Saving Rachel
by pari106
Disclaimer, etc., found in chapter 1.
Chapter 2
A few days later…
Since the second I saw Rachel climb into that car…the car I had rigged with the bomb
that could have killed her…I don't think I've breathed an easy breath.
Until today.
Today the papers covered the explosion.
It was all over the headlines…the presumed deaths of heiress Rachel Berrisford, her
chauffeur…and her music instructor. Simon Lehane.
Me. Or, at least, the me I became for the sake of my mission. The real Simon died in his
own home so that I could assume his identity and get close to the Berrisfords.
But that's all behind me now. Because everyone thinks I'm dead. And Rachel, as well.
Witnesses saw me jump into the Berrisford's limo just before it blew… They must not
have seen me jump right back out the other side, with Rachel clutched in my arms. I
suppose they had no reason not to assume we both died. I'm good with explosives, you
know. There wasn't enough left of Rachel's limo for there to have been any bodies.
Now they think we're dead, and today I can breath again. But not because of that.
I know better than to hang my hopes on that. I know better than to let down my guard
just because my counterpart's got his picture in the obituary. No body means nothing to
Manticore. They're still out there…still looking for me, and Rachel. I can guarantee it.
Today I can breath again because today Rachel woke up.
**** ****
I thought she was dead at first.
When the bomb went off, we barely cleared the car. We landed behind some brush on
the roadside, and rolled down a slope in the landscape. Then the blast of the explosion
sent us rolling another good foot or two. It's a good thing I landed on top of Rachel.
Otherwise, she would have absorbed most of the impact and the little bits of debris flying
through the air. She wouldn't have survived.
At first, I thought she hadn't survived anyhow. There was so much blood…
She'd hit her head. Hard. And I've been fighting these last two days to keep the wound
bandaged and clean; to stop the bleeding. I'm okay as far as field med. goes… But I'd
have given anything to have been able to take her to a doctor. Not possible. Not with her
face and my barcode. We can't go anywhere near a hospital or a police station. And I
know absolutely squat about head injuries. She broke a couple of ribs, too, and I can only
hope I set them right. When we hit the ground that day of the explosion, she'd just
seemed to crumple in my arms. Like a doll some kid had thrown too hard…
And I thought she was dead.
I don't know what it was I felt then. Something…painful. In my chest. And a
constriction on my lungs. Those first few moments after we landed, before I was able to
locate the pulse beating softly beneath her lovely skin… I couldn't breath. And my
vision was starting to blur, the longer I searched for a heartbeat and couldn't find one. I
thought I must have been injured in the fall in some way I couldn't identify right away.
But now I'm not sure…
All I know is, for the most part, the pain went away when I finally determined that
Rachel hadn't died after all. And whatever it was that was wrong with me could have
been our undoing… I wasted good time, just sitting there with Rachel's unconscious
form wrapped up in my arms, breathing in the scent of her hair… Rocking her. I still
don't know why. But luckily I managed to shrug the disturbing sensation away, and was
able to drag myself and Rachel to safety. Some place we could hide and heal – the back
yard of a nearby home whose owners I knew were away on vacation. I'd made a point,
when I began my mission at the Berrisfords, to know things like that.
Then, after doing my best to stop the bleeding from Rachel's head wound, I passed out.
I'm X5, not human. But X5s can get hurt, too. I hadn't even realized that I had been, I'd
been so caught up in protecting Rachel. But I'd broken my left leg, and dislocated my
shoulder, trying to land in a way that wouldn't crush my human companion beneath me.
So as soon as we were both out of danger, my body just shut down…those handy X5
regenerative capabilities kicking into overtime.
When I woke, I broke into the house we were hiding out behind, and carried Rachel in so
that we could both get cleaned up, and I could find something to use as a decent bandage
for her head. She didn't wake up this entire time. And she hadn't stirred once while I
was unconscious, I could tell.
That scared me.
Maybe I might find that amusing if it wasn't so goddamned disturbing… But it scared
me. I don't feel fear, you know. At least…I never have before. Not for anything outside
the Psy. Obs. labs back at Manticore. And how scary is a little human woman compared
to that?
Plenty. Rachel was hurt… I'd done everything I could to protect her, and she'd still
gotten hurt. And there wasn't shit I knew how to do about it. I've never been so scared
in all my life. And I was starting to think that maybe I'd hit myself on the head, as well.
Because there was a lot that had to be done… I had to get me and Rachel into some
cleaner clothes. Had to… uh, "procure" some supplies. Food, bandages, money. And a
car. Then I had to get us the hell out of there before Manticore came to investigate why
the perfect plan their perfect soldier had been sent to carry out had gone so terribly
wrong. I had to do all that as fast as possible, on a leg whose bones were still re-knitting,
and all I could think about was Rachel.
I probably would have driven myself crazy with those strange thoughts, too, but luckily I
didn't have time. I had the both of us cleaned, changed, bandaged and ready to go as fast
as I could manage. Then I headed out of town as fast as my stolen means of
transportation could handle.
I ditched the car the first chance I got. But first I took Rachel to this seedy little hotel
outside of town, some place no one would look twice at a guy carrying an unconscious
girl into his room. I hated to take her here… Someone like her, to a place like this. I've
always counted myself lucky to have grown up inside of Manticore, clean and safe and
healthy…instead of out here amongst the filthy masses. I think Rachel grew up with that
privilege, as well. Only her safe haven was the Berrisford estate, rather than a military
installation.
Some haven either one of those places turned out to be, huh?
So the seedy little motel would have to do. And somehow… I didn't think Rachel would
really mind. I put her in the room while I took care of the car. She was still out. That's
how she remained…until today.
Now I feel like these last three days I've been operating on adrenaline alone.
Now my only problem is…what I tell Rachel when she's lucid enough to talk.
What do you say to someone you very nearly killed? Someone who's father you'd been
sent to assassinate. Someone who'd trusted you…let you in… Someone you'd hurt.
What do you say to someone you love when you're sorry? I've never known love or
regret, so I really don't know.
I guess I'll have to learn.
A/N: Okay…how was that? How's my Alec characterization? I figure he'd be a little
different if things went differently with Rachel than they did the first time around…since
that incidence obviously had a huge effect on him. But I didn't want to make him seem
too different. Know what I mean? Just please review! Thanks!
by pari106
Disclaimer, etc., found in chapter 1.
Chapter 2
A few days later…
Since the second I saw Rachel climb into that car…the car I had rigged with the bomb
that could have killed her…I don't think I've breathed an easy breath.
Until today.
Today the papers covered the explosion.
It was all over the headlines…the presumed deaths of heiress Rachel Berrisford, her
chauffeur…and her music instructor. Simon Lehane.
Me. Or, at least, the me I became for the sake of my mission. The real Simon died in his
own home so that I could assume his identity and get close to the Berrisfords.
But that's all behind me now. Because everyone thinks I'm dead. And Rachel, as well.
Witnesses saw me jump into the Berrisford's limo just before it blew… They must not
have seen me jump right back out the other side, with Rachel clutched in my arms. I
suppose they had no reason not to assume we both died. I'm good with explosives, you
know. There wasn't enough left of Rachel's limo for there to have been any bodies.
Now they think we're dead, and today I can breath again. But not because of that.
I know better than to hang my hopes on that. I know better than to let down my guard
just because my counterpart's got his picture in the obituary. No body means nothing to
Manticore. They're still out there…still looking for me, and Rachel. I can guarantee it.
Today I can breath again because today Rachel woke up.
**** ****
I thought she was dead at first.
When the bomb went off, we barely cleared the car. We landed behind some brush on
the roadside, and rolled down a slope in the landscape. Then the blast of the explosion
sent us rolling another good foot or two. It's a good thing I landed on top of Rachel.
Otherwise, she would have absorbed most of the impact and the little bits of debris flying
through the air. She wouldn't have survived.
At first, I thought she hadn't survived anyhow. There was so much blood…
She'd hit her head. Hard. And I've been fighting these last two days to keep the wound
bandaged and clean; to stop the bleeding. I'm okay as far as field med. goes… But I'd
have given anything to have been able to take her to a doctor. Not possible. Not with her
face and my barcode. We can't go anywhere near a hospital or a police station. And I
know absolutely squat about head injuries. She broke a couple of ribs, too, and I can only
hope I set them right. When we hit the ground that day of the explosion, she'd just
seemed to crumple in my arms. Like a doll some kid had thrown too hard…
And I thought she was dead.
I don't know what it was I felt then. Something…painful. In my chest. And a
constriction on my lungs. Those first few moments after we landed, before I was able to
locate the pulse beating softly beneath her lovely skin… I couldn't breath. And my
vision was starting to blur, the longer I searched for a heartbeat and couldn't find one. I
thought I must have been injured in the fall in some way I couldn't identify right away.
But now I'm not sure…
All I know is, for the most part, the pain went away when I finally determined that
Rachel hadn't died after all. And whatever it was that was wrong with me could have
been our undoing… I wasted good time, just sitting there with Rachel's unconscious
form wrapped up in my arms, breathing in the scent of her hair… Rocking her. I still
don't know why. But luckily I managed to shrug the disturbing sensation away, and was
able to drag myself and Rachel to safety. Some place we could hide and heal – the back
yard of a nearby home whose owners I knew were away on vacation. I'd made a point,
when I began my mission at the Berrisfords, to know things like that.
Then, after doing my best to stop the bleeding from Rachel's head wound, I passed out.
I'm X5, not human. But X5s can get hurt, too. I hadn't even realized that I had been, I'd
been so caught up in protecting Rachel. But I'd broken my left leg, and dislocated my
shoulder, trying to land in a way that wouldn't crush my human companion beneath me.
So as soon as we were both out of danger, my body just shut down…those handy X5
regenerative capabilities kicking into overtime.
When I woke, I broke into the house we were hiding out behind, and carried Rachel in so
that we could both get cleaned up, and I could find something to use as a decent bandage
for her head. She didn't wake up this entire time. And she hadn't stirred once while I
was unconscious, I could tell.
That scared me.
Maybe I might find that amusing if it wasn't so goddamned disturbing… But it scared
me. I don't feel fear, you know. At least…I never have before. Not for anything outside
the Psy. Obs. labs back at Manticore. And how scary is a little human woman compared
to that?
Plenty. Rachel was hurt… I'd done everything I could to protect her, and she'd still
gotten hurt. And there wasn't shit I knew how to do about it. I've never been so scared
in all my life. And I was starting to think that maybe I'd hit myself on the head, as well.
Because there was a lot that had to be done… I had to get me and Rachel into some
cleaner clothes. Had to… uh, "procure" some supplies. Food, bandages, money. And a
car. Then I had to get us the hell out of there before Manticore came to investigate why
the perfect plan their perfect soldier had been sent to carry out had gone so terribly
wrong. I had to do all that as fast as possible, on a leg whose bones were still re-knitting,
and all I could think about was Rachel.
I probably would have driven myself crazy with those strange thoughts, too, but luckily I
didn't have time. I had the both of us cleaned, changed, bandaged and ready to go as fast
as I could manage. Then I headed out of town as fast as my stolen means of
transportation could handle.
I ditched the car the first chance I got. But first I took Rachel to this seedy little hotel
outside of town, some place no one would look twice at a guy carrying an unconscious
girl into his room. I hated to take her here… Someone like her, to a place like this. I've
always counted myself lucky to have grown up inside of Manticore, clean and safe and
healthy…instead of out here amongst the filthy masses. I think Rachel grew up with that
privilege, as well. Only her safe haven was the Berrisford estate, rather than a military
installation.
Some haven either one of those places turned out to be, huh?
So the seedy little motel would have to do. And somehow… I didn't think Rachel would
really mind. I put her in the room while I took care of the car. She was still out. That's
how she remained…until today.
Now I feel like these last three days I've been operating on adrenaline alone.
Now my only problem is…what I tell Rachel when she's lucid enough to talk.
What do you say to someone you very nearly killed? Someone who's father you'd been
sent to assassinate. Someone who'd trusted you…let you in… Someone you'd hurt.
What do you say to someone you love when you're sorry? I've never known love or
regret, so I really don't know.
I guess I'll have to learn.
A/N: Okay…how was that? How's my Alec characterization? I figure he'd be a little
different if things went differently with Rachel than they did the first time around…since
that incidence obviously had a huge effect on him. But I didn't want to make him seem
too different. Know what I mean? Just please review! Thanks!