Elizabeth doesn't know who she's becoming (manylighthouses) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-07-01 11:43:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, d'artagnan, elizabeth comstock |
Who: Elizabeth Comstock, D'artagnan
What: D'art convinces Elizabeth to leave Booker and get some lunch.
When: Sometime mid-month.
Where: A cafe with awesome desserts.
Rating/Warnings: PG-13, Mild warnings for Missing Parents and Human (baby) trafficking.
Status: Complete!
D’Artagnan knew Elizabeth was going through a lot at the moment. He’d seen her posting on the network but he really hadn’t been sure what to say. He’d lost his family at a young age, it seemed like there was a lot of it going around. Anna’s parents, and now Elizabeth. So he invited her out for lunch as a distraction. Her parent wasn’t lost yet, but who knew what was going to happen. Still she seemed to need at least break from thinking of it all. He’d only wished when he was young he’d had someone to do that for him.
Since he didn’t, the least he could do was provide it for others. He liked Elizabeth. She was kind and warm. He didn’t want to see her get sucked into a vortex of pain and unhappiness as he had for so many years after his father had been taken away. Only within the last year was he really starting to feel like an actual human being again, and he owed a lot of that to his new friends. He now knew he wasn’t alone in the world with only an unsolved murder to chase after.
He sat with an iced tea and waited in an outside booth, sunglasses covering his eyes and leaning back in his chair. It was nice out, he hoped this little corner cafe would help at least a little.
When D'artagnan had invited Elizabeth out, she'd been torn at first. Part of her didn't want to leave Booker at all, even though his condition had improved. She felt like her duty was to be by his side. But there were lots of people to watch over him and his friend, and when she was honest with herself, she really needed the break.
So she took a bus to the little corner cafe D'art had suggested. It was a gorgeous day, and she felt, by the time she got there, that the sun had warmed up her insides a little. If it hadn't, the warm ambiance of the cafe and the sight of her friend would have been enough. She managed a smile as she approached his booth, "This was a good idea, I think. I'm already glad I decided to join you."
The place was known for it’s desserts, and it was a little known fact that both he and Aramis had a fairly major sweet tooth problem. He hadn’t ordered anything just yet aside from the tea though, it would have been rude to do so before she arrived. However, he was hungry. He was glad she wasn’t the sort of girl to make him wait a while before deciding to show up.
He nudged out a chair for her and gave her a warm smile as he removed his sunglasses. “I’m glad you did. Seemed like you could use a breather.” That was just who he was. The sort who came to the rescue of others as often as he were able. “This place is known for its sweets.” He commented offhandedly to her.
"Ooo?" Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at that mention, and took a seat. Her eyes immediately looked around the table for a menu of what kind of sweets were available. Some cafes had the dessert menu readily available, and some did not, "I think I could use a few sweets. Which ones are your favorites?"
She put her own sunglasses and a hat she'd been wearing off to the side, on the chair next to her, and set her hands in her lap. The iced tea that D'artagnan had in front of him looked refreshing and delicious, and Elizabeth decided she'd order one, too.
D’Artagnan was more than willing to skip lunch and go straight to dessert. Athos often had to remind him he couldn’t make a good balanced meal out of chocolate and sugar, but he still tried to protest this. “Rum cake and strawberry short cake they do really well.” Unless Elizabeth wanted to talk about things, D’Artagnan was totally content to lounge about in the sun with tea and desserts and just have a random chat. He wasn’t about to push her.
This cafe made everything to order, which only made their desserts better he thought. But some of them were around them at other tables being eaten. “Athos says at this point I should get commission from bakeries...” He grinned sheepishly.
That made Elizabeth laugh a bit, "There isn't any shame in that! Liking sweets, I mean, and I don't think there's any shame in skipping lunch and going straight to dessert, either. We're adults, after all. We get to make choices like that."
The rum cake and strawberry short cake both sounded very good. She glanced around and noticed a waiter carrying a large slice of decadent looking chocolate cake to another customer, too, and felt extremely torn, "I think we're going to need to order four desserts and share them. That chocolate cake over there looks divine. And I think I spy a slice of something with lemon in it on that table..."
Talking about what to order was momentarily distracting Elizabeth from anything else going on in her life. She looked happy and carefree, though there were rings under her eyes that told a different story.
A grin tugged into the corners of his lips at that. “Suppose that is what being grown up is about. Ice cream for dinner, and all.” He had yet to do that one, but he was sure at this rate it would be in his near future. “Aramis seems to think it’s in his authority to give me sugar bans. But he isn’t here.” He said with a roll of his eyes. “On the last trip we took he refused me any sort of sugary or caffeinated goodness in the car ride up. It was hell.” He snickered some and flagged over a server.
“Dessert it is. You pick a couple and I’ll pick a couple. Seems a fair way to me.” Athos was going to be unamused when he returned entirely high off the sugary lunch they were about to have. He could tell she was worn, but he didn’t push her to talk. Sometimes just a break from everything could do wonders. Athos had done it for him recently and he was all the better for it.
At the mention of Aramis, Elizabeth smiled fondly. Of course, he was one of her favorite subjects and she was still curious about whatever had previously gone on between the two of them. Because it was something, and neither of them were talking about it. But she liked to hear stories about how he got along with other people. Especially if it involved The Musketeers.
She smirked, "That sounds like something he would do, if only because we're both the type of people to get excitable on sugar. But if he tried to ban me from having some, I think I'd find a way, regardless. Perhaps just to annoy him for thinking he could run my life. I've had enough of that already, myself. But I love how he looks out for everyone. And how your group seems to look out for each other."
Figuring they were ready to order, she motioned over one of the wait staff.
When it came to the others, D’Artagnan could only smile. Having Porthos and Aramis was much like having two brothers now. It was a thing he’d not experienced before having been an only child. It was nice. Most of the time, but he suspected all siblings thought that way.
“He tried anyway, it didn’t last long. But by that time he didn’t care. I was rooming with Athos anyway, and Porthos’ reactions were more fun.” That poor grizzly of a man didn’t stand a chance with a cooped up D’Artagnan. “I’m no good at sitting still for long periods of time unless I’m given some sort of distraction. Porthos is basically what I think having an older brother is probably like.” He grinned as he ordered the two desserts he’d originally mentioned, the rum cake and the strawberry. “They both are really. Aramis is really sort of what I imagine a Musketeer ought to be like.” He didn’t want to talk about his original experience with the man unless it was brought up. It’d taken a nice bite out of his pride that day.
"Dashing, protective, and noble, and adventurous, and a little bit full of himself, but in a way that makes him more endearing than annoying?" Elizabeth asked, "I've never had any siblings, but I think all musketeers have some of those traits in them, and probably some of them are older brother traits, too. They're all a bit like that to you, aren't they?"
She ordered the chocolate cake she'd seen and the dessert that had looked like some kind of lemon pie, along with an iced tea. Then she folded her hands in her lap and looked down at them for a moment, fidgeting with them, "I wish I had real family to share the load of this with. But I'm glad that I have good friends like you two, to help me."
“Nail on the head.” He laughed softly and shook his head. “Tell him I admitted that though and I’ll deny it.” D’Artagnan got comfortable as they waited for their treats to show. “They really are. Except I don’t think of Athos like that anymore. We’re sort of involved. It’d be a little more than awkward if I thought of him as a brother I think. But the others? Definitely are. When I was ill while back every one of them came to see me. Athos though, stayed over night. Several times. I was too delirious to realize it at the time, but he watched over me nearly the entire time.”
He paused for a moment as their cakes finally arrived. “Family is what you make it. You can’t choose who is blood, but you can choose who you make your life with. And you aren’t alone. You have us now.” He liked Elizabeth. He could see why Aramis did too. Fortunately for the other man all he sought was friendship. Not that he’d make a move otherwise even if the opposite were true. He knew Aramis fancied her, D’Artagnan wasn’t the sort for that.
"Oh no, I suppose thinking of Athos as a brother would definitely be strange!" Elizabeth admitted, her eyes widening a bit. But she thought that probably made the brotherhood of the other two make more sense. They definitely watched out for their own, and D'artagnan was part of the family now more than ever. Athos's devotion was especially heart warming.
She smiled, a warm smile that she actually felt, "I do, don't I? It's so hard to get used to. I didn't have anyone in the world before I moved here. My mother and I don't... really get along and she's denounced me now, and father was hardly ever around. Even my tutors weren't allowed to get too close. He was always so scared that someone would recognize me. You can't ask for a better band of brothers than the Musketeers, though. I think I like the family I chose, more."
He made a face at the idea of that. But then just grinned a little. “Porthos and Aramis though definately. I didn’t eat much during the time I was ill either, Porthos took it upon himself to text me constantly to remind me.” He rolled his eyes at the memory, it got kind of annoying some times but the man was just a big teddy bear. He couldn’t stay annoyed for long.
“I know the feeling. Before I met those three I didn’t have anyone either.” His life story wasn’t a happy one, but it seemed to have a happy ending at the very least. He really couldn’t complain that much. He had gained a family in the process. He smiled at her as he listened and nursed his tea. “My father was killed when I was in high school, and mom vanished when I was younger than that. I don’t really remember her.” He offered a shrug at that. It was hard to miss someone he never knew. “What do you mean recognize you?” He almost wished he had one of the fancy hats he saw in the dreams to tip in her direction about the comment. But instead he just grinned a little more at the use of the title. “Me too.”
Sometimes, Elizabeth forgot that she was one of the few people who actually knew her whole life story. She blinked her eyes a few times at D'artagnan's question, then looked a bit sheepish as she answered, "Oh... well, that story is a little hard to believe. Mine is, I mean. I'm sorry about yours. My mother is dead, too, my real one. She died giving birth to me, I guess. I only just found out recently."
It was definitely hard to miss someone you didn't know, but it was still possible to feel some feeling of loss. Booker had told her everything about her that he remembered, and Elizabeth was grateful for that, at least, "You see... My father, my real father - Booker, the one who got hurt, didn't raise me. Without my mother, he needed someone to help look after me, but the woman he hired stole me away and then... I know it sounds crazy, but there is actually a huge black market for babies, to skip the adoption process. I was sold to this rich family and they faked the paperwork to make it legal."
D’Artgnan raised an eyebrow at that. “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t heard of that actually.” He admitted. Working as a police officer he heard many crazy stories, including black market babies. He’d just never met one obviously. Most of them were not in his area of expertise, kidnapings and the like. “After working the badge in Orange County, you learn nothing is impossible real fast.” He said with a shrug and reached for one of the pastries as the waitress finally returned with them. “Want to split them up? That way we can try all of them.”
Some times he did wonder what his mother was like, but then he remembered his father. The man had taught him everything he knew. D’Artagnan missed him a lot recently. Especially since Father’s Day. “You know, if you ever need us all you need do is ask.” He said at random, hoping she would remember she could rely on them now if nobody else.
Elizabeth picked up her knife and started to carefully slice her own desserts into halves, nodding at D'artagnan's suggestion to split them. Of course it made sense that a cop would have heard of things like that. It made her happy that her story wasn't completely unbelievable, "I don't think Porthos and Athos know me very well yet, but if I was in trouble it probably wouldn't matter. I've gotten so used to feeling like I had to be independant and solve all my problems by myself. It doesn't always work out. Sometimes you need other people. I know I'm repeating myself, but I'm glad that those other people are people like you."
She paused as she slid pieces of her desserts onto his plates, and smiled at him, "And you know... I'm here for you, too. Even just to eat sweets with."
“It wouldn’t really.” He commented to her needing help. If he knew anything about the others yet, it was that they would protect those who needed protection with little thought at all for themselves. In fact he often had to be careful what he told Athos. The man didn’t look it, but he knew Athos worried. Possibly more than even the others. He wouldn’t say those sorts of things out loud of course, he knew they all wanted to be needed. But it was something he kept in mind when he went to Athos. “I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before they get to know you too anyway.” He shrugged offhandedly. At her comment he could only grin as he slid some of the cakes onto spare plates near by.
“I’ll keep that in mind. Those are the best sorts of meetings.” He smiled in return as he took a bite of the cake and his eyes lit up. “This place never gets old.”