The Walking Wounded
Saint Vincent de Paul Hospital, Paris, France, 2291.342, 1325 hours. He was packing up the last of his belongings in readiness to head home to San Francisco. Mama was signing the papers for his release while Sa-mekh was procuring transport. Se'tak was getting around pretty well but he still used a cane to help keep him steady.
"Well that's it," Mama said as she breezed back into the room with a wheelchair in tow, "You're all set. Now let's get you home."
Se'tak lowered himself into the chair and laid his bag and cane across his lap. "Mama, I need to make a stop first."
"Ok, Sweetie, wherever you want to go we'll take you. We've got the time…"
"No Mama. I need to go alone."
She pulled to a sudden stop in front of the elevator bay. "Sweetheart," she said firmly, "I really don't think that's a good idea. You're just getting out of the hospital, you're still weak."
"I'm stronger than I was before; besides, it's just one loose end I need to tie up before we head home, nothing strenuous, I promise."
"I…"
The doors opened before she could finish and Sa-mekh stepped out. "I have procured a hover cab for us. It is waiting downstairs."
"Se'tak has a stop he wants to make first," she pointedly remarked as she wheeled him inside. "Alone."
Sa-mekh eyes flashed with alarm. "Sa-fu…"
"Sa-mekh, please. This is something I have to do."
Sa-mekh eyed him closely for a moment then nodded in the affirmative. "Very well. Your mother and I will meet you at the transport station at 1700 hours."
"Thanks."
"Spock!" Mama stopped pushing him in the middle of the busy lobby and folded her arms across her chest. "You can't be serious! He's just getting out of the hospital!"
"Se'tak knows his own strength, Nyota. He will not overtax himself." At that Sa-mekh shot a pointed look as if daring a contradiction, something Se'tak had no intention of doing.
Mama huffed all the way out to the sidewalk where he was finally allowed to stand on his own two feet. He passed his bag off to Sa-mekh then ambled toward the waiting cab. "Wait!" Mama shouted as she rushed over to him. She wrapped her arms around him in a bone crushing hug. "I love you, stay safe, and I want to see you at the transport station at 1630 hours and not a minute later, understood?"
He grinned in spite of himself. "Yes Mama." 'Tak ducked into the cab and closed the door. "Siège de la Police, s'il vous plaît.*"
Nyota waited until the cab pulled away from the curb before frantically hailing another one. "Nyota…"
"Spock, if you think for one second that I'm letting him out of my sight after he just got out of the hospital then you're out of your g-ddamn mind." The hover cab barely had time to stop as she slipped into the back seat, leaving her adun stunned and stranded on the sidewalk. "Suivez cette voiture!*"
1355 hours. Se'tak hobbled up the steps and approached the desk sergeant looking for Lieutenant Bonhomme. He was shown to a desk in the middle of the floor but when the Lieutenant spotted him her ushered Se'tak to an empty conference room off to the side. "It is good to see you up and about, monsieur."
"Thanks, Lieutenant," he replied with an affable smile. Gingerly he sat down in the offered seat and rested his cane against the wall. "It's good to be here."
"I…"
"Look, I…" Both men stopped and gestured for the other to speak first. Se'tak continued, "I wanted to thank you for everything that you did."
"But I didn't do anything. She…"
"Lieutenant, you took me seriously when no one else would and you never gave up on the case. That's everything."
"It nearly cost you your life," the young officer said grimly.
"Good thing I'm a lot tougher then I look," 'Tak added, trying to lighten the mood. "There's another reason why I came."
"You wanted to look at the case file?"
He had the good grace to look abashed. "Am I that transparent?"
Lieutenant Bonhomme said nothing, only grinned. Growing more serious he added, "Are you sure you want to look at it though? It won't change anything."
Se'tak sighed. "I need answers. There are things I need to know and I can't get them anywhere else."
The Lieutenant heaved a sigh then pushed himself up. "Alright, I'll get it for you…but I still don't think this is a good idea."
He had the file in his hands 10 minutes later. The Lieutenant had been very thorough in his report. Se'tak scrolled through the images taken inside her apartment—he couldn't bear to even think of her name—but he couldn't stop himself from poring over the file. She lived alone in a studio apartment and the walls were plastered with pictures of him: at school, at work, in Boston with Max, in San Francisco with the family. She followed him everywhere. The Lieutenant surmised she bugged his personal PADD and copied his calendar which was how she'd been able to stay a step ahead of his movements. The thought that she'd gotten close enough to him to do that made him nauseous.
There were schematics too, for bringing down the power grid near Marie's apartment, and drafts of love letters: some she slipped him, some she didn't. She kept a diary since before they met and in it he learned that Rorschach's death was an accident—he bit her—but she wasn't at all remorseful for killing him. She even saved little mementos in a morbid kind of scrapbook as if they'd actually dated and the first thing he saw was the receipt from their initial encounter at the cafe. Se'tak flashed back to her in his dorm room, detailing that fateful meeting while holding a knife on him, and this time he couldn't swallow back the bile. Sweat beading at his temples and heart racing he was barely able to reach the trash can before puking up his hospital lunch.
As he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand Se'tak read up on how he hadn't been the first to be caught in her obsessive web, he was just unlucky enough to be the last. She'd stalked at least 3 other guys back in Maine—1 a former boyfriend, the other 2 people like himself who, unfortunately, happened to catch her eyevand it got serious enough that the last man pressed charges. But she was underage at the time and her attorney plead the charges down; she had 6 months of outpatient therapy then the record was expunged.
6 months. 6 months and she was sent back out ready to re-offend.
Se'tak set the PADD down and shakily got to his feet. He found the answers he'd been looking for—and now had a few more stops to make.
1430 hours. He stood against the gate on the opposite side of the street waiting for the school bell to ring. A few minutes later kids started streaming out the front door, with Max near the back with his friends. He'd grown since Se'tak last saw him.
'Tak waited 'til his cousin got to the street before announcing his presence. "Yo, Max!"
His head shot up from the crowd of teens—and when he caught sight of Se'tak he went pale. After saying a quick goodbye to his friends he crossed the street and gave him a hesitant hug. "H-hey! It's good to see you up and about."
"You never saw me down and out," Se'tak glibly replied.
Max stuttered. "Se'tak I…I mean I…"
'Tak placed a hand on his shoulder. "Is there somewhere nearby where we can talk?"
"Yeah," his cousin replied, "There's a café around the corner."
He waved his cane down the road. "Lead the way."
They took seats near the window although neither of them paid much attention to the passing scenery. "I'm sorry I never came to visit," Max said, his hands wrapped around a steaming mug of cocoa.
"It's ok." Se'tak picked up his croissant but didn't feel like eating it. He set it back down on the plate.
"No it's not," his cousin replied.
"You're right," Se'tak agreed, "It isn't, but now I know why." Max's hands trembled as he set his cup down on the saucer but he didn't speak. "It must've been traumatic finding me like you did; and I imagine it would've been harder seeing me in the hospital afterward."
His cousin balked. "How did you know? Dad said you didn't remember…"
"I read the police report. Why didn't either of you tell me you were the one who found me?"
"Because." Max looked glumly down at the tabletop, unable to meet his gaze. "I'm the reason you got stabbed in the first place. If I hadn't come to your dorm that night you wouldn't have even been hurt."
Well that line of thinking had to stop right now. "Look," Se'tak said, "She came to my room uninvited, she brought the knife, and she had every intention of using it whether you showed up or not. Frankly you're the only reason why I'm still here."
His cousin looked away but didn't respond for along time. "If I'd been 5 minutes earlier she wouldn't have even stabbed you."
Se'tak forced him to meet his gaze before replying. "And if you'd been 5 minutes later I would've been dead."
Silence hung between them and he wondered whether his cousin was able to see the truth. "Well I'm glad I wasn't later then," Max finally mumbled.
"Me too." He broke off a piece of croissant and popped into his mouth while smiling at Max, who then gave a small smile of his own.
"There has been 1 good thing that's come from all this…"
'Tak was glad to see his cousin acting a little more like his old self yet he couldn't help but rib him. "You mean besides me still being alive?" he sarcastically quipped.
"Yeah, yeah, it's all about you…" Max cheekily replied. After a quick sip of cocoa he added, "So after—everything—I started asking Uncle Len for first aid tips; you know, in case there's ever an emergency or anything in the future. And the more we talked the more I realized I wanted to learn more than just the basics. 'Tak, I want to be able to help people before there's a crisis. I want to study medicine."
"Really? That's great!"
He beamed. "Thanks. We've got to wait and see though. I sent out a few more applications with medicine as my focus but they were a little late so I might have to re-apply next year."
"Well whatever schools you applied to would be crazy not to take you whether it's this year or next."
For the first time that afternoon his cousin actually laughed. "Yeah, well, crazier things have happened."
Se'tak let loose a throaty laugh of his own, glad that Max was back in his usual good humor. "No shit!"
L'École Avril Robert de Diplomatie, Paris, France, 2291.342, 1517 hours. His last stop before the transport station was the dorm. Se'tak hadn't planned on going there initially—his stuff had already been packed and shipped back to San Francisco—but after reading the report he needed to take one last look around. He drew his ID badge out of his wallet and pressed it to the key pad where he was surprised to find it worked. Technically he was still a student but he was on emergency medical leave and he thought the school would've deactivated his account, locking him out.
Then again, a little thing like a key card didn't stop her from gaining access.
By now his strength was waning and he decided to take the elevator; but as he passed by the stairwell he glanced longingly at the steps he used to easily bound up 2 at a time. When the lift stopped 'Tak got off and hobbled toward his room, grateful to find he wasn't going to have an audience watching him confront his past.
He waited before the unopened door with growing dread. What was he thinking, coming here? It was a crazy idea. Se'tak turned and walked away but only got halfway to the elevators before returning and slamming his palm on the pad, opening the door before he changed his mind again. He didn't know what he was expecting to find but it wasn't this.
Everything was exactly as it was the first day he moved in: the mattress was bare, the dresser drawers empty and open, the desk a little dusty. He thought he'd find his old room a shambles—overturned furniture, blood stains on the floor—but it was clean and ready for the next occupant.
It was like that terrible night had been completely erased.
Se'tak stepped inside and sat down heavily on the lumpy mattress. He felt numb initially but the longer he stared at those 4 walls the more things inside him started to shift. This room was where Zosia terrorized him for months. It was where she left her creepy notes and tracked his movements. She nearly took his life right there in the middle of the floor! And now she was dead and she almost took him with her. Not only that but she'd never face any justice for all the grief she caused.
She'd taken so much from him. Too much. His life was in pieces and Se'tak didn't know how he'd ever get it back.
He sat there brooding until his bitterness grew too much for him to bear. Heaving himself up to his feet, he walked out the door and down the hall as fast as he could manage without a single backward glance. Se'tak only wished he could leave the events of the last year behind him just as easily.
* "Siège…" = French, "Police Headquarters, please."
* "Suivez…" = French, "Follow that car!"
A/N: This chapter precedes the events set out in Chapter 2 of "Undoing" which will be posted in the next week or so.