a light that was long gone still burning strong/you were sitting, your fingers like fuses [Henry]

[domina_igne]

They've let Henry into her room. This is a thing that seems like it should be an improvement--and it is--but in Liz's state of rapidly spiraling paranoia, she's decided this means they're never ever ever letting her out of the hospital and eventually her scrubs are going to bond to her skin.

It's fairly likely that isn't true

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[unbroken]

He'd been attempting another breakout to go visit Derek, but the nurses caught him this time. Therefore, there's two of them accompanying Henry back to the room. There's the end of a reprimand as they make sure he's settled back into his bed. They check over everything for both of them, then they're finally out of the room.

Henry smiles at Liz, looking a little embarrassed. "Hi..."

[domina_igne]

Liz smiles back at him, a sardonic little curve of her lips. "You could just ask for some kind of walking privileges, you know."

She adjusts the bed, leaning up on her elbows in a manner which indicates she would like some spousal attention, wink wink nudge nudge.

[unbroken]

He swings out of his bed and into the chair next to hers. He leans towards her and smiles, but doesn't kiss her just yet. "Yeah, probably...I don't think they'd want me going off-world, though. I think they found the portal I used last time."

He shrugs, then finally gives into the urge and kisses her, quickly and softly (and leaving room for doing so again). "How are you doing, beautiful?"

[domina_igne]

Liz takes the opportunity to do so again, because kissing Henry is always a good thing, and this time it's much less quick. "I've been worse." She's been better too, but who is she to be complaining?

The portaling ability, or lack thereof, is something she knows they have to talk about, and a better occasion is less than likely to present itself. How exactly does she say 'so remember that questionably useful ability with the unquestionably fucked up source? Is it gone?'

"So." Her words are carefully chosen, like she's plucking them from the air. "You can't just--get there yourself, then."

[unbroken]

He really enjoys kissing her again, and does not object to a longer one at all. He's about to pester her for specifics on how she's doing, which (in all likelihood) he's done entirely too much already, so it's probably good she moved onto the next statement. Which is a bit of a large one.

He shakes his head, leaning back in the chair (but putting a hand on Liz's shoulder to keep contact with her). "No...I can't. It's not...I don't know how to explain it. The sight's still there, but I can't use it. Like it's in a different place altogether, or...I have to use a different muscle for it and I don't know what it is."

He sighs, frustrated that he will probably never be good at explaining things. "I don't know if...well, maybe I shouldn't want it back...it was good to have, but the last time hurt pretty bad, and it-" He bites his lip, then shakes his head. "It still didn't get me to you." And that's what I wanted it for. He squeezes her shoulder very lightly. "But it's still there, so I don't know what to do about it...it

[domina_igne]

They had to go into it sometime, and again with the better opportunities not exactly falling out of the sky. "It worries me, a lot. You--you shouldn't have used it, Henry. You knew where it came from and it--nothing was worth that."

Not even finding her. That should probably go unprovoked. Surely.

[unbroken]

He sighs and looks at the ground a moment before his eyes come up to meet hers again. "Liz. I would have killed everything in my path if it got me to you. Using a weird power that can mess me up some, but that helped me reach you? That wasn't a hard decision at all."

He shakes his head, still keeping his eyes on hers. His eyes seem extremely focused, looking closely at her. "I was trying to be careful, so when you got back you'd still have me. I was being careful. But that wasn't going to be worth anything if I didn't have you back."

[domina_igne]

There are a lot of things Liz could say about that, and none of them will lead anywhere good. "It doesn't matter now. But maybe it's good that you're not using it. And--maybe if Hermes could get rid of it, that would be good, too."

She smiles for him, squeezing one of his hands. "It would make Manning worry a lot less, for one thing."

[unbroken]

"Yeah..." Although that was about the farthest thing from his mind, it was true. Manning didn't particularly like Hermes, but he certainly preferred that god over everything Henry had brought with him. "I wouldn't be able to evacuate people anymore, but it never was very reliable...half the time, they wanted me to use the PINpoint for it."

He chews on his lip a little, shrugging. He's trying to stall talking about what Hermes offered, for reasons unknown to him. But he can only do that for so long, so eventually he says nervously, "Hermes could do it, I'm sure of that. It might take away some of me, too...and it'd be permanent. So I understand if you don't think it's a good idea, but...I really want to get this...this-" He looks down at himself, eyes eventually focusing on the bandages over his chest. "I want to get it away from you. From our family. That's why I'm thinking about going ahead with it."

[domina_igne]

"Henry." Liz sighs and puts her palm flat against the bandages. "It's wonderful of you to ask. It's--considerate doesn't cover it. I'm not sure what would. But whether or not I think it's a good idea doesn't have anything to do with it."

She rests her chin in her free hand, closing her eyes. It's so hard to keep them open lately; she's always so tired. Eiko's treatment is sounding better all the time, regardless of what Manning thinks.

"Anyway, I--oh hell, I don't care how this sounds. I can say whatever I want right now. And what I want to say is that I love you no matter what, and I don't care how trite that sounds. So if you want to, you let Hermes help you."

[unbroken]

He relaxes, letting out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Okay...I'll think about it a little more. But right now, it's sounding like something I might want to do. If I'm going to choose between having some sort of Hermes' 'otherness' with me, and...that- uh, well, that's a pretty easy choice. I know...you've never known me without that, Liz, but...you know that's not me." He smiles weakly at her, and it quickly turns into a full-fledged grin. "You know me- the part that matters wouldn't change. But you know that, already, huh...? Thank you for understanding, Elizabeth."

He leans down and kisses her cheek, brushing her hair back behind her ears. God, she looked exhausted...he lets his hand linger in her hair. Now that the discussion about Hermes is out of the way, he can focus on her. He kisses her again, very gently, and says quietly, "Are you going to go through with the treatment Eiko's offering? I really think you should. It sounds like you need it, Liz."

[domina_igne]

Liz squeezes his hand again, maybe a little harder than is comfortable for him because her hands are fighting the urge to wring themselves. "It's not a sure thing right now. I'm still pretty -- well, I guess depowered is the word. And I don't think we need to discuss what happens to me when that happens."

[unbroken]

He lets her squeeze, just glad his hand's there for her to squeeze. He nods at her words. "If...uh, Eiko said there was brain damage, I know. If she was able to fix it...maybe that would get you back to where you were, power- and control-wise, before all this happened...I know it's not a guarantee, but..." He puts his free hand over the both of theirs. "I don't want you to fade, and I don't want you to be afraid." He doesn't mean to put the emphasis on the word when it comes out, but...well, it's important. "It's not- you've come too far in your life to have to do that again. So if Eiko can actually figure something out that might help

[domina_igne]

"I'm on a lot of medication," Liz tells him flatly. "It's temporary. Or so they're telling me."

Mmm, constant low-grade sedation.

"It's still there. I'd be a lot worse off if it wasn't."

[unbroken]

He nods, reaching up to curve his hand around her jawline and brush the pad of his thumb on her cheek. "I know. Just...wanted to make sure. And the medication will be temporary, okay?" There's a sharpness in his eye as he says that- he knows how much she hates the drugs.

He loves the BPRD, but really doesn't care for how they treat their special agents a lot of the time. There has to be something better they can do for her. "We should talk to Eiko about treatment then...unless the Bureau's giving you problems about that. Then I will talk to them, and then we'll go talk to Eiko."

[domina_igne]

Better a thing there might be, but this is protecting their assets in the most effecient way they know how. Liz doesn't begrudge them this; it would be different if she was normal, after all.

"I don't know if they will. Right now I'm basically useless. They have to weigh that against the fact that I might be unavailable sometimes for a few months."