Disclaimer: I do not own Venom

A/N: Hello, my adorable readers! Merry (late) Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope everyone's been well these past months.

As always: read, review, and enjoy!

Additional art will be posted on my DeviantArt account: X-KuroShiro-X

Chapter 33: Unlikely Solace

Evelyn felt warm when she rose from her slumber, which in itself was an indicator that things were relatively alright given the circumstances. It took her a short while to accustom herself to what had happened, as it took for her to recall everything. She didn't know how she had gotten where she was now, and she certainly didn't remember getting there on her own, but that was the least of her concerns. Her body was aching and her hunger was ever-exhausting, but as far as she could tell, she was fine for someone who had just endured a motor crash.

She spent the next several minutes assessing her body for any injuries, only to find that there were none. Her clothes were filled with holes and there were clear signs that she had endured hardships not too long ago, but nothing that deserved her uttermost attention. If anything, it was a sign that Lasher was still making an effort of keeping her alive and well.

It was as good as it was going to get.

It didn't strike her that she was alone until she felt the soft material of what seemed to be Eddie's sweater lying under her. He was nowhere to be found when she looked around for him, but for some reason, she had faith that he would be back shortly. If he had left her there, then she would be sure to repay his actions in kind the next time they met.

She seated herself back up against the wall behind her and glanced down at her hand, which had previously been broken in all sorts of different ways, only to find that nothing about its general anatomy was amiss. For just a moment, she could see the familiar bluish hue of the symbiote make itself visible on the brims of her fingers, only to promptly retreat when it was made evident that their presence had been noted.

For the first time since they first made contact, Evelyn didn't feel wary about their presence.

Now, it was almost a comfort not to be alone.

Eddie counted his luck when he returned to the alleyway and found March sitting there, awake but with a tired look on her face. He hadn't expected her to get up so soon, given that she had evidently lost the liberty of sleep as of late, but her wounds had healed up and she didn't look like she was in any pain, so that was as good as it got.

Still, he didn't say much as he seated himself down next to her. In his arms were two cans of soda and two pieces of toast wrapped up in plastic, given to him at a generous discount. The clerk turned out to be a huge fan of the Brock Report and even went as far as to say that he believed in his conspiracy against the Life Foundation.

At least there were still a few people with common sense nowadays.

He handed March the soda can and the toast without a word, and she took it while offering him a short but audible "Thank you." If it hadn't been for his good hearing, he might have guessed that he had misheard her. Given that he was currently stuck with an alien attached to him who spoke in his head, it didn't sound too crazy that he had heard wrong.

They ate in silence, and Eddie was surprised to see March eat. He couldn't remember ever seeing her consume food for the duration of their reluctant alliance, but it proved that she was human, biologically speaking. Judging by the way she was eating, at such a fast pace and a lack of regard for the crumbs that fell to the ground, she must have been absolutely starving. He was too, with Venom's hunger and all that, so if March was experiencing any of the side-effects that he was, it thoroughly explained her behavior.

Another couple of wordless minutes passed and Eddie contemplated on saying something on multiple occasions, just anything to keep the unbearable silence at bay. Each time he tried to come up with something, however, there was nothing in his head that would make up for a suitable conversation topic, so he delayed it. It wasn't like she would appreciate his words anywa –

"When all of this is over, what are your plans?" March asked out of the blue, having just finished her food at record speed.

Eddie did a double-take at her. "What?"

"Your plans," March repeated, offering him a sharp yet inquisitive side-glance. "After we bring down Drake, given that we will manage, what are your plans ahead? Surely you must have something in mind,"

He thought about it for longer than he intended. What were his plans, if they made it out of this alive? Hope to get his job back? Get Annie back? He honestly didn't know, and he hadn't expected March to be the first one to ask him about it.

"Well?"

"Well… I'll figure something out," was all he could offer her. "Hopefully, I'll get somewhat of a decent job and not live on junk for a while,"

"Go back to your life as a journalist, then?"

At first, he thought she was mocking him, but the sincerity in her voice made up for a nice surprise for a change. Had she suffered a concussion from the fall, perhaps?

Eddie shrugged sheepishly. "Most likely, as long as I don't have to do anything crappy like work in retail or the fast-food industry, I'm good." He opened his soda and drank a good portion of it before he decided that it was his turn to contribute to the conversation. "What about you? Continue like normal?"

This time, it was March's turn to become contemplative, though discretion proved to be one of her strong suits. He couldn't read a single emotion off her face, and he was usually good at reading people. However, the way she curled her fingers on top of the asphalt beneath them, he could tell that she was struggling to come up with a response.

"You forget, I'm partially responsible for what has happened," she explained, and just for a split second, he could see her brows furrow just slightly. "In any case, I'll likely be taken to court to stand trial for my contribution."

Eddie was surprised to hear himself object to such a conclusion. "But … You…" He tried speaking up, but every word and letter in his head seemed to tear apart at the seams. What was he going to say? What could he say? All this time, he had held her partially responsible for what had happened with everything, and now that she was admitting it so openly herself, he wanted to stand against it? What kind of double-faced individual was he?

"Don't look so disheartened, Eddie." Hearing her say his name so casually brought out an unknown feeling in him that he didn't know how to address. March turned to face him, something akin to an aged smile aimed his way that resembled someone who had merely accepted their fate. "Even if I'm not held accountable by the court, this will still undoubtedly affect my career, though it hardly matters anymore."

"But you were forced under duress!" Eddie all but shouted. "It wasn't your –"

For the first time since he had met her, March laughed. It wasn't a loud, boisterous laugh, but a chuckle if anything; short-lived and hardly audible, but there nonetheless. "Don't act the naïve fool. You said it yourself. I joined out of my own free will at first. I may have been forced to stay later on, but my initial interest in Drake's work was there. I knew what they were aiming to achieve, and I went along with it. It's only fair that I pay for my part, right? In any case, this would not be the first time that my actions have been brought to the attention of the jury,"

Eddie could only stare at her like an idiot for what felt like an unbearable amount of time, though she hardly seemed bothered by it. Then he proceeded to ask something that caused her to momentarily freeze where she sat, all signs of equanimity erased from existence.

"What happened before, then?"

March went quiet, though the way her eyes slightly widened told him more than enough. He expected her to become hostile and outright tell him to mind his own goddamn business. It wouldn't have surprised him in the slightest, but to genuine his surprise, she obliged to his inquiry after a minute's worth of thought.

"There was an incident, a couple of years back. An …" She paused for a bit, eyes closed as she assembled her words. Whatever memory it was that she was conjuring, it was a difficult topic. To see her behave this uncertain of her actions – the same women who had wielded her words like a knife against him – was conflicting him. "A … patient requested that I … I free him from his …" She took a deep breath and clutched a hand over her face, shielding her countenance from his view. "He wanted me to kill him … and I did,"

Eddie waited patiently for her to continue, knowing that interfering with any unnecessary questions would undoubtedly cause her to close again.

"As a medical professional, such an act went against all protocols. After I did it, I admitted to my actions, which ultimately earned me the scorn of my hospital and everyone involved. Almost everyone wanted me tried and sentenced, but evidence of Davi – of the patient's compliance ultimately had me excused. As such, I subsequently left my previous place of employment and settled down here instead, along with Dr. Lewis,"

"Dan was with you?"

"We were colleagues back then, and the reason he came here was because of his misplaced pity for someone who didn't deserve it,"

By then, March's face – what little he could see of it anyhow – had scrunched up to such an extent that it looked as though she was in physical pain and angered by it. Her fingers were clutched so tightly against her face that it seemed like her nails were on the verge of tearing through her skin, and her teeth were grit as though she had just tasted something unbearably bitter.

She was … in pain, but not the physical kind – it was the kind Eddie initially believed that she couldn't feel. Even the fact that she had shared this piece of information with him of all people all but proved that she had changed. He didn't know when, and he didn't know how, much something about her had changed.

He weighed his words carefully before he spoke. "This patient, why him?"

This time, she turned to look at him, and if looks could kill, his corpse would decorate the pavement.

"What?"

He swallowed. "Why'd you do it for him? What made you want to go to such an extent for him of all people? Why not fight to keep him alive like you always do?"

As a journalist, he made it a habit to push people into a corner to get the answers he wanted, but he knew enough to tread carefully in this territory if he wanted to keep his skin intact, even if Venom could stitch it up like nothing. He expected March to attack him at any point, or at least give him a sign that he was in harm's way. While he was arguably twice as large as her, he didn't doubt for a second if she wanted to inflict harm onto him, she would do so without a warning.

Instead, March merely averted her gaze back to the ground, and the lie she told him afterward slid off her tongue like butter.

"Because I pitied him,"

Pity? Eddie wanted to scoff at the thought. March never pitied anyone; she was too straightforward for that. She always did things for a reason, but whatever it was, and while he didn't know her as much as he would have, he knew the doctor well enough to know that her actions were never fuelled by something as trivial as pity. It was simply something she would never do, even he knew that.

Eddie reclined back against the wall, his eyes aimed towards the dark sky in deep contemplation over what he was going to say next.

"I was once tried for vehicular manslaughter," he finally said, memories that he had long since tried to repress resurfacing from years.

March finally looked back at him, almost uncharacteristically surprised by this bold yet casual confession. "Is that so?"

He nodded. "My dad was a cold piece of crap, and after years of trying to earn his approval, one day in college I decided that I just didn't give a shit anymore," He remembered every discreet insult and remark Carl Brock had aimed his way since childhood – from the mentions of his mother's death during his birth to the way his exceeding grades failed to earn him even as much as a smile from the old man – and the years he spent trying to earn some of that fatherly affection was ultimately in vain. "One night, some buds and I got drunk and got this brilliant idea to steal my old man's car for a night out on the town. We intended to get back before he noticed it was gone, but shit hit the fan, and we ended up … killing my neighbor's son,"

The memories of the crash were still clear in his head as though it happened recently, from the sound of the poor boy's bones becoming dislocated beneath the weight of the car, to the cries of poor Ms. Lewis as she watched her son return home in several body bags. If it hadn't been for the lack of proper content in his stomach, Eddie might have hurled from recalling the events.

Fuck, he needed a smoke.

"I intended to plead guilty in the court, but my old man wouldn't stand having his good name ruined by his fuck-up of a son, so after a good beating and several threats, I gave in and pleaded innocent to the case. Making the problem 'go away' nearly made him bankrupt, and if he didn't hate me from the start, he certainly did after that,"

Eddie could never cleanse himself of the images of Carl Brock's enraged face the second he knew of his son's involvement in the case. To this day, he even had scars on his back from all the belt-lashes he suffered, and just thinking of it made them sting beneath his shirt.

As he finished talking, Eddie awaited the scrutinizing and skin-cutting words from March, or even a look of disapproval. He wouldn't blame her if she despised him because of it, and given that she was a medic, it was only to be expected. The strangest part about this entire ordeal was that while she had – if only forcibly – contributed to the deaths of many, what he had done was out of teenage stupidity. He had cursed her for being the way she was, when in reality, he had little room to judge.

"You wished to take responsibility, and your father refused to allow you because of how it would affect him?" March asked, sounding disdainful, but not towards him for some reason. "How pathetic,"

Eddie laughed, and despite where they were and what they were doing at that very moment, the laugh was as genuine as it could get. He turned to look at her, and found her looking at him with a scowl instead.

"Not to be mistaken, you were idiotic for what you did," she added, to which he promptly stopped laughing. Then she proceeded with, "But you were willing to be held accountable, and as such, the fault was not wholly yours,"

"Neither was yours," he said, fierce determination painted on his words.

This earned him yet another scowl that could curdle milk, but she said nothing to contradict him, even if she wanted to.

"I'll be honest with you," he continued. "Part of why I decided to take this … job, was because I thought I could get my old life back. Get back … Annie,"

"Ms. Weying,"

"You know her?"

"We met at a conference a while back," March explained. "She was almost the victim of being drugged, but I made sure that it was handled before any harm could befall her and the case was handled,"

"You … saved her?" Eddie couldn't believe what he was hearing, and yet, she wasn't one to lie unless she wanted to avoid the subject. But she had helped Annie, and if it was true, then it was something he would have to repay her back for. She wasn't … bad, at least, not as bad as he had accused her of being in the past.

March shrugged. "It would be inconvenient, and I personally can't stand that kind of illicit behavior, much less from a medical professional who is supposed to help others, not abuse their position."

The words slipped out of him as if out of instinct. "Thank you,"

March was caught off-guard by his appreciation, and he swore he could see her face become pink for a second or two before it returned back to its pale color. "… I … You're welcome, though Dr. Lewis was responsible for managing the rest of it." The look she sent Eddie afterward came as a silent warning. "He is a good man, and he cares for her very much. Don't do anything stupid because you can't let go of the past,"

Eddie knew he needed to hear this, even if he didn't want to admit it to himself. He let out a sigh and drew a hand over his face. "I know, and I'm happy for them,"

March looked like she accepted his words and her penetrating glare lessened. "Dr. Lewis … Dan, he has always been a selfless man. His kindness is his strongest and weakest traits, but it makes him who he is,"

Eddie couldn't help but notice how March's expressions softened upon talking about her colleague, and it didn't require a lot of effort on his part to put two and two together. "Are you in love with him or something?"

The question earned him a reaction that was almost comical from his point of view. March immediately flared up, like a high school student who had just been asked who she had a crush on. If he could, Eddie would have pulled up his phone and taken a picture of her face, keeping her reaction forever preserved.

"Watch it, Brock," she growled and quickly looked away.

Eddie couldn't keep the smug smirk off his face. "What? It's an honest question,"

"It's inappropriate,"

"You just checked my teeth a short while back. I don't think you're one to talk about what's appropriate or not," he pointed out.

She decided to quickly change the subject. "Do you have any contact with your father?"

Eddie tilted his head at this question, not aware that she was one for such sentimental inquiries. Still, he answered her.

"Most of the phonecalls we have are mostly one-sided anyways," Even that in itself was an exaggeration. Carl Brock didn't even call Eddie to congratulate him on his engagement to Annie, and he sure as hell didn't call him when the scandal with the LF came around, so he wouldn't count his luck there. If anything, his old man had all but disowned him. "What about your family, then?"

March shook her head. "We haven't been on speaking terms since the funer –" She promptly stopped herself before she could conclude the sentence. "We aren't speaking, to put it shortly,"

"Why?" Eddie asked. "Problems?"

March aimed yet another short-lived glare his way but sighed instead. "Something like that,"

"You know, we might not make it out of this, so if anything now would be a good time to –"

Before he could finish, March got up on her feet and adjusted her clothes while also handing him back his sweater. He had almost forgotten that he had used it as a makeshift pillow for her, but he took it.

"Where are we headed to now?" she asked.

"My old place of employment,"

March quirked a skeptic eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because I have evidence," He held up his phone to prove his point. "If anything happens to us, the LF is screwed either way. This is the best chance we got to take them down, dead or alive,"

March didn't seem too thrilled about the idea of wasting any more time, but she ultimately didn't say anything to oppose him. She may not have agreed on his plan wholeheartedly, but if anything, she seemed like she trusted him enough to go through with it, and if that didn't say something.

"Also," Eddie said. "I met him,"

He could almost swear that he saw a smirk spread across her lips. "And how was he?"

"… He bit of someone's head,"

"Then he's in a good mood, at the very least," March sounded unaffected by this revelation.

All Eddie could do was bow his head in defeat, already accepting the fact that there was nothing that could surprise him anymore.