Participants:
Scene Title | Praemonitus Praemunitus |
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Synopsis | playing catchup in more ways than one. |
Date | April 17, 2009 |
St. lukes Hospital - Outside and the street.
Ben had called, said when he's be off shift. Abigail was going to be there regardless, a phone call had made it to her about child who was up in the pediatric ICU and the nurse there had remembered her name. There were some parents upstairs who were thanking god that their child had miraculously pulled through. Secrecy had hid the redhead from them. Anonymous miracle, even though the nurses and such knew. Now she was outside emergency, waiting for Ben to appear. Messenger bag over shoulder, jeans, coffee in hand since she needed the illusionary pick me up.
She stands with one hand in her scooter jacket, the other on the strap of her messenger bag, one foot up and helping her back support herself against the wall, watching ambulance bring in injured people. Restrain the itch to produce her registration card and walk over and heal.
Ben makes his way out one of the back doors, backpack slung over one shoulder, still in uniform and looking tired. Not that the tiredness is anything unusual for Ben. Spotting Abby, he nods over at her with a faint flicker of a smile and heads her way. "Hey."
Matched pair. Sorta. She's got the telltale lines at the corner of her eyes. "Hey. I'll be in that uniform some day. Maybe in a year. Maybe sooner, if I told them about my gift" There's a second coffee produced from near her feet, creams and sugars from out of her messenger. "Merry Christmas" Even though it's nowhere near christmas.
Ben gratefully accepts the coffee and can't help but point out the obvious: "It's not Christmas." But that's okay, because he thanks her anyway. "You're a special case. Kind of like me, except more special. Was that you up in the ICU? People are talking a little."
"Was me. He's going to be okay. I guess, the boy was trying to grab cookies from on top of the fridge and he slipped off the counter, hit his head on the way down. Wasn't much damage but it was where it was damaged, but he'll be fine." THey'll have a healthy child and not a vegetable. Abby doesn't say that out loud. "They do pretty good at keeping my name quiet. They don't call unless it's grim. How are you Ben? Sorry, about the other night, at the bar"
Ben rakes a hand through is hair, shoulders rising and falling in a shrug. "Been better. Been a whole lot worse. What's to apologize for for the bar? Seemed like a pretty regular night to me." There's always arguing and crap every time he goes there.
"Somewhat. Isabelle got taken by homeland. With the curfew, it makes for interesting nights" The redhead pushes away from the wall an offer of her hand to him. "Need me to top you up? Take away some sore muscles?"
Ben blinks, taking a few seconds to process her offer before shaking his head. "No, thanks. Don't waste it on me. Isabelle, huh? What'd she get caught doing, if anything? Who's managing the bar? How long's she been gone?" He starts walking with Abby, eyebrows all furrowed with concern. Straight to business.
"I don't know, just that they accused her of being something else and before they could back pedal when they realized she wasn't, she's burned Officer Baxter to a crisp. Right now, believe it or not. Brenda and I. There was a power of attorney in her things. Brenda's mostly running stuff, but.." 20 and she's a co-manager of a bar. "Been.. a strange last bit and everything"
Ben winces, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "She toasted an officer. Did she kill him?" It's like an automatic headache.
"No. I made sure there wasn't a murder charge added" In other words, Baxter's fully healed. "What about you, where have you been? Sighing at everyone?"
Ben rubs his nose for a few more seconds before tucking both hands into his pockets. "Family business in Boston. Looks like I missed a lot. What happened to the library?"
"Compromised" they're just walking now, and away from where people might hear. "Homeland got it. Ferryman are still safe though" That's a small consolation. "I think the burning bird has an alternate safehouse, though I don't know where. But that's for a reason since I don't want to have to give it up at some point" She takes a small sip of her cup, watching where they're going. "How's the family?"
Oh, right. Coffee! Both of Ben's hands weren't in his pockets, then. Just one. He mirrors her, having a sip. "The family'll be fine." He's pretty dismissive; maybe it wasn't anything big or maybe he doesn't want to talk about it. "I thought we had contacts in Homeland," he says, that weariness creeping back into his tone. "You said you got kidnapped again?"
"We do. Sorta. But he's having to ride the fence. Like you and like me. Only dip our fingers in so much" Because they're both not directly phoenix. Just people who get called in for medical support. "I did" A slight shift in her tone of voice and a hard swallow. "While you were gone I think. SOmeone got my name off the registry, all my information and took me from in front of the apartments"
"How long?" Ben asks, turning his head to look at her with a frown. "What did they do to you? Are you okay?"
"Month and change. Made me heal. Fighters in some ring, out on Staten Island" That fear she mentioned, when it came to registering in those conversations so long ago. Seems it came true. "Stuff happened. Stuff that I'd prefer to not say because I think you'd like your coffee to stay in your stomach, but i'm on anxiety drugs right now. I got all my weight back and there's a couple doctors helping me. Cops helping me. A lot of folks helping me." There's a twitch, tic of her left eye and her heads down a fraction. Explains the lack of super perky that she usually is.
Ben slows and comes to a halt, frowning more intently now. "Hey," he says, gesturing toward her chin, like he'd reach over and touch her. "Hey. No matter what happened to you, I still like you. Alright? What happened to the people who took you?" His tone indicates he hopes somethin' bad done happend to 'em. Something about the near-growl in the tone.
"Course you do, or you wouldn't be walking and having coffee with me, or phoning me Ben" But the chin goes back to normal. "Sorry, just, I'm still you know" Points to her head. "Uhh, well. That. Cops can't touch Staten Island, jurisdiction issue, so, nothing has happened. The one guy, Muldoon. Elisabeth said that they served a warrant and he's gone. Ran like a rabbit. They were too afraid to tell me. Logan. Well, nothing. THough Richard, he's a friend, visits him often enough and is trying to make him go crazy in the hopes that Logan will shoot himself. So really. No, nothings happened" That she knows of. There was Decakrds near disembowling of the man.
"…You're okay with a guy trying to make this guy crazy enough to shoot himself?" Ben asks thoughtfully, eyebrows going up up up.
"He took my tongue Ben, so I couldn't talk with god. He tried to take my faith" her one hand tight around her coffee cup.
Ben holds his coffee, but isn't drinking it. He's just holding it, looking at her with some confusion. "He took your tongue…? Do you mean he cut your tongue out?" Ben's face flushes darker.
A subtle nod of her head. "That's.. it's a little easier to say these days. I'm really surprised i'm not just, bursting into tears right now" The redhead looks over at him. "Not all of it, just enough that I couldn't talk. That's what you get when you hit him in the face with a bible when he's making you panic and interrogate you" There's a gesture to a bus bench and she heads over to it, to sit down. "lOng story short. They took me Ben, and Magnes. I was heading home for a visit. They locked me up beneath a brothel and made me heal their fighters and their hookers. Friends came looking, he got nervous, he can do stuff, to a person, make them happy, scared, take away their ability. I hit in the face with a bible after he hit me, he tried to pin me, I got away, he came at me again and I stabbed him in the eye with a plastic fork handle. Then.. his goons shot me and he had them cut off my tongue." Her coffee's passed over so she can dig through her purse for her little pills. Easier to say, doens't mean that's it's still something easy to talk about. "Guess boston with your family's looking A LOT more fun huh"
Ben takes a seat next to her on the bench, turning his hand over in mute offer by his knee. Hold if you want. No pressure. "You panicked. That's never good," he says quietly, blue eyes intent. "But he was stupid to think he could break your faith just by taking part of your tongue. Good for you, stabbing him. Good for you. He deserves worse."
"yeah. Yeah. Somehow, I think god will overlook the whole eye thing. I think.. what I'm upset most, really, is that, he still has the bible. Conrad gave it to me. It was all leather and it had my name on it even. Was a Christmas present. I could ask Richard to see if he can find it around Logan's place but I highly doubt that it's still there" Out comes a Xanax, placed on her tongue and her coffee taken back so she can wash down the pill. Ben's hand though, is eschewed. Touch still that uncomfortable issue with her. "So. yeah. Yeah" Yeah. "On the upside, you know… I have to thank him for curing me of that nasty caffeine habit"
Ben turns his hand over so his palm's resting on his leg by his knee, unoffended. "No harm asking him to look," he says quietly, watching the pill, gaze flicking from it to her eyes thoughtfully. "This guy's on Staten Island?"
"Yeah" Looking away from Ben and the street around them. "Your not gonna go there and try to stir up stuff are you? Because it's.. not pretty. He's dangerous"
"Staten Island's a pretty big place," Ben tells Abby blandly. "I don't intend to go talk to him." He leans back in his seat, turning to face forward, slumping back. "You know, I never shot the guys that killed Nate. I had my gun and everything but I always said I wouldn't actually fire it at a living person. And sometimes, just sometimes, I think maybe I should've. So there's someone out there I owe a bullet to."
"Killing someone is not fun. They'll get their just due, when the time is right" Whether by law or by someone else. "Cathouse, called the Happy Dagger" funny name for a whorehouse. "So, you're back" change of topic. "What are the odds… do you think, of me being allowed to go on a run with you and your partner? To see what i'm getting into"
Ben's eyes narrow slightly; he just nods. They'll get their just due, sure, but he's not the guy who won't even think about it anymore and he hasn't been for months. Other things to think about, though, so he banishes it to a corner of his mind and has a long sip of coffee. "It could probably be arranged," he says after a moment's thought. "Maybe once I get back into good graces again."
"They didn't like your vacation?" Drugs kicking in, She's a bit more relaxed looking, joining him in the scanning of the street and people who pass by. A bus groans to a halt, disgorging some passengers before the doors hiss close with hydraulics and lumbers off again.
Ben shakes his head. "Shit happens," he says. "But the city's busy. They get it. It won't take too long before I am beloved by all once more." Ah, the sarcasm.
"Tell them i'm looking, scouting out potential employers Ben. That you know someone and they'll want first dibs. If you bring my name to them, i'm sure it'll get your out of the dog house" Her blue eyes trasnfer to him.
"I'll put in a good word," Ben says dryly. "Though I don't know how my supervisors feel about people with abilities."
"I have a feeling that they'd like mine. Most people do" A little too much for some. "Hospital does. I can run willy nilly healing folks if I want, just so long as I let ICU know i'm in and let them know who so they can run interference. Helps cut down on their costs. Maybe it'll help. Will get me some more experience sooner"
"Then you'll probably be along for the ride soon enough," Ben says, having another long, slow sip of coffee. "Just watch out after Fred's had Taco Bell, it gets a little gross."
"And you'll be lauded for bringing me in. be nice though. To not have to find a job after school is done" She's sure that the hospital could justify hiring her, but she's not going to even go for that. She'd be dead tired the whole time. "So, besides work, what's your plan?"
"Get back in the loop with the groups," Ben tells Abby. "Keep putting my two cents in and offering my services." And that's about it; there's work, and there's that.
"Phoenix is a little scattered right now, but I can give you Cat's number and Teo's. Teo's needing a few days away so, give him a few days before you call him. He needs sleep" Sonny hopefully was going to make him sleep. "Ferry should be good to go, last I know those numbers are all working still"
"I'll hit the usual spots, then," Ben tells Abby, finishing his coffee and leaning way over to deposit it into the trash bin chained to the bus bench. "What, Dean not taking calls now?"
"She's missing" Abby answers. "She was in Moab. She's missing now though" Seriousness. "More than that you have to ask Teo or Cat. They seem to be in charge"
"…Moab?" Ben repeats in quizzical tones. He's really been out of touch.
"Evolved prison, they…" Abigail looks over at Ben. "What's… the last thing you rememeber?"
"Oh, shit. Maob," Ben says, reaching up to rub the back of his head. "I don't have a memory problem. I don't think, anyway. How do you go missing from an Evolved prison?"
"When your vigilante terrorist group tries to liberate you and there's mixed results" That's how. The redhead still watches him.
Ben raises his hands to scrub his face. "I wouldn't call them a terrorist group," he says with a sigh. "I'm gonna have to talk to Laudani. Things got really fucked up here, didn't they?"
"We may not, but others do. And the try on Moab puts them right back in that category" THough there's no disapproval, nor approval in the Healers voice. "But, yes. Things did"
Ben lowers his hands, resting them on his knees and tipping his head back toward the sky. "Great," he says flatly. "Thanks for the headsup, at least."
"Praemonitus praemunitus" Latin, not something usually spoken by Abigail. But there it is, a small smile on her face. "Forewarned to forearmed. At least you'll be better prepared"
"I appreciate it," Ben says, echoing his sentiment again as he starts to stand. "Can I walk you anywhere or are you good to go?"
"Back to the hospital. I got my scooter. I'll have to go help Brenda open the bar soon. After that it's lots of studying. I'm catching up almost to the others in my class"
Ben smiles a little, taking a step back from the bench. "Alright. Call if you want help studying sometime, alright?"
"I have your number. I promise I will. I'm not in anatomy yet. It's just pre-emptive studying. Getting the required classes through with first" But she gives Ben a little wave, pushing herself up from the bench as well eventually, to make her way back to the Hospital and her scooter.
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