Participants:
Scene Title | No Favors |
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Synopsis | Sal gets back to Gillian on the blood test, which result she'd already decided on her own. But at least they're the same. |
Date | July 5, 2009 |
Phone Call
If the results of the blood test had come in at any other time in the past twenty four hours, Sonny would have sat them aside and forgot about them. For all he knows this is important to Gillian, well, his mother's car was just exploded, his family threatened, because of him and what he said.
He's been troubled over it for the past several hours, has had long talks with both his parents. He's mentally exhausted, so the arrival of the blood tests serves as a distraction.
He picks up Sal's cell phone, shifts his voice and dials Gillian's number.
A difficult month for the both of them, whether they know it or not. Though she's split in different places, only one of her happens to have a phone. That's the one that reaches into a pocket and grabs onto the phone, flipping it open. The caller is identified, one of many added to her phone book in recent months, and she answers, "This is Gillian— Sal?"
"Gillian, hi." Sal sounds distracted, distant. His voice is strained and it's clear he's having difficulties sounding pleasant. "I have your results."
A slow inhale of breath can be heard on Gillian's side of the phone. The last few days she'd been so forceful about it, as if she'd already had the results— if the month goes as bad as it had been… There's hesitation and sudden worry in her voice, "What is it?"
"The test is positive. It's not a hundred percent sure, but the margin for error is very small. The chances that those two blood samples are completely unrelated is almost zero." Anyone other than a doctor might have asked what result she was hoping for, but Sal's more tactful than that. He's also a professional. It's not really his business.
Doctors are doctors, and in this case… Gillian let's out a sound, at first it might be mistaken as one kind of emotion, but then she's laughing. The laughter comes off as relieved more than anything. "Thank you. Thank you." Repeating it twice doesn't necessarily make it more genuine, but it seems as if she's biting back just repeating it a few times. "This means… so much to me. God, if I was anywhere near you, I'd hug you right now." And if she wouldn't maybe turn people to moosh.
Maybe she'd just make him look like her, or become a duplicate of him. Or, yes, moosh. It's hard to say what might happen if they met in person, but it probably wouldn't be good for either of them right now.
Sal is silent on the other end for a minute. Like he doesn't know quite what to do with happy right now. "I'm glad this is good news, Gillian."
"After everything else that's fucking happened lately, this is the best news in months," Gillian can't help but say, smiling wide even if he can't see it. If she knew Sal and Sonny were the same person, she might have realized why he's not in the best mood, but for the moment she assumes it's because of— well— Teo. Who still isn't fixed yet. Something she can understand. Which is why she pauses for a moment, "How are you doing?"
And if Sal had ever met her in person, he might actually let his secret slip. But he's still a little paranoid. "I'm all right," he lies. But it's easier to lie over the phone. "Listen, Gillian. I'm very glad to be giving you good news." It's made him feel better. Like he did something that made a difference, even if it was only sending a few samples off to a lab.
"I know we haven't done much to get our Teo back— hopefully we will soon," Gillian says, trying to give some kind of assurance, even if she now has an idea who, or what, is inside Teo's body besides Gabriel. "Maybe when things start getting resolved— you can meet me and my brother." Though as someone helping Phoenix, he might have very well have known him… but she'll cross that when she gets to it.
Once upon a time, Sonny Bianco helped a Brian with paperwork to get the Lighthouse started. That feels like a very long time ago. "I…really do hope that things will…start to resolve soon." He clears his throat. "I'm…sorry. I'm just dealing with - " what? " - some family issues, on top of things with Teo."
"I've been dealing with a lot too," Gillian admits quietly, though leaves out the details. The whole thing is good news! So she seems to lighten her mood almost immediately and try to be optimistic, "Maybe this is the tip of the resolution iceburg and the rest is just waiting to happen. Just hang in there, Sal." Things had to get worse before they could get better.
Things have gotten progressively worse for Sonny…well, the exact point where things really started to fall is hard to pinpoint. He would put it around the point where his days pretty much hit an even keel of suck from sunrise to set. "I hope you're right," he says quietly. "Listen. I know I'm not around. But if anyone needs me for anything, just call this number."
"I'll do that," Gillian says, trying to think of things he could help with without causing problems for her— there's a reason she didn't want to meet him in person if she could avoid it, but… "I'll let you know if I need anything. Thank you again for running the rests— consider me owing you a big one there."
"I don't deal in favours, Gillian. Just…think of it as banked goodwill." Sonny tries to smile through that, though even over the phone, it's clear it's forced. "Take care, all right?"
"You're a good person, Sal," Gillian adds on. No return favors is an interesting way to look at things. Before she hangs up, all she says is a quick, "You take care of yourself as much as you can too." No promises. No guarantees, but she'll try, and hopefully so will he.