Participants:
| Scene Title | Hypothetical Risks |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Kaylee and Lydia talk about the men in their lives and the risks of saving people from the past. |
| Date | October 05, 2010 |
"Lydia?!" It's called out as Kaylee Thatcher pushes her way in from the back, having taken the back door into the store. "I'm here!" She's also a little late.
Back pack is dropped at her feet behind the counter and Kaylee sits heavily on a stool back there. She looks tired and worn, hair pulled messily up at the back of her head, tendrils of it framing her face. Leaning over, the telepath pulls the binder close and flips it open looking for any changes. Stifling a yawn with the back of her hand, she scans over any notes left by the other workers.
Wearing a maroon sweater with a cream colored turtle neck underneath, a pair of dark blue jeans and her black boots, Kaylee at least looks put together even if she seems less then.
The calling of her name, causes stirring from upstairs, the quiet complaint of the boards underneath Lydia's feet. Within minutes, she's climbing down the stairs, treading to the front. She has yet to unbolt the door or flip the sign, and oddly, something seems somewhat 'off' about her. Her coppery skin has paled some since their last meeting and dark circles line the bottom of her eyes, indicative of a rather restless few nights, a time that he can't quite process or make sense of.
"Kaylee," she greets hoarsely thanks to her lack of speech this morning as she rubs at her eyes. Her normally bare shoulders are covered by today's dress, hidden beneath it's myriad of reds, oranges, and yellows. "Good to see you," her voice is warm, even if it lacks its usual rich cadence. Ironically, had the pair spoken merely weeks ago, Lydia's very appearance would've been entirely different.
"Hey, I'm sorry I'm late. I slept through my alarm and then got stuck at the check point, they had an issue with someone's card I guess." Kaylee smiles a little, tucking some of the loose locks behind her ear. Pulling her cellphone out of her pocket she glances at the time. "Only thirty minutes late, but still…" She trails off studying the other woman.
"You look about how I feel."
It's a comment with a touch of amusement, Kaylee's mouth pulling to one side a little more. "You haven't been around for my shifts. Life keeping you busy? I know mine is."
"Life. Love. Other mysteries," Lydia answers vaguely as she tucks her own hair behind her ears and issues the other girl a tight-lipped smile. "The business of life draws too much worry and makes young woman old in what seems like mere minutes." Her smile softens some and the raspiness fades as she speaks.
"And I look glorious," she states in open denial over her lack of true rest. Her thoughts have been weighing the evidence, silently reflecting on the business of Samuel Sullivan and his time travelling assassins. Or assassin as the case may be. Her lips press together in still silence before she actually steps towards the counter. "I'm around. I'm always around.'
"Then you've been quiet as a mouse." Kaylee says in a conspiring whisper, leaning towards the woman. Though the hum of the woman's head was always there. "But your right, life is sure full of… everything. Feels like lately, I barely have time for Joseph." A touch of wistfulness at mentioning his name.
"Had our first date, by the way." Kaylee comments with an attempted nonchalant manner, but a knowing smile creeps onto her lips, head tucking down a little, while pretending to be paying attention to the binder.
"It…" Lydia watches Kaylee's body language before finishing the thought "…it went well." Her lips curl upwards with a slight pleasure all her own before stepping a little closer to Kaylee. "Well come on, tell me about it. What happened? What did he say? What did you wear?" While some people may be downright giddy at such conversation, Lydia is full of serene delight.
"I've… invested in love myself," although, as usual the context and content of such is undeniably vague. Her cheeks flush slightly. While she's normally cool and collected at this moment there's far more emotion than not.
"Did you?" Kaylee suddenly looks at Lydia, brightening a little, she maybe tired, but somethings will push away some of that. "You finally did tell him?" Eyes narrow bit, smile tugging at her lips, but she doesn't invade the woman's mind to find out.
"And for mine and Joseph's date… it was… wonderful." Kaylee say that word with a happy sigh. "He could have taken me to some fast food place and I would still say that." Her gaze turns to the binder and she slowly closes it. "I wore a black dress, made myself look nice. He wore a suit and looked rather dashing in it. And we… just talked over dinner."
Brows tip down a bit as she turns a little thoughtful, her words echoing it, "I told him about my brother and my sister. Told him a little about my grandparents. He —" Kaylee stops to look at her boss with a touch of uncertainty. "He told me about his baby daughter. Talked about that and a little about his divorce." A little shrugs goes with it. "He's right, we needed to talk about it.
"Best part was when we went home and just curled up on the couch, with the dogs around… though Missy wasn't happy." Kaylee smiles gently, gaze dropping away again. "Then I went with him to his sermon the next morning. He's… got a good speaking voice, it was easy to listen to him, cause he's so passionate about what he does."
With a softly huffed chuckle she adds, "It's really weird dating a pastor, but despite his job, he's still a man."
"I found him. Or, I suppose, more accurately he found me." It was here in this space. Reminiscently she glances at the spot she'd been standing when he essentially broke into the room. "And yes, I told him,' there's a small curl of Lydia's lips as she smoothes her dress. "I love him. It's real. True. Not some illusion. After so long it's hard to think why it took so long. Now I try to tell him every day. Every moment we're together I want him to know."
"So you're dating. That must be… reassuring after so long." Her eyelashes draw together, gently closing her eyes with another upward curl of her lips. "I take it you're… excited." Her smile turns dimpled.
"And scared." Kaylee admits without hesitation, since if anyone would understand it would be her boss. "I'm nearly half his age, he's been married before… So many things scare me about this, mainly cause I'm worried of screwing this up. Or… he'll see me suddenly as nothing more then a kid." Sighing out of frustration, she rests an elbow on the counter and then her chin on the palm of her hand.
"He's different then the other men I dated, and not just cause God is his boss." Kaylee comments lightly with a grin. "Glad to hear that you took that plunge, tho." The conversation suddenly shifting. "It's too long to be alone and without someone you care so much about. I think I'd go crazy having to wait as long as you did. It was tough waiting a mere year."
Lydia's weight shifts as she listens carefully, her own expression serene, but hopeful on Kaylee's behalf. "Just let yourself enjoy where you are instead of worrying where you'll be. Honesty has a way of bridging people. You know, while I've loved — " Edgar " — for so long, I couldn't be honest. Not until just weeks ago. The past is the past, but only once it's on the table can it be moved passed."
She presses her lips together and sighs quietly. "Just trust where you are. Let it flow and see where it goes. Good things, Kaylee. Good things.'
There is a small sigh, but she doesn't look convinced. Maybe it's her age that makes her slightly impatient… or maybe it's how many times and how she screwed up relationships in the past. She's trying so hard to do things right this time…
"We'll see. He's a good man… and he's been there when I most needed him. Really helped me out in a tough situation. If he hadn't been there I don't think I would have succeeded." Kaylee smiles a little, remembering that night they traveled back to save an associate. The relief she felt when she say the waterlogged pastor bobbing in the water and seeing the same look in his eyes too. There had been a bit of a revelation for her that night.
"He's the good thing in my life. Especially with so much other stuff going on. Getting cornered by Homeland's secretary about my ability. Finding out my brother is some mass murderer… that my sister might have died in the Midtown explosion…." Kaylee's voice trails off softly, face falling a bit. "I can't find any mention of her in anything. No missing person's reports or death reports." Her head shakes a bit. "But someone showed me a vision of her sitting down in the subways."
Hands are lifted to rub tiredly over her face, it muffles her words, "It's been a long couple of weeks, beyond Joseph."
There's no judgment or discernible change in Lydia's features at the words, but she does take a few steps away, creating a small distance between her and Kaylee. She virtually glides to one of the shelves and runs her fingers along the titles, like she's looking for something. If she is looking, she doesn't find it, turning to watch Kaylee again instead. "It seems you've had a few very eventful weeks. Perhaps you need to talk about them more? What do you know about this sister? Her name?" Her eyebrows arch expectantly. While she likely won't know Kaylee's sister, perhaps there are ways to find out more information.
"Have you considered looking through public records? Or perhaps finding a postcog, assuming you have something that belonged to her, someone who can give you a brief idea of where she can be?"
"My sister?" Kaylee shakes her head a little bit, head still propped up but those hands that have settled on each side of her face. "I don't know her name, but… " — But — " What I've found in the public records has simply shown me that she might not have died… but a postcog did showed me her there." Brows tick down… "I dunno."
Hands drop to the counter with a slap, "She saw it from a charm I found by chance… tho — I'm not sure it was chance." Her mouth clamps shut and Kaylee looks like she might have said too much. "Sorry… my — family is complicated. Another reason I'm worried about Joseph and I. Nothing like a strange and complicated family to drive away a good man." Eyes roll upward and she gives a little sigh.
"Family is as complicated as you make it. I told… my love," Lydia strategically avoids using his name, "about my past and my family within it. He was oddly understanding. I'm sure if Joseph cares for you then… it won't matter," she shrugs, still curious about this Joseph man. "So. Joseph was married? How long ago?" There's a part of her that would almost needs to find Joseph Sullivan if only for advice on how to deal or comprehend his brother. Of course, there's little to be done now.
"And all families are complicated. That is their nature." She quirks another eyebrow before turning on her heel back towards Kaylee.
Leaning down, Kaylee's cheek about touches the worn surface of the counter as she reaches under the counter for the laptop. "He got a divorce earlier this year, but was separated from her for a while before that." Her head shakes a bit, eyes narrowing just a little. "She… is not a fan of our kind, which I think is part of what drove them apart.
"And families might be complicated as a general rule, but… some are downright… something." Straightening, the telepath has that computer in her hands and it's set on the counter carefully." Kaylee shakes her head slowly. "My dad left me and my mom because his ability told him it was for the best. He's a probability predictor. He's supposedly in a coma with the Institute, but… I get messages from him often. In the heads of people and other means."
Focused on turning on the store's laptop, she continues, brows furrowed. "My brother is a mass murderer with three personalities living in his head. Insane… completely. My sister… I don't know much about, just that she was there when the bomb went off and that my dad might have put her there, for whatever reason." She knows why, but… it's not anything she can tell her boss.
"Maybe it's better not to know unless you need to know. Sometimes I find that might be the case," Lydia's tone is quiet and reflective, secretly wishing she hadn't know the task Samuel had allotted to one Pericles Jones. Her lips curl upwards slightly, tightening at the edges as her fingers tap against the counter. "Do you ever feel like… if you close your eyes for two long the world will change, and you'll never have known the way it was because of the changes that occurred?"
She tilts her head slightly before pushing that thought aside as nothing more than philosophical conjecture with another tap of her fingers. "But then, what do I know?" She shoots Kaylee a tight-lipped smile. "If you could change the way things turned out, would you save your sister? I mean, assuming she died in the bomb? Or is the present just meant to stay as it is?"
"Me?" Kaylee turns thoughtful at the question, eyes on the bright computer screen as she carefully considers. The silence stretches on for a long moment, concentration etched on her features. It's not an answer one should give lightly.
"Yes."
The word is softly spoken, but rings with truth. "Mostly cause, I can't find her name in any records about that day. There is a mention of one or two Ray's missing that day, but no deaths, which means bringing her forward might not cause problems." Kaylee sounds confident of that. Not to mention the fact her sister was telling her father that someone didn't show up.
"If it would destroy the present… I'm — I'm not sure it would be worth the risk — I don't know." Kaylee adds, glancing up form the computer to look at Lydia with uncertainty.
"So no would know. It would be a secret and no one would know she'd died in the first place," Lydia says quietly in a smooth tone. It's soothing in a way, a quiet affirmation. "What if there was no way to know what it would do to the present — would it be worth the risk?" her eyes narrow into a thick frame of eyelashes, confined within her gaze.
Her cheeks tinge a vague pink, "These are important questions to ask yourself. What in the present is worth losing to fix the past? Especially if something fixed in the past utterly changes the present, leaving no one — yourself included — the wiser."
"I — I don't know." There is no way to really answer that question. "Admittedly, I've thought about that — a lot. My life… feels almost where I want it. I have a purpose, I feel needed. There is a good man in my life, who I hope will stick around for awhile." Kaylee's hands are held apart in a helpless gesture.
"I love my life, only thing that would make it better is a family. I want that, one I start with someone especially." Shoulders lift and hold in a shrug, a small smile touches her lips. "But I also think my dad put my sister there… and she deserves a shot at life." Her shoulders lower again and she goes back to bringing up the inventory list.
"It's a really hard choice and it's not one I can — could — " To anyone else that slip up, by the telepath, would probably mean nothing " — could make lightly."
The can is met with a raise of Lydia's eyebrow. Her lip quirks upwards at the word, it's enough to spark her interest in the topic even more. "Changing life isn't simple, is it?" She tilts her head in the opposite direction. "I hope you get the family you're looking for, Kaylee. There is nothing more important than family. I know that much is true." She swallows hard as she smooths her dress again.
"Perhaps it's something you should think on more." It's an idle suggestion, nothing more as Lydia steps towards the back door. "I need to head out for awhile. You can manage the store for awhile?"
"Pfft… Of course I can." Kaylee waves her off with a flick of her fingers in a shooing motion. "I've got this and I'll get those books ordered you got written down and the database updated, so I can print out a new copy for the binder tonight."
But then her smile falls away just a little as she says softly, "Thanks, tho'. I really hope I do get that family too. It just feels like a missing part of my life.
"Now go forth… and do whatever it is that you need to do." Kaylee announces, pulling the binder closer, so that she can get to work.