Participants:
| Scene Title | If You Can't Handle Not Touching Me |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Liz pays a visit to Abby, helps wash her hair and ends up in a small fight regarding touching boundaries. |
| Date | April 24, 2010 |
Maison Allegre - Third Floor
"As you can see, the stunning set of this peridot in the fourteen carat gold band is just gorgeous. Look at the way it picks up the light. Pay attention to the detail here, the design on the side of the band and the setting" The home shopping network is on right now and filtering across the upper floor as Abigail starts making her way back from the bathroom.
Crutches thump along the floor, jersey skirt sweeping back and then front with each hopping step as Liz is directed upstairs. Hair is still very damp and she smells of fresh soap and shampoo, a garbage bag easily seen folded up in the bathroom behind her with some latex gloves, to protect her cast and Liz's hands at Abigail's insistence. A towel lodged over one of the struts in her crutches so she can dry it better back in her room.
Elisabeth follows Abby carefully, letting the other woman move at her own pace on those crutches. "Really? You're watching the Home Shopping Network? You have to be desperate," she laughs softly. She hasn't asked — yet — what exactly happened to Abby. But the bruises are telling her a story that Liz is very unhappy with. Still, she keeps her tongue behind her teeth. Abby will tell her or not; Teo's been conspicuously closed-mouth so far. As they go, Liz asks, "Do you want me to bring up some tea or anything while we're up there? I can do that and meet you there." Because obviously Abby's not carrying tea herself.
"I think someone brought some while you were helping me with my hair. I heard footsteps. Getting time to take more pills. Francois and Teo are pretty good at keeping time for me. "Probably some lunch too. I think it's a good thing I came and stayed here, instead of Rivage" What with Al having taken off again. Peter assigned to looking after her pets for now until she's comfortable enough staying at the place on her own.
They plunk along the hallway, the short trip back to her room and heading for the bed. The coffee table that acts as foot rest or dinner table whenever she doesn't want to make the trip downstairs has soup and bread, sandwiches and tea.
"All right," Elisabeth responds easily enough. When they get back to the room, Liz spots the tray and moves to pour while Abby settles herself on the bed. "Did the boys think to get your blow dryer?" she asks with a grin as she gets the tea ready. It is not until Abby is entirely settled, as comfortably as she can be, that Liz brings the cup of tea to her along with the bottle of pills that were on the tray. "Aside from the pain, how're you feeling?" she asks.
"No, and I haven't bugged anyone about getting it" She lacks the oomph, has been lacking the oomph to her personality for a while now since the Russians reared their head and started killing people. "How's the co-workers. Ever tell you I met one? Felicia Varlane" Skinny fingers - they're always skinny - takes the ill bottle, working one out of it's orange captivity and then for the tea as it's passed over. "Shoveled some snow with her on Staten Island"
"If you want it, I'll go pick it up and send it," she says, waiting until Abby has the pills to then hand over the tea. "You didn't," she adds in reply. "Felicia Varlane's pretty interesting. I mentioned to her at one point that I knew another person named Varlane but they're apparently not related." She shrugs slightly, careless of that detail honestly. "The rest are doing… okay. Holding stable anyway. A bunch of them were hurt last week. A raid on a convoy. Spalding's in decent shape, but the others took more damage than he did."
"Who knows, maybe I can heal them in a bit" Hopeful, likely not, she doesn't know. Finger brush Liz's when she takes the cup from her and Abigail freezes, going from the cup to the womans face and jerking the teacup away. "Sorry?" She murmurs, looking for something, anything, action on Liz's part.
There is no reaction on Liz's part; it's a perfectly normal brushing of fingers. She looks puzzled. "For what?" Tilting her head, she smiles slightly and reaches out to brush a damp lock of Abby's hair off the other woman's forehead. "You're still feverish. It worries me."
"Don't touch me Liz." She pulls her face away from the other woman's hand, just out of reach. "It's not good to touch me right now. Peter, thinks I manifested the other day. Something from my touch. It made someone I know act.. strange" Which might be a clue as to why she's got the cast on her foot and taking advantage of Liz helping wash her hair. "Fever's been coming and going since I took the formula"
Raising a brow, Elisabeth asks quietly, "Is that what happened? Someone you know acted strange and grabbed you around the throat?" She settles back to pick up her cup, sipping from it carefully. "You just touched me and nothing happened. I doubt that whatever you're going to manifest is going to be an ability that makes your friends attack you."
"Something like that Liz. Made them think something about me." Is she sure nothing happened to her? Abigail's looking at Liz pretty hard for more than an easy length of time before she gives in, takes her pill with her tea and then sets it all down. "Never know, It's a slim chance that I'll even manifest healing of any sort Liz. There's the chance I could have manifested something really bad. Like, tier three worthy"
"You knew that going into this, Abigail," Elisabeth chides gently. "You touched me and nothing happened. Out of curiosity, what the hell made Peter think it was something you did that made someone put their hands on you?" Frankly, she finds Peter Petrelli's opinion on almost every somewhat suspect.
"Because Liz, this only happened, after they touched me and what they did was… It was just out of character for the person okay? They wouldn't have hurt me, not two seconds after…" After doing what? "They wouldn't have done it. Peter knows the person. So it's just better right now, not to touch anyone and stay calm, not excited, and just wait."
Elisabeth mmm-hmmms softly. "I see," she replies, sipping her tea. "So….. Petrelli's an expert in how you're going to manifest with the Formula, hmm?" She shakes her head. "No one knows how you're going to manifest; not Petrelli, not even Teo who got his powers from the Formula too. So how about we go about it this way — what exactly happened just before this person laid their hands on you? Did they say anything? Were you doing anything in particular? What was it that they thought about you?"
"I don't want to go over this again Liz, I really don't. You're not the first to ask me about it and Petrelli is much more an expert at the formula than you Liz, the same as Teo is. Both of them took it. Both of them got their abilities from it. You want to know what I was doing? I way laying down on a couch with a gel pack on my forehead while Robert was telling me he had to go on a trip and touching my foot. That's what Liz. Next thing, he's accusing me of being someone else, and dislocating and screwing up my foot. Tell me that doesn't smack of something not right?"
Elisabeth's anger at Caliban is tempered right now only by the fact that Teo would have already killed the man if he thought it necessary. She keeps her tone neutral. "So without rehashing everything all over again…. is it possible that Caliban himself is an Evo? With…. hell, I don't know…. some kind of ability sense" she asks mildly.
"Something that if you've read to him a 'human' all along and he suddenly started reading something else off you his first instinct might be to entertain the notion that Vanguard sent someone to impersonate you or something? Not that it in any way excuses the matter, but… my point is that I sincerely doubt that it was something you did to him with a power that may or may not be manifesting right now. As I pointed out, you just touched me and nothing happened." And Elisabeth casually sets the teacup down, her free hand shooting out to hold — gently but firmly — Abby's bare arm.
"No, It's not. And no, he's not."Abby's arm is pulled back, quickly getting miffed with Liz and the touch of her arm. "Stop touching me Liz, okay? If you can't handle not touching me, just in case something happens, then maybe you need to go, because I'm not going to take the chance. So just stop it Elisabeth. I trust Peter. I trusted peter enough to tell him I took the formula, and he's a friend and co-worker, just like you." Shuffling down the bed, crutches snatched up, she's looking like she might be making a break for it, damp hair and all
Elisabeth shakes her head and says, "Stay put." She herself moves to stand up. "I have to go back to work anyway. I'll keep my hands off you on the just in case, but I wanted to point out that there are other possibilities about what happened." She sighs. "Feel better, Abby. If you're feeling up to company in a couple of days, I'll stop back in. I just wanted to let you know that the next operation against Vanguard is probably going to swing into action this week. I don't know exactly when and I'll try to stop in beforehand — afterward may not be possible." She moves to walk toward the door.
"Don't you dare die on us Elisabeth Harrison" Liz is making to leave, the reach for crutches aborted in favor of staying put. "Or i'll find someone and bring you back" At least, within a half hour of death. beyond that, who knows.
Looking back from the door, Liz grins. "I'm sure as hell going to give that my best shot, lady. I have a promised trip to Tahiti to look forward to…. and maybe even a baby to plan." She winks. "Somewhere along the way, we turned into an official couple with an anniversary and everything."
These days, Abigail's not so sure that the chances of a baby and an anniversary are going to happen. "God willing Liz, i hope so" She's still miffed, unhappy that Liz chanced touching her. Thankful that nothing happened.
"Yeah…. God willing," Elisabeth echoes softly. Something in her tone perhaps gives away to the younger woman that she too doubts that it will ever come to pass, a fleeting expression of anguish in those blue eyes quickly hidden behind the casual facade. He's dying. And Liz knows it all too well. It's tearing her apart, but she can't let him see that. And she won't let anyone else see it either — she has to keep faith. Richard's losing his. "See you in a couple days, Abby." Assuming Vanguard hasn't killed or otherwise damaged her beyond belief in this insane came of cat and mouse.