Someday There Might Be Trust

Participants:

william_icon.gif elisabeth_icon.gif

Scene Title Someday There Might Be Trust
Synopsis William sticks close when Liz is brought through the ER to a room, finally.
Date January 13, 2009

St. Luke's Hospital


One nice thing about being a cop and being escorted in by the captain of one of the most hotly contested and controversial squads in the city? The ER physicians don't care that she's Evolved, except insofar as it could be a complication to her physical situation. And they don't fool around, either. In the time it takes the paramedics to get to the hospital, Elisabeth is deemed stable. X-rays are done nearly immediately, and the worst part of the whole situation is the orthopedic surgeon who gets brought in to set her upper torso properly. But the up side is that instead of lying in the ER in pain for several hours, it takes barely 45 minutes before she's up in a room. By 6am, she's in a real bed. Just enough time for William to make the calls to her emergency contacts, her partner, and the precinct to get guards on the room and the floor that she's on, but not enough time for them to arrive before she's settled into a room. So he gets to be her only company for another half hour. Another up side? The pain medication is finally kicking in, and she's floating on a sea of not-quite-pain now, aware that he's there but quiet.

Still in his sweats, William leans back in his chair languidly, folding his legs up onto each other, his arms crossing over his chest. Tilting his chin back, his tongue wets his lips as he waits quietly. It's been a time keeping his anger in check. The Captain goes by the books. Though, whoever did this.. he rolls his head on his shoulders, giving a soft sigh.

Elisabeth opens her good eye — the right one by now is merely a slit in the puffy, turning-purple side of her face — and looks toward him. "Hey," she greets him softly. Traction sucks. She goes to move and can't with her left arm up in the air like that, so she gives up. "Bettin' you wanna have a talk," she says quietly.

William is quickly on his feet, moving to the side of Elisabeth's bed. Standing over her, he nibbles on the bottom of his lip a little bit. "Who did it, Liz?" The Captain asks quietly.

Blowing out a soft breath, Elisabeth is quiet for a long while. Maybe long enough that Will might think she fell asleep. When she opens her eye(s), though, she looks up at him. "A Company agent who wanted information I didn't have on the same people you think that I know," she tells him quietly. "Her name is Jessica Sanders. And you should probably contact Matt Parkman at Homeland Security and report this. Jessica's…. extremely dangerous. She's superstrong, and she's a complete sociopath."

"Who exactly do I think you know?" William starts, but he shakes his head after a moment. That can wait for another time. "Sanders. Where can I find her?" William asks quietly. "How does she know you? How do you know her?"

Elisabeth looks away from him, toward the far wall. "I'm not entirely sure WHO you think I know at this point. People in PARIAH or people sympathetic to them or whatever. You were right, you know," she says tiredly. "I don't trust you, Will. I'm trying, but…. I trust that your heart's in the right place, but I don't know where you stand with a lot of issues. You are, and rightly so, suspicious of information that I bring you with no context to it, and I can't give you any more context than I have already." She shifts her weight in the bed, trying to find a more comfortable position and whimpering as she does it, then looks back at him. "I know her sister, who is a sweetheart just trying to get her life back. She's been comatose since the Bomb until very recently. I won't tell you where to find the sister, not right now, because she doesn't even know Jessica's in town. Jessica approached me and … sort of asked for my help in keeping her sister safe as she tries to rebuild her life. And I honestly *can't* tell you where to find Jessica because I don't know."

William audibly groans as he looks down at her. "Another answer with a lot of words but no substance." The Captain grumbles peering down at her. "You're still going to feed me my regular dose of bullshit even after this? You're hurt, badly, Liz. You could have been killed? You're telling me this was done by a single woman? A single Evolved woman? And you still keep me in the dark?" William shakes his head in disbelief.

Elisabeth lifts her right hand to rub her temple and then drops it before she makes contact. "There's plenty of substance. You don't want to hear it." She looks at him and says quietly, "Hypothetically speaking, let's say that I know some of the vigilante groups in this town. And hypothetically speaking, if I did know them, do you think it would be wise to tell the head of the Evolved anti-crimes task force who is charged with bringing them all in? Because to me? That'd be stupid. The problem is that, again hypothetically, if I *did* possess some of that information and THEY learned of a plot to wipe out Evolved and regular humanity alike, don't you think I'd want to do all I could to stop that, including risking my career on bringing that information to the aforementioned head of department?"

"Hypothetically," William continues the thought softly. "If there was such a plot, such an extensive plan that could feasibly wipe out all tge Evolved and or humanity would you think me so thick headed that I would put writing up an unregistered Evolved over doing all I could to take out said evil masterminds?" William practically scoffs at theinjured woman. "That's stupid, Liz. If you're consorting with groups that are committing crimes, Elisabeth. If you're protecting them, it's your ass on the chopping block. If you know a group of would be superheroes trying to foil the end of the world you better let the authorities in on it." He clears his throat. "Regardless. What can you give me on Sanders? She needs to be arrested, Liz. This is one superhero that you shouldn't be protecting."

Elisabeth actually laughs softly at that, though it hurts her face and her ribcage tremendously, bringing tears to her eyes. "Oh, believe me… Jessica Sanders is the farthest thing from a hero that you could find anywhere. You can arrest her ass and chuck her somewhere for all I care right now. My care for her sister only goes to the point where I have to pay with my life." Her eyes on him are weary and tired and pain-filled, a little hazy with the drugs. "I already *did* let the authorities in on it… I gave you every single bit of information that they've managed to come up with over MONTHS, Will. What you do with it…. it's up to you. And HomeSec got the same information. There's only so much 'letting the authorities in on it' that I can do… I'm one person. For what it's worth? I *don't* consort with people like PARIAH; terrorists are terrorists. I came back to the police force because of a terrorist act. Because I wanted to help stop them. That the ones who hit the school are the same ones working on this virus thing? Turns out to be lucky for me in terms of being able to accomplish the goal that I came back for… but at the bottom of it all… it's about 'Serve and Protect.' And that's all I'm trying to do, to the best of my ability." She closes her eyes, her expression sad.

"How do you know Sanders?" William asks softly. "Where have you seen her before, hang out spots, friends, whatever. Anything you can give me, Liz." William says a bit quietly, taking a step forward his hand slowly going to her own, oh so gently.

There's a head-shake, and Elisabeth looks up at him. "That's just it. I haven't a CLUE where she hangs out. She approached me the one time at a place *I* hang out — over at the coffee shop near the high school. I had met her sister while I was teaching there, and I knew the sister's situation with the coma and all. She asked me to look out for her sister, and that was it. The only other time I saw her, she came looking for me at my apartment, again to talk about her sister. And then this time. I only learned from some of the people *I* know that she's a Company agent of some kind." She grimaces and that hurts her badly damaged face. "I didn't even know what the Company WAS until they told me. Some kind of private enterprise that works with Homeland Security some of the time or something, from what I understand. They apparently do a lot of black ops work." She sighs softly, and then squeezes his hand.

"Let me talk to her sister, Liz. I'll find Jessica, and I'll put her where she belongs. And this Company can deal with me and the rest of the Law. So just tell me, Liz. How can I talk to her sister?" William asks.

Elisabeth shakes her head at him. "You can't," she says simply. "The sister lost things in the coma. She doesn't even know Jessica exists," she finally explains tiredly. "As ridiculous as it sounds, I checked out the story… and it holds up. The sister's coma blocked out parts of her life that are painful — up to and including losing her son and husband to the Bomb. She woke up thinking she lost them in a car accident. And you've seen what Jessica is capable of? The sister just… blocked her out completely. Doesn't even remember that she exists. And frankly, Jessica likes it that way because now she doesn't have to worry about what her sister is doing to thwart her. Or so I gather, anyway. Not too clear on that part."

An irritated sigh. "Then what does she look like? Do you have pictures or something?" He glances down at her, though his hand still stays on hers. "I don't understand how you can have this much on her, but not have anything I could look into to find her."

Elisabeth forces a half-grin. "I have this much on her because I *watch* Will. I'm good at my job." And of course, she knew Niki *before* Jessica wiped her memory, so gleaned a lot before that happened. But she can't say that. "I don't have any pictures. Blond, blue-eyed, about 5'9" tall. Truth be told, I think if you call Parkman, he's going to know exactly who she is, and he's going to be able to move on it." And if Will *doesn't* call Parkman, Liz will as soon as she gets access to a phone.

"Fine." William says, with a little agitation. "Parkman, I'll get on it. I'll have James visit you soon. He should be able to help you out." The man indicates, waving a dismissive hand as if her present circumstance wasn't anything to worry about. "We'll get all of this taken care of."

Squeezing his hand, Elisabeth says quietly, "I wish I could give you what you want from me. I don't know what exactly it is, but I can tell I'm not doing it. For what it's worth to you? I think maybe what you said earlier helps… I'm used to working with cops who don't care who my sources are, so long as their information pans out. They didn't demand to meet my sources or try to micromanage quite so much. So I'm chafing at the appearance that you don't trust me to do my job, and you're chafing at the fact that I just won't tell you who all my sources are. Is there *anything* I can do to make this easier?"

"Rest well, Elisabeth." William says politely giving one last squeeze to her hand before pulling it away. "I'll get James in here as soon as I can. You'll be on your feet in no time." The Captain says crisply taking a step back, Harvard goes to take his exit.

Elisabeth merely sighs. Someday she might understand the man. Maybe. "Thank you," she says quietly.


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January 13th: A Little Closer To The Goal
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January 13th: The Enemy Of My Enemy... Ain't My Friend
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