I love reviews. And reviewers. La-la-la-la-la! You guys do a great job of picking me up after a hard night, and I appreciate it oh-so-much.
Oh, I don't own Monty Python. Just so I have all my bases covered.
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Chapter Seven: Casey
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It had been a particularly trying day, despite an enjoyable lunch, and it was ten o'clock and Casey's feet were dragging by the time she got to Gina's loft. Sorting through the ring of keys, she shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, wanting nothing more than to get inside and take her heels off.
Finally finding the right key, she unlocked the door and stumbled inside, kicking her shoes off and padding through the front room in her hose. "Gina?"
"Here, Case," Gina yelled back, sounding weary and frustrated.
Casey entered the next room- Gina's 'workroom'- and stopped at the doorway, shocked. The wood floor, which Gina normally kept bare, was covered with canvases. "Gina, love? What happened?"
Gina was seated in the center of the mad spiral, hugging her knees to her chest and staring at a blank canvas with a haunted look in her eyes, though she tried to smile as she looked up. "I think I forgot to take my medication," she offered weakly.
As Casey skirted the pile, picking her way towards her sister, she looked at the nearest canvases' images. Smiling Ashely. Laughing Ashely. Ashely playing with a kid in Central Park. Dead Ashely, hair fanned out around her. Ashely holding a baby. Ashely half-naked on a rumpled bed, looking straight at the artist and smiling enticingly, as if trying to get Gina to stop drawing, for God's sake, and get over there. All were beautiful, but all communicated a sense of hopelessness, like you were looking at this beautiful girl through a window and knew you could never get to her.
Finally getting to her sister, Casey half-fell and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm so sorry. I miss her, too." Casey was sobbing by now, and tears were silently trickling down Gina's cheeks.
"Why, Case? Why her and not me? I don't remember how to live without her!"
"I know, baby. It's gonna be hard, but we'll get through it. I promise."
"She was pregnant, Case!" Gina sobbed. "She- and I- I didn't-"
Casey tightened her arms, feeling her sister's pain down to the center of her soul, doubled by her own. Her adopted sister, her unborn niece or nephew. Her twin sister's lifelong partner, her twin sister's unborn son or daughter. That last bit of knowledge had shattered whatever control Gina had been able to hold onto, and the end result was trembling with sorrow and exhaustion. "When did you find out?"
Gina sniffed, not lifting her head from Casey's shoulder. "Olivia and Eliot came by around eleven and told me. I think I've been working ever since. I don't really remember."
"Did you eat lunch?" At Gina's headshake, Casey stood up. "And I know you didn't eat dinner. Come on." She hauled Gina to her feet. "You are going to watch Holy Grail, and I am going to order Chinese food and stack all these canvases. I'll get you a pain pill, too," she added as Gina took a step and winced. "Go, sofa, ottoman, now."
Gina shuffled miserably into the back room, which was where she lived, and once she had collapsed on the overstuffed couch, Casey turned on the tv and pressed play on the VCR- she didn't even have to check to make sure it was the right tape. Monty Python and the Holy Grail was the only movie Gina ever watched, and Gina sighed audibly in relief, with her eyes closed, as the first clip-clop echoes came on as Aurthur and Patsy entered.
Satisfied that her sister was settled for now, Casey returned to the workroom and carefully cleared a wide pathway through the canvases, stacking the ones she removed in a corner. She worked with a tight jaw, for each picture just made her sister's pain more apparent, but when she could finally walk from one room to another without watching her feet too closely, she retrieved the bottle of Tylenol with codeine the hospital had given Gina and carried it to her.
She was asleep, her lips moving soundlessly in sync with Aurthur as he parted ways with the Black Knight. "Monty Python to the rescue," Casey muttered, draping a throw over her sister. "Someone has an obsession."
She collapsed on the sofa next to Gina, and watched the movie, too tired to laugh but too wired to sleep. The Frenchmen had catapulted the great wooden rabbit at Aurthur and his knights ("Run away!") when there was a knock on the door.
Blinking rapidly, Casey pushed herself upright and slid over the wooden floors, still in her hose, until she got to the door. Without even looking through the peephole, she yanked it open.
"Olivia?" she asked, squeezing her eyes shut and opening them again. "What's a'matter?"
Olivia frowned. "Casey? You look awful."
"I know. So do you. What?" She looked blearily from Olivia to Eliot and back.
"We think we got him," Eliot said, a tired but triumphant smile appearing on his face. "We need Gina to come in and look at a lineup."
Casey blinked, then stood aside. "Come in. I think you have to see this for yourself." She led the way into the workroom, and Olivia whistled.
"What exploded?"
"Gina did," Casey said heavily. "She had a slight break-down."
"Is she okay?" Olivia asked, looking alarmed and a little guilty.
Casey sighed. "I don't think she'll be okay any time soon. I think the pain medication does something that keeps her from thinking about it, but she forgot to take it after you guys left."
"Sorry about that," Olivia said.
She shrugged. "It's okay. She needed to know. Rather you two told her than some stranger. She's in here."
They followed her into the living area, and Casey gestured at Gina. "If you think you can wake her up, be my guest." Her sister, who hadn't moved so much as an inch, was frowning slightly in her sleep, and she had a smudge of charcoal across on cheekbone.
When neither detective moved, Casey made a resigned, but unhappy about it, face and moved to the sofa. "Gina!" she called, knowing exactly how deep her sister slept. "Up, doll!" Gina squinched her eyes tightly shut and turned onto her side.
"Won't."
"You will so! Eliot and Olivia need you!"
"Tell 'em I'm convalescing, and wake me up in three days so I can eat."
"You already tried that excuse once, missy. You don't want to put Ashely's killer in prison?"
That worked; Gina's eyes flew open, and she practically jumped upright, discarding the throw over the back of the couch. "Where're my shoes?" Gina asked rhetorically, for she had already spotted them under the table. Yanking them on, she grabbed up her bag and swept out of the room while she put it on.
"You coming?!" she yelled from the front.
Olivia grinned and jerked her head towards the door, and Gina was halfway down the stairs by the time they got into the hall.
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Review.
Oh, I don't own Monty Python. Just so I have all my bases covered.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter Seven: Casey
------------------------------------------------------------------
It had been a particularly trying day, despite an enjoyable lunch, and it was ten o'clock and Casey's feet were dragging by the time she got to Gina's loft. Sorting through the ring of keys, she shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, wanting nothing more than to get inside and take her heels off.
Finally finding the right key, she unlocked the door and stumbled inside, kicking her shoes off and padding through the front room in her hose. "Gina?"
"Here, Case," Gina yelled back, sounding weary and frustrated.
Casey entered the next room- Gina's 'workroom'- and stopped at the doorway, shocked. The wood floor, which Gina normally kept bare, was covered with canvases. "Gina, love? What happened?"
Gina was seated in the center of the mad spiral, hugging her knees to her chest and staring at a blank canvas with a haunted look in her eyes, though she tried to smile as she looked up. "I think I forgot to take my medication," she offered weakly.
As Casey skirted the pile, picking her way towards her sister, she looked at the nearest canvases' images. Smiling Ashely. Laughing Ashely. Ashely playing with a kid in Central Park. Dead Ashely, hair fanned out around her. Ashely holding a baby. Ashely half-naked on a rumpled bed, looking straight at the artist and smiling enticingly, as if trying to get Gina to stop drawing, for God's sake, and get over there. All were beautiful, but all communicated a sense of hopelessness, like you were looking at this beautiful girl through a window and knew you could never get to her.
Finally getting to her sister, Casey half-fell and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm so sorry. I miss her, too." Casey was sobbing by now, and tears were silently trickling down Gina's cheeks.
"Why, Case? Why her and not me? I don't remember how to live without her!"
"I know, baby. It's gonna be hard, but we'll get through it. I promise."
"She was pregnant, Case!" Gina sobbed. "She- and I- I didn't-"
Casey tightened her arms, feeling her sister's pain down to the center of her soul, doubled by her own. Her adopted sister, her unborn niece or nephew. Her twin sister's lifelong partner, her twin sister's unborn son or daughter. That last bit of knowledge had shattered whatever control Gina had been able to hold onto, and the end result was trembling with sorrow and exhaustion. "When did you find out?"
Gina sniffed, not lifting her head from Casey's shoulder. "Olivia and Eliot came by around eleven and told me. I think I've been working ever since. I don't really remember."
"Did you eat lunch?" At Gina's headshake, Casey stood up. "And I know you didn't eat dinner. Come on." She hauled Gina to her feet. "You are going to watch Holy Grail, and I am going to order Chinese food and stack all these canvases. I'll get you a pain pill, too," she added as Gina took a step and winced. "Go, sofa, ottoman, now."
Gina shuffled miserably into the back room, which was where she lived, and once she had collapsed on the overstuffed couch, Casey turned on the tv and pressed play on the VCR- she didn't even have to check to make sure it was the right tape. Monty Python and the Holy Grail was the only movie Gina ever watched, and Gina sighed audibly in relief, with her eyes closed, as the first clip-clop echoes came on as Aurthur and Patsy entered.
Satisfied that her sister was settled for now, Casey returned to the workroom and carefully cleared a wide pathway through the canvases, stacking the ones she removed in a corner. She worked with a tight jaw, for each picture just made her sister's pain more apparent, but when she could finally walk from one room to another without watching her feet too closely, she retrieved the bottle of Tylenol with codeine the hospital had given Gina and carried it to her.
She was asleep, her lips moving soundlessly in sync with Aurthur as he parted ways with the Black Knight. "Monty Python to the rescue," Casey muttered, draping a throw over her sister. "Someone has an obsession."
She collapsed on the sofa next to Gina, and watched the movie, too tired to laugh but too wired to sleep. The Frenchmen had catapulted the great wooden rabbit at Aurthur and his knights ("Run away!") when there was a knock on the door.
Blinking rapidly, Casey pushed herself upright and slid over the wooden floors, still in her hose, until she got to the door. Without even looking through the peephole, she yanked it open.
"Olivia?" she asked, squeezing her eyes shut and opening them again. "What's a'matter?"
Olivia frowned. "Casey? You look awful."
"I know. So do you. What?" She looked blearily from Olivia to Eliot and back.
"We think we got him," Eliot said, a tired but triumphant smile appearing on his face. "We need Gina to come in and look at a lineup."
Casey blinked, then stood aside. "Come in. I think you have to see this for yourself." She led the way into the workroom, and Olivia whistled.
"What exploded?"
"Gina did," Casey said heavily. "She had a slight break-down."
"Is she okay?" Olivia asked, looking alarmed and a little guilty.
Casey sighed. "I don't think she'll be okay any time soon. I think the pain medication does something that keeps her from thinking about it, but she forgot to take it after you guys left."
"Sorry about that," Olivia said.
She shrugged. "It's okay. She needed to know. Rather you two told her than some stranger. She's in here."
They followed her into the living area, and Casey gestured at Gina. "If you think you can wake her up, be my guest." Her sister, who hadn't moved so much as an inch, was frowning slightly in her sleep, and she had a smudge of charcoal across on cheekbone.
When neither detective moved, Casey made a resigned, but unhappy about it, face and moved to the sofa. "Gina!" she called, knowing exactly how deep her sister slept. "Up, doll!" Gina squinched her eyes tightly shut and turned onto her side.
"Won't."
"You will so! Eliot and Olivia need you!"
"Tell 'em I'm convalescing, and wake me up in three days so I can eat."
"You already tried that excuse once, missy. You don't want to put Ashely's killer in prison?"
That worked; Gina's eyes flew open, and she practically jumped upright, discarding the throw over the back of the couch. "Where're my shoes?" Gina asked rhetorically, for she had already spotted them under the table. Yanking them on, she grabbed up her bag and swept out of the room while she put it on.
"You coming?!" she yelled from the front.
Olivia grinned and jerked her head towards the door, and Gina was halfway down the stairs by the time they got into the hall.
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Review.