WARNINGS: mentions of death, kidnapping, addiction, torture...and petty theft, I guess.
4 (I).
After a night shift at the hospital, Marben is understandably exhausted. Still, she walks to her favorite cafe and gets herself breakfast.
To go home, she chooses small, uncrowded streets that make her feel more optimistic about making bad encounters, but that makes her run into an old acquaintance for the second time in a matter of only a few hours: next to the Icarus Theater's stage door, Vanya stops chatting with a guy as soon as their eyes meet.
For a small eternity Marben holds her breath, stuck into a fight or flight kind of instinct. Then she decides not to shy away, and forcefully exhaling she walks up to the woman her once young student has grown into.
"Hi".
"Hey…it's nice to see you again! I didn't know you were in town!" Vanya immediately returns her smile, even if timidly.
Marben feels her smile grow more sincere and warm. A quick glance tells her that her ex student has become an extremely insecure woman, who stubbornly tries to assert her personality even if she feels weighed down by what she has been taught to think about herself, and that she's afraid to see reflected in other people's eyes. Marben feels like hugging her, but she fears it would make Vanya uncomfortable. Therefore she stays where she is, close but not too much, with her hands clinging to her bag's strap and the warm paper cup.
"Yeah...it's been a long time".
Vanya's smile changes too, but becoming less amazed and more nostalgic; only then she seems to remember they're not alone.
"Oh! Leonard, this is M-".
"Lola! I'm Lola. Hi, nice to meet you" the blond steps in, offering an outstretched hand that Leonard shakes right away. Vanya sends Marben a curious glance, but graciously says nothing about the new name.
"Hello! Are you a fan of Vanya, too? She's the most talented violinist in town, you know…" he says in a playful, conspiratorial tone. Vanya demurely chuckles, and her reply comes out ironical.
"Actually Lola is much more talented than me, she was my teacher…a long time ago. My dazzling success? I owe it to her".
"At least you kept playing" Marben counters, slightly bitterly. She's referring to the break she took from the violin, dating back to when she was fifteen, and Vanya readily catches the indirect mention of Five's disappearance: she recalls all too well how hard a time it was for Marben, and both of them suddenly wish they never fell into the trap, leading the conversation to run aground on the dramatic story that caused the end of their friendship.
Luckily Leonard is still there, and willing to distract them with his curiosity.
"So, how did you two meet?".
Back to square one.
"I saw her play, once, when we were kids. My brother knew her, so he put us in touch….wait, do you know about Five?" Vanya suddenly turns to the other woman, hand reaching out to grab her shoulder.
"Yeah" Marben simply says, hoping that with a little coldness on her part the topic will be dropped.
She's not sure she has managed to hijack the conversation on the desired path only because she lacks the time to do so: while Vanya stares at her in confusion, narrowing her eyes, trying to understand if behind Marben's curt reply there's something she cannot quite grasp, a joyous voice distracts all of them.
"Oh my God, hi!".
Seemingly coming out of nowhere, First Chair Helen Cho gets past Vanya and Leonard and runs to enthusiastically hug Marben.
"Oh! Hi Helen…" Vanya greets, with the tone of someone who desperately tries not to go unnoticed, and Leonard gives her a strange glance. Unfortunately, all of Helen's attention is focused on Marben, who awkwardly pats the musician's shoulder and curses herself for having gotten into trouble when she could have just played dumb and kept walking, as Myery advised her to do.
"Hey…".
"I can't believe it, we keep bumping into each other!" Helen chirps, finally breaking the hug but not relinquishing the grasp on Marben's hands. The blond shrugs and offers a tired smile, hoping the social stalemate in which she got stuck will be over soon.
"Yes, I suppose this city is not so big after all".
"Wait a minute, you know Lola as well?" Leonard, that has been staying on the sidelines, asks Helen. She looks at him as if she hadn't noticed his existence until then. "I'm sorry?".
Vanya gets visibly nervous. Leonard, instead, keeps smiling and doesn't give up.
"Did you meet Lola through Vanya?".
"Lo…? Oh, yes, Lola! Sorry" Helen giggles, winking at Marben as she stresses the fake name. "No, we went to school together…unfortunately we weren't in the same class, I would have given an arm for that to happen!".
"Vanya used to be her student" Leonard counters, looking somewhat smug. Helen boggles and turns to look at Marben.
"You used to teach?".
"Huh…not officially. Vanya's been my…only student" the nurse replies with an uncomfortable smile.
"Oh...well, I couldn't have said!".
"What do you mean?" Vanya shots, turning on her colleague a gaze that is surprised, hurt and outraged all at once. Marben feels outraged too. So she sends to hell all her qualms about being appropriate and reserved, steps ahead and smiles as she links arms with her ex student.
"Sorry, but I'm gonna need to keep Vanya all for myself for a moment. Have a nice day!" she says, ignoring Helen's and Leonard's confusion, leading the Hargreeves' outcast toward the stage door. "So, tell me about that proposal CSO's director made you…".
Behind them, Helen's incredulous whisper of 'Chicago Symphony Orchestra?' is almost too good to hear.
Vanya doesn't take her eyes off the blond woman for a single moment as she lets herself be gently dragged into the theater: what she sees differs a lot from what is offered by television and magazines, but Marben still manages to appear beautiful even wearing scrubs, sporting the tired look of someone who hasn't slept and rebellious locks slipping out of her simple updo.
Vanya doesn't feel up to her. She's sure that if Marben were to pick up the violin again that very same day, she would be back to being a prodigy in no time. Not just Saint Pluvium Chamber Orchestra's lousy Third Chair.
"It's too prestigious an achievement, she'll never believe I landed it!" she finds herself whining, slightly panicking at the idea of being approached by Helen - First Chair Helen! - about Marben's lie. The blond just shrugs and smirks.
"Don't sweat on it! And maybe get a little cocky, when she's around, she has no right to be that bitchy".
"She's First Chair…" Vanya whispers looking at the floor, as they stop just inside the theater for a moment.
"So what? Makes her the only one who can play?".
When her ex student throws her a fleeting glance and refuses to say anything, Marben gets worried.
"Are you okay?".
"You ask this because I'm dating a man and as far as you know I like women?" Vanya asks then, all of a sudden sounding piqued. Marben is taken aback, and not feeling like being indulgent at all.
"No, you're in control of yourself and free to date whoever you want. I wish for you to be happy, whether it be with a man, a woman or even by yourself".
"Yes, I'm okay" briskly goes Vanya, "For the first time in a long time, if you really want to know. Even if it's none of your business".
Marben just blankly stares at her for a moment, then nods.
"Excellent. Thanks for rehabilitating my and the Girls' reputation with your book" she leans forward to say into the other woman's face; then she turns and makes for the door, leaving a trail of words behind herself. "Condolences on your father's death, anyway. And on Ben's too, since you all never allowed me to offer them. It's been a pleasure".
.oO°Oo.
"Marben" Ben calls later, and she startles, almost dropping the stack of medical records she's carrying.
"It's Lola!".
"You're the only one who can hear me, I'll call you however I want!".
She pinches the bridge of her nose between two fingers, taking a deep breath.
"What is it, Ben?".
"Klaus". The nurse turns an exasperated look on her invisible friend.
"What has he done, now? Overdose? Burglary? Obscene behavior?".
"No, this time he's in serious trouble for real: he got kidnapped by two hoodlums who attacked the Academy last night".
"Shit! The heavy lump Diana couldn't see…" the woman mumbles, looking away.
"What?" asks Ben, but she hurries to brush him off.
"It's nothing...so what do you want me to do? Tell the others?".
"No! Go help him, please, the others haven't even noticed he's gone!".
"How the heck is that possible?" Marben blurts out, outraged; Ben's urgency slips away like water going down a drain, transfiguring his dear face into a sad mask of impotence and resigned disappointment.
"It's Klaus. You know nobody takes him seriously" he whispers, and Marben truly feels bad.
"Ben...I can't" she sweetly and sorrowfully says, reaching out to caress his cheek. "We just got a call about a huge fire, we're needed on the scene to assist the evacuated sta-".
For the first time since they met, Ben dares to swat her hand away. Marben feels like he slapped her in the face.
"They've been torturing him for more than twelve hours straight! Withdrawal's driving him up the walls and you know which of the two is the worrying bit, for him!".
"Yeah, since he's always been one for breath play…" she blows back, without truly intending to make a joke out of it. Ben grits his teeth and speaks with sheer urgency.
"Please, Marben!".
"I…I can't. I'm sorry, sweetheart, it's not-". Ben gives her his back and walks away, disappearing as he goes. Left behind to look at his retreat with eyes full of remorse, Marben finishes the sentence mumbling to herself. "…my job, to watch over your siblings. I already have too many responsibilities".
She sighs and feels terribly guilty. It's not a good day, whatever she says or does the Hargreeves just get pissed off.
Since she hasn't been called through the loudspeakers yet, Marben grabs a phonebook, the nearest phone's handset and dials the Umbrella Academy's number as fast as she can. Nobody picks up.
She tries again dialing by heart the number of the gym where Diego works and lives. Again, nobody picks up.
.oO°Oo.
MeriTech Prosthetics' ruins are still smoking when the ambulance arrives. Marben looks at them, sincerely hoping they're not hiding any charred bodies within, then remembers that had there been any victims their ghosts would have come looking for her, and since the ambulance ride has been uneventful she breathes a sigh of relief.
"Hi, Lola" a voice greets her as she dismounts from the ambulance; slowly whirling on the newcomer, the nurse prepares to get annoyed.
"Detective Patch" she wearily acknowledges, indeed.
"That's my name, yeah!" the Detective giggles, aiming for easy-going but only managing awkward. When Marben - or Lola - gives her a deadpan stare, however, Patch clears her throat and tries again with a confidential attitude. "Are you okay?".
"Aaaaaaall right, let's get to work" the blond pointedly announces, heading toward a little crowd of civilians and policemen, some wrapped in orange blankets and others collecting statements. "What do we have, besides an incinerated building?".
Detective Patch toddles after her.
"Luckily no victims, just a bunch of contusions, scratches and sho-".
"Was it a doctor, who told you so?" Marben abruptly stops to asks, and Patch stumbles onto her own feet not to end up crashing into her.
"No, I-".
"Then let the medical staff do their job, Detective. Who's the one you need me to treat first?".
"Uh…that one". Looking peeved, Patch points to a man sitting on a low wall, rocking back and forth as he shakes and furtively looks around; his nervous, fidgety fingers are toying with something crumpled. "Mister-".
"Whatever. Why are you looking at him like that?".
"He won't answer any of the question I pose to him, and not content with that he even talks nonsense" the officer admits. "He says he's been held hostage by some kid who wanted a glass eye and…wait!".
Marben doesn't wait, she picks a shock blanket from the ambulance and goes straight to the man.
"Miss! You have to help me!" he calls out as he sees her approaching, going as far as to try and throw himself forward to latch onto Marben's arm, but ending up piteously wobbling on unsteady legs, hands outstretched and hallucinated stare. The nurse readily catches him and - with notable effort - pushes him toward the low wall again, donning the best reassuring smile she's able to under strain.
"Sure, it's my specialty! But it's better if you sit down, sir".
The stranger mechanically nods and lets himself be guided, without actually being of any help; once he's finally seated again, Marben wipes her forehead, gives him a quick once-over that gives her most of the medical informations she needs to know, and trying to keep her heavy breathing at bay she readies herself for a match of 'who's the biggest idiot'.
"There. How are you feeling?".
"I'm in shock, can't you see?" the man testily blurts out even though he's back to shaking like a leaf. The nurse resists the urge to cock an eyebrow at him and keeps on innocently smiling as she watches her patient fish something from his hoodie's pocket and resume fiddling with it: it's a scorched old photo, a close-up of a man with a hat.
"Very clearly, sir. That's why I got you a blanket".
Marben makes a show of unfolding the bright orange cloth and placing it onto the guy's shoulders, then, letting him whimper in relief and bundle himself up to his own liking before he resumes to rock back and forth right away. The photo falls to the ground, and crouching in front of the man, Marben discreetly sneaks it into her pocket.
She then proceeds to tuck two fingers under his wrist, her blue-green eyes fixed on her watch as if to keep track of the guy's breathing pattern when as a matter of fact she's paying it little to no heed.
"I gathered that you weren't in the building when the fire broke…" the nurse tentatively offers after a bit. The stranger seems to mentally tear himself out from his apathetic state.
"No, I wasn't! I was being held hostage!".
"…I'm sorry, the police said you-" Marben feigns confusion and turns to look toward Detective Patch and her colleague Beaman, but the man seizes her shoulders and tries to shake her. Tries, because she's almost instantly prying his hands off of herself.
"The police think I'm crazy!" he whisper-shouts in Marben's face, and she finds herself wondering 'How could you blame them?'. A moment later, however, she reassures him.
"…well, I think there might have been some kind of misunderstanding, here. You know, treating patients is delicate stuff, and…Detectives simply aren't trained to do it properly" the nurse illustrates through a sardonic grimace.
"Oh…a-and you are?".
"Of course, I'm a nurse! And I promise I'm going to take you seriously". Marben offers a hand to the stranger. "My name is Lola".
"L-Lance Biggs" he stutters, then cautiously shakes her hand.
"Nice to meet you, Lance. Now, wanna tell me about your stay with the kidnappers?".
"It was only one!" Lance hisses, leaning close as if he didn't want to be heard by anyone else.
"Oh?".
"A kid!" he agitatedly says. "Foul-mouthed and with crazy eyes, he held a knife to my throat demanding to know...how to trace down the owner of a glass eye he found at some playground...but I didn't tell him! Because I know it's illegal!".
"Great job, Lance! You have some stones!".
"Thanks, I...I pride myself of being an honest citizen, you know" Lance says with a slight half smile, looking timidly flattered. Or is he nervous?
"And it does you honor" the woman smiles at him, patting his arm. "So is there an armed kid running around town?".
"Yes! And his father encourages him! They're two raving lunatics!".
"You…met your kidnapper's father, too?".
"Yesterday he came to my office, slapped his son and accused me of doing it! He told me I would go to jail and that people like me get passed aro-".
"All right, Lance, that'll do. Thank you" Marben hurriedly cuts him off as she jumps to her feet like a jack-in-the-box, partly to avoid having to hear grotesque stories about life in prison and partly because she's had enough with the theatrics. From his seat on the low wall, Lance looks at her in disbelief and confusion.
"Enough? For what? You too think I'm crazy?".
"No, no. No. Really. No". Marben cringes at the impressive amount of 'nos' she's blabbering, but for goodness' sake, even with a gun to her head she wouldn't be able to come up with anything better to say!
"It's just that...your shock is too severe, you need to rest" it's what she manages to blurt out, in the end. "I think what you told me is enough to provide some relevant information to the police, so that they can investigate…and make sure those two nut jobs don't come looking for you anymore".
"Are they going to believe it, if you're the one to say it?" Lance queries, owlishly blinking up at her.
"Of course! I'm the one trained to deal with people in shock, they purposely called me to translate your statement into something they could work on! You gotta be patient, they need to be helped a bit". Marben smiles for the thousandth time and pats him on the shoulder. "I'm getting you released right away. Wait here, I'll just go tell Detective Patch you can go…".
"Thank you!".
Looking way too much relieved, Lance jumps to his feet and reaches out to shake hands with her once again; Marben looks at him, mystified, and misreading her attitude he turns to embarrassedly look at the blanket piled on the low wall. "Oh, sorry…you want that back?".
"No, no…keep it, shock makes you feel cold".
"Right! God bless you, Lola!" Lance says awkwardly, sounding moved as he picks up the blanket and puts it on his shoulders again.
"Yes, yes…let's not bother him for so little…" Marben mumbles with a forced smile, finally managing to take her leave.
"No signs of real shock, he's just scared shitless" she hisses into Patch's ear when she approaches the folding tables next to the fire truck, on which the Detective and Beaman are inspecting items recovered on the crime scene, including what appears to be a strip of limp black material, scorched at one end. Hearing her words, they both stop to send alarmed glances toward an oblivious Lance, who's distractedly looking around, back to sitting on the low wall and clenching his shock blanket like an overgrown Linus.
"Of what?" asks Patch, at a loss. Marben shrugs.
"Check his financial records, his funds, properties, everything. He's too scared of going to jail to truly be clean".
"Get that over to the lab, immediately. I'll be right back" Patch tells Beaman, before storming off. The blond watches for a moment the Detective's retreating back, then makes to say her goodbyes and leave herself, but when she turns, Beaman's eyes are still glued on Patch as he keeps his gloved hand up, holding the burned material with tweezers. She smirks, deciding she'd like to play a little bit with him.
"Why is she so eager to please everyone?".
"Everyone?" Beaman snorts. "She acts like that only when you're around!".
"Aw. It sucks, when you wanna be tough but someone tougher shows up and castrates you, huh?".
Finally realizing he's being observed the officer turns his eyes on Marben, and surprisingly blushes.
"I wonder if you'll ever find the courage to ask her out" she muses out loud, staring at him with an absorbed expression. He looks away and plays dumb.
"I don't know what you're talking about".
"I'll take my chance, then".
The tweezers fall onto the metal tray with a hell of a clang that stops Marben mid-shrug. Smirking at the sight of a flustered Beaman who's busying himself puttering about the evidence and stubbornly refusing to meet her gaze, Marben turns on her heels. A couple of steps away from the tables, however, a few words reach her eardrums.
"…may I join in?".
The nurse spins around so quickly she almost gives herself whiplash.
"What?" she breathes. Beaman starts again, looks up with wide, horrified eyes and squawks.
"WHAT?".
Taking pity on him, Marben just walks away, humming audibly this time, to prevent whatever other comment might come from Beaman to reach her ears, and crossing her hands over her tush, as to not offer a view to a man who just overtly declared to be interested in a hypothetical threesome involving her and his own boss.
As she passes by a police car, something yellow abandoned on the passenger's seat catches her eye. To manifest all the discomfort that dealing with the city police causes her every single time, Marben reaches out through the lowered window to pick up the roll of tape, and stuffing it into her pocket next to the photo she stole from Lance, she retreats in the ambulance.
A/N: SURPRISE! Double update, this week :) Let's see if I can keep up this pace from now on.
Finally, another reunion, even though it didn't go all too well...and, above all, I think it wasn't the one you were waiting for! Be patient for a little longer, my dears, it's not time yet for Five and Marben to see each other again. Soon.
Are you washing your hands? Do you still wear masks? Please vaccinate, if you can. Too many bad things already happen every day: if we can avoid having to deal with covid too, let's do everything possible!
Love.