Who: Charlie and Ana When: During the Bubble Plot Where: Park in Irvine What: Ana spots someone of interest to her case, Charlie gets pissed off Rating/Warning: PG, for mention of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll Status: Complete
Charlie had taken his guitar to the park to de-stress. Today, making some extra money was secondary. In fact, he hadn’t even opened his case for tips. He had, however, taken up his usual spot on the gazebo. Since he and Roland had cleared some of the air, he didn’t feel like avoiding the place where he and his closest friend had met--and Roland really was his closest friend, in spite of everything. They’d piece themselves back together. They already were.
Transitioning to another song, he plucked out the first notes of something he’d been writing. The angst had helped get his creative juices flowing, so that was good. Kinda. It was a silver lining, at least.
Ana Lucia had decided to visit the park to get some space. This week had been kinda crazy and she'd nearly lost her current bodyguarding gig when she called in 'sick'. If you could call suddenly having a thought balloon pop up over your head a condition. Had it not been for Mr. Frost's explanation that this place was all kinds of crazy on a regular basis Ana would have checked herself in to the nearest asylum.
She slowed when she heard the guy with the guitar playing at the gazebo nearby. A New Yorker, Ana was prone to tuning out, utterly ignoring, and generally loathing panhandlers and street performers. But the park reminded her of any number of the parks she used to hang out at in New York City and on this day it kind of reminded her of Bryant Park. So she slowed to a stop and stood idly by while listening. And then her brow furrowed. And her bubble went Wait..is that...? Pace? Liam's bro...
Charlie continued to play, unawares that he was being watched. People stopped and stared all day long, because he was just that good, and he knew it. Sometimes they stuck around to make requests after he was done whatever he was playing. He was used to the routine.
Lost in thoughts about her original mission to the OC suddenly consuming her, Ana completely forgot about her bubble, which was busily flipping through words, fonts, colors and such as her mind raced. She walked up slowly to the guitar player bent over the instrument and said, "You Charlie Pace?" Her bubble reflected her mental statement of, Liam's brother...my former employer... before resuming its flurry of words and impressions tied to the case of her partner being killed, of hunting the murdering thug, of working for Liam.
Charlie, too, had a bubble, which at the moment was made of no words at all, but a very complicated looking stretch of music. When the woman greeted him by name, he looked up, but continued to play. Immediately, his smile became furrowed scowl. Liam? The pit of his stomach turned cold as he was filled with paranoia that the woman came with news of his brother’s death. The line of music notes turned into a jarring chord.
“Yeah…” he said slowly. Who the fuck are you?
Ana raised an eyebrow at the question in his bubble, then remembered her own and glanced up at it. Shit, what has it been saying? it wrote in bold font. She tried not to look too embarrassed, not used to having her thoughts so readily exposed. “I’m Ana Lucia Cortez. NYPD. Or...I was.” She saw the scowl, looked at his eyes, and saw the family resemblance. Liam sometimes had a similar look during one of his moods, especially if anyone mentioned his brother. “Never thought I’d actually get a chance to run into you.” He spoke of you quite a bit...when he wasn’t strung out. chimed in the bubble. Ana angrily smacked at it and it shifted, then drifted back into place. “I used to work for him. Personal bodyguard.” When he would pay me. came the sarcastic scrawl above her head. She decided that was enough information and purposely focused on waiting for Charlie’s reaction to avoid any more bubble transmissions.
Charlie couldn’t stop the bubble as it changed above his head. Is Liam dead? He couldn’t say the words aloud, but he wouldn’t be able to think of much else until he had the answer. He looked upward and then waited silently, biting his lip.
"No, he's not. Least, not when I left him back in New York couple months ago." She realized how worried he was, those eyes were absolutely pleading for information. "I left for Cali after his dealer tipped me off about a case I'm working. Your bro's still using, on and off. He's playing every joint that'll take him to keep paying for his habit." She crossed her arms over her chest. "I take it you guys aren't on speaking terms?"
Now that he knew his brother hadn’t been found in an alley, Charlie’s usual anger over the situation returned. Liam could still piss him off, even from thousands of miles away. “I haven’t heard from or seen my brother in years.”
Ana raised an eyebrow. "Damn. In this day and age with Facebook and Twitter and all kindsa shit it's kinda hard to fall off the grid." She paused a moment. "I'm sorry. Never easy when family aren't talking." Like me and Mom. Ana missed her desperately and leaving the NYPD on what her mother the Captain called a wild goose chase had hit their relationship hard. Captain Cortez took it personally. Haven't spoken since I left. Wonder if she still hates me for leaving like that.
Sometimes the bubbles displayed thoughts that were a bit too personal. Charlie looked away, as if to give the lady some privacy. “Yeah, well… my brother doesn’t want to be found. I don’t think I’m going to be any help to you.” He began to pack up his guitar.
“Well, his dealer is what led me here. I didn’t think you’d have any connection to the case. But I guess uh,” she shrugged as she watched him pack up. “Small world.” Her brow furrowed as she watched him pack, and her bubble, which she suddenly remembered existed as she looked at his, went Is he leaving because of me? She shifted and kind of cleared her throat before saying with an attempt at humor, “Listen I’m not a cop anymore so I won’t give you a ticket for playin’ in the park.” After an awkward pause she added, “Actually you were pretty damn good. Way better than anything I ever heard back home.” She meant the panhandlers of course, though some of the officially licensed performers in the subway were pretty decent.
Charlie rolled his eyes at the ticket comment. He knew his rights. Mostly, though, he was pissed off over dragging Liam out of the recesses of his mind, just when he was starting to enjoy himself. It had been a crappy few weeks. “Yeah? Thanks…”
Ana knew how to read people. She had been a cop after all, and had her mother’s keen senses. She’d been told more than once she should have gone on to become a detective but Ana preferred the more immediate pursuits of criminals. Right now, she was sensing she’d seriously touched a nerve with Charlie; he could have told her to screw off and kept playing. But instead he was leaving. Taking the peaceable way out. She had the feeling he’d been through more recently than just this reminder of his brother screwing him over (she’d done a background check on Liam when she’d started working for him).
“Listen,” she said, “You don’t gotta go. I didn’t mean to drag out your past or anything. Just didn’t expect to find Liam’s brother all the way out here. I was just leavin’ anyway.” He had clearly been enjoying himself and Ana had just ruined it all with her insistent drive to get some closure on her partner’s killer. She should have known better. You were the clean one, you had nothin’ to do with this.
“Nah, I’m done playing for today,” he replied. Really, he felt like all the desire for music had drained out of him, like water in a tub. Even though he didn’t feel pissed off all the time (about Liam or Verity) it didn’t take much to make him sink into depression. Really, who could expect him to pluck out tunes at the gazebo after that conversation. Personally, he didn’t care if the cop lady felt responsible, as her bubble suggested. Bugger off, his said. He was just… done.
Ana raised an eyebrow at the bubble's suggestion. Well, okay then. She shrugged, figuring it was old wounds and all. This was why she still played the New Yorker in Cali - trying to strike up conversation with strangers rarely ended well. Better to just ignore them and go about ones business. She turned and headed down the path opposite the direction the musician was heading.