Participants:
With appearances by Jared Harrison and Dean Beauchamp courtesy of
| Scene Title | Round One Goes To The Dads |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Liz and Abby put daddies under house arrest…. although we're pretty sure the Dads actually won. |
| Date | Feb 28, 2010 |
Elisabeth's Apartment
—-
As she lets herself into the apartment, Elisabeth carefully locks the bolts behind her. Alec made this place damn near impenetrable unless … well, unless you're smoke or shadows or a teleporter. But Carlisle Dreyfus, Kozlow, and so far as she knows Feng Daiyu are not in those categories. So the parents who are currently stashed here, to her knowledge, should be safe enough. "Dad?" the blond calls. "Mr. Beauchamp? Mrs. Beauchamp?" She resets the alarm as a matter of habit as soon as she passes the control panel. She also bumps it to the higher security levels — the one that will automatically ring some people's telephones with an urgent alert message if it's breached. People like Felix, Claire, Cat, and … God help her… Kershner.
As she sets her jacket over the back of one of the bar stools, Elisabeth glances over the breakfast bar. She's wearing her shoulder rig, something that's likely to make some people a little uneasy, but right now she herself feels naked without it.
Jared Harrison is not a happy person at the moment. Being detained in this apartment was not his idea. Not in the least. He understands the concern his daughter, Elisabeth, has but this whole thing does not sit well with him. He's a man, and when his manhood is put into question, that tends to make this proud man's mood sour. He's in the kitchen preparing some food, at least it's something he can do in this God-awful predicament. He's chopping up some steak and tossed it into the frying man to watch it sizzle, while on a cutting board, he's dicing some onion and peppers. Also layed out are some tortilla, soft flour ones.
"In the kitchen," comes the voice that she's probably expecting, though probably not the tone she'd hoped for. The food hasn't quite gotten to the point where its scent fills the apartment yet, but soon it will. He looks up into the cupboard for some seasonings.
"Here Liz!" There's a pot of fresh hot made by Abby fresh off her shift. Thank you for a shortened one, the blonde in her uniform coming out of the bathroom, drying her hands, her button up tucked under her arm, white undershirt on and her blue pants, belt and boots. "Dah's in the back, with Momma, I just got in. How's the island?" The EMT inquires of the other woman. "Woman in labor today Liz, lord, she had a little baby girl about an hour after we done get her into the hospital. I don't think I ever stopped turning red the whole time to the hospital. Oh Mr. Harrison that smells soooo good"
It's not as if she can't tell when her father's being pissy. "Hey, Abs," Elisabeth replies with a smile that is slightly strained by the knowledge that what she's about to tell people is likely to destroy moods all the way around. "Dad's a great cook," she adds. "I think… if you don't mind grabbing them — or at least your dad — I've got… a bit of news." She glances at the other woman and grimaces a little. Clearly it's not the news that 'all's well and people can go home'.
Though he can tell otherwise, Jared's response is simply, "Hopefully it'll be that I can finally go home." It's not that he's unhappy visiting here, but under these circumstances.. not so much. He glances up at his daughter from where he's cooking and can already tell her news will not change his mood in the least. He finds a few seasonings he can use before tossing them into the mix and stiring it all together with the vegetables before placing a lid on it.
"Somehow Mr. Harrison, I don't think that you or my parents are going to beg oing home" If Liz's tone has any indication. Looks like the couch is going to get more residence from the youngest blonde. She turns around, hanging onto the hallway walls. "DAH! CAN YOU COME OUT PLEASE! LIZ IS HERE!"
She forget this is not the bar or the house back home with it's rambling walls and the like. That much is evident as she turns around and looks to Liz and her father, "Oh, right. Sorry for yelling"
Actually, that brings the first smile to Elisabeth's face that she's had in a little while now. A faint chuckle even! "For God's sake, Abby, I didn't know you had opera singer pipes on you," she teases gently while waiting for the Beauchamps to join. She slips around the breakfast bar to give her father a hug before all hell breaks loose — clearly it's going to be an Issue of the sort she rarely has with him. May as well enjoy the moment of affection before it hits the fan.
Liz' father gives her a hug, and despite the tension between the two, it's genuine. "I hope everything is okay," he says before turning back to his food, lifting the lid and stirring, before replacing it, cringing at Abby's shouting. He holds back the suggestion that she use her indoor voice.
"Ah'm not deaf, darlin'," Dean points out in dry tones as he steps out from the back, stepping over towards his daughter and reaching out to fondly rustle her hair, a tired smile offered over to the gathering of peoples, "It's not that large've an apartment, y'know…"
"I did sing in church. I think I swept the rafters once. I ain't got nothing on you though ms shatter glass for real" Oh geeze, her dad is rustling her hair and the squint she gives him is jsut pure child to parental unit that's commonplace with that maneuver. "I knwo Dah, I know, I forget. I don't think Momma's coming out though so…." Hint to liz.
Elisabeth can't help the grin, since that response is pretty much what she'd have expected from Jared too. A quick additional squeeze to her father and Elisabeth steps back around the breakfast bar into the living room, seeming entirely at ease with the fact that she's still strapped with a gun under her arm. "So, uhm… I have a bit of news. There was a raid earlier on a location that was supposed to be where our terrorist faction was hiding out. It… didn't go well." She looks between the men in the room, with only a quick glance at Abby. She's kind of expecting the other blond to back her up in this. "I've bumped the security system into the higher security levels that my friend put in place. I …. need you guys to confine yourselves here for the next few days while we work out a way to catch them."
"Now wait one minute," the elder Harrison's voice booms out. "I've gone along with being here at your request, but only because you insisted. How this plan you had failed and so we have to stay here. It sounds like you've no idea how long you want to keep us here, Elisabeth." He flips off the burner and pushes the pan to a cold one to keep it from overcooking. "I am not going to stay here indefinitely, Lizzie. I'm not." Just a little prideful, he is. "I am not scared of your terrorists."
The elder Beauchamp's brow furrows with deep worry-lines as he looks up from his daughter and towards the apartment's proper owner, lips drawing down into a frown of concern. "Ah'm rather in agreement with your pah there, Miss Harrison," he states, stepping over closer, "Ah'm not afraid of some Red with a blood feud goin' in his heart. An' this ain't exactly the biggest place in the world for so many folk, no offense, ah'm quite grateful for you puttin' us up here, but t'say we can't leave?"
"She's not saying you can't Dah, Mr. harrison, but that maybe, for a few more days you might just stay inside? This man is no joke. he showed up last sunday evening at a friends place, and the lot of us were scared. I've seen what this man is capable of. He's nothing to sneeze at." Abigail offers to her father and Liz's. "It might be prudent, but I can understand why you don't cherish the idea of staying inside. I really do"
Stern blue eyes — Jared's own — look back at him coolly. "Oh, good, Daddy. You're not scared of any Evo terrorists. That just makes me feel so much better," Elisabeth retorts drily. "I killed this man's son. Doesn't matter the reason, I killed his son," she tells them all as they congregate. "There are at least two of them and an ex-CIA operative actively involved in killing or attempting to kill the parents and loved ones of everyone who went to Russia. They have almost succeeded twice." Teo's mother and Abby's own. "And they have succeeded twice that we know of. One of those people was Jennifer Chesterfield." She shakes her head. "Believe me when I tell you I am not kidding here. This is not a joke. They will come after you,…. and all in all, it's my personal opinion that hitting everyone else was just their way of making me know that they were coming for those dear to me because I pulled the trigger. And they will not miss."
She looks at the two men, her voice gentling slightly. "Mr. Beauchamp, the friend who secured this apartment set me up so that a SWAT team would have a hard time coming through the door." She looks at her father. "And if you make me live through the death of the man I loved and my father in the same three months, I…. honestly have no clue what on earth I'll do, Dad. You're all the family I have left."
Hands on the counter turn into a pair of clenched fists, knuckles turning white. Jared Harrison could say many many things here. Things that would hurt, however true they might be. Why couldn't she have stayed a school teacher? Why couldn't she have a normal job like everyone else? Why does she have to be involved in all of this? In the end, he already fears that it'll be him attending her funeral instead of the other way around. Too many risks are being taken and he doesn't like it one bit. He bites his tongue however, and nods, finally conceding. "Fine." He turns his back to her, turning on the faucet and washing his hands. Reaching for a dishtowel, he wipes them clean.
"Ah know what you did, Miss Harrison," Dean states, his tone grave and serious as he regards the girl, "An' I know a man like that is goin' t'keep killin' to try an' fill that empty spot in his heart, until there's nobody left t'kill." He gestures with one hand, "Ah know you're jus' protectin' us, but ah for one am not about t'live in fear. If th'good lord calls me home, then he calls me home."
Abigail just looks at her father, jaw dropping at his words. If the good lord calls him home? It makes the younger blonde rise her hand to her hips and give her father a look that's so similar to the woman resting in the back room. "pardon me?"
Elisabeth is forced to bite back a response to 'Fine.' Because you know when you get that tone from your father that it is anything but 'fine,' and he's saying it because he's decided that either a) he's actually going to listen to reason and is not going to have the argument at hand, or b) he's just going to do as he pleases and will ignore you anyway. Hmmmm….. wonder where Lizzie got her stubborn, anyone? "I'm sorry you're pissed, Dad," she sighs. And then stops at Mr. Beauchamp's jump in. Oh great. And here Liz was hoping that the answer was b.
Liz takes a step back, too, cuz when Abby says 'pardon me' in that tone, Elisabeth knows it is time to duck and cover. Oh yes it is.
As much as Jared Harrison agrees with Dean Beauchamp, he's not going to vocalize that just yet. He's already stated his piece, it's just a matter of deciding just how he's going to handle this. He can tell when something's going to go bad and the conversation between Abby and her father is not going to head off a good direction as far as he can tell. He keeps his mouth shut as he places the towel back where it goes and then turns around to lean on the counter.
Dean's own jaw sets in just about the exact same way as his daughter's when she gets stubborn, and he folds both labor-thickened arms across his chest, looking back to Abigail steadily. "They may never catch this Russkie. You expect me an' your ma t'stay here forever, Abigail? What happens, happens, an' I will not spend our lives hidin' like rats in a barn."
"The good lord won't be calling you home quite so soon Dah. Not in a this Babylon as you call it and no, I don't expect you to stay here forever but it's just been a week Dah, not even. What happened to agreeing to stay here, for a bit, so that I would have one less thing to worry about and so that we could get Momma help for her arms. I was going to ask Robert if his boss might be kind enough to come and tend her arms. But you just want to hightail it back to Louisiana to a burnt down home and no place to stay? That's even more dangerous Dah, do you not see it? They burnt down our home. I can move you to another apartment here if you like but damned if I'm going to watch you put yourself out there on a buffet platter for them to pick at. I can't countenance you dying Dah, you or Momma, the same as you can't countenance it with me!"
Abigail puts her figurative foot down. "You're staying Put dah"
Elisabeth's lips quirk into a faint smirk. Because yeah… that's about how she expected her OWN conversation to go. So she may as well throw in and go back to back with Abby in this brawl. "You too, Dad." She sends her father a look that is part stubborn insistance and part plea. "Besides," she adds slyly. "If you're here, you guys might actually be able to help…. if you're willing. If you go home or something, I'm just going to have to sic Homeland Security agents on your ass and stuff, and that's just going to really crimp your dating life."
"Ah agreed t'come an' live here where y'all could keep an eye on me'n your ma," Dean replies firmly, his eyes narrowing slightly, "Ah never agreed t'hide in a bedroom for weeks on end, baby girl."
"I also wanted to put less of a strain on Agent Parkman and his resources. And you've hardly been made to hide in a bedroom Dah. I'm sorry i'm not here every hour of the day, but I have a job, and I have a bar to run and at some point in between I need to go to church and sleep."
"Not until now," Dean points out, gesturing to Elisabeth, "But now Miss Harrison's askin' us t'stay here all th'time? Ah'm not hidin' that deep, darlin'."
"In point of fact, I'm asking you folks merely to stay in the apartment for probably little more than the next few days. Given the Homeland raid yesterday, they're going to be forced to move — things are getting too hot. But before I ask you folks to act as bait — which by the way, scares the ever-loving hell out of me — I want to run it past a couple of people. To make sure that if you want to do this, we can keep you covered so you're in as little danger as possible." Elisabeth looks between the men, and then looks at Abby apologetically. She hasn't even had time to run this thought past Abigail herself, much less anyone else. Except Lancaster, who was … unwilling. Liz herself is not happy to bringing this up, but the possibility exists that with a teleporter on call, we might be okay.
Jared doesn't know anything about being bait or whatever hairbrained scheme that they might have up their sleeve, but he's not going to sit here and listen to the Beauchamps battle back and forth over this. He turns his back to the others, "I'll be in my room." He steps from the room, disappearing behind a closed door, though he's polite enough not to slam it as much as he may want to. He feels like he's the prisoner and he doesn't like it one little bit.
Abigail just looks at her father, lips pursing before swiveling her gaze to Liz "And my father is not going to be bait Liz. Thee's no question about it. Not while my momma's not back on her feet all the way. So they can leave that out of the equation" A game of tennis with words, she looks back to her father, forefinger and thumb pinching the bridge of her nose. "Fine Dah, what do you want to do then? Ic an get Elias to take you back down south after I let Parkman know"
A heavy sigh spills from Dean's lips, and he brings a hand up to rub against his brow. "Alright, alright," he raises his other hand, "Y'all win. Ah'll stay indoors… for a few days."
"Whatever floats your boat Dah." Abigail manages to say, reigning in her frustration. "It'll take that long for Agent Parkman or whomever's dealing with his, to get things in order back home. So it's not like you'll be any worse off. If it gets too bad Dah, i'll take you and momma shopping ro the movies or something okay. I'm sorry, it's not ideal, it's not perfect but we're trying. We're trying to keep what happened to others, from happening to you and happening to Liz's Dah okay. I'm sorry"
Elisabeth automatically flinches when Jared closes the door behind him. It didn't have to slam for her to hear the slam. She sends Dean an apologetic look and says quietly, "I know this is chafing everyone. If I had a better plan, I'd lay it out. Right now, I don't. I'm sorry too." She shoves a hand through her hair and has a feeling that this is not quite over with her own father either. It occurs to her to wonder, for the first time in her life, if her father'd be arguing QUITE this hard with her if she were a boy. sigh
"Ah know, ah know…" Dean's hand drops, and he turns with a grimace to head back to where Doreen's still sleeping, "…ah'm jus' frustrated, baby girl. You know how ah feel about this city, an' about hidin' in general…"
"Yeah Dah, I know. I know it all the time" Abby manages to say without snapping at her father. "I guess were finishing making dinner?" The younger blonde says to the older one.
Elisabeth just puts her hands up in the air in one of those 'whatever' movements. She offers a rueful grin. "Yeah… dinner's on us, I guess. Gotta love pissin' in Dad's corn flakes, huh?" She nudges Abby with a shoulder as they head for the kitchen. "Haven't felt so thoroughly taken to task in…. God only knows how long. With a single word too!" she quips.
ABby has, a few times and it's usually over the phone as well. "yeah" she murmurs. "Tell me about it"