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Post by skybright on Dec 14, 2006 22:35:43 GMT -5
The atmosphere in Sid Rosenstein's home that night was gloomy, subdued -- and undeniably worried. Even Caddy's usually ebullient nature had turned to frustrated, nervous worry under the strain of their vigil. The doctor drifted from point to point in the front room -- always gravitating back towards the front windows and glancing out into the dark, quiet residential street.
He turned away from yet another glance out the window and frowned at Sid, who stood nearby. "Daws hasn't called or anything?" He asked -- unnecessarly, since he knew as well as the rest of them that the phone hadn't rung all night.
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 14, 2006 22:47:10 GMT -5
Sid ignored Caddy's inquiry of the obvious.
Sitting beside Alex on the sofa and nervously rubbing her hands together, Miriam finally voiced the worst thoughts they had all been having. "For all we know, if Tiernan found out anything from Vance, he could have just--grabbed Daws the moment she walked into his office."
The despondent Handy jerked his head up sharply, looking daggers at Miriam. "I told ya, the bat won't get anything outta Jerod. You don't know him! His tolerance for pain is--is--" He gestured broadly with all four hands.
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Post by skybright on Dec 14, 2006 22:51:36 GMT -5
"Okay, buddy, okay." Caddy held up his own hands in a soothing gesture. "Look, it's no sense in jumping to nasty conclusions, right? I mean . . . well, this is . . . this is Daws and Vance we're talking about, right?"
The doctor turned away sharply before anyone could answer, as headlights swept across the curtains and the shadowy form of an automobile pulled into the driveway of the Rosenstein home. Caddy snuck a quick glance through the crack of the drapes. "It's . . . a cab. That's a good thing, isn't it?"
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 14, 2006 23:03:38 GMT -5
"Makes sense. Daws can't drive, an' I don't guess Proteus has much use for cars either." As he spoke, Sid was moving forward to the window. He glanced out cautiously, then breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Daws' unmistakable outline--and behind her, a man carrying a heavy weight. By some miracle, they had actually succeeded in retrieving Vance.
But that don't mean he's alive, Sid thought grimly, even as he hurried to the door and threw it open.
Without a word, Proteus carried the once-again unconscious Vance into the room and placed him on the sofa, which Miriam and Alex had vacated. Alex put a hand over his mouth and looked away, while Miriam studied Vance with a strange combination of heartbroken horror and a pathologist's detachment. As for Handy, he had made a choked noise of almost physical pain himself, and scrambled to be next to his friend and leader.
"It was Nocturne," Proteus supplied, perhaps unnecessarily. "He knows a lot about inflicting pain without killing someone before he's finished with 'em--but this time, I think he might have pushed it too far."
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Post by skybright on Dec 14, 2006 23:08:30 GMT -5
The sight of the wounded Vance had snapped Caddy out of his nervous, worried mood and straight into his brisk, focused medical persona. "Right. We're gonna need a room. And light. And water to start getting him cleaned up."
He clapped his hands together, a gesture designed to draw everyone's attention away from the grim sight on the couch. "Sid . . . someplace we can clean up afterwards is better than your front room, if you've got somethin' like that. Doctor Van Linden, I'll need you to assist me. I've got sedative, painkillers and tools in my bag." The aforementioned bag drifted its way into the room from the front hall. "C'mon, the sooner the better. Can't get to work fixin' him up until we know how bad things are."
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 14, 2006 23:17:05 GMT -5
Sid grimaced slightly. "Kitchen. We can put 'im on the bar."
Once more, Proteus moved Vance, carrying him into the almost sterilely clean kitchen and placing him on the hastily-cleared bar. Then he stepped back, settling unobtrusively against the wall with arms folded. The shapeshifter's expression suggested that he was debating something with himself--or it would have, if anyone had been paying attention to him.
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Post by skybright on Dec 14, 2006 23:21:20 GMT -5
Caddy nodded briskly as he opened his bag and began laying out an array of medical tools on the counter. "Okay, Doctor -- Miriam -- scrub up and help me out, willya?"
He looked up suddenly at the small knot of worried onlookers who had followed them into the kitchen, and shook his head. "No, oh no. Sorry, guys, I really am, but this's a surgery right now and not a kitchen. Doctors only -- well, and Proteus maybe, because I'm not sure I'm really allowed to boss you around. But everyone else -- I'm sorry, Handy, I am, but no arguments -- out. We gotta focus on Vance right now. Can't do it with people crowded around watching." As he spoke, Caddy was making none-too-subtle ushering movements and doing his best to herd the others out of the kitchen.
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 14, 2006 23:27:00 GMT -5
Almost whimpering, Handy was steered out of the kitchen by Sid and Alex. The three men sat down to wait.
Miriam had finished scrubbing her hands, and turned to Caddy, waiting grimly for his instructions. "Just remember I'm not a real nurse, Doctor."
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Post by skybright on Dec 14, 2006 23:33:19 GMT -5
"Yeah, I know." Caddy said quietly. "But I usedta be a boy scout, Doctor -- we make do with what we can. And we haven't got time to be picky right now."
He glanced up at the doorway to the kitchen, where Daws was still hovering -- a lost, frightened look in her eyes. "Daws. I'm not gonna say it again. Out."
"I am out." She said quietly, gesturing to her feet -- which were, technically, on the other side of the doorway.
Caddy sighed and crossed over, taking the detective by the shoulders and turning her around. "I am not going to have this conversation with you, Daws. Go wait with the others. Me an' Miriam'll take care of him, I promise. Go."
Numbly -- and with a docility which was very much unlike her -- Daws did as she was told, drifting into the living room and collapsing dully into an armchair.
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 15, 2006 21:24:13 GMT -5
In a crisis that was not immediately personal, Sid had a surprising capacity to be commanding and level-headed. He had displayed this at the rendezvous point earlier that evening, and now he took charge of the situation again. He tried to engage Daws' interest, and keep her from thinking too much about what was happening in the kitchen.
"It's a miracle you got Vance outta Tiernan's, Daws," he said, with an affected tone of enthusiasm. "How did ya ever do it?"
The answer came from Proteus, who--having no taste for the sight of blood--had quietly entered the room. "You said it yourself, Mister Rosenstein. I made like I was Tiernan." He glanced at Daws, weighing the wisdom of disclosing the details, then continued. "After I looked Vance over, I told the guards I'd gotten a little carried away... and if he didn't see a doctor, he'd die before he could talk. I guess they were a little surprised I wanted to walk out with him all by myself, but they didn't stop me."
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Post by skybright on Dec 16, 2006 0:19:29 GMT -5
"Nobody stops Tiernan from doin' what he decides he wants to." Daws murmured. "While Proteus was at work down below, I was keepin' Tiernan busy. Told him I'd been ambushed by some of Vance's people with a message for him -- s'how I explained my coat."
Her voice grew suddenly bitter. "He even paid me for it. I took the money out of his hand . . ." She flexed her fingers slightly, claws slipping in and out of their sheaths. "I should've torn him to ribbons. I wanted to. I almost did."
Daws closed her eyes, looking somewhat sick. "The only way I kept myself from doin' it was promising myself I would -- if Vance . . . if he didn't . . . if he doesn't --"
She broke off abruptly and buried her face in her hands, shaking as the full weight of the night's events finally caught up to her.
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 16, 2006 21:57:26 GMT -5
"Hey, now." Sid stepped to the side of Daws' chair and rubbed her bowed back soothingly. "Don't get all worked up. He's gonna be okay."
However, as he spoke, he glanced across at Proteus--who looked gravely doubtful.
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Post by skybright on Dec 16, 2006 22:11:35 GMT -5
Daws shook her head faintly. "Why is it every time I care about someone they end up gettin' hurt?"
She ran one hand through her black hair -- her fedora hadn't made it into the taxi, and was probably still somewhere on the floor at her office -- and then clasped her hands together, resting her chin on them. "I never even told him, Sid. What am I gonna do if . . ." Silent tears streaked through the fur on her face, "If I don't get a chance to tell him?"
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 16, 2006 22:36:30 GMT -5
Handy frowned at Daws--half-sympathetically, half-defiantly. "Jerod is not gonna die, Miss Dawson. Ya hear me? The bat's never gonna get that kinda satisfaction."
Sid smiled weakly. "Ya hear that, Daws? And who'd know better'n Handy?"
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Post by skybright on Dec 16, 2006 22:42:23 GMT -5
Daws brushed awkwardly at her tears and managed a faint smile. "Can't argue with that sort of authority, I guess." She said quietly. "Besides . . . Vance said it himself. I can't get rid of him."
She reached up to grasp Sid's hand. "Thanks."
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 16, 2006 23:00:51 GMT -5
"You betcha." Sid patted Daws' hand. "An' I'm glad ta hear you admittin' it--about you an' Vance, I mean. If anythin's gonna be a reason fer him ta get well..." He smiled genuinely. "It's knowin' what he's got on his hands."
Proteus frowned, standing thoughtful for a long moment, and then slipped back into the kitchen.
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Post by skybright on Dec 17, 2006 15:46:49 GMT -5
Daws gave the faint ghost of a laugh. "If you think so, Sid."
She examined the carpet. "Pretty much the first conversation me and Vance ever had -- well, that wasn't us swapping insults and sizing each other up -- was Vance sayin' that people in our situation can't afford to be in love. That getting attatched kills."
Daws shook her head suddenly, forcefully. "But I don't care. Vance can tell me to get lost or laugh in my face or anything else -- doesn't matter. Just . . . as long as he's gonna be all right, that's all I care."
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 17, 2006 22:29:17 GMT -5
"Aw, he will." Sid shrugged. "But I guess... he's gonna need a while ta heal up. He can stay here long as he needs."
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Post by skybright on Dec 17, 2006 23:04:49 GMT -5
Daws gave him an affectionate smile. "You ought to start charging room and board, Sid -- the way you keep taking in lodgers and strays."
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 17, 2006 23:33:02 GMT -5
"It ain't nothin'." Sid pulled a chair closer and sat down. "Least I can do for the cause. I don't have fancy powers like the rest of ya."
He frowned. "That DNA test, ya know... I still haven't looked at it. Still too scared stiff of what it'll say--or what I might do. I haven't figured that part out yet."
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