Gilded Cage
Title: Gilded Cage
Characters/Pairing: Maya/Sylar, George (OMC)
Rating: R (swearing)
Word count: 3,722
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Summery: She's unsteady, he won't leave her be.
Note: KW Verse.Takes place after she's been there two months,
she's 7 months pregnant.
She leans back in her chair, hands pressed to the more pronounced bump of her belly. A bowl of soup lays before her, untouched. He had made it for her, has been preparing all of her meals and now sits at the other end of the table, his bowl empty and spoon resting inside. He sighs, puckering his mouth as he stares at her, emotions swinging from bored to plaintive.
"It'll get cold Maya..."
"It's already cold." She says through her teeth, eyes scorching him.
"Then I'll heat it up for you." He prepares to get up but she shakes her head, lips thin.
"I'm not hungry, and it looks revolting." She snaps and his nostrils flare. She knows it had taken a lot of effort to prepare, to get fresh vegetables and stock. The vegetables were the first thing that has become a commodity, the first thing planted. She was hungry and she must eat but she can't stop throwing up what he makes her. But he sees it as his duty to do it himself. Maya thinks it's his flimsy attempt at reconciliation. But it wasn't just because he was making her meals that was causing her to be sick, she couldn't seem to keep anything down, her stressed and crampy stomach churning and rejecting what she tries to get down. It's been a month since her fourth and likely last escape attempt, a long and hellish time.
"Fine, I'll make you something else. I'm trying Maya, I really am but my patience can only -" He stops with a jerk when she suddenly picks up her bowl and flings it to the wall, sending the greenish soup to spray up the wall and drip down to the polished wood floor.
"DON'T YOU DARE LECTURE ME! I WILL THROW EVERYTHING YOU GIVE ME TO THE WALLS! DON'T YOU GET IT? I WANT YOU TO CHOKE ON IT BEFORE I EAT!" She thunders, furious and gets to her feet, teeth clenched and walks out, her hormones swelling and crashing around her like waves until she's crying uncontrolled. She wishes she still had her ability, after everything she and her brother had to battle through to get rid of it, it gave her a perverse sense of security and power once she could control it.
Scrubbing the sleeve of her shirt over her face she steps out into the sunshine, relieved that he hasn't followed her and heads towards the cafeteria. Primatech Paper, which she's learned is referred to as The Base coequally is a place only she and Gabriel really inhabit. Parked in the lot are a fleet of trailers, almost all deserted. Across the street is a block of apartments and that is where the majority live. The Base is where they all gather to keep up a pretense of community. Although it wasn't a pretense for them, it was something orderly and controlled they were clinging to, she could see it in their shell shocked eyes, their souls bombed. They were all survivors of a mass extinction, their own race.
Moving into the old loading bay she spies huge rolls of paper, sheets and smaller boxes of it piled up. She goes to a box and pokes it, checking for mice or anything worse but it's still. Slotting the weighted box under her arm she makes her way down beige corridors, shiny floors below and tacky pictures on every wall until the sound and scent of people reach her and she comes to a stop by the doors. It had been the cafeteria for the old workers here, now it's home to an assortment of all sorts of people. Meredith had told her that Gabriel had started a registry, jotting down every new person that arrives, details about their old homes, age and what they can do to contribute. Crafts people, gardeners, butchers, doctors were greatly revered here. Anyone that can make their more rustic life easier.
She was a cook and one time keen gardener, she can help. But he would not let her, not in her present condition. Maya sits down at an empty table, placing the box down and prises the lid off and selecting a sheet to write on. Baby names was something she could focus on, take her mind off her troubles for a while. She starts thinking about first names, knowing she wants it to start with an N. Taking a pen from her bag she starts considering.
Naiara Alejandra Herrera?
Naolin?
Nerita?
Neva?
Nita?
Nerea...
As Maya writes she's suddenly hit with vertigo and leans her head down in her hands, fingers clutching at her hair. She feels light headed often now, sick and at that moment she can feel her body slumping back, her sight dimming. But a big hand places itself against her back and she's pushed back into place gently.
"You ok?" A short, middle aged sandy haired man was looking down at her with concern and Maya nods, smiling polity. But it wobbles and then starts to break apart as she wells up, again at the mercy of her emotions.
"I'm sorry, I'm just...out of it today." The man smiles and sits down next to her, quickly spotting her belly.
"How far along are you now?"
Maya looks down, placing a hand on the swell of her tummy. "Seven months...I'm having a girl." She says softly with a smile, looking back up at him. He smiles again but like everyone she encounters it doesn't quite reach his eyes.
"That's great...god knows we need more babies now." He tilts his head to look at what she has written, nods his chin to it. "Seeing which one takes your fancy?"
"Yeah...my mother's name was Naiara, so I want something that starts with that letter." Her mother was named after the Virgin Mary...
He points to another, without the question mark. "Nerea, you like that?"
Maya makes so-so gesture with her hand, sucking on the tip of her Biro. "It's ok, it means mine..." She rubs at her belly, thoughts elsewhere but is brought back down with a nasty bump as he speaks.
"What does your husband think?"
"Perdón?!"
"Your - your boyfriend? Mr Gray?" He says formally of their de-facto leader and Maya bristles.
"He's not my anything!" She hisses and suddenly shoots her head up and looks around at the few people eating and talking amongst themselves, giving them suspicious looks before staring at him hastily. "They don't believe that do they?"
He shifts his his seat, uncomfortable. "Well, we don't know much, just that he was bringing a woman here that was carrying his baby. We thought you were...together." He winces at her face, marring with disgust.
"Well you all thought wrong. He's a dog, an animal." She snarls and he leans back from her, surprised and a little nervous. He waits until the dark look has faded from her features, as she looks back down at her paper before speaking low and soft, not wanting to upset her.
"I forgot to introduce myself. I'm George."
"Maya." She looks back up and takes his hand, smiling and feeling guilty for snapping at him. "I'm sorry for biting your head off."
"Don't you worry about it...Me and my wife, god rest her, had three kids. So I know all about pregnancy hormones and mood swings, lordy do I. I know it don't mean nothing." He smiles, wistful and then cocks his head at her "...Can I - can I offer you a name?"
"Sure, please do." She answers cordially.
"Nadia. That was my youngest daughter's name. My wife was Russian, second generation, she chose it... Nadia - she would be thirteen now...It means hope." His face, suddenly ravaged by sorrow, turns away and Maya takes his hand before he can leave.
"Gracias. Es un hermoso nombre. It's beautiful." She squeezes his hand before he walks away, head down but waves to her as he disappears out the door. Maya breathes in deep, swallowing the guttural feeling in her throat and stands up, wavering on her feet and her stomach rumbling. Feeling clumsy she climbs over the bench and pockets her paper.
*
"I know you don't want to talk to me..." He's standing outside her closed bedroom door, fingertips touching it so hard it makes the blood rush away. She doesn't respond but he can hear her breathing. "I want you to be comfortable and rested. Our baby needs you to be...I don't want you to think this is a prison Maya." He hears her barking out a laugh, almost feel her rage licking against the door like flames.
"Gilded cage would be better phrase for you? It is a prison you asshole! Stop trying to be my friend, trying to sound reasonable...And stop saying our baby, she's not yours, she never will be. You were just a donor." She stresses, dismissive.
He's very still as she says this but then rattles the door handle as she finishes, pissed off. "Am I? Then by that reasoning your just an incubator, an oven. Soon dispensable." He warns quietly and she stops breathing, heartbeat thumping loudly in his sensitive ears. Then the door is being yanked open and she's throwing a glass of water into his face and then the glass for good measure. The water he wasn't quick enough to stop but the glass is deflected. Dripping wet he growls at her and takes a step forward but as she does her face suddenly goes slack, confusion replacing her rage. She wobbles, hand to her head and takes a few dizzy steps away from him before she faints. Gabriel darts forward and catches her in his arms before she can hit the ground. He lowers her gently to the carpet, concerned.
"Maya? Maya?" He whispers softly, brushing strands of hair away from her lips. She breathes deeply and even and part of him wishes she'd stay like this, peaceful. "I'm sorry about this...I wish you would let go of the past, it's ruining everything...I didn't mean what I said, you just get to me sometimes..." Grumbling this her eyes begin to flicker and he quiets, watching tentatively as she blinks her eyes open. She groans and immediately touches her belly, panicked. "It's ok, you didn't hit anything." Gabriel reassures.
"Only you." She mumbles under her breath as he helps her stand and walk to her bed. She jerks out of his hold and sits on the edge, sighing wearily. She still looks peaky, and he can hear her stomach rumble. She stares up at him defiantly. "You've got to leave me alone to cook for myself Gabriel, I might be able to keep it down then." She catches him looking wary at this, cautious and it suddenly clicks for her, why he's always there to supervise what she eats. She gasps, offended. "You thought I would try something, hurt her? After you've made us both sick?!" She's almost convinced it's a ruse, a way to make her stay but the fear that it isn't is the biggest reason she hadn't attempted to leave again.
He avoids her accusation. "I don't know what you might do anymore Maya, that's the problem. All I know is that you hate me, maybe even enough to do the worst. I was being cautious." He says reasonably, crossing his arms over his chest.
Maya slits her eyes, sneering. "The only life you have to worry about is your own. Get out." Her gaze, hard and fiery pin to his and he sinks into them, even if it burns him. Maya falters and recoils from his deep look and turns her cheek, pointing at the door and he moves after a moment.
"Please try and eat something, start with something light ok?" He walks to the door but stops as he crosses the threshold, looking back thoughtfully. "You know that she'll be able to hear what you say now?" Maya's brows rise and she cradles her stomach, looking down at it with wonder. "So no more shouting. Sing instead." He smiles as the door shuts, Maya's head rising to see him go.
"Can you hear me baby? If you can I hope you're ok...please don't listen to his nasty voice, just your mama's. Now lets go try eat, keep your fingers and toes crossed Nadia..."
*
The Mall is completely deserted and it makes her feel excited, uninhibited and slightly spooked. She sits on a plastic chair, eating a burger and slurping on a coke. She had to find the meat and bread in a freezer and defrost them before cooking it herself, using this restaurant's kitchen. She goes back to look for some ice cream, craving something sweet when footsteps reach her ears and she walks to the banister to peer below.
"George?"
"Hey." He waves and comes up the stalled escalator, hands in his pockets. Maya frowns but is happy to see him.
"What are you doing here...Did he send you?" George nods, sheepish and Maya sighs. "What did he say?"
"To keep my hands to myself...but I must have done something right because I think he promoted me to be your chauffeur." He says mock snobbishly and Maya snorts, jerking her head towards her table.
"Don't you worry about him! Come eat with me. I really wanted a burger and ice cream, not that watercress crap he's been feeding me..." She sits back down and he does the same but keeps his hands in his coat, Maya trying not to laugh at the sight.
"You had to come out here for it?"
Maya nods, sucking coke up with her straw. "Si, I thought it might help and it has. It's such a relief, I thought I'd never be able to eat again." Her hand is on it's accustomed place of her belly, rubbing in soothing circles as she eats some fries. An easy silence follows but George looks preoccupied until finally he leans forward.
"Can I ask you something about him?" George says in his soft, always calm voice.
"What is it?" she says curtly, not looking up.
"There's been rumours flying around about Mr Gray. I know that he's different, magical but there's been talk that...well that he might have been some kind of crime lord or something like that before the world...changed." He finishes with an effort and Maya looks him full in the face and stalls. Gabriel was something important to these people, someone they look to for guidance and leadership. She had been the same once, only for the knowledge that he was anything but a helping force had crushed her. She couldn't do that to these people, not after they've all suffered so much.
She snorts, pushing her hair back over her shoulder. "Crime lord? He was a watch repairer from Queens. Small and pathetic but now...now he's like a king to all of you." She can't keep her disdain to herself and so looks away.
But he relaxes visibly, contemplative. "We all do look towards him, he's given us purpose, tasks and a strategy plan to keep us alive when everything we know has gone...and what you just told me makes me even more certain. The meek have inherited the earth." He says seriously and gets to his feet, looking down on her with a smile. "I hope you work things out, we're living in a new world now, we've moved on."
"Maybe for you." She say softly, sadly and stops eating, full at last. He stands aside as she gets to her feet, her gate more steady and they walk out into the gloaming light, his truck parked outside. Maya cocks her head with a hopeful thought. "You help deliver the potatoes and things back to the base don't you?"
"I do."
"Would it be ok if I came with you next time?"
"Well..." He trails off, uncertain and Maya slumps with dejection. He winces, "I'm sorry darling but I think you better run that through with him." He says softly and Maya nods, looking at her feet. Then she look up with an easy smile.
"Why don't you go on ahead? I feel like walking back alone, if you don't mind?" After failing to persuade her George shows his palms, relenting but warning her to be careful as he gets in his car and drives away. Watching him disappear down the street Maya turns her back and begins walking away from the Base. The plaza and the Malls fall away, replaced with small squat houses on either side of the wide flat street. It's so flat here, so dusty. She misses the humidity of the Caribbean.
"Hands to himself? Run it through with him?" She scoffs to herself, angry at the restrictive state he now has her in, everyone in, and walks further on, the light dwindling around her. She doesn't know where she's going but it makes her heart glad, adrenaline coursing through her. Deifying him, even if it won't last. Her blood was screaming every minute and every day to escape, her body rejecting that place. Or any place with him near, his miasma air staining everything.
Coming towards a nice but overgrown garden she stops, tilting her head and then pushes the gate open. The house was dark and, judging from the chalk cross on the door, free from anything rotting. She could stay here, just have one night to herself. Themselves. Hand on the door knob she twists.
"Breaking and entering is against the law you know..." His glib voice floats from behind her and Maya moans, looking up at the sky. Why me?
"Dios, por favor, solo déjame en paz!"
"What?"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" She bellows, still not looking at him. She hears the gate squeaking open and his approach.
"No. It's getting dark Maya, come home now." He stops inches from her back, making Maya's skin seer.
"You go back! Jesus I'm only here, it's not far!"
"And tomorrow you could be fifty miles away. It's dangerous out here now, it's wild." His soft voice blows into her hair he's so close. Maya preses herself harder to the door, teeth clenched.
"I can take care of myself, of both of us!"
"Against packs of feral dogs? You were hungry before, imagine how they feel right about now..."
Maya feels her inside turning over, her hair rising over her body. She didn't think of the animals, she's hardly thought of the people. But she still shakes her head, finally turning her face to him. "I don't care, I don't need you, my baby doesn't need you!"
"I need you." He whispers it very softly, eyes gleaming and Maya stares, not knowing what to say. When his fingers touch her hair she jerks away, slipping to the left and presses her back against the door, hand still on the handle.
"Just one night?" She feels sick for pleading, especially when he shakes his head.
"No, I know you'll leave me." He accuses her, resenting.
"It's risk you'll have to live with. Because si, I will try to leave you whatever way I can." She lifts her chin, trying to peer down her nose at him. He was very tall. Small and pathetic.
"We both know that's not safe, not if you care about your life, and hers." His look softens, reaching out to touch her cheek. "I only want to take care of you."
Maya shakes her head, sadness overwhelming her anger. "You've said that to me before. You don't care about anything but yourself, not me and not my child...I see these people around me and in their eyes I can see their souls right up near the surface, the way they're trying to live when it's bleeding and stunned inside them. But you," she shakes her head coming closer to him with a confused look, "you don't, you're soulless."
He's so still, so blank that it makes her shiver. Then his mouth twitches up in the corner, a strange smile. "You're seeing things."
"I wish I was. Does it frightened you to be so inhuman, so damned? I don't think you care even about that." His chest starts to rise and fall sharply and he grabs at her arm and begins pulling her away from the house, patience finally gone.
"Just stop talking! You know you're a big fucking hypocrite?!"
"Excuse me?!" She barks and struggles. He brings her around to face him, red with anger.
"Damned? Damned?! You're as much hell destined as I am! Pretending like you're some saint when you're a killer to." He pushes her out of the garden and begins dragging her down the road. Maya opens her mouth to retaliate but stops, that spirit crushing fear of what he's talking about very real for her. He slows to a stop when he sees her terrified face she tries to hide with her hair and loosens his grip, nodding.
"I do have a soul Maya. I wouldn't be this scared otherwise, the same fear that you have. I'm just..." He trails off, not able to go any further with this line of thinking. Maya finishes for him.
"Very fucked up." She mumbles, not looking at him.
"Yeah." Saying curtly under his breath he gestures to a car and Maya stiffens, hands on her hips.
"This won't last Gabriel, you can't keep me here forever." He comes close again, brushing her hair back with a confidant smile.
"Soon I won't have to do anything, you'll settle and want to stay, once she's born. Now get in the car, you can drive if you like. I'm blind as a bat in the dark to tell you the truth." He lets her go and gets in the passenger seat, waiting. Maya frowns at him, knowing that she could stay there undecided for days and he would never leave. She opens the door with a curse, gritting her teeth.
"Truth?" She laughs, a wild sound. "You don't know anything but lies, it's what you breathe...and get some glasses you idiot." She snaps the ignition on and the car rumbles into life, waves of spitefulness pulsing off her, like it always is. He smiles, gazing at the side of her face and then looks away to rub at his tired eyes.
"Maybe one day..."
Characters/Pairing: Maya/Sylar, George (OMC)
Rating: R (swearing)
Word count: 3,722
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Summery: She's unsteady, he won't leave her be.
Note: KW Verse.Takes place after she's been there two months,
she's 7 months pregnant.
She leans back in her chair, hands pressed to the more pronounced bump of her belly. A bowl of soup lays before her, untouched. He had made it for her, has been preparing all of her meals and now sits at the other end of the table, his bowl empty and spoon resting inside. He sighs, puckering his mouth as he stares at her, emotions swinging from bored to plaintive.
"It'll get cold Maya..."
"It's already cold." She says through her teeth, eyes scorching him.
"Then I'll heat it up for you." He prepares to get up but she shakes her head, lips thin.
"I'm not hungry, and it looks revolting." She snaps and his nostrils flare. She knows it had taken a lot of effort to prepare, to get fresh vegetables and stock. The vegetables were the first thing that has become a commodity, the first thing planted. She was hungry and she must eat but she can't stop throwing up what he makes her. But he sees it as his duty to do it himself. Maya thinks it's his flimsy attempt at reconciliation. But it wasn't just because he was making her meals that was causing her to be sick, she couldn't seem to keep anything down, her stressed and crampy stomach churning and rejecting what she tries to get down. It's been a month since her fourth and likely last escape attempt, a long and hellish time.
"Fine, I'll make you something else. I'm trying Maya, I really am but my patience can only -" He stops with a jerk when she suddenly picks up her bowl and flings it to the wall, sending the greenish soup to spray up the wall and drip down to the polished wood floor.
"DON'T YOU DARE LECTURE ME! I WILL THROW EVERYTHING YOU GIVE ME TO THE WALLS! DON'T YOU GET IT? I WANT YOU TO CHOKE ON IT BEFORE I EAT!" She thunders, furious and gets to her feet, teeth clenched and walks out, her hormones swelling and crashing around her like waves until she's crying uncontrolled. She wishes she still had her ability, after everything she and her brother had to battle through to get rid of it, it gave her a perverse sense of security and power once she could control it.
Scrubbing the sleeve of her shirt over her face she steps out into the sunshine, relieved that he hasn't followed her and heads towards the cafeteria. Primatech Paper, which she's learned is referred to as The Base coequally is a place only she and Gabriel really inhabit. Parked in the lot are a fleet of trailers, almost all deserted. Across the street is a block of apartments and that is where the majority live. The Base is where they all gather to keep up a pretense of community. Although it wasn't a pretense for them, it was something orderly and controlled they were clinging to, she could see it in their shell shocked eyes, their souls bombed. They were all survivors of a mass extinction, their own race.
Moving into the old loading bay she spies huge rolls of paper, sheets and smaller boxes of it piled up. She goes to a box and pokes it, checking for mice or anything worse but it's still. Slotting the weighted box under her arm she makes her way down beige corridors, shiny floors below and tacky pictures on every wall until the sound and scent of people reach her and she comes to a stop by the doors. It had been the cafeteria for the old workers here, now it's home to an assortment of all sorts of people. Meredith had told her that Gabriel had started a registry, jotting down every new person that arrives, details about their old homes, age and what they can do to contribute. Crafts people, gardeners, butchers, doctors were greatly revered here. Anyone that can make their more rustic life easier.
She was a cook and one time keen gardener, she can help. But he would not let her, not in her present condition. Maya sits down at an empty table, placing the box down and prises the lid off and selecting a sheet to write on. Baby names was something she could focus on, take her mind off her troubles for a while. She starts thinking about first names, knowing she wants it to start with an N. Taking a pen from her bag she starts considering.
Naiara Alejandra Herrera?
Naolin?
Nerita?
Neva?
Nita?
Nerea...
As Maya writes she's suddenly hit with vertigo and leans her head down in her hands, fingers clutching at her hair. She feels light headed often now, sick and at that moment she can feel her body slumping back, her sight dimming. But a big hand places itself against her back and she's pushed back into place gently.
"You ok?" A short, middle aged sandy haired man was looking down at her with concern and Maya nods, smiling polity. But it wobbles and then starts to break apart as she wells up, again at the mercy of her emotions.
"I'm sorry, I'm just...out of it today." The man smiles and sits down next to her, quickly spotting her belly.
"How far along are you now?"
Maya looks down, placing a hand on the swell of her tummy. "Seven months...I'm having a girl." She says softly with a smile, looking back up at him. He smiles again but like everyone she encounters it doesn't quite reach his eyes.
"That's great...god knows we need more babies now." He tilts his head to look at what she has written, nods his chin to it. "Seeing which one takes your fancy?"
"Yeah...my mother's name was Naiara, so I want something that starts with that letter." Her mother was named after the Virgin Mary...
He points to another, without the question mark. "Nerea, you like that?"
Maya makes so-so gesture with her hand, sucking on the tip of her Biro. "It's ok, it means mine..." She rubs at her belly, thoughts elsewhere but is brought back down with a nasty bump as he speaks.
"What does your husband think?"
"Perdón?!"
"Your - your boyfriend? Mr Gray?" He says formally of their de-facto leader and Maya bristles.
"He's not my anything!" She hisses and suddenly shoots her head up and looks around at the few people eating and talking amongst themselves, giving them suspicious looks before staring at him hastily. "They don't believe that do they?"
He shifts his his seat, uncomfortable. "Well, we don't know much, just that he was bringing a woman here that was carrying his baby. We thought you were...together." He winces at her face, marring with disgust.
"Well you all thought wrong. He's a dog, an animal." She snarls and he leans back from her, surprised and a little nervous. He waits until the dark look has faded from her features, as she looks back down at her paper before speaking low and soft, not wanting to upset her.
"I forgot to introduce myself. I'm George."
"Maya." She looks back up and takes his hand, smiling and feeling guilty for snapping at him. "I'm sorry for biting your head off."
"Don't you worry about it...Me and my wife, god rest her, had three kids. So I know all about pregnancy hormones and mood swings, lordy do I. I know it don't mean nothing." He smiles, wistful and then cocks his head at her "...Can I - can I offer you a name?"
"Sure, please do." She answers cordially.
"Nadia. That was my youngest daughter's name. My wife was Russian, second generation, she chose it... Nadia - she would be thirteen now...It means hope." His face, suddenly ravaged by sorrow, turns away and Maya takes his hand before he can leave.
"Gracias. Es un hermoso nombre. It's beautiful." She squeezes his hand before he walks away, head down but waves to her as he disappears out the door. Maya breathes in deep, swallowing the guttural feeling in her throat and stands up, wavering on her feet and her stomach rumbling. Feeling clumsy she climbs over the bench and pockets her paper.
*
"I know you don't want to talk to me..." He's standing outside her closed bedroom door, fingertips touching it so hard it makes the blood rush away. She doesn't respond but he can hear her breathing. "I want you to be comfortable and rested. Our baby needs you to be...I don't want you to think this is a prison Maya." He hears her barking out a laugh, almost feel her rage licking against the door like flames.
"Gilded cage would be better phrase for you? It is a prison you asshole! Stop trying to be my friend, trying to sound reasonable...And stop saying our baby, she's not yours, she never will be. You were just a donor." She stresses, dismissive.
He's very still as she says this but then rattles the door handle as she finishes, pissed off. "Am I? Then by that reasoning your just an incubator, an oven. Soon dispensable." He warns quietly and she stops breathing, heartbeat thumping loudly in his sensitive ears. Then the door is being yanked open and she's throwing a glass of water into his face and then the glass for good measure. The water he wasn't quick enough to stop but the glass is deflected. Dripping wet he growls at her and takes a step forward but as she does her face suddenly goes slack, confusion replacing her rage. She wobbles, hand to her head and takes a few dizzy steps away from him before she faints. Gabriel darts forward and catches her in his arms before she can hit the ground. He lowers her gently to the carpet, concerned.
"Maya? Maya?" He whispers softly, brushing strands of hair away from her lips. She breathes deeply and even and part of him wishes she'd stay like this, peaceful. "I'm sorry about this...I wish you would let go of the past, it's ruining everything...I didn't mean what I said, you just get to me sometimes..." Grumbling this her eyes begin to flicker and he quiets, watching tentatively as she blinks her eyes open. She groans and immediately touches her belly, panicked. "It's ok, you didn't hit anything." Gabriel reassures.
"Only you." She mumbles under her breath as he helps her stand and walk to her bed. She jerks out of his hold and sits on the edge, sighing wearily. She still looks peaky, and he can hear her stomach rumble. She stares up at him defiantly. "You've got to leave me alone to cook for myself Gabriel, I might be able to keep it down then." She catches him looking wary at this, cautious and it suddenly clicks for her, why he's always there to supervise what she eats. She gasps, offended. "You thought I would try something, hurt her? After you've made us both sick?!" She's almost convinced it's a ruse, a way to make her stay but the fear that it isn't is the biggest reason she hadn't attempted to leave again.
He avoids her accusation. "I don't know what you might do anymore Maya, that's the problem. All I know is that you hate me, maybe even enough to do the worst. I was being cautious." He says reasonably, crossing his arms over his chest.
Maya slits her eyes, sneering. "The only life you have to worry about is your own. Get out." Her gaze, hard and fiery pin to his and he sinks into them, even if it burns him. Maya falters and recoils from his deep look and turns her cheek, pointing at the door and he moves after a moment.
"Please try and eat something, start with something light ok?" He walks to the door but stops as he crosses the threshold, looking back thoughtfully. "You know that she'll be able to hear what you say now?" Maya's brows rise and she cradles her stomach, looking down at it with wonder. "So no more shouting. Sing instead." He smiles as the door shuts, Maya's head rising to see him go.
"Can you hear me baby? If you can I hope you're ok...please don't listen to his nasty voice, just your mama's. Now lets go try eat, keep your fingers and toes crossed Nadia..."
*
The Mall is completely deserted and it makes her feel excited, uninhibited and slightly spooked. She sits on a plastic chair, eating a burger and slurping on a coke. She had to find the meat and bread in a freezer and defrost them before cooking it herself, using this restaurant's kitchen. She goes back to look for some ice cream, craving something sweet when footsteps reach her ears and she walks to the banister to peer below.
"George?"
"Hey." He waves and comes up the stalled escalator, hands in his pockets. Maya frowns but is happy to see him.
"What are you doing here...Did he send you?" George nods, sheepish and Maya sighs. "What did he say?"
"To keep my hands to myself...but I must have done something right because I think he promoted me to be your chauffeur." He says mock snobbishly and Maya snorts, jerking her head towards her table.
"Don't you worry about him! Come eat with me. I really wanted a burger and ice cream, not that watercress crap he's been feeding me..." She sits back down and he does the same but keeps his hands in his coat, Maya trying not to laugh at the sight.
"You had to come out here for it?"
Maya nods, sucking coke up with her straw. "Si, I thought it might help and it has. It's such a relief, I thought I'd never be able to eat again." Her hand is on it's accustomed place of her belly, rubbing in soothing circles as she eats some fries. An easy silence follows but George looks preoccupied until finally he leans forward.
"Can I ask you something about him?" George says in his soft, always calm voice.
"What is it?" she says curtly, not looking up.
"There's been rumours flying around about Mr Gray. I know that he's different, magical but there's been talk that...well that he might have been some kind of crime lord or something like that before the world...changed." He finishes with an effort and Maya looks him full in the face and stalls. Gabriel was something important to these people, someone they look to for guidance and leadership. She had been the same once, only for the knowledge that he was anything but a helping force had crushed her. She couldn't do that to these people, not after they've all suffered so much.
She snorts, pushing her hair back over her shoulder. "Crime lord? He was a watch repairer from Queens. Small and pathetic but now...now he's like a king to all of you." She can't keep her disdain to herself and so looks away.
But he relaxes visibly, contemplative. "We all do look towards him, he's given us purpose, tasks and a strategy plan to keep us alive when everything we know has gone...and what you just told me makes me even more certain. The meek have inherited the earth." He says seriously and gets to his feet, looking down on her with a smile. "I hope you work things out, we're living in a new world now, we've moved on."
"Maybe for you." She say softly, sadly and stops eating, full at last. He stands aside as she gets to her feet, her gate more steady and they walk out into the gloaming light, his truck parked outside. Maya cocks her head with a hopeful thought. "You help deliver the potatoes and things back to the base don't you?"
"I do."
"Would it be ok if I came with you next time?"
"Well..." He trails off, uncertain and Maya slumps with dejection. He winces, "I'm sorry darling but I think you better run that through with him." He says softly and Maya nods, looking at her feet. Then she look up with an easy smile.
"Why don't you go on ahead? I feel like walking back alone, if you don't mind?" After failing to persuade her George shows his palms, relenting but warning her to be careful as he gets in his car and drives away. Watching him disappear down the street Maya turns her back and begins walking away from the Base. The plaza and the Malls fall away, replaced with small squat houses on either side of the wide flat street. It's so flat here, so dusty. She misses the humidity of the Caribbean.
"Hands to himself? Run it through with him?" She scoffs to herself, angry at the restrictive state he now has her in, everyone in, and walks further on, the light dwindling around her. She doesn't know where she's going but it makes her heart glad, adrenaline coursing through her. Deifying him, even if it won't last. Her blood was screaming every minute and every day to escape, her body rejecting that place. Or any place with him near, his miasma air staining everything.
Coming towards a nice but overgrown garden she stops, tilting her head and then pushes the gate open. The house was dark and, judging from the chalk cross on the door, free from anything rotting. She could stay here, just have one night to herself. Themselves. Hand on the door knob she twists.
"Breaking and entering is against the law you know..." His glib voice floats from behind her and Maya moans, looking up at the sky. Why me?
"Dios, por favor, solo déjame en paz!"
"What?"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" She bellows, still not looking at him. She hears the gate squeaking open and his approach.
"No. It's getting dark Maya, come home now." He stops inches from her back, making Maya's skin seer.
"You go back! Jesus I'm only here, it's not far!"
"And tomorrow you could be fifty miles away. It's dangerous out here now, it's wild." His soft voice blows into her hair he's so close. Maya preses herself harder to the door, teeth clenched.
"I can take care of myself, of both of us!"
"Against packs of feral dogs? You were hungry before, imagine how they feel right about now..."
Maya feels her inside turning over, her hair rising over her body. She didn't think of the animals, she's hardly thought of the people. But she still shakes her head, finally turning her face to him. "I don't care, I don't need you, my baby doesn't need you!"
"I need you." He whispers it very softly, eyes gleaming and Maya stares, not knowing what to say. When his fingers touch her hair she jerks away, slipping to the left and presses her back against the door, hand still on the handle.
"Just one night?" She feels sick for pleading, especially when he shakes his head.
"No, I know you'll leave me." He accuses her, resenting.
"It's risk you'll have to live with. Because si, I will try to leave you whatever way I can." She lifts her chin, trying to peer down her nose at him. He was very tall. Small and pathetic.
"We both know that's not safe, not if you care about your life, and hers." His look softens, reaching out to touch her cheek. "I only want to take care of you."
Maya shakes her head, sadness overwhelming her anger. "You've said that to me before. You don't care about anything but yourself, not me and not my child...I see these people around me and in their eyes I can see their souls right up near the surface, the way they're trying to live when it's bleeding and stunned inside them. But you," she shakes her head coming closer to him with a confused look, "you don't, you're soulless."
He's so still, so blank that it makes her shiver. Then his mouth twitches up in the corner, a strange smile. "You're seeing things."
"I wish I was. Does it frightened you to be so inhuman, so damned? I don't think you care even about that." His chest starts to rise and fall sharply and he grabs at her arm and begins pulling her away from the house, patience finally gone.
"Just stop talking! You know you're a big fucking hypocrite?!"
"Excuse me?!" She barks and struggles. He brings her around to face him, red with anger.
"Damned? Damned?! You're as much hell destined as I am! Pretending like you're some saint when you're a killer to." He pushes her out of the garden and begins dragging her down the road. Maya opens her mouth to retaliate but stops, that spirit crushing fear of what he's talking about very real for her. He slows to a stop when he sees her terrified face she tries to hide with her hair and loosens his grip, nodding.
"I do have a soul Maya. I wouldn't be this scared otherwise, the same fear that you have. I'm just..." He trails off, not able to go any further with this line of thinking. Maya finishes for him.
"Very fucked up." She mumbles, not looking at him.
"Yeah." Saying curtly under his breath he gestures to a car and Maya stiffens, hands on her hips.
"This won't last Gabriel, you can't keep me here forever." He comes close again, brushing her hair back with a confidant smile.
"Soon I won't have to do anything, you'll settle and want to stay, once she's born. Now get in the car, you can drive if you like. I'm blind as a bat in the dark to tell you the truth." He lets her go and gets in the passenger seat, waiting. Maya frowns at him, knowing that she could stay there undecided for days and he would never leave. She opens the door with a curse, gritting her teeth.
"Truth?" She laughs, a wild sound. "You don't know anything but lies, it's what you breathe...and get some glasses you idiot." She snaps the ignition on and the car rumbles into life, waves of spitefulness pulsing off her, like it always is. He smiles, gazing at the side of her face and then looks away to rub at his tired eyes.
"Maybe one day..."