Participants:
| Scene Title | Breathing Room |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | After their last little adventure with a clinician, Helena promises Elle greater freedom to move around if she'll wait until an alternate source of healing can be found . |
| Date | June 9, 2009 |
Village Renaissance Building - Fourth Floor Safehouse
Helena opted to stumble into bed at Cat's since it was easier than trying to cross over to the island after the effort full of fail that came back to the building at about 3 in the morning. There was a quick suss for Cat over breakfast: Elle did not find the healer that was offered satisfactory, and in truth Helena did not feel inclined to blame her. She plans to talk to Abby about finding an alternative. With that though, Helena has something to suggest, and has put forward they go to Elle and Trask's apartment slash cell to discuss it with the other woman.
Awake, and recording with her brain as is permanently the case, Cat sits across the kitchen table with Helena. Memories surface in doing so, of happier times. When she'd not have been to bed yet because she had a stage gig which would end at three a. m. or later, and sometimes Stormy and she would head back to the Towers while Dani slept. Then there would be breakfast with the reporter turned PR agent before she left for work in the morning.
"Unsatisfactory?" Cat asks after some moments in that reflection, "or incapable?" Her brow is furrowed, some things don't quite add up. "I don't know what went on with Abby, she wouldn't tell me anything. She just doesn't perform healing anymore."
Helena shakes her head. "I don't know if he was incapable, but he wasn't - he didn't seem to know what he was doing, and I really couldn't blame Elle for not wanting him to touch her. I gave him all the info he needed and yet he still felt inclined to ask questions; sometimes he repeated questions after we'd already answered them, just didn't seem to treat the situation seriously. I still want to help her with this, but we need to hash some things out with her. Let's go downstairs and talk to her, yeah? I want to offer her a little more freedom if she can wait for us to find someone who can help her. And I think if we do, we can let her walk away without ratting us out."
Nodding, Cat rises and takes her coffee cup, then fills a plate with food to take for the electric two floors down. It can't hurt to bring along. "Grab some coffee for her, Storms?" Cat asks. "I've not heard from Minea again yet. I really want to talk with Father again first anyway." A step is taken, then another, toward the nearest elevator. With Helena following, coffee for Elle or not, it's likely not too long before they arrive at the door in question.
"They've got a coffee pot in their apartment." Helena points out. "I don't know nothin' 'bout bein' nobody's maid, Miz Scarlett." she can't help snickering on the way down, adding, "Sorry." to Cat not quite repentantly. Knock knock! Would you like a copy of the Watchtower?
"Maid?" Cat asks with a raised eyebrow, as she demonstrates herself in the act of carrying one plate of food and a coffee cup, along with the lack of a third hand to bring Elle coffee herself. "Who said anything about being a maid?" Her eyes roll. "I should've asked for a third hand instead."
Second time today that Elle's been woken up by Little Miss Sunshine. Already tired from her ordeal with <s>Sergeant</s> Doctor Pepper, she had promptly fallen asleep right on the couch, which unfortunately now puts her in the perfect physical position to hear the two chattering voices outside the door— and then the knock. Her eyes flicker silently open, and as she lies there she considers just not answering, period.
But in the end she does. The door is opened partway, and she finds herself face-to-face with the other blonde— very similar in height— and the brunette, who's not. "Yeah. What."
Helena says, "We want to talk about what went down with the Doc." Helena says. "Your situation merits some changes. I promised you we'd help you and I want to keep my word. You gonna let us in?""
Whether or not the door opens further, Cat holds out the plate of food in offer to the electric blonde and otherwise leaves the talking to Helena. She's still curious about what happened out there, and puzzled by Abby's behavior. Why does the Red Cross suddenly stop being the Red Cross and palm people off on someone else? Weird. Very weird.
The hot, breakfast-y smell that wafts in is a delicious one. Elle opens the door all the way to admit the two, plucking a slice of sausage off Cat's plate for good measure as she shuts it behind them. There's a small and amused grunt in wry response to 'what happened with Chuck.' "Yeah, about that? I hope you have some alternative, 'cuz there's no way I'm going in there again."
"I need to talk to some sources, but I will try." Helena says. "Here's the thing," she says, as she moves to flop in a chair. "You cooperated with our initial effort and effectively kept your word about it. So if you're still willing to wait and see if we can get you help, we're willing to relax the restrictions here."
The plate isn't Cat's, but Elle's, as soon as she can relinquish it. The food is thus set down in reach of her before Cat moves to park herself in a seat. Eyes move from one to the other as they speak. Her attention is evident, the interest. In this time frame she hasn't spoken with Elle about her ability, but if the future version didn't it wouldn't be hard to guess now memory is a subject close to her heart.
One side of Elle's mouth lifts in a dry, unamused smirk. "Hooray." There had been a point when she would've just zapped and blasted her merry way out of here, and the annoyed urge rises again now, but she suppresses it. It'd do absolutely no good for her situation. With eyebrows lifted at Cat to acknowledge the offering to her, she reaches out and pops another bit of food in her mouth as she turns to watch Helena. "I can wait as long as I need. For all I know, the Company thinks I'm dead; I'm definitely still MIA. What is it?"
"We'll give you room to breathe. At the very least, we'll lift the guard dog duty." Which means Trask can actually get out of there if he wants. She looks to Cat, curious to see if she's inclined to suggest further freedoms.
"I can't be sure if DHS has even managed to find all of their own people who were at Moab that day," Cat replies. "I found myself suddenly in a field at the corners of Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado after dark." Silent for a moment, after that beat she quips "I never expected to honestly say I'd been in three places at once."
Then to business. "I'm not myself worried about your freedom. I don't think we're enemies. But I do think the problem is still that if you go into public the Company could find you and you might not get back out to receive our help with the memories."
Elle's brow rises, and her smirk becomes inclusive of Cat's bon mot. "It's New York. Fat chance of that happening, especially if they're not looking for me." After all, if they could've found Adam Monroe, Huruma, and a whole host of others that they are looking for, they surely would've done it by now. "And I'm pretty tired of being cooped up in here. If you wanted, I could use an alias. Or something, I don't know."
Helena hmms. "To be honest, my main concern is compromise of this location. If someone saw you, they could follow you."
"There is that," Cat admits.
Little in Elle's expression changes. "So what do you guys do when you have to leave?"
Helena considers. "How about…freedom in the apartment, limited access to the floor, escort when going out?" She looks between Cat and Elle to see how the pair guage this.
"That works for me," Cat replies with a nod.
"What's the point in an escort? Unless you mean Trask— they wouldn't be able to do much." Elle's head shakes very slightly, eyes firmly on Helena. "But if it's the best you can come up with." Fine.
"They'll be able to serve as a second pair of eyes to make sure you aren't followed and know how to best get you in and out." Helena points out. "Consider it done. I'll speak with my source about finding another healer for you."
That is true. "Fine then." Elle's eyes have a dry look in them, though she doesn't seem particularly displeased. "Hopefully the next one you find'll be better, yeah?"
Helena rolls her eyes. "We'll do our best." she says, and seems content to leave it at that.