Participants:
| Scene Title | Trust For Sale |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Aric tries to find a way to make up for his slip to Monica. It seems he will have to keep looking. |
| Date | October 10, 2010 |
Redbird Security: Basement
It has been a few rough days for Aric as he decides to come to the shooting range to get some practice in while most of Endgame is doing their thing. He has been practicing with Liz on and off, and a few times by himself. He is currently inside the shooting range, with his gun pointed at the target. His stance is slightly off yet he shoots and his eyes narrow yet he does not close them all the way. He is working hard on breaking that habit.
He lowers the gun and places it on the table before him as he steps back and sighs.
The funny thing about shooting ranges is that they're loud. And adding in someone who moves as quietly as Monica knows how to, it's easy to miss that she's entered the room while he practices. The thing that gives her away is the sound of the gun locker opening as she combs over the choices to practice with today. Not that she need it, but it is a way to clear her mind, which may be why she's here.
The gun range is not that big and Aric does not turn around as he senses Monica entering the range as he sighs looking down at his own gun on the table before him. "Your not gonna shoot me I hope?" Aric runs a finger along the barrel of his own gun. "I know you, your cousin and a few others are pissed off at me." Aric finally turns around to look upon Monica crossing his arms over his chest.
Monica just looks over at him, her eyebrow lifted a bit as she drags out a pistol, "If I was gonna shootcha, I'd've done it at the meeting." Normally, there might be a reassuring smile there, to make it clear she's just kidding, but this time, there isn't one. "I imagine that's so," she notes to his last words as she starts locking the cabinet behind her.
As he sighs, "You don't understand what it can be like for me sometimes Monica. Your pain was shouting his name in my head. Its like taking your nails on a chalk board and putting a mega phone with it. It was painful for me. My mouth reacted before my brain did and for that…I am sorry." He looks down at his feet and says, "Trust me. I don't want to upset any of you. Its bad enough most of you don't trust me."
"I trusted you before. You promised not to talk about things you found in my head and I believed you," Monica says as she turns to face him, "Now I don't trust you. Either you weren't thinking and you blurted it out, or you're too out of control to stop yourself and either way, I don't trust it. Not for myself so much anymore, since my big secret's out on the table, but for the others. And don't come to me for sympathy on that front, either, because now you've made me untrustworthy to someone I care a lot about. I had good reasons for holding that back, now she's just hurt with no explanation. There's no taking that back, Aric."
The man does in fact look hurt as he likes the girl. Hell he offered her a job in his shop because she is good people. As he turns to look back towards his target, Aric looks down at his gun and says, "Monica…I can show control. We were amongst friends or so I thought and did not know the history behind it. I can not take back what I said. I wish I could…the transformation in Niki's head to Jessica was something I do not want to be around for again. Jessica is dangerous and your cousin Niki has a good heart. I wish I could take it back…more then you know. I just wish I could come up with a means to show you how bad I feel for what happened." His body language and words seem sincere.
"I know you feel bad. If I thought you were being malicious, I would have kicked you butt right then and there. And look. It isn't like I hate you. I'm hurt, yes, and upset. And once all this blows over, maybe we can start again. But I don't know what you want me to say right now. She's my family. She's been through so much hurt in her life, that Jessica exists. Just ponder on that for a little bit. And now she's hurt more, and I can give her any answers. I wanted to be able to give her answers when I told her about D.L." Monica lifts her shoulders some, her hands spreading helplessly in front of her. Which is an odd gesture, considering the gun in hand. "So we both got something we can't fix. We just gotta wait it out."
As he turns to look towards her, Aric nods and says, "Yet I feel almost obligated to do what I can to make it better. I am not sure I could do anything but…well maybe one thing but you would have to trust me enough to go into my mind. Not yours…but mine." Aric runs a hand through his hair and says, "You…I don't think telling you my darkest secret is going to be enough but show you. This way…it might make up for what I did…a little."
Monica brings her free hand up to run through her hair for a moment before she looks back at him again. "Aric… that ain't… necessary. Your secrets are yours and I don't want them because you feel guilty. You don't need to do anything. Just make sure you keep that promise from here on out."
Aric says softly, "Only one other person knows this Monica…I know they are mine yet…well I believe in the law of karma and the power of three. If I don't do this I will never gain your trust back. I will never settle the struggle of what I did within myself, and maybe you could understand why family is such a…struggling issue for me."
There's a long pause while Monica considers him. Some sort of inner debate that she's keeping much quieter this time around. Eventually, though, she lets out a sigh and softly replies, "I'm sorry. I can't let you do it this way, because I'm not at all sure it really would help me trust you any better. We're going to have to find another way, you and me. If you've got an itch to unburden, maybe someday we'll be close enough for you to feel like you want to share it with me for more positive reasons. Trust is a thing earned, not bought, secret for secret."
Aric turns to look down at his gun and sighs as he picks it up. He holds the gun as Liz taught him, bringing his left hand under his right for support. He takes his stance, his feet slightly wider then most and he nods, "I can respect that…" Aric's face grows slightly somber looking as he beings the gun up to aim. "Again I am sorry for what I did." He relaxes slightly as he pulls the trigger and BANG!
He misses the circled targets but hits the outside corner of the paper. He sighs and releases his hand and places the gun back on the table. "We can at least shoot together and hopefully the tension will not suck too much."
"Thank you," Monica says to those first words. And she comes up to take up the other lane, taking the safety off her gun and taking a stance as well. "I know you are."
When she shoots, it flies right through the center of the circles and this seems to be her answer as far as them shooting together, as she falls silent to work out her tension on the targets.