Participants:
| Scene Title | Remember Me When This You See |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Jaiden visits the clinic to deliver a bit of bad news, he's leaving and she may not remember him when he gets back. |
| Date | September 10, 2010 |
Gun Hill Clinic
There are no windows in the clinic so it's not a cheerful place to be, not yet. Delia and her father have hard at work, practically all night; giving the place a fresh coat of paint, wiring in more fluorescent lights, taking stock of what supplies are there, what supplies aren't there but should be, and finally giving herself a vaccination shot. That one is the hardest.
It's been a very long and hard road, from her pink and white room in Queens to this place. Even though it's only been a week or so, she feels so much more grown up, so much more like the person she's supposed to be and not the one she was. That vaccine is the final leap.
It's 2:03PM when Nurse Ryans finally flips on all the lights to the clinic and takes a look around with a smile. The transformation of the clinic is almost like the one inside of her. From a dingy room with a few cots to a place she can proudly say, she operates.
Jaiden has been busy. Very busy, in fact. Breakfast was eaten on the run out the door, although Delia was given a smile and a squeeze around the shoulders before he left just as curfew was coming due. Now, returning to Gun Hill after a mad dash around the city, his trunk filled with things that, to be honest, are more confusing than anything, he makes his way down the stairs to where the freshly stapled up sign for the clinic aims him.
The smell of paint is still a little strong, but it's to be expected after the whirlwind of work the Delia and Ryans put in. Still, he's careful not to touch any of the walls as he walks in. "Delia?" he calls, his voice soft. "You here, Del? I haven't see you all day and I'd like to have a talk with you."
The red plastic container that holds the sharps just got its first customer when Jaiden walks in. Though the expanse of the room is fairly large, there's really not many places to hide. At his call, the redhead stands and walks quickly toward him with a large smile on her face. "Hey…" her voice is soft, rather breathless, and obviously excited. "I— I didn't expect you to be here." The word talk freezes her like it would her father, turning her insides to ice.
She's dressed in set of gray colored scrub bottoms and a white, fitted scrub top, and her old tennies with the hole in the toe. Delia will be getting some new ones soon, hopefully. Though the bright expression is still on her face, her eyebrows are turned up at the inner edges in a little bit of a worried expression. "What do you need to talk to me about?"
"First, I brought you something." Jaiden reaches around in his satchel and pulls out a pair of shoes - White Nike Shox, specifically built for standing on your feet all day, passing them over. "I heard you were going to be the head of the clinic down here, and thought you should have some shoes to match. Besides….it looks like you needed a pair
"I think I may be going on a trip, and I don't exactly know when I'll be back from it." He takes a seat on the edge of one of the cots, looking up at her. "I'm scared to do it, but I have to do it, y'know?" He steels himself, waiting for the laugh when he adds the next part. "I'm going back in time, I think."
"Jaiden, you really didn'—… wow.. oh.. wow.." The shoes are taken and handled with great care, while Delia's face has its own little expression of shock on it. "Thank you, I'll- I'll try them on later." Placing them to the side, she turns to stand in front of him and angles her head slightly to the left. Again, her eyebrows do that little trick that makes her look a little too concerned about the topic.
She chews on her lip as he mentions the trip and the fact that he's afraid. "Back in— Really?" There's no laugh, her eyes are as big as tea saucers and she can't help but slip her arms up over his shoulders. "Back in time… I…" She flits her gaze around his face, studying him carefully. By his expression, he isn't joking.
The shoes should fit. After all, she did take hers off at some point in his apartment and Jaiden? Well….he's nosy about things like that. You'd be surprised at how many women figuratively melt whenever you give them a nice pair of shoes that fit. Jaiden's just playing the angles.
"Yeah…it's kind of heavy. I don't exactly know when or where I'm going, but I'll just…vanish for a few days and then come back." Jaiden gives her a smile, reaching out to brush his hands over her face, trying to smooth out the frown, trying to get her to look a little less serious. "I just wanted you to know I'm not vanishing on you."
"Sort of like when I vanished here…" Delia says quietly, returning the smile. She leans forward at an angle and hugs him tightly around the neck, curling her head to the side a little which results in a bunch of her curly hair landing near Jaiden's nose. Somehow she got her shampoo back, or bought another bottle, because it's the same lavender and mint scent that is carried with her everywhere.
"When are you going?" It's a curious question but not posed in a manner that indicates anything regarding her disposition. She pulls back just enough to look at his face before he answers, her head tilted as a slight angle to give her a better view of him.
His arms come up around Delia, palms of his hands in the small of her back, an automatic hug. He smells of sandalwood and cinnamon - an interesting combination impregnated in his clothes from the little bit of cologne he's decided to wear now and again. There's a shake of his head in the negative. "I don't really know." His hands flex, squeezing her lightly. "There's a meeting I need to go to…I'm not the only one who's been called, so to speak, and that meeting is tonight."
Delia's torso expands under Jaiden's as she takes in a deep breath of the cologne and lets loose a long sigh when she finally lets it all go. "Tonight? That's so soon," her voice takes on a little bit of a worried tone. She meets his olive green eyes and stares into them for a long while, all the while giving him a brave little smile. "So, you'll bring me back Rufus' autograph?" It's a slight bit of humor to lighten the mood.
"I don't want to go." Jaiden's voice is small. Very, very quiet, almost a breathless whisper, his arms around Delia tightening slightly. "It's such a big…big thing. I could change so many things just by being there." Jaiden finds himself smiling. "If I see him, I'll get his autograph for you, promise."
Jaiden's admission has Delia freezing again and she slides one of her arms from around his neck to rest her palm against his cheek. Her eyelids drift down halfway as she remains silent for a breath, "Jaiden… what if that's what is supposed to happen? I don't know how to explain it except… What if you not going changes everything now?" The half lidded gaze into his eyes gives her a rather lazy appearance, or soft, depending on your point of view. She's never been completely strong, but she's always been stubborn.
"I'd hate to miss out on meeting you because you were supposed to do something back then that somehow led to now." The redhead gives him a small smile of encouragement and the fingers resting on his cheek sliding up until they meet his hairline.
"That's part of the reason I don't want to go, to be perfectly honest. I know it's ten years in the past, but if I do something that keeps me from meeting you, I'll be a little annoyed. Mostly because I'll remember you, but you'll have no idea about me."
Jaiden's hand brushes over Delia's back, tangling in her hair, rubbing it between his fingers as he gives her a tight hug. "I've been given a no-choice, which I really, really don't like. Either I go back and potentially change things for the better, or don't go back and let whoever's gone back get away with whatever changes he or she has made….and potentially lose out on meeting you again."
Jaiden sighs and sits on the cot nearest him, his hands on her hips, looking up at her. The situations Jaiden has been in were all of his choosing. This one is not.
She studies him for a few long minutes after he's finished speaking and she purses her lips together. It's her tell, the expression that says she's come to a decision. "Then promise me something," she starts quietly. "Promise me that when you get back, if things have changed… You'll find me and remind me."
Leaning forward, she brushes her lips against his just briefly before pulling back a little. "Find me and show me everything you remember, just like on the train."
His lips are warm and soft. They move, just barely, against hers as she brushes hers over his. Her scent fills his nostrils and his eyes close for just a moment as he inhales and nods, letting out a long, slow breath. "I'll find you and remind you." he replies.
There are so many unknowns with time travel that he doesn't know if he's lying or telling the truth - he only knows that he'll do his best.
Her cheeks flush when she pulls back, the sparkle in her cornflower blue eyes only intensifies when her lips twitch into an easy smile. "Good, because you're supposed to teach me how to cook and…" Her voice cracks a little and drifts off before Delia clears her throat with a soft hum. "There's so many bad movies we haven't watched yet. Not that… I mean… I like spending time with you."
Her smile widens as she lowers her head to try to hide her nervousness and embarrassment. Speaking from the heart, like he told her to do, it's a frightening thing. It puts her out on a limb with no net to catch her.
"That was a bold thing you just did, Delia." Jaiden smiles, reaching out to pat her cheek, brushing over that blush with surprisingly delicate fingertips. "And I'm going to come back. I'm going to be just fine. You're going to be just fine. You're the head of a clinic, after all!"
Her breath comes out all at once, she's either been chewing gum or she's just brushed her teeth because it still smells minty. She turns her head, though not enough to force his fingertips away from her cheek, to take a look around at the clinic. Delia smiles even wider, the crinkles at the corners of her eyes combined with the sparkle in them telltale of her delight. "I still can't believe it… everything was so unsettled before. Now, things are really looking up. You were right, I might become a doctor after all."
There's another pause as the smile softens. "I just hope when you come back that we'll still be just fine. Or that we will be fine. I'm selfish enough to say that I don't want this to go away."
"Hey. Just in case." Jaiden presses something into her hand - a folded note with a key inside. "While I'm gone if you need a place to go that no-one knows about, that key and those codes'll get you and your dad into my garage. and if you really, really, really need to hide, use the pattern on the bookcase in the back and hide in there." Jaiden lifts his finger to his lips. "That's a secret, though. Only you know about it and can use it just in case there's a raid or something horrible while I'm away."
Jaiden nods. "It'll be fine. We'll all be here. It'll be like I never left."
Delia's fingers curl around the note and key, holding it tightly in her hand as he presses it into her palm. "Nothing's going to go wrong," she says quietly, looking down at the bit of paper that's still visible in her fist. She pulls it back and ducks it into the front pocket of her top and releases it there, drawing the hand out again only to slide it up onto his shoulder. "Even if you're not gone more than a few minutes, or even a night or a few days, I'm still going to miss you. Just be careful and make sure you come back."
She gives him an easy smile and tilts her head as she observes him. That dreamy expression washes over her as her eyes drift over his features. "Do you think that even if everything changes, that I might remember our dreams?"
The logical part of Jaiden would disagree. If they never met in the subway then they would have never had dreams to have of each other. But he finds himself nodding. "Yeah, I do. Good dreams don't just go away because of a little twist of fate."
He gets to his feet after a moment, going to look around the clinic. "You did a lot of work in here. You should be proud." Subject change…totally invisible!
As Jaiden walks away from her, Delia places her hands in her pockets and curls her fist around the note and key, hanging onto it like a security blanket. His abrupt change of topic worries her a little and it's a plain as day expression on her face. "Yeah, Dad and I stayed up all night getting it ready. I painted, he rewired the lights…"
On one of the walls is a newspaper clipping, one run inthe previous day's paper outlining Delia's arrest and detailing her crime. It's an odd thing to be proud of, but for some reason, she cut it out and framed it. Call it a learning and growth experience.
Jaiden chuckles as he peers at the clipping, glancing over at Delia with a smile. "I now can admit that I know a girl who's wanted, not just for her good looks, but for what she does to men's minds when they're asleep." He's nervous. Stressed. Most definitely wary of what's coming closer as the time ticks by. "Hey Delia?"
Jaiden takes his iphone out, motioning her closer. "C'mere. I want to get at least one picture with you and I in the same frame."
With a brilliant show of teeth, Delia smiles and practically runs across the room to Jaiden. Her arms wrap around his waist and she fits herself in closely all the while looking at the iPhone. "Okay, ready!" Her smile is perhaps the widest he's seen outside of their dreams, comparable to the grassy meadow when she was leaning over him.
Right at the last second, before he snaps the picture, she changes position. Her hand cups his cheek and her lips capture his in a surprise kiss.
*click*