Fic: Breathe
Title: Breathe
Author: lady529
Disclaimer: No own-ey.
Warnings and the likes: Victory dancing, snuggling and stationary from the seventh level of Dante's Inferno.
Pairings: None
Summary: Hodges gets a letter at work.
Spoilers: Not really..
She'd done it again.
Hardly the first time, and probably far from the last, but it still got to him, it still took him completely off guard. And it still hurt him. She never failed to come up with a new way to get to him, there was always another trick she could pull, always another wound she could sprinkle salt over, and he'd begun to wonder if she'd set something up in case she died, so she could still get to him from beyond the grave. She probably had. Accusations of animal abuse, probably, based on the time Mr. K. got his tail caught in the bathroom door. Or of abuse of co-workers, based either on Catherine who after getting her results back earlier had threatened to sue him for causing her a migraine, or on Grissom who blamed him for scaring one of his spiders when it decided to set up camp next to the trace lab printer.
And here it came. The panic attack. As if general misery wasn't enough. He fumbled with the flap on his messenger bag, trying to get it open and get to the inhalator he'd stashed in there after the last one, but his hands weren't taking his orders, and he gave up, sliding down on the floor, looking at the envelope that was the cause of his latest misery before scooting as far as he could away from it. He could have sworn the thing scooted after him, but nobody would believe him if he told them, so he decided to keep that part to himself if anyone asked. He was pretty sure nobody would, though, and if he couldn't start breathing normally again sometime within the next minute or so, he wouldn't be able to tell them anyway. When his back hit the wall, he hugged his legs to his chest and tried to disappear into it.
"Is there a reason you're sitting on my foot?"
He looked down on a pair of shoes disappearing under his butt, then up. Mandy was smiling at him, wiggling her toes, causing him to scramble up and brush the imaginary dust off his lab coat. He looked back towards the envelope.
"It's moving. I can't breathe and it's moving. See? It moved! Right now!" He pointed towards the envelope. The envelope, of course, was evil enough to lay still when Mandy turned to look at it. Anything coming by mail from her was evil, and not the nice kind of evil either.
"..David, it's an envelope. Envelopes don't move. They come in the mail. And you're still standing in my way." He moved towards the door to his own lab, but couldn't get himself to enter it, and his efforts to hide his fear of envelopes apparently didn't work either. He'd have to improve that. As soon as his lungs expanded enough for him to breathe he'd start.
"Are you honestly scared of that thing?" The only answer Mandy got was a gasp and a cough, then some arm-waving. Her smile faded and was replaced by a look of concern. She put a hand on his arm, and when he didn't answer she pulled him into his lab, sat him down on his chair and closed the door behind them, ignoring Catherine who apparently had a bone to pick with Hodges, judging by the glare of doom she was sending him. He didn't even notice she was there. He was keeping an eye on the envelope, which had turned to face him. He wasn't sure how envelopes faced things, but the one on his floor was definitely looking at him.
Mandy picked the envelope up, giving the piece of paper it had contained a quick glance and realising why David was keeping such a watchful eye on it.
"I'm sorry, David. I can't believe she's trying this again. Well, I can believe it, 'cause she obviously has, but you know what I mean. You want me to have Bobby shoot her in the ego? Then Archie could tamper with the surveillance, and Henry could give her some creepy drug to cause amnesia! Or, we steal some of Grissom's bugs and place them in her bed! Fire ants sound good to you?"
It never failed to ease his panic, having Mandy rant on about imaginary ways of revenge. Didn't usually matter who she ranted about, or even why she wanted revenge, but apparently 101 ways to get back at your ex-wife for putting a restraining order on you, banning you from any contact with your two youngest children definitely put his mind somewhat at ease, at least enough for him to be able to breathe properly again. A small chuckle escaped him when Mandy suggested they sell their souls to Ecklie in return for his grandmother unleashing her wrath upon the ex-wife from hell, aka LA. He'd only met the old lady twice, but he'd still made sure not to get on her bad side. Any person who was training Conrad Ecklie in How to Make Sure Nobody Dares to Piss You Off was worthy of respect.
Mandy stopped her tirade and did a small victory dance around his lab. When he pointed out that people like her were why they say white people couldn't dance, she didn't even pretend to be angry, she just hugged him while bouncing up and down, ignoring David's attempts to shake her off. He decided to let her have her way, just this once, and snuggled into her hug.
"There's a reason I gave you that card, Hodges." They both jumped. None of them had heard Ecklie come into the lab, his lurking skills were getting better. David looked at him.
"How did you know I'd get this?" Ecklie shrugged.
"I didn't. Do give Nova a call. Goodnight." With that, he turned and left. Mandy had to admit, he was getting better at the mysterious thing too. Well, inside her head she had to admit it. Chinese water torture couldn't make her admit anything out loud. She wasn't too sure about being submitted to one of Archie's Star Trek weekends with no chance of escape, but she'd never tell anyone that either. David snuggled back into her hug.
"You're still snuggling? I thought you didn't do cozy?" He snorted and snuggled some more.
"This isn't snuggling. Or cozy. I'm cold, it's late, I'm tired and you're warm. It's this or having to fix the heater again, and I'm not risking banging my head against it again."
He knew he wasn't convincing her, but that wasn't the point. He had an image to maintain, whether or not Mandy believed him was completely irrelevant. At least as long as the envelope was dead and she kept hugging him.
- - - - -
Notes: Been ages since I last wrote fic, hope it's not too choppy. Let us know what you think, eh?
Edit: I think this makes more sense if you've read the other parts of the Hodgespawn series first : ) Which is why I've tagged them all as such.
The Lady 529
Author: lady529
Disclaimer: No own-ey.
Warnings and the likes: Victory dancing, snuggling and stationary from the seventh level of Dante's Inferno.
Pairings: None
Summary: Hodges gets a letter at work.
Spoilers: Not really..
She'd done it again.
Hardly the first time, and probably far from the last, but it still got to him, it still took him completely off guard. And it still hurt him. She never failed to come up with a new way to get to him, there was always another trick she could pull, always another wound she could sprinkle salt over, and he'd begun to wonder if she'd set something up in case she died, so she could still get to him from beyond the grave. She probably had. Accusations of animal abuse, probably, based on the time Mr. K. got his tail caught in the bathroom door. Or of abuse of co-workers, based either on Catherine who after getting her results back earlier had threatened to sue him for causing her a migraine, or on Grissom who blamed him for scaring one of his spiders when it decided to set up camp next to the trace lab printer.
And here it came. The panic attack. As if general misery wasn't enough. He fumbled with the flap on his messenger bag, trying to get it open and get to the inhalator he'd stashed in there after the last one, but his hands weren't taking his orders, and he gave up, sliding down on the floor, looking at the envelope that was the cause of his latest misery before scooting as far as he could away from it. He could have sworn the thing scooted after him, but nobody would believe him if he told them, so he decided to keep that part to himself if anyone asked. He was pretty sure nobody would, though, and if he couldn't start breathing normally again sometime within the next minute or so, he wouldn't be able to tell them anyway. When his back hit the wall, he hugged his legs to his chest and tried to disappear into it.
"Is there a reason you're sitting on my foot?"
He looked down on a pair of shoes disappearing under his butt, then up. Mandy was smiling at him, wiggling her toes, causing him to scramble up and brush the imaginary dust off his lab coat. He looked back towards the envelope.
"It's moving. I can't breathe and it's moving. See? It moved! Right now!" He pointed towards the envelope. The envelope, of course, was evil enough to lay still when Mandy turned to look at it. Anything coming by mail from her was evil, and not the nice kind of evil either.
"..David, it's an envelope. Envelopes don't move. They come in the mail. And you're still standing in my way." He moved towards the door to his own lab, but couldn't get himself to enter it, and his efforts to hide his fear of envelopes apparently didn't work either. He'd have to improve that. As soon as his lungs expanded enough for him to breathe he'd start.
"Are you honestly scared of that thing?" The only answer Mandy got was a gasp and a cough, then some arm-waving. Her smile faded and was replaced by a look of concern. She put a hand on his arm, and when he didn't answer she pulled him into his lab, sat him down on his chair and closed the door behind them, ignoring Catherine who apparently had a bone to pick with Hodges, judging by the glare of doom she was sending him. He didn't even notice she was there. He was keeping an eye on the envelope, which had turned to face him. He wasn't sure how envelopes faced things, but the one on his floor was definitely looking at him.
Mandy picked the envelope up, giving the piece of paper it had contained a quick glance and realising why David was keeping such a watchful eye on it.
"I'm sorry, David. I can't believe she's trying this again. Well, I can believe it, 'cause she obviously has, but you know what I mean. You want me to have Bobby shoot her in the ego? Then Archie could tamper with the surveillance, and Henry could give her some creepy drug to cause amnesia! Or, we steal some of Grissom's bugs and place them in her bed! Fire ants sound good to you?"
It never failed to ease his panic, having Mandy rant on about imaginary ways of revenge. Didn't usually matter who she ranted about, or even why she wanted revenge, but apparently 101 ways to get back at your ex-wife for putting a restraining order on you, banning you from any contact with your two youngest children definitely put his mind somewhat at ease, at least enough for him to be able to breathe properly again. A small chuckle escaped him when Mandy suggested they sell their souls to Ecklie in return for his grandmother unleashing her wrath upon the ex-wife from hell, aka LA. He'd only met the old lady twice, but he'd still made sure not to get on her bad side. Any person who was training Conrad Ecklie in How to Make Sure Nobody Dares to Piss You Off was worthy of respect.
Mandy stopped her tirade and did a small victory dance around his lab. When he pointed out that people like her were why they say white people couldn't dance, she didn't even pretend to be angry, she just hugged him while bouncing up and down, ignoring David's attempts to shake her off. He decided to let her have her way, just this once, and snuggled into her hug.
"There's a reason I gave you that card, Hodges." They both jumped. None of them had heard Ecklie come into the lab, his lurking skills were getting better. David looked at him.
"How did you know I'd get this?" Ecklie shrugged.
"I didn't. Do give Nova a call. Goodnight." With that, he turned and left. Mandy had to admit, he was getting better at the mysterious thing too. Well, inside her head she had to admit it. Chinese water torture couldn't make her admit anything out loud. She wasn't too sure about being submitted to one of Archie's Star Trek weekends with no chance of escape, but she'd never tell anyone that either. David snuggled back into her hug.
"You're still snuggling? I thought you didn't do cozy?" He snorted and snuggled some more.
"This isn't snuggling. Or cozy. I'm cold, it's late, I'm tired and you're warm. It's this or having to fix the heater again, and I'm not risking banging my head against it again."
He knew he wasn't convincing her, but that wasn't the point. He had an image to maintain, whether or not Mandy believed him was completely irrelevant. At least as long as the envelope was dead and she kept hugging him.
- - - - -
Notes: Been ages since I last wrote fic, hope it's not too choppy. Let us know what you think, eh?
Edit: I think this makes more sense if you've read the other parts of the Hodgespawn series first : ) Which is why I've tagged them all as such.
The Lady 529