Connor slowly walked out of the office shutting the door behind him, he looked at the door before turning to the janitor
"You need me to lock up Doctor?" the old man asked walking towards Connor slowly.
"If you wouldn't mind, hopefully my set of keys will be ready soon; I hate to bother you to let me in and out."
"It's not a problem," the janitor replied locking the door before turning to Connor and leaning on his mop. "Must be fine working with the dead," he said "no matter what you say they don't talk back…don't complain, real quiet like." He finished with a chuckle "you have a good night now," and with that the old janitor returned to his mopping.
"You too," Connor replied as he slowly and awkwardly walked to the exit and out of the hospital.
Once outside and out of view he unbuttoned his coat and Aaron fell to the ground, his sheet still wrapped tightly around his small body as he tried to slow his breathing down.
"That…sucked…" he said as Connor helped him up
"Got you out didn't it? Besides wasn't that bad was it?"
"You weren't the one shoved inside a coat hanging on for dear life." Aaron shot back with a grin. "I thought that janitor was gonna figure it out for sure."
"Come on, get in the car, Rachel's waiting for us at Union Square." Connor replied unlocking the car door "with clothes," he finished with a grin
"Thank you God!" Aaron said softly sliding into passenger seat.
"Hey you better duck down till we get there pal,"
"Why?"
"Need I remind you that you're technically dead? And at this point in time wearing only a sheet from a morgue?" Aaron chuckled
"Oh…yeah…right." He said ducking to the floor as Connor started the car, finally leaving the hospital parking lot, the first part of Connor's worry over with.
As planned, Rachel was waiting for them in a quiet part of Union Square, she was anxiously waiting with a worried look on her face, when Aaron popped his head up to look out the car window, she sighed with relief and Aaron could see the weight of worry lift off her shoulders, he felt guilt rush through him, knowing how much trouble and worry his taking a little short cut had caused both Connor and Rachel.
"Oh thank God," she said walking out over to the car, Aaron carefully climbed back into the passenger seat and rolled down the window,
"Hi Ms. Ellenstein," he said softly
"Good to see you are all right Aaron," she replied
"Couldn't be better," Rachel looked at Connor; he was standing on the driver side leaning on the roof of the car, when Rachel looked at him he shrugged with his hands, a wide grin on his face. She looked back at Aaron who grinned at her kind of sheepishly, shrugging the same type of shrug as Connor. Rachel rolled her eyes and laughed a little,
"Well come on lets get going," Aaron raised his pointer finger making a point
"Um…may I have my clothes first please?" Rachel nodded and reached into her own car, handing Aaron his clothes. "Rachel…you are a lifesaver!" he said grabbing the clothes and ducking back down to put them on. Chuckling, Rachel looked at Connor and smiled.
A few minutes later, Aaron opened the car door and stepped out, looking very happy to be in real clothes.
"Feel better honey?" Connor asked in a squeaky voice, Aaron glared at him and shoved his hands deep in his pockets. "So the only thing is we gotta get you a pair of shoes," now Aaron nodded as he felt the cold dirt cover his feet when he kicked it, reminding him of his lack of shoes. "Man kid your costing me a fortune…I'm going to have to send you home with a hospitality bill, I'm going broke with all the money I'm spending on you,…damn expensive kid…your poor father must be ready for the poorhouse"
"Aw lemme alone Connor you're the one that invited me out here 'member?"
"Oh…right…so it's my fault…"
"If the shoe fits," Aaron replied as serious as possible, he reached into the car and pulled out the sheet, still, which he hadn't realized was covered with large spots of blood. He made a face as he held the sheet up.
"Uh…Connor," the older immortal looked over at him and saw what Aaron was pointing at. "What am I doing with this? Leaving it on the side of the road might not go over so well." Connor thought this over for a second, before walking to the car and reaching into the trunk. He pulled out a trash bag and tossed it to Aaron
"Toss it in there, I'll take care of it later," Aaron nodded and shoved the sheet in the bag, before tossing the bag back to Connor, who tossed it back in the trunk. Aaron slipped his cross out of the envelope and slipped it over his head as he walked towards the car, his watch he shoved in his pocket. He climbed into the passenger seat of Rachel's car, as Rachel got in the driver seat; Connor leaned into the driver side window,
"Thanks Connor," Aaron said softly
"I'll be right behind you guys, I'm going to stop at the grocery store, pick up some things ok?" Aaron looked over and grinned
"Say Connor, I had a few items that I bought, that kinda got commandeered, by a bunch of idiots, um I'll pay you back, but can you get me some milk? Not to be a pain though." Connor grinned and reached into the car, ruffling Aaron's hair
"Milk…got it…anything else?" Aaron shrugged
"Milk is the most important thing, the other stuff isn't really a necessity."
"I'll take care of it pal…"
"Thanks," Rachel reached over and gave Aaron's shoulder a squeeze as she started the car and drove off.
Aaron was exhausted and even though he wanted to close his eyes, every time he did, he saw the same image. The image from the morgue; decaying, decrepit corpses climbing out of coffins and walking slowly towards him, arms extended, as gnarled bloody fingers grabbed at him.
Quickly he shook his head as he sat up with a start, Rachel looked over at him, her face full of concern.
"Aaron are you all right?" He took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair, before looking over at her
"Yeah…fine,"
"Are you sure?"
"It's just…you know I was just thinking, I've died more times than I can count, but I've never been in a morgue 'fore…and…I'm kinda having trouble gettin' my imagination to stop running," Rachel reached over and took his hand in hers
"Would you like to talk about it?"
"Considering it involves zombies coming out of coffins…I don't think so," Rachel laughed a little as they pulled in front of the store
"Well just remember, they're only figments of your imagination,"
"I dunno…every horror movie I've ever seen seriously begs to differ with you," Aaron replied returning the laugh as they walked into the store "every time someone says 'their just figments of your imagination,' that person is usually the next one dead."
"Well I hate to argue with that logic." Rachel replied with a smile she ushered him into the elevator.
Aaron gave a wide yawn as he followed Rachel to the loft and to his couch, he was to tired to even change, instead, he crashed on the couch, curling up into the squishy material of the back as tight as he could, hoping maybe solid darkness could stop him from seeing the images that still showed up every time he closed eyes. But for some reason, the complete darkness that came with his face shoved in the material prevented them from coming at least for now.
He felt Rachel put a blanket on him and tuck it in around his shoulders tightly and pat his head gently.
"Thank you Rachel," he said, his voice muffled, but she must have understood him, because the next thing he knew she leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the head, before he heard her walking away towards the kitchen.
Even though she probably thought he was asleep, Aaron was far from it, he felt and heard Connor come in, and felt him lean on the back of the couch, checking on him, before he walked away.
"How long has he been out?"
"About twenty minutes, the minute we came in he headed for the couch and was out," Rachel replied
"He's exhausted and I'm not surprised,"
"I was waiting for him to fall asleep in the car, he kept nodding off, but he would jolt awake after only a moment, I even took the longer route, hoping he would fall asleep. He desperately needs it"
"That's understandable, from what I remember and from what Duncan's told me, Aaron doesn't do good with moving things, falling asleep on them I mean; cars, trains, planes," Connor laughed "even carriages, you name it, he acts like he's asleep, but for some reason he cant actually fall asleep." there was a pause before Connor spoke again "Rachel" he paused again "thank you so much for your help tonight."
"Are you going to be all right?" she asked
"We'll be fine…swing by tomorrow, I'm going to attempt to cook breakfast, picked up some eggs and stuff at the store…just figure I'll see what concoction I can come up with without burning the place down or killing someone." He paused for a second "right Aaron?" Aaron, who had his head shoved deep in the couch, slowly looked up over it at Connor when he said his name, Connor grinned at him knowingly, "good morning!" he replied brightly
"You know some people have just been through a traumatic experience of being shot and shoved in a freezer…and some of those people would like to get some sleep." Aaron retorted grinning wide
"Well…I'd say those some people need to know who to pick fights with and who not to… and you'd think that person would know this after being alive for over three hundred years and killed enough times." Connor shot back, Aaron went up on his knees leaning on the back of the couch
"Oh like I purposely go up to people and say 'Hi how you doing…Shoot me!"
"I wouldn't know, do you?" Rachel looked back from Aaron to Connor trying not to laugh,
"Not that I know of…"Aaron replied sticking his tongue out at Connor. "In fact…due to past interactions I try to avoid getting shot at all costs…not my fault I'm a bullet magnet" he finished shrugging
"Well…get some rest ok? I'm making breakfast tomorrow as you heard…"
"Greeeat….if your cooking is anything like me an' dad's which I'm assuming it is…I'm gonna need all the rest I can get…just to prepare myself for the coming death on a plate…Imagine that one…death by toast!" Connor picked up a pillow from a nearby chair and chucked it at Aaron, who ducked the Connor deployed pillow just as it flew over his head. Rachel began laughing and shook her head at the two of them,
"I would like that, even if I do know what I'm in for with your cooking Connor," Aaron gave a loud 'hah' in triumph. Connor threw another pillow at him, which he wasn't ready for and was nailed right in the head, knocking him back to the couch, he quickly recovered and sat back up grinning wide. Rachel shook her head again and gave a nod goodbye, before walking towards the elevator and leaving.
"Well I picked up some snacks for you…not sure if what I got you like, but you can check it out tomorrow." Connor paused and walked over the couch "for now I'd get some rest ok?" Aaron nodded as Connor shut the light nearest the couch off, "I'll wake you for breakfast." He's just opening himself up for these. Aaron thought mischievously "what? What are you grinning at?"
"So you gonna use an alarm clock to wake me up or a fire engine?" Connor rolled his eyes and shut the other lights off.
"Good Night Aaron,"
"Night Connor," the loft was suddenly very dark so dark that even when Aaron closed his eyes and opened them again, it was still so dark that he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. He was used to sleeping in different places, before getting back with his father, Aaron never knew exactly what he was going to call bed each night, fighting over beds was a typical nightly occurrence; Aaron put his hands under his head as he leaned into the soft material, staring through the darkness, which strangely enough, was beginning to remind him more and more like the first experience with Indians he would have, when the North Carolina farm he worked on would be attacked by a neighboring tribe known as the Creeks; out for revenge and out for blood against the owner of the plantation.
Closing his eyes…Aaron could remember that day in 1744 very well…he remembered the sights and feelings of the plantation before the attack…and the darkness that would follow after it.