Adrian Moretti (theneedtofeed) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2024-03-01 01:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | #july 2018, adrian, adrian x bailey, bailey |
Who: Adrian & Bailey
Where: Mercy Hospital
When: Friday afternoon 7/27
The fact Adrian hadn't actually met Bailey face to face was nothing short of a miracle considering their occupations and the town they lived in. Point Pleasant was small and working in the hospital meant his work often overlapped with that of the police. They tended to be in the ER more often though and Adrian had been spending a good chunk of his time as an OR nurse lately, so that had been pretty convenient. He had no real desire to meet Bailey, knowing she distrusted him at best and hated him at worst. He shouldn't have been surprised that Kane's sister would come waltzing in one day when they had a drunk driver that needed to be questioned. The man was not in as bad of a shape as the tourist whose car he'd slammed into but he'd still needed to be operated on. It took a lot of effort to be professional and courteous toward him but Adrian was managing so far. At least the jackass hadn't killed anyone and the other driver was going to be okay so he was getting the coolly polite and considerate nurse treatment from everyone on staff so far.
Adrian was going through some computer records when he spotted Bailey walk into the ward and his heart sank a little. The problem between them was one of those things he wanted to fix somehow but, as a brother, he absolutely understood why Bailey didn't like him. If Aaron had ever laid a hand on Mila... Well, Adrian had already attacked him once when he thought that had been the case. He was the only one at the nurse's station at the moment and as he got up to greet her, he realized he could not for the life of him remember her last name so he just nodded his hello and tried to quell that uneasy feeling rumbling in his chest. "You're here about the DUI?"
Bailey gave Adrian Moretti very little thought when she and Kane weren't talking about him. Or she was thinking about how dumb her brother was for getting involved with someone who had tried to kill him. It usually irritated her so she did her best not to let those thoughts interrupt her day. So far she had been lucky enough not to run into the guy, but she supposed all good things eventually came to an end.
Visiting Mercy was as frequent as being in the police station and she needed to talk to the driver who had been responsible for an accident earlier in the day and get the proper information to get back to Barrett. When she headed for the nurse on duty, Bailey felt her breath catch sharply and she did her best not to immediately rest her hand on the butt of her gun. Did he know who she was? He had to. Bailey didn't want to presume that Kane talked to Adrian about their relationship, but there was something about the way Adrian had looked at her that told her he did.
"I am," she said simply, stopping near the counter, her gaze locked on Adrian's face. "I was told he had surgery. Is he coherent?"
"Still a little loopy but he's awake," Adrian replied and he felt like he was at war with himself. The urge to talk to her, to make her understand - versus his self preservation and pride. How much did she know about what had happened? Did she know what he was? That he'd come back from the dead? Maybe she only knew half of it, that he'd drugged her brother and left him for her to find. Yeah, that was a psychopathic thing to do - but Kane had started it. God, they were a pair. He contemplated giving her more information about the drunken driver and his victim but opted not to unless she asked. He had a feeling that he would just start talking and then keep talking and come off as nervous which was absolutely not what he wanted. Instead he studied her quietly and then gestured down the hall. "He's in room seven."
It was kind of amusing, in a way... Kane dating a nurse. Wasn't there some code about not hurting people? Or did that only apply to patients? Bailey was tempted to ask but bit her tongue. She was there for work, not to interrogate her brother's boyfriend. However, she had no idea if she would be able to do much for her job at the moment. A little loopy might still make it hard to question him, and Bailey sighed, glancing away from Adrian and down the hall. "How long does it usually take for the anesthesia loopiness to wear off?" He was the nurse, so she would let him answer that for her. Bailey had some basic EMT training, but she didn't want to jeopardize whatever this incident could turn into by questioning someone who didn't have his full mental capacity.
"It varies from person to person," Adrian replied and there really was no way to tell. "Some people shake it off in minutes, I have a feeling this guy's not one of those." He couldn't shake the feeling that this whole situation was surreal as fuck, like there were a thousand things unsaid between them and they were both doing their best to ignore them. To be fair, they both had their professional masks on, just a cop talking to a nurse - who had almost killed her brother. He was perfectly happy with keeping this mask on until she went away but this thing with Kane wasn't just some mindless and short-lived fling so he probably should take a step to at least try to mend some bridges. "The lady he hit is awake if you want to talk to her while you wait," he said. "Or we could go get a coffee downstairs, have a chat." He wouldn't have been able to offer that on most days in Portland, but this was Point Pleasant and today out of all days, they weren't understaffed.
Bailey stared stoically at Adrian. A coffee and a chat. What could they possibly have to chat about? Kane would probably be shitting himself right now if he knew what was happening. Thinking about her brother, though, weakened some of Bailey's steely resolve. Maybe she would sit down with Adrian and realize what an asshole he was, then she could tell Kane exactly what she thought, and how it was legitimate now that they had met. Kane was also the only family she had left, more or less. Did she owe it to him to at least get a feel for the guy he was seeing? With a sigh, Bailey glanced down the hall again, half hoping her witness would magically appear all fine and well so they could get this over with. "You buying?" she asked, arching a brow.
Her reluctance was palpable, but Adrian couldn't blame her. He wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to sit down with her. It probably spoke volumes about how he felt about Kane that he wasn't ignoring her completely. "I'm buying," he agreed easily. "Hold on a minute." He left her at the nurse's station and jogged down the hall to tell his coworker he was heading out for a minute, glad she didn't make a fuss about it although wouldn't that have been better? To be incapable of actually going because of some medical emergency? He didn't get to find out though, heading back to Bailey and walking with her to the elevator. "You wanna take the stairs?" he asked as he had a sudden flashback of getting stuck in there with Toby and a ghost - not something he was dying to repeat with Bailey of all people.
"We can take the elevator," Bailey said simply. She didn't want to go into a stairwell with Adrian. An elevator was just as restrictive, but she still felt more comfortable being able to stand against the side of the elevator to watch him, instead of being followed or having to follow him down several flights of stairs. Some part of her wanted to pull out her cell phone and text Kane that she was about to have coffee with his boyfriend. It amused her, thinking about his reaction to that. Fear? Panic? Dread? In the midst of all of those possible emotions, joy was not one that crossed her mind. She punched the button to go down. "So you like your job? Helping people." She nearly added Not stabbing them in the leg and leaving them to die? but bit her tongue.
Adrian just hoped they wouldn't have a horror show in the elevator - though as he thought about it, maybe it could be a good bonding experience and dealing with a ghost would probably be easier than dealing with Bailey. He was very aware of his body as they stood there, careful not to put his back to her while not too obviously facing her, trying to look more relaxed than he felt. He was doing fine at it too, but that didn't mean it was easy. "Yeah I do," he replied to her question, no hesitation. "I'm good at it too." Did you see the stitches I gave your brother? No, that was a terrible thing to ask. They were good though, those scars - that Adrian had not given him! - were healing really well. "Do you like being a cop?"
Bailey leaned against the side wall of the elevator, her eyes on Adrian. She knew this wouldn't be a long trip, but she was interested in his expression and body language. You could tell a lot about a person that way. "Sometimes," she said, and that was an honest answer. Bailey liked helping people too, but there were days that made it harder than others. Being a cop, especially in Point Pleasant, could be a traumatic experience. Bailey was sure it was no different working at Mercy. She crossed her arms and glanced at the elevator, wondering why it felt like it was taking longer than usual. "Some days are more enjoyable than others."
"Well yeah, you always gotta deal with people, for better or worse" Adrian replied knowingly and some days that was the worst part of the job, dealing with the worst kinds of people. He preferred that over the sad days though, he just had to remember not to let it get to him. The elevator dinged and the door opened so there was no plummeting to the fire ghosts today. Adrian let Bailey step out first, but they were obviously both making sure not to turn their backs on each other. It would almost be funny if it wasn't so awkward. He wouldn't put it past some of his co-workers to start gossiping about him dating a cop now, even if their body language was in no way friendly. It was hilariously far from the truth but some people saw romance everywhere they looked. This was... well, not just a nurse catching a cop up on job related events but it was close. The only time he'd ever spoken to Bailey before was the cryptid message he sent her on Kane's phone to make sure Kane didn't die, he wasn't even sure if she knew he was the one who sent it or how much Kane had told her about that night. Or the time Kane attacked him. There was a lot to cover and he wasn't even sure whether he should touch on any of it.
Well, he was right about that. If Bailey hadn't had the patience for dealing with the worst in people, she wouldn't have become a cop. She had to give her parents credit for that. She had grown up in a dysfunctional household and wasn't that the best kind of training for this job? Bailey wasn't exactly thinking about what other people might be thinking, seeing Bailey walking to get coffee with Adrian. He wasn't the first hospital employee she had spoken with and he wouldn't be the last. Bailey didn't say another word until she had ordered her coffee. "So are you and my brother really done with trying to kill each other?"
Adrian quirked a brow briefly at the directness but no, it was good, and it was a good question. "Yeah, we're trying the opposite now," he said as he poured some sugar into his cup. "You know, where I keep saving his ass instead." It came off as a light joke but it was true and he wondered just how much Bailey knew about her brother's lifestyle and how often he got himself hurt. "It was a rocky start but I love him," he said, lowering his voice. Even if the nearest people to them were still some distance away, the cafeteria was pretty quiet at the moment and while he was brave enough to come out to his sister, that was where he drew the line for now. "You don't have to believe that but it's true."
It was strange to hear someone else say they loved her brother. It wasn't that Bailey thought Kane was undeserving of love, but he had been a lone wolf for so long. Not to mention how twisted this whole relationship had started. But her brother could be an idiot. "Let me ask you something," Bailey said, not bothering to say whether she believed Adrian or not. "You have a sister, who I assume you love very much. Imagine some guy knifes her and leaves her to bleed out, and she only has enough strength to call you for help. Then she tells you later that she's in love with him. How are you going to feel about that?" Bailey didn't expect Kane to understand just how much seeing him in that condition had fucked with her mind. And this was the guy who had been responsible.
Adrian hadn't seen the state of Kane that day and he didn't like to think about it. It was just another day of pain and madness to pile on top of years of the same, like the finale of a long and harrowing chapter he liked to think was behind him. He knew he would kill anyone who did that to Mila and that wasn't even just 'in theory' anymore like it was for most people. "I don't know, was she strangling him at the time?" he asked, ignoring the uncomfortable churning in his guts at the memories. He didn't have the scars that Kane did to show for that day and he couldn't straight up tell Bailey that Kane had actually killed him.
"Would that matter to you?" Bailey asked, arching a brow. She didn't know Adrian from Adam but she doubted he would shrug and tell his sister she had it coming. Family loyalty wasn't always rational. Bailey had no idea what Adrian had been doing to make Kane react the way he had anyway. She didn't understand any of it. "You do realize how fucked up this sounds, don't you? You two tried to hurt each other, more than once, and now you're in love. I don't think it's unreasonable that I'm not entirely on board with it. Not that it matters to him, or you, but he's my brother and I want to look out for him."
The reality of it was that she was right and it made Adrian wish she was as oblivious to it all as Mila, that this sordid past was just his and Kane's to know and try to forget about. "I don't expect you to like me," he said. "That would be unreasonable but your brother attacked me in the middle of the street for no reason because that's... apparently what everyone was doing at the time. He nearly crushed my windpipe, I didn't even see what I was doing, I was just trying to get him off me. We both feel like shit about it and we're actively making it up to each other. You are a cop in this town so I know you've seen how weird it gets. The fog, the creatures, people going crazy."
She did know how weird this town could get. She saw it every day. But she also didn't think the town was a crutch for people to use when they were assholes. Of course Bailey had no way of knowing if that was what Adrian was doing. Kane had admitted to her that he had attacked Adrian as well. Even so, it was still royally fucked up. "And when he was drugged?" she asked, arching a brow. "Was that the town too?"
Adrian smiled a bit without meaning to which probably meant he'd really graduated into being a complete sociopath.The question just amused him because how the hell did he explain what had happened if she didn't already know? Even if she knew? "If your brother hasn't told you what happened, then I'm not going to," he said, his amusement mixed with faint regret because he'd probably never be on good terms with this woman, the only real relative his lover had. "That was all your brother though, not the town." It was weird saying that, acknowledgement of Kane's crazy laced with affection, but that was the core of their relationship, wasn't it.
She only knew a little about that night, when Kane had texted her that he'd been tranq'd. Something about Adrian having turned things around on Kane at the time. They hadn't spoken much about it after. Hadn't really needed to. All Bailey knew was that it was the second time she'd had to come get him when he was fucked up, because of Adrian. Her brother was no saint, she knew that, but he was still her brother. And she knew exactly what Kane would do to any man who did to her what Adrian had done to him. "Good to know," Bailey said dryly. "At least one of us finds it amusing. Is there anything else we should talk about before I go back to my job?"
Her acknowledgement of his amusement almost made Adrian start laughing, which was probably just his nerves, but still. I guess you had to be there came to mind and he chose - probably wisely - not to say that out loud as he schooled his face into something less than a smile. "You know what he does, right?" he asked. "It's insane. He'd be dead twice over if not for me." Three times if he counted his own inner monster, but even in that state he hadn't wanted to kill Kane. Someone else with that urge in that situation though? Kane would probably be dead. The thought of it made it easy to let that smile go and Adrian took a sip of his coffee to try to chase the sudden chill away. "So I don't blame you for not trusting me but... That is the truth."
Bailey's brows drew together as she considered him. "Yes, I know what he does. And as long as we're patting ourselves on the back for saving his life, you do know he wouldn't even be here for you to save, or fall in love with, if he hadn't been able to call me the night you knifed him." Bailey supposed, on some level she understood that this was Kane's relationship, not hers. Her opinion didn't matter. But Kane nor Adrian knew what it was like for her to be covered in his blood, trying to make sure he didn't pass out and die while she drove him to the hospital. Kane would never understand it unless she was the one bleeding out in his arms, then maybe he could see things from her point of view. It was the kind of trauma she knew she hadn't dealt with properly and that was part of what was preventing her from seeing Adrian as nothing more than another monster in the woods. This is just one Kane happened to fuck. She shrugged one shoulder softly, her expression stoic. "He asked me to tell our mom he loved her, that's how bad it was, and he knew it. I knew it too. So, no, I'm sorry, right now I don't trust you. And for now, that's just how it's going to be."
The description made Adrian flinch, adding another image to the horror show montage in his head and it hit differently coming from someone who wasn't Kane. Because of course Kane didn't go into details like that and of course he left out this little detail. "You shouldn't be sorry," he said. "I wouldn't trust me either and this whole thing with me and Kane is... It's better than it should be. We both have-" he trailed off, not sure just how comfortable he was saying this to Bailey of all people, but she knew so much more about him than he did her already on the grounds of being a cop. "We're both deeply fucked up and we both know it, we just make each other feel less so now." He said it as a matter of fact, not trying to elicit any emotion from her on the matter. It just was what it was and he was acknowledging it. "I give you my word though, he's not dying on my watch."
Bailey didn't need to be told that they were fucked up. She already knew that much. Did she really expect Kane to find someone who was good for him? That he could end up in some healthy relationship? Bailey wasn't sure that was possible for her or her brother, but that didn't mean she couldn't hope for it on some level. "Okay," she said, because she wasn't sure what else she could say. Bailey felt as though she was managing some restraint on how she was dealing with this, and that's all she could do right now. "That's probably all I can ask for at this point." She heard a soft crackle of her two way radio, which was a reminder that she was at Mercy for a reason. "I need to go talk to the DUI suspect. Can you take me to his room?"
"Yeah, let's go see if he's still loopy," Adrian replied and he felt like there was something he could say to make things better, he just didn't know what it was. Like a solution to a puzzle that eluded him. It probably wasn't true, this was all way more complicated than that, but he was still straining to think of the Right Thing as he cleared their table and then headed to the elevator with her again. "I know this is going to take a lot of time," he muttered as they waited. "There's nothing I can really say to speed that up, but I do genuinely want to show you this whole thing isn't a bad thing and I want to get to know you better sometime, when the time's right." When you're ready. No, she wouldn't like that. This had nothing to do with her being ready or not, it was just a messed up situation all around and there was no rushing it.
Bailey held her coffee, her free hand slipping into the pocket of her pants. She didn't want Adrian to attempt to say the 'right thing' because Bailey didn't even know what the right thing was. She just knew how she felt and she couldn't flip that off like a switch just because Adrian and Kane could now laugh off the whole "fight to the death" thing they had gone through. It felt strange to hear anyone say they wanted to get to know her better. Hell, even Kane had a hard time doing that. "How exactly are you going to show me?" Bailey's lips twitched. "I don't see Kane inviting me over for dinner anytime soon."
"Stranger things have happened," Adrian said, suppressing the urge to tell her he could invite her to dinner. It was probably the last thing she wanted to do, eat the food cooked by a man she didn't trust. A man who'd almost killed her brother. A man some people still believed was somehow responsible for all his friends' deaths despite the police having cleared him. He couldn't even blame her, he wouldn't be quick to trust either in her shoes. "Well, I'm here all the time if you need to find me," he added as they got in the elevator once the people already in there had gotten out. "If you want to talk."
Well, he was damn sure about that. If monsters could live in the woods and black eyed children roamed the streets, then Kane inviting her over to eat dinner with him and his boyfriend was always a possibility. Bailey followed Adrian into the elevator and glanced at him briefly. While she had no intention of finding him just to talk, Bailey supposed on some level she could appreciate the fact that he was trying. She was sure some morons out there would be way too persistent and tempt Bailey into using her police baton on their spines. "I'll keep that it mind," she said, glancing up at the elevator's progress and wondering why these things always had to move at a snail's pace.
Adrian couldn't help but wonder just how much she knew about Kane, about him because if she was 'in the know' this conversation could be easier. Well, maybe not easier emotionally but he could speak more clearly. Maybe that would be worse and Bailey would be even more terse if she knew she was standing in an elevator with an actual monster. He could almost hear Kane tell him that he wasn't that, but that didn't erase his past and whatever the hell he was carrying around inside him. He wondered briefly if he should give her his number, just in case anything happened with Kane and he wasn't there - but he was probably the last person she'd ever call if it came to that. There really was nothing left to say then, with those things off the table, so he just stayed still and quiet while the elevator brought them back upstairs. "So, it's the third door on the right," he said as they headed back into the corridor. "And uh... Thanks for giving me some time."
Like Adrian, Bailey didn't know how much he knew about what she knew. Kane had told her about Adrian's affliction, about his sister as well. It was a lot to process, and yet, seemed fitting for this town. Go figure that her brother hunted monsters and ended up falling in love with one. That may not be fair. Adrian hadn't asked for what happened to him, and standing in the elevator with him now, he seemed like a completely normal person, at least on the outside. But Bailey knew what monsters were capable of, and Kane was vulnerable to it, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Bailey stepped out of the elevator, looking down at the hall at Adrian's directions. "No problem," she said, glancing at him as she headed down the hall. "And thanks for the coffee." There wasn't much else to say. She had met Adrian and right now, he knew where she stood on things. It could change, maybe not. Time would tell.