Participants:
| Scene Title | Some Things Bond People |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Challenging experiences have a tendency of bringing people together and forging trust that might not have otherwise been. |
| Date | February 23, 2011 |
Between two phones, then later at a diner.
It's only been a few days since the Dome's release, a few days since the culmination of three weeks of confusion and chaos came to an abrupt and violent end. The world, it seems, has more or less returned to normal. Though maps may be redrawn, structures rebuilt, and wounds healed, life still goes on.
The days since his release have been a trial for Devon, as much as the time spent within the bubble that blocked out the rest of the world. Days are rough at times, nights worse. And he's been advised to seek someone out. Anyone who might have an answer or even just another ear to lend. A morning spent thinking, trying to come up with any excuse to keep things to himself, a business card often looked at, frowning over the hand written number on the back.
Devon had taken off after lunch, returned to the apartment he now shared with his employer. Sitting on his bed in the spare room the card was looked over again. Finally, the teenager punched in the number. He's not sure if Doctor Brennan even made it out alive, but hope is a powerful thing at times. His thumb hesitates over the send button for just a second, then presses. The phone is lifted to his ear, brows knitting together while he waits for an answer.
Dr. Brennan did indeed make it out alive. Some physical wounds, some mental ones just like devon except that age and experience have given him coping skills to deal with most of it. With the Suresh Center closed right now, and in truth, if he were to show up at work right now, he'd likely be sent back home.
So that is where he is, at home, laying on the couch with his infant son on his chest, watching some television while his kids are at school and his wife at their medical practice. So when the phone rings, he's quick to pick it up, and over the line comes that somewhat familiar voice. "Brennan household, Harve speaking"
Very much alive.
A baited silence follows, Devon is caught staring at the floor, mouth open. Partially, he's surprised that the phone was answered, partially relieved. Though only briefly met, it's good to hear someone else had made it out. His mouth closes, then opens again, this time words following.
"— Doctor Brennan. This… this is Devon." The teenager frowns slightly, a hand raising to scratch at a cut on his face. "Sorry to… From the dome. We were… Sorry to bother you."
It's when Devon says that he's from the dome that Brennan clues in who the person on the other side of the line is, shifting in spot, one hand clutching phone the other cluthing baby, getting more comfortable.
"Not a bother Devon. Not in the least. I can't tell you how happy I am to hear your voice, that you made it out. Are you okay? You some place safe? Do you need any medical help?" Because last he'd seen the teenager was going down at the hands of what turned out to be Humanis First.
"I'm…" Mostly okay. "…You should see the other guy," Devon chooses to say instead. The beating he'd received the afternoon he and the doctor had been captured wasn't all he'd suffered physically. "I'm staying with my boss right now. I'm …recovering." The boy leans forward, elbow connected to the phone resting against his knee. "How… how are you? It's good to find out you came out of there, too."
"As bad as it would be for me to say, as a doctor, I hope you put him six feet under" He's okay with saying this, his son isn't old enough to understand what he's even said. Just the tone of his voice.
"I had hole in my shoulder, but I'm okay. My wife is fussing over me, my kids think I'm the bee's knee's. I'm not quite sleeping through the night, but my kids don't mind because the bed is big enough for all of us to puppy pile in and they don't get to sleep in there unless it's a treat. Helps." The baby on his chest squirms a bit, but that's just so he can shift his head and peer owleshly around. "Reminded me of my time overseas. How about you Devon. You taking it easy? Or you know, back to work?"
Devon doesn't respond to the state of the others, the Firsters, but Brennan may be able to imagine the sobering cold look that briefly crosses the teen's face. It warms a little, a quiet appreciation and small happiness as the doctor explains his own state of recovery. "We should compare scars," he says in jest, yet semi serious. The doc's ramblings seeming to loosen some of the anxiety of making this call.
"I'm trying to return to normal. Made it through work yesterday, left early today. I… don't sleep all that great." If at all. Devon rubs a hand over his face. "Too many things come up when I close my eyes. Getting shot, knife almost taking out my eye. —Humanis First."
"It'll be a bit kid, before things get back to their new state of normal" It's a quiet admission over the phone. "You had anything to eat yet Devon? " He's inquiring, with a reason behind it.
"Breakfast," Devon replies with a glance toward the clock. He should be considering lunch at this point. Or something edible. "I was just going to have a sandwich here. Or… something."
"Tell you what, I'm hungry, I only have my son. what do you say to you picking a place to eat, and I'll meet you there and we can do something crazy like sit in a restaurant that isn't being raided for food like to normal people in New York? "
"Sounds good," Devon replies, managing another grin. "There's a place not too far from here that's pretty good. Diner type." He hesitates briefly, recalling the name and location, then offering directions.
Brennan calculates the time that it will take for him to get Henri dressed up, get on the road and to the place of choice. It's relayed to devon, when he should be there. "You need anything?" An open offer from the physician to the teenager. "Before I take off to meet you?" He'd like to check the kid out for himself, look in on him.
"No," the teenager answers, shaking his head. Nothing of necessity comes to mind. He's slowly transitioning from his aunt's place to Russo's and most immediate needs that he's aware of are taken care of. "No, I… I'm fine. I'll see you in a bit."
"See you then Devon" He'll be the first to hang up, because he's got the most to do to get to where they have agreed to meet, but he'll get there, Brennan will.
Some time later, at the diner.
Devon arrived at the diner on foot. He could have taken the bus but walking seems far too normal, far safer, compared to public transportation. At least it wasn't too far to go, a few blocks finding him waiting outside the little eatery.
Indeed he will be a little different from when the doctor first saw him, once Brennan arrives. The near loss of an eye wasn't exaggerated, the fine line cutting from temple to nose and proving that a fraction to one side and he would have lost it. The bruises he'd acquired, those that can be seen, stand out only slightly less in purples and greens upon his face. The teenager holds himself a little differently as well. Taller, but with a slight hunch that seems more from pain than distrust. There's still a distance to his expression, not quite cold or detached, but not what one might expect of a kid his age.
Hands rest in his coat pockets as Devon leans against the facade. His eyes watch passersby while he awaits for the doctor to arrive.
A parking spot opens up just down from the deli and that's where Brennan's car pulls up, not the black one that's stuck on Roosevelt Island for now, a little hybrid pseudo SUV that his wife tends to normally drive. He doens't make his way to Devon right off, has to go through the routine that accompanies getting a carseat out and a quite gender neutral diaper bag out of the back seat.
When he does start towards the deli, he raises his arm a bit, good one carting the kid in it's seat the diaper bag. '"Could have gone inside Devon. Didn't have to wait out here in the cold, or is the four walls and a roof thing an issue?"
"Something like that," Devon replies, giving a nod to Brennan's wave. One hand remains pocketed while the other pulls the door open, allowing Brennan and the baby in first. "I walked anyway, not much difference between that and waiting outside." It's accompanied with a small grin.
"Guess I got used to the temperature inside the dome, and not outside it" He slips in ahead of the teenager, the baby inside fast asleep. Soother in mouth and eyes closed, there won't be any fussing from that end. "You're looking like you're healing, you had someone look at you or did you hightail it the moment the dome lifted?" He picks a table, far corner, wedging the seat in one of the booths and sliding in himself beside it.
Following suit, Devon slides himself into the opposite bench. Oddly, he only glances to the rest of the patronage once in passing, though notably his eyes do slide toward the opened side of the booth on occasion. "I …took off not long after the dome lifted," he admits. If looked at closely, super glue seems to be the culprit holding the gash on his face closed. "I um… stuck with another man, little bit older and kind of round. We got out together and split up."
Super glue is the magic of many an ER and doctors office and it's not that hard to notice Brennan studying Devon's face, a force of habit. "Good, good, and you're getting back to normal or as normal as it can be" Brennan digs a hand into his pocket, dragging a pen out too and yet another one of those business cards produced. "Her name is Bella Sheridan. She's a co-worker, a shrink. I remember my first time out in the congo, when the compound was raided, men who put Humanis First frankly to shame. Things didn't blow right away, not at first, not right away. I just tossed myself back into work, back into fixing people and the situation. When things, if things hit that point, where… you're going to blow. Call her"
Brennan slides the card over. "She won't charge you, she was in the dome too with us though I don't think she so much got the more physical end of things but… Someone to just… yell at, get it all out and know that she won't hate you and won't say a word about what you say. Just in case, you know"
Hesitantly, Devon reaches across to pick up the card. "That's been suggested a few times," he says, as much a guilty response as a derisive one. Shrinks, no one wants to admit to going to one, but the idea is swimming that he probably should see someone. "Thanks. I'll.. if I need to, I'll call her." The card is tucked away, slipped into a pocket. "Nothing's blown up yet… I've been… the nightmares are pretty bad. Almost hit Mister Russo when he tried to wake me."
"Talking with her might actually help with that. If you like too, I can send you to my wife, and she can see about giving you something to help with that, if you like. She's a doctor to. I think I'm too close to the situation to in truth, prescribe anything, but I mean, she's raised four kids and a husband, if anyone's used to dealing with the nightmares, she's done it. She's gone through some of the things that I have overseas."
But there's a waitress, drinks to order, food, things to eat and when the waitress goes, Brenann's attention if back on Devon. "Where do you work?"
Devon nods to the offer, he'll give it consideration, but for the moment there's no response to it. "Maybe. If… I'll try talking to the other one first, that… Doctor Sheridan." He grows quiet, though polite still, when the waitress appears, putting in his order with a slight detachment. Gears are switched once again, at the doctor's next question. "I'm an intern, at Studio K. Sort of.. Mister Russo's assistant-slash-intern."
" Ahh, good old Russo. I've been a guest a few times. He's a good man. Manifested recently. He seems to have a pretty level head on him. I should have figured that was who when you said you almost decked him waking up" But there's so many Russo's in the city. "You'll have to tell him we were elbow to elbow being men in the dome." Because really, Devon wasn't a teenager in there.
"The woman I was visiting, she's out, took off to connecticut and is staying with some family. Her baby is feeling better. I'm on a bit of a vacation while they fix the suresh center back up. Gives me much needed time to just be with Henri here. Poor thing, just born and then his dad gets stuck in a dome"
"Yeah, he's…" Devon shrugs slightly, only one shoulder raising, though a small grin works onto his face. "After news of my aunt, he called, offered me a place to stay. It's been good so far. Kind of… unusual. But… Life's been weird. I'll tell him you were there in the dome though.
Mention of the baby has the teenager looking toward the car seat. "Yeah, bet your whole family's glad to have you back. And you… glad to be out."
"Russo's good man. I feel better, knowing your there" Since he's lost pretty much the rest of his family in the dome. "If it doesn't work out there, I'm sure that he can help find you another place to stay." Given that he had his sister with him, he's sure that there's plenty of concern and care for Devon and his wellbeing looked after.
At the mention of his family glad, Brennan breaks out into a grin then, the waitress returning with drinks, coffee for Brennan. He favors his left arm, not moving the shoulder too much, things still tight, sore. "I'm amazed my wife even went to work, but she has a few patients she needed to see and it didn't feel right to cancel appointments. We're going to france I think within the next week. I promised her, when we got out, that I'd do that. Seems a good time to do it while construction is going, see her family, spend some time as a whole. A man has got to keep his promises"
"I've got some friends watching out for me," Devon puts in an assurance of his own. "I don't expect they will, but if things change, there's other places I can go." It's a lot of reliance to place on friends, but there's no where left to turn presently. Regardless of that, the boy doesn't seem overly concerned.
It's water the teenager receives, Devon offering a small nod of thanks. He pulls the glass closer, fingers wrapping around the vessel though it remains on the table. "A France trip sounds great. And well deserved. It'll be a good thing for you and your family to do."
"You should get away too. Even if it's for a weekend. Grab some friends, go to the coast, get out of the city and don't turn on the news. Doctors orders, I can even write out a prescription for you, to give to Russo. One trip, somewhere, with friends. Rest, relaxation, fishing good food, good company. Might help with the sleeping, take a little stress off your shoulders. I'm sure that Dr. Sheridan would think the same thing. I'd offer to cart you along to France but you'd be surrounded by girls and I you'd need a passport and I don't know if Russo would allow you"
Carting a stranger to France, but then, he's carted around Liette to the depths of the city's less than savory side to protect her, it really wouldn't be that different.
Devon shakes his head, still a small grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. "I'll give it some thought. A vacation sounds good, but… I'll give you my word that I'll discuss it with Russo. He might even have some ideas already." He offers that one-shoulder shrug again. Following the tracks of Brad Russo's mind takes practice. "And thanks, for considering offering. Not sure I'm mentally up for a trip of that size anyway. Maybe I'll just beg off work for a few more days, I must be crazy if I wanted to go back so soon."
"Tell him you want a bunch of quarters and go find yourself an arcade and go beat the top score in some game, and then go to the movies and order pizza and be a teenager" That's an alternative, that's for sure. And quick enough, food is coming, Brennan making sure the soother is still in the infants mouth, still sleeping. "So, Devon. Let eat, like I'm sure we've both been doing and why don't you tell me what you liked to do before everything went to hell in a handbasket?" THey'll be here at least an hour, maybe a little less till Henri wakes up wanting food and they'll have to part ways. But they'll part ways with a promise from Brennan to keep in touch. Some things, bond people and life under the dome perhaps, has done sucha thing.
