We pick up the pieces and the ghosts in the attic, they never quite leave...

[definitivestep]

Two black SUVs pull up in front of the Kashtta, one following directly behind the other. Gwen's driving the first, with Tosh in the seat beside her, Sam in the back. Suzie's driving the second, Maya's body in the back. It's not as if Torchwood's never transported a body in the back of one of their SUVs, it's just usually not human, or at least not

Comments

[guardsintheory]

Mat has been alternately in a lot of pain and state of freaked-out-ness, and completely doped off his head. Mostly because Juliet didn't want him to start having a panic attack or something while injured.

However, Sam is back and he knows it (being not-drugged at the moment), so he's slipped out of the little impromptu infirmary and is at Sam's door, knocking.

If Sam doesn't answer, Mat's just going to come in, so either way...

[definitivestep]

Sam's on his bed, lying flat on his back and staring at the ceiling and wondering what it's going to take to stop replaying images of Maya dying in his head. The knocking is not a welcome interruption. He glances to the door, sighs, and decides to ignore it.

Maybe it'll go away if he pretends he's not here.

[guardsintheory]

Unfortunately for you, Sam, your guardian angel has been on the verge of walking to Cicero to get to you, when not heavily drugged. He needs the reassurance of being close to you and being able to see you right now.

So Mat, wings out (because that nick is deep enough that it'll take some time to heal), slips in as best he can with that much morphine still hanging about in his system. It doesn't take much effort to see that Sam's upset and hurting, and Mat really doesn't know what to do about that. If it were Nate, he'd curl around him until they both fell asleep in a little puppy pile of comfort and affection, and then they'd get up and play video games and watch chick flicks and Mat would talk at length about nothing important until Nate was feeling better enough to tell him to shut the fuck up and engage in a conversation and smile a little.

But Sam isn't Nate, and Mat doesn't know what to do with him. So he just sits gingerly on the floor next to the bed.

[definitivestep]

Right. Mat. Guardian angel. Sam considers asking him to leave, but he can't quite get up the energy, and he probably owes him after drugging him and running off to Cicero into a war. He should probably apologize for that, but he can't quite get up the energy for that either, so after a moment he just looks up to the ceiling again, closes his eyes slowly.

He's not going to sleep. He's not sure he can. He's just going to... lie here until he feels like he can move again.

[superiorspectre]

Suzie's already got the back door of the SUV open. This is... to be honest, it's something she's never had to do for Torchwood before. They'd been lucky, damned lucky. But she knows that this was done for her once, and under far less honorable circumstances. It's not something she can easily turn away from.

"Where are we taking her?"

[torchwoodsheart]

Gwen runs a hand through her hair, pushing it away from her face, circling around the back of the SUV to meet Suzie there. "We have a... walk-in freezer. Where we're keeping them until we can get a proper morgue."

Which will be as soon as she can manage, because of course, they can't just deal with Torchwood's bodies the way everyone else does, no. They have to keep them around, just... in case. Gwen hates it, but with Torchwood... she can't deny the necessity.

[superiorspectre]

"We make do," Suzie says. "This is hardly the Hub," she admits, looking at the building, "but never let it be said we can't improvise." A small smile, then, which fades when she looks down at Maya again.

She's not sure she's comfortable with any of this, with the woman who replaced her, but she can put a brave face on things at the moment. Gwen's the one who let her back on the team, after all, and though part of her is seething a bit at having to be allowed back on the team... She's seen too much. Far too much.

And she refuses to let this consume her.

"Anything to carry her on, or do we do this the hard way?"

[torchwoodsheart]

"I'm afraid not. We'll have to do it the hard way." She pauses, and then adds, "At least we're not trying to do this in front of a major landmark. It could be worse." Jack's choice in secret bases has, apparently, gotten better.

[lionofmanc]

Gene's not sure what to say to Sam, not sure what to do that'll fix this. So he does the one thing he knows makes people -- some people, anyway -- feel better when they're miserable.

There's a soft thumping on Sam's door. The kind of thump that comes from a large paw.

[guardsintheory]

It takes a moment for anything to happen. Mat was going to wait to see if Sam wanted to open the door, and when it was obvious that wasn't happening, he had to get up - without using his right arm or moving his wings to balance him.

But eventually he's up and the door cracks open. Mat's prepared to tell people Sam's not feeling up to it, but there's a lion.

It takes a few seconds of staring blankly and trying to decide if he's still high on morphine before he remembers that Gene is a shapeshifter.

Mat? Is not going to stand in the way of a lion. Especially not in between a lion and the lion's sort-of-not-quite-boyfriend. "He's really upset," he whispers as he steps aside, working on the assumption that Gene probably knows what happened, even if he doesn't. "I didn't know what to do."

[lionofmanc]

Gene nods, look as sad as it's possible for a lion to look. Trying to convey death in mime seems a bit tasteless, even for him, so he just reaches up with a paw and pats Mat's arm in what's meant to be a comforting fashion. Then he makes his way to Sam's bed, hopping up onto it (not that it's sized to hold a lion and an adult human, but it's not too bad, and bends over Sam, nuzzling him slightly with sad eyes, hoping that'll convey the fact that he knows.

[definitivestep]

Sam had been planning to tell Gene that whatever he wanted, could it wait? He's not exactly prepared to deal with Gene, even in lion form, right now.

He wasn't exactly prepared for Gene to nuzzle him, and he shifts a little, staring at Gene for a moment in numb bafflement. A few questions come to mind, mostly variations on what are you doing?, but after a moment, he just shifts around so he's sitting up with his back to one of the walls, moves over to make room for Gene - as much as he can - and says, "I'm alright."

He's not. That much is plain to see. What he means is he'll be alright. Eventually.