From Angel of Death
...
3rd Person POV:
"You wanna take a 15 minute break with me?" Jeanne requested with a tired grin. Tony nodded, turning to greet her as she walked around the desk. However, before they could sneak away a familiar voice called from down the hallway.
"Tony?" The man's whole body froze in terror as Claire's voice echoed through the hall. He slowly turned and watched as she walked down the corridor towards him, straightening out her shirt.
"Wh…..I….I thought you were out having drinks with everyone else?" he stuttered, stepping away from Jeanne who watched them curiously. Claire came to a stop in front of them, her eyes flickering between the two.
"No, um…..the director wanted me to update my physical before the polygraph. For some reason I wasn't allowed to just use Ducky. She sent me here." Tony swallowed thickly as he realized what was happening. Jenny had forced his hand.
"Tony, aren't you going to introduce me?" Jeanne piped up from his side, jerking him out of his mental downward spiral. Tony licked his lips, trying desperately to dampen his mouth that had suddenly gone dry.
"Uh…Jeanne this is Claire…..Claire, Jeanne." Tony introduced shakily, being sure to leave out last names. The two women shook hands politely.
"Claire as in Tony's friend, Claire?" Jeanne asked with a small grin. Claire glanced up at the man in confusion.
"Yeah, that's me." She muttered. Jeanne beamed in realization.
"It's so nice to finally meet you! I've been trying to get Tony to bring you around, but he tells me you're busy all the time. You're a cop right?" Claire blinked in surprise, watching Tony's face pale drastically.
"Um yea, technically. Nice to meet you too. I'm sorry to say that I don't know as much about you as I would like." She continued, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Jeanne chuckled, and wrapped her arm around Tony's. The man stood stiffly as she snuggled up to him affectionately. All he could do was watch Claire's facial expressions, knowing things were about to get infinitely worse.
"Well you know Tony. He's a bit gun shy about relationships, so I can't say it surprises me that he hadn't told anyone about his girlfriend yet." She shrugged, looking up at her boyfriend. Claire's eyes widened.
"You're the girlfriend?" she asked in surprise. Jeanne grinned, not realizing what emotions were truly flying through the other woman's head.
"Yup, that's me. Well now that we finally met each other, maybe we can find a date that we can all get dinner sometime. I would love to get some old stories of Tony." Jeanne suggested with a chuckle. Tony grinned anxiously.
"Yea…..but like Tony said, I tend to be pretty busy. Actually, speaking of getting together, Tony I just remembered that I need to talk with you about something. Do you have a minute?" Claire blurted, looking at the man pointedly. Tony stared back silently at the swirls of rage and immense hurt in her eyes.
"Of course." He choked out, looking to Jeanne.
"Yea, you two go ahead. You can use the break room here. Meet me down in the cafeteria when you're done." Jeanne suggested, pointing to the room off to the right. With that she pulled herself away from Tony and walked around the corner. Once the woman was gone Claire instantly darted for the offered room, anxious to get away from prying eyes. Tony trailed after her, much less reluctant have the inevitable conversation. As soon as the door shut behind him a fist struck him on the shoulder, causing him to squeak in pain.
"I had hoped we were going to be adult about this?" he grimaced, frowning at her. Claire's eyes bugged out incredulously.
"Adults?! Oh hell no! Tony, this is the most juvenile thing you have ever done!"
"I can think of a lot more…"
"I don't want to hear it! Ah, god I am so angry with you right now!" she wailed irritably, pacing back and forth as she gripped her hair with her hands. Tony watched her quietly, shoving his hands into his pockets. He had nightmares about this interaction, but right now nothing he could have thought up was anything like the real thing. After a few seconds of her pacing she blew out a harsh breath before turning to face him.
"How long have you been dating?" She asked, staring at him intensely. Tony straightened up. He could easily come up with some wild story, but looking at her distressed expression he couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't lie to her, not anymore.
"…a few months." Her eyes widened in surprise.
"Wh…..so is this the real reason you broke it off in the first place?" Tony shook his head.
"No! That was totally unrelated." He assured. She narrowed her eyes skeptically.
"And when we slept together after?" Tony's jaw clenched, giving her the answer. Claire sucked in a ragged breath, turning from him sharply.
"So….so what was that pity sex? You knew that I was still hung up on you and you decided to soften the blow by sleeping with me? On top of cheating on your new girlfriend?" she questioned, starting to build up into hysterics once more. Her breathing sped up as she paced the room faster this time, her mind reeling with all these new implications. It was thing to move on without telling her but it was another to know that he had been stringing her along out of pity. It was utterly gut wrenching that he would do something like that to her.
"Ugh god I feel so stupid and used." She shuttered. Tony quickly reached out, only to have his hand slapped away.
"It wasn't like that." He quickly denied, his eyes widening in horror. That was the last thing he wanted her to believe.
"What other explanation is there Tony?! What is wrong with you?" she asked, shaking her head in disbelief. Her dismay quickly morphed into fury once again as she took a step towards him.
"Damn you! You know what….I deserved a hell lot more respect from you! How dare you do something like this. If you had just been decent enough to tell me you were moving on then I would have accepted that. Instead you watched me make a jackass out of myself while I waited on you. Who does that?! Here I thought our friendship meant something to you. After all we've been through I deserved the respect…..hell at least the common curtesy of you informing me of your intentions." Tony remained silent as she shoved his shoulder roughly, taking the verbal lashing he knew he deserved. Angry tears blurred her vision and Claire whipped around to roughly wipe them away. He didn't deserve the satisfaction of watching her cry.
"I can't believe I was stupid enough to care for this long…."
"Claire, I'm so sorry….
"…..I let you have the space you asked for, I should have known then….
"…please let me explain…."
"…I even talked to Director Shepherd about your disappearances…"
"Wait, you talked to her about it?!" Tony quickly turned from apologetic to defensive. He had told her to back off on the whole thing. Now it was making more sense as to why Jenny had set this whole thing up tonight. Claire had pushed too much. Then again he had pushed as well. This was their punishment apparently.
"…and all this time I thought you were just on illegal missions and were trying to chivalrous…."
"Claire you can't talk to Jenny about this, it's none of your business."
"…of course it's my business! I cared about you and I trusted you and then you go and pull this douchebag stunt!" Claire shouted, cutting him off.
"If all of this nonsense has been your way of driving me out of your life because I care too damn much to keep out of things, then mission accomplished! Because I am done with this!" Tony's eyes widened as she stood there huffing angrily, swallowing to keep her tears at bay. His eyes trailed down the few that slipped down her cheeks. Tony's throat tightened up; his stomach sinking at the realization that things had gone too far. He couldn't get her back now; the damage had been done. Claire paced back and forth in the small space, pulling at her hair aggressively as her body radiated hurt and rage. After a few minutes of thick silence, she pressed her head against a wall; shoulders slumping in defeat.
"I don't know what happened to you, Tony. You're turning into someone I don't recognize, and my heart can't take any more grief." She lamented quietly. Tony stood stock still, working to keep his own sorrow behind the mask. His heart was shattering even more than the first time, now he was past heartache. Now it was more like an all-encompassing numbness. Claire lifted her head and turned to stare at him sadly. He said nothing. What could he say? Everything Claire pointed out was true. She sucked in a shuddering breath.
"I need to go." She muttered, crossing her arms tightly over her chest as she slipped past him back into the hallway.
"Claire wait…" he turned, reaching out for her in one last attempt. Claire shied away from his grasp.
"Don't worry, I won't say anything to Jeanne. I'm not going to stoop to your level about this." she muttered bitterly before slipping out the door. Tony clenched his eyes shut, willing himself to keep composed….at least until he could leave the building. There was just too much going on right now.
...
...
"Don't hurt her, Nick." Bernie whimpered, fidgeting anxiously as she watched the scene.
"Don't worry…..I won't hurt her." Nick assured unconvincingly. A gunshot rang out, causing everyone in the room to flinch.
"Ah Geezus!" Claire shrieked, clutching her right shoulder where the bullet had clipped her. Tony jolted and looked over, seeing only red blood trickling out from behind her hand.
"Claire…" he mumbled urgently, trying to get his body to cooperate so he could reach her. Claire grunted in pain, trying not to give Nick the satisfaction of seeing her that way.
"Shooting them is not going to get me to help you." Jeanne snarled angrily.
"Fine, but watch your time." Nick eventually relented, stepping aside. Jeanne hovered between the two, deciding who needed help first.
"It just clipped me, get Tony first." Claire whispered to the woman, making her choice easy. While Jeanne pulled out her penlight, Claire shuffled over to the wall still clutching her shoulder.
"Tony? Tony?" Jeanne asked, shining the light in his eyes.
"Can you sit up?"
"No, I'm up." Tony grunted, looking around.
"Where's Claire? She's bleeding. Claire…" he whimpered in confusion, wondering why the woman was no longer there. Claire watched his distress in mild confusion. Jeanne frowned as well but didn't think much of it. She gently tilted his head towards his friend.
"She's right there, she's ok. I'll get her patched up." Jeanne assured. Slowly the two managed to get Tony to sit up against the wall alongside Claire. Jeanne moved her finger back and forth for his eyes to follow while Tony rubbed his sore neck.
"I don't see any signs of concussion." She mused.
"I've been hit harder by my sister." Tony quipped groggily. Claire snickered, the adrenaline starting to get to her.
"You don't have a sister." She pointed out. Tony lolled his head to grin at her.
"I don't?" he asked in mock confusion. Claire grinned back. Jeanne watched the two of them, raising a curious brow.
"Nick…." Bernie whimpered, her shaking getting worse by the minute. Nick took his que.
"Enough playing, Doctor." He ordered. Jeanne jolted in surprise.
"But I haven't even seen to her yet. She's bleeding." The doctor pointed out sternly. Tony shook his head.
"I've got her. This wouldn't be the first time we've patched each other up." He countered, assuring his girlfriend they would be ok. Jeanne paused.
"Do it. I don't want you to get hurt." He told her honestly. Jeanne nodded, standing up to head to the dead body on the cart.
"Let's go." Nick barked.
"Don't do anything stupid either. I don't want you getting hurt." Claire piped up quietly, turning to look over at Tony. Knowing him he would jump into a situation they weren't ready for. Tony smiled at her softly.
"Well it looks like it's too late to give you the same sentiment." He muttered, eyeing her bleeding shoulder. Claire let out a breathy laugh, her arm tiring from putting pressure on the wound. Tony frowned, scooting closer to her and slipping off his tie.
"Here, let's get something on that." He gently wrapped the fabric around her arm before tying it tightly to hold pressure on it. Claire grunted as it squeezed her sore shoulder.
"You alright?" he questioned quietly. Claire nodded.
"The guy is a horrible shot. Just skimmed me. Stings like hell though." She admitted. Tony stared up at her apologetically, his thumb rubbing up and down her arm mindlessly. Claire locked eyes with the man, frowning at how lost his eyes looked. She didn't understand what was going through his head. Metal clattering brought their attention back to the situation at hand.
...
...
"Bitch!" Nick snarled, lunging for her. Jeanne lashed out and stabbed the man in the shoulder with her scalpel. Nick screamed in pain, dropping the gun. Tony quickly lifted himself up and slid across the floor for the gun. Just as Nick ripped out the weapon and headed back towards the doctor, Tony shot at his shoulder.
"Next one's in your ear." He snarled from the ground. Taking satisfaction in the matching wound he had just inflicted. Purposefully if he was honest. Claire smirked, seeing what he did. Tony slowly stood, now being the one in power.
"Drop it." He barked. Nick did as he was asked and stumbled back against the counter, clutching his wounds. Tony turned to Jeanne who was slowly sucking in breaths.
"You okay?" he inquired.
"Not really." Jeanne answered, pulling down her mask. Claire stood to join them, staring in horror over their shoulders.
"Oh, God." She muttered. They all turned to spot Bernie sniffing at the white powder mixed in with the blood all over her brother. Claire turned away in disgust before slowly relieving Tony of the gun. He looked at her in surprise.
"I've got it. You call security." She instructed, looking over at Jeanne. The woman nodded, rushing over to the phone to do just that.
"Why?" Tony asked, once Jeanne had walked out of earshot. Claire looked up at him, getting a better idea on what he was asking. Why did she defend him? Why was she keeping his cover? Why did she still care? Claire sucked in a hard breath, unsure herself.
"Despite the fact that I hate you and this is officially the worst day of my life…..I can't seem to disregard the fact that you're still my friend. And my partner." She admitted hesitantly. Tony stared down at her in awe, unable to fathom how she could still think that. Claire hardened her gaze.
"I may be civil now, but don't take advantage of it. This is the last thing I do for you." she pointed out harshly. Tony nodded, taking it. There wasn't much else he could have hoped for.
