Participants:
| Scene Title | Imprint |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Melissa Pierce comes looking for Doctor Stevens in the hopes of discovering what he knows about the glowing mark he left on her arm. |
| Date | March 31, 2010 |
This is the second time that Melissa Pierce has had to force her way into St.Luke's Hospital, past the front desk like she owns the building. This is the second tense elevator ride she's taken up to the offices where Doctor Darren Stevens works out of. The hospital is just as busy as it was the first time she was here, with the sick and infirm overflowing out into the halls of the hospital, nurses and orderlies and doctors pushed to their limits of operations. This is the first time, however, that she's emerged out into the office floor straight into a running argument.
"You can't just forget about this!" An admonishing bellow of a deep voice chases at Doctor Stevens back from an older, taller and more grizzled looking doctor. Dark and curly hair is closely cropped to his head, and a thick bears is peppered with gray. "Darren, goddamnit don't turn your back on me when I'm talking to you!"
Storming towards the elevator doors as they're opening, Doctor Stevens' feet come to a squeaking halt on the tile floor when those metal doors slide open to reveal Melissa Pierce staring back at him. Blue eyes go wide and Darren just stands frozen in place, with an irate co-worker at his back and a frustratingly nosy woman at his fore. "Darren we need to talk about this."
The way that Doctor Stevens forces his way into the elevator implies non-verbally that— no— he does not need to talk about "this." Stepping inside the elevator he offers an askance look at Melissa before slapping the door close button, while the older doctor begins storming down the hall towards the elevator. "I hope this elevator isn't spoken for…" Darren murmurs conspiratorially, as the doors slam shut.
Well this wasn't expected. Melissa's brows arch and she glances at Darren's coworker before she steps back to allow Darren to enter the elevator as well. "On the contrary. I wouldn't even mind if you hit the stop button between floors since I need to talk to you," she murmurs, studying him intently.
"What did you do to me last time I was here, doctor? Or had you even realized that you had done something to me?" she asks softly, rubbing absently at her now unmarked wrist, as if feeling a lingering ache there, even though no ache existed in the first place.
"I didn't— " There's a nervous look from Darren to Melissa, and it's only on her reconsideration of his words that he taps the stop button on the elevator and levels a furrowed-brow stare at Melissa. "You've got three minutes to explain yourself before I call security." He's wearing gloves now, white cloth ones, something different from just a few days ago. Though when he tucks them into his white labcoat, there's also a tension that rises up in his shoulders, back stiff, brows furrowed and blue eyes leveled squarely on the blonde across from him.
"What… do you think I did to you?" Darren asks with a palpable amount of anxiety, his neck muscles working as he nervously swallows down that bitter taste rising in the back of his throat from the nervousness.
Melissa thrusts her arm out, her head tilting as she looks at him, gaze intent, brow slightly furrowed. "Remember when you grabbed me the other day? You tried to stop me from leaving? I had my coat on, just like now, and you…sparked. Later, when I got under a black light, I had a handprint on my wrist, right where you grabbed me. It was green and only showed up under the black light."
Her arm is dropped, but the look doesn't waver. "I showed it to a friend of mine who used to be a healer. She said my vitals were all normal, that maybe you just didn't have control of your power or something. Or that it was a side-effect of your healing. Except the only obvious injury I had I still have," she says, tugging her hat off and motioning to the cut on her forehead.
"A day or two ago, I noticed that the handprint was gone. I don't know what it was, or what it was doing, but it has me a little freaked out. So…what did you do to me?" She glances to his pocketed hands, then back to his face. "I'm guessing you have an idea, since you're wearing gloves. And not surgical gloves."
"Hh— Handprint?" Horror crosses Doctor Stevens' face at that, and the color drains out of his face. "You— I left— " His words completely fail, and one gloved hand comes up to cover his mouth, blue eyes darting from side to side. "You— you said it cleared up after a couple of days?" There's a worried tone in his voice, a frightened sound that rings so clearly in his wavering voice. "Oh God I— " Darren lifts his hand up, sweeping blonde hair back from his face.
"I'm sorry, I— I don't know what that is. I only manifested this ability a— " he stops himself, and seems to revise what he was about to say, "not too long ago." His eyes drift to the right, staring down at the floor before meeting back with Melissa's again. "How many people did you tell about the hand print?" He reaches out, taking Melissa's shoulder in one hand and squeezing gently. "Please, you have to tell me, how many people know?"
Melissa doesn't answer immediately. Instead she studies his face, and does nothing to break his grip on her shoulder. "Just the one. She'll be discreet though. As I said, she used to be a healer herself, like you. And I had to talk to someone who knew something about medicine. Like I said, I freaked a little."
"Why are you so scared, doctor? People know what you can do, right? So you're not exactly in hiding. And I gave you the offer to hide you if you wanted…" she asks, softly, curiously.
"You don't understand," Darren breathes out, slowly moving his hand away from Melissa's shoulder, "people think they know what— " Both of his gloved hands come up in the air, fingers curling into fists as he paces to the side in the elevator, raking his fingers thorugh his hair and breathing out a sigh as he turns his back on Melissa. For a moment he just stands there in silent panic, before slowly turning and lacing his hands together at the back of his neck.
"You made me an offer…" Blue eyes level squarely at Melissa, brows furrowed as they do. "That you'd hide me, if I wanted?" Darren's head slowly tilts to the side, chin tilting up as he considers the young woman carefully. "What do I have t'do?"
"People think they know what you do?" Melissa asks, finishing his statement. "Yeah, people make assumptions all the time. People think they know what I can do too," she says with a small, wry smile.
"As for what you have to do? Not a thing beyond ask for help and keep the location of the place where I take you a secret. That's all." Now she gives him a more genuine smile. "What you don't have to do is pay, be forced to use your ability, or jump through hoops. Though I'm sure you still doubt me."
Darren doesn't answer her, doesn't give any sort of recognition to the rest of her words, just turns and looks towards the elevator panel before slapping the stop button again and sending the elevator back into motion. When he looks back at Melissa over his shoulder, there's a furrow of his brows and a squaring of his jaw that gives his wide-eted stare something of a desperate look in that silence.
"My car's outside," he offers in a conspiratorial murmur, taking a jingling ring of keys out of his pocket.
"I'll drive."