Disclaimer: All characters seen or mentioned on COLD CASE belong to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer and are used without permission. Sueing me would be a waste of time, since there's nothing you'd get out of this, because I don't make any money with this story.
If you don't like the idea of Scotty/Lilly, you should definitely leave.
Bad news: Still no sex. (But definitely romance – (at least from Scotty's side).)
God news: I dropped the Christina Rush sidestory, since it would be too much, even for someone like Lilly (and she simply wouldn't fit into the story).
A small little something in her is from an X-Files book I read long time ago which I remembered while writing the conversation with Hank.
Sorry: For not updating for so long. Had to write a paper, so no time at all.
ORPHEUS
AND EURYDIKE
No. 8: The caged girl
by Dare
When they entered the office, Chief Rydell was talking to Tess – the moment he saw Lilly and Scotty, his eyes narrowed and he stalked over to them.
"You talked to Frederick Zimmer." It sounded like an accusation.
Scotty answered before Lilly had to. "Yes, we did."
Rydell looked from one to the other. Scotty held the glare, as did Lilly, but Lilly Rush's former partner knew that the ice over this particular very deep and frosty lake called Frederick Zimmer was still to thin to be threaded.
"Anything new?" he asked. There was suspicion in his voice and a strange kind of surprise – apparently, he was surprised both of them met Frederick Zimmer in his cave and came back in one piece.
How little you know. "Zimmer knows about Juliette St. Claire," Scotty said.
"Ah, yes, the mad woman." Rydell nodded and changed to subject, something both Scotty and Lilly were thankful for. The chief's voice got crispy. "We have a small problem."
"A small ... problem?" Scotty exchanged a glance with Lilly and raised an eyebrow and Rydell. "What do you mean?"
Rydell shot them a dark glance and gestured over to the desks where Pamela Sharma and Eric Orson were sitting. Both of them weren't looking at each other, each reading intently whatever they were holding.
A strange mood wavered between them, as if they were both ... sulking.
"What happened?" Lilly asked. Scotty noticed the corner of her mouth twitching.
"Orson refuses to accompany Agent Sharma – or anyone for that matter – to Warren Sanatorium," Rydell said. "He probably thinks they are going to keep him there – and if he continues like this, I'll make sure they will."
"In other words – we are going to accompany Agent Sharma to the Sanatorium," Lilly concluded.
"Correct. And I hope for you own safety that you come back with some revelations." Rydell shook a finger at them as if they were school children and stomped into his bureau, murmuring something under his breath, closing the door loudly.
When he was finally gone, they talked to Agent Sharma, who was furious. "I thought to solve this case within at least a week, but under current circumstances," Scotty just could stop staring at her almost-uni-brow which continuously moved. "It seems to be impossible." Sharma muttered something in her mother tongue that didn't sound very flattering. "I tell you, Lillian, this person should be removed from duty – why not assign him a job at some desk in some dark archive somewhere far away from here – and me."
"He can't be that bad," Lilly said and tried to hide her smile.
"No, he is worse. Do you know what Shoomolan cookies are?" she asked.
"Yes." It was the first time since they had left the office that Scotty said something. "And I'd rather not talk about them."
They got into the car and Agent Sharma handed Scotty a small piece of paper with the address of Warren Sanatorium.
"What was Frederick Zimmer like?" Agent Sharma asked.
Scotty tried hard to concentrate on the street, while watching Lilly flinch in the corner of his eyes.
"He was ..." She cleared her voice. "He is an overweighted man in a wheelchair and he knew about Juliette St. Claire."
They was some rustling of paper from the back seat. "There is nothing in the file that says he visited her when he was still on duty."
"Maybe he learned about her existence after having retired?" Agent Sharma suggested.
"Maybe. Or maybe he investigated after his retirement," Lilly said. She had a faraway look on her face and still was a bit pale. "He has ways and means to do that."
Agent Sharma looked as if she was about to say something, but she just shook her head and continued to read Diana Trent's file, while Lilly stared out of the window.
They drove in silence and finally, after over half an hour, Scotty parked in front of a large, grey building with some trees in front of it which seemed to have lost all there colour. It was a depressing sight – and suddenly Scotty thought about Alyssa, about her sudden death and about an equally dark and depressing building on the other side of the continent.
Big, black letters over the entrance said:
Warren Sanatorium
Scotty hated this place immediately and from the looks of it, so did his two female colleagues.
They entered the lobby and behind a large, grey counter a young man with black, thin-rimmed glasses was fast asleep, snoring. He had opened his mouth and he had drooled on his white overall. An image that didn't flatter him at all.
Agent Sharma's blood pressure was already way through the roof when she noticed him sleeping while on duty.
"Hey! Hey! Excuse me!"
The situation was almost comical, when with a final, great snorer, the man rejoined the living and blinked behind his glasses at them. "Wha --" He wiped his mouth. "What? Who are you?"
Three shiny badges appeared in the hands of the visitors.
"We are here to investigate in a case of murder and we'd like to talk Juliette St. Claire," Lilly said patiently.
"Today's Thursday," the man behind the counter said in a final tone.
"And what's the problem with Thursdays?" Scotty wanted to know.
The man – a small tag on his overall said "Hank Miller" -- pointed at a large board on the wall with the specified visiting hours on it. "No visiting on Thursday."
Agent Sharma's urge to simply draw her weapon grew. "Now listen, Hank," she leant forward and stared at the young man. "This is a FBI investigation. Be thankful that it is only us and not my entire bureau trying to talk to you, Juliette St. Claire and any other person in the entire building. If you are trying to prevent us from doing our work, I'll have you arrested according to article eleven b, section nine-five-zero. Understood?"
"I'll go and get Doctor Franklin," Hank stuttered and scurried away.
"That was quite impressive," Scotty said. "Is that how they work at the FBI?"
"Chalk it up to stress," Sharma said.
Lilly smiled – it was so good to see her smiling again, Scotty realised. "Article eleven b, section nine-five-zero?"
"'Attention, water protection area'," Agent Sharma quoted, when Hank came back with Doctor Franklin.
Doctor Franklin was a thin, tall man with grey hair clinging desperately on his bald head. He readjusted his glasses when he saw the visitors. Hank had informed him – he knew why the officers paid him a visit.
"Doctor Franklin," he shook several hands. "You are here to see Juliette St. Claire?"
"Yes."
"Well – I'm afraid 'seeing' is the only thing you will be able to do. Juliette isn't exactly very talkative," he said. "Please, follow me."
"Is she on medication?" Lilly asked.
"Yes – because of her depression. But she stopped talking long time ago," Doctor Franklin said. "She likes to watch TV though and plays board games with the other patients, but she doesn't talk at all. You can try if you want to."
"Does she have any visitors?" Scotty asked, while they passed several steely grey doors.
"Yes – a man, Jonathan Trent. He also pays for her stay here – her parents have died long time ago," Doctor Franklin said.
They entered a large room with white walls. People were sitting around, not moving at all – some of them were watching TV.
Scotty identified the show on TV as Jeopardy, but one man sitting in from of the screen was screaming "Bingo! Bingo!" all the time. A man with a pyramid-like black hat was walking around and on a table to elder woman debated if the Titanic had sunk in 1913 or in 1908.
Dr. Franklin lead them away from all those people to a large armchair that fas facing a big window. Scotty exchanged glances with Lilly and Sharma, then he slowly walked around the chair to face Juliette St. Claire.
One second, he was completely taken aback and then, he tried to hide his surprise.
Juliette St. Claire was a fair-skinned, beautiful woman in her late thirties. Maybe she was older, but it was impossible to determine her age. She had cloudy, blue eyes, long lashes, thin, elegant eyebrows and long blonde hair. She was possibly one of the most beautiful women Scotty had ever seen.
But his surprise rooted somewhere else: She looked a lot like Lilly.
Neither Agent Sharma nor Lilly herself seemed to notice.
Agent Sharma looked pointedly at the doctor who left then.
Lilly knelt next to the woman and Scotty just had to stare. They were so much alike – but Lilly had survived and Juliette St. Claire hadn't.
"Hello," Lilly began. "My name is Lilly Rush. Do you understand me?"
No reaction at all.
"We are here to investigate the case of a girl named Diana Trent," Lilly continued.
No reaction.
"Diana Trent?" Lilly tried. "A little girl? Marie Trent's daughter?"
Juliette showed no reaction at all. Sometimes she blinked, but besides that she sat completely still. It was like talking to a doll.
"I seriously doubt we'll get any information from her," Pamela Sharma said. "I seriously doubt that it's this world she's living in."
"But if we don't get anything out of here, we're stuck – and there's no way I'm going to visit Frederick Zimmer once again," Lilly said.
"Frederick?"
It took Scotty a second to realise that it was Juliette who had spoken.
"What? What did you say?"
Juliette shook her head. "Poor Frederick ... he visited him."
"Visited whom?" It didn't make any sense.
"But Rosa took him away ... Rosa ... Rosa ..." Juliette stared at Lilly, opened her mouth and ...
(Someone screamed "Bingo! Bingo!")
... started to scream like a madwoman.
"No – please calm down," Sharma started, but she was quite sure that Juliette and no one else for that matter understood a word she was saying.
Scotty placed his hands over his ears and noticed any resemblance to Lilly was gone: Half of Juliette's head suddenly seemed to consist of her mouth while her previously beautiful eyes were budging out of her skull: They looked like balloons with too much air – and as if they were about to explode.
It was truly an bizarre sight ... and Scotty now understood that Juliette was indeed a madwoman.
It took Doctor Franklin about thirty seconds to kick them out of the sanatorium, while telling them that there was a very good reason why there weren't any visiting hours on Thursday.
The stood for several seconds in front of the doors. It started to rain and Scotty was the first one to disrupt the silence:
"Who the hell is Rosa?"
Back in the office, they started to search Diana Trent's file for someone or maybe something called Rosa, and finally, Lilly, Scotty and Sharma left they desks exhausted – but without any Rosa.
Sharma finally wished them a good night and left. "See ya tomorrow," and she was gone.
Lilly was dead on her feet, Scotty could tell, but unfortunately, the evening didn't seem to be over.
"Today's Thursday," Tess told them happily. "You are coming to, aren't you?" She had applied a layer of make-up that was half an inch thick.
"Coming? To what?" Scotty asked suspicously.
"It's Thursday. On the first Thursday of the month we all go to the bar at the corner," Tess told them.
Scotty glanced over at Lilly who slightly shook her head and suppressed a yawn.
"No, we're not --"
Tess accepted no excuses. "Sorry." She grabbed both of them by their arms. "You can leave at nine or ten, but you have to come," she said and dragged them away.
Scotty could have strangled her.
C-C-C-C
The place turned out to be fairly nice. It was semi-dark and soft music was playing. People were dancing and having drinks, while Lilly was about to fall from her bar stool. It had been, especially for her, an exhausting day.
Scotty saw Tess and a surprisingly relaxed Eric Orson. Rydell was talking to his infamous wife and for once they looked as if they were in love. All their arguing on phone seemed to be forgotten.
He looked over to Lilly who glanced over to the clock over the door of the ladies' bathroom, sighed and stared into her empty glass. She didn't look as if she had a ball and they wouldn't be able to leave for at least another hour.
Staring at her, a bold and maybe stupid decision formed in his mind.
He got up, gathered all his courage, managed to put a cocky smile on his lips and leant down to her. She tensed up almost immediately, but when she noticed who it was, her shoulders relaxed a little bit.
Her smile was questioning and a little bit tired. "What?"
"Do you want to dance?" he asked. Vera would have killed him if they had been in Philly – first with his stare and later with his bare hands.
The smile froze and she just stared at him.
"C'mon, Lil, it's a nice evening and the day has been pretty stressful, so just – do me a favour and dance with me?" he asked. He tried to sound charming and friendly, but he knew these kind of things weren't working with Lil. He extended his hand. "Please?"
She looked at him and though nothing had changed, the smile suddenly lost it's previous chill and some warmth came back. She didn't say a word, just took his hand and allowed Scotty to lead her to the dance floor.
The song which was played was slower than he had anticipated and there wasn't exactly much room to move since suddenly, everyone seemed to have the brilliant idea to dance.
Scotty opened his arms and she stepped into them willingly. They did several steps and Scotty moved them through all the other couples without any bumps. Lilly was a graceful dancer and moved with Scotty effortlessly.
Valens looked down at the woman in his arms and smiled. "Maybe a stupid question, but: are you feeling any better?"
"I'm just completely drained," Lilly whispered through a tiny smile. He felt her tighten his grip on his left hand and his upper right arm. "I guess the whole day took it's toll – if Tess hadn't insisted ..."
"We'll get home as early as possible," Scotty promised her. He grinned, as spun her around. "And I'm glad that you're feeling better."
"You are a good friend, Scotty. I --," whatever she was about to say, she was silenced under his suddenly dark and questioning glance. "I'm glad you asked me to dance," she said finally and Scotty had never been so sure in his life that originally she wanted to say something entirely different.
He smiled at her and when he caught her hands and moved them around his neck, he knew it was a risk – but he offered her enough time to remove them and when she didn't, he took it as a good sign. Moving his hands around her waist, the distance between them shrank into nothingness.
The heat radiating from her body and her warm breath at his neck made him feel dizzy – something he hadn't felt for someone in a very long time and that was the moment when he realised that he was falling in love with Lilly Rush of all people ...
... and he still didn't have any idea what she was thinking of him.
End #8
Athame: Thanks a lot – and thank you for your review. Here's your update.
Becky Greenleaf: Thanks for reading it. No one lives under a roc just because they haven't read my story. Thanks for adding my story to the C2 archive. :)
Haley: They'll get together, don't worry. :)
Abby909: Thank you very much. :)
Nix707: Thank you very much. I thought maybe someone would consider it OOC that Scotty would console Lilly. Thanks for thinking otherwise.
Pealee: Yep, she's letting go. I think she deserves it. :)
Annica: I'm excited because of this story too. :) Thanks for reading it.
Kawaii-peach-14: Thanks a lot. I don't like Carlson either – but he's quite useful. Here's your update. :)
XdareXDevilX: Sorry to keep you waiting.
Mellie Erdmann: I think they make a lovely couple too. :) And yeah, Scotty's really worried 'bout her.
Givemecookies: The "wheelchair whale". Hehe. That's cool. And hopefully I fill your head again with sticky sweetness.
AthenaIceGoddness: Here's your update. Not really more Scotty-comforting in this one, but hopefully you like it anyway.
Tiantian Wang: Thanks a lot. I think a slow pace makes it more interesting. And here's your developing bond, BTW. :)