Participants:
| Scene Title | When You Blink It All Changes |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | They haven't seen one another in ages. So many changes. |
| Date | May 9, 2011 |
Grand Central Terminal
Mother's Day. How are you supposed to feel about that day when you're technically a parent but not really? After all… her son is running about the city somewhere, working as a bouncer or fighting for money sometimes. Elisabeth really has not one clue what emotions she's supposed to feel about such an occurance and therefore opts to essentially go with 'not much.' That said, because the focus is on mothers today and she misses hers a lot anyway, avoiding the whole mess seems like a good option. What better way to do that than go down to the GCT and offer to cook for everyone on this day? Or at least help to.
It's nothing fancy that she's helped put together. The supplies were already laid in. There's some kind of chicken and noodle casserole with vegetables — filling and although heavily carb-laden it's food. There are large bowls of apples, pears, and bananas. As she takes this turn at cooking for the masses, Elisabeth grins at a man with two kids. He's directing them to get only one piece of fruit while he juggles two plates himself — one for his wife, who has their third child nursing off in a corner. "Glenn, it's okay. They can take an extra. If they promise to eat it." She's not one to discourage the children from taking the healthier foods. Most of the adults are willing to do the same. The line is nearly gone by now and the blonde wipes the back of her hand across her forehead as she surveys the area.
She's been back a few days, on the mainland, almost as if she can't make up her mind about what she wants to do. The confrontation with Joseph having sunk the woman down further into the depression that Caliban then Calvin had settled about her shoulders. The upside being that at least this time around, she had Kasha with her. Which had kept her from seeking out Caliban and doing something potentially bad.
Deckard had been right, there was a gun in her bag, and some bullets, but so far, it hadn't been used. It was just a thought, in the back of her mind and a very unchristian one. But with food being made, dished out, the baby on her arm drooling and gnawing on her fist, Abby'd slunk into the main area so that she could get some food and disappear back to some corner of the terminal to be anti-social and devote attention to Kasha.
Elisabeth's noting a few stragglers and has her eyes on the plates that she's making up for them so she misses Abby's initial entrance. It's only as she looks up to hand the plate to the next person in line that her brain catches up with what her blue eyes are seeing. "Abby," she gasps, so surprised that she drops the plate she just made up for the woman. "Oh shi…. crap!" she corrects her language instantly, the baby on Abby's hip comprehended at least. "I'm sorry. Let me get another plate. Hey… we're about done here. Can I sit with you a while?" she asks, wanting badly to reconnect but willing to give Abby the space she seems to want. After all, Liz hasn't heard from her in… it has to be months.
She hadn't heard that Liz had come down - didn't realize that Liz knew about this place - and so the surprise is two ways when blue meets blue and she's turning her side away from Liz in habit, protect the near toddler on her hip from fly food or breaking plates. "I was going to come get our food, go back to the room we're in but.. you know, if you want, you can come sit Liz" There's already someone going for a broom and dustpan to help clean up the accident. Weight back - but still ferryman skinny that afflicts everyone on the island - Brown hair held back from her face by clips, she's leaning to the side to grab a cup, get some water for herself. She'll let Kasha sip at it, play with the cup. "I heard, about you know…" Liz's predicament.
Elisabeth isn't looking exactly curvy herself — svelte might be one way to describe it. After she makes up the other plate, she slips out of the serving line and walks around the table. "C'mon," she murmurs. "They've got it." She'll come back and help clean up in a bit. "Yeah, it was…. kind of crazed," she admits as she joins Abby and Kasha, taking a cup of water for herself as well. "Still is, I guess," she admits. She'll follow Abby toward wherever the other woman wants to sit with the baby.
Off in a corner, away from others. Park Kasha on her lap as they sit at one of the tables erected everywhere to feed the people who are down here. The baby looks with serious interest at the fruit on the plate, picking at them fingers and having at it with her teeth, visually explore everywhere. Abby herself is picking up a fork, nudging the plate in an offer for Liz to share with her.
"I was sick, I'm sorry I didn't come seek you out or get you into the Ferry right off the bat. I was stuck on the island"
At that, Elisabeth smiles as she settles in. She takes the extra fork and picks a little at the plate. She made sure there was enough to share. "Don't worry about it, it's okay… Ryans came to get us and Teo and Francois gave us a place to stay the first couple of nights, but I don't like to impose too much on them. At first because … well, I was waking up screaming." She grimaces. "I didn't want to cause problems for them, so I retreated to the Endgame safehouse that we'd set up. And now I'm back and forth a good bit, but… I'm just… kind of poison right now." She pauses and nibbles her bite, worry in her features. "I'm sorry you were sick. I didn't even know. You're okay now?"
"Was touch and go. I caught the flu I've been up and about a couple weeks now." Food is picked at, eaten only because she knows she needs to and because she doesn't want to waste it. "Good. That you had people to turn to. Francois and Teo are good like that. Ryans too" Abigail nods her head, spearing another piece of food on her fork that's edible for Kasha and offers it to the little girl. "Don't understand what you mean by poison though" A frown - deeper one - and a glance over to her friend.
Oh God. That hits Elisabeth with the force of a body blow. The shock registers visibly and she swallows hard. "I'm really glad to hear that you're okay." The alternative was all too real and Liz knows it. She blows out a breath and says quietly, "Well, between waking up screaming for a bit there due to my own anxiety issues and topping the most wanted lists for a bit, being spotted or having someone spotted with me seems like a bad plan, you know?" She shrugs a little, toying with the food herself. "OH, hey…. Norton turned back up," she says suddenly. "I figured you wouldn't know, what with being out on the island."
"Trask?" Also known as Sergei. She didn't know, and it's another surprise on her face. "He turned up in a good way or a bad way?" he had been a cop, but also a Phoenix. Abigail searches Liz's face, hoping to get a clue as to whether the turning up of the negator is a good thing or a bad thing. "You wake up screaming, I run for out of doors or solitude so I don't burn anyone"
"In a good way, I think," Elisabeth says softly. "Ezekiel — Future Cardinal up there at the Institute — used his name as a lure to get me to come up there. He claims Norton never turned back up in his timeline. But…. Norton's been working with the Ferry in South America. Word trickled down that he was supposedly working for the Institute, and he came home to check up on things." The blonde smiles a bit wickedly. "After a crash course in what all has gone on, he's … rejoining the game, I guess." She hehs. "It was good for me, anyway … we put him up at the Endgame safehouse and he slept on the other side of the wall from me for days to keep me negated after my spectacular retreat and then Redbird's explosion," she admits wryly.
"He came back just in time then. It's good. That you had him." Another bite for Kasha, making noises in varied pitch and drops a piece of fruit she was fiddling with. "Uh oh" Comes from the little girl, followed by a grunt and a lean to the side to attempt to grab it from the bench. Abigail picks it up instead, a strong arm around her daughter and a quick dunk in her water glass deems it fit for consumption.
"he'll be an asset, that's for sure" She hasn't seen him yet, too busy with her own life, on the island and being summoned places by other council members. "I'm sorry, this all happened to you Liz"
"You shouldn't be sorry for me," Elisabeth tells her. "I was supposed to be dead a couple of times over by now. So… that it's all happening to me is a blessing, right? It means I'm still here, still causing trouble." She smiles a little at Abby. "I can't be sorry for that. I blew my own life out of the water, Abby. I'm okay with the choice. Richard was pretty pissed off, but we'll get through that eventually." She takes a bite of pasta, and then says softly, "There's a lot of insanity going on around us these days. Images of a future that I .. don't know we can stop. People who've come to help. It's been…. an interesting month."
It's no surprise that Liz knows, some of the dreams she's heard about or experienced, has been involving liz. There's a quiet sage nod, a glance down to Kasha who's helping herself to some pasta with chubby hands, double fisting it and the fruit that's looking a little battered. It makes her fall silent - a feat for Abigail who generally fills silence with chatter or singing - relegating herself to pushing around food.
Till she blurts out - can a whisper be a blurt? "I married James Muldoon" SHe hasn't told anyone, not wanting to say the words, as if that just might make it more true, something that cuts more than the fact that before she knew who he was, he was divorcing her. "Robert. He's James Muldoon"
The blonde smiles a bit at the nod and starts to say somethings else, but the blurt derails every thought in her head. Elisabeth stares at Abby aghast. She can't have heard…. but she did. And worse yet… she knows it's possible what with what happened to Elle and her face. "But!" She tries several times to speak, unable to come up with words to string together. And finally, there is only one. "…. why?" she asks, uncomprehendingly. Not 'why would you do that?' "What the hell could he have possibly had to gain?" It's not like anyone was going to do shit to him.
All liz gets from Abigail is a shrug, a lift of her shoulders then back down, concentrating on Kasha as opposed to the myriad of emotions and shock that prompt the former FRONTLINE officer to go fishface with shock. She lifts a hand, tucking hair behind her ear then leveling a kiss to Kasha's temple as the baby babbles to her food. She doesn't know, hasn't confronted the man. Doesn't know if she'll confront him.
It takes an ungodly amount of time for Elisabeth to gather her wits. "I…. don't even know what to say, Abby. I'm… so sorry." Is that the right thing? She sounds uncertain. "Good Lord…. " She trails off a moment, and then shakes her head. "Well, that puts my problems in perspective, huh? My son's just trying to kill his father. Who is now lost in time somewhere." She tries to make it sound like a joke, but well… it, too, has its own kind of horror. "Geez, Abby. I wonder sometimes who we ticked off in a former life to have such horrid karma this time around, you know?"
"Your problems are just as important, as my own are. Who's your son? We know there's more than a few of them out there, running around. Kasha's here" The little girl looks up at her name, then back to the pasta, reaching to get some more, squishing it in her hands before she'll shove it into her mouth. "I met her. Few times. She grew up real beautiful. Who's your son?" Or the unspoken, who's his father.
"His name's Joshua," Elisabeth replies softly, her smile faint. Maybe even a little shy. "He's a lot like Richard, though he'd be beyond pissed to know that. Apparently works as a bouncer somewhere, does a little fighting on the side for extra cash? That's… really all I know about him except that he made me a pie." It makes her grin just a little. "And he wasn't too good at that, so apparently he didn't inherit that gene. He's got a variation of my ability, though." She pauses. "And apparently I taught him how to drive a tank?" That seems odd, but hey!
"Joshua" That wasn't a name that had come up, was another name to add to the growing pile, to hopefully have all fourteen of them at some point. "You'll have to teach him to make a pie, not to mention, have him show you how to drive a tank. He look lik eyou or he look like Richard?:
That's a harder question. "I…. don't know," Elisabeth laughs softly. "He's… got darker hair from what I could tell. Richard's eyes. Uhm…. similar build, I guess. He's…. one very pissed off guy." She pauses. "He watched me die of the aftereffects of Darren Stevens's power." Setting her fork down, Elisabeth resorts to playing with her water glass. "He said he came with friends. A whole group. I know of… five. Ryans said he might know of as many as 4 others, by virtue of guessing when I spoke with him last. I get the impression they're somewhat… fractured, as a group. That their leader went missing before they came, and maybe … they don't really know what to do."
Amazing what can be gleaned when you can share information or at least, talk to others who are having the same experience. "We're getting that at least a small few of them, aren't toeing the line like they had planned. They're back here to change things. Some things though, haven't been changing, not for lack of trying. Listen, Liz, there's another version of the flu, that's been released. It's the one you and I can get, but it's been modified. It'll affect those who aren't evolved"
Elisabeth frowns. "Great," she murmurs with a sigh. "Considering that they're the children of the Ferry, should I be surprised that some of them have their own ideas about the right things to do?" After all, even now there's no true concensus. But the news about the new flu alarms her. "Okay. Is the mortality rate as bad?"
"I don't know Liz, all i know is that over twenty days ago, it was turned loose and not by the government, best I know. Keep your ear to the ground here and maybe you'll hear. We'll probably decide what to do soon enough" A purse of grim lips, Abby shifts, tilting her head down and to the side to grab a rag and wipe at Kasha's face - much to the unhappiness of the little girl that someone is interrupting her eating.
"I have a feeling we'll find out soon enough"
Elisabeth sighs and nods. "I'm in and out of here several times a week. I'll keep my ears open." She shakes her head and makes a silly face at Kasha. "Have you met… Kasha? I mean, the older one?" she asks curiously, trying to entertain the baby a bit.
"Be careful coming and going, There's the robots up top, the cat ones and the llama ones. They work together" Abby may not be smiling but Kasha is, cheeky grin and giggles at the face made, reaching out to grab a fistful of blonde hair and hold tight. "I have, a few times. She got me out of D'Sarthe's at some gala that I was hoping to have met ro-" She doesn't finish the name. "at but the Frontline people crashed it instead. I spent Christmas with her and easter. She turns one soon and I'm going to try and invite her to whatever affair we have." It's a given, that Abigail it seems, is the girls mother.
"She was trying to keep me from ever finding out that Robert was Muldoon. Which didn't happen in the end, someone told me. He was divorcing me before that. Had found himself someone else and was seeing her"
Elisabeth nods immediately at the robots. "I am. Most of the time, Ygraine helps get us in through the underground systems. It's…. a bit jarring, but it works." She bites her lip and says softly, "God, Abby." She cannot imagine how much pain her friend is in over Robert Ca… no. James Muldoon. She reaches out and hugs her, a bit awkwardly around the baby who has a hank of her very long hair in her hand. She can't … really say anything to it that will make Abby feel better, though. So instead she says, "I'm glad that you've got to spend time with her. I'd… like to see Joshua again, but he's… " She pauses. "Hell, I don't know. He's elusive." She smiles a little. "Kind of like his father that way too."
No hugs, she really doesn't want one. Like how at the moment, she's not wanting to feel better. Wanting to wallow in her stupidity and misery. There's a reason she has a baby on her lap. To discourage any affection which likely accounts for how stiff she is, and why she's carefully extricating Liz's hair from Kasha's grip. "Get his number, find out where he's staying. Get a bat signal Liz." The rag is being used to wipe off Kasha's hands, making a small game of it.
She releases Abby gently, aware that the other woman pulls in when she's hurting but needing to make the effort too. Elisabeth strokes Kasha's hair and just smiles a little. "I… think maybe I know some people who can find him. And he knows where to find me when he's ready, Abby. There are…. certain things that just have to happen in their own time. If I push my son too hard, I think he'll likely pull away. But believe me when I tell you I have no intention of letting him slip away." She sighs. "He may be all I have left of Richard, if the man's lost in time somewhere. Joshua may not think so, but the very fact that he's here tells me that he's what I always hoped he'd be… the best parts of us both."
"He's not lost in time Liz, I'm sure that Richard is exactly where he needs to be" Abigail assures her, one last wipe of the littel blonde in her arms, she's shifting so she can extricate from the bench. "I think it's time for her nap and I'm tired Liz. It was nice to see you again. See that you're okay"
Elisabeth hehs at that. "I'm sure he is," she murmurs of one Richard Cardinal. But that doesn't mean that he's going to ever be back this way again either. In the meantime… "Are you and Kasha staying here or out on the island?" she asks. "I miss you, Abby."
"Out there. I just had to come to town for a meeting and some other things to do. If you need me, just drop me a line here, they'll get the message to me and I'll come mainland. I don't really have much left here except for Cash - Kasha " Leftovers on the plate are nudged toward Liz to finish, what's not been squished by kasha who is exploring the room from her perch on Abby's hip. "Don't… tell anyone, about Robert. Most don't even know that he's filed for divorce. Much less the other, and I don't know what I'm going to do about it yet" It's hers to tell in other words.
She takes the plate and will finish it after Abby leaves. Her blue eyes hold sympathy — not pity, but hurt for her friend. "I won't tell anyone. It's not their business, Abby," Elisabeth says simply. "And same to you — if you need me, I'm checking in pretty regularly. Take care of you. And her," she says, smiling a bit at the baby.
"I will. I do" Abigail assures her. Obviously she does. Hefting Kasha up a little more higher, a dip-slash-nod of her head to the older woman, she's turning away, off to go hide out in her corner again with Kasha, likely curl up for a nap with the baby. Leave Liz to do what Liz does down here.
Elisabeth watches her go and murmurs softly, "Happy Mother's Day, Abby."