The Hellion (collateralshot) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-02-14 20:08:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, dan smith, olivia moore |
Who: Dan &Liv
What: Liv says goodbye one last time
When: Earlier today (after this text and this call)
Where: Huntington Beach Morgue
Rating/Warnings Mediumish for death and a body kind of exploding
Status: Complete!
The body on the table was fresh, but cold. An autopsy had not yet started, but the morgue’s medical examiner had already begun to make notes for his report. So far they contained the man’s name, Daniel Smith, and his date of birth. Both pieces of information had been obtained from the man’s wife. The poor woman had been the one to find the body that morning. The medical examiner had just come onto his shift when the call had come in. He was a veteran of his practice and death had long since cease to phase him. However, there were occasions that made him pause and shake his head. The cause of this poor guy’s death was obvious: a gunshot wound to the right side of his chest. The medical examiner did not know for certain the type of gun used, not until he’d gotten a chance to get into the cadaver to confirm the damage done, but it had been powerful enough to rip straight through him and leave a sizable entry wound and an even larger exit wound in the man’s back.
It was strange, though. It had appeared as though Smith had been seated on his couch reading a book (in nothing more than his shorts, poor man) when he’d been shot. There was enough blood soaked into the cushions – and none found anywhere else in the apartment – to confirm that assumption. However, other than the blood staining the fabric, there was no other damage done to the couch itself. No hole in the back cushion to match the wounds in Smith’s body. It had baffled the responding officer and CSI techs. They simply couldn’t get their minds around it. What complicated matters more was that there was no bullet recovered, not in the couch and with the holes in Smith’s body, it was doubtful it was in there either. They all wondered the same thing: where was it?
The medical examiner couldn’t quite figure it out either, but that wasn’t his problem. That fell to the investigating officer unlucky enough to have caught this case. The medical examiner’s domain was the body itself and whatever secrets it could give up.
He started his preliminary exam, using a digital recorder to make notes of his findings: “The subject is a 33-year-old white male. First impression is that the subject is in good physical condition. No apparent physical deformity. Subject has…” the medical examiner leaned over to get a better look at the tattoo along the man’s arm and shoulder, “…a tattoo of a Chinese-style dragon on the upper left arm and shoulder.”
The medical examiner straightened up again and continued his examination. “There is some scar tissue present on the left side of the abdomen. Apparent healed gunshot wound. Similar scar tissue appears on right calf. Preliminary cause of death in this instance is a single gunshot wound to the chest from a large caliber gun. Bullet was not recovered from the scene. Will know more once the internal examination begins.”
The medical examiner frowned slightly and clicked off his recorder. He looked towards the dead man’s face. “Clearly you’re no stranger to violence, Mr. Smith,” he said as he set his recorder down. “But you don’t strike me as a gangbanger. Just what exactly happened to you?”
The past two weeks had been hard. Other than when she accidentally killed a patient and when she became a zombie they were the hardest two weeks of her life. Letting go of Dan, it hurt more than Liv could even attempt to put into words. And to be honest, she hadn’t let go of him yet. Yes, she hadn’t seen him since they broke up, she had managed the whole keeping her distance thing. But the zombie was still completely in love with him. So when she got the message from Carolina? Her heart broke into a million pieces.
Liv knew she had to see him one last time. Even if he was gone. Even if there was no Dan left. She had to say goodbye. Dan wasn’t in her morgue. She had to travel to Huntington Beach to say her goodbyes. But being a ME herself she was let into the morgue without much trouble. She walked in just as the medical examiner was about to start his autopsy. The sight was enough to bring tears to Liv’s eyes. But she had to stay strong. At least while there was someone else in the room.
“Wait,” Liv said before the ME could pick up his scalpel. “I’m Olivia Moore,” she added pulling out her credentials. “ME over at Irvine PD. Dan is… was…” she paused unable to get the words out. Besides he probably wouldn’t even believe her if she called Dan her boyfriend. She knew Carolina, his wife, had been the one to call it in. Of course Dan didn’t have a girlfriend on the side. “Important to me,” Liv finally said swallowing the lump in her throat. “I’d like a moment to say goodbye.”
“Of course, Dr. Moore,” the ME replied. Although he was a bit skeptical about leaving the pale woman alone with his corpse he knew that if the situation was reversed he would like a moment alone as well. He exited the room leaving Liv alone with Dan’s body.
Once the guy was gone Liv walked over to Dan, tears began to stream down her face as she looked at the lifeless body of the man she loved. “Dan,” she choked out not exactly sure what to say. She reached for his hand, not that it brought her any comfort. In fact feeling his cold dead hand in hers just made her cry harder. “Please,” she sobbed. “You can’t… I love you.”
If this had been a fairy tale scripted by Hollywood for a Happily Ever After, all it would have taken were those words combined with her tears to revive the dead man. But this wasn’t a fairy tale and despite their proximity, this wasn’t Hollywood. Dan’s hand remained cold and limp in Liv’s own. His eyes remained closed. No beat of a heart. No breath in his body. The morgue was silent, cold and empty save for the zombie M.E. and her grief.
Liv remained by his side for awhile longer. Tears pouring out of her eyes. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Dan had walked out of her life two weeks ago. But this, this, was different. There was no chance of her ever seeing him again. He was really gone now. It was a truth she couldn’t bare. But she had to.
Once Liv couldn’t bare to stand there looking at Dan’s lifeless body for another moment she bent down. Placing a kiss on his cheek. “Goodbye, Dan,” she whispered before standing back up and turning to leave the morgue.
Liv had just reached the door when something unusual happened, unusual for Orange County at any rate. The body that she’d left on the table both disintegrated and then exploded sending little balls of blood in all directions. Oddly, though, the table in which the body had been laying on remained clean. None of the little balls of blood struck anything, not the floor, walls or ceiling. It almost seemed as though they disappeared. Then just as quickly as they had exploded apart, they seemed to reassemble back on the table. Slowly they reformed the man that had been laying there just a few moments before, except without the gaping wound in his chest.
For a moment the morgue was utterly silent almost as if nothing had happened at all. And then…
Dan spasmed, pulling in a choked breath. His eyes had snapped open. They saw the morgue but his mind failed to recognize where he was. Disoriented and panicked, Dan flopped off the table and hit the ground, the little towel that had been protecting a dead man’s dignity lost in the movement.
Liv could feel something moving behind her. She turned around to see blood everywhere and yes Dan’s body was missing. But all the blood! It was going to make such a mess! Only none of it seemed to fall on the table, walls, or floor. No, instead it like reformed. And then Dan was there! Without his wound.
What. The. Hell?
There was no way Liv could process everything that had just happened. All she knew was that Dan was in front of her, naked. Normally that would cause a different reaction from her. But right now she was just too happy to see him. Alive. Liv rushed to his side, leaning down next to him. “Dan!” she called out placing a hand on the side of his face. “Dan!”
Dan was gasping for air. All he could feel at the moment was the pain of his body literally torn apart and reassembled. His chest where he’d been shot was scarred, but fully healed. That was where his pain was currently centered. He struggled to drag in a breath, clutching at his chest.
Then someone had hold of his face. His eyes darted upwards and -- he must have been dreaming. Liv was there, calling his name and her hands on his face bringing him back to reality. “L...Liv,” he gasped out in a croak. He reached out to her, grasping her arms. She was real. This was real. Dan was confused and disoriented, and yes….scared. He had no idea what had happened to him or where he was. He was vaguely aware that he was naked if for the fact that he was cold. “Where am I? What’s happening?”
Liv barely noticed how frightened Dan was. She was too wrapped up in the fact that he was alive. However, part of her recognized that Dan was scared. Her hand remained on the side of his face, but she let the other one reach out for one of his hands on her arm. Grasping it gently.
“You….” she paused her voice trailing off. Tears burned her eyes at the thought of what she had to tell him. What she had thought happened. How could she tell him he had been dead or at least presumed dead. No he was definitely dead. Liv hadn’t done the autopsy but she knew what a dead body looked like, what it felt like. And Dan had definitely been dead. But Liv decided not to lead with that. “You’re in a morgue,” she finally said. “Are you okay? Hurt? Your chest?” The shocks was wearing off and Liv was beginning to realize that Dan was in pain. A lot of pain.
A morgue. Not Liv’s morgue. That didn’t make any sense! Dan’s eyes darted over Liv’s head. He saw the cold sterile room around them – the drawers in which dead bodies were stored. Then towards another table (currently unoccupied). The image of that table and everything it represented burned itself into Dan’s mind. He was in a morgue. Naked in a morgue and he had no idea how he had gotten there. The last thing Dan really remembered was sitting on his couch to read. He’d been balls-to-the-wall the past two weeks. Up to his neck in work now that he’d come out of retirement again. He’d been exhausted. Sleepy. Yes. He’d fallen asleep and the Dreams…
Dan shut his eyes and turned away from the image of that cold metal table. In its place was the image of Garcian -- Emir looming over him in a hotel room, a gun drawn. He’d been silent, but those eyes. Oh, God, those eyes. They’d been nothing but cold stones with killing intent. He’d already made his way through the rest of the Smith Syndicate. One by one, slaughtering them all. Dan was last on the list and neither his bravado or cocky nature, nor his own gun could save him…
Dan shuddered violently and clutched at his chest again. “Why am I in a morgue?” He demanded, looking at Liv again. Her face was enough to chase both haunting images of the autopsy table and Emir Parkreiner from the forefront of his mind. “Why am I naked? Why am I naked in a morgue? What happened to me??” He knew, of course. Even in his current state of panic and distress he could still put the pieces together. But it wasn’t real. Only Liv could do that for him.
“Dan,” Liv said when he grabbed his chest again, her voice soft. Her hand remained on the side of his face, not wanting to let him go. “It’s okay.” She had no idea if it was okay. What she had just seen. What had happened to him. But she wanted him to calm down. Needed him to.
And there was the question. The one she didn’t want to answer. Want to say the words out loud. But she knew she needed to. He deserved to know. “You,” another pause. Liv took a deep breath forcing herself to remain calm. Her voice steady. Eyes dry. “You died.”
Dan’s eyes widened. “I was dead…?” Death was common in his Dreams. Dan himself had died before the events in his Dreams had even started. Shot execution style on a basketball court by the very man who’d been his mentor. And then again…in the school’s gymnasium by those Smiles. All of the Smiths had fallen. And then in the Union Hotel. Emir…
Death was common in his Dreams but so was resurrection. Slowly things started to make sense. Harman had resurrected Dan after his first death. Harman: an old feeble man with limited power. Dan hated him. Hated him for dragging his soul back and binding it to the living plain and to him as some kind of weapon or tool and thought of as nothing more. Emir had done the same thing. No, not Emir. Garcian. The man Emir turned into. The man who would become the face of the Smith Syndicate. The one who had taken them over. It was confusing and none of it made any sense, but Dan didn’t care. He was alive here. That was all that mattered.
The pain was starting to fade, slowly, but surely and with it went the panic. A clearer mind started putting the other pieces together as to why Liv was in a morgue not hers. He smiled faintly, but ruefully. “Ye came t’ see me,” he said, placing a hand over hers against the side of his face. “Thank ye, Liv.”
Liv wasn’t sure why he was thanking her. Of course she had come to see him. She loved him. How could she not come to say goodbye? At the moment thoughts of their break up, of everything they could never have were far from Liv’s mind. All that mattered was Dan. He was alive. Liv didn’t try to hold back or remind herself of all the reasons this wasn’t a good idea. She just leaned all the way down placing her lips on his. The man she loved was alive again and Liv kissed him like her life depended on it.