Participants:
| Scene Title | Shadowed Legacy |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | The game is still in motion — there is much remaining to be done. But the shadowmorph left other legacies too. |
| Date | Jan 17, 2010 |
USS George Washington
Eyes wide, Claire throws herself after Elisabeth when she moves to the door of the helicopter. Even though not a few moments before she was ready to do the same thing, Elisabeth wouldn't survive a fall. "NO!" It's instinct that throws her after Liz, wrapping arms around the waist of the taller, older blonde.
While Claire holds on to her, the pair of them can only watch in horror as Cardinal sacrifices himself to save the world. Tears fill her eyes, she can't even imagine the anguish Liz it going through. But there isn't much time to dwell on it as the helicopter to thrown into a tails spin. Both woman have to grab for something to keep themselves from being thrown out.
There is silence between them as they both fall to the floor of the helicopter once it's under control. Both numb and in shock over what they just witnessed.
The tiny blonde regenerator sits silently in a spot as secluded as she can get in the mess hall. A salad on her plate, sits uneaten as Claire pushes it around with her fork, her eyes not even focused on whats in front of her. She's still dressing in the military issue camo pants, with the black tee. Dixon's tags still hang around her neck, she hasn't given them up, since she still plans to find his family and hand them over herself.
She finally went to get a shower. More because she was freezing to death standing outside than out of any real desire to be bothered with the practicalities. Elisabeth found warm clothing laid out for her when she got back to the cabin, courtesy of Cat. And now the blonde, wrapped in some of the clothes she brought with her from Russia — black woolen pants, a heavy sweater, boots — walks through the mess hall without seeming to see most of what goes on around her. She picks up a cup of coffee and nothing else, moving to find a seat in a corner. She pauses when she sees Claire, as if she's not going to join the younger woman. But it is on her to care for their people now. Claire. Peyton. Mack. What becomes of the group when they get back to New York Elisabeth doesn't know, but Richard would expect it of her. So she moves to settle into the seat across from the young regenerator and forces her neutral expression into something less… emotionless. "Hey," is all she says.
"Hey.." Claire offers blandly as she focuses on the older woman. Looking like she's going to say something, Claire seems to think better of it. Sighing softly, she glances down at her food, not sure what to say. But a thought flashes her mind, and the salad is shoved aside as she growls out, "You know what the worse of it is… I have only handful of memories, the rest gone. People says it's a mercy to not remember, it sucks not remembering."
Glancing at Liz, she gives her an apologetic look. Her words lose their edge and become sad, "Sorry Liz.. Last thing you need to hear is what I'm thinking."
"I'm fine, Claire," Elisabeth says quietly. It's a lie. Claire has to know it's a lie. She's about as far from 'fine' as it gets. But she doesn't have the luxury of losing it on this ship. "It does suck," she adds quietly. "My memories pick up… somewhere in the days after 9/11. Perhaps two or three days after, I'm not sure. I don't actually remember that day at all. I just remember digging through the wreckage of the Trade Center." She sips from her coffee cup.
"My mother died in the Bomb. So I have adult memories of her… times we spent together between 2001 and 2006. But before that, there is a gaping hole of nothingness. There aren't even partial memories back to either my junior or senior prom — I'm not sure which it is that I remember. I don't even know if I went to both of them, so I can't figure it out that way. I don't know… what I was like in college. I don't know what kind of talks my mother and I had during those years when I went from somewhat spoiled child to cop. I don't know… if she hated the fact that I decided to become a cop, or if we fought about it or what." Elisabeth smiles a little sadly. "I could ask my dad some of it, but… there are things he can't tell me about my relationship with her."
"Yeah.." Claire murmurs. "The feeling were there.. but only a few memories." She doesn't plan on breaking down, the death of a trusted friend is just added to the pile of things building behind that dam, no… she's pissed. "The vision happened, Liz.. just as it was shown.. but then.. Cardinal.." There is a moment a pause before she continues, "..had a syringe. I didn't know what it was.. but at the same time I had a feeling I knew.. and it gave Peter back his ability.. or something like that.. cause he regenerated."
Rubbing a hand along the side of her face, Claire shakes her head slowly. "I had no.. idea. " She murmurs softly, eyes going distant for a moment. "Then Magnes grabbed me and Eileen and took us to the helicopter." She doesn't sound happy about that at all really." Sighing softly, she rests her head on her hand, looking at her friend. "Now I can't stop thinking.. what now?"
Elisabeth's eyes avert when Claire says his name. She doesn't look back at the young woman until the query is made of her. And when she does, those blue eyes are bleak. "Now you pick up and go on, Claire," she says gently. "You take the pardon they're giving you. You at least attempt to make some kind of life for yourself, whether that's working in the Ferry, working with your father, working with me as an informant, whatever it is that you want to do. You put one foot in front of the other and keep on walking forward." Her tone is tight, but there's no anger anymore. She simply looks drained.
There is a wrinkle of her nose at the mention of working with the Ferry or her father, but she doesn't say anything, just sighs. "Thought about seeing if Huruma is going back to Madagascar and going back for a time, but I dunno. Part of me thinks like I need to put that behind me, but what kind of life is there after all this. To go from living everyday like your never going to see another.. to…. to… nothing." She doesn't know what she wants to do with herself. "I mean.. I have a scholarship.. but.." There is a grimace. "I just don't know if I sit in those classes… or what I want to do."
There is a frustrated huff from Claire, "I am glad to get rid of the terrorist branding, though. I'm not that Claire anymore." Blue eyes shift to Liz and gives her a small smile, though it doesn't reach her eyes though. "It's going to be weird.. both of you gone, though you'll be only training.. it's going to be surreal."
"I'll only be gone for a month," Elisabeth tells her quietly. "And I'll put things into a recovery pattern before I go." She pauses. "Assuming everything is copacetic in New York, actually… I think it might be time to put you to work." A silence field slips into place around the two. "We were…. working on orders from Edward Ray. We're not done yet, Claire. Richard," she manages, barely, to not choke on his name, "had an identity already in place with the CIA. An identity with ties to Kershner. He said she approached him with a plan to…. take the pretender out of office along with his VP." She studies Claire. "The game is still in motion. So … depending on how you want to play it, I think it might be time to go back and start studying Ray's damn string map again. See if we can sort out anything else from the information we already have at hand."
Glancing about as she realizes the field has been thrown up into place, Claire studies Elisabeth. Blonde brows lift at her words. "Who… who is Edward Ray?" She asks curiously, brows now dipping low in confusing as she leans forward on the the table. "And what string map?"
Head dipping down a bit, eye s dropping, she murmurs, "I'm Sorry.. you will probably get a lot of questions on things I should probably know." Claire glances up again, "At least until I've relearned everything lost."
Oh Lord. Elisabeth considers. "This'll be fun," she sighs. "Best not to talk about it on the boat. But you'll be a fresh set of eyes perhaps." Shoving a hand through her hair, Liz says quietly, "Honestly, Claire, I'm probably not in any good mindset to fill you in today, if you don't mind." She looks down at her coffee.
A small grimace and Claire glance a the table, looking a bit guilty. "Yeah, that's fine. Your right really."
An uncomfortable silence falls over the table for several long drawn out moments before Claire states, "I am sorry Liz. But for all it's worth. I am your friend, just as much as I was his. I'm here when and if you need me, for whatever reason." Glancing as some of the other people in the room, "If helping Richard was what I did before, well, then I guess it's what I'll keep doing. I figure he's the reason I was here in the first place."
Claire's mouth tugs up at one corner, "I guess I just answered my 'what now?' question."
"He knew…. what he was getting into, Claire." Elisabeth's voice breaks, the numbness cracking just a bit. She can't look at Claire. "We both did." The pain in her tone is stark. "Now we just have to… keep going. Doing what needs doing, kiddo." There is a long pause, and she clenches her jaw tightly. She's buried or lost too many men that she loves. Shoving the chair back, Liz leaves her cup on the table and says to Claire, "If I let this in right now… I don't think I'll be functional ever again. I'm too…. mad at him." There is a sudden rush of tears, and Elisabeth tries to shove them back.
"God damn him, Claire. God damn him to hell for … thinking ahead. For telling me he loved me and keeping the failsafe secret. I could have dealt with knowing — I knew this was maybe a one-way trip. But God damn him for not talking to me." She shakes her head, the low vibration of subsonic sound rumbling beneath Claire. "I can't do this, I gotta go." Liz turns and flees. Back out to the deck where she can hurl the vibrations out into the water where they can't hurt anyone. And she can scream and rage and throw things in absolute silence — at least insofar as anyone else is concerned.
The young regenerator sits at the table for a long moment, her head nodding slowly. "Yeah.." She murmurs to herself. "I can understand that." Finally pulling herself out of her thoughts, Claire slides out of her seat, picking up her tray to empty.
All Claire can do, is be nearby for her friend and deal with her own issues for now. A part of her is almost jealous of Cardinal, he's not having to deal with the after. The tiny regenerator is terrified of going back to New York and a normal life.
Stepping out in the hall in the direction that Elisabeth took, Claire looks sad, almost guilty for being there towards the end instead of her, to have kissed Cardinal, when Liz really should have been the one. . Tears start to prickle at her eyes and she turns to head down the opposite hall. She'll be there for her friend, they'll continue the work….
We'll rest when we're through. And then smack him when they joined him in the hereafter for getting a head start.