Life Onboard Serenity: #42 - Of Jobs, Vaults and Things Gone Wrong
POSTED BY: EnglishIvy
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 22:19
VIEWED: 30582
PAGE 11 of 14
Quote:
Originally posted by DRPAIN:
"She's gone and it's all my fault."
"Damn straight," Grayson whispered as he wiped a tear from his face. He walked around to Ivy's side and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. "Tell your Daddy that I tried. I really did."
Simon had stepped outside both to give both men the chance to be with her, but to also give comfort to Kaylee who had followed everyone downstairs and was currently sobbing.
River peeked her head inside.
"She's still here, just for a short span," she said as she glanced at John. "You feel her too, don't you?"
"I told your Daddy that I'd watch over you, Toms," Grayson said to her as he brushed her hair a bit out of her face. "Don't make me a liar."
"Ivy, I love you... we love you," Pain begged as he included Grayson in speaking to her. "Please come back."
Their pleadings were interrupted sharply by Zoe's entrance to the room. She stalked straight up to Ivy, leaned down into her face and sternly spoke.
"Now you listen to me little girl. Not many have the chance you have right now. You have people here who love you. You have a man here who loves you. You have choices.
"My husband, Wash, didn't get to choose. He was just ripped away. He was there and in a split second he wasn't. He had a spear go through his chest and he didn't get ths chance to decide, because if he did, he'd still be here," Zoe ground out as a tear fell down her cheek. "He wouldn't have even thought about the choice because he LOVED me. So if you really care about these people by your side, you should get your rutting ass back here before you destroy their lives.
"The only thing waiting for you on the other side are dead folk and they will still be there when your real time comes.
"So you fight, Ivy. You fight HARD."
Then Zoe spun on her heel and left the room.
Pain kissed her hand then lightly kissed her lips.
"Please, bao bei, please don't go," Pain whispered into her ear. "I need you. You're a part of me now and if you leave, I'll be broken."
"Come back, Toms."
The next few seconds felt like an eternity. But all of a sudden, a heartbeat was heard. Then another. And another. Until a normal pattern re-established itself.
"That's my girl," Grayson whispered, relieved.
Elated, Pain leaned up and kissed her. To his surprise, her hand squeezed his. He looked down in shock.
"She squeezed my hand."
"I need to check her over," Simon said as he shoved past everyone to reach her.
As her hand clung to Pain's, Simon checked her pupils and smiled.
"Ivy? Ivy can you hear me?" he said loudly. "Ivy?"
Her eyes slowly fluttered open and she looked around until her gaze fell on Pain. A weak smile formed on her lips.
"Love... you..." she hoarsely whispered.
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(OoC: I going to go ahead and start setting up the next job now, but don't feel rushed.)
John followed Zoe from the room. He really didn't want to be present for the tears and the kissing and the doting. Hopefully, Grayson would be gone soon. He made his way back to his bunk. Out of routine he checked his cortex pad and found, suprisingly, he had been waved. He was not suprised to see who it was from. Sighing he attempted to contact the man.
His brother's, Matthew who prefered his nickname, Knives, face appeared on the screen shortly. "I was half expectin you to completely ignore me," he chuckled with his characteristic grin. Looking and John and this man, one could easily tell they were brothers. They had similar faces, although Knives sported a small beard. Knives, the older of the two, was slightly stockier as well.
"You mentioned work, which the ship needs."
"Yes, I have some slightly sensitive cargo in need of transporting, and I figured I'd come to you first."
"How much does it pay?"
"More than it should. Would the infamous Captain Reynolds be interested?"
"That depends where are you?"
"Paquin"
"I'm sure we could do that. That is if we can get these gorram feds off our boat," John muttered
"Feds?"
"Yes, and guess who one of them is?"
"Doc is with you! Thank goodness."
"What does that mean?"
"Haven't you seen the cortex recently? They figured out what name she's using. They're after her."
"Bad luck for her."
"You have to keep her onboard. Kepp an eye on her." John couldn't help but laughing.
"What would possibly inspire me to do that?"
"I asked you to."
"I don't owe you any favors."
"Well I'm your brother." Knives paused, "And I love her."
John cringed at the phrase. "No you don't"
"Don't tell me how I feel."
"We'll be there when we can." John turned off the link before the conversation could continue.
johnttf
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OOC: We'll probably need a new thread too. This one's getting a little long and slow to load.
Infirmary
Quote:
Originally posted by GraysonCornwell:
"Love... you..." she hoarsely whispered.
"I know." Pain replied back to her, a relieved smile donning his face. He leaned down to kiss her again and repeated, "I know."
"I hate to be a thorn in everyone's side." Simon said as he put away the penlight he used to check Ivy's pupils. "But I need to start her on a blood transfusion and I can't do that with everyone standing in the way. So if you would please step out and give me some room, I'd like to get to work."
Pain still stood by Ivy's side, clutching her hand in his. He was unrelenting in leaving her here and he voiced that sentiment to Simon, "I'm stayin', doc. Nothin' you'll say or do will budge me from that."
"Alright fine." replied Simon as he went to get what he needed. "You can stay, but try not to get in the way of things." Simon turned to Mal and said, "I'll need you to stay as well, captain. You are her blood type after all."
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Ivy watched the blood that Mal donated flow into her arm.
"Thank you, Captain," she said quietly. "I know you don't care for me much, but I am grateful."
"Can't have you dyin' on my boat," Mal said as he smiled slightly, but didn't look at her directly. "I'd have feds lined up from here to the Core looking for me if'n I did."
Mal had meant it as a joke, but it didn't come across that way.
"I know I have been a thorn in your side and I apologize," she continued. "I really wanted to prove myself useful with the job, but managed to get myself shot in the process. Hardly helps my cause."
"Your cause?" Mal asked.
"I want to stay here with Pain," she said as she turned her head to glance at Pain. "I... love him, but I've caused too much trouble.
"Pain loves this ship; it is his home. I don't want to change that, he has people here he cares for."
A tear slipped down Ivy's face, but she wiped it away quickly with her good arm.
"And I know you don't want me here," she resumed. "I just can't think of a way 'round it. A way that would be amicable for everyone."
Grayson stood to the doorway.
"I still think you need to come home," he told her. "I can get you your old job back and a new apartment. You would be safe and safety is my main concern. Safe is not here. You will never be safe here. This little escapade is a perfect example."
"Grayson..." Ivy started, but flinched when she moved the wrong way.
"YOU ALMOST DIED!" Grayson shouted. "This last time, they had given up because you didn't respond. In effect, You. Did. Die."
Grayson sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"You gave up, Toms," he said with definite concern in his voice. "The pilot? River Tam? She told us that you gave up."
Ivy shook her head in disbelief.
"Couldn't have given up," she said, shaking her head, tears falling freely. "I'm here. Couldn't have given up if I'm here."
"But you did..." Grayson said softly.
Ivy's head fell back to rest on the pillow. Then she raised it again and looked at him with renewed strength.
"She said she didn't. So just don't push her. She doesn't need any more guilt."
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Infirmary
Quote:
Originally posted by EnglishIvy:
"She said she didn't. So just don't push her. She doesn't need any more guilt."
"What did Tommy mean by that?" Pain wondered as Tommy let Grayson have it, noticing that she was tugging at the stitches just like Ivy was doing. Pain got up and placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze as he leaned down and whispered into Tommy's ear, "Baobei? Could you please not tug at your stitches? I love both you and Ivy very much and I want you to stay here with me, but I'm pretty sure the captain and the doc would be slightly annoyed if'n you reopened those wounds of yours."
He gave her shoulder another squeeze and added, "I love both of you, but I don't think I can handle you two bleedin' out again, so please stop tuggin' at the stitches. Please, baobei?"
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Mal leaned forward a bit.
“Am I correct in thinking that you are Tommy?” he asked as he regarded at her closely. He’d never met anyone who had a condition like hers and found himself looking for a sign that this all was a ruse. Something she had done to pull to wool over all of their eyes. Especially Pain’s. “I don’t think we’ve had the chance to formally meet-”
“Shut it, Captain. We all know you could care less about Ivy. Don’t sugar coat it and don’t act like it ain’t true,” Tommy snapped as she tried to sit up, but Pain gently held her in place.
“Bao bei…” Pain said softly. “Your stitches…”
Tommy looked up at Grayson.
“River’s right. She’s been stronger here than anywhere else that she’s been since being taken. Keeping her guarded, even if you thought it was for her own good, did nothing but cement her need to depend on me and on anyone else that was nearby,” Tommy fumed. “While she’s been here, she’s made her own decisions and as of late, I haven’t been needed as much. She’s had a couple of… bumps in the road, but overall she’s been doing well.”
Tommy looked over at Mal.
“I know that some absolutely unimaginable things have happened in your and your crews’ pasts, but not everyone is out to get you. Ivy certainly has no plans on doing anything to your crew except make some long overdue friends. There are no deep dark plans afoot by Ivy or anyone Ivy knows to cause any of you harm.
“However, there is evil in this ‘verse that don’t stem out of the bowels of the Alliance. Sometimes there are just monsters out there who live to prey on folks that can’t defend themselves, doling out their own brand of torture in their own special way,” Tommy said with conviction. “People deal with evil any way they can. Sometimes things are bad enough that a person needs to check out for a while, sort things through, put everything they can’t deal in one big pile and create some kind of failsafe whose primary function is to keep that pile contained.”
“So that failsafe is you?” Mal asked. “Your job is to keep the bad memories away from Ivy?”
“Yes.”
“Seems to me, getting things out in the open would be better than hidin’.”
Tommy shook her head.
“No. Not for Ivy.”
“You sure about that?”
“Of course I am. Everyone has a pile of stuff they’d rather not remember. Ivy’s is just a little bigger than most folk’s. There is no way you’ve come to terms with every painful event that has happened in your life. Would you feel just peachy keen having those memories sitting there in front of you every second of every day? You have your own things hidden away too and if you say that you don’t, I’d either have to call you the strongest person that has ever existed in this ‘verse or more appropriately, I think I’d just call you a liar,” Tommy told him as she lifted a hand to accentuate her position with the point of a finger.
One of the monitors started beeping as a bead of sweat broke across Tommy’s forehead. Pain’s attention swung to the monitor in question as Simon looked over too. Simon moved over to the counter to prepare something as Pain looked back down at Tommy.
“Tommy, you gotta calm down,” Pain said to her, stroking Ivy’s hair. “Just calm down, you’re gonna hurt your self.”
“Do you know what happened to Ivy then?” Grayson asked softly.
“I do,” Tommy confirmed. “But that girl has been through enough. She don’t need to know it. And I’m not going to be letting any of you folks know either. Not any of you. Not even Pain. It’s her story to tell and she’ll tell it if and when she wants to.”
Simon stealthily slid up beside her and injected her with something. Immediately, Tommy starting calming down, but she still had some things to say.
“It’s Ivy’s baggage and she can carry it how she needs to,” Tommy said as her eyes drooped a bit. She sagged back into the bed and looked tiredly up into Pain’s face.
“Bao bei?” she said softly, her demeanor changing and a sweet smile spanning her face.
“Yes, Ivy?” Pain smiled back at her
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Outside the Infirmary
Pain had followed Grayson outside the infirmary. He kept his distance from the lawman as they wandered out, leaving Ivy in Simon's care. Pain had an inkling that Grayson wanted to talk to him about his and Ivy's relationship, tell him that he was no good for her, that he was only using her for sex and didn't really care for her. Pain knew better than Grayson. He truly loved both Ivy and Tommy with all his heart. All their fun time together was completely consensual. And it wasn't just about sex. The sex was great, but Pain also enjoyed spending time just hanging out with her and having fun. The Paint Tag place was an example of that. There surely would be more opportunities Pain also had a hunch that Grayson wanted to talk to him about something more than just Ivy.
Pain also had a feeling that Grayson wanted to talk about other things as well. He was a lawman after all. It was in his nature to grill people for information. Well Pain wasn't going to be such an easy person to grill, he'd be very difficult and stubborn. He would be very recalcitrant to give Grayson any information regarding his personal affairs and even moreso if Grayson tried to pry anything out of him about his occupation and his background.
Cargo Bay
"Alright, Grayson, we've walked far enough." replied Pain as he stopped by some crates in the cargo bay. He crossed his arms against his chest, wincing a little at the slight twinge of pain from his wounded arm. Standing his ground, he continued, "What do you want to talk about?"
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“What are you doing? You tell her that you love both of them?”
“I do. No sense denying that.”
“But they are the same person!” Grayson exclaimed. “All you are doing is allowing her to hide from what has happened!”
“Don’t you think she should be able to let things play out as she can handle them?” Pain asked him. “They are her memories and she should have the right to deal with them in her own way.”
“Yeah, her memories…”Grayson mumbled under his breath. “I mean, she’s got to let people in. She’s got to tell us what’s going on it her head so we can help her.”
Pain narrowed his eyes at Grayson as something dawned on him.
“You don’t know what happened to her while she was enslaved, do you?”
Grayson turned his back to Pain and rubbed his forehead with one hand.
“Oh my God. You don’t know!” Pain said quietly as he looked rather incredulously at Grayson.
It took a few seconds before Grayson turned back around.
“No, we don’t. She hasn’t said. Not ever,” Grayson said in a low voice. His concern for her was palpable. “She didn’t even tell Dr. Garner much. I tried to ask her once what Toms had told her, but she won’t say because of ‘patient confidentiality’ but did say that it was very, very little. I don’t know how I am supposed to help her if I don’t know.”
“Dr. Garner?” Pain asked. He wanted to know as much about Ivy as Grayson would tell him.
“Toms’ Reintegration Therapist,” Grayson told him. “There is a small medical and psychiatric group that deals with liberated slaves. Their goal is to help them to work out the events of their captivity as best they can and in time, reintegrate them back into society.”
“Well, Dr. Garner must have done an OK job. Ivy seems to be doing well,” Pain offered. “She’s trying to make a life here. She’s made a life with me for sure.”
“Doing WELL?” Grayson snorted. “She’s mentally damaged who knows how bad, she thinks she is two people and she is laying in there all shot to Hell!”
“Mentally damaged?” Pain started to say, his jaw clenching.
“And you aren’t helping,” Grayson continued while he pointed his finger at Pain. “You got her shot and you fill her head with these proclamations of love. You are just taking advantage of her and you know it!”
Now Pain was getting angry.
“Have you had sex with her?” Grayson demanded folding his arms over his chest. “Did you ply her with professions of love to get her into bed with you?”
“Back off Grayson!” Pain growled. “What Ivy and I do in our bunk is no one’s concern.”
“In our bunk? You’ve as far as moving her in with you?”
“It’s none of your concern,” Pain repeated. He really wanted to throttle the man, but didn’t think his body could take another fight today.
Then to make things worse, he caught movement above them and they both looked up.
“They’ve been joined at the hips lately,” 13 said, smirking. “Well, not at the hips, if you know what I mean.”
“It’s none of my business, but you tell your friends?” Grayson asked Pain as his face started turning red in anger. “It’s nice to know she’s brag worthy!”
“Not now, Bot Boy,” Pain said as he looked at 13, wishing he had a grenade launcher.
“Yeah, Pain,” 13 said w
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Cargo Bay
"Shut it, Bot boy." Pain exclaimed, not taking his eyes off the lawman in front of him, for fear that he'd do something like deck Pain or shoot him. "What me and Ivy do in our bunk is none of your gorramn concern, so I suggest you stow it or I'm goin' to weld your ruttin' trap shut, remove all your sensors, and have the mechanic rig you up as a pinball machine."
He focused his next set of words on Grayson, "Like I said before, Grayson. We're two consentin' adults, Ivy and I. What we do in our bunk is our business, not yours' or anyone else's. Bot Boy only knows because he's a gorramn robot with gorramn sensors that can hear a ruttin' cricket fart hundreds of miles away and see through most metallic objects, ship hulls notwithstandin'. Now I'm pretty sure Ivy or Tommy, like myself, don't want you stickin' your nose into our business. It's bad enough you're tryin' to take her back against her will and put her somewhere where she'd most likely be watched 24/7 without a lick of privacy." Pain took a breath and added in a tad calmer tone, "I get that you're tryin' to be a father figure to her, Grayson, and I respect that, but you need to let her live her own gorramn life, let her make her own decisions, and stop tryin' to control her. Not doin' that, makes you out to be just as bad as whoever the hun dan or hun dans were who took her and made her a slave in the first place."
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Quote:
Originally posted by DRPAIN:
"I get that you're tryin' to be a father figure to her, Grayson, and I respect that, but you need to let her live her own gorramn life, let her make her own decisions, and stop tryin' to control her. Not doin' that, makes you out to be just as bad as whoever the hun dan or hun dans were who took her and made her a slave in the first place."
Grayson didn't know what he wanted to do most:
1) Throttle Pain within an inch of his life. But that would probably get him killed by the hulking man who reminded him to play nice earlier. He was standing at a respectable distance on a catwalk above them with a hand on his gun. Plus Toms would never forgive him.
2) Ignore Pain. This would only keep things atthe status quo; him professing his love for her and vice versa. Plus it wouldn't get him any closer to getting to the bottom of who this Pain person really is.
3) He could sit down and try to get to know Pain, figure out why Toms is drawn to him and decide if the relationship seems healthy or not.
4) Could go back to his ship and wait. This wouldn't let him keep constant watch over Toms though...
So he decided to talk. Grayson took a deep breath, forced a halfway acceptable smile onto his face and held up his hands in defeat. He looked up at the man who had been informing him of Toms' and Pain's bedroom habits and watched the smirk fade from the guy's face, then he turned and stomped away.
Bot boy. Pain had called him "bot boy."
"Wait..." Grayson asked in wonder. "That was a robot?"
"An unhappy and jealous one at that," Pain said with a slight smile as he watched 13 leave. Pain motioned over to the common area by the Infirmary. "Let's talk."
Grayson nodded and reluctantly walked over that way with Pain following behind him. When they sat down, Grayson too stock in Pain's appearance. The man looked a mess. His shoulder was all banged up and bandaged tightly. His face was bruised and his lip split. It looked like he had been on the receiving end of a beating... but then again he had thrown two of the punches himself.
"Besides me, who else have you been... sparring with?"
"The Captain and I had a disagreement," Pain stated without any emotion.
"Can I ask why?"
Pain merely motioned towards Ivy who was laying in the infirmary.
"He was less than understanding about me waving you," Pain told him. "But I knew it was the right thing to do... for her."
Pain has disobeyed his Captain to do what he thought was best for Ivy. That scored him a point in Grayson's book. It showed committment.
"And your shoulder?"
"Weren't the only one shot today," Pain answered. "Went right through - just muscle damage."
Grayson took another deep breath as a point was subtracted in Pain's account. He obviously dragged Ivy into something she shouldn't have.
"What exactly were you all doing?" Grayson asked.
Kaylee watched the exchange between 13, Grayson and Pain. Something wasn't right with 13. He would've never treated Pain like that.So she plotted an intercept course with the direction he was walking.
"13!" she called out. "13!"
He spun on her, looking at her with venom, but his gaze softened once he realized who was talking to him.
"Kaylee," 13 said flatly.
"I need your help," she said as she acted like her bubbly self. "There's a piece in the engine I need to look at, but it's way under, far back and heavy. I figured you might be able to get it out for me."
"OK," 13 said with a sigh as he went on up to the engine room while Kaylee followed behing him. Once there, she directed him to the problem.
"It's under the middle, really close to the floor. There are two big handles. Grab them and turn clockwise and it should pop right out,"
Kaylee told him as 13 lay down on his stomach with his hands extended forward. The height of the area made it hard to see, so it was a blind reach. "Can you reach it?"
"I can't seem to reach anything," 13 answered stretching forward as far as he could.
"G
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