Alone Sometimes
by Erin Griffin
Fandom: Dollhouse
Pairing: One Sided Echo/Sierra
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I am just borrowing the dolls from Mutant Enemy for an hour or so, as is my weekly ritual now.
Author's Note: Spoils tonight's episode (3/20/09).
"I like to be alone sometimes," she told her friend Victor. She hoped that she was just being supportive of Sierra's sudden decision to not sit with them. She heard Sierra crying in the pods the night before, and it hurt her to hear it. She didn't know what was wrong, and she wanted to do something to help. Something told her that she couldn't help her this time. She had to trust Boyd, as she always would, to help her. He would know what to do, but in the mean time, Victor was so hurt and so confused.
"They think I hurt her. I would never. I like her-"
"I know you like her a lot," Echo said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He nodded his head eagerly as if to prove it to her, but she didn't need to be convinced. Though she didn't like it, Victor liked Sierra just as much as she did. She didn't like that she had to compete for her attention or that she often lost, but she would have done anything to make Sierra smile. She knew that Victor did make Sierra smile, but when she had screamed at his touch, she saw how even then she seemed unhappy, as if she regretted it as soon as she let it out.
She could only wait and hope that Boyd was in fact able to help her, and when she walked back from a class, she saw Victor and Sierra looking at a book. Echo knew that Sierra liked the pictures inside, especially the one of the trees and the orange animals hanging in them. Echo liked to watch Sierra's face light up as she wondered what those animals were. Echo didn't know either, but she thought they were funny. It was usually her with Sierra as they went through this book together, or at least Echo thought it was. She frowned as she let the paintbrush stroke the paper. She wasn't sure how she felt about her visitor. Maybe she told her too much, but that was how she felt. Slowly, she flipped the page and went back to the painting she was working on under the doodle she showed her visitor. She stared at the woman on the page who climbed in the trees, just like those animals in the book, and Victor, who looked upwards at her from the ground. In the sky was a bright sun and somewhere, Echo was flying, looking below her was flying. She wished she could ber like that picture. Echo looked up from her painting, seeing Victor smiling brightly at Sierra, and Sierra returning the smile. She was very happy now, and that was all Echo wanted. She caught her friend's eye, and she waved her over, pointing to the book, and Echo smiled back, pointing to the painting before her. Then she looked back at it. Her eyes welled with tears.
Angrily, she swiped her paintbrush over the painting and walked away. She didn't like being alone. She'd lied.