Tinfoil Hats And Ostriches

Participants:

cardinal3_icon.gif kaylee2_icon.gif peter7_icon.gif

Scene Title Tinfoil Hats And Ostriches
Synopsis Kaylee and Cardinal talk about Else's cryptic writing and Doctor Brennan. When Peter arrives home, the conversation takes a nasty turn.
Date March 13, 2010

Upper East Side

Peter's Apartment


In the quiet of the apartment, there is only really the soft tapping of fingers on a keyboard. The light coming in through th windows is tinted in fiery hues as the sun is making it's way towards the evening hours. At the dining room table sits a lone figure, clad in a warm pair of gray sweats, her long blonde hair is twisted up in a messy pile on the back of her head, a throw curled around her shoulder.

With Peter insisting that she stay at his place, especially when she woke up with a burning fever only a couple of days ago, Kaylee has too much time on her hands. At least he had been sweat enough to get her bags brought back again, so she wouldn't have to sit around in his shirts.

On the table next to the laptop is notebook open next to her, glancing away from the screen Kaylee writes down something, before dropping the pen back down and leaning back with a tired sigh. Fingers lift to rub at tired eyes, her cheeks flush with the fever that doesn't want to go away. She slumps into the chair some so she can prop her head on the back of the chair and still look at the image of Else's notebook on her screen.

A glance goes to the cellphone that sits on the table as well, she plucks it from the table and starts to scroll through names with a small frown.

"You don't look too well, Kaylee…" Miss Ray… A whispering echo that coils through the dusklight of the room, the creeping shadows edging further up the walls in a tattered, tendriling mass behind her, "…I hope, for your sake, that it isn't the 510." The Virus…

The blonde jumps slightly in her chair, the cellphone slips from her fingers and clatters to the floor. "Shit…" She hisses out, leaning over to snatch up the phone and make sure she didn't damage the poor thing. She glances around, but not behind her.

"Shouldn't sneak up on people, Shadowman." There is a touch of amusement there, her head tilting some as if trying to listen to that tell tale murmur, why hadn't she heard it like last time?. "iPhones are not cheep to replace." Satisfied the phone is intact, Kaylee sets it on the table. "I probably just caught a cold working. Walking in this cold and all." She brushes off the concern, much like Peter did. "Strangely enough, though, I was just thinking about you. Was just about to call Peter, since you said he'd be able to find you."

Giving a small amused huff of sound, "Not that he believes your alive. Seemed to freak him out tho. I think he'll have to see you to believe your around." Her eyes scan the around again. "Or… if he can see you."

A moment of silence, she asks, "He's not home yet, if that's why your here."

A hissing whisper of a chuckle stirs through the apartment, those torn shreds of darkness fluttering as if in a night's breeze for if she ever turns to see what remains of Richard Cardinal. "I've heard that quite a few times… and yet here I am, doing it again…" Again…

"No… I was hoping you could help me locate someone, actually. One Harve Brennan, he's an associate of the Ferry, I understand. What was it that you were going to call me about, mm?" Peter?

"Doctor Brennan?" Kaylee asks in return flatly and then sighs. "He's…. this guy who doctored in all these horrible places.." Brows lift slightly as she finally feels that familiar hum and turns to look behind her, shifting in the chair to do so. There is a blink at those tattered shadows. "Whoa… and you told me I don't look so good."

Curiosity is a weakness in her and she reaches out to touch the wall. "So.. that's how you survived?" She asks without thinking. She gives a soft laugh, that ends with a short cough. "Sorry. I shouldn't be asking something like that."

"Anyhow…" She pulls arm back room the shadows on the wall and rest it on the back of the chair. "Doctor Brennan has an private practice and he is often as the Suresh Center, you could find him there. Just… he's not exactly open minded.. For some one that dealt with some really nasty places… he's got blinders on."

She leans to the side somewhat, as if moving out of the way for a person and nods a head at the laptop screen, her eyes still on the wall. "I got something I wanted you to — ah — see." Some how that word doesn't seem to fit.

There's no response to her estimation of how he looks right now, no answer to how he survived. The torn curtain of Cardinal merely hangs, shifting slowly on the wall like a lava lamp with a guttering light. There's no sensation to the touch, but bits of shadow flow over her fingertips as if they weren't even there.

"Doctor Brennan is currently on the run, because Catherine is a righteous idiot and spooked him… at the moment, I don't have any idea where to find him… and there's a girl in his care that may prove crucial to saving the entire god-damned world…" The girl…

The darkness moves, then, flowing along the wall, dipping down and then ghosting up the desk to crawl across the laptop without touching the screen and its damning light, "…what do you have for me?" For me…?

"With the doctor.. it's not tough." Kaylee grouses a bit, before turning to watch the shadows progress. "I — just be careful around him." There is amusement watching the shadows move, much like the last time she saw it in Old Lucy's. "He's a negator. He tends to do use it on me when I see him, for obvious reason. Plus, he doesn't have a high opinion of me since the raid on Refrain testing place."

"Much like Peter right now…" A glance goes to the door, as if expecting him to appear at the mere mention of his name. ".. he doesn't want to see what's happening. Course, to Peter's credit… he knows it's there, he believes it's there." A smile tugs at her lips.

But then she scoots forward on the chair, letting the blanket fall of her shoulders, since she's now feels a warmer in the sweats and the blanket. While she talks she takes a moment to push the sleeves up, "Ever hear of Else? Ah.. Else Kjelstrom?" She gives a flip of her hand in dismissal. "Anyhow.. seems she may be a prophet of some sort.. and she's sick." There a quick drop of her brows in concern, but it smooths away. "Anyhow.. Well, my friend, Colette, found a page of a notebook she had covered in stuff. Took pictures of it and sent it through the network."

The telepath, brushes her through the shadow to the fingerpad, without so much as a flinch. A link is clicked and one of many images pops up, "If you look…." She glances at the tattered shadow on the desk. "Ah — if you look, " eyes go back to the screen. "The name Richard is in there.. and Edward Ray. I can only assume Richard means to." The hand moves to taps the notebook next to her. "I spent some time writing out the stuff in those pictures.. though some of it… just makes no scene."

Peter would so not be happy with her right now.

"Damn. I'm going to have to keep my distance, then… if he negated me…" Death… A whisper that carries just a subtle chill of fear to it, as if the idea of being negated is utterly terrifying to Cardinal at the moment. Perhaps it is.

There's a pause. "Else? Else wrote this?" The shadow seems to crowd around the screen more closely to read it, "We need this… you have it transcribed? Excellent…" Excellent…

There is a touch of curiosity in the womans expression as she can hear that echoing whisper. Death? "Huh… yeah, definitely keep your distance. I don't know the specifics of how it work, I just know it does."

She brings the notebook closer for the shadow. "Yeah.. Not the greatest.. there is something," An index finger, runs along one of her written lines. "I — think it's in French. I thought about dumping it into an online translator, but you'd probably be better off finding some one that can read the language."

"But yeah this set of lines…." Clicking back to the links she brings up another image and begines to read it slowly. "Edward, Edward, Edward Ray, Big Glasses and Big Plans Bet He Wishes He Had A Better Plan Now." Eyes flick down to the shadow pooled around her hand. "I don't know about you, I'm thinking my father didn't think of everything, and whatever this page is talking about might not have been in his plans, cause…. " Another image comes up.. She taps a section of screen that has Richards name. "That right there… is kind of ominous."

"Oh… also, one thing that stood out beyond you and my father.. was the mention of riots in Summers Meadow." Leaving the image on the screen, she taps on the notebook again at a block of text. "It reads like a news report."

"The information I have about your father's location isn't promising. He may be in… over his head for once…" About time… A whisper of notbreath as the different sections of the message are pointed out, Richard pausing at his name before a rough snort is imitated, "…that sounds like one of our discussions, certainly. It is promising in that it suggests I'll be able to find him…" And the others…

The news report is studied in silence for long moments. "Seven thousand… that would be all the excuse they'd need, to move in. To take over for the public good…" Liars…

Glancing between screen and notebook, Kaylee frowns. "You are better at this then I am for sure." A small smile touches her lips, "Most of it is greek to me. Well except like this line.. 'My fellow Americans I come to you today in the face of a country in crisis. Never has our sovereign nation faced such a trials as it has seen over the last four years.'" There is a slow shrug of her shoulders, "Sounds kinda presidential, so some of this might not happen to later this year."

A hand brushes over the page, "Or all of this. Could be the time frame."

With a tired sigh, she leans back in her chair, arching her back a little with a grimace, as if stretching out a sore muscle. "That's what I wanted to show you, seemed important, since you say you work for Ray." It's been Ray since she was little, it's a habit not easily broken.

"Peter wants to look for my father by regular means." Kaylee says softly, eyes drifting shut while the shadow looks over her notes. "I told him I'd try it his way." A corner of her mouth tilts up slightly. "Hopefully, it doesn't bit him or me on the ass. Personally, I think he'll get the run around, but I promised to let him try."

Her body gives a shiver and she shimmies the blanket back up on her shoulders, blue eyes open again. "Keep me in the loop on your end?" There is a definite, 'Please?' in that question.

Keys in the door make a rattling sound, a jingle and a clink and then the slide of the deadbolt opening. Paper bags crinkle and rustle as the owner of this apartment finally makes his way home. Quietly coming inside, Peter's view of the apartment is obstructed by the grocery bags held in each arm, and his hip pushes over to swing the door shut. There's a click-clack of his shoes on the hardwood floor, then a noisy crash of keys on to the table by the door as he makes his way inside towards the island dividing the main room from the kitchen.

"Kaylee, are you— " Turning around from the kitchen to see Kaylee up and at the dining room table, Peter exhales a sharp breath and shakes his head. "That doesn't exactly look like being curled up in bed, blanket aside." Leaving the bags on the island, Peter heads over towards the table, chin up and one brow raised at the laptop, unzipping his winter jacket.

"You working on College admissions for the spring?" Because that's what she should be focusing on, not what's ultimately on the screen he's trying to get a look at.

That rattling of keys halts any answer to Kaylee's words, dead silence as Peter walks into the room, talking to her.

After he asks that last question, a low, hollow chuckle hisses out of the shadows, and Cardinal replies in his quiet whisper of broken voice, "No, Peter… we're reading a speech your brother hasn't recited yet. Would you care to join us, or are you still playing ostrich with your head in the sand, waiting for the blood to be deep enough that you drown in it?" …in it…?

The sound of the door, has Kaylee quickly clicking back to the main part of the journal, so that when Peter does try to look, it's looks like every other live journal, of course, Richard spills the beans anyhow. A bland look is angled across the shadow on the table, before she turns a sheepish smile back to Peter. "Hey… welcome home. We — ah — have a visitor."

Huddling deeper in the throw, a hand lifts to brush at the dampness on her forehead, leaving strands of hair clinging to it. "Richard came here looking for me to ask me about Doctor Brennan." Her head nods at the shadowed table and bites her lip briefly. "I.. know you wanted me to stay in bed, but I wanted to check my email and such. Colette might get upset if she emailed me and I didn't respond… Right away or something." And she was bored laying there… Though at the moment, she wishes she could bury her head under the covers.

Jerking back and away from the table at the sound of the voice, Peter looks around sharply, eyes wide and confused. "What the ff— " Brows tense, and his hands move out to his side, reflexive motions from when he used to have more tactile powers. Richard Cardinal's voice is one he remembers like a bad dream, from days when voices of generations past thundered in his head to the sound of marching boots.

"Who are you?" Because it can't be Richard Cardinal. "I— " Peter's brows tense, he looks to Kaylee, feels a psychic push there from her, the fact that she's Evolved and the SLC acting like a pressure bubble around her on his senses, but there's nothing for Cardinal. "What kind've sick trick is this?" Peter asks with a furrow of his brows, looking around slowly. "Drop the illusion, now, wherever you are. Richard died, and I could feel him in the room if he were here."

Unfortunately, Peter's unaware of the one weakness of Wendy Hunter's power, it doesn't work on insubstantial forms, like shadow or smoke.

"You Petrellis are so stubborn…" A frustrated hiss from Richard, the torn and tattered remnants of his being crawling slowly over the wall, "…Kaylee can confirm who I am, she's a bloody telepath you idiot. Unless I'm Maury and then I could just make you believe me, in which case we wouldn't even be having this conversation." This idiotic conversation…

The shadow whispers a sigh, "…I didn't die, Peter. Not… all of me." Most of me…

"Told you…" Kaylee breaths out softly, glancing sideways at the shadow as it moves. Her ability at least seemed to work on the mind of the shadow, though not perfectly. She holds out her hand, palm up to Peter. "If you don't want to believe when I say it's him," Her head tilts slightly, a brow arches at him, "Then look for yourself. I've known him since the Staten Island soup runs."

Her head turns to look at the tattered remnants of Cardinal. "But like he said.. could be a trick, but honestly, I believe it's him." The smile Kaylee gives Peter is tired and apologetic.

"I trust you," Peter notes to Kaylee, "but I don't trust what people could do to you." Brown eyes angle a look over towards the direction of Cardinal's voice, and Peter's brows furrow slowly. "I don't remember inviting you into my house, Richard." It's not entirely terse at least, he's just frustrated. "If you have information about some future event, who's it from? Can you verify the source? Anyone can write something and say it's from a precognitive and— hell— precognitives can lie."

Walking over to the table again, Peter comes to stand at Kaylee's side and leans over to look at the screen, squints, and then looks back to where he heard Cardinal last. "Richard if you're hurt I can get you a healer, something. Did you tell Agent Kershner that you're alive? She could probably get you medical assistance, someone who could help put you back together again. I— could talk to my mother, see if there's anyone in the Company that could help."

His brows furrow, lips purse and head angles to take a look at the writing. "If you want I can bring these pages to my mother, have her drop them off with Director Dalton down at the Company so they can see if there's anything they can do with it. If there's something dangerous coming up the authorities should be alerted, not the super friends."

"Oh, well, I do apologize for violating your personal space, Peter. Perhaps I should have asked before I used up one of the last doses of Formula on the planet to save your life?" Yes, Richard is a bit cranky right now. Can you blame him, really? How long has it been since he was able to feel the air on his skin, to hear his own heartbeat in his ears? And now the person whose life he saved is being a little bitch at him. Goddamn Petrellis.

"No I did not tell Kershner, and neither will you. And the Company are not the authorities, Peter. Did your time on Apollo teach you absolutely nothin— //" The shadows have scattered further, torn into tatters across the wall, trailing off in a hiss of silence before slowly drawing back together once more into a more coherent whole. Finally he whispers again, "You are… not going to tell anyone that I'm alive, Peter. And while it's obvious that you aren't in the //game anymore… you owe me. If you can find someone whose power could… fix me… you could borrow it. I want my body back, Peter." Peter…

Reaching up, to try and slip her hand into Peter's, so that he'll look at her. The telepath's skin is rather warm to the touch. "The page is from Else, you know the singer. She's sick, really sick. From what I heard." A slow nod goes to the screen. "This is what was on the page when she collapsed." The notes she took, nudged with her other hand.

"Don't worry.. I'm not going to go storming out to try and save the world," Kaylee reassures. "But Richard's name was on it, so I'm glad he stopped by." Her head turns to glance at the tattered shadow, brow furrowing a bit in concern, but she goes silent.

Peter offers a look down to Kaylee, brows furrowed at the notion that Else is sick. He eyes the laptop again, silently staring down at it, or more through it before nodding his head once and turning to look back towards the whispering shade. "I'm going to tell whoever I want you're alive because you don't have to hide." Peter states with a furrow of his brows, "Or do you have a problem with me announcing to the public something you don't want anyone to know?" Yeah he's still bitter about that meeting in the Library. "Apollo taught me that we can work together towards a common goal and that just means if we all stop putting our own personal agendas in front of the betterment of the world we can actually do some good. We had groups of people who would have never cooperated working side by side to save the world. No one person did, richard, even if you were— I don't even know— instrumental in the end, we all worked our asses off in that assignment."

Reaching up to rub his fingers at his forehead, Peter breathes out a strained sigh. "I'm going to tell Kershner you're alive, and I'm going to see if she can find someone with an ability to help you. I heard about a miracle healer working at St.Luke's hospital, and I'm looking for a healer anyway. The problem is he's taken some time off from work, so I might be able to get Sarisa to pull some strings and get me to meet him. If that works out, then yeah, I can heal you."

Reaching up to scratch at the back of his neck, Peter shakes his head. "Take off the tinfoil hat, Richard. The world's not out to get you, just look at us. We're free, we're fine and just because someone's holding up the cardboard sign saying the end is nigh doesn't mean we have to forget about the ideal of teamwork that we learned on Apollo. I'm going to Kershner and my mother, and we're going to find a way to make you whole again because you deserve it."

Hands resting on his hips, Peter slants a look over at Kaylee, then back towards the shadow on his wall. "We're going to do this like normal people because we can. You're a free man Richard, we all are. The government hasn't renegged on any of our blank slates, and they're not going to for you. Trust's a two way street, Richard, you want me to trust that you're you, then you're going to trust me to help you."

"We're free? We're fine? Are you completely fucking…" A strangled, inhuman hiss of noise is what Cardinal trails off in, "…no. You don't want to trust me? Then fine… don't, you ungrateful, spoiled little brat of a Petrelli. Take the life I gave you and live it, but if you tell Kershner word one about me I will destroy everything you have or ever will." Everything…

"Kaylee, I'll have someone contact you for those transcriptions. Peter… fuck you. I should've let you die in Antarctica, if you won't even do this one thing for me." One thing… The shadows bleed across the wall, soon vanishing into those existing. Is he gone? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

You never really can tell.

Both of you.. Stop." Kaylee climbs to her feet, thought it seems a touch to quickly. The telepath sways a bit, her hands slap on the table to catch herself. She leans there for a long moment, eyes closed, before pushing herself straight. "Look…." A look is sent to the direction the shadow was, before she turns those blue eyes on Peter. "…I know you want to help him. He doesn't want to be found out. People are allowed to be nervous when dealing with the government."

"Just… don't okay?" Her head slowly shakes and she sighs, "You said he has a clean slate, he's not done anything wrong." Yet, but she doesn't voice that. "He's not a danger unless you make him one." Brows lift and she gives him a look that tells him to prove her wrong. "Just… let him go?"

Moving to sit again, it looks like it hurts somewhat to sit in the chair, a soft sigh exhaled through her nose. "At least for now… When he's ready he knows you're here… You can lead a horse…. and all that." She gives a wave of her hand, "He has to decide he wants it…. not you."

There's a furrow of Peter's brows at those words, a look to Kaylee and a very obviously put-off expression spread across his face. He doesn't say anything, he just stares at her with a disconcerted expression and hopes she's coming ot the same conclusion that he is. "If he hadn't just threatened me in my own home, I might've listened." There's a hand that moves down to Peter's side, cell phone taken out from his pocket and flipped open, thumb padding across numbers as he exhales a tired sigh and walks away from the table. Peter runs one hand through his hair as he walks, shoes clomping on the floor quietly as he moves to the island, bobbing his head as he waits for the voicemail to pick up.

"Ma," Peter glances back over his shoulder to Peter, "it's Peter. Can you give me a call when you get this message? I'm going to pack Kaylee up and come to the house, there's— I don't know— it might be Richard Cardinal out there somewhere, the guy from Apollo. He's out of his mind, threatened me, we're gonna' come stay with you for a little while, if you can get Rene to come by, would you? I don't know what's going on but I'm not taking any chances."

There's a huffed out breath, a look towards Kaylee, and then a shake of Peter's head. "I love you, Ma, I'll see you in a few hours." There's a click of the phone shut, and Peter's offering a furrowed-brow look at Kaylee, not quite disapproving but clearly a little more than put off.

"Do you see why I told you to get out of this? If that is Richard Cardinal, he's completely out of his goddamned mind. Sane people don't just invite themselves into someone else's house and threaten them after— " There's a wave of Peter's hand towards the laptop, "I don't know if what happened with the explosion or if it's someone pretending to be him and he's freaked out that I might blow his cover… but there's something wrong with him. He needs help."

"I was there, when you asked me to kill you, Peter. I was there when you fell, and gave up something that a dear friend died for, just to bring you back to life. Because I thought you were important, somehow… that you could help. I swallowed Munin before it swallowed the moon, and was ripped into a thousand bloody pieces… and dragged myself back together, because there were still people who needed my help." Needed my help… A whisper, quiet as a serpent's hiss in the shadows of the room, although Richard Cardinal isn't visible any longer. "I came to you for help. And you gave me up to my enemies. I came to you for help. Because I trusted you."

"I might as well have trusted your father." Arthur…

Leaning forward on the table, Kaylee rests her elbows on the table wearily, a hand lifts to rub at her forehead, eyes closing. "I can't believe you just did that." The words sound tired, but not disapproving. "I do hope you know what your doing Peter." The hand moves from her forehead to turn off her laptop.

A glance goes over her shoulder to the shadowed wall, her brows furrowing. "The Ferry have the notebook, Richard. One of yours can probably get what you need." She's not getting into their argument. "Someone else probably has them transcribed."

Keeps you — safe.

Standing slowly, Kaylee gathers the blanket around her shoulders, her expression is thoughtful. "I'm — sorry, Peter. You sure you want to take me to your mothers?" Her head dips down some, the throw, curls tighter around her, eyes glancing way from him, "Having me around seems to be having a negative effect on your normal life." There is a touch of blandness there.

Socks shuffle softly against the floor as she heads to the bedroom, clearly planning to lay down.

Scowling at the voice still in the apartment, Peter's brows furrow and his eyes flick from one side to another. "Richard." It's emphatic, more pleading than growling, "You don't have enemies, Richard. It— it's okay. No one is hunting you, no one is coming after you can't you just put down whatever axe it is you're grinding and realize for just one second we're all living here together?" There's a tight swallow from Peter, throat working up and down, what he wouldn't give for negation or photokinesis. Peter slants a look to Kaylee, offering a hesitant smile before lifting a hand to her to try and imply that everthing is okay, because he's not even sure if Cardinal sees things now or just hears, maybe he has echolocation like a bat!

"Richard, just— calm down. Nobody's giving anyone up to anything, nobody even knew you were alive, people are going to be thrilled to know you're okay. You did something amazing and the government's probably going to reward you for it like they did the rest of us. Just… Richard, look around you, we've all held onto our grudges for so goddamned long, can't we just stop and work together? Kershner's not our enemy, my mother isn't our enemy. If I can forgive her for everything she's done, you damn well can…"

Setting the cell phone down on the dinner table, Peter glances around the apartment. "Just… come on out, relax, and let me know you're not going to do something you'll regret later. We can all just fire this out together. You're going to be able to find a much better healer going through the government than hiding between floorboards. I'll help you, Richard, you know I will… just— you just have to trust me. Nobody wants to hurt you…" a brown-eyed look is offered to Kaylee, then back towards somewhere near where the voice had come from last. "Just come on out, tell me what happened, what condition your body's in… maybe we can figure something out? I— " he looks down at his hands, then looks back around. "Maybe I can mimic your ability, take a look at you, see what condition you're in and try and see if we can figure out a way to get you back together."

There's another tense swallow, and Peter's brows come up and together in a furrow. Somehow, this reminds him of when he had to negotiate with a hysterical Jessica Sanders when he'd started working for the Company. Those are the fuzziest, most blurry of all the memories. "I'm not your enemy, nobody is Richard, not unless you make them that way."

"It wasn't even a month ago that the Company you seem convinced has turned around to the side of the angels had a warehouse broken up… where they'd been kidnapping people and forcibly experimenting on them with Refrain, Peter. One of your father's many legacies… and you expect me to trust them? Do you even remember that the man in the White House isn't even really your brother? Are you so determined to live some normal life that you've entirely forgotten everything you know, Peter…?" There's anger in Richard's voice now, more than a touch of frustration as well as it dips in and out of volume, moving in the shadowy corners of the room.

"All I asked was one thing. To keep my existence quiet. I didn't ask you to fight terrorists or go up against the government. Just to be a decent fucking human being doing a favor for a friend," hisses the shadowmorph, "You couldn't do that. You had to run and do the opposite in a fit of pique and now it's too goddamn late for you to talk me down or negotiate. You already told your mother about me. Goodbye, Peter. I hope you're happy with what you've become."

Then, silence once more.

Scowling at the voice still in the apartment, Peter's brows furrow and his eyes flick from one side to another. "Richard." It's emphatic, more pleading than growling, "You don't have enemies, Richard. It— it's okay. No one is hunting you, no one is coming after you can't you just put down whatever axe it is you're grinding and realize for just one second we're all living here together?" There's a tight swallow from Peter, throat working up and down, what he wouldn't give for negation or photokinesis. Peter slants a look to Kaylee, offering a hesitant smile before lifting a hand to her to try and imply that everthing is okay, because he's not even sure if Cardinal sees things now or just hears, maybe he has echolocation like a bat!

"Richard, just— calm down. Nobody's giving anyone up to anything, nobody even knew you were alive, people are going to be thrilled to know you're okay. You did something amazing and the government's probably going to reward you for it like they did the rest of us. Just… Richard, look around you, we've all held onto our grudges for so goddamned long, can't we just stop and work together? Kershner's not our enemy, my mother isn't our enemy. If I can forgive her for everything she's done, you damn well can…"

Setting the cell phone down on the dinner table, Peter glances around the apartment. "Just… come on out, relax, and let me know you're not going to do something you'll regret later. We can all just fire this out together. You're going to be able to find a much better healer going through the government than hiding between floorboards. I'll help you, Richard, you know I will… just— you just have to trust me. Nobody wants to hurt you…" a brown-eyed look is offered to Kaylee, then back towards somewhere near where the voice had come from last. "Just come on out, tell me what happened, what condition your body's in… maybe we can figure something out? I— " he looks down at his hands, then looks back around. "Maybe I can mimic your ability, take a look at you, see what condition you're in and try and see if we can figure out a way to get you back together."

There's another tense swallow, and Peter's brows come up and together in a furrow. Somehow, this reminds him of when he had to negotiate with a hysterical Jessica Sanders when he'd started working for the Company. Those are the fuzziest, most blurry of all the memories. "I'm not your enemy, nobody is Richard, not unless you make them that way."

"It wasn't even a month ago that the Company you seem convinced has turned around to the side of the angels had a warehouse broken up… where they'd been kidnapping people and forcibly experimenting on them with Refrain, Peter. One of your father's many legacies… and you expect me to trust them? Do you even remember that the man in the White House isn't even really your brother? Are you so determined to live some normal life that you've entirely forgotten everything you know, Peter…?" There's anger in Richard's voice now, more than a touch of frustration as well as it dips in and out of volume, moving in the shadowy corners of the room.

"All I asked was one thing. To keep my existence quiet. I didn't ask you to fight terrorists or go up against the government. Just to be a decent fucking human being doing a favor for a friend," hisses the shadowmorph, "You couldn't do that. You had to run and do the opposite in a fit of pique and now it's too goddamn late for you to talk me down or negotiate. You already told your mother about me. Goodbye, Peter. I hope you're happy with what you've become."

Then, silence once more.

Stopping before the doors of the bedroom, Kaylee sheds the throw, suddenly hot again. Tossing it on the couch, she turns back to look at Peter. There is no judgment there, just a simple of of her brow in a look that asks what are you going to do now?

The things Richard mentions, gets a narrow of her eyes, but she doesn't ask Peter about it. Or even mention that the shadow has a point, but that would be bad at the moment. There will be plenty of time for talking later. Taking a deep breath, Kaylee sighs, there is a glance to the shadows, before she says, "I'm — going to lay down, Peter." Her voice soft, tired. "Wake me, when it's time to go?"

"Richard wait— " Peter's voice catches, lips parted and brows furrowed, he exhales a sigh and brings a hand up to his face, rubbing his palm over his forehead. "Damnit…" There's a mildly frustrated sigh as Peter breathes out into his palm and sweeps his hand through his hair, brows furrowed and head shaking, he asumes after the farewell that Cardinal's gone. There's a slowly exhaled sigh, a turn to look towards the french doors leading into the bedroom, and a hand raking back dark hair from Peter's face.

Swallowing dryly, Peter looks down to the table and picks up his phone, noticing a flashing message on it. His brows crease, flipping it open as he looks back towards the bedroom.

«Peter it's Terry, we've had some call outs tonight and we're looking to see if you and Abigail can cover the 6pm to 6am shift tonight? Let me know if you can, thanks.»

Exhaling another, more strained sigh, Peter looks over towards the bedroom and walks to the double doors, leaning against the frame, phone still held in one hand. "Hey…" he offers quietly, a bit apologetically, "…I just got called in to work. I'm— gonna go, probably talk to Abby. When I get back in the morning we'll pack up and take you to Mom's, see if we can get you down to a hospital too, I'm starting to feel like I might be coming down with something too. I'm going to unpack the groceries and cook you something for dinner that you can warm if you get hungry… then I've gotta leave…"

His brows furrow, breath drawn in, and he looks down to his phone with a tired sigh, pressing the third speed dial option.

A.Beauchamp

"Can't be sleeping with someone and not get sick." Kaylee comments, trying to make it sound light, it comes out tired and worn out. Practically crawling into the bed she curls up on top of the comforter. Grabbing a pillow she tucks it under her cheek, shifting her head so she can look at him by the door.

"Life never slows down. Even when your sick." The comment sounds like she's talking about Peter and his job, but she's talking about all of it. Wearily, he reaches back to loosen the scrunchy from her hair. "Be careful out there." The smile is a soft one, but then she rubs her cheek against the pillow, getting comfortable, eyes sliding shut.

"I'll be here when you get home." Kaylee promises sleepily after a moment, with a small nod of her head.


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