InsaneJournal

Who: Elizabeth Comstock and Aramis.
What: Elizabeth comes over.
When: After these texts. (Before things went sideways)
Where: Aramis’s home.
Rating/Warnings: PG-13, mainly for alcohol consumed.
Status: Complete!



Aramis couldn’t help but feel vaguely nervous. On the one hand, he was very pleased to have Elizabeth come over. On the other hand, there was Porthos. And Porthos knew of Elizabeth, but Aramis had also just finished telling Porthos that he liked beyond the friends-with-benefits level. This was the entire reason Aramis tried not to get too committed to anyone.

Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. It was late enough. Porthos would probably retreat to bed and Aramis wouldn’t have to deal with the tension that he’d likely feel on his own. It was more important to him, anyway, that Elizabeth had something not to worry about for a while.

When he heard the taxi arrive, he headed out to meet her and to pay the driver before she had a chance. “Hello, lovely.”

"Bonsoir!" Elizabeth had been about to sneakily pay the driver when Aramis appeared, and she grinned at him a bit sheepishly as she put her wallet back in her purse. He was definitely a gentleman and around him it was clear that chivalry wasn't dead. But she liked to make sure people knew she could be independent, too.

She got out of the car while Aramis paid, and dusted herself off. Though she had a genuine smile on her face and had taken great care to look presentable, she looked a little worn around the eyes, "I'm so glad to be here. You're wonderful for letting me come over at such a late hour."

As the cab drove off, Aramis leaned over to press a kiss to her cheek, then he put an arm around her waist to escort her inside. “Regretfully, Porthos has opted for an early night, but he can never resist the pull of breakfast. So you’ll certainly get to meet him in the morning,” he explained. “Would you like anything? Whatever you want, it’s certainly no trouble.”

As usual with Aramis, the kiss made Elizabeth feel warm and comforted, and some color sprang to her cheeks as they headed inside, "That's sad, but at least I can meet him in the morning. I don't know too many people who can resist the pull of a good breakfast. But I think I'm alright for now... though something to drink wouldn't go amiss."

Something that she hoped was alcoholic. She'd never bothered with liquor before she'd moved here, but it was nearly a necessity now.

“Breakfasts are a big ado around here. Most meals are.” Aramis having grown up in a Spanish-French home and Porthos have grown up with food being sparse, the two of them had a large love for cooking and their kitchen was probably their busiest room. That was exactly where he led Elizabeth, sitting her down before he perused the alcohol cabinet.

“Any preference?” he asked. He took down a selection for her to choose from, then went to his fridge. “Plenty of things to mix it all with. I think I’ll cut us up a cheese platter, too. Just so you have something to nibble if the mood strikes.”

The amount of attention they gave to the kitchen showed. It was the warmest, most inviting room in the apartment and Elizabeth could almost feel the love they put into it. It made her want to live in a place like that. Her own place lacked personality, though the outdoor patio area was nice.

"Hmm... I don't think I've had this one before, not yet," Elizabeth remarked, pointing to a bottle of vodka, "Most of the liquor I've had so far that wasn't wine has been brown. But if you're cutting up cheese, then I think we'd better select a drink that goes with it. I have to admit... I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to this. I was never much of a drinker before I came here. I have so much to learn!"

Aramis had to laugh. Elizabeth was so sweet and naive. For a moment, he almost felt bad about it all. Trying to figure out how to ease things out with her was easier said than done, because he didn’t want to upset her. Especially with everything happening with her father. But he’d known from the start, hadn’t he, that this was just a fling. Best not to think about it now, he told himself.

“I won’t tell if you don’t,” he told her, about the cheese pairing. He gave her a wink and then mixed up two glasses with pineapple juice and vodka. As he put together a plate with some fruits and cheeses, he glanced over. “We can sit outside, if you want. I just finished planting the gardens not too long ago and we just got the trees put in, and the furniture picked out. It’s quite relaxing.”

"That sounds relaxing and very romantic. I love gardens... the house we had outside Paris had such beautiful ones when we went in the summer. It's one of the things I miss. I have window boxes at my condo but it just isn't the same." Elizabeth admitted, with a blushing smile. The look she gave him was pure adoration as she watched him mix drinks and prepare the tray of snacks, "You're so good with your hands. I don't know why it's surprising that that would translate to gardening, but it is. A good surprise, not a bad one."

“I can’t imagine not having a garden,” Aramis commented. “When I was studying religion in university, I used to love reading my theology books outside. It’s much more peaceful.”

He finished slicing up everything and glanced up, an amused smile on his lips. “Just one of my many talents, my dear,” he teased. As he passed her one of the drinks, he took his own and the tray of food, then headed toward the back door. “Just out here.”

Aramis was a man of many talents indeed, and Elizabeth was beginning to wish that she could sample some of the other ones she was sure he was known for. Her dream experience with those kinds of things was limited and extremely messed up, though, and she had about zero experience here.

She took a bracing sip of her cocktail as she followed him out, wondering if she could work up the bravery to make the first move. It was really good, and she raised her eyebrows as she headed through the back door, "Oh, this is nice and sweet. I don't know what I was expecting."

“Would I give you anything that wasn’t sweet?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at her with an amused sort of smirk. The cheese tray was set on to the table and Aramis pulled a chair out for her before sitting down himself.

“I’m glad to hear things appear to be all right,” Aramis said, after a moment. He was sure he already mentioned it, but it served well to say it again. Elizabeth was much too young and darling to have to suffer any major upsets in her life, he felt.

"Hmm?" Elizabeth asked, momentarily confused by the statement. She took a seat in the chair he'd provided and got herself comfortable on it before asking, "OH, do you mean with Booker?"

She took another sip and nodded, while her hand hovered over the tray, searching for something to nibble on. She'd already had quite enough major upsets lately, and she was very relieved that things seemed to be settling down, "I'm very glad, too. But he's still a little suicidal and I'm not sure how long the quiet will last. I yelled at him and I think I still want to slap him a little. We only just found each other, you know? I can't stand the idea of losing him."

Aramis listened, turning his head to peer out over the rest of the yard. “Yes, I think I understand that. It’s … Well, it’s not quite to the same level, but I feel that way with the boys. Athos, Porthos, and D’Artagnan, I mean.” One of them perhaps more than the others, but this was neither the time nor the place to bring that up. Honestly, he knew he was being terrible, and he knew the sooner the better, but … Well. There were no real reasons and he wasn’t going to try and find them now.

Glancing back her way, Aramis reached over to stroke her hair lightly, pushing some of it behind her ear. “I find it’s always best to try and keep optimistic. If you focus on the negative what-ifs, I don’t think any good can come from it.”

Elizabeth leaned into the gesture, brushing her cheek against his hand before he could pull it away completely. Then she nodded, both in understanding about his feelings towards the musketeers - at least the ones he was admitting to - and in response to his encouragement, "I know, and I'm glad that you have each other. D'artagnan feels similar, and I feel like the four of you are extended family to me. Even though I don't know Porthos and Athos very well, I know that if I was in trouble they'd come to my aid, simply because of you and D'art. Like distant cousins or big older brothers, or something."

It was hard to focus on being optimistic, however, when she dreamed the things that she dreamed. Her brow wrinkled a bit and she looked down into her drink, "But it isn't easy, staying positive. Have you ever looked ahead and just... had a feeling that there was something bad waiting for you, just another day or two away?"

Aramis let his touch wander, sliding around to the back of her neck where he squeezed very gently. It was an action he always found immensely comforting when it came to himself. “More, perhaps, than I’d like to admit,” he confessed. If he was honest with himself, which he rarely tried to be, he would acknowledge that he let himself get blinded by how good things were going and would thus ignore the warning signs. But ignorance is truly bliss.

“You have that feeling now, then?” Aramis asked. Better to steer the conversation towards focusing on Elizabeth. “Do you think there’s something terrible about to happen?”

Climbing onto Aramis's lap to take comfort was probably going a little too far, Elizabeth thought, though she did scoot a little closer to him. Her hands had found something tempting to grab up and eat, and she busied herself with that before answering his question.

It gave her a little more time to think through what she wanted to say, or try to give words to it, "The dreams aren't going very well, and I'm worried. I have a bad feeling, yes. That something terrible is going to happen. To Booker, or to me. I have power in my dreams that's very hard to fully understand, and it brings about some truly destructive things."

And the scientists, and the torture. Elizabeth never talked about that. She was too afraid of what would happen here if anyone took an 'interest' in her.

Aramis kept his arm around her, doing his best to ease her worries. The dreams seemed to put everyone out of their depths, for the most part. He supposed he was fortunate that, while his own mirrored some real life events he’d rather avoid, he was more or less the same person. The idea of having powers or something from a set of dreams was unsettling.
“Do you have those powers here?”

There was a moment of hesitation as Elizabeth worried through the idea that he might be scared away or reject her, but she finally nodded. It was a slow nod, and she finished off the rest of her drink before continuing, "But I can't... control them, and they don't seem to work as well as I expect them to, or as I remember. As a girl in the dreams I used to be able to do a lot of things, and now that I'm older there, I can't. I think we're starting to discover that there's a reason for that, and I don't really like where that might lead."

She set the glass off to the side, and fidgeted with her hands a bit, "And I'm discovering that I'm capable of doing things I never thought I'd do."

Aramis raised his eyebrows, but he said nothing. He’d seen some things in the CIA that he would have deemed unfathomable, but he’s seen a lot more since coming to Orange County. For some reason, this news didn’t faze him nearly as much as it should have.

“I wish there was something I could do to help,” he told her, sincerely. Truthfully, it was a bit out of his depth, but people at the Agency had to know people who could help. “Have you tried … Practicing?”

At that, Elizabeth had to shake her head. And it was clear that she was a little afraid of herself, that fear was written on her face and in her eyes as she looked up at him, "I might hurt people, or change the course of everyone's lives. Everyone here, all of them. Or change the world in a way that's horrible... there are so many ways that it could go wrong."

It was a very valid concern. Honestly, Aramis wasn’t sure what he’d do if presented with the same circumstances. He reached over to take her hand, giving it a light squeeze. “You’re a very smart young woman, you know. And you’ve got a good head on your shoulders. I trust completely that you’ll figure out the right thing to do, whenever the time is right.”

"Your confidence in me makes me feel better about it," Elizabeth replied, looking a little relieved, though added, "I just hope your faith in me isn't misplaced."

But this wasn't the way she'd wanted to spend her evening with him. Elizabeth had other things on her mind, and she reached a hand up to caress against his cheek. Then she pulled his face down, and kissed him.

Of all the things Aramis would ever complain about, being kissed by a pretty young woman was definitely not one of them. Though he was momentarily surprised by it, not expecting her to be the sort to take control of this sort of situation, he quickly relaxed into it and let the kiss follow a nice, easy pace. Then he smiled, nudging their noses together lightly. “I don’t think faith in you could ever be misplaced.”