A Promise Over Chicken Nuggets

Participants:

cassidy_icon.gif mortimer_icon.gif

Scene Title A Promise Over Chicken Nuggets
Synopsis Cassidy checks in on Mortimer and brings him some relief from hospital food. While she feeds him chicken nuggets he makes her a promise.
Date May 19th, 2009

Mortimer's Hospital Room


Later in the morning, and once again we find Mortimer laying in his bed, slightly elevated and staring blankly at the television, barely even really paying attention. Something seems wrong, he just has a bit of a down look, as if he's sick of the entire situation. Days strapped to a bed will do that to a guy.

Cassidy just can't seem to learn to stay away, she's back again today this time with a bag tucked in one arm and a what looks like a large soda in the other. Again a flash of her badge gets her access to the room and when she walks in there seems to be almost something happier about her. "Hello Mortimer." The smile she offers him falters a bit when she notices the difference in him. A bit more subdued she let's the door shut behind her. "I… uh… figured you might be tired of crappy jello and apple juice." She holds up the items she's carrying. She really should care about what he's eating, or how he's feeling, but she can't help it. Especially with this other side of him.

"Oh, yeah." Mortimer smiles, his mood suddenly picking up when she closes the door. "Sorry, I'm just not all there right now. I hate being strapped to this bed. A part of me wishes they'd take me to jail already so I don't have to lay here anymore." He nods his head to the device that controls the bed's elevation. "What'd you get me? And can you make me go a little higher?"

Setting the stuff on the hospital table across his lap first, Cassidy moves around the other side of the bed to do as he requests. "Well, I didn't know what you like, but considering the situation, I went for what's easier to feed you." She gives him a bit of a smile before pushing the button to make him higher in the bed. "Dunno what kinda soda you like, but I got you a big Pepsi." She nods to the bag. "With that I got you Chicken Nuggets and fries. I figured a burger would be really awkward." She studies him for a moment. "How you holding up?" She asks, suddenly very serious.

"Thanks, I'm good with anything other than hospital food. I just eat whatever, but I try to stay healthy." Mortimer stares at her, expression going serious with her tone. "I don't know, I just really wanna get out of here. I feel like if I was my old self again, being strapped to a bed would be nothing. But I couldn't just break out anyway, you'd be afraid I was gonna go after you or something. Hey," He looks up at her, raising his stomp as if he wanted to touch her face. "If I ended up going back to my old self, but tried really hard not to lose myself right now, to really control myself, would you be afraid of me?" he asks, as if being totally afraid of her answer.

Cassidy leans over the bed a bit to reach the bag. "Well, considering how much experience I've had with men, I just assumed you'd be into some junk food." She moves the table around to position it better in front of him. She pulls out a bending straw from the bag, and unwraps it as she says. "If I come back again, I'll try to remember healthy. Anything in particu..lar." She trails off a bit as he asks that question. She looks at him as she considers his question. "I…." She pushes the straw into the lid of the cup and puts it close enough that he can lean over for a drink. "Honestly? I'm not sure." She pulls the bag closer to her. She pulls out an American Iron Magazine. "I wasn't sure if being a biker gang leader.. I figured it was something. I'll set it where you can flip through it when I leave." She pulls out a Styrofoam container, which definitely smells of chicken. "I dunno if I feel comfortable around you right now cause your strapped down… or what." She gives him a sad, apologetic smile. "Not to mention the whole opposite sides of the rail road tracks."

"I'd never hurt you, even when I'm that… other way, I'd still never hurt you. I never intended to, and I never will. Cassidy, that's what they say your name is, right?" Mortimer asks, smiling and nodding at the magazine, reaching for the chicken with his useless arm. "I'm not some split personality, I'm not some sort of age regression, I'm the same person who was in your apartment that day. I just, my head is clear, it's been clear since I woke up. No delusions or anything like that. I don't know what's gonna happen to me, but no matter what I'll always be me. You don't have to be afraid of me, even if I end up going around saying I wanna kill Dutch again, I'm still this me, I just… have some major flaws."

He closes his eyes momentarily, then opens them again, anxiously awaiting his food. "What I said to you before I left in the apartment, about believing there's a chance you could at least change me a little? I meant that."

There is obviously a war of emotions in Cassidy, it's shows on her face as she picks up a nugget and pulls it in half. "Ranch? Sweet and sour? Honey Mustard? Barbeque?" She asks avoiding answering him for the moment. She picks up another nugget to split it in half, it's still hot and she drops it back in the container with a small hiss of pain. She puts the painful finger in her mouth for a moment, glancing at him. "I guess I'll less afraid of you hurting me, then you hurting the ones I care about." She eyes the finger and gives a little shrug. "But again.. your strapped down now.. If you were free, I'm not sure. But right now I feel less afraid."

"I wasn't so crazy that I wouldn't listen to reason. With Dutch it was a game at first, but I remember him offending me twice. He stole my guns, my favorite ones, golden Desert Eagles, heavily modified. It pissed me off because I kept saying that if he gave them back, it was all over, but he kept antagonizing me, then I guess I just went over the edge when you said you'd choose him over me…" Mortimer quickly shakes his head, dismissing himself. "God, I'm sorry, I can't believe I'm justifying myself, what's wrong with me." He sighs, nodding his head to the barbecue, his entire demeanor beginning to seem a bit worn, as if he just wants his situation to end.

"No and to your credit you didn't touch me and you left without forcing anything.." Cassidy does reluctantly agree as she pulls open the little container of sauce. She dips the nugget half before offering it to him. "And it was unfair of me to make the comparison." Again she seems a bit reluctant to admit that. "But I was scared and a bit pissed." Once he takes that bite from her fingers she moves to the next. "Dutch and I.. it's strictly professional as far as I can tell anyhow. He's at least didn't trying to ambush me into a date again." She doesn't want to turn him down again. "I've done pretty well without relations complicating my life."

"I…" Mortimer takes another bite, chewing and swallowing, then points his arm at the soda. "I wanna get this stuff cleared up, in case I do change back to who I was. I wanna try to remember, and hold on to everything we're talking about right now. I'm not gonna lie to you, I could escape if I were in my other state of mind, I know I could. And I don't know what makes me that way, but if I do become that way again, I wanna make a promise to you," He takes a deep breath, obviously more than a little stressed out. "I will try my hardest, no, I'll try more than my hardest, to not hurt or get innocent people involved in the crap I do." Though god knows what his criteria for innocent will be if/when he changes back, he does sound genuine in that promise.

Cassidy glances around her for a place to sit, but she ends up perching herself on the edge of the hospital bed, the table between them. She picks up the soda and holds it where he can take a drink, another piece of chicken ready for him. "Mortimer.. don't make promises you might not be able to keep. Not that I don't believe you… but you don't know how you'll start thinking again." She gives him a pained look and shakes her head slowly. "And don't talk about escaping okay.. cause if you do end up escaping I'd have to bring you back in.. and I don't want either of us in that position." She's an officer of the law.. and he breaks the law. Her world is just that black and white.

"I don't wanna escape, it's just, I know I could, I would, if I became like I was before. I know how I think when I'm like that, and I promise, I won't let that person kill the me I am now, I'll always be me." Mortimer seems to insist on that, desperately wanting her to believe in him as he takes another nugget into his mouth. "I just want you to believe in me, just, please?" he asks with begging eyes, staring at her with that desperate expression.

Pausing in feeding him, she looks down, unable to meet those eyes. They are hard to resist, or maybe she's just getting a lot of emotional feedback from him. Or maybe she just really wants to believe him. She finally looks up again, taking a deep breath, she resumes what she's doing. "I believe you.. or I will try to continue to believe until such time as you break that promise." She isn't truly she she does, but she still says it.

Mortimer continues eating, occasionally wanting another drink as they speak. "There's one thing that does bother me, if I change again." he admits, though his mood is slightly more improved when she agrees to believe him. "I'd still want my guns back, this Dutch stuff would continue until I got those guns. It's ridiculous, but I know I couldn't help it…"

"That I can't do anything about." Cassidy gives him a slightly apologetic look. "I've seen those desert eagles too. Nice work." She offers in compliment. "Dutch showed them to me once when I went out to the Island to take him something he needed. Was the first time I met him and heard about you." She studies him, tilting her head a bit. "Course he painted you as this scary mofo.. who was running guns. Which is why I assumed you were a gun smuggler of something."

Mortimer shakes his head, completely denying that moniker. "I don't smuggle, I don't steal for profit, if I do steal, I'm doing it for someone else, outside of my gang, for fun. My gang isn't allowed to sell drugs or anything. No hurting children or people who can't fight back. My gang has lots of rules, we're out to have fun, not make a profit. Most of my men have highly successful lives." He pauses, mauling over it in his head, then adds, "I guess it's like Fight Club."

Cassidy finds the Fight Club thing amusing, smiling a bit. "So… " She starts deciding on a change of subject. "I'm still hunting down a copy of your father's book. No luck yet. And with you in here, they have finally released my apartment back to me.. So I'll be able to move out of my partner's place and get back home again." Now whether she'll be able to relax and sleep is another matter, but she doesn't bring it up.

"It's a psychology book, you might be able to find it in a medical section of the store. Or um, you could contact my mother…" Mortimer says the last part lowly, clearly his throat and looking down. "My mother and sister know I slipped into a bad life, but I'm afraid to face either of them. Wait, I know!" he suddenly perks up, smiling. "There's a video! When Linderman first scouted me, he had a doctor make an entire documentary on my life to evaluate if I was hirable. I made a copy of it, but, it's on Staten…" Mood suddenly shot down again. "Never mind, I don't want you on Staten, I don't have contact with my men to tell them to protect you."

The detective gives him a genuine smile. "I appreciate the offer, but I'll find it." She shuts the lid on the now empty carton and drops it in the bag. "Your not the only one that doesn't want me out there. My partner pretty much has a royal fit when I step foot over there. He was livid when he found out I was there the first time." She smiles falls a bit and she leans forward to rest her arms on the table. "So any requests, just in case am able to come by again?"

"I'm guessing a kiss is totally out of the question." Mortimer half-jokes, snickering as he lays his head back. "Ice cream would be nice, just bring your favorite flavor. Um, one of those V8 Splash things, the ones mixed with vegetables, and maybe some of your home cooking?"

Cassidy smirks. "Nice try, buddy." She chides, sliding off the bed to her feet. She moves the table to where he can keep sipping from the soda on his own. She takes the bag and positions the magazine so that he's able to at least try to slide the pages with his arm. "Alright, I think i've played sneaky long enough. Before long my partner is going to really wonder." She rests a hand on his shoulder and gives it a small pat. "And I hate to break it to you. But I am very much not a cook." She doesn't look embarrassed, it's just a matter of fact. "But I'll do my best to remember.. " She heads for the door, "Get some rest Mortimer. I imagine it's not much longer before they take you out of here." She gives him a smile that's a tough sad. She looks back at him and smiles. "Be good."

"I'll try, and don't forget my promise." Mortimer says as he watches her leave with an increasingly worried gaze, obviously not wanting her to go, but he casually waves with his stump anyway. "I'll see you, Cassidy…"

Stopping half way out the door Cassidy gives him a small smile. "I won't. Goodbye Mortimer." And with that she let's the door swing shut behind her.


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