New And Scary Life

Participants:

claire4_icon.gif elisabeth_icon.gif

Scene Title New And Scary Life
Synopsis This is only the beginning. Luckily she has a friend to comfort her.
Date February 24, 2011

Dorchester Towers: Elisabeth's Apartment


Go home. Now. Card

The text was one that created great alarm in Elisabeth. Why the hell he'd be ordering her to go back to her apartment is anyone's guess. But Aric is staying there, goddamn it! And Elisabeth lets the base know she's going off the grid for a while. When she gets to her apartment, she's still wearing the armor. And she's armed for bear, too. She is not going to be fucked with again.

Finding the door locked is not a surprise. Aric has been back and forth Redbird a decent bit, so finding that he's not in the apartment is not an immediate cause for panic. Though she does make a brief call to verify with Jo that he is in fact at Redbird even as she lets herself in the door.

The silent apartment that greets the blonde makes her hair stand on end. Something is wrong in the apartment. She's not sure what, but it doesn't feel right. She keeps the helmet on, her HUD scanning the place. Flipping to infrared, the heat signature in her own bed draws her attention. Her first thought is panic. That the fucker actually got Richard. Racing through the apartment to the master bedroom, the sight that greets her eyes is both relief and shock, fear a quick third to the mix. Not Richard. Claire.

"Claire?"

Elisabeth rips the helmet off, setting it on the nighttable and seeking to check on the brunette in the bed.

Claire Bennet is a bit like a cat lately, in and out of the lives of her friends. Gone for days then showing up on the doorstep. Or in this case curls up on her side, on the bed. Cheeks still a little flush from the illnesses they ravaged her body with to give her an immune system. She was well enough to move, but she still feels the aches of her muscles.

She doesn't snap too, her body still too exhausted. So it's a slow waking, like trying to pull ones self out of molasses. The skin around Claire's eyes seems sunken and bruised with the need for sleep, making her blue eyes stand out as she opens them. First the look she gives Liz is confused, before her brain finally joins the rest of the class.

"Liz?" Claire's voice is still rough, cracking a little. She looks and moves like a woman that's been sick. Pushing herself up to sit. "They took away my ability." Tears prickle at the back of her eyes and start to make the ex-cheerleader's eyes glassy and watery. "Permanently."

Elisabeth lowers her armor-clad form to sit on the edge of the bed. She's heavy like this, and she has to be careful not to jostle the girl too much. Stripping off one of her gauntlets, she reaches out to smooth hair off Claire's forehead. Anguish shows in her eyes. And rage too. But her touch and her tone are gentle. "Oh, Claire," she whispers. "I'm so sorry."

Heel of her hand rubs at one eye, trying to keep the tears from sliding down her cheeks. Though Claire neglects the other and soon a tear cuts a path down to her chin. " I was in the dome," she explains softly, with a sniff. Last thing she needs is a runny nose as well. "I helped them and they snatched me up and did this."

She gives Elisabeth a forlorn look, like someone that lost something precious. "They did something… I won't die from illness like before. They fixed that…" Claire trails off pulling knees up to wrap her weary arms around. "Malaria is gone too," she whispers that one piece of truly good news.

Good and bad mixed together. Elisabeth wraps both her arms, in spite of the armor, around Claire and puts her head atop the brunette one. "I can't imagine how you're feeling." She's been through this with Abby and she learned one thing — there is no comfort in words. All she can do is hold Claire while she grieves. "We will stop him. I promise you, Claire, we will." She doesn't know how. But it has to be done.

It's the kindness in the hug of one of her closest friends that finally has tears running freely down the ex-regenerator's cheeks. Fingers grip the armor, not caring about how cold it is or unforgiving. It's the woman in the armor she's trying to cling too. "I'm useless to you all now… Too easily killed, barely know how to use a gun." Not completely true, but still things are painfully different.

"I don't know what I'm going to do Liz." That last is whined out between the sobs that finally have her shoulders shaking. She sounds scared more then anything. She's unprotected in the world, where she's made a lot of enemies.

Elisabeth lets her cry. She lets her sob it all out with nothing more than holding her and gently rubbing her back and her hair. She lets Claire rant about how she's useless. It is only after the storm of tears is finally exhausted, that she grips the girl gently and makes certain she has the ex-regenerator's eyes. Her tone is firm, caring and supportive but a snap to reality nonetheless.

"Your ability to regenerate, quite frankly kiddo, has gotten you in more trouble than it's saved you. It's given you an excuse to be as reckless as you want. You don't have that now — you're more vulnerable, yes. But you are not useless. You know how to wield a weapon just fine. And you still have your brain. Use it. Your ability is not all that you are. Yes… it being gone is awful. When I blew mine out, it felt like I was missing a limb. I get it. But just like anything else in this life, you adapt. And we need you now more than ever." She rolls her eyes. "Useless. Right. You've been donig urban warfare for how many years now, and you're useless? Not hardly. You're just going to have to think before you act more often."

"I always… always wanted to live a normal life… but not like this," Claire protests weakly. Not that her life is normal. "Not literally, be normal." She's scared. Not so much of dying, but of the fact she can now. "I'm scared." Finally she puts to voice what she's feeling.

"I'm not use to feeling this tired," she admits, sounding like she hasn't slept. It's like Claire's body is catching up for all that time that she didn't need it. Her shoulders slump, curled inward a little, like she's got the weight of the world on them.

That Elisabeth does understand. "Fear is all right, Claire," she says softly, pulling the girl back into another hug. "Fear is a normal reaction to change, to stress, and to the reality that there are things in this world that you have no control over. You will get through. Just… don't ever think that you are useless in any fashion, okay?" She drops a kiss on Claire's head and says, "Get some sleep. Let me get hold of Richard and tell him where you are." And Noah Bennet if she can as well. Christ. "I'll stay here with you, so if you wake, don't worry."

There is a small smile for the older woman, appreciation in her eyes. It's almost as if Claire wouldn't let herself relax fully, until Liz said that. The young woman doesn't say much else as she lets the exhaustion over take her.

Before Liz is even out of the room, Claire's breathing is already deepened as she lets sleep take her. She'll need it.

It's the beginning of a new and scary life for her.


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