Participants:
| Scene Title | We'll Keep A Hoover Next To The Bed |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Cardinal tells Liz about Lazarro's visit. |
| Date | Nov 9, 2009 |
Elisabeth's Apartment, Dorchester Towers
When she lets herself into her apartment after work, Elisabeth is not expecting company. The apartment is never quite dark, though — there's an automatic nightlight in the foyer so that she's never actually stepping into a pitch-dark room in the middle of the night. She closes and securely locks the door behind her and lays her keys on the table, pulling off her jacket as she heads into the living room.
"Hey." Cardinal's head lifts as he looks towards the door, still sprawled out on one corner of the couch— and he looks fairly aggrieved, a faint frown rather than the usual smile he greets her with, one hand lifting in greeting, "Had a visitor today."
The sound of his voice in the dim light brings her up short, but it's quickly identified. Without flipping on the lights, she lays her jacket over the chair and walks toward the couch. "Yeah?" Elisabeth asks quietly, sliding onto the piece of furniture and into the arms of the man sitting there. "What happened?" It doesn't occur to her that he means here as she offers comfort with a light kiss to his jaw.
Cardinal shakes his head a little, his arms sliding around her as she slides in against him; pulling her in against his chest, his chin resting down on her shoulder as he murmurs quietly, "Don't freak out on me, alright?" Uh oh. It clearly can't be good.
Elisabeth tenses slightly and says, "Okay…." She nuzzles his cheek briefly, and then leans back to better see him. "What is it, Richard?" Her tone is soft, but lines of worry already crease her forehead.
Cardinal's cheek slides against hers as he leans back, regarding her seriously for a moment before saying in quiet tones, "Vincent Lazzaro was here when I came by."
There is dead silence as she stares at him uncomprehendingly.
"Wh… what?"
There is a sudden, fine tremor through her whole body, as if she's standing outside in the freezing cold, the fine hairs at the nape of her neck prickling in alarm. "What … what did you tell him?" She's still thinking the man knocked on the door, though it puzzles her why Richard would answer the door. Or maybe in the back of her head she's already surmised what he means and that's why her body has goosebumps all over it.
"He's Evolved. The bastard can turn into smoke."
Those words are left to sink in for a moment, as Richard regards her steadily, fingers curling in against her shoulder in a firm squeeze. "He didn't have any sort of warrant, either, he actually drew on me when I demanded it," he finally adds, quietly.
Yeeeaaaaahhhh…. she knew that part. She's seen him do it. "He w-w-was inside?" Elisabeth demands. It's not really a question — she knows the answer. And she clenches her jaw tightly to disallow any additional evidence of the internal screaming that's going on over the sanctity of her home being violated in spite of the security measures. Considering all that it takes every day for her to force herself out the door of her private fortress, the fact that it is now compromised may not be a good thing. "Christ…," she forces out. "You're… okay?" Dealing with the reality of Lazarro is… beyond her at this moment.
"I'm fine, I chased the sonofabitch out of here," Richard replies with a tight shake of his head, his jaw clenching a little, "I'm presuming Alec set up cameras, right? We should have some evidence of the bastard breaking in, at least. I don't know what his fuckin' game is— he claimed to be a cop?"
She's still trembling under the hands on her shoulders, those blue eyes flitting anxiously around the room now as she pulls a little further away to look. "He's Internal Affairs," Liz manages to force out without a stammer. Though she blows it with the next words. "He c-c-couldn't have found anything in here… I d-don't k-keep Phoenix stuff…. "
Internal Affairs. Right. And Richard's really a corporate acquisitions specialist. "Yeah, but he didn't know that…" His grip tightens a bit, his gaze on her face as he says in quiet, careful tones, "Hold it together, Liz. It'll be okay."
She looks at him and bites her lip. "I'm okay." Well…. not entirely. But aside from the shakes, Elisabeth's not screaming. Yet. And she hasn't gone to hide in the closet! So hey… we'll count this one a win. "He can't just … come in here like that!" She looks worried. "You pulled on him. What happened after that?"
"I drew on him, demanded to know what he was doing here… he said he had a warrant, then pulled a gun. I went shadow, he went smoke, although I don't think he knows exactly what I did," Cardinal says in quiet tones, his head shaking just a little, "Then he took off, told me his name and to tell you hello. Think we're at a stalemate here. He knows about me, but on the other hand, we have video of him breaking and entering with Evolved abilities…"
A hand comes up to run at her forehead. "Oh…. God," Elisabeth blows out a soft breath. "Well, I guess I should just be grateful for the stalemate." She nibbles on her lip, and then moves to bury her face against his shoulder for a moment. "He broke in. He… broke in." She shivers and then pulls back enough to look back at him and say, "Damn it, what the fuck use is a security system if he's just going to break in???"
"It's just because he has a… similar ability to me," Cardinal replies, arms tightening around her as she presses to him, fingers at the nape of her neck for a moment before she's drawing back. His gaze meets hers steadily, and he says quietly, "Maybe Alec can install some sort've anti… smoke device. Vacuums or something."
Elisabeth starts to giggle softly at that. "We're just going to suck him up in a Hoover?"
"Why not?" Cardinal grins broadly as she actually giggles at the suggestion, "That's one way to…" A beat for effect, brows waggling, "…clean up corruption in the NYPD."
Okay…. okay, yeah. He got her. The anxiety levels are forced to recede under the spate of almost-childish giggling that Elisabeth is caught in. And the next comment brings on even more laughter. "Oh!" The shaking in her body now has nothing to do with fear and everything to do with attempting to stifle the chuckles. "Oh, that's just bad," she tells him. "Now every time I see the man, I'm going to imagine him getting sucked into a vacuum hose. Heeee!" It's probably not as funny as all that, but considering the situation? Maybe it is.
Of course, Cardinal's just trying to distract her from the trauma of having her home invaded — but hey, it seems to be working. "Just don't mix that up with gay porn," he says teasingly, leaning in to rest his brow against hers lightly, "He didn't seem your type."
What? Gay porn? The two things absolutely have no correlation in the blonde's worldview. She clearly has no idea what he's even talking about. But Elisabeth does know one thing, and that's when to say merely, "Thank you." Resting there with him, trying to shake off the feeling of violation — which is sure to make sleeping damn hard once again — she's grateful for his ability to head off the panic. "He's not. But I guess now I'm going to have to go have words with the man regarding breaking and entering. Bastard."
"Make sure that there's copies of the tape," Cardinal says quietly and seriously, "Don't let the bastard get the better of you. You've got something on him now, and I don't think he actually knew who I was…"
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. It's not even tape, it's digital. Alec made sure of it. I'll call upstairs and make sure to leave a copy with him too." Elisabeth considers and says quietly, "If he doesn't, then it won't be long before he does. Cooper saw you at the bar with me, and if Lazarro bothers to ask around, he's going to get a name for you pretty quickly." She grimaces a little. "Shit…. and they're looking for Chicago Air people to question about the air strikes, too. This could get dicey. As if its not already."
"I officially quit before the air strikes," Cardinal shrugs one shoulder, "And I've got names to use if they decide to try and pull that shit on me. The only real problem is if they connect me to Cardinal— " A wry twist there, "I am still technically wanted. But he can't use it since we have evidence of him breaking and entering too."
Elisabeth looks relieved and says quietly, "I didn't know that. So your civilian ID, the worst he can get you for is an illegal weapons charge. Which I can bluff my way through. Worst case, leave that gun with me and I'll tell him I confiscated it." She grins a little. "You sure I'm not more trouble than I'm worth?"
Cardinal's nose wrinkles a little. "I'm pretty sure my gun's illegal anywhere in the States, except maybe in a collection," he admits wryly, "I'd rather not get rid of it. Of course, he could try and tag me for being unregistered, and then they'd fingerprint me, but…" A shake of his head, "Again, he can't say anything legally, or he gets nailed for B&E."
Elisabeth grins faintly. "I said, 'worst case'. I'm pretty sure we can find you another weapon if that comes to pass. But for the moment, I think you're right about the stalemate." She scoots to curve more comfortably into him, studying her apartment from the safety of the embrace. "Okay… this sucks. I'm not going to sleep a wink tonight." She drops her head against his shoulder and sighs. "Anything you wanna do tonight? I'll keep you company if you feel like it," she offers ruefully.
"I'm pretty sure I could find some way to distract you for the night," Cardinal replies against her temple, pressing a kiss there as she leans in against him, "We could watch a movie, maybe order a pizza, I could strip you naked with my teeth after wards, you know, the usual."
"With your teeth, hrm?" Liz muses aloud in an amused tone. "Now there's an image I can get behind. Although I'm having horrible horrible images of being in middle of something hot and heavy and having that asshole materialize in my apartment," she admits. "Make it go away, will you?"
"We'll keep a Hoover next to the bed," Cardinal states firmly, shifting to lean over to grab the remote, "Let's see what we can get On Demand. Any movies just hit DVD that you wanna watch, babe?"