Participants:
| Scene Title | One of Those Talks |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Linus has a serious conversation with Elaine. |
| Date | October 9, 2010 |
Linus' Apartment, Siann Hall
Pacing back and forth in his apartment, hands and arms changing positions every few seconds from being crossed over his chest, to nervous wringing, to shaking in front of him all in the span of a minute, Linus looks like he's about to go a little crazy. He's muttering to himself underneath his breath, so quiet he would even have a hard time hearing his own words. His apartment is spotless, even more clean than he usually keeps it, like he cleaned it days ago and hasn't touched anything since.
He's snapped out of his trance by his door opening, having not even heard a key slide in or the door unlock. He looks over, a brief look of concern spreading across his face until he realizes it is only Elaine. "Oh, hey. You scared me a little. What's up?"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you! I didn't know if you were in. I was trying out a few different types of batter for cupcakes, all with cream-cheese frosting, but I wanted to know which one tasted best… kinda like the baker's dozen with randomness." Elaine states, peering towards him. "You okay? You stress-cleaning? I do that sometimes. That and stress-baking." She holds up the plate of cupcakes as evidence."
Linus clears his throat, eyeing the plate of cupcakes before he shakes his head and offers a very weak, half-smile. "No, that was a few days ago. Sorry that I've been a little MIA, I've just.." He goes back to pacing for a moment, before he abruptly turns from his back and forth walk to move towards Elaine and take the plate, which he disappears with into the kitchen for a moment before returning. "I need to tell you something."
Uh oh. The I-Need-To-Tell-You-Something was always bad. For marriages, it was the admission of an affair, for dating couples, it's the we're-breaking-up speech, for young children, it's when they get told their pet Goldy the Goldfish is now going to swim off down the toilet into Heaven. Elaine blinks quietly at Linus. "What's wrong?"
Linus closes his eyes for a moment before they open again, and he traverses the distance from the kitchen entry to where Elaine stands quickly. He lifts his hands, placing them on either of her shoulders, looking down at her from his much taller height. "I.. I'm going somewhere. I can't give you any details. I may never be able to talk about it. I.. may not even make it back. But I'm leaving. Today." He looks to his left to check the time on a clock on the wall. "In about an hour."
There's a wide-eyed look in Elaine's eyes, and she blinks for a moment to make sure that she wasn't talking to Magnes in a clone of Linus' body. "You're…" She trails off, mouth going a bit dry. "You might not come back?" She swallows hard. "I—… uh, is it important?"
"I know how you feel about heroics, and how stupid they are.. but do you remember when we determined I was stalling for something amazing?" He swallows, a frown pushing his lips down before he continues. "I have a chance to do something amazing. To make a real difference. I have a chance to stop.. to stop being a coward. I'm doing this. I have to do this." He looks away, then lets his hands slip off her shoulders.
Elaine tugs on her lower lip with her teeth—a sign of worry. "I trust you. I know it's something important and if you believe it's something important… than I trust you to do what you need to do. But you aren't a coward, you never were. So don't think of yourself like that."
Linus lets out a long sigh before he begins to chew on his own lip, shaking his head. "I am a coward, Elaine. About a lot of things. Women, the future, everything. I'm trying to change that. I will always be a nerd, I will always be a gamer. I will always prefer to stay inside and read a book or play a game than go out to a bar. But.. I'm trying to not be a loser anymore." He moves his hands to Elaine's shoulders again, this time more on the side of the arm, before he bends down to kiss her fully on the lips before she can react. "I needed to do that before I left. In case I don't come back."
That's the second time he's shocked her with a kiss. Elaine peers back at him, frowning at the suggestion of 'not coming back'. "You are coming back." She murmurs, though she doesn't seem so sure of that, especially not lately. "But stuff lately has made me worry a lot cause there have been some close calls of people not coming back and people getting shot and… so, just in case you somehow don't manage to make it back… you at least deserve a better goodbye kiss than that. You deserve it for once." With that, she moves instead to slide her arms around his neck, lean in, and kiss him fully on the lips.
"I'm going to do my best to come back. I promise. I have a lot of things left to do with my life. Things are just starting to get inter-" Linus sentence is cut off when Elaine moves to reach her arms around his neck and lift herself up onto her toes to kiss him.
A mixture of emotions floods through him, but he settles on the feeling of being kissed. He closes his eyes, sliding his hands down from Elaine's shoulders to her sides to help keep her balance as he leans down as well into the embrace.
When it is over, he pulls away just enough to put his head on top of hers. "Thank you. But.. I need to leave. I have a plane to catch.."
When the kiss ends, Elaine wraps her arms around him to hug him tightly. "Okay. Take care, alright? When you get back… call me, okay? I wanna know when you're safe and things are taken care of. And Linus? Remember that you were never a loser and when you come back you most certainly cannot be called that again. Got it?"
Pulling away from the hug and turning to the side to hide the intense blush on his cheeks, Linus walks to the side to pick up a messenger bag that looks rather stuffed before hooking it over one shoulder. "I promise. I'll call." He heads towards the door, opening it and turning to take one last look at his home before he offers one last smile, this one much more genuine but still containing traces of worry. "Got it." Then he slips out, shutting the door behind him, leaving Elaine only in his own apartment.
Elaine watches until the door shuts behind him. She lets out a breath she had been holding in, shaking her head slowly. Her gaze fixes on the apartment. Linus kept it clean, but it was spotless. How long had he known what he was doing? How long had he been preparing? And of all the things to do before something like this, he cleaned. She moves, idly looking through the rooms, glancing through as she notes that it's spotless. Everything was in it's place. So she thought.
As she passes by the bedroom, she stops, a lump in her throat. She holds in a breath, shakily letting it out as she braces herself against the doorframe, the sight of a small, folded paper crane sitting on the table beside his neatly made bed.
"No…" She murmurs. "Not you too…"