Participants:
| Scene Title | Red Eye |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Lola and Elisabeth take the Red Eye home. |
| Date | September 11, 2009 |
The night at the hospital was beyond awful. Elisabeth sits on the plane as it races down the runway and launches into the air and rubs her forehead absently. She's exhausted, emotionally and physically, and she managed to take a five-minute shower at the hospital's locker room but only because she knows that when they land in New York, she'll spend the entire morning being debriefed. She glances at her companion, but she waits until the beverage cart comes around with coffee before she encloses the two of them in a silence bubble where even the sound of the airplane's engines is muted to nothingness. "In case neither of us said it back there…. thank you. Beautiful shot." Liz pauses, sipping her coffee. "When we get back to the city, … make sure you disappear, all right?" And when she looks at the other woman, her blue eyes are calm and cool. "And you tell Jack… this earns him leniance in that I won't actively come looking for him unless he forces me to — but he needs to keep out of our paths, and he needs to not get crazy out there."
Lola is oddly comfortable with getting up early, or simply staying up. She also wasn't nearly so emotionally invested as the others - although she may not show it, but there were some feeling-hiccups going through her in the past 24 hours. She's flipping through a SkyMall magazine, wrinkling her nose. "Why does yer doggie need a water bed?" She grumbles, looking up at Liz. She smirks, almost playful. "Sugar, have ya met Mortimer Jack? He ain' nothin' but crazy. What ya'll want him for, anyhow?"
"Murder," Elisabeth says succinctly. "Apparently for a while he was no longer crazy, so we were convinced to turn a blind eye in the hopes that his rehabilitation would last. Clearly not. All bets are off. He deserves fair warning, if only because he sent you to us." She sips her coffee again. "I don't know what you owed him or why you agreed to come out here and do this…. but it earns you the same deal. Stay off the radar, okay? I will run you in, but only if I'm forced to."
Lola raises a single brow. "Run me in fer what, sugar? What exactly is it I've done, an, outta curiosity, exactly what name ya got on what warrent sayin' what I done?" She grins, sitting back with her coffee and shaking her head. "Ya don' even know my real name, an if I was you I'd be more concerned 'bout the cops what brought in someone from the outside fer a shootin' than the shooter herself - me, I was just doin' my civic duty."
Elisabeth smiles faintly. "I'm assuming that since you're hanging anywhere near Mortimer Jack, chances are good that you're doing SOMETHING that's going to put you into trouble. That's all. And for all I know, you're on loan from SWAT." She shrugs. "Shelby never said otherwise. All the way around, you did everyone a huge favor."
Lola nods, sipping her coffee again with a content sigh. It tastes good! "Well it weren' that bad of a shot. An just remember me, next time ya need somethin' done. I don' even charge, in case ya haven' noticed." No, she does it because she's interested and curious. "But ya know what none a this does touch on? Why ya suddenly went all batty after they tried ta put that gallie into the ambulence."
Elisabeth sets her cup down and says quietly, "She's an empath. She's Shelby's partner, and she's been sometimes mine lately — with both of us, she built an empathic bond. I could feel her panic." Doesn't maybe explain Elisabeth's own issues…. but then again, maybe it does.
Lola visibly shivers. "Creepy, wouldn' want nobody in my head like that." Lola pauses, bringing up a hadn to literally grab a passing stewartess's arm. "Peanuts, love?" The woman huffs and walks off, leaving Lola to look over at Elisabeth once more. "So ya'll saved a cop an kilt a serial killer, gonna have a parade for ya'll an everythin, right?"
"God I hope not," Elisabeth breathes quietly with a roll of her eyes. "That would just suck royally. Nah…. I'm happy to let the Feebs take credit for this one. It doesn't matter who gets top billing — he's stopped."
Lola nods, indeed she knows he's stopped. She put several bullets into him and blew his head off. She's well-aware he's stopped. "So ya'll will just go back ta bein' cops then?" Lola smiles a bit, knowing how very nice it would be to have cops on the force owing her something. Very nice.
Elisabeth looks at Lola and says mildly, "Never stopped being a cop." And she recognizes that look. "Whatever you're thinking, m'dear… don't." At least not with Liz.
Lola raises her hands. "Why so accusatory, sugar? First ya think I'm bad people, now I'm thinkin things!" She sounds rather playful about it all. "Fer the life a me I can' figure out where this big ol negative view a me is comin' from."
Elisabeth sips her coffee and says easily, "Because I know how far out of bounds Shelby went to find a shooter who could hit the target fast and clean, lady. I'm not stupid. No regular civilian comes along on what is clearly a hit unless it's what she does…. or at least what she likes to do. I'm not asking, you're not telling, and I know nothing. But don't go thinking it gives you an 'in' on this — if you try to rattle any cages, I'm perfectly willing to actually run you through the system. Take the freebie and run with it; you got to do what you liked — and yeah, I could see exactly how much you liked it — and in the bargain you've saved God only knows how many women. Enjoy it."
Lola grins even wider. "Aww, yer just like them cops on the television! It's like watchin' that Law and Order abortion!" Because yes, Law and Order is an abortion. "Sides, sugar, I ain' done nothin' wrong as far as anyone's concerned." Okay, maybe stealing and breaking and entering happens - a lot - but she's yet to be caught for any of it since she left prison years ago! "In fact, ya kin guess an guess about me till the cows come home - and be wrong, as ya'are in this case - but ya don' know the first thing about me."
Elisabeth nods slightly. "And I like it that way," she comments with a smile. "All I said was make sure to stay off the radar, that's it. I'm not going to make you my business. I'm just going to be grateful that you saved my friend's life. Just not too grateful if you get my drift," she grins around the cup of coffee.
Lola cocks her head, sweeping some hair out of her face. "Yeah, well never fear, sugar. Ya'll probably never see me again. That bein' said, grateful goes both ways." No, it's not a threat - Lola has nothing ot threaten with - but just a counter argument.
Elisabeth just chuckles and she'll spend the rest of the flight in easy silence with the woman if they both want it.