Hey, people! Well, I made good on my promise to give you a chapter by Friday, and I did it by Thursday (Canada time) Have you all seen the new Apocalypse trailer? This is a shorter chapter, but more dialogue based, so I'm just going to cringe in a corner while I wait for the prognosis. Anywho, here is chapter 22!
Laurien waited for Charles' answer, though none came. Barely breathing, she checked the phone to see if there was something wrong with it, but found nothing visible that would impair or terminate the call. She was starting to wonder if there had been a problem on his end or if he had just hung up, but when Charles' voice finally pierced through the receiver, she stifled her sigh of relief, as she wasn't out of the woods just yet.
"I haven't told anyone, let alone Erik." He said slowly, his tone laced with anxiety that only made her feel worse. "Laurien, what's going on?"
She opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated at the last second, her breaths coming in too rapidly and too shallowly for her to speak properly. Laurien pressed the back of her hand that was still holding the knife to her forehead in an effort to calm herself, and swallowed with difficulty before finding her voice. "He's here."
"Who's there? Erik?" Charles demanded hurriedly.
Another soft groan from the living room stopped her from answering as her eyes darted over to the kitchen doorway. She found herself slowly lowering the receiver down to the counter and padded toward where her eyes were situated on, even as the rest of her body screamed for her to stay where she was. She crept around the corner and into the living room, her footsteps muffled by the soft fabric of her slippers as she neared to where Erik was lying on the couch that she'd used for her bed, with a tense hand over his abdomen, his eyes shut.
She felt as if there was a bonfire in her stomach that was burning through her from the inside out as she glanced at the changed state of the man before her. In less than two months, he already seemed to have gained quite a bit of muscle, from the way his black t-shirt clung to his form. No longer as slim and lithe as he'd been back at the mansion. He'd cut his hair as well; it was now much shorter and hints of ginger undertones peaked out through the strands of his hair, just above where beads of sweat glistened on his pale forehead.
A pop of color diverted her attention as she noticed that his helmet was abandoned at the foot of the couch, now covered in shiny red and purple paint that made Laurien grimace when she realized that there was a matching coat to go with it that was lying on one of the mismatched armchairs.
His ghostly white face was emotionless and relaxed, so she assumed that he had fallen unconscious. He looked the same as he had when she'd left him after waking up, enveloped in his embrace the morning of the Cuba incident. She pushed away the memory irritably and started to move back to the safety of the kitchen as her common sense caught up with her.
"Were you actually thinking of stabbing me with that?"
Laurien stopped dead in her tracks and spun around to look at him, his blue eyes now open just slightly as a small half smirk pulled at his mouth. She gritted her teeth as she begrudgingly released her grip on the knife and let it fall to the ground with a metallic clatter.
"Why the hell are you here?" She asked tersely through her teeth, feeling the subtle vibration of her powers in her veins as she looked for something to grab onto at a moment's notice.
He chuckled weakly. "You didn't think I'd miss your birthday, did you?"
She scowled, her temper flaring as her vision flashed red. "Erik."
His smile faded slowly as he tilted his head to look at her and saw the crimson glint in her eyes, his efforts at a carefree reunion deemed futile. He winced as he removed his tight grip on his stomach, revealing the underside of his hand to be smothered in blood.
Laurien's eyes widened as she took a sudden step forward. "What have you done?"
"Had a little accident." He chuckled again, though he quickly turned serious again as he saw her horrified expression. "I need your help."
She tore her gaze away from the bloody mess that was his stomach to look him in the eyes; her breaths shallow as she felt herself take a step back, shaking her head.
"Laurien, please." He pleaded, suddenly trying to get to his feet, only to fall back onto the couch with a sharp groan as he clutched his stomach. He took a few laborious breaths before he grimaced and gritted his words out with difficulty. "I don't expect you to forgive me, after all that I've done, but can we just put it aside for now?"
She stared at him with wide eyes and he seemed to take her lack of answer as a no, but he persisted. "I need you, Laurien." He murmured, his eyes pleading to her good nature.
She swallowed, wanting to rid herself of the bitter taste in her mouth as she turned on her heel and walked toward the kitchen. As she entered through the doorway, she almost collapsed when a wave of Erik's disappointment hit her, causing her to latch onto the counter for dear life as she felt his emotions battling her own inside of her, clawing at each other violently.
She struggled to get up to her feet and suddenly hit herself in the ribs with her fist, hoping that a shock of pain could snap her out of it. It did, though she accidentally took herself by surprise. Laurien had to bite down on her fist to keep herself from crying out as she tried to focus on the pain, willing it to surpass the overwhelming emotional sensation that was spreading throughout her chest like a rabid disease.
She let out a shuddering breath as she released her hand and waited in silence for the blistering feeling in her side to subside. A slight incomprehensible murmuring sound met her ears and she looked around in confusion, momentarily forgetting her predicament as she searched for the sound, only to suddenly remember that Charles was still on the phone where she'd left it on the counter.
She grabbed the receiver tentatively and held it up to her ear, hearing what sounded like the tail end of a heated argument.
"Charles." Laurien said, hoping that he could hear her voice over the ruckus.
The argument ended abruptly before his voice bled through the phone. "Laurien, are you all right? Did he hurt you?"
She felt a rush of comfort at the sound of his voice, even though it held the blatant tone of concern that Laurien hated to hear when people talked to her. "No, I'm fine."
"Now sit tight, we're planning to go on the private plane as soon as we can, we'll arrive by tomorrow, most likely."
Laurien suddenly had the horrible image enter her head, of Charles and the boys kicking down the door and entering the house that she would much rather not have them know the history of. It was bad enough that Charles knew, but admittedly, she hadn't had any other way around it. This time she did.
"No, stay there!" She blurted out into the phone, wincing at her tactless stupidity as she glanced toward the doorway of the kitchen, hoping that Erik hadn't heard her. "Look, I'll deal with him, okay?"
"I can't ask you to do that."
"I can handle it. If I was able to handle Dan for all those years, I can handle Erik." She implored, hinting Dan's name to remind him, as she pushed down the small ominous voice from the back of her head that wondered aloud whether Erik showed signs of being potentially worse than Dan.
There was a long silence on the other side of the line as he understood and then he finally spoke. "You're sure?"
She breathed a soft sigh of relief before answering. "I'm sure. Besides, he's injured pretty badly, how much harm can he do?"
She regretted her words the moment they sprang from her mouth and shut her eyes tightly, wanting to smack herself in the face. "I'm sorry, Charles, but I've got to go. I'll call you later, okay?"
She hung up the phone and grabbed the first aid kit that they kept in the cupboard above the icebox, as well as a kitchen rag, before she went to walk back into the living room. She stopped abruptly in her tracks when she saw Azazel standing next to where Erik lay on the couch.
She was momentarily caught in the sudden need to flee before an angry heat flooded through her, spurring her on. "Get out." Laurien growled, staring daggers at the offending individual in her living room.
"Laurien–" Erik started, but she swiftly cut him off.
"This is my house." She declared firmly, her lip curling in a snarl. "It's bad enough that you're here uninvited, but I won't allow for him to be here too. Not after what he did to all those people at the CIA."
For once, Erik seemed at a loss for words. When neither of the intruders made to move a muscle, the kitchen knife lying abandoned on the floor was suddenly summoned back to Laurien's unoccupied hand.
"Either he leaves, or you both leave."
Erik held her burning gaze for a moment, his jaw clenched firmly, before he finally turned to the red mutant and gave him a small nod. In a sudden burst of wispy black smoke, Azazel was gone.
Laurien took a deep breath, her hands shaking as she carefully placed the kitchen knife onto a nearby side table. She walked towards Erik, simultaneously pulling one of the neighboring armchairs to his side with her powers.
"Take off your shirt." She told him flatly as she sat down, pushing down her anger to let it simmer beneath her skin.
He followed orders, though not without needing Laurien's help. She gently peeled the black fabric from over his wound and revealed a thick foot-long gash that stretched diagonally from his hipbone to just below the middle of his ribcage. Laurien felt a strange squirming sensation in her stomach as she stared at the injury, but proceeded to pull Erik's shirt off over his head.
"You're lucky it isn't deeper, could've been disemboweled." She murmured quietly as she took a closer look, noticing the small uneven pinpricks on either side of the gash. "What got you?" Laurien asked, daring to glance up at him, an eyebrow raised questioningly. "Or should I not ask?"
A grin crept its way onto his face as he wiped his hands off on the towel that she'd given him. "Some maniac had a bokken."
Laurien frowned, her fingers stalling on getting a needle and thread ready. "Care to elaborate?"
Erik bowed his head, looking thoroughly embarrassed. "Some assassin, that was hired to protect a diplomat in Tokyo, ambushed us when we got too close and–" He sighed as he rubbed his forehead, smudging some blood on his brow that he'd missed when cleaning off of his hand. "He specialized in fabricating state of the art wooden katanas that cut through flesh the way metal does. Unfortunately, we didn't know that at the time."
"So your plans fell through?"
He shook his head. "Not exactly. Emma dealt with him whilst Azazel took out the diplomat, but not without bringing a lot of attention to ourselves."
"Isn't that why you're doing it though?" Laurien asked bitterly as she experimentally prodded the ripped skin, eliciting a sharp intake of breath from the man. "To get attention."
She saw that he was about to respond, but she didn't give him a chance. "How long ago did this happen?" She asked.
"Four, five hours ago." He estimated with a wince.
"What are these?" She demanded, pointing out the small pinpricks that she'd noticed earlier. "Did someone else try to stitch it up before you came here?"
"Angel did. Didn't do a very good job of it, I reckon. Tore out the moment I tried to move."
"Well, no wonder." She commented grumpily, looking at the needlessly torn bits of skin in distain. "You should have been more careful, they're more likely to tear when they're in that general area." She said, cocking her head vaguely in the direction of his abdomen. "I would know."
Guilt radiated off of him, though when she saw his hand move toward her in the corner of her eyes, that was all it took to set her off. His hand was an inch away from grabbing hers when a strip of fabric ripped from one of the blankets. It shot out and wrapped itself firmly around his wrist, yanking it back and tying it to the leg of the couch below him.
Erik looked over to her in alarm, but she avoided his gaze, busying herself in finding the right gauze from the kit to set over his wound once she'd finished, even though she'd already found it a minute ago.
Laurien abruptly got to her feet and walked over to the armoire on the other side of the room that held all of the alcohol that her aunt had kept hidden away. She opened the large pine doors and sorted through the different types until she happened upon a specific bottle. She made her way back as she popped open the cork, noticeably not smelling anything from the bottle.
"Why did you come here?" She asked slowly, soaking a cloth in the clear liquid.
"Before you came to New York, you were training as a nurse in London, weren't you?" He explained, the comment making Laurien's blood run cold.
"How did you know that?" She demanded sharply, making the horrid mistake of picking that moment to suddenly press the soaked cloth to his wound.
Erik let out a hoarse yelp as his back arched off the couch, prompting her to quickly put her free hand on his chest and push him back down into the cushions, worried that the sudden movement might have ripped the wound even more. "Fuck." He ground out irritably as Laurien noticed the metal ashtray shuddering on the side table.
She didn't apologize, only removed the towel and tossed it into the waste bin to her right.
"What the hell was that?"
"Grain alcohol. Didn't have any rubbing alcohol left to disinfect the wound, so I went on to the next best thing." She said, shrugging her shoulders before picking up the prepared needle and thread. "Now, how did you find out about my nursing training?"
"Your file." He explained, wincing as she started to stitch him up. "We went back to the CIA base to get Emma and I found it open on someone's desk."
Laurien frowned, not knowing who Emma was, but she didn't think that now was the time to ask. "And that's obviously how you found out about the house." She murmured slowly, her head starting to hurt unexplainably. "But how did you know that I was here and not at the mansion?"
"Azazel and Emma may have made a discreet visit to the mansion prior to our decision to come here. Emma saw in Hank's mind that you had gone to Belgium." At Laurien's look of confusion, he elaborated. "Emma's a telepath."
"Ah, so you're recruiting already? How lovely." Laurien muttered sarcastically.
"Laur–"
"So what would have been your plan if I was there?" She queried, focusing on her stitching. "Kidnap me and whisk me away to your secret lair to patch you up?"
She'd expected to hear a firm denial of this scenario from him, but none came. She looked up from her work, only to find an expression of guilt plainly written on his face. It then dawned on her.
"My God, Erik, you're unbelievable." She sighed, closing her eyes as she tried to compose herself. She had his life in her hands, and it was taking everything in her to stop herself from harming him further in her fury. "You absolute cunt."
"I'm sorry, Laurien, but I wasn't going to have you stitch me up under Charles' watchful eye." Erik reasoned, sounding genuinely apologetic. "Besides, it didn't come to that, so you mustn't be angry with me."
Laurien swore again under her breath, seriously considering just forcing him to leave there and then, Nightingale Pledge be damned. Florence, herself, would probably say she'd be fully justified in doing so.
The room was silent for a moment, before Erik then asked, "When did you start saying things like that."
"What? Cunt?" Laurien offered, trying her best to suppress a rogue smirk as she picked up the thread and needle again and got back to work. "Alex had been teaching me some more creative language before I left."
"I see." He murmured, a note of disapproval in his tone. "And why did you leave?"
"I needed to finish up some things here." Laurien stated plainly as she rubbed her brow with the back of one of her hands, careful not to get any of Erik's blood on her. "Clean it up a bit before selling it."
"Why now?"
"No matter what I do, no matter what connections or roots I set down elsewhere, I'm always reminded that I'm not quite finished here." She explained, hoping that he wouldn't pry any further for specifics. "It's about time to move on."
Erik seemed to ponder her words for a moment. Though it was quick, Laurien caught his eyes flit towards the barred hallway. "You know, when I was looking through your file, one thing did catch me by surprise." He said softly as he watched her feed the needle through the layers of skin.
"Hmm? What's that?" She murmured absentmindedly.
"In the very few times that you mentioned your siblings, you never once mentioned the fact that they're dead."
The needle froze half way through the last stitch at the same moment that Laurien had stopped breathing. She closed her eyes tightly, wishing that she could run away in that moment and never come back, but she then let out a smooth controlled breath and continued to finish up the stitch before tying it off and sitting back in her armchair, suddenly feeling thoroughly exhausted.
"What do you care if they're dead?" Laurien whispered steadily as she massaged her blood stained hands in front of her.
His blue eyes stared at her, meeting her now green irises dead on with a tenderness that she hadn't seen since the night before Cuba. "Because I care about you, is that so hard to understand?"
She didn't answer. Instead, she took a deep breath before rising from the armchair. Erik's free hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist, stopping her in her tracks.
"Laurien."
"Don't, Erik." She warned, though all the venom she'd previously held in her voice was gone.
He held on for a moment longer, his eyes searching hers before he finally let her go. Laurien retreated, tossing him a roll of gauze before breaking the fabric binding his hand to the couch. "Don't rip them again." She warned as she grabbed a half-empty bottle of vodka from the armoire and headed into the kitchen with the enticing goal of finishing it within the next hour.
It is finally revealed, though you might have already guessed it. Subtlety is not my strong suit. I'll be gone for the next week and a half, and then school starts up again, so sadly it might be a while before the next chapter, but I'll try and make up for it by having another couple closer together. Thank you very much for your support, hope you enjoyed, and please review!