Better Off Out There

Participants:

elisabeth_icon.gif graeme2_icon.gif

Scene Title Better Off Out There
Synopsis Meeting might be dangerous, but sometimes it's a relief to see someone, in person.
Date April 11, 2011

Central Park


It's ridiculously warm today. Elisabeth's woefully short of shorts to wear, but she does have on her scuffed up, ripped hip-huggers and a spaghetti-strapped tanktop. Her hair is loose and it may be the first time Graeme's ever seen it that way — she usually wears it up and professional looking. It's a tumbled mass that curls down nearly to her waist and she's wandering along the park paths in the shade to keep out of the direct sunlight because she just doesn't have warm weather gear yet. It's freakin' 80 in April! That's outrageous. She's texting into the phone in her hand, letting the person she's meeting know exactly where she is, and she sits on a bench among the trees to wait for him, tension coiling her shoulders tightly. Blue eyes flicker down the paths in all directions.

Warm weather or not, and shoulder injury or not, Graeme's out jogging, but right now, simply walking in a period of altering between the two. Arm once again firmly immobilised in the sling, exercise shorts and a teeshirt are little like the teacher tends to wear, though they're both in a rather monotone scheme of black, and there's a faint smile offered as he rounds the bend and catches sight of Elisabeth. The smile is obscured by the slight growth of beard that he hasn't been able to be bothered to shave, a little. "Hey." It's offered well before he gets close to the bench, relief to see her, but also tired. The cheap cell phone gets put back into his pocket as he nears the bench.

Her eyes pick him out from relatively far away, and Elisabeth looks relieved as well. She scoots over on the bench to let him join her and impulsively hugs him. "Christ, this is dangerous," she murmurs. "But I'm glad to see you. Are you okay? Is Aric okay? What's happening?" The words tumble out of her hurriedly, as if she's afraid any moment they're going to be ambushed. And considering the situation, maybe it's not as paranoid as it might sound. There's a distinctly vibratory feel to the entire bench as he joins her, as the wood seems to be resonating along with her stress levels. It's something that at the present time, she flat out can't stop.

His free arm slips around her, and Graeme returns the hug, tightly, for a long moment before letting go. "I'm alright," comes the response. "Aric's alright, I think. Haven't seen him in a bit. You?" The words are soft, level, a small grumble following them. "Better now that I had a few nights of sleep again. Didn't get much, last week."

As she draws away, Elisabeth smiles just a little. "Well, I'm topping the most wanted list or something at the moment, but other than that, things are…. " She pauses and considers. "Going?" She offers him a bit of a smile, worry in her expression. "I'm sorry, Graeme. There was … no real way to tell you guys what was going on. You're too visible after Remi's little soiree. Jaiden's place was raided the night I left. And Aric's already been cleared, so I figured….. .you were both better off out there."

There's a nod from Graeme. "So I've heard," he says. "DHS decided they wanted to talk to me, on Wednesday morning… though I think that they were rather disappointed by how little they got. They kept at it until Saturday." There's a faint grimace, before it's pushed back off of his face. "The moment I went back to my own apartment, even."

Elisabeth sighs heavily. "Yeah…. fuck," she murmurs. "All right. Listen…. I need you and Aric to play this entirely aboveboard for a bit. Okay? Tell Aric if he has any trouble, contact Jane Pak. The two of you know nothing more than whatever you've already told them. Savvy?"

"Jane Pak, right," Graeme repeats, confirmation of what she said. "They didn't get anything out of me, except some grumbling about the fact that the bed in the holding cell sucked and that there wasn't a sufficient quantity of food in the place, and they kenneled Odin, and they were holding me through a day I was supposed to be working. Agent Hanson didn't seem to to believe me, but, well…" The words trail off as Graeme offers Liz a faint hint of a smile.

Hanson. Pak's friend Hanson. Elisabeth considers that and nods slowly. "Do not assume that Pak's on our side. But if Aric gets harassed, have him contact her. She's a straight shooter and she doesn't want to see people's rights eroded." She nibbles her lip and admits, "It's all I can do for the two of you right now, Graeme."

There's another nod from Graeme, and he reaches over, pulling Elisabeth into another hug for a brief moment. "It is really, really good to see you," he murmurs. "And I will. I'm going back over to Aric's, tonight, I… have been staying clear a little, since the alphabet soup decided that they were going to let me go. Just left messages, and called him." There's a slight hint of him rolling his eyes, but there's also the hint in his voice that he misses Aric. More than he'll admit.

The blonde holds him tightly. In all of this, Graeme and Aric are probably the most innocent. Elisabeth blows out a quiet breath. "When things calm down a little…. we'll talk again. And if they don't, well…. " She smiles just a little. "Aric knows where the safehouse is. But don't go there except as a last resort, all right?" She brushes a kiss to his cheek and draws back. "Depending on how things go the next few days, I may actually have something you can help with." She smiles a bit. "If you're willing to help a terrorist, of course."

The tone of his voice matches the determination of the day that Graeme mentioned that if the day was needed, when there was a war, if it came to that… it's that same edge. "Anything I can do to help," he says. "Anything. I will. And I still owe you a poker game, at some point. I'm holding you to it." Even if that was a promise from when things were at least a little bit simpler.

Elisabeth moves to stand up, nodding slightly. "Sometime," she murmurs. "I need to go. I don't want to put you in danger. You have the number but … sparingly, okay? Tell Aric I said hello."

Graeme stands as well, head tilted down to kiss her forehead. "Be careful, alright?" Then he's taking off at a slow jog down the path again.


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