Chapter 11: Forgetting
Disclaimer: I am not Michael Buckley, therefor SG isn't mine. Boohoo
Damien woke to Sabrina's uncontrollable shivering. He could feel her fear. It made him break inside. The only thing he could do with wrap his arms around her, but it seemed to help. At last she fell back asleep.
He woke early in the morning, just as the sun was rising. He'd fallen asleep with Sabrina still entwined in his arms. She was so peaceful as she slept— he just wished she could stay this way when she was awake. Sabrina was like a prickly pear. On the outside she put up spiky barriers, but on the inside she was hurt and scared. She was so beautiful, both inside and out, he just couldn't believe that her 'beloved' Puck had given her up.
A harsh buzz interrupted Damien's wonderings. He picked up the phone. It was a text message from Wernin. He crept out of the bed and quietly snuck out of the house leaving a note with the butler for his pho-wife that he was going to a business meeting.
He sat in the back booth at the local coffee shop waiting for the mysterious Mr. Wernin, thinking, Wonderful, theatrics, as always.
"I see you were able to get away, Mr. Darling." Wernin almost suddenly appeared in the booth while Damien had his head turned.
Damien sighed, "Yeah, now what do you want? Couldn't it have waited until a decent hour?"
"Sadly, no. There are witnesses out a decent hours, not crazy people like us! And as to what I want, well..." He drew a small plastic packet out of his pocket and slid it over to Damien.
"Oh, are we dealing drugs now?" Damien asked sarcastically.
Wernin sighed, "No, Michael. It's not really a drug, at least not the kind you're thinking of. It's like what you and your kind call 'forgetful-dust,' but with a few scientific corrections."
"How do you 'correct' magic?"
"You silly lost boy. Magic is, in itself, Science that we don't fully understand. Now listen, you need to give this to Miss Grimm."
Damien's heart skipped a beat, "Why? What will it do to her?"
"Oh don't worry, it won't hurt you're little crush. It will make her believe the lie she's living now."
"Why? What about our 'mission'?"
"Michael Darling, you above all people should know how important it is to secure Sabrina Grimm. The "mission" was to set the base of her pretending. If she hadn't had the history planted already in her head, and if the setting didn't make sense to her, the drug wouldn't stick."
"But, Mr. Werenin, you already have her trust."
"Michael, she wants to go home. It is only her fear of Him that makes her stay. Don't you see, she's the only one that knows who He is. She is the key to ending the Scarlet Revolution. We can't lose her!"
Michael sighed in defeat, knowing what Wernin said was true. He picked up the packet of white dust and walked out.
Michael and Sabrina lay on the bed. Their room was the only place safe from the nosey servants.
He was trying to figure out how to smuggle the drug to Sabrina without her noticing.
Sabrina interrupted his thoughts, "Do you ever feel bad lying to them?"
His stomach lurched, "What do you mean?"
"Well doesn't it ever feel bad to lie to the people, the servants, and the neighbors? These nice people who we don't know and who never did anything to us? And what for, you know, so that some old creep can make sure that he gets reelected in a stupid political role?"
The packet seemed to grow hot in his pocket and his hands started getting sweaty. "I guess a little, but most of them aren't nice anyways. Most of them deserve it."
"Well, that's true, but some of them are good people. Like today I met this woman who was the nosiest little weasel that I've met. But then later I met another lady, and she was nice. She reminded me of someone back home."
He turned his head and looked at her, "Do you miss it, home I mean?"
She nodded, her eye's brimming with tears, "But mostly I feel alone."
"I know what you mean," he said, and it was true.
Slowly they joined hands and lay in the quiet. They were alone together.
Over the next two months, Sabrina and Michael became friends and maybe a little more than that. When he kissed her, it wasn't only for the servants. During the evenings, they hid away from the staff in their room talking. The talked about home and trying to live their new lives.
"Do you know how hard it is to blend into a society party? We have to ware these horribly 'posh' outfits. And they gossip so much it's crazy. Do you know how horrible that is?" Sabrina exclaimed when Michael started complaining about his job.
"Uh, yes actually! My mom was one of those ladies who had to be the best of society and pushed a lot of that onto me."
"Oh. I didn't know that." She deflated a little.
"Of course not, how could you?" He chuckled, leaned over and giving Sabrina a kiss.
"Damien," her voice low in surprise and apprehension, "What are you doing?" There was a time when Sabrina would've punched him in the gut like she did Puck, but Damien had gotten through her wall of prickles. She didn't know how it happened, but she actually trusted him. However, now he was on the edge.
He smiled, "I keep telling you how I feel about you."
Sabrina sat up and leaned away, "Damien, I can't…we can't do this right now. I'm not ready for another complicated relationship, and a couple who is pretending to be married but is dating, that is really complicated."
"So you'd be open to dating me another time?" His eyes were hopeful
She sighed, "Maybe. I don't know, but maybe after this is all done with ok?"
"Fine" he groaned in consent, and they were silent for a couple of minutes until Damien asked, "Why don't we go on a date, as friends? To an actual real restaurant, with food and candles and maybe even a romantic violinist, the whole shebang. We can afford it, with all this money that Wernin's given us. And we really need to get out of the house. Please?"
She squinted skeptically, "On a couple of conditions: one, no romantic violinist and two, it's not a date, and three, we go as Sabrina and Mr...Darling during this, not the Brooks, OK?"
An affirmative grin spread across his face.