Participants:
Scene Title | Daddy's Secrets |
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Synopsis | Lucille finally shows Ryans some forgiveness over the past, giving them both some peace. |
Date | October17, 2010 |
Gun Hill: Rooftop
Situated atop the Gun Hill apartment building, five stories above street level, the rooftop of the tenement building overlooks the Bronx's gritty urban landscape. A single stair access leads out onto the smooth concrete rooftop surrounded by a three foot high red brick wall with a masoned top. Ventillation pipes and a chimney that connects to the singular fireplace down in the basement rises up from the concrete rooftop, though the chimney's old brick is crumbling and weathered.
A pair of old sun-bleached folding lawn chairs are situated out on the roof along with a plastic cooler, while white sacks of loam and soil are set next to large lengths of scrap wood, a box of nails and a few carpentry tools; a project in the works.
Early morning and there is a soft breeze on the roof top of Gun Hill. Today the roof is deserted, except for the lone figure of the sitting Lucille Ryans. Dressed in loose clothing for better movement. Her eyes are shut as she lays her gloved hands out on her lap. Head tilted as she takes deep breaths, meditating. She's just finished her morning run and now it's time to relax. Well try to relax. Her mind keeps wandering though.
To when she manifested..
Then to the scene of her cutting her hair in a bathroom in Europe..
Finally she pictures herself when she was hiding out in a shipping container, waiting to get home.
With a sigh, she stretches her arms out in back of her. Eyes still closed, she tries to re-center herself.
If she wanted to avoid daddy, the roof was not the place to do it. The roof of Gun Hill is where most of the big items have been stored for the restoration of the building, which means as the man heading this little project — under the direction of their hostess, of course — he's up there a lot for this and that.
And just because you did the impossible, like hi-jacking a space shuttle and getting the view of a life time, does mean you can just brush off work. So, no surprise when the roof access door opens and Ryans steps out onto the roof, dressed for a day of working.
He seems relaxed, thoughtful, and obviously not on his guard as he doesn't see Lucille right away. Maybe it's a subtle movement or just him finally sensing that someone is there, but his gaze fines his oldest and that has him slowing to a stop watching her.
Door opens and Lucille hears someone walking about. She opens her eyes slowly and turns her head to spot her father standing there. Her expression remains blank and then she's turning her head back around, facing the cityscape. The sirens and sounds of cars and people are loud in the air. But that's always, that's how home is.
"I've been practicing walking stealthy. Can I practice on you?" she asks as she looks up towards the sky, squinting a bit. Grey eyes catch the light of the sun and the wind gently moves through her short hair. "I don't have anything else to do.. so training is all I do." She smiles soft and snorts a bit. Life is definitely way different than it use to be a few months ago. A few months ago, Lucille and Ryans were fighting over things that Lucille can't even imagine being that big of a deal and in comparison to things now.. they aren't that big of a deal.
"You could help with fixing up this old building." Ryans points out quietly, his face completely unreadable, taking a neutral stance. "Which is what I am in the middle of this morning. It's what I have been doing since…" they had to run. "Anything like that, will have to wait till later."
He studies her for a moment longer, before moving to the tarps set to one side, crouching to set about undoing the bungees at one end of one of the supply piles. Brows furrow as he lifts it to looks under it, searching for something or another.
"If I don't practice.. how am I going to get better?" she sighs at her father and climbs to her feet. Padding over softly to her father, she puts one hand on her hip and looks down as her father searches for something. Lucille looks away and then back again, clearly she's uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry about the other night. I should have tried to keep more calm." She admits and then she's ruffling her hair and looking at her dad. "But I thought I was going crazy.. no sign of Rebel after he contacted me. It was like none of it happened and then I find out, you told him not to contact me. I-." Lu sighs again.
"Because at the time he was dangerous." Ryans explains gruffly, sounding a touch distracted in his search. Reaching under it to pull out a length of two by four, inspecting it. "I worked for the Company, he endangered my daughter… what do you expect me to do? Let him continue to manipulate my little girl?" It's an honest question "but…" He pauses glancing up at her, "I kept in contact with him, he's been indispensable. He was part of the reason I was able to get you back when you both were kidnapped."
He made a deal with who at the time he thought of as the devil. My have those times changed.
"And it's fine, you're allowed to be mad about the situation." Ben states, going back to inspecting wood. The current pushed back and other pulled out. "Your sister was — and probably still is. I've expected it." But he doesn't sound overly apologetic about it.
He doesn't sound overly apologetic and for that, Lucille gives him a glare. "It's like you care.. but only to a certain extent. You want to keep us safe, but it's like you can't be bothered with how we feel about things."
The oldest Ryans girl blinks and looks away, adding softly. "I'm not asking you to be mom. But I am asking that you have a little bit more of a heart sometimes. What's the use protecting us if we never come over for Sunday dinner?" Not that they have Sunday dinner.. but still. Message sent. Beep beep.
"I love you dad and I'm happy that you're back and safe." She thinks for a moment. "Thanks for keeping us safe by keeping us in the dark for so long too." She tilts her head at smiles at her father. "Now.. can we have a real hug? I think that's what father and daughters do after they have a disagreement."
The board searching abandoned for the moment, Ryans slowly straightens to his full height. Brows furrow a little at her sudden shift. "I protect you, cause you are my girls and I love both of you. Even if you never came over for Sunday dinner and hated me… I'd still do my damnedest to protect you." Those words are softly spoken, a hint of a smile on his features. It's an issue that Noah Bennet knows too well and maybe why the two older Company agents were able to find common ground again.
Hands move to rest on her shoulder, fingers squeezing gently. "I know all of it doesn't make sense, but trust me… you were safer when you only knew I paper sales man." Ryans watches his daughter's face , he's guarded and uncertain. "The secrecy was necessary. Had you known, they would have sent someone to make you forget.
"I love you, Lulu… You were my first born and I still remember the feeling of holding you for the first time." Ryans smiles a little at the remembering. "I wasn't much older then I look now even." Finally, he moves to draw her into a hug, still relieved to have her back, despite the strife.
"I can get over the secrecy, promise. But you have to promise no more of it. You can be up front with us." Lucille smiles softly as she accepts the hug and gives the hug back to her father tightly. "I missed you." She says gently. "Ah, that must be why I'm so great looking. I have a handsome father even back then." She chuckles softly and rests her head on her father's shoulder.
"I thought about you guys every day. I wanted to see you guys so bad. I thought we would never hug again, that I would never be able to scream at Delia for stealing my clothes again." She smiles softly and closes her eyes. "But we're okay, for now. Not in immediate danger." Lucille looks at her father with a smile, she loves him. She gets mad at him and vice versa but they make up. It's what family does.
Arms hug his daughter tight, eyes closed with relief at being able to do so. "Just like I can't promise your sister to never do anything dangerous, I can't guarantee that there will be no more secrets, but I doubt there will be need for anything so big anymore." Ryans murmurs softly, pressing a fatherly kiss on the top of her head. "And there will be far less of it." That much he knows. It's actually been a godsend that he hasn't had to keep things a secret and able to openly talk about what his life was.
"Our lives are so much different now… we need each other now more then ever." Arms tightening for a moment, before loosening them. "We got lucky, Lulu. Lucky that people who had every right to turn their back on us, took us in and have been hiding us."
A smile tugs up the corner of his mouth, "I plan to help them any way I can. Even if it means working with people that I normally would have locked up. Dangerous people." Much like Huruma. "But what Bennet made here, these Ferrymen. It's a worthy cause, full of good people. The type of people we once tried to protect ourselves, before the Company was corrupted."
These people should be careful. The government doesn't give a damn, they're trying to smash out any resistance. Lucille nods her head. "We're grateful to them, that's for sure. Bennet was very nice to me. I like him." She says and then she's stepping back a little and folding her arms around her middle. "The guy that came after me. Lucas, I hurt him really bad dad. I Analytic Shock." Lucille tells her father, he would see that she's not scared when she says it. She's just stating it. It's a fact. Her Evolved nature doesn't scare her as much as it intrigues her.
"You should have seen his face, he.. well I thought I killed him. But I really didn't." she doesn't sound so regretful that she didn't kill the man that tried to kidnap her. "Do you think.. mom might have had an ability?" she asks with a tilt of her head, short hair falling into her eyes. She knows that talking about mom is hard for dad but she's been wondering. "I've been doing some reading and even though the parents don't have to have the SLC gene, sometimes one parent is Evolved and sometimes they aren't." she shrugs lightly.
"If she was, I would have known." Ryans says with a small smile. "It was my job to know about things like that." He smooths a hand over her hair and leans over to place a kiss on her forehead, something he had done countless times when they were growing up.
Studying his daughter, Ryans is quiet for a time before saying, "I'm glad you girls didn't manifest till now. It would have changed things in a way I didn't want to happen." His gaze drops, but not out of shame, just thoughtful. "Evolved children around the Company… they didn't turn out normal. A few of my co-workers were forced to bring their children in for testing and experiments."
His gaze flicks up to look at her again, "I wouldn't have let it happen to you all if I could have helped it… things like that are why Noah Bennet left, his daughter Claire was evolved and the Company tried to force him to bring her in." Ryans head shakes slowly. "There is so much that they did, that I didn't approve of, I only stayed to help bring in the killers. Huruma was one of them." He adds that, realizing his oldest probably hasn't heard that story.
"Remember the scar I had here?" A hand lifts to his left shoulder, close to where the neck joins it, smooth now thanks to Winslow's suicide. "The one that looked like some one had taken a bit out of me?" Ryans actually looks a touch amused. "That was Huruma." Obviously, they have moved past that.
The woman nods her head at her dad and smiles at him. Things are feeling less tense now. More relaxed. She frowns at the thought of experimenting on kids. "Did we know any of them? Deli and I?" She wonders, were some of her childhood friends experimented on? Were they hurt?
Lucille looks over the city again. "They were a horrible group, that's what power does to you. They had tons of it dad. But I'm sure you were the best of them. The least corrupt." She states softly "Were you sad to see something you started with that was such a good idea, turn into something so evil and wrong?" she asks, then blinking at her dad's story about his and Huruma's past. "Uh.." She looks at her dad with a amused expression. "Well, you two have quite the relationship I must say."
"It was sad to see, but not surprising in other. I almost left a few time, but always my sense of duty kept me from leaving." At least till Midtown exploded.
"I think you had more dealings with a young woman Hokuto… beyond that no." He pauses taking a moment to make sure that he's remembering correctly, but he still ends up shaking his head. "Many of them were taken to Odessa or where sheltered. But most of the people that your mom and I were friends with, were Company. Not all were bad people.
"Anyhow…" He takes a step away from his oldest daughter, his gaze going to the tarp covered pile. "…I have work to do, I told Lynette I'd get the wall in apartment one oh four framed up before dinner time." A small smile tips up the old man's lips. "I'm glad we hand this talk." A glance sent Lucille's way.
Lu nods, she has some reading that she needs to do. Smiling at her father, she grins and stretches. "Okay. I'm really glad we talked too." Walking towards the door leading down into the building. She turns her head and says once more.
"Love you dad." Before she's gone and down the stairs. Off to do some studying, she hasn't done that in ages!