and shook his head instead of finishing that sentence. Maybe it was better if Mila thought she'd imagined him but it felt cruel in a way he couldn't articulate and a part of him wanted her to know, a small selfish part that still longed to be needed.
Aaron stopped and looked around when Adrian said his name, and the stricken look on the other man’s face made his throat feel tight and thick. “I’ll tell her,” he promised, nodding his head slightly. Aaron lifted a hand to point at him for emphasis as he continued, “Don’t disappear again. If I’m telling her you’re nearby, stay nearby, okay? She needs you.” He didn’t know it was what Adrian so desperately wanted to hear, it just felt true. And it had been important to him when Westin had said it to him, so maybe it would be important to Adrian too. Aaron left it at that and turned to thunk up the steps and back into the house to grab his keys and get going.
Adrian just nodded, his uncertainty about it playing on his face but at least Aaron wasn't there to see him. He'd stay close but how was he going to get close enough that Mila knew he was there? If he could he would go with Aaron now, go back to the hospital and stay, face his parents, face his old co-workers and step back into his life no matter how hard it would be. God damn handler would track him down and then what? Adrian wasn't fool enough to think they'd just let him stay - unless... Unless everyone knew he was back, maybe then they couldn't do a thing about it. Squeezing his eyes shut he tried to muddle through all the possible outcomes and it all just ended up as chaos in his head. He was hungry, too close to his limit to linger so before Aaron got back outside, Adrian turned on his heel and headed around the house. He'd jump a fence or two so Aaron wouldn't see where he'd gone but the snow made it pretty obvious so he just headed for the street instead, walking briskly toward his car.