Participants:
| Scene Title | Just A Nightmare |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Felix's revelations churned up a lot of bad stuff. |
| Date | June27, 2010 |
Elisabeth's Apartment/Abby's Apartment — Phone Call
The sound of the scream resonates through the apartment.
Elisabeth sits in the middle of the bed, sweat pouring off her, her blue eyes wild as she looks around the nightlight-illuminated bedroom. Her heart pounds wildly, and she stifles a sob. Wrapping her arms around her knees, the blond puts her head on her knees and shakes. Finally, she can't stand the silence of the apartment anymore and lurches across the bed to fumble for her phone from the nightstand. Trembling fingers seek out Abby's number, and she finally manages to dial. Curling around her pillow and holding it tightly, she literally hides beneath the sweat-damp blankets, her eyes darting about the room.
"A-A-abby?" Elisabeth stutters, finally unable to hold the soft sob inside anymore.
Somewhere on Abigail's side, there was a quick scrabble for the phone, lest it wake up someone in the apartment. Thin fingers plucking up the phone from it's stand and pressing talk with a soft hello that wouldn't wake anyone in the apartment adult nor child. The sound on the other side confuses her. Liz and she's crying. "Elisabeth. What's happening? Do you need me to get Richard? Where are you?"
Sucking in a quick breath, Liz says softly, "I'm home. Richard's out of town." Sitting on her bed, the blond realizes it's not even her own pillow that she's cradling to her front. She's leaning on hers. It was his she grabbed for, and it is his she now drops her chin to as tears leak from her eyes. "I just…. I'm sorry. It's the middle of the night, but I…. I had a nightmare." The tremor in her tone, the thick sound of her tears, will give away most likely what kind of nightmare it was. Too many memories. Too many horrible things live in Elisabeth's head.
Nightmare. That explains it. "Just a nightmare Liz. These days, they can't hurt you" She would have said they can't, but there had been Hokuto's alter ego. "You just need me to sit and talk to you or do you actually need me to come over?" She offers quietly across the line, glancing down to the dog sprawled across her lap and the baby snoozing elsewhere.
There's a long pause on Elisabeth's end, and she pushes herself out of the safety of the bed to turn on the bathroom light before literally running back in and scrabbling under the covers and Richard's pillow. "Could you…. could just talk to me for a while?" she asks. It feels pitiful. "I d-d-don't want you to g-g-get caught br-breaking c-c-curfew." She closes her eyes, holding the pillow tight to her chest and the phone tight to her ear. "It hasn't been so bad in a long time."
"Yeah, it's been a bit since I got this kind of call from you Liz, but it's okay. When I get off the phone, maybe put some music on and the lights on and take a pill? I think if it's bad enough to call me, then it's probably gonna be noticed by Kershner and your teammates when you walk in half death tomorrow" She tries to joke, add some jest to it all and play it down. "So what was it this time, two headed dogs? Big giant Cardinal's eating the world?"
It's the thing Abby's always managed — to make Liz laugh when things were bad. Or at least smile. It's a watery chuckle this time, but it's also sad. "Water," she murmured. "I dreamed of being in the water. Bleeding to death. It was so cold. And Teo was …. yammering, but he wasn't helping. He was… he was pushing me further into the water." It's a ridiculous mish-mash of her own nightmares and the horror of hearing Felix Ivanov tell her that Teo got rid of his body after Deckard killed him. "And I could hear… that goddamned song. In the background." The shaking hasn't stopped yet. "And stars…. there were so many stars in silver moonlight." She shakes her head on her side of the phone, creating a rustling sound. "It was just … jumbled all up. And I couldn't move. And I couldn't breathe. And I woke up and it was too quiet."
"Well, you know the cure for the song. But I can't sing it right now, so, tomorrow, you're gonna ask kershner for a few hours off, by order of your medic and you're gonna go find a karaoke bar, and you're gonna go sing Mack the knife? Mack the knife" More sure of it "As badly as you possibly can. My prescription. Followed by a hot cup of coffee and then, then you'll go give Richard the… time of his life in bed, the moment he gets back"
Elisabeth's chuckle is soft, but it's full this time — not the thread of sound the first one was. "Wow… listen to you. Sex as a cure-all," she retorts softly, sounding more like herself. "I hate that song. Didn't like it before all this, hate it now." She can't hear it without damn near puking, even now.
"If I can't get it, then at least you can" A wry murmur into the phone. Rhett groans, paws up and flopped into the air as she rubs at his belly. "So sing something else then, or go see your dad and take him to the park or have dinner with him, something. The point is Liz, it's just a nightmare. It's not your first, or your last, and you can't give in to it. You know what to do Liz, you know you're strong enough to remove yourself from it and go for the haven that Hokuto helped you find"
This time she wasn't. She hadn't even tried to find the haven, she'd simply let the dream have its way with her. Maybe because some of it wasn't hers… but it was her fault. Felix fell into their hands because of her. He was broken because of… No. That path held madness. It was no one's fault but Danko's. He chose to torture, to maim, to kill because of his fear. "Thanks, Abby," she says softly.
"Maybe you need to get your butt out of bed and make like, a comfort drink, plop on the couch and watch late night infomercials until you fall asleep again Liz?" Abigail offers. "Get out of the bed, go sleep on the couch or something, Break some part of the routine and maybe when you sleep again, it'll be a pleasant one?"
It's a good idea. Elisabeth rests her head back against the headboard of her bed and nods, though Abby can't see it. "I'll try it," she says softly. "I don't want you to try to evade the curfew just to sit with me." Her smile is faint, tired. "I appreciate the ear in the middle of the night, though. Just… having a voice on the end of the phone." She probably could have called Felix, too, but Abby is the person she thinks of when these things hit and she's alone. "Maybe some hot chocolate." With a dollop of some alcohol in it. That might help her go back to sleep.
"You get some sleep, too, Abs… I'll be okay." Even if it means spending the rest of the night picking up all the shattered glass around her apartment — she saw the state of her bathroom and its mirror. Liz isn't sure what state the rest of her apartment's in, but she's pretty sure the bedroom and dresser mirrors and all the glass she had in her bathroom will have to be replaced. At least the windows were installed with an eye toward this possibility — they didn't break.