It's Got Me Thinking

Participants:

castle_icon.gif kaylee6_icon.gif toussaint_icon.gif

Scene Title It's Got Me Thinking
Synopsis After her stroke, Kaylee asks the DoE agents she trusts for some help.
Date November 08, 2020

Fournier-Bianco Memorial Hospital


It’s been a night and the world’s only just stopped spinning like a top for Kaylee Thatcher a bit ago. Still the room they step into is partially darkened, as the harsh fluorescent light still made her head feel like sharp spikes were embedded in it. It was a manageable pain and she could feel the medication starting to kick in by time the door opens.

While an attempt was made to make herself look somewhat presentable, Kaylee’s hair is still a mess and her eyes red - of course the one horribly bloodshot. Fingers fiddle nervously at the edge of her sheet, watching the door. When the nurse had mentioned there were DoE agents in the lobby, Kaylee hadn’t been surprised and quickly asked to speak to them.

Castle gets a slightly crooked smile of recognition… but by the sudden look of guilt and regret, Toussaint is probably who she the last person she wanted to see come through that door. Her gaze quickly and awkwardly drops to her feet hidden under the covers.

“Agents,” Kaylee offers the pair in greeting. “Hope you didn’t get drug away from anything important.”

“Ms. Thatcher.” Toussaint’s low voice is pitched softly, so as not to jar any over-sensitive nerves. He smiles at her comment, and shakes his head. “We’re here for you and your fellow survivors. There’s not much more important than that on our itinerary.”

The agent finds a place to stand where he’s not likely to mess with any monitors or be in the way of a nurse coming in to check vitals or administer medication — there’s not a lot of space or options for that, but he squeezes into the little bit of space that seems least in the way, leaving the sole chair for Castle.

“I hope you’re feeling a little better than when you got here. Unfortunately, we don’t know much that we can tell you, but I promise we’re trying to figure it out,” Toussaint adds.

“Oh thanks!” Castle says gratefully when they realize that Toussaint has left them the seat. They are dressed quite differently than the suit wearing agent, different even than the slightly hobo look that they’d had at the park that day. They look as if they might have planned to go to a victorian dinner or something, with a white lace jabot instead of a tie and a suit that looks a little velvety and showing a paisley pattern in certain light. Their cuffs even have some lace. It’s definitely not the usual agent attire, but they pull it off quite well.

Sitting down in the chair, they nod in empathic agreement. “Wish I was seeing you again under better circumstances, Ms. Thatcher. But the wellbeing of the survivors of the crash is our agenda.” And there’s some sadness in their light eyes as they say that too, but it doesn’t show in the smile that they’re flashing as they talk. “And after this incident we’re going to be taking a far more hands on approach to things probably. We were always deeply concerned with your wellbeing, but with this event and— others— we’re going to be helping SESA out even more than we were before.”

“I know this kind of thing isn’t quite your wheelhouse, in terms of what your job is, but I admit I feel better with y’alls help,” Kaylee says, voice strained as she still has that deep throbbing ache in her skull. At least the world stopped spinning.

“And Agent Toussaint, I owe you an apology,” Kaylee says, barely able to look at the man. “Trust was easier for me when I could hear the tone of people’s inner thoughts and I reacted poorly when we first met.” She gives a small embarrassed smile. “Paranoid, I guess is a better word for how I acted.”

Kaylee's attention shifts to Castle and she immediately looks down at her hands as they fidget, “Same with you, Agent Castle. I’m sorry I accused you of spying on me, when I found out who you were. Y’all didn’t deserve that treatment.”

The apology offered to him finds Toussaint’s brows lifting, and he raises a hand as if to stave off further explanation. “You don’t owe me anything, Ms. Thatcher. We’re in a strange branch of government that makes people a little nervous, and you’ve been through quite an ordeal. You don’t know me from, well.”

He smiles and doesn’t complete that particular idiom, but clears his throat.

“I probably could have done more to put your mind at ease, but I’m glad you now see us as allies and not someone to distrust. At least, I take this meeting as an indication that’s the case, but I could be wrong,” Toussaint continues, his southern drawl quite softer than it was in the waiting room. “Your brother, I know, is very concerned about you, and waiting to see you as well, so we don’t want to tax your strength too much.”

Dark eyebrows lift, a tacit invitation for her questions.

“Wasn’t spying, but I definitely positioned myself in a place I might bump into certain people. It was mostly a happy coincidence that you and your Carl happened by while I was still there. Could’ve ran into one of your brothers instead and I’m starting to think that would have been less pleasant.” Now that they have met both of her brothers briefly, yes, unpleasant seems about right. “He’s a sweet kid, your boy. I hope he ended up finding a good name for the dragon,” Castle grins, showing that they still remember the encounter fondly, because of course they had recognized her from the paperwork.

“But I understand the accusation and the distrust. Big scary government agents coming in that aren’t able to say everything cause they’re dealing with a lot of classified information, especially for someone who once was able to pick up on things that others couldn’t. Now not being able to. It’s rough losing your ability.” There’s a soft sigh to how that is said, like Castle might have some experience with that.

“You're forgiven, Ms Thatcher. Water under the bridge, as they say.”

Their forgiveness goes a long way with her, Kaylee may even look emotional for a brief moment, but it passes quickly.

“He named it Hope,” Kaylee offers in answer to Castle’s inquiry with a lop-sided smile and a shrug, cause kids are weird like that. “Said it was a pretty name. He leaves it at my place so it can be near my flower.”

Brushing at the wrinkles of her bedding, Kaylee gathers herself for what she is going to ask of them. “I saw my father tonight, a memory. I don’t know if it is mine or maybe something along the lines of the aurora visions; but it was an event I didn’t remember.”

Watching both, she continues, “See, I don’t remember most of my childhood, pieces here and there. My earliest solid memory is breaking my arms when I was 10.”

Kaylee holds up a finger, cause she does have a point. She promises. “Hear me out here, cause I’ve been kicking myself for not thinking about it earlier.”

Again, Kaylee pauses to collect her thoughts, maybe it’s residual of what happened to her, or… “It’s hard to explain, but it got me thinking about my ability. I know that we have ruled out most cloning, but… Oftentimes a clone has to have memories implanted. To someone like me it’s like…” hands swirl as she tries to think of the best analogy. “Like a quilt. You can see the different pieces and see that they have been stitched together.”

Looking back at first Castle and then Toussaint, she looks hopeful, “Might be work looking,” Kaylee taps the side of her skull. “What I wanted to know is if y’all had a telepath, cause we’re fresh out.” There is some humor to that comment, as bitter as it is.

“And… maybe, they can open some doors for me while in there,” Kaylee adds sheepishly. “I can’t do it myself, but might be the only time I can have it done.”

The exchange between Castle and Kaylee draws a small smile from Toussaint. “Hope,” he murmurs. “That’s really cute.”

He quiets again as Kaylee discusses her ability and another plan, another experiment. His brows lift and he nods slowly. “Definitely safer than some of the things y’all’ve been doing,” he says gently, his southern drawl growing a bit stronger in response to her own.

After a glance to Castle, he looks back to Kaylee. “I don’t have a telepath up my sleeve — at least not one that you’d want anywhere near your mind. But I have a memory man who contracts for us. Had a bit of trouble a bit back, but now he’s doing well, got some training to get his power under control. I can give him a call, see if he can come take a look.”

Lifting a finger to indicate ‘just a moment,’ Toussaint pulls his phone out and taps the screen. “Call Lloyd re Kaylee Thatcher,” he says into the phone, then watches the screen as it sets the reminder.

His dark eyes return to Kaylee. “Did you feel like the memory was yours or did it feel false to you, somehow? Aside from not being one you recalled before.”

After smiling at the name for the dragon the continued conversation makes that smile fade into something more serious once again. Because memories hit an unexpected cord with them. “Memories are tricky,” Castle responds softly, looking sad for a moment as if this topic was rather touchy for some reason. “I wish I could help with that, Ms. Thatcher.” There was definitely something there in the way they said that, a hint of guilt, or disappointment, or anger, or— something. It probably only made the poor former telepath wish she had her ability even more to find out what was going on in that chaotic agent’s head.

But almost as soon as it appears, it vanishes with a change of expression. The way the light hit his eyes seemed to change and they look greener all of a sudden as he leans forward and looks at Toussaint with a curious raise of an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you had a memory guy in your pocket.” Was his accent more Irish? Why yes it was. “It could have been a suppressed memory. Something you forgot due to trauma, and you remembered it because of new trauma. That sort of thing happens. But there could always be more to it, too. Your background seemed to have some holes in it when we read your file.”

Cause it— did.

Though there is a smile for Castle as they speak, there is also a look of curiosity in the way her brows twitch lower. A part of her might want to say something, but with the other agent in the room, Kaylee keeps her multitude of questions to herself. Her Granny would be ashamed of her if she pointed out what she saw and questioned it in front of others.

Instead, Kaylee offers Castle an understanding smile. “It’s okay. It’s the thought really.”

As for the memory, Kaylee’s focus shifts back to Toussaint. “It’s… complicated? It didn’t feel either way. It… it was like watching a memory, like I used to do. I wasn’t little me living it, I was a third party observer watching it all through a fogged window. It was blurry and unclear, but I knew it was my father, Edward, and me.”

Eyes fall to her lap, eyes shifting over the woven pattern of blanket. Not really seeing it as she tries to recall details. “The only thing that made me think it was mine, was the young me mentioning a tornado. It is… it was my youngest memory.” Kaylee looks up at Toussaint and gives him a faint smile, “Everything I’ve managed to recover so far, makes me think I am repressing them and maybe some are blocked.” This was Edward after all and she wouldn’t put it against him.

“But…” Here Kaylee gives a cautious glance to the door again, before she adds her biggest reasoning behind her request, “There is a chance that it may be very well tied to events related to the Company - since my father was involved with them - and possibly tied to the thing that was loosened from the in-between place.” There is something in the way she says that, she knows something about them.

Blue eyes move from one agent to the other, as Kaylee admits, “I could be totally wrong, but I’d like to be certain and put my mind at ease.”

Toussaint flashes a smile at Castle. “I have a lot of pockets,” he says, with a air of mystery that’s mostly feigned — obviously — for melodramatic effect. “One has to be useful to keep up with the likes of you and Bright after all.”

His attention returns to Kaylee and he nods. “Was there something about the memory you had that made you think it’s tied to-” thing that was loosened by the in-between place is set aside with a small smile; instead, he settles on “anomaly?”

Toussaint also doesn’t call it la loi which he sometimes does in Castle’s company.

Before she answers, he adds, “For the records, we don’t think what’s happening to you has to do with that. Though many of you seem connected to those events in strange ways, others are not at all, and obviously whatever’s done this to you is man-made, not..” Toussaint waves his hand vaguely to indicate whatever the Entity is.

“Or are you just offering to let our man Lloyd poke around in search of anything that might help us with that particular problem? If so…” Toussaint’s smile is gentle, “we do appreciate it, but I worry what the cost to you may be.” He glances at the monitor that beeps now and then as it keeps tracks of her vitals, like that might make his point for him.

“Sometimes things are forgotten for a reason,” Castle cautions quietly, but at the same time, he understands the concern for this particular desire. “But you do have some interesting ties to the incidents we study, even without the plane crash.” More than a few really, but he doesn’t think he needs to go into that. She’s probably already gathered that Exterior does not just mean Outerspace to these Agents. They’re not interested in spaceships and aliens and near earth objects.

They’re interested in something else outside of this world, that most people aren’t supposed to know about.

Most.

“I hope his man sets your mind at ease, though, but we’ll be here to help you through whatever is happening too. This incident has definitely made your case a bigger priority to us than it had been before, combined with some other things that happened recently.” He doesn’t say The Millers. But he doesn’t have to, really.

And then— there’s suddenly a very chaotic change of topics, something that just comes completely out of nowhere, “Kaylee, do you know Chess?”

“Everything is connected, Agent Toussaint, you just need to look closely for the thread that ties them. Even the most seemingly insignificant thing could change the way you look at everything. My father has taught me that.” Kaylee might not be her father’s biggest fan, but she’s seen his map strings and seen what his obsession with connections has done.

“Is there a connection here?” Kaylee’s head wobbles a bit, with an uncertain hum, “I don’t know, yet, but the only way to find out is to look closely. I've been through too much in my lifetime to immediately reject the notion. If I can get some memories back, it's worth the risk for some desperately needed answers,” she points out quietly to both. If anyone understands the risk, it’s Kaylee.

But normally it’s Kaylee giving the warning.

Kaylee might have gone on to justify those risks, if Castle hadn’t come out of nowhere with that question. “Yes and no. I was supposed to meet her at the Halloween Gala, but… well you know what happened. Her adoptive father, Luther, is a good friend,” there is an awkwardness in how she explains that relationship. There is a slight narrowing her eyes. “Why do you ask?”

Toussaint nods to Kaylee’s explanations, but Castle’s sudden turn of topic makes him actually laugh, a soft and sudden thing, and he lifts his eyes to the ceiling.

“Everything’s connected,” he says lightly, his tone and delivery a teasing parody of Kaylee’s response to him. “God knows how in this case, but that’s part of the fun of working with Agent Castle.” His dark eyes slide to Castle. “Yes, Agent Castle, why do you ask?”

“Oh, you were supposed to meet her there— sorry, that might have been my fault too a bit,” Castle muses quietly as his eyes shift to the side, because for the moment he actually is he. “I actually did meet her at the Halloween Gala. Not her adoptive father, though, just— her. And we kind of hit it off and— “ He shoots a look toward Toussaint as if to tell him to stop laughing at him. But oh god why did he bring this up.

Because he doesn’t think before he speaks, that’s why. “Anyway, we hit it off, but then we had a fight I guess, or I think it was a fight, cause of the whole Eve Mas situation, like she wouldn’t have been arrested by someone else even if I hadn’t been there! It wasn’t like I was the only one in the whole world who had orders to arrest her, right?” he looks at Toussaint as if he can support him on this. Like he would have done it too. Right? “And I made sure to pull strings so she could visit her and we’re going to do what we can to make sure she gets a fair trial and gets cleared of Detroit cause we know she didn’t actually do any of that willingly but— “

He looks flustered suddenly, flailing his arms a little and shifting in his seat as if suddenly very uncomfortable in his own body. “Anyway I just wanted to know if you knew her cause I was wondering how long I should wait til I call her cause she hasn’t answered my calls but she did tell me she might blow up her phone sometimes…”

He’s rambling.

As Kaylee listens her curiosity turns into an amused smile, since it doesn’t take a telepath to see what was going on there. Maybe it was a look of understanding by someone who’s been there.

“I don’t know her that well, but…” Kaylee glances at Toussaint out of the corner of her eye, before giving Castle her full attention. “You gotta understand, she’s had a rough time of it - especially lately - and I think much like Luther, Chess may see Eve as family. Family is important to her, just like me. I’d probably react like that, too, if I had someone I liked say they arrested my family member.”

Kaylee gives a small shrug and chuckles, “Honestly, it’s a hazard of our jobs.” Because, yes, Kaylee was still a cop, just on admin leave. “You are adorable and likable, Castle, she’ll come around. Just don’t… smother her? Just make sure she knows you're still there for her,” she adds in advice.

Drawing covered legs up and wrapping arms around them, Kaylee uses it to lean closer to him so she can offer a bit more, “Maybe some conveniently places painted rocks for her to find?” she asks with an arch of a single brow.

The usually serious-looking Toussaint looks wholly amused to watch Castle ramble, and he arches a brow over at Kaylee as if to say ‘see what I gotta work with?’

After Kaylee’s explanation of Chess’ past and her relationship to Eve, he tips his head to look back at Castle. “Girlfriend’s a hot mess,” he concurs, before looking back at Kaylee. “I’ll see if I can round up Mr. Lloyd to help you, but not until you’re well rested and recovered from all of this, Ms. Thatcher. If he finds anything relevant to the bigger problem, we’ll call that a bonus. For now, our concern is with you and your health.”

He tips his head toward the door. “I’m going to go see what else I can find out while you get dating advice on a girl you haven’t even known a week, C,” he says, patting Kaylee’s mattress twice. “Feel better, ma’am,” he adds before pushing through the flimsy curtain.

“Your face is a hot mess,” is Castle’s witty retort to Toussaint while the other agent makes his way out. Then he glances back at Kaylee and adds with a shrug, “if by hot mess means damn.” He’s teasing, but— ok maybe he’s not. There’s a shake of his head. Flirting with a coworker was off the table, but he can tease them. “The rock idea is a good one. She does know that I paint and I could paint ones that remind her of things we talked about…”

Now he’s starting to think of some things he could paint, but the problem would be he’s not entirely sure he knows her well enough to know where to put them— but he will figure that out later. Maybe he can go through her file and leave them in places she frequently had been spotted— though that could be abusing his position in a weird way…

“She knew I arrested Eve when we went out, but at the time neither of us knew she would end up in Rikers and would actually need to go on trial for the Detroit stuff. She’ll get cleared, most likely, but since it was so publicly televised they want to publicly clear her, make it all official. Especially after so many people were killed at Xpress. She’s probably going to face some lawsuits due to that too… but that should just end up being fines.”

Lots and lots of fines.

After sending a farewell after Toussaint, Kaylee settles into listening to what happened and the reasoning, unable to hide the look of sympathy for his plight.

“That is a pretty big target on Eve’s back,” Kaylee agrees.

Leaning back again, Kaylee looks thoughtful. “I can see the reasoning, people might not want to wait for justice. And sure she has friends to protect her, but… that could make things worse. I know I don’t want to see Luther or the others thrown in jail because of it.”

“But,” Kaylee says lifting a finger, “I’m also not the one who clearly has a thing for the guy who arrested Eve and put her there.” Reaching over she touches Castle’s arm, “She’s going to be upset for a bit, but.. Hopefully she'll realize what happened was the best scenario.”

Kaylee studies the agent thoughtfully and suddenly declares, “I’ll talk to her and get a lay of things for you. I feel like I owe you anyhow.” There is a mischievous tilt of her smile as she adds, “Beside, it’ll give me an excuse to finally meet this young woman that Luther cares so much about and thinks of like a daughter.”

“I don’t really blame her, truthfully. She’s right about Eve probably having a rough time being locked up,” Castle seems to understand that that alone will be difficult on the woman. But, yes, it was potentially better than living on the run forever or getting her friends in trouble trying to protect her, or risking the lives of hundreds of people if she happened to get possessed once again.

At the mention of her getting to know Chess, he’s suddenly looking flustered and waves his hands as if to try to put out a fire he didn’t mean to set, but— unfortunately, he already did. “I— well— since you wanted to meet her already— but I’m sure you’re right and she’ll come around. That’s what she’s been telling me too.”

She? He doesn’t clarify. “I should get out of your hair so you can rest and I’m sure the nurses will be around to check on you soon. Hopefully, soon we can figure out what exactly is going on with you all and get you back to your old selves again. Or at least not, you know. In and out of hospitals for a while.”

Kaylee’s eyes narrow with suspicion, but doesn’t say anything and just smiles with understanding. Maybe, one day she’ll get up the courage to ask about this mysterious she or the fact that they seem to change personalities, but that day is not today. “Well, I appreciate y’all humoring me and doing everything you can. Makes me glad that we met, Agent Castle. You and Toussaint.”

Leaning back in her bed, Kaylee suddenly looks far more tired than she had only a moment before, like a switch had been thrown. “I’ll get ahold of you somehow and you can come over. I’ll cook you something good and let you know what I found out either way. It’s the least I could do for what y’all been doing.”

Kaylee lifts a hand in farewell, “You take care of yourself and try not to worry too much.”

“That sounds like advice you should be giving yourself, Ms. Thatcher,” Castle responds slyly with a small wink— that doesn’t really qualify as a wink even then cause it’s more a blink than a wink, but the meaning was there. “I guess the fact that I’m worried at all must mean I really like her, so— there’s that,” he adds as an afterthought, almost to himself, before shaking his head as if not quite believing that had been possible. But—

Apparently, it was. Almost as soon as he makes it to the door, there’s a nurse coming to check on the patient, and the Agent offers the young man a smile and slips by, leaving him to do his job.


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