A Hand To Hold

Participants:

lynette2_icon.gif toby_icon.gif

Scene Title A Hand to Hold
Synopsis Two friends reunited.
Date August 16, 2010

Gun Hill - Lynette's Apartment/Toby's apartment


It's been months since Lynette graced the halls of her safehouse, but this morning, there are some definite signs that she's around. For one, the extra keys from the rental office are missing. And for two, there was all this noise from her apartment. Even now there are soft strains of Frank Sinatra flowing from the apartment.

Those months were spent with one (1) fretting Toby, especially as handling the safehouse fell entirely to him. He was never supposed to be the full super! Only the half! And as such he's been a little overwhelmed. So when he heard about the attack on the Institute, he was overjoyed, but he's never been one for battle. He's more for the wining and dining and the loving, not the fighting.

So when he hears strains of Lynette's presence next door to him, it's only a matter of moments before her door earns the frantic, girlish rappings of his knuckles against the wood. And then there's the sound of a key in the lock, and the door swings open with Toby's effusive "Darling!" He is… dressed in his PJs still, it seems: silk two-set in lilac, with his fluffy blue slippers. The state of the apartment is missed entirely as he sweeps towards Lynette for a big twirly hug.

And it is a state. Broken bits lay unheeded on the floor, dents seems to have been made in some of the walls… there's even a piece of overturned furniture or two. But Lynette herself is awake and in the kitchen pouring herself a cup of coffee. She, too, is in her pajamas and looking… paler, skinnier, and her hair much, much shorter.

When she's grabbed up, she tenses up at first, perhaps fighting the onset of panic before she realizes who it is. "Toby!" That hug is returned, and returned fiercely. "I didn't think I would see you again," she notes, her face buried against his neck.

"Oh my goodness, after you sent that note— don't scare me like that!" Toby's hug is fierce as well, and maybe a little emotional. But then he lets her go with a gasp. "Lynette, your hair! Oh you poor thing! And you need to eat! Come, come, come over to my place! I'll make some breakfast" — and he does make a mean breakfast — "and we can chat and later I am taking you to the spa, my dear. You look dreadful, you poor thing!"

"I'm sorry about that. If I'd known there was a rescue in the works…" Lynette leans back to give him a little smile, but when her hair is mentioned… Her fingers run through it self consciously, a frown on her face. "They— well. They weren't very fashion conscious in there." His last words even get a tired chuckle and she gives him a nod, "I would love breakfast. Would you make your omlettes, darling? I could use some comfort food…"

"Oh, Lynette, darling, I'm just glad you're safe," Toby says, resting a hand on her cheek. "Come! We'll treat you like royalty!" He gives her a bright, cheerful grin and links her arm with his, then tips his head high and struts with her out of her apartment. "As you wish, your majesty!"

Lynette leans into that hand for a moment, indulging a bit, perhaps. Maybe. <.< But when he moves to link arms with her, she does, too, if less brightly. Leaning against him as they make their way to his apartment, the woman seems fairly content to let him lead her around. "How long have you been here, darling? Last I saw you, you were taking advantage of the beautiful Santa Monica weather."

"I came just after the storm let out," Toby replies cheerfully. He pauses at his door to fiddle with the lock, and then let them in. His apartment appears to be well-cleaned and finely decorated, despite the fact that the apartment itself is a little worse for wear. There's the sound of a *thud* and then little puppy nails against the wood as Rugby comes barrelling in as well, to bounce and hop and bark at her. Hello! Hi! Hello person! He pauses to sniff excitedly at her feet. Oh! I know this person! Lynette! Barkbarkbark! Lynette doesn't smell healthy! Bark! "Yes, Rugby, I know it's Lynette! You silly thing you," Toby huffs, nudging the dog away with one foot. And he knows she isn't healthy, but he's not about to comment on it. "Anyway, I heard you'd been taken, and you had a safehouse left, so I came to take care of it and see what I could do to help rescue you. Which wasn't much, I'm afraid. But Eric seemed to take good care of your place in your absence — he was the super, mostly, until recently. Oh it's so nice to have you back, darling!"

"Rugby," Lynette greets the dog with a warm smile as she crouches down to give him some behind-the-ear scritches, "It's good to see you again, too." She always did like that dog. Looking back up toward Toby, there's a little smile on her face that might even be touched. Standing up again, she puts her hands on the mans arms, "Thank you, for coming and helping out. All of it, it's… I don't know. Normally, I would send some sort of goodie bag for a thank you, but this is all a little beyond that."

Rugby squirms and wriggles with all that excitement as she scritches him, and he even bounces up to lick her face, and give a sharp whine. Toby, though isn't putting up with this hands-on-arms nonsense: he pulls her into a tight hug. "Oh of course. Nonsense, it was fine. The least that I could do for a friend in need. Your thank you can be accompanying me later to the spa for a nice rejuvenating treatment. I've heard tell of a fabulous place around here." Emphasis on fabulous.

Oh, more hugs. Someone is a bit out of practice. But, Lynette leans against him for a long moment, her eyes squeezed closed. "That sounds like more of a favor for me," she notes, leaning back again after a while. "But I wouldn't mind someone who could make something decent out of this," she says, fingers tugging at that short hair of hers.

"It's a favor for both of us. You need some relaxing! And anyways, I hear they have excellent style sense, and if they were as callous with your hair as it seems they were, then, well. Perhaps there's magic to be done?" Toby releases her again, before tugging her into his lovely kitchen. He really has done a lot with the place. "Now! What would you like in your omelette, my dear? How many eggs?"

"I suppose we'll never know unless we try, hmm?" Lynette moves to pull herself up to sit on his kitchen counter, and she crosses one leg over the other. Oh look, new scars. In fact… she never actually had scars before. But there they are. "Oh… goodness. Surprise me, won't you? I love this kitchen, Toby. It's beautiful."

Rugby is close behind as they go to the kitchen, and he hops up on his hind legs to lean against the cupboards near her, sniffing eagerly at her legs. Toby, if he notices those scars, doesn't let on. "Absolutely!" And so he starts getting out ingredients: eggs, three different kinds of cheeses, green onions, ham, bacon, avocado, spinach… It's pretty much a loaded omelette. Oh and the butter — can't forget that. He starts the stove and sets his skillet of choice down. "Oh do you? Thank you! I just had some things lying around to be used, you know."

"So modest, darling," Lynette says, a little smile on her face. But as he starts to cook, she falls silent, her gaze turning into a blank stare, her blank stare eventually looking a little haunted. She looks almost like a puppet with limp strings, the way she just sort of… hangs there.

Toby just grins for the comment, and shrugs, adjusting his lilac PJs, working on her omelette. But as she starts going blank, Rugby starts barking again, pawing at her legs a bit. Toby glance back, concern clouding his features as he lays a hand on her shoulder. "Would you like some coffee?" he asks sympathetically. "And if you want to talk about it, you know I'm always ready to listen, right?"
It takes that hand on her shoulder, but Lynette comes back to the moment and blinks a bit as she focuses back on Toby. "Oh, yes. Coffee would be marvelous. I'm just tired, darling. Don't mind me." Which is to say… she's probably not ready to talk.

As Toby suspected. "Coffee it is, then," he smiles, giving her shoulder a squeeze and a reassuring shake. He starts up a pot as well, and then starts flipping her omelette. "So, we've had a few scares while you've been away," he begins. "There was a girl here, Elaine? Her ex was some Evo and came and knifed…Sable, was it? In an attempt to get to her… And Eric and I were trying to dodge cop attention, and he had to go back to the Lighthouse, and I haven't the foggiest idea of how to run an apartment building or a safehouse, as I assumed I'd just pick it up as I went along on the job. So things are… a little messy. But hopefully, they've settled down now."

Oh, business. Business she can deal with. "I see. So are we on the police's radar, then? Do we need to be extra careful? And don't you worry about any mess, darling, I can handle it. And we'll have you a trained safehouse operator in no time. After what happened… I wouldn't be surprised if we started getting more people to move over the boarders." She pauses a moment, a finger tapping on her leg. "What's your opinion, Toby, being registered as you are. This new mandate. Do you think it would be easier or harder to work without registration."

"Well, after the guy came and knifed Sable, Magnes went and got himself on Youtube fighting the guy as a masked superhero. So as near as I can tell, we better be careful. Though, Eric evicted both Magnes and Elaine, for the safety of the house." Toby runs a hand through his messy hair, but even though he just rolled out of bed — and it looks it too — it still looks artful. Crazy man. Still, the prospect of those two having been evicted is troubling for the man, even if he does agree with the decision. "I think it would be… harder to work without it," he confesses with a frown. "I'm not a fan of Registration at all, but the less we look like normal folk owning an apartment complex, the more heat we pick up from the law. Now, with this new mandate, I don't know how easy it would be to fly under the radar, unregistered, and perhaps it would be better to stay unregistered… but I don't know. I'm no expert."

Lynette lifts an eyebrow at the story, her own opinion on it kept quiet, which probably means she's digesting. "Yes, I was thinking that, too. It would look more suspicious if one of the people running this place wasn't registered. And apparently my… status is open enough that people knew to pluck me off the street. Call me paranoid, but if some facility can know, chances are the government can, too. And honestly, what's going to be worse than what I just went through? Makes all that hiding I did all these years seem quite pointless."

Toby scoops her omelette onto a plate with the spatula, quiet for a moment as he digests her words as well. He pulls out a fork, and then hands the whole kit'n'caboodle off to her. "That may well be, that the government could know. And hiding…well. What's happened has happened, however unfortunate. But I think that… given the circumstances, registration is the way to best turn away suspicion from that side of things."

Taking that plate and fork, Lynette gives him a gentle smile of thanks before she places it on her lap. "It might be. Appear to be compliant so they won't look for what's going on under the surface, sort of thing. The last thing this place needs to to get raided or something like that." She pauses a moment, then looks over at him, her expression a little more… vulnerable. "Would you come with me? They're going to do testing and such, I don't… want to be alone."

"Oh Lynette," Toby smiles indulgently, giving her shoulder a squeeze as he leans against the counter beside her. "I wouldn't dream of making you go alone. It's really quite painless, what they do. Though, I suggest faking that you can't do a whole lot with your power, if you can." He smiles warmly, and then plucks a bite of omelette from her plate with his fork. >.> Look, over there, something distracting! "At any rate, is the building registered in your name?"

"Thanks, Toby. I just need a hand to hold." Lynette takes in a breath, nodding a bit to his advice. "It is. It's me, independent of any organization or strings, so there's no physical trace back to the Ferry." She looks down at her plate… silent for a moment before she lifts her chin and gives him a smile. "Let's have less heavy breakfast conversation, hmm? And then perhaps some shopping before we go to your fabulous spa. I'd like… just a fun day."

"Absolutely, darling," Toby smiles, giving her a pat. "Then, I suspect they would expect you to register. So I'll be there to hold your hand." As her gaze drops, Toby rubs her back a little in reassurance, and echoes her smile when she looks back up again. "That sounds like a phenomenal idea! Let's do it."


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