Participants:
| Scene Title | The Crippled Leading The Blind |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Audrey is leaving the hospital despite protests and wants Cooper so that she can keep going on the Samson Case, despite the fact that she's still blind. |
| Date | April 18, 2010 |
St. Luke's Hospital is known for its high-quality care and its contributions to medical research. Its staff place an emphasis on compassion for and sensitivity to the needs of their patients and the communities they serve. In addition to nearby Columbia University, the hospital collaborates with several community groups, churches, and programs at local high schools. The associated Roosevelt Hospital offers a special wing of rooms and suites with more amenities than the standard hospital environment; they wouldn't seem out of place in a top-rated hotel. That said, a hospital is a hospital — every corridor and room still smells faintly of antiseptic.
Four days since Agent Hanson went missing, spirited away by the midtown man from the debacle that was the orphanage. two days and change since she's been found, shoveled off to a hospital and a myriad of tests performed to determine why the agent hasn't been able to see and is blind. Who knows if it's permanent or temporary, only one person knows and he's likely not to tell.
So it was possibly with surprise that Cooper had a message on his phone when he came in, terse message from his favourite brunette. A order, couched as a request for Cooper to come to the hospital as soon as he got the message. Pronto. Now. ASAP. Do not pass go and collect 200 dollars. The reasoning when he shows up is evident with two other Home Sec lackey's outside her room. Both peer into the room that Audrey has been given, listening to their co-worker battle on in the room with someone. One's ready with a phone, the other holds coffee and a pained look on his face.
"I don't care. There's nothing you can do, so I'm going to go home. AMA, get me the paperwork and get it now. I'm not going to sit in the bed like some cripple while you all stand and ruminate as to whether it will fix itself or what happened. So get my paperwork or I will call down Director Parkman who will shove the paperwork so far up your ass"
Inside the room, Audrey is dressed, hair in some semblance of order, shoes on and a hand on the bed while facing the doctor who finally gives up and starts heading out. "Fine. But I'm advising against it Agent Hanson. We don't know what happened" Her face tracks the sound of his footsteps while remaining by the bed, a small bag near her hand filled with all the things she owned in this room. "Duly noted, get the paperwork. I'll sign it with Jackson's help. Jackson! Where the fuck is Detective Cooper, call him again"
If it hasn't been a crappy enough weekend as it is, with his daughter calling him in tears begging him to let her come live with him, let's add a blind cranky DHS agent. It's a good thing she's hot.
Wait? Did he just think that?
There is a blink and a bit of a shake of his head as he steps away from Jackson, only half hearing him. The thump on his back gets a bit of a smirk, before he sets his crutches to the linoleum and starts towards the door, ignoring the 'Good Luck!' behind him.
Pushing through the door, the detective announces his arrival by stating, "I would have brought flowers, but in this weather it's all I can do to stay upright with crutches. Not to mention. You'd probably just make fun of it." The creak of his crutches is distinct as he moves towards the bed.
"I got here as fast as I could without landing myself in here." She can't see it, but Cooper studies her with clear worry on his face. "Though they might have let us share the room." His tone remains sarcastically light beyond that. "Haven't talked to me since that one day… So I'm a bit surprised, honestly."
Gophers look funnier, head up and swiveling towards the sound of Cooper. "I wouldn't have know what color they were" She looks fine in truth, no one would know that she can't see. A circle of scabbing around one wrist when she reaches out to snatch up the bag though it takes a few times and ruins the effect of being self sufficient and capable of being able to take care of herself.
"I need someone competant, and able to do what I tell them to. Not some idiots who try to keep me in a bed when I'm perfectly fine" The latter for the two who are outside the door. "I need to go home. I can't work in the office if I can't see, but I can still work. Tweedle dee and tweedle dumbass are assigned to help me. Dial my phone and fetch coffee, whatever I need. But I want you because you're smart and you know what we're up against and while you have a mouth on you, at least you'll do what I ask"
"Gee.. thanks. Such glowing words." Cooper mutters, eyeing her rather flatly, but then sighs. "Alright." He says after a moment, head nodding even if she can't see it. He lifts a crutch to nudge the bag where her hand is seeking. "Not like I got a ton to do as it is." His head dipping down to look at the cast on his leg, brows furrowing.
"At least Tweedle Twins can do all the running. Since your blind and I'm crippled." Crutches creak as he moves towards a chair, "So… how did the blindness happen? I'm not Home Sec… so they are all not exactly giving the deets."
Sighing happily, Cooper sprawls out in the chair, the cast covered leg out in front of him, the crutches leaned against the wall next to him.
"No head Trauma. I was blind when he un-smoked me. Whatever the ability is. It's one of the ones he has. They don't know whether it's permanent or temporary just that I am" There's an oddly grateful look when he gives her the help without making a fuss about it. Fingers slide along the fabric of the bag in search of a zipper and closes it up. It's strange, disconcerting and still throwing her off. Going to the bathroom has become a gauntlet and as she does just that, it's bringing her to Coopers outstretched leg, not expecting that he'd be stretching out.
"The arrest at the light house didn't go good. I almost had him, the copy of him, but another copy showed up and the Childs clone attacked the Frontline individuals and myself. Cluster fu-"
"Ouch…" He says in mild comment of how she ended up that way, watching as she goes through the bag. "That's a rather nasty ability. With hope it's temporary, cause seriously… what does he gain from it when we're working on a case that might prove him innocen…."
About then he registers what she's doing, of course, the leg is cumbersome and and hard to move, but he tries. At the same time he leans forward in his seat to catch her should she fall, while he might not be lucky enough to stop it, he can slow it down so she doesn't land hard.
"Shit, sorry Hanson." He hisses out in apology, grimacing. Quite the pair they have ended up, the crippled leading the blind. That's bound to have jokes behind it.
Hands cling to Cooper as Audrey's foot hooks on his leg, quite possibly seeming about to faceplant into the ground. But Cooper is used, ruthlessly, to stay upright with only bruises to her dignity. "God Damnit Cooper. You can't stick your leg out like that! I could have broken my neck" Fingers dig tight and then let go, straightening up, smoothing her hands over her jeans and trying to recompose herself. Get back to seeming like the hard assed HomeSec agent she normally is.
"I hate this" muttered under her breath. Screw the bathroom, the choice made to leave whatever's in there, in there, and head back to the bed even as the physician is coming in with his clipboard and papers. "Detective Cooper? Could you sign here for the Agent?" Since, you know, she can't do it herself.
"Yeah, well… I'm not psychic you know. Not even evolved." The test says so! "It's not exactly easy hauling myself around on these things." The detective grabs the handles of the chair and works rather comically, to scoot the chair around where the cast isn't in her way. "And like I said… I'm sorry."
As the doctor arrives Cooper holds out his hand for the documents, making a 'Hurry and gimme it' motion, before taking it so he can start filling it out. Reading the fact sheet they brought with it, brows lift high on his head. "So you are blind. Living with Blindness. What it means to be visually impared." He reads the pamphlet titles glancing at the physician with an odd look. "You do realize she can't read these? Do you normally give pamphlets to a blind person to read?"
Shaking his head, Cooper goes about signing documents. "Hey, Hanson. Maybe on the way out we can stop into the pharmacy and get you one of those stick thingies." His tone sounds jovial and distracted all at once as he signs each paper. "Something else for you to beat the lackey's with when not looking for plaster covered obstacles."
"I am not carrying one of those things" There's one in her bag already actually, tucked down in the bottom where no one can see it. Her jaw is tight, face screwed up tighter than he's ever seen it as papers are signed, the sound of pens scratching over paper signify her release from captivity no matter how much it might make Parkman grind his teeth.
"If it doesn't go away, I'll get one and beat them with it" If she didn't get her vision back, she'd probably be out of a job, onto disability and no more tracking down Sylar. There's a fear, a very deep fear that this might be what he meant by her not being a threat. It shows across her face, that fear and she grabs her bag after patting the bed for it again, then her jacket, everything laid out as an orderly brings in a wheelchair with a cheery "Hello agent Hanson!"
This earns just a scowl and a near snarl from her.
Paperwork handed back, Cooper retrieves the crutches as starts the arduous task of climbing to his feet. "If it's permanent, I'll drive you there so you can beat up on them." There is a grunt as he settles onto the crutches and a creak of protesting metal. Folding up the pamphlet's he holds them against her arm, so she can grab them.
"Come on Hanson, just remind yourself, it's a short ride and with any luck you won't have to see them anymore." See, always a silver lining, or that's what Cooper is trying to offer to placate the frothing DHS canine, who wants out of her cage. "I'd offer to push you, but I can't."
They're snatched away from him and tucked into a coat pocket so that they're out of sight. "yeah yeah" She grumbles as the orderly takes over and starts to ease her out, staying slow enough to accommodate Cooper. The other two agents nods, a promise to be not far behind them. "You can stop at a starbucks and get a coffee but I figure everything is closed thanks to the storm, so just get me home. So I can feed my dogs and start putting things together"
The orderly is all but ignored by Audrey as they head on to the elevator and down.
"Yeah, I can do that." Cooper moves with surprising ease indoors, though it'll be outdoors that will be the challenge. "Had it been my other leg, you'd have been stuck with the others two." Though, he wonders if that would of been the better option.
Turning to stand in the elevator, the detective murmurs, his eyes on the numbers above. "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor broken leg nor blinded eye…."
…will keep one screwed up Detective and one obsessed Agent from their mission.
"Make another blind joke, I will grab the nearest utensil, even if it's a spoon and dig your prairie oysters from your body, do you understand Cooper?" Her hands are tight on the bag and sure, it'll be hard to get out, wait for the detective to bring his car around. But they'll be on their way soon enough, Audrey staring forward in the car on the way to the financial district and the Rivage apartments, very little conversation along the way which may or may not be uncomfortable. Music can easily work that out as they crawl through the city.
"Yes, ma'am… perfectly." Cooper gives a roll of his eyes that only the orderly can see.
In short order they are in the car and driving, it's a bit awkward for the detective, but he's had a few weeks to work out the kinks of driving with a broken leg, helps he has an good truck. The silences is almost too much for him, so he finally has to ask. "So… what's your plan now?"
"Figure out how to move around my apartment, and start in with evidence found where they found me. The waterbottles, I want to know what brand, what lot number, where they were produced and follow the trail to where they were sold. We can track him a little, that way. He's also going to be looking for his father, he didn't know about him being in town."
She brings a hand up to rest elbow on the door and support her jaw on her fist and look out the window. Or seem like she's looking out the window. "He went in my head, I don't know what he's got, I have to assume everything. I told them to get a detail on Baby Petrelli, that I think Sylar's going to make a move on him"
Baby Petrelli. That gets a soft chuckle, even as he leans forward in the seat looking for the apartment building past the piles of snow, even as more falls from above, only to be swept away by windshield wipers, "The president's brother. That is a hell of a high profile target."
"Fuck me… where is it. I swear this snow gets any higher and it will be amazing if we can find a damn thing." Cooper, watches flakes melt on the windshield, hands tightening on the steering wheel. He really hates driving in this stuff.
"Anyhow, at least it's something we can do." He murmurs, leaning back in his seat again, trying to shift his broken leg carefully, into a much more comfortable position. "Better then sitting around all day, dealing with walk-ins." He really isn't a fan of them.
"Makes you wonder how it is that Petrelli was one of the few that supposedly knew about the clone. He threatened to pop out a few more to keep me busy" Her tongue runs across the back of her teeth and she straightens, looking as if she might point out to Cooper before realizing that she can't and the scowl is back. "I can't help you locate it Cooper, you can stop the guys and ask to drive ahead and park in front of it" She helpfully offers to Cooper. "Should warn you, I have two french bulldogs"
There's a pause. "Cooper and Felix"
"I'll find it." The detective growls out rather stubbornly, eyes flitting along the side of the road it normally is on, his tone of voice echoes the distraction. "It is odd that he knows that, but with as crazy as this damn city is, I'm not surprised."
"Ah!" He exclaims suddenly, glancing over at her with a smug look, until he remembers she is blind. Looking a touch unhappy, Cooper sets about parking the car. "See, didn't need anyone else telling me where it is."
"Wait…" It finally sinks in what she said. Cooper turns his head to stare at her, like she's insane. "You named dogs after Ivanov and I?" There is so much he wants to say to that, but he can't pick one, even as he shuts off the engine and plunges them into silence, but last time he spoke without thinking he get left on the curb, so he wisely keeps his mouth shut, though it is a near thing.
"I named them after you and Ivanov" Why she confessed him that she did that, who knows, she's not exactly explaining her thought processes to him. Her bag was at her feet and she feels around for it, grasping the handle to heft it to her lap then open the passenger side door so that she at least get out, determined to do some things on her own.
"I can't decide whether that is a compliment or if it is suppose to be an insulting jab." Cooper pushes open his own door and levers himself out grabbing his crutches as the lean between the seats. Though he can't help but wonder if she named the one Cooper cause it humped her leg a lot.
Don't ask… he doesn't know why he thought that either.
The car door shut, keys pocketed after pressing a button and getting the satisfying Beep beep, and he carefully starts to move to catch up. "Watch out… I've tripped on a couple of things already, this snow is perfect for it." In fact, he pokes around the snow before each swinging step.
"Compliment" And because maybe she might almost read minds. "And Felix keeps trying to hump Cooper. I have to wonder about that dog" One hand never leaves the car, shuffling in the snow towards Cooper so she can acquiesce and let him take her arm or hand. But the other two agents come to the rescue so that Cooper can hobble on his own and towards the entrance of the Rivage. Bag taken, she's tolerating it, barely and Cooper can see it on her features.
"No other murders come up with Samson Gray's MO? Please tell me the case hasn't stalled? I got reports on the evidence from his house, I'll have someone bring them by so you can read them and help me find clues from there. Somewhere out there, there's one or two bodies with abilities that were smoke manipulation and i want to find it. Pin his ass to the floor"
Happy to let the others help, Cooper continues to poke and prod his way along. He hates having to bring her bad news, so he even sounds reluctant to admit, "Nothing has been dropped on my desk recently, no."
"I'd almost say maybe the weather is slowing him down, but he can turn to smoke."Cooper resigns himself to following the others so that he can move a bit fasts in their wake. "You'd think with the way things are there would be more bodies popping…" The detective trails off, brows furrowed, eyes on the expanse of white before him. "…actually, maybe that's why there hasn't been anything new. The weather is covering up the new bodies… people staying inside more."
Grimacing, the detective adds. "It's only a matter of time."
"Snow will melt, bodies in snowbanks, that's how it is. Spring is corpse season, just you wait" Even he knows that' They hit the lobby, and the two agents are shoo'd away so that she can walk beside cooper, head tilted just towards him to gauge where he is and shuffle beside him towards the elevators, determined to have some independence. No way is she going to let anyone see how scared Sylar made her when he took away her ability to see.
"You won't need to stick around" The keys are in her pocket, dug out in anticipation of him hitting the appropriate button for her floor once she rattles it off. "Just come back in the morning, they'll dump the stuff here" She'll make sure that they do. 'We can go over the things. I'm not going to let this stop. I'll find Samson Gray before Sylar does. I refuse to give him the satisfaction"
The creak of the metal crutches, and the slide of his foot, gives a pretty good idea of where the NYPD detective is. "Yup. Though I don't think we're getting spring this year." His mouth pulls down into a frown as he stops at the elevators, hand coming up to scratch at his jaw in thought. "Hopefully we get him before too many of those corpses are cause of him, rather then weather related." Reaching over to push the button to go up.
Hand falls to the crutch again and Cooper leans on them heavily, eyes to the linoleum floor. "Lucky you, we live in the same building, so I can be over as early in the morning as you want me."
Wait, what? Incredulity on her face, she looks over in his direction. "You're kidding me. You live here? What floor cooper?" She's on the first, and he's about to learn about just how sparsely decorated her place is. "This does no mean that you can suddenly drop in whenever you want for a coffee Cooper" She instructs, looking around, squinting, hoping, praying. Please don't be permanent. "Though you've now got dog walking duty"
"I don't make a habit of just visiting, ask any of the others that live here." Cooper reassures ever as the doors open, and he scoots in. "I'm on the second floor." The button pressed for the first floor. "206, in case you do need to bother me, though if I don't answer, means I'm probably busy."
"Can't you get the Tweedle's to do it?" Eyes moving to the other agents, Cooper gives them a small smirk. "I'm bound to end up with dogs wrapped around my crutches."
"Fine, I'll get the tweedles to do it" The one looks affronted that he's been saddled with dog duty and Audrey's not about to tell him, or Cooper, that the dogs are actually taken care of by a dog walker since her hours can vary. That's the reason for getting two. So they can entertain each other. The elevator dings, announcing it's there and the Agent moves forward at the sound of doors opening with hand out to stick close to a wall. She knows the way to her place by rote, go left, three doors down. "I think the tweedles and I can get it from here Cooper. Why don't you go up. You're chauffeur duties are done"
There is no hesitation to push the button for the second floor, Cooper is definitely ready to get off his feet, put up his cast, get that coat hanger for scratching that damn itch half way down his leg that has bothered him all day.
"Can do, Agent Hanson." He shifts to stand at the back of the elevator car and lean against it, easing his sore armpits off the crutches for a moment. "Glad to see you in one piece, by the way." He offers as the elevator doors start to shut on Cooper. "See you in the morn —." The last of it cut off as the doors shut.
"I bet you say that to all the girls" She yells back before the door can close. One of the tweedles opts to offer an arm, touching hers when she gets close to her door, but she yanks it away. "Don't touch me unless I ask for it. I'm not an invalid." Keys are out, flipping through them by feel on the keychain as they come to the door and she feels for her door, and in turn the doorknob so she can work the keys in. It's going to be a long rest of the day and Cooper might just have gotten off easy.
Only the next morning will tell the true story.