I Need My Momma

Participants:

abby_icon.gif teo_icon.gif

Scene Title I Need My Momma
Synopsis Abby's going home. Teo wishes he could too.
Date February 3, 2009

Earlier…

From: Libra <####@####.###>
To: Matt Parkman <####@####.###>

Subject: Good-bye

Damn, son. All's fair, isn't it?

— Libra.


A Ferrymen Sayfehowse


The sky is full of pigeons, which should make Teo nervous: he isn't. Rush hour on Tuesday morning and everyone is going to work, including terrorists and their Registered healer liaisons. He'd had her swept for bugs and tails on her way over, requesting she stick to the main roads and public traffic routes while she traveled, apologized for it, smiled as he did, sincere in his regret albeit without much fuss or ceremony.

Shit happens, no offense meant; it's an indifferent cosmos full of malicious people. For all her delicate sensibilities, Abigail Beauchamp knows that better than most people.

An hour later and they're at a Ferrymen safehouse on the lowe East, not far from Little Italy. Which probably explains where he got his tin full of shell pasta, pesto and chicken riddling the dish. This 'safehouse' is just two floors bought out of a complex, really. One of the smaller and less sensitive establishments. There are two families living in this apartment, which is one less than maximum capacity. One of said families has left a seven-year-old boy napping on a bed roll next to where Teo is sitting cross-legged in the living room.

There is a jelly bowl smeared with pesto resting otherwise empty next to the child's outstretched hand, drool leaking onto the floor. The television is on, but on mute. Teo passes the time by eating and watching a program about mind-controlling snail parasites. It's pretty gross.

So it is with very little fuss, and the security measures passed that Abigial opens the door to the area that Teo is in. The handle clicking softly, portal opened to admit the family blonde and then closed behind her. Out of respect and deference to the child when she see's him sleeping, Abigail immediately takes off her boots. By now, she's likely heard. "Teo" Whispered loud enough for him to hear but not disturb the kid.

The Ferrymen were told she was coming, so there was little real concern the sentinel would flip out with a machete or whatever. Teodoro looks up with a flicker of relief through his features anyway. "Abby," he whispers back, raising one hand in salutation. "Buongiorno. You look good. Hungry?" He holds up his pasta, partly as an offering, and partly to get it out of the way of his knees as he unknots his legs and rises to his feet. He's in as good health as the last time she saw him, and reasonable spirits too. Either of which might qualify as a surprise.

Because usually, Teo's in worse shape than when she left him. "little. Thank you. Got a spare fork? How long's he been sleeping? playing babysitter for a few hours so his parents can get some rest?" She's not perky, or sunny, bright, none of that. Even work when she smiles, it's so fake, and the emotions isn't there. "How are you?" Abigail makes her way to him, meet up partway and even without a utensil, she still dips a finger in to snatch up a small piece of chicken and try it.

Si, because he's usually in worse shape. "Si. Poor parents. Hard for all of them to stayed shut up." It takes Teo perhaps point-six seconds to realize something is very wrong. The realization is spelled out in his facial version of bright neon letters, bold-font and framed in light flares and pocket fireworks. On average, Teo has the subtlety of a hammer. "I'm fine. Here, hold this,

"I'll grab a fork from the kitchen." He passes the dish to her, before sticking his emptied arms underneath the prone child's body and bedding, both. Lifts him up. There's a quick detour into the inner recesses of the apartment to place the youth and his wrinkled nest on a safer and quieter bough. Teo finds a fork on his way back, and presents it handle out, folding his long legs back into a crouch.

"You a'right, ragazza?"

"I need to go home Teo" She tracked his progress, watch him lift the child and disappear with him. Her fingers close around the utensil, taking it carefully from the Italian. There's a vague motion for him to take a seat, instead of crouching. "Going to ask Isabelle for a small loan, go home, for a week, maybe two. I think I need it. I think… I need Weezyanna."

Weezyanna. Teo inches his butt down to sit on the floor, his weight easing off his heels with a low creak of sturdy fabric. He remembers about stars and dinghies and little mosquito-riddled islands, her parents who wouldn't like him, and the color of her voice in the dark while she remembered all of them. He thinks she needs it too. Doesn't mean he has to be happy about it, of course, but at least he isn't sad. Not yet. "Okay."

Okay.

Everything she wants to do is okay, for some reason, and yet she's always looking at him like that, not quite expecting refusal or objection, but close. "Slipping out under the radar, or are you going to let Parkman and his fuckers know and hope they let you go?" Practical query, travel considerations. Phoenix aside. His features go quiet.

"Parkman already knows. I asked permission first. They have the address, they have my one number, and I'll have to give him the flight information, but, I've been cleared to go. He offered, what Ivanov offered once. To disappear, never be heard from, live like someone else. But I turned him down. Like everyone else. I just.. I need to be back home Teo, and in church there and I need.. I need my momma" She delicately stabs a few pieces of pasta and chicken, spearing them as if she's apologizing for consuming them and slides the small feast into her mouth to chew. "You and him huh? Sonny." There's a motion with the fork as she talks around the food in her mouth.

It doesn't bother Teo, seeing somebody chew and talk at the same time. It maybe should. His mother would raise her hand up above her head and loose off a red mark upside his head. He's pretty bad at balancing the standards of behavior between himself and others, sometimes. "You mind sending Hana your itinerary too? I won't pester you under your Momma's roof," he is hasty to promise, never one to inflict his company until he forgets. "It sounds healthy.

"Going home, I mean. Not disappearing. I think I'd go home if I could. I'd see mia Madre." His hand curls atop his knee, and he has grace enough to regret that, too. Leaving his mother alone.

"You're always welcome to pester Teo, you know that. I'll send Hana my information, when I get it' A forkful's now offered up to Teo to take if he wants along with her promise to him. "Make sure there's no one else that needs me right away. Magnes will take care of Scarlett and Pila. Her hand curls around the tin, holding it tight. "You avoided the question Teo. You and Dr. Bianco?"

That startles a subtle blink out of Teo's eyes. For a moment, he'd forgotten. The question. After a moment, he realizes why he'd forgotten. "I'd rather not talk about Doctor Bianco. The less you know, the better. You've probably figured out too much for your own good anyway, signorina," he concedes — a little like an admission, the corners of his eyes deepening faintly with a smile that fails entirely to undercut the shadow of regret behind his features.

"I have a lot of people to thank for taking care of me. You know most of them. That's dangerous enough. I understand if you're mad." His brow finds a furrow; he looks down at the tenting of his toes inside the elastic and cotton.

"Not mad Teo. Never mad. I figured it out. It's good. You need someone. He looked as bad as I did, watching over you, and he kept you alive long enough till I could get dragged from the river. It's good. I hope, I hope he's .. what you need" Abigail deposits the fork in the pasta, letting it sink down, one hand reaching over to touch his cheek, smooth a thumb over the apple of it. "I just wanted to let you know where I'd be. if anyone gets found and needs me, call, or you know, send someone for me. I'll come. I'm gonna have to tread carefully, They know I heal you all. I tried to tell them little as possible and Parkman was careful with the questions he asked me."

Was he? Matt Parkman. Careful with his interrogations. Teo's stare cools fractionally every time Parkman's name is invoked. He says nothing of it. If Matt's going to figure out that Phoenix's head is only half-severed, he'll have to deduce that the remaining half wants his eyes out and a few burns left in warning. Homeland Security couldn't have given them five fucking minutes to get their shit together and people to safety. "It's nothing serious," he admits, after a moment.

Maybe a little regretfully, but only a little. "'M not — ready for that shit, I guess. I love you and Al more. You're right, though. That's true. It's a bad time to be alone.

"You never are," he acknowledges. Lifts his gaze, his half-smile half-hidden in the curvature of Abigail's little hand. "Grazie. It makes me feel better to know where you are, for all our sakes. But I'll try to leave you your space and keep people intact."

"Yeah, but if you're gonna have fun with someone, then, you know, he's pretty good to have fun with. Curses just as much as you, and he has money" she points out verbally as she brings her face forward, forehead connecting with forehead. "I need ot find my way again Teo, I've been two years here and.. I took a man's life. I need to … I need to figure things out and I need my momma to help me. It was the right thing, I know that, but it doesn't mean that it was okay by me, and before you even think to blame yourselves for it, you asked me, and I agreed, knowing what it was I was going to be doing."

Annoyingly, Teo is pretty sure if he heard his mother's voice again he would hysterically break out telling her that her twin sister was dead in the river, probably caught in a fishnet somewhere off Rhode Island. He can't begrudge her that, even if she's taking away his opportunity to emotionally beat himself up taking responsibility for sins that aren't his. Steal his thunder, would she?

He takes the tip of her hand and drops a brief kiss on her knuckles, gentlemanly, chaste as Teodoro Laudani is physically capable of, and pulls up a smile that's kept small enough for him to be able to mean it. "You need to have some fun too. Go dancing. Wrestle an alligator. The best of good things don't cost money."

"Momma will make me put on ten pound Teo, and she'll buy me a new dress, and I promise that i'll borrow dad's other shotgun and have some alligator stew okay" She manages to dredge up a small smile. "I'll leave the information with you. I meant it. If .. they let them go, or if someone pops up and needs me, you could send Anne" She sighs, pulling hands back, retreat back to her little personal space and the aversion to people entering it unbidden. "I should let you get back to the kid. If you hear anything about Al. Let me know, call. Anything. Except, you know, Sunday. Momma doesn't like callers on Sunday."

No callers on Sunday. Teo squints. Hopes he isn't going to have to call on Sunday, because he would. He's a do what you have to do kind of person, and sometimes what you have to do is call on Sunday.

"You should have a red dress, I think. Really, every woman should. Even if it isn't skanky nude down the back, I'm just saying." Every man is entitled to his opinion, and Teodoro's is there, with a hapless grin and a hand up, jaw leaned into his palm.

When she mentions Alexander again, grief or terror threaten to wobble back in behind his eyes, but it doesn't quite. He's holding up well, all things considered. It might be the new brain matter Abby installed in him. Might be more than that, or less. Denial works sometimes. "I hope they aren't too scared too much. Before we get them back."

"Red dress, not skanky. I highly doubt it will be anywhere near skanky" Abigial leans forward, one last time, press a kiss to Teo's forehead. The same spot as days before in the hospital. "I'll pray for them. If they are, when they're out, we'll be here to help them and welcome them. Now finish eating your breakfast" Not that Abigail doesn't steal another mouthful and some chicken before the tin is unceremoniously handed back over. "I'll call when I land Teo" unfolding herself from her position opposite him, standing up and brushing her jeans off. "go watch.. whatever that is your watching, and get some rest, and no … getting hurt before I'm back."

The tin is unceremoniously accepted back by Teo's hands, gratitude in a dip of his head, simultaneously acknowledging the kiss laid on his brow and acquiescing to the instruction given to him on no uncertain terms. Eat, babysit, go with God. There are many things he doesn't understand, but he knows how to do that. Staying in one piece is generally harder, but he has his orders. The same as the rest of Phoenix's.

Go to ground. How hard could that possibly be? "I'll hear from you in two weeks, absolute latest," he says, turning up the corners of his mouth. He blinks hard. "And see you then. Where are you staying 'til then?"

"Above the bar" She's gathering her boots, shoving them back on. "Isabelle had Elvis there, and I think she has a few other 'refugee's' show up. Seems Brian knows her good too. If not there, then I'm staying with Niki. Like I said. Magnes is going to look in on Scarlett and Pila, he knows how to take care of them. Two weeks, at the latest. Probably be calling you to ask to be picked up at the airport." The corner of her mouth quirks up again in a small smile. "Love you too Teo. You know that already. I'll be back, hopefully with.. a clearer heart."

Maybe Teo doesn't know that. He has an odd expression on when he hears the words. Total sucker for that line. It's a classic, and he is Italian; it can't be helped. It takes him a little more trouble than it warrants to get back onto his feet, and more trouble than he should honestly have to make the words: "I think the apartment's safe. You two registered under different names, right?

"I'll drop in on Pila and Scarlet a couple times. And be sure not to shoot Magnes in the face, if you warn him I'm around, so he doesn't accidentally gravitokinesis me off the planet or something.

"And— uhh. I… I'm sorry about your heart," he adds, awkward with his own ridiculous choice of words. You're allowed to be sorry even if it isn't your fault, he thinks. Lack of clarity isn't anything he would wish on any of God's children. He touches her arm. "Dio ti benedica, Abigail. See you on the other side."


Mind Controlling Snail parasites


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February 2nd: Jack And Lost
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February 3rd: The Skeleton Crew
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