If you take a life, do you know what you give? Odds are you won't like what it is.
Desmond Descant has gotten over the whole fiasco in the park with Calisto and that kid as much as he's going to get over it. (Because it's hard to get over losing yourself so completely that you'd almost be willing to kill a kid just to kill the demon bitch using him for a human shield.) Which means to say that he's no longer brooding about it and ( Read more... )
Seeing Des lying on the armrests of the chair, she approaches him slowly, looking down at him, tilting her head, and pushing back the memories of what happened in the Inn with someone who looks nearly identical to him.
"Hey..."
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He can't help playing with her about that. It's not like he knows much anything about it... Or Jack for that matter.
Either Jack.
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She does, however, face palm at the teasing smile and the words that come with it.
"You don't think I'm crazy, do you?" She says it in a way that implies even if he does think she's absolutely nuts, he should keep it to himself.
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Or a couple millennia, rather, but who's counting?
"Hopefully, it's just an isolated occurance, because while I'd love to pop off to some pandimensional Inn for a few hours, I think I'd find it pretty hard to come back myself, and I'm sure the people here agree with that sentiment."
He'd make an effort though if it came to that. People here need him. And, maybe, just maybe he needs them.
Except there's no real maybe about that, especially when it comes to her.
Oh the things he'll never say.
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Martha smirks a little.
Not entirely serious, but... well, she really does feel that responsible for every single individual. Some more than others.
It did not help that Jack and Des look the same. She couldn't stay with Jack long, because she kept looking at his face and wondering if Des was in trouble or hurt or... something.
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He's only mostly kidding... And he'll try not to comment on the 'he,' because really he doesn't want to know. Well, he does, but better sense wins out for once. This is probably a good thing, all things considering.
"You know we're all helpless without you," he adds, and he's really kidding that time. He still wishes everything didn't fall on her the way it did.
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"I can... sort of see that happening. Actually. Which is kind of sad, you realize. Maybe some day you two will get along..." She smirks, knowing how impossible a wish that is. "Oh, yes. Completely helpless. So I can never stay away for very long even if it's at an Inn in the middle of nowhere where you can just think drinks and food into existence. For free."
She rolls her eyes, taking a seat next to him and leaning back against it with a smile.
"Well, maybe you're all not completely helpless, but that doesn't keep me from worrying." Yes, she's teasing about the helpless thing, too. But not about the fact that she'll still worry.
Meeting nearly everyone who walks through that Rift has its disadvantages for her. She tends to get attached and feel responsible for them all.
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It says a lot about Des actually if he can hate a person that much like him on sheer principle.
"Thinking up drinks and food for free," Des nods casually, somehow finding that idea amusing enough to note. "Now why couldn't the Rift give me that as a power. I'd love to be able to just think up a beer whenever I wanted one."
There's a chuckle at that last bit. "I can tie my own shoelaces and everything," he rolls his eyes mockingly. He knows he's not helpless and he knows that she shouldn't worry about him, but she won't listen to him on the second point. He knows how she is.
And he really doesn't help her much in that regard either.
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Martha stares up at the ceiling, for a moment, smiling at his shoelace tying comment, and then she turns to look at him in all seriousness now, because she fully intends to look out for him. Someone has to. And well, she loves him.
"So how are you holding up?" She means since the Calisto thing. Not that they haven't seen each other since, but it hasn't been for very long meetings. Martha does get very busy, especially after she's been gone from medical room duty for a week.
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Confronting her isn't an option.
Confronting her is the only option.
She shakes her head, biting her lower lip. "No doing anything stupid on a whim, but..."
But someone has to save that kid. Even if it's not them. She'd rather it not be him. Martha has to talk to Romana. But mostly to Brando. She'll call him tonight and get all of that squared away. It's the only option, because she can't just let that kid continue to live with Calisto.
It's so many horrible kinds of wrong.
If he's even still... living.
"I'll call Brando. Tonight. I told him about it already, but I need to talk to him face to face. For some reason, I think that kid's still alive."
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Not that she can blame him. It's not in the nature of most children to see evil where it might lay. All Calisto had to do was smile and be nice to him, and in a scary, new world... any child would have been attached. Instantly.
"We'd better be able to do something." Martha knows she can't stop him from helping.
Just as she knows, she can't keep herself from this, either. Despite the fact that it's probably better for both of their healths, it's just necessary. They have to see it through to the end. Whatever that end might be.
"I can't stand just waiting here. Knowing..." Martha sighs. It's why she hasn't told many people about the boy. It's better that more of them don't feel as compelled to take matters into their own hands and make a suicidal attempt at saving him.
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He doesn't like lose-lose situations, and, of course, those scenarios only hold water if the kid actually survives, but he'd rather not see another kid die if he can help it.
He massages his temples, wishing he had a beer or something to take the edge off his anxiety. He'll have to go make pleading looks at the kitchen staff when this is over.
"I can't either. I want that bitch dead before she hurts anyone else. I can't stand just... Hiding."
They have to get organized- get it together, but if he could handle everything himself like he used to... Things would be so much better.
Except he's never handled anything by himself and he has yet to realize that.
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"I know," she says, with a little frown, "Romana's supposed to be setting up an army of some sort, but... I don't have a lot of faith in how well that's going to work. Calisto doesn't seem the army type. More the type to throw away everyone without a second thought. And I couldn't do that. And I hope Romana couldn't do that, but I don't know."
Her biggest faith is in Brando's ability to convince Romana. She knows that he would never throw anyone away. Everyone down here is like his family and she's never seen anyone take family so seriously before.
Except for her.
Martha shakes her head. "We'll figure something out though."
They have to. There's no other choice.
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