Participants:
| Scene Title | Back to Formalities |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Sabrina and Adam have more Words |
| Date | October 01, 2009 |
Adam's Place
It's one of those usual nights with Sabrina showing up pretty late to drop off some requested files, newly cleaned suits, and probably theater tickets or something that Adam has requested. She lets herself in and hangs the stuff up in the closet, making a bit more noise than she usually does. Usually she's all in and out silently lest he have more requests.
Adam is in the apartment tonight. He's been working and he looks up as he hears noises in his apartment. In theory, that's Sabrina, but there's other people it could be too. So quietly, he moves around the hallway until he's able to peek out and see who it is and then sees that it is, indeed, Sabrina. "Alright then." he says.
Sabrina closes the closet door and turns around, giving Adam one of her usual studious looks. "Nothing's all right. Not even for you." She says simply, holding out a small envelope. "Theater tickets, as you requested. The files you asked for are on the table by the door. A Homeland Security Agent is probably outside of that waiting for me to leave and I'm going to be taking some time to try to investigate Susan Anman's powers before they kill Kaylee. I don't think you'll mind."
Adam arches a brow, then turns dismissively, "There's no point. Kaylee's run away. Apparently she believes it's best if someone else solves her problem that no one bothered to tell me about."
He turns and Sabrina takes a step forward, voice sharp. "Is this self pity or is this a dismissal? Or doesn't it matter because you don't care about anything? Everyone dies, Mister Monroe. You know that better than anyone. Why should you care."
Adam stops short and turns back towards Sabrina. He looks angry and he starts to close the distance between the two. He stops close and says, "Perhaps that would have been a better question to ask me /before/ everyone helped her disappear, yeah?" he narrows his eyes, "You think you know me because you've read a file?" his lips purse, "You know what? You're right, it doesn't matter." he waves a hand and turns away again, walking towards the living room.
When he closes the distance Sabrina glares a little at him but looks a little frightened nonetheless. "Bullshit." It's probably the first outright unprofessional thing she's ever said to him since he hired her. "I think I know you because I've seen how you work. You plan and you work and you wine and you dine and you play games instead of living. What happened to you that you have this life without hope? Whatever that was, it wasn't in your file." She flicks the envelope at him. It's not really hard or anything. She's a wussy girl.
Adam doesn't stop walking. He sits down in a leather armchair and doesn't respond or go back for the tickets. The only thing he really does is turn on C-Span really really loud. Apparently a measure on corn subsidies is being debated.
She should probably leave. She should leave and go get followed by Len for awhile and not provoke anything. Sabrina is really, really tempted. After a glance towards the door she steels herself and walks on over to stand in front of the television. "You can turn it up all you want. I'm an only child. I can be shrill. Turn it off. You pay me too much to let you keep doing this. And I am not above yelling at you."
Adam arches a brow as Sabrina steps in front of Congressman Thompson of Arizona. His lips thin into a mask of quiet annoyance. "Alright, Sabrina." he says, "Let's see what it is you have to say." but it shouldn't be hard to see there's some genuine anger simmering under the surface.
That's mildly terrifying. Sabrina tries to keep her voice from wavering. "Of course it matters. I don't like what you do, you know that. I don't like that I am a part of something—I'm an accessory to murder and I have homeland security agents following me and I was shot. I was SHOT." She stresses this, putting a hand to her stomach. "And I still wake up at night with the pang of pain from the memory of it. You have hundreds of years of memories in your head but I bet I still have more. I don't need you to be human, Mister Monroe. I don't need you to care about me. But Kaylee does. If that was a lie, fine. You lied to her. You lied that you cared and now she's going to die and it was going to happen someday so whatever. Fine. She never needs to know that you were so disinterested in her you sat in your chair listening to proceedings about corn rather than trying to save her. Because everyone leaves you, right? They die. They move on. They lie. Just like you. Except you don't ever die. And I bet you remember. So why should Kaylee be any different?"
Adam's eyes narrow slowly. He's quiet for several moments as he looks her over slowly as if sizing her up. It's almost as if he's measuring her for something…a dress…a coffin, something. A brow arches slowly before he says in a measured tone, "You kept it a secret from me. You all kept it a secret from me. I don't know how many of you knew, but I know you did. And some of you even convinced her to run away and when I find out who those people were, I will kill them. All." his lips purse, "And now she's away and not looking to be found. Tell me, Sabrina, if I put away all the betrayal that's occurred over this, all the people who have stabbed me in the back….what am I to do to help a person who apparently doesn't want my help, didn't respect me enough to talk to me, lied to me about how they felt about me, and has flew off to hide amongst my enemies? Tell me, Sabrina. What is the proper course of action here?"
Sabrina does something stupid here: she gets angry. Angry enough that she leans down to put a hand on either side of his chair so she can lean forward and get right in his face. "You grow the fuck up. How old are you? Now how old were you when you decided to stop actually living? Twelve? I didn't know until yesterday when she called me and she was already gone. I knew she wasn't well but I thought she just had a cold. She ran because it's a trap, Adam." She actually uses his first name, shock of all shocks. "That woman did something to her in LA. If she's near you, she dies faster. If she talks about you, it speeds up the processes that are killing her. She didn't want you to worry. All those memories in your head, try to remember what it's like to actually care. To be young and not want someone you care about to worry. Think about it. REMEMBER." The last word is scathing and sharp and pained. "I can't remember this for you. And you need to step up. Not for redemption, not to prove something to anyone. Step up and help her because you remember what it's like to actually be a part of the world or step up and walk away completely. But don't sit here in your chair pouting like you're owed something."
Adam stands suddenly, he's so quick, such a warrior. His hands on either side of her shoulder as she's being pushed back, his gaze fully angry, completely wild. "In the passed two days, I exposed Lola for spying on me for Linderman, I expelled Odessa for lying to me and encouraging Kaylee to run. And there, I find Kaylee, whom I loved." and he does say loved, "Has run away. She couldn't call me on the phone. She couldn't tell me word one. And why? Because she listened to others more than me." he shakes Sabrina a bit, "Do you know what that's like? To be betrayed by your own child?" he demands, "Do you have any idea what it's like to bury all that hate inside of you?" he's squeezing now, hard, "Do you have any idea what it's /like/ to live with this everyday?" he shakes her some more, "She. Left. Me."
He moves a lot faster than Sabrina can react to, so she only does what anyone would do, braces her hands against his arms and gets shaken. It's enough to break her out of her big anger-induced bravery display there. "Adam. You're hurting me." Her voice shakes a bit there because ow. "She couldn't tell you because talking to you is killing her. She left so you wouldn't lose her for good. I promised her I'd make sure you were all right. That you got through this. And I promised her I'd fix it so she could come back."
Adam seems like he was about to stop….and then Sabrina said more. He's quiet, holding her in place, his entire body a taut wire of rage. He says, "Did it occur to any of you…./any/ of you stupid bints, that maybe /I/ could help? Did it, for a single minute, occur to any of you that maybe I had a solution?" he bares his teeth like he was about snarl, but eventually just lets her go and turns from her, "Get out, Sabrina. Get out, now."
"No. If you want to hurt me, if you want to kill me? You go ahead. You make yourself feel better." Sabrina points at his back but her hand is shaking. She is not actually as brave as she's pretending to be with this stance. Her arms hurt. She's going to have finger bruises later. "Why do you think I'm here? Do you think I'm here because I like hearing myself talk? Because I like being scared by you? You can't help Kaylee by trying to drag her back. You're so fucking stubborn! Stop insisting on being miserable. She wants to come back. She certainly doesn't want to die. But she's young and she was scared. Just say you'll help and I'll go. Help me find a solution, not try to force one. Say it and I'll leave."
Adam chuckles a bit at that, "I don't know if you know how medicine works." he says, "But it's rather hard to find a solution without a patient, yeah? You think there's going to be some magical cure that appears? There's no way to find a solution without her." he turns back towards Sabrina, "We'd have to test solutions."
"No." Sabrina seems pretty dead sure of this, "You need to find the cause and then you'll have a solution. That woman did something to her. Her ability was far more than even I knew about. If Kaylee's near you, Adam, she dies faster. You're old but I bet there's things out there you still don't know. She flipped something in Kaylee's head and it has to do with you. We find out what, we find someone that can do the same thing, we get her fixed."
Adam shakes his head, "You're right, there's things out there I still don't know, which should put into perspective the vastness of your ignorance." he says, "It doesn't work like that. No two people have the same power. Their levels differ. Ammon was old and there's no one who will have had her experience with it. What if she just had to keep taking my blood? Just keep healing her body."
"From what Kaylee told me it's not physical. It's mental. As good, and gross by the way, as your blood is, you can't heal the mind." Sabrina knows that first hand. "She'd have been in pain all the time. You want to be a father, Adam, start acting like one. Do what's best for her, not what you think is best for her. Find the cause. And trust me. You hired me. I'm still here, for all that I shouldn't be. Stop acting like the world's against you. Lola would've left anyway. I kept sending her daisies."
Adam sits down in his chair. "You /don't/ know that what I want for her isn't what's best for her." he says, "You only assume it. And we'll never know now." he looks at Sabrina and gives her a horribly harsh look that seems vaguely filled with even more anger. "Fine. I'll help you find a cure."
Sabrina doesn't seem particularly mollified by his response. She leans down and picks up the envelope from before that found it's way to the floor. "Maybe not. But I know what you want for yourself isn't what's best for you. And that's all I have to go on. If she contacts me, I'll let her know. She does only want what's best for you, Mister Monroe." Back to formalities. "If that's all, your gray and blue suits are in the hall closet. And you'll want to avoid an Agent Denton in the near future. Be better at it than I've been."
Adam arches a brow, "Denton contacted you?" he questions with a frown, "/Len/ Denton?" he asks, "Black man in a cowboy hat?" he frowns a moment, "How interesting.." he says thoughtfully, "How so very interesting…"
"Contacted, threatened." Sabrina makes a so-so motion with her hand. "They have video of what happened in LA. He knew my face. He'll know the others too. You might want to tell them to be careful."