E-Negative

Participants:

abby_icon.gif cassidy2_icon.gif coren2_icon.gif

Scene Title E-Negative
Synopsis Abigail comes to Coren for evolved testing and to unregister herself as an evolved. Turns out she's negative after all, so Coren starts working on something that has surely never been heard of — a requisition to remove an individual from the registry of evolved. Cassidy and Coren also share their recent development with Abby.
Date June 25, 2009

NYPD Headquarters

The New York Police Department Head Quarters is an old stone building, renovated many times over the years. The plaster walls are not as cracked and in need of repair as the various Precinct buildings around the city. The fluorescent lights give the room a rather sterile glow. Old posters, civic reminders, duty rosters and newspaper clippings are tacked up on the walls, rustling every time one of the doors opens. A high, wooden desk sits on the north wall, manned by two clerks, who records all visitors and arrests.

The way out to the street lies to the south, while doors to the offices of the Head Quarters lie to the northwest.


Day one back. Coren decided he'd come in today, if only to get reacclimated to the office — since he officially starts back on Friday. Unlike Cassidy, he hasn't visited it at all during his recovery. As he expected, there's paperwork. Not too much, since he obviously can't do the paperwork for other detectives, but he can still help out a bit. At any rate, he's not entirely sure he wants to be back, especially because there are all those awkward looks and hollow greetings of people who didn't really know him but are welcoming him back anyway.

Cassidy has been non-stop trying to catch up, hunched over the computer re-typing various reports that had come back with corrections. At the moment though, she's setting a fresh cup of tea on Coren's desk. "Forgetting your antibiotic." She thumps the pill bottle in front of him, before moving over to her desk with her own mug of office sludge. There is a sigh from the woman as she drops into her chair and rubs at tired eyes. "God, let's never let you get shot again. I've never had so much crap pile up before."

But if he hadn't come in today, he wouldn't be able to have what's in Abigail's hands. The baked goods. When you're coming to do something, and need to grease wheels - possibly - Well. Baked goods helps. Blueberry muffins, Apple muffins, Apple biscuits in abundance as the blonde woman comes to a halt at the door that allows access to Cassidy and Coren. There's a thank you to the young officer who escorted her back and she knocks her hand against the door to announce that, yes, there's another well wisher. Sort of. Maybe.

"Yes, I'd rather not get to thirteen bullet wounds, let alone twelve," Coren says, downing one of the antibiotics with a cup of water that is also on his desk. Like he's going to drink scalding hot tea. "One of the benefits of endurance, you end up helping people with their paperwork because you've long since finished your own." He sets another stack into his outbox. "Not that it's particularly stimulating." He doesn't even have to look over at her desk or what she's working on for him to say, "You might want to re-read that one part there."

The knock is somewhat surprising, since aside from lots of paperwork, it has been a very quiet day. When Abigail is let in, well, there's a lump in the pit of his stomach as his muscles tighten. Oh Lord, what now? The sight of the basket, however, helps to alleviate his concern, at least somewhat. Her now blond hair gets a quirk of his brow. He hopes there are scones.

"What? What part?" Cassidy turns back to her screen. "Dammit, how did you see that?" There is some typing as she fixes what he puts. "Hey Abigail." She says not even turning to see who it is first. But her tone is cheerful enough. Hitting the enter key she finally turns her chair to grin at the other woman. "Welcome to the office." She slouches a bit so that she can hook a chair and pull it around for her. "Take a load off." A concerned glance goes to Coren. Calm, old man. She gives him a wink.

He doesn't say hi. Nope, Coren just raised his eyebrows at her. Great. It's his Partner that welcomes her to take up a seat. "Hi. I brought, you know, food. It's no donuts, but, you know, it's dough, baked and filled with bits of fruit so, I mean, I think I can be forgiven" In comes Abigail fully to the office, depositing the basket gently on Coren's desk. "So uh, how are you both doing?" Spoken even as her hands are slid into her jean pockets and looking between the two. She rocks back gently on her heels, waiting for an answer.

Donuts? Coren never eats donuts. Well, he'd never admit to eating donuts, anyway. He prefers healthier baked goods, like muffins. "Abigail," he says. It's the closest to a greeting most people get, but Abby gets the benefit of the kind and familial tone that it carries. There's a look he gives his partner, even though she already knows he's mentally swatting her upside the head for calling him an old man — or at least sending him that vibe. Old man. Then a different look goes to Cassidy. Should they tell her? He responds instead to the offer of food, "Appreciated all the same. Heck of a lot healthier than donuts, anyway."

Cassidy just gives Coren a huge grin, she's found a good use for what's happening between then. "Please.. Sugar donuts are the best.. but if there is definitely blueberry in there, I'll forgive you." Cassidy is in a fairly good mood considering. "I'm doing pretty good myself. Preferring to be back, even though the backlog sucks." She glances at Coren and her brow twitches upward and she gives him a shrug. Totally up to him. She's never seen a reason to hold it back from Abigail. There is kind of the mental picture for her partner of her brushing her hands. Ball is in his court.

"Most muffins are healthier than donuts" One of the blueberry's are plucked up and offered with outstretched arm towards Cassidy.

"I need.. No. I don't need. I came to take an Evo test and see what the process is to un-register my former ability" She stands there, waiting, looking between the two. "That's if, anyone here in the department knows how to .. start the paperwork for that" She's that confident she won't test evo.

No, he hadn't forgotten that little point. He wishes he had, but he hasn't. He still remembers Abby walking away the night he was shot. He remembers hearing why she didn't heal him then. And he still feels guilty for letting it all happen in the first place. Coren looks down a moment at his desk and then picks up his cup of tea. He takes a sip before he reaches for one of the blueberry muffins. "Hey Cass, you mind grabbing an evolved test kit?" Which is of course code for actually going to get one, not that time alone is meaningful to them anymore.

Un-register.. not sure they have ever had that." Cassidy slides her chair out from her desk, quickly covering some paperwork on her desk, her own new registration papers. "Yeah. I'll go hunt down a kit." She snatches up her muffin on her way out the door. "Be back shortly." She offers cheerfully. Glancing at Coren, as she passes she gives him an encouraging smile.

Kicking his partner out. Wow. This does not bode well. Might be time to take a seat. Yup, Abigail, you are taking a seat. "Thank you Detective O'Shea" The messenger bag is swiveled around to be laid in her lap as she pulls up one of those uncomfortable chairs that are ever present. "They never made me take one when I registered because the tests weren't out then."

"No, they're rather new," Coren says, leaning back into his chair. He slowly breaks off pieces of the muffin to eat, and washes them down with some tea every now and again. He urges, in his and his partner's very special way, that two test kits be brought forth. In the event Abigail tests negative, he's sure the Department of Homeland Security will want more than one negative test result. "I don't pretend to know how this stuff works, but you seem rather confident that you'll test negative." And he doesn't really know how it would work. If your ability is stolen, do you still have the evolved gene?

"I am. I won't test positive. I'm sorry if it disappoints you. But, I'm not going to be getting my gift back and there's not a point to being registered and on the list if I'm not able to do what my card says that I can do and my blood will say otherwise" She quietly points out. "How's the healing coming along?" Really, it's all straight forward to her.

"It's not a disappointment," Coren says. It's just sad, depressing. How does she not find it a disappointment? Just thinking about how his healing's coming along almost makes him wince. "Coming along about as well as one can imagine after having been shot in the back. But my health isn't really concerning me. I can't share the details, but suffice it to say I'm concerned the individual responsible will do something else. He knew to exploit my concern for you." Not that he wants to alarm Abby, but he frankly needs to be forthright with this particular bit of intelligence.

"I had gathered as much since I had his cellphone Detective. I'm not working at the bar anymore, I doubt that he'll be trying to use me from this point on in whatever it is that has going for you. I hope you find him though. Before he tries anything else" or Succeeds. She till need sot resist the urge to put her hands on his and try. "Sorry, I'm just, things are still off. I'm still getting used to the idea that I won't be able to heal. A friend is convinced that I will but.. I know different

"It would be foolish to, but I've never been one to grant criminals much faith as far as their smarts are concerned," Coren says. "Just please, keep that in mind and be careful." He rubs his eyes, "You know different? There's nothing that can be done, then?" The words come out before he can really think about them. The only thing he can think of would be to find Tyler Case and have him reverse whatever was done.

"Nothing Detective Shelby. What's done is done and is as God intended. There will be no more miracles of that variety coming from my hands, unless the good lord sees fit to do what he did the first time around, once more" There's a glance over her shoulder, hoping to catch a glimpse of Cassidy coming back with the test. "Probably have to fight tooth and nail to get my name off the registry and take a thousand of those tests. Cause if you don't believe me, the odds are no one else will."

She played the God card. That's the only thing wrong with the young woman, too much faith in an invisible and inactive presence. Coren's not one to believe in a power that allows for the atrocities that he has witnessed. "I never said I didn't believe you," he says in his own defense, "I was just hoping something could be done."

He'd know she dragged her feet purposely, giving the illusion of privacy. She might not be completely privy to Abigail's side of things.. she does get the general idea. Test kits in hand, Cassidy steps back in. "Got them.." She says with a small smile. "He being a pest?" She asks Abigail as she hands the tests to her partner. "Be glad you only have to deal with him occasionally." She teases trying to lighten the mood a touch. Moving back to her chair she gives Coren a warning look. Let the woman believe what she wants.. let the tests say otherwise.

Thing is, everyone THINKS that God is inactive, and invisible. To Abby it's quite the opposite. It's that though, that usually tends to make people think that she's crazy, touched, or just a little zealous. "You look like you don't believe me" and here comes Cassidy. "He's just being himself. Hoping that what I'm saying isn't true, that it can all be fixed and the world as he knows it can be made right again." She scoots her chair towards the desk when Coren is passed the tests. "How does this work? Because frankly, truthfully, I abhor needles. I'm becoming an EMT.. and I hate needles. crazy huh?"

There's a bit of an eye roll. Yup, Coren definitely rolls his eyes at Cassidy's teasing. "Only a little," Coren says, in response to Abby's question about being crazy. He opens up one of the kits, pulling out a lancet, alcohol swab, test strip, and cotton swab. "Not unlike a blood sugar test. We jab at your finger — it sounds more painful than it actually is, though I won't deny it hurts a little — and then touch your blood to the test strip. It's relatively straight forward." He clears a spot on the desk, "So whichever hand you don't mind having a sore finger on, just place it palm up on the desk and I'll be as quick and painless as I can be." It could be worse. They could have to draw blood from a vein.

"Being himself means he's healing nicely." Cassidy quips as she, grabs her coffee and scoots her chair across to watch the procedure. She is curious to see the results, cause what if she's right? What if she tests as not being evolved? She can only sit quietly and watch. Of course, the though crosses her mind. If she does test as normal, was this guy an option for their problem.

Left hand is put on the cleared space, palm up. She's ready to do this. Only she's not gonna watch Coren jab her. Instead she looks over to Cassidy, distract herself. "So uhm.. How's…" how's what? "How's work? I hope it's boring. Boring means there's not much happening." The blue eyed blonde smiles a little to the other woman.

"Paper work is always boring," Coren says, rather than Cassidy. Go figure. He swabs Abby's left index finger, and rather than letting her prepare and be all tensed up by telling her he's about to do it, there's just a little jab there. Coren takes Abigail's hand and gently brushes the bleeding tip of her finger against the test strip. He waits a few moments, eyeing the strip. "Time to break out strip number two," he says, opening up the other test kit and testing with another strip.

Of course, the kits come with more than one strip, but frankly, it's less likely to have two different kits with faulty strips than to have more than one faulty strip in one case. There's a little bit of squinting at the strip as Coren holds it up to the light. "Well, what do you know? Negative." He takes the cotton swab and presses it against Abigail's finger. "Just hold that there for a minute or so and the bleeding will stop." Not that Abby's not likely to know that.

Cassidy chuckles at Abigails attempt to distract herself. "Works good.. Found out I'm an empath." She informs the woman. That little bit is safe enough to tell, since last she mentioned anything she didn't know what she was. "Seems my gut feeling wasn't a gut feeling after all. What?" The last said to her partner, she sits up in her chair and leans over to get a better look. "Well, I'll be damned." She looks…. impressed. She pushes her chair, letting it roll over to her desk so that she can pick up the phone and punch at a button. "Hey, O'Shea here…. yeah. Believe it or not, we need some paperwork for un-registering a former evolve… What? How should I know.. just see if you can find it."

She drops the phone back on it's cradle and glances at Coren… that same thought flashes through her mind again. Could this guy fix them too?

"Empath? Well.. seems like everyone I know is one…" It trails off at the jab and she looks over as Coren goes about with the rest of the testing. Blue. She watches again as the second strip reveals the same. Blue. Her like colored eyes look between the two, licking her lips and giving a slight rise and falls of her shoulders in a shrug. She doesn't say I told you so. She's not that uncouth at times.

"They'll never find it," Coren says. "This is simply unheard of, and unimaginable — former evolved? We'll have to file manually." He pulls out a few evidence baggies, secure the lancet in one, each strip in its own, and then includes all three baggies in a fourth. "That should be fun. The Department of Homeland Security will probably get you in to test you themselves. God forbid they take our word for it." He eyes Cassidy. What they have does give them an advantage, as much as a burden. As much as it can lead to embarrassment — as they both well know — he's never felt connected to anyone quite this way before.

"Yeah, well.. They can try." Cassidy says blandly. "When I went by they were talking about the cute guys over on the SCOUT team." She does have to admit that some of them, do have cute butts. She closes her eyes and drops her head to the desk, trying to clear her mind. She's determined to make it work.. Cause the next thought is not that any compare to Mortimer and of course…. well… Coren gets the picture… literally. Sorry… sorry… Shit. Advantages or not….. this part of it sucked.

"I've no doubt that they'll want to see it for themselves" Abigail fiddles with the cotton against her finger, the pressure not needed for too long. "Are you both okay?" Abigail looks to Cassidy. "Am I.. uhmm.. emoting too loud?" Each empath she knows seems to operate differently.

Coren takes a sip of his tea at the precise moment those images are brought to his mind, and he only barely stops himself from spitting the tea out. And she wonders how he manages to see an error in a report she's poring over. As a result of avoiding spitting out his tea, he nearly chokes on it and coughs just a bit, with a look given to Cassidy before he turns back to Abigail. "Believe me when I say you probably don't want to know." Yes, there are certain flaws.

Cassidy's head comes up as she hears the choking from her partner. She failed. "Sorry." She says before she can stop herself. Glancing at Abigail she shakes her head. "No..Your fine… We're…." Cassidy seems hesitant to say that last as it's a bit of a lie. She looks to her partner and says. "You might as well tell her.. This isn't going to get any easier on either of us." Way to put her partner in a spotlight.

"Tell me… what?" Abigail glances between the two, then to the door. Nope, there's no one behind her. "What, are you both… together?" There's some running joke she's not getting? Some secret?"

"Being … together in the sense you're implying, Abigail, would be so much easier," Coren says. He brings his tea mug to his mouth, intent on taking a sip, only to find he's finished it all. "It would seem there's a small quirk of Cassidy's empathy. I suppose you could say we're together, if in mind." Whether or not he's being intentionally cryptic may not be obvious to Abigail, but there's no doubt that Cassidy can tell he's having a hard time wording it in a manner that sounds both intellectual and intelligible.

Cassidy decides to be blunt about it, but only after she gets up and shuts the office door. "We are mentally linked, Abigail. Meaning.. I can see, hear and feel what he's thinking and vise versa." Giving Coren an apologetic look she says. "And I can't reverse it… I can't block this thing. When I try I pass out." The girl has a right to know, no matter how stupid it sounds out loud. "We're… trying to keep t quiet for the moment."

"That sounds.. distracting" Abigail scratches at her chin, gazing between the two. "Well…" She's trying to find that silver lining. She always tries to find that silver lining. "Well. On the upside.. he can't use 'do I look like a mind reader' as an excuse for not knowing something…?"

Silver linings are overrated. "See now, that's the problem. There's very little we don't know. I'm not even going to torture you with the specifics of how all this started, but suffice it to say — not that peachy keen." Coren goes about making himself another cup of tea, and doesn't audibly argue with Cassidy about how much he should take on, physically, in a day. It's just a cup of tea. "No, it complicates a great many things."

"Distracting is a mild word for this." Cassidy explains blandly, watching her partner make a cup of tea. "Yeah.. Like dating." She gives Abigail a pained look. "I.. /was/ seeing someone.." She puts stress on was for Coren since she promised she would break it off for his sanity.

"That.. has got to be the .. worst.. thing in the world, right now" Abigail rolls the cotton up into a tighter ball. "Maybe it will get better? once you both work at it? I mean, you know if it's not working… if there's no paperwork, how uh are we going to go about this? Getting me de-registered?"

"You have no idea," Coren says. He lifts up the evidence bag as he gets back to his desk with his tea. "Well," he says, setting his tea down, "I will write up a report regarding your coming in here and taking the test, which proves scientifically that you are not an evolved and therefore do not fall under the scope of the Linderman Act, which means that your information should not be in the evolved registry. If you want me to leave out any information regarding this Tyler Case person, I will. I imagine, at any rate, that they'll have questions for you."

"It's interesting for sure.." Cassidy comments turning back to her computer screen.. "Just.. keep it on the down low, Abigail.. This may go away.. it may not." She turns back to her screen and then remembers something. "Oh.. and I haven't forgotten about the things about the church. I plan to get back on it. I have someone who might be able to help. I plan to talk to her and see what we can find." That said she goes quietly back to her computer screen to correct more of her report.

"Leave out Tyler Case please. They can ask me about it themselves. I'm sure they'll want to know how it happened" Abigail sighs softly a nod offered up to Cassidy. "Thank you. There hasn't been anything else that's happened there. It's been quiet, so I'm sure they realized what stupidity it was to do what they did. That we'd remove their hatred before it could infect the community" There's a scratch at her temple. "I guess then, that'll wait for the phone call for me to come in and fill out paperwork at homeland then? Leave you both to your… hive mind…"

Coren gives a curt nod at the request to leave out Tyler Case. "Ball's in their court, I guess." There's an audible groan at the hive mind comment. "I'll make sure to get the document faxed there as soon as possible, and have the materials couriered to their location if I don't deliver it myself. Hopefully you won't have to wait very long."

"Okay" There's a firm nod of her head, more to herself than anyone else. Step one taken care of, now it was in homelands court. "Suppose, that, I'll probably wanna look into getting a lawyer huh? Just in case, you know, they don't quite believe me and refuse to take me off it?"

"That would probably be a good idea. I think, though, it's more a question of understanding than belief. They're going to be hard pressed to explain how this happened," Coren notes. "So yes, I'd get yourself a lawyer." A crooked grin appears on his face as he suddenly recalls a lawyer that gave him a tremendous amount of grief. "I don't know what she would cost, but I highly recommend Doctor Catherine Chesterfield. I'm not certain of what capacities she works in, whether just criminal law or not, but — from my experience — she's good at what she does."

Blink. "I don't.. you know Cat?" Why on earth does Coren know Catherine. Abigail's waiting obviously for an answer from the other cop, a glance to Cassidy as she works away. "I know cat. She's a very good lawyer"

"Cat?" Coren asks. Oh brother. "Yes, she is. And she's a very brazen one. Sadly, I was doing my job and she got involved." No, he wasn't happy about the situation. Less than thrilled would be an understatement, as would brazen be. "Of course, it's very much a different side of the picture. I knew her in a professional capacity on the opposite end of things. Believe me when I say, that's rarely a good picture."

"Cat is.. different" The littlest defunct healer answers. "I should, go, let you both get back to work and your.. thing.. that I won't talk about" Her chair scrapes back as she stands up, fingers pressing to the punctured one, testing the soreness and it seems minimal. "I have class to attend. Good luck with finding that guy."


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