OMG I hate summer classes

Audrey leaned back in her seat, her watch read five minutes to the hour. "Calm down, Michael," she chuckled, looking sidelong at the younger man as he tapped nervously on the tabletop. That, aside from the heavy April rain shower beating down on the windows, was essentially the only sound in the small meeting room.

The man, a recent graduate from Maine, smiled weakly and put his hands in his pockets, "Sorry. Winston just makes me nervous." Their manager was overbearing and a constant stress at the studio, not making it easy for a young artist with a wavering level of confidence in his work.

"He makes us all nervous, hun," said a petite, red-headed women across the table. Karen was about Audrey's age, but looked like she could still be in high school, with her round, freckled face and wiry curls of hair. "But try not to worry so much," she added, "This is just a progress report and we're ahead of schedule anyway."

Michael nodded, letting out a heavy sigh, "Right, right." He picked up one of the plastic prototypes of the Comedian action figure, turning it absently in his hands, "We're gonna have to dumb down the designs," he muttered with a sour note in his voice. The three of them were the "leaders" of their own teams of three or so other people, and Michael in particular was not looking forward to telling one of the obsessively detail oriented individuals on his team this fact.

"Probably," Audrey agreed, looking back out the window. The door opened with a click, admitting the their manager and he immediate set down to business.

---

Rorschach grunted in annoyance and pain as he leaned heavily against the damp brick wall. "Stupid amateur's mistake," he muttered, pushing his gloved hand into his coat to grip at his side. The rain was beating down hard onto his shoulders and each step sent a spike of pain up his bruised leg and badly sprained ankle. 'Stupid…' He clenched his jaw, stubbornly continuing forward. 'Apartment too far away, can't make it. Weak,' he thought, doubting that he would be able to make it another few steps, much less the half dozen blocks back to his sorry excuse for a home.

With his vision blurring at the edges, Rorschach gripped his side harder with shaky fingers, feeling the warm trickle of blood running down his hip. His heart was hammering in his chest and for the briefest of moments he actually considered just lying down on the alley floor. Giving up. Snarling at himself for even thinking such a thing he straightened and took a deliberate step forward, at which his ankle gave out beneath him and he collapsed onto the ground.

---

After the meeting, Audrey bid farewell to her coworkers as they all left the studio building. As predicted the marketing head was having them simplify the toy designs to make them easier for mass production, but a set of the prototypes would be kept for advertising purposes. As multiple sets had been made over the last month or so, each of the designers had been free to take some of these final products home with them.

Karen had practically leapt at the Owlship, a little larger than a football, the toy had been her own personal project in the first few months of development. The other bits had been divided up with little more than a few spare words over who deserved to keep what. Audrey was thankful that she managed to avoid most of that and patted her leather satchel, pleased with her own loot. Her manager's commentary hadn't really bothered her too much, she had expected this turn of events. Looking up at the sky she chided herself for forgetting an umbrella and set off at a brisk pace back to her apartment.

Immersing herself in the sounds and smells of her city the woman wondered why she had ever left in the first place. New York had a vibrant energy that few people really took the time to notice; it was alive in its own way. So, as she was set in a sort of wordless contentment with her life, Audrey was listening and seeing her surroundings where she usually just sunk into her own thoughts as she walked home. This awareness had her pick up a soft rustle of cloth and a heavy thump from a dark lot she passed by.

Stopping, she sidestepped around a few people on the sidewalk and toed over the alley, peering inside curiously. Listening she took another step, thinking that it was likely just some homeless person searching for shelter, she glanced back to the sidewalk behind her and continued toward the sound.

After about fifteen feet or so Audrey paused and looked back a foot or two, frowning at the crumpled form leaning against a dumpster she smelled something odd. It was faintly sour and metallic, likely washed away by the last rain shower, but she picked it up nonetheless. Taking a careful step towards the form she barely held back her gasp of surprise when she fully recognized the sharp scent of blood and refuse on the hobo. Giving a short curse Audrey crouched down and after a short, hesitant pause reached out and pushed aside his scarf to lay her fingers under his jaw. 'He's cold and the pulse is thready at best,' she noted and squeaked in shock when the comatose figure suddenly knocked her hand back with a soft… 'Did he just growl?'

"You have to get to a hospital," she said, putting her hands on his arms to help him up, his head leaned against the dumpster and that, along with his hat and the poor light, obstructed any view she had of his face. The crumpled heap of a man gave another irritated sound, shrugging her off with a surprisingly sharp jerk of his shoulders. He said something, the words were low and slightly slurred, but Audrey gathered that he was refusing her help. "Tough luck, buddy," she muttered, kneeling around beside him and maneuvering her arm under his shoulders. Heaving the injured man to his feet as gently as she could, while choosing to ignore his stubborn protests, Audrey looked back towards the street and called out to the pedestrians. None answered for when she spoke a rumble and crack of thunder rolled overhead and a light trickle of rain started plunking down on her head.

'Great.' Before she could call out again, her charge suddenly became a dead weight in her arms. "Jee-!" Struggling to not drop him, Audrey somehow managed to get one of his arms across her shoulders, wrinkling her nose at his rank and musty smell. That was when she saw his hat lying on the ground, and looking to his face Audrey almost dropped the vigilante in her alarm.

The blots of Rorschach's mask were barely shifting, but it was unmistakable and she mentally smacked herself upside the head for not realizing it sooner. Now standing in a dark, wet alleyway with an unconscious outlaw in her arms, Audrey wanted to kick herself for getting into this mess. 'Acting without thinking first… Not the first time it's gotten me in trouble,' she thought sourly. 'A smart person would just leave you here…'

Hefting Rorschach's limp form to get a better grip, she half dragged and half carried him down the alley and took a less populated route back to her apartment. When she wasn't concentrating on keeping the vigilante from falling to the ground, she was quietly reprimanding herself for doing this. "I'm a fuckin' idiot with a death wish," she muttered. "But I'm not turning you into the cops any more than I'd just leave you here to rot."

By the time she reached her apartment building, they were both soaked with rainwater and Audrey was growing more and more concerned with the raspy, shallow breathing coming from her unconscious burden. Praying that no one would see them, Audrey kicked the button on the elevator and shuffled Rorschach in and out of the lift when it reached her floor. A span of soft curses (and a short juggling act as she got her keys) later, Audrey bumped her door closed and almost tripped over her dog.

Swearing again she lowered Rorschach onto the carpet and leaned against the wall, she was shivering from the rain and flushed from heaving around a man that was just about equaled her weight. Cricket sniffed at the unmoving body, a low whine echoing from his chest as he looked at his mistress in confusion. Groaning from the strain in her back and shoulders, Audrey knelt down beside the vigilante and hesitated. 'What the hell am I suppose to do now?' she asked herself. She had no training or experience with nursing people or really doing anything other than basic first aid, and looking him over she could easily tell that he'd lost quite a bit of blood. His coat and pant leg were stained a dark rust red from the partially dried blood and she could see a handful of tears in his clothes that looked like they were inflicted by knives. Big ones.

Pulling herself together Audrey opened the trenchcoat and eased his arms out of it, which was easier said than done. She gagged slightly at the heavy smell of blood, grime and unwashed skin but continued taking stock of the damage. A bundle of dirty cloth had been bunched against his side, obviously put there before she had found him. Getting up to quickly retrieve her first aid kit she peeled off the wads of red-brown stained fabric and opened his pinstriped jacket. She set down to cleaning and disinfecting the mostly clotted wound in his side as best she could, lifting his dingy wifebeater to wrap gauze around his torso.

Cricket laid down quietly beside the vigilante, watching with concern as Audrey worked. She was distant, focused only on bandaging and cleaning the multitude of injuries on the man, settling into a mindset she made when working on a painting or sculpture. All that mattered to her was the task at hand, the man needed help and she didn't know if she could risk calling another person to help her.

Tugging and finagling his coat and jacket out from under him was an interesting feat, the outlaw slipping in and out of consciousness as she moved him around. Her heart almost stopped beating at one point when he shot up and thrashed his arms at her, thankfully his poor state had him lacking the coordination he needed to succeed in his attack. When he had settled back down she untied his soggy scarf and debated whether or not to remove his mask, trying to keep herself calm after the attempted assault.

His pale, lightly freckled, but well muscled arms and shoulders were almost icy to the touch, as was the rest of him. Pulling her large dog closer she pushing him up against Rorschach's side and told him to stay put. Getting up she returned with several cushions and an armful of blankets. Looking down at him she frowned, "I should get you on the couch," she muttered, then thought better of it. "I'd probably rip his side open if I did that…" Kneeling down she tugged off his shoes and soaked socks, quickly rubbing his feet dry with a towel before laying a heavy blanket over his legs and propping his feet up with a few cushions. Throwing another blanket over the top half of his body, she tucked Cricket in with him, knowing a dog was just about as good as any heated blanket. Petting and praising the animal with a few head scratches she settled back on her heels, suddenly at a loss as to what to do.

Audrey looked Rorschach's blanketed form over again, her gaze stopping at his mask. She could hear his still shallow, but thankfully steady breathing through the latex, and reached to feel his pulse, while comparing it to her own. "I think that's a little stronger than before," she guessed with a frown, not happy that she really didn't know for sure. Listening to his breathing for a few moments she gently peeled the mask just up to his nose, revealing a scraggly, unshaven jaw and a dry, rough looking mouth.

Satisfied that he could at least breath a little easier, Audrey leaned back against the wall and stifled back a yawn. 'Don't fall asleep, you idiot,' her mind snapped, 'you have a maniac who threatened your life in your apartment!!!' And she tried to stay awake, watching Rorschach ride out whatever he had experienced that night and eventually hearing the heavy breathing and soft snores from her dog. However, it was inevitable, Audrey eventually drifted off to sleep, leaving it until the morning for the consequences of her actions to rear their ugly heads.

Yeah summer classes suck, so it took be a while to get this down. But whatever, enough excuses.

I'm taking a leap with this turn of events, but the next chapter's gonna be interesting tah do ^^ Heeheehee. I've already gotten half of the next chapter drafted and I don't have any more big school assignments due this week so I'll be able to get a longer chapter in before Friday… Yay!! And to anyone who's still following this story ^^ thanks for bearing with me. See yah next time lovelies!!!