A.N.: To Lucky Guard, KDBloomfield, FantasyLover2004, Thenchick, FFLover 4ever, sonotalady and FoxFabled, thank you so much for your reviews! I really appreciate them! And to Alymariet, a huge thank you - and congratulations!
Resurgam
26
What Happened to Spencer
Nestled in the underbrush, coughing and sniffing and choking on his tears, lay Spencer. He still wore his crash-helmet, and a backpack lay nearby - as if it had come off when he had tumbled from his bike, and he hadn't moved to try to reclaim it.
Giulia clambered as elegantly down the bank as she could in her heels, calling his name. "Spencer?"
Starting, as if jolted from sleep, Spencer's rigid body started to uncoil. Sniffling, coughing, he looked half-blind with tears as his tear-streaked face shimmered with tears. The kid was a mess. Giulia knelt carefully beside him, her heart in her mouth. The bicycle didn't look like it had been hit - but then, one never knew.
And it was nearly two a.m.
"Spencer?" she said gently, noticing that his usually tanned skin was ashy, shimmering with cold sweat. There was a bluish tint to his lips, and even in the starlight, Giulia could see that his pupils were blown out. Her nose crinkled at the small puddle of vomit near him; he had been ill. The poor kid was in shock, his heartrate hammering, his breathing quick, shallow.
And she noticed he held his arm awkwardly, even curled up: He was coiled around his arm, protecting it. With a long-sleeved t-shirt on, she couldn't tell what was wrong with him. But he was a wreck. She knew what a kid looked like when he'd been crying for hours.
"Giulia?" he gasped. He was responsive, which was a relief.
"It's me, buddy," she said softly, heartbroken. It was two a.m., what was he doing out here? "What happened?"
"I fell," he sniffled.
"I see that," Giulia said quietly. "We'll get you home, okay." Another sniffle, still panting. He nodded, moaning softly. The wisdom of calling an ambulance warred with her desire to get him warm and comfortable as soon as possible. And she knew this kid. She knew his family.
If something was really wrong, they weren't likely to find out about it in an E.R. examination cubicle. This was going to require some finesse.
She undid his helmet, hoping to help his breathing, and Spencer seemed to choke back a pained cry as Giulia scooped him up in her arms, shuddering; he cradled his arm to his chest, and Giulia caught Elijah's eye as she climbed the embankment. He already had the back passenger door open, and held a luxurious blanket ready: Giulia settled Spencer down on the backseat, his feet elevated in her lap, and Elijah covered him with the blanket before tucking Giulia's skirt out of the way, securing the door, and he drove them to Giulia's house.
Enzo had already gone to bed; a few lamps glowed softly in consideration for her return. The dogs were chuffing and snorting in their beds, Hector the hedgehog rustled in her cage, active and playful and Simba prowled around his territory, ensuring everything was in its place. As soon as Giulia laid Spencer on the daybed in the living-room, Simba leapt up and curled up at Spencer's side, purring richly. The animals always knew.
"I'll make some coffee," Elijah said, eyeing Spencer inscrutably. Giulia nodded, elevating Spencer's legs and tucking the blanket tighter around him, adding another two for good measure from the basket of them by the fireplace. She sank down beside Spencer. There were hard questions he would have to answer.
She sighed heavily, hating that she would have to put him through it, but if she didn't… "Spencer, why were you out so late?"
He sniffled, coughing softly. Simba's tail twitched. He avoided her eye when he said, "I wanted to work on the kart."
She nodded. "Is…Daddy working tonight?" she asked, and Spencer went still. He knew. Of course, he realised she knew. It wasn't a secret, not to her. Everyone else, yes. But Giulia… Hesitantly, whimpering a little, Spencer nodded. Behind her, she heard the gentle sounds of Elijah familiarising himself with her kitchen - it had changed a little since they cohabited here. She was going to need the coffee. She gave Spencer a careful, kind look. "You know you can always call me, or Enzo, don't you? It doesn't matter what time it is, we'll always come and get you." A hesitation, and then Spencer nodded sombrely. "But you got on your bike and cycled over here, on your own, in the dark?"
"I know the way," Spencer said dully, a slight tremor of emotion to his voice.
"Yeah," Giulia chuckled softly, though it was far from funny. It was miles from his house to hers. "Yeah, you could probably do it blindfolded… Spencer, do you want to tell me what's going on?" He went still; Giulia saw his eyes shutter. She didn't want to push, because she knew what a sweet, sensitive boy Spencer was - how awful it was going to be when he had the inevitable meltdown - a meltdown provoked by Giulia forcing him to admit the truth, something he had been trained against.
"I fell," he repeated, not a stretch: He had come off his bike. But there was a reason he had been cycling to her house in the dead of night - nine years old, alone, at well past midnight.
"I know," she said softly, and pushed. "What…happened before you got on your bike?" He didn't answer, averting his gaze, emotion wiping from his wan face. "Spencer…you never have to be afraid to tell me anything."
He started to shake. "I'm not allowed," he hiccoughed. It was an admission, to Giulia, who knew.
She sighed grimly, her shoulders knotted with tension, and nodded. "Alright. I tell you what, I'll go and get you some juice, and a washcloth and we'll get you cleaned up a little. Okay?"
"Okay," Spencer sniffed dully.
"You look after Simba while I'm gone," Giulia told him, reaching out to push the damp hair from his sweaty face; the cat purred richly, stretched out along Spencer's side luxuriously. Elijah busied himself in the refrigerator, and Giulia indicated she needed to go upstairs. She traded her heels for flats, pulled on a long, luxuriously warm cardigan, and roused Enzo in his room.
"Back from your date?" he purred richly, stretching and groaning under his duvet.
"Something's happened."
"Give me all the delicious details - in a breathy voice, please," Enzo said, relaxing against the pillows. His eyes narrowed as they focused on her face, and he went still, predatory, when he saw her expression. Sharply, dangerously, he asked, "Zita's alright?"
"It's not Zita," Giulia told him solemnly. "Spencer's downstairs."
"Spencer?" She briefly told him about finding Spencer; and that she needed to coax Spencer to tell her what had happened before they took him to the E.R. Because there was definitely something funky about his arm.
"I'm going to kill her." It was a statement. Giulia locked eyes with Enzo, pushing him back onto the mattress as he surged out of bed.
"No, you're not," she said sternly, hands on her waist as she loomed over Enzo.
"She deserves annihilation. Why are you stopping me?" Enzo growled.
"I wouldn't hate myself for butchering her, and neither would you…" Giulia said honestly. She wouldn't lose a night's sleep executing Hayley Marshall. She sighed softly, giving Enzo a look that said everything, everything they knew about Spencer's situation, his home-life, his mother, and how much they adored him. "But he might."
It was Spencer who saved his mother's life, without even asking. Their love for him superseded their desire to eviscerate his mother.
"If anything changes…" Enzo grumbled darkly, relenting.
"We'll have a hunting-party," Giulia assured him coldly. She fancied a wolf-pelt for her dressing-room floor. She sighed, suddenly exhausted, in a way she hadn't even noticed the late hour with Elijah at the Boarding House. "I have to get Spencer to the hospital. We might be a while… Would you mind picking Zita up later?"
Enzo sighed, looking murderous and intent, but he gentled under her quelling gaze: They had learned how to rein each other in - Giulia had learned how to rein Enzo in. And his default reaction wasn't going to help anyone now.
"Of course I don't mind," he grumbled, deflating. "You just look after Spencer. I've got Poppet."
"Thank you," she said softly, leaning in to give Enzo a kiss on the cheek. She padded downstairs, rinsing a washcloth she had claimed from the linen-closet under warm water, squeezing it out, as Elijah slid an Americano toward her across the counter, beside the half-glass of orange juice he had poured. Elijah eyed the backpack he had carried inside; Giulia saw he had unzipped it, and her lips parted at the contents spread across the counter. Clothes, knickknacks, his baseball trophy, a photograph of him with Tyler and Mason - his treasures. He kept them at home, no matter how much time he spent at Giulia's house. But he had packed them into his backpack, got on his bike in the dead of night, and cycled over toward Giulia's house.
She exchanged a look with Elijah. He murmured, "What's happened here, Giulia?"
"He ran away from home," she answered softly. "He's afraid, and in pain…and he came to me." And that broke her heart.
Because he knew he was safe here, when it wasn't safe for him at home.
He had finally fled. Hayley had finally forced him out of his own home - out of pure self-preservation.
"Would you mind taking a look at his arm?" she asked quietly, and Elijah nodded.
Giulia took a fortifying sip of coffee and carried the orange juice and warm washcloth over to Spencer, sitting down beside him in her spot. "I've got some juice for you…how about I clean that muck off your face? That is a tonne of snot, young man. I'm thinking of contacting Guinness World Records."
"That would be cool," Spencer sniffled, giving a weary laugh. And that was something. She propped him up against some cushions, and he closed his eyes, luxuriating in the warmth of the washcloth as she tenderly wiped his face, his neck, behind his ears. She held the glass of juice for him, and he sipped carefully. Colour was starting to return to his skin, his lips no longer blue; she could feel his temperate rising when she pressed her lips to his brow.
"Uncle Enzo's upstairs," Giulia said softly, as Spencer sighed. His pretty eyes darted from her face, as she said "He's worried about you. He thinks…you might be afraid of someone. Of something bad happening again." Spencer didn't say anything, his eyes downcast. Tears started to leak silently down his clean cheeks. "Spencer…" she winced, emotion choking her. "Spencer, look at me - look at me… Did you run away from home today?" He finally, grudgingly nodded, his lower lip trembling. "I can promise you, Spencer, that…I won't let anyone hurt you, if you tell me what happened. I won't."
"I'll get them in trouble," Spencer admitted, tears tickling his chin.
"Spencer, I only care that you're hurt, and they hurt you," Giulia told him fiercely. "And I promise, I will not let anyone hurt you ever again."
"But…" She read it in his eyes: He knew his mother was dangerous - was strong. Could hurt her. She coaxed him to look her in the eye.
"There's not a person in the world who's brave enough to try and hurt me, Spencer," Giulia assured him fiercely, and she heard a soft noise - amusement - from Elijah. It was a claim intended to reassure a fraught kid; but there was a good deal of truth in it. "No-one. No-one is going to hurt me if you tell me what happened, if that's what you're worried about."
Spencer gazed at her, a battle taking place behind those pretty eyes, so like Mason's in colouring, so like Hayley's in shape.
Eventually, he told her what had happened: "I dropped a plate… I was doing the dishes…and it smashed. It - and I - I tried to c-clean it up b-but… Mom grabbed m-my arm-m-m and…" He gulped wetly, and Giulia refolded the washcloth to mop up his face again.
"Okay," she murmured gently. "Do you want to show me your arm?"
"I can't move it!" Spencer wailed suddenly, and burst into tears.
She wrapped herself around him as he choked and shook, and gripped the back of her dress with one little hand, his fingernails digging in. Her eyes burned, and she kissed the top of his head, gentling him slowly. All she could do, while he broke down, was hold him together. She glanced over at Elijah, who approached slowly.
"Spencer, my name is Elijah," he said gently, rolling up the sleeves of his crisp white shirt as he crouched beside the daybed. His lapis lazuli ring and his ancient Viking armband glinted in the lamplight as he moved, and Giulia was struck by how soft he appeared, his body-language warm, open, utterly nonthreatening, calm. His expression was soft, warm, nurturing - Giulia was lulled by it. "Would it be alright for me to examine your arm?"
Spencer sniffled, but nodded dully. Giulia helped prop him up, and, with utmost care, Elijah peeled the sleeve of Spencer's long-sleeved t-shirt up past his elbow. Giulia's stomach evaporated - but Elijah showed no hint of dread, he didn't grimace or gasp or give Spencer any indication that his injury was anything but devastating. Spencer's lower-arm was purplish-black with bruising - with internal bleeding. From what Giulia could see, pieces of bone stuck up against the skin at impossible angles; his entire lower-arm seemed…seemed to have been crushed.
Though Spencer kept his face tucked against Giulia's chest, Elijah maintained a soft, comforting warmth in his expression, not quite a smile. He tenderly lifted Spencer's lower-arm in his hands, and started to move it, using his fingertips and the side of his hand to assess the damage through touch, exquisitely gentle and responsive to every hiss and sharp intake of Spencer's breath, every time he froze. He murmured questions to Spencer as he did so, whether Spencer could feel this, or that, or could move his fingers, and feel Elijah delicately pinching his thumb.
"Thank you, Spencer," Elijah said kindly, and he painstakingly tugged the sleeve down again - not wanting Spencer to have to look at the bruising, the damage, to get him worked up even more. He'd had his face pressed against Giulia's neck throughout the examination, and he only now turned to nod glumly at Elijah, who gave him a warm, encouraging smile. Elijah glanced up at Giulia, keeping his expression carefully blank. "May I steal Giulia for a moment?" Spencer glanced up a her; she smiled warmly, settling him against the cushions, and followed Elijah to the kitchen, talking privately under the guise of sipping her coffee, left on the island.
"What do you think?" she murmured, and Elijah sighed heavily.
"I believe someone with extraordinary strength did this," Elijah said, demonstrating by clasping her forearm in his hand, and squeezing - not hard enough to hurt Giulia, but enough to show that the significant fractures in Spencer's arm had come from the bone being crushed in someone's grip. Giulia nodded; when Spencer had said Hayley grabbed him…
Enzo wasn't the only one with murderous impulses.
Giulia herself had had to learn how to temper her own strength, very quickly, and years before she gave birth to her daughter. Becoming a mother was the most exhausting, most strenuous, most awe-inspiring thing she had ever done - to say it was hard-work was an understatement. She had experienced the frustrations every mother endured…but not giving in to them - that was a skill. A skill not every mother had, sadly enough for their children. Hayley had never learned how to temper her rage and aggression, and she consistently hurt her son. Sometimes the emotional trauma she inflicted was worse than the bruises.
She reached for her phone, and connected a call. "Hey, I'm on shift, I can't really talk."
"I'm about to bring Spencer in, Meredith," Giulia said, more calmly than she felt. Her entire body was wired, flooding with adrenaline, a white-hot rage sweeping through her. She was surprised her hands weren't shaking. "You need to be ready."
"Spencer?" Meredith asked, and her tone turned grim, expectant, as she asked, "How bad?"
"It's his arm," Giulia murmured. "I need to get hold of Mason, but don't call Hayley."
"Don't call -?" Meredith started. "Giulia, what's going on?"
"I'll tell you when we get there," Giulia promised. "And don't - Meredith…you can't call CPS."
Meredith didn't answer for a moment. When she did, her voice was strict: "Giulia, you know I have an obligation to -"
"We all have an obligation to Spencer," Giulia said, cutting her off. "That's it. He's not a file in a computer system for some stranger to shuffle around… They'll take Spencer away and open an investigation into Mason and Hayley - what do you think they might find?"
Meredith sighed heavily. "You're protecting them."
"I'm protecting Spencer, and I'm protecting Mason; I'm protecting all of us. Hayley can hang for all I care. Meredith, what kind of damage could a werewolf do in jail?" Giulia asked, and she heard Meredith sigh in defeat as the implications settled in. They both knew that any investigation into child-abuse that led to an arrest would have serious and far-reaching implications, implications none of them could risk. It went beyond Mystic Falls, and the delicate balance they had created.
Meredith sighed, but relented. "Alright…fine… But - we may have to cover ourselves at the hospital," Meredith warned carefully, and Giulia caught Elijah's eye. He gave her a thoughtful look, and nodded. Compulsion may be necessary to cover their backs. "Just how bad is it?"
"I…will try and call in Sheila to take the edge off," Giulia said honestly, and Elijah pulled out his phone, his expression thoughtful as he scrolled his contacts.
"So why bring him in?" Meredith asked curiously. "This can all be avoided."
"I want an X-ray," Giulia said, with a glacial coldness that had Elijah's eyebrows rising as he glanced at her. "I want Mason scared out of his fucking mind."
Meredith said reluctantly, "Fine. I'll get everything ready. But Giulia…"
"I know," Giulia said, before Meredith could warn her. "It won't happen again."
That was a promise.
The one good thing about living in a small town was the E.R. was usually pretty calm. There were no horrific waiting lines, and the staff were well-rested and awarded for their amiable, comforting demeanours, their kindness and dedication valued. The only bad thing was that, thanks to his role in the Sheriff's Department, Mason was a well-known face at the E.R., and through him so was his son Spencer.
People knew enough to know Giulia was Spencer's godmother and legal guardian in the absence of his parents - she had paperwork signed for just such an occasion as this. Mason had granted her legal authority to make decisions for Spencer's safety and wellbeing in lieu of his parents. And she had added Spencer to her health-insurance plan last summer - not that he was ever sick, thanks to his latent werewolf genes, but…just in case.
Meredith was waiting for them, and she shot Giulia a warning frown before her pretty face creased into a smile for Spencer's benefit.
"Hi, Spencer," she said coaxingly. "Giulia said you were on your way to see me." Meredith took over. All Giulia could do was wait: She settled in an uncomfortable chair beside Elijah, wrapping her cardigan around her, waiting, trying Sheila again. It was three a.m. and she wasn't hopeful she could wake Sheila - but at the very least she'd find voicemails and texts from Giulia when she did get up at five a.m., ready for breakfast by six.
She sighed, and glanced at Elijah, sat patiently beside her. She smiled softly, sadly. "I appreciate you staying with me." Elijah reached out and took her hand, threading their fingers together.
"I can sense your rage," he said softly, glancing at her. Giulia glanced at him: She was furious, still white-hot with anger. She grimaced, determined to distract herself from the impulse to peel the skin from Hayley's body with a butter knife. To make it lingering…
"As this moment, you're the only person strong enough to keep me from tearing Spencer's mother to ribbons," she confessed quietly, and he stroked his thumb against the back of her hand. "How did you stand it?" she asked, to distract herself. "The smell." She indicated the E.R. with a wave of her hand. Elijah smiled, as she rubbed her nose, the burn of chemicals and antiseptic - of sickness - itchy.
"You learn to filter it… Scent is a powerful tool, especially in medicine," Elijah said reflectively, as if caught up in memories. "The human body gives off signals, you just have to learn how to read them."
"Can you diagnose people in here, just by scent?" Giulia asked curiously. She still struggled with her senses, sometimes more than a little debilitated by the sensory overload.
"Besides the obvious…" Elijah said, smiling ironically at the broken bones and gashes from broken bottles with a nod. He examined people in the cubicles, and Giulia thought he almost lifted his nose as he closed his eyes, focusing on his sense of smell alone. He nodded at a middle-aged woman the far side of the E.R. "She's here with a stomach-ache, but it's not just a bad meal, she has bowel cancer, very advanced by the smell. Undiagnosed…" He made soft noise of disdain at a skinny man opposite them. "Drug-addict. You smell the sweetness?" She tried to focus on individual scents, but in a place like this… "And…pregnant, but doesn't know it yet. She fainted, she's been having dizzy spells."
"She's in for a shock," Giulia murmured, gazing at the young girl in the cubicle looking pale and exhausted.
"A shock?"
"No ring on her finger. Early twenties, and she's here alone," Giulia observed, and Elijah pulled a thoughtful face. Giulia was a profiler by nature; she noticed things. She had spent a little too much time reading psychology texts and watching Sherlock. "I wouldn't imagine her child was planned." Elijah made that thoughtful noise in the base of his throat, the one she adored. She sighed, indulging in his profile. "How long before it…just fades away? The heightened senses? Until it's…just normal?"
Elijah sighed sadly, stroking her hand again with his thumb. "I don't even remember. I don't…remember how it felt to be human. But I do know that even then…we relied on our senses far more than humans do nowadays. We had to hunt, we had to survive… We were honed like weapons… But sometimes, my senses do still catch me by surprise. Scent and taste are very evocative." He gave her a sad, ironic little smile. "That soufflé…" He groaned luxuriously, and Giulia smiled. He smiled back, examining her face, and his smile widened, his eyes glinting with delight. "You're wearing the earrings I left for you."
Her free hand went to her ears, feeling the coolness of delicate double-drop pearls dangling from her lobes. They were delicate, and dainty, a very pale blush-pink colour, elegant and understated. Against her delicate tan and dark hair, they always looked insanely beautiful.
"Caroline calls them my Kate Middleton earrings," Giulia said; the Duchess did have a very similar pair. Of course, Giulia was no royal duchess, and didn't have to look as cultivated and elegant all the time - but she rocked her pearls. They were set in gold, complementing the pearl solitaire ring that had belonged to her mother. "I opened them last year."
"Last year?" Elijah prompted, and Giulia smiled, but there was no humour or warmth to it.
"I saved them, the gifts you left… I always chose one to open every…every year, on the anniversary of my father's death," she said quietly, her shoulders sloping. She glanced at Elijah. "They gave me something to look forward to, on…on days that might've been some of my darkest… You designed every piece of jewellery yourself, didn't you?"
"They are as utterly unique as you are," Elijah said softly, glancing away, as if embarrassed to show off his talents. Giulia smiled to herself.
"I sometimes forgot how many lifetimes you've lived," she said wonderingly. "How many professions you've pursued… It does make me wonder, perhaps I've squished too much in too little time. I'm in danger of becoming apathetic about eternity before I'm even thirty."
Elijah chuckled softly. "You're a mother, now, Giulia; there is always going to be something that shocks you."
"Well…that's true," Giulia smiled to herself. Every day was different. And Zita was growing up too quickly; Giulia was sometimes flummoxed by what came out of her mouth.
"It suits you," Elijah said softly, and Giulia glanced at him.
"More than I ever thought it would," Giulia agreed. "Strange, isn't it?"
"Not to me," Elijah said softly, glancing at her. She felt a warmth spread through her body, and smiled. "Some women are suited to it. Others, not… Tell me about Spencer's mother." Giulia told him about Hayley.
"It is astonishing to me how people can take so much for granted," Elijah said quietly. "It was my instinct that…a home, and family…were all this girl wanted."
"She wanted protection. She got it," Giulia said softly. "A nice house that's her own, a husband who's a considerate, generous man, and a sweet kid to look after… It's too much of a good thing. An easy life. It's boring…"
"So she destroys what she has?" Elijah said, and sighed heavily.
"She'd rather hurt them than allow herself to be hurt by them," Giulia said thoughtfully. She had been considering Hayley's behaviour for years - the cheating and the violence - and could only surmise that Hayley would rather inflict wounds to protect herself, no matter who she hurt, thoughtless as to what it would inevitably cost her. Because it was all about Hayley. She didn't know how to put other people first.
Elijah sighed heavily, shaking his head. He asked softly, "Why not heal him?"
Giulia glanced at him. "It's not worth the risk."
"You could…take away his memories," Elijah suggested gently.
"No, I couldn't do that," Giulia said softly, shaking her head. "This wasn't an accident, Elijah. This…is the culmination of years of bruising and emotional terror and backlash… He's had to learn how to survive her. He's afraid of her…and this is the tipping-point." She paused reflectively as a nurse wandered past. "Take away what she did to him today and there's a very real danger he'll let her back in, let her close enough to…"
"To do worse," Elijah finished for her, and Giulia nodded, agreeing.
"To do worse. As cruel as it is to let him live with these memories, this experience - this pain…" Giulia said, her voice constricting with emotion, "it would put him at risk to take them all away." She sat up straighter as Meredith appeared, her face white as her lab-coat, carrying a file.
"You didn't mention it was this bad," she said, her lips colourless, and she coaxed Giulia and Elijah to a private examination room. She showed them the X-ray, and Giulia's heart thundered, dread coiling in the pit of her stomach, rage roaring in her ears, stepping back - Elijah's hand rested on her hip, heavy and grounding - comforting. The slight pressure of his grip focused her, drew her from the maelstrom of rage consuming her. "I'm going to have to schedule Spencer for surgery."
"Can you give us enough time to get Sheila here?" Giulia asked, her breath coming in short, shallow bursts as her eyes kept returning to the X-ray of Spencer's crushed radius and ulna.
"We need not wait for Sheila Bennett," Elijah said softly, checking his phone. "Ashlyn received my message; she is on her way. That boy must not lose his arm if it can be avoided."
"Ashlyn's not… She won't be able to sustain healing Spencer," Giulia knew, from experience. Every witch had her limits. There was always a balance.
"She assures me she can, if she can channel enough power," Elijah said solemnly. He caught her gaze. "Between the two of us I am sure we can provide ample power to reset the fragments of bone to leave a clean break of the radius and ulna that can be neatly set without any necessity for invasive surgery."
"If Ashlyn can heal Spencer to that point, then I am all for it," Meredith said earnestly. "If I go in with surgery, he'll end up with an arm that's made up of more metal pins than bone. He'll be here for a while. And he'll need a lot of rehab, there's a lot of nerve damage."
"I will…wait for Ashlyn outside the E.R.," Elijah said softly, squeezing Giulia's waist before excusing himself from the room with a courteous shake of Meredith's hand. Giulia heard the squeak of boot-soles on the linoleum floor, a muttered apology, and Mason's frantic voice asking for directions. Sharing a look with Meredith, Giulia strode after Elijah to the door.
"Mason?" she called gently, and Mason, in his Sheriff's Department uniform, glanced over his shoulder. He was wide-eyed and flustered, pale and panicked. "In here."
"Is he okay - is Spencer okay?" he asked shakily, entering the room. His eyes went to Meredith, and widened as they settled on the illuminated X-ray. His lips parted, and he staggered back. "That's not - that's… That's not his."
"It is," Meredith said softly, as Mason continued to stare, becoming paler, angrier. Mason was a relaxed guy: It was rare to see him enraged. But Giulia heard the soft, low growl that began deep in his chest and seemed to rumble through him, as his hands shook, and he closed his eyes, the better to concentrate on not unleashing the rage that characteristically haunted werewolves.
"Mason," she said, quietly, but with a bite: He turned his focus onto her, and she didn't shrink from his gaze as his eyes glowed amber and onyx - the tell-tale colouring of a werewolf's eyes when they were enraged. "Can we have a conversation, or do I have to do this myself?"
"I'm good," Mason growled, his eyes still glowing, but he squeezed them shut, gripping his head in his hands, and the growling subsided. The tension remained, radiating from his hulking body, seemingly much bigger than Giulia was used to, but when he opened his eyes again, they were blue, and clear.
"We're waiting for Ashlyn to arrive; she's going to channel me and Elijah for power to heal Spencer so that he has clean breaks to the bones instead of this…mess," Giulia said clearly. "Then Meredith is going to set the bones and put a cast on." Meredith nodded encouragingly, and rested her hand on Mason's bare arm. Giulia watched some of the tension drain from Mason; he and Meredith shared a speaking look.
Mason seemed to deflate; Meredith showed him to Spencer's cubicle, Giulia following, and she lingered, watching Mason sit carefully on the edge of the bed where Spencer was hooked up to an I.V. drip, fast-asleep. It was nearly four a.m., and he was exhausted. Mason tenderly stroked the hair off Spencer's face. After a moment, he scrubbed his face, and turned to Giulia. "Can you…can you have Spencer?"
It was on the tip of her tongue to say something threatening, and cruel. To assure him that there was no way Spencer was setting foot in his house until Hayley was removed from it, one way or another. But she'd been right; this was the tipping-point, and not just for Spencer. However they handled this, they would all remember it; she wasn't going to put herself in a position that threatened her future relationship with Spencer because of how she reacted toward his father now.
"For as long as you need," she said softly.
"It won't take long," Mason told her. "Merry, do you have Colleen's number?" Giulia glanced at Meredith, hiding a smirk at the nickname. She'd never heard Mason call her that before - never heard Mason use a nickname for anyone.
"Of course," Meredith nodded. Her cousin Colleen was a divorce attorney.
Liz had given Mason as long as he needed, as soon as he'd told her what was going on: He stayed, and when Ashlyn arrived, escorted by a solemn Elijah, Meredith drew the curtains around them for privacy, so that Ashlyn could do what she needed.
Few witches had both power and finesse; it took an incredible balance to make magic seamless, unnoticeable. Sheila was Giulia's first choice for healing, especially in a public place like this, due to her finesse as much as her innate power.
Ashlyn had been practicing. She was no longer sixteen years old. She was sure of herself; and she'd had tutoring. She held Spencer's hand as he slept, and in her other, she held two rings in her palm - Elijah's ancient gold and lapis lazuli ring, and Giulia's pearl solitaire, totems that represented them, from which Ashlyn could draw on their energy, their power.
It took a lot more out of Giulia than she had anticipated. As the screen monitoring Spencer's heartrate flickered, and the scent of magic surged around Ashlyn, Giulia's vision blurred, and she went dizzy, lightheaded… Someone guided her into a chair, and pressed something to her face; she shuddered a breath, tasting copper in the air, and blinked, gazing at Elijah's concerned face through a subtle haze.
A nosebleed…from Ashlyn channelling her…
"How did she do?" she asked quietly, her voice muffled by the handkerchief Elijah held to her nose.
"Meredith is going to take Spencer for another X-ray, but Ashlyn is confident he will not need surgery to re-set the bones," Elijah said softly. He had taken a knee before her, gazing concernedly at her. "As for you… I had to talk Meredith out of hooking you up to an I.V. in the next cubicle."
"I'm alright," Giulia said, sniffing delicately.
"I know," he said gently, and took her hand, tenderly threading her pearl solitaire onto her finger. He gazed up at her, eyes warm, and reached up to gently rub her knee. "You Salvatores bounce back like racquet balls. We'll get you some sugar and some carbohydrates. But rest will be best - for all of us. It has been a long night."
They waited. Giulia returned to her chair in the E.R. waiting-room, curling up, while Spencer was roused and taken in for another X-ray: Elijah briefly disappeared, returning a half-hour later with a bakery box Giulia recognised, perking up as the familiar scent of coffee, sugar, melted butter and freshly-baked pastry tantalised her nose and woke her a little more. By the time they had finished two of Ashlyn's finest pastries apiece and their coffees, Meredith came with an update: The X-ray had shown that Ashlyn had been successful, and they could safely set Spencer's arm without surgery.
An hour later, with the sun already glowing richly in the sky, Spencer was discharged, tucked in the back of Elijah's Bentley with a brand-new blinding-white cast on his arm, fast asleep. He was discharged into Giulia's care: She had been serious, and Mason had known it - Spencer would be staying with her for as long as Mason needed to settle things. Mason had made the decision to remove Spencer from the situation, where he knew Spencer was safe, while he and Hayley had it out. Mason watched them drive off, arms crossed over his chest, scowling in the morning sunshine, still wearing his Sheriff's Department uniform, and looking more exhausted than Giulia felt.
She had the easy job.
Tucking Spencer into bed in his room at her house; and, before he woke, turning his plain white cast into Iron Man's gold-and-Hot-Rod-red gauntlet as a surprise. To soften the blow that his father was currently throwing his mother out of the house, and pursuing divorce.
Because it would be a blow. No matter what…Hayley was his mother. And his parents fighting, at home, together, was all Spencer had ever known.
A.N.: I love soft Elijah. Oh, and this sets Hayley up for The Originals shenanigans in New Orleans, BTW.
