Hidden
Characters: Claude, Bennet
Rating: G, really
Word count: 600
Spoilers: Technically, up to 1.17 ("Company Man")
Summary: Bennet's pulled over because the rain is just getting worse and he - they - can't see a damn thing.
A/N: This is for entangled_now, who helped to drag me in from the writing wilderness by giving me prompts. Thanks, babe! :)
There's rain pelting down on the car, drumming fiercely against the windscreen and pounding in tinny, metallic fury on the hood. Inside, the temperature in the car has dropped a couple of degrees, and the glass is beginning to steam up a little.
Bennet's pulled over because the rain is just getting worse and he - they - can't see a damn thing. The light's gone grey - not that sickly yellow-grey that you usually get out here in a storm, but a cold, wet grey that reminds Claude of home and reluctant visits to ancient grandparents by train.
He sighs and spreads out the map. "Should be here, more or less."
"More or less?" Bennet raises an eyebrow. "You said you knew where we were."
"I did! Then it started tankin' it down, an' I lost my bearins because you-" pointing at Bennet with a long, impatient finger "-started askin' me whether this road joins up with the highway at the end or not. An' it does, by the way. Join up."
"But you don't know where we are." Bennet's voice is perfectly even, and entirely implacable.
Claude snorts in exasperation and shifts the map across to cover the steering-wheel in front of Bennet. Points along yellow lines. "Somewhere between here and here. You work it out, since you're so smart."
Bennet considers the map for a moment and it's a few seconds before Claude realises that Bennet is doing sums in his head, for Christ's sake.
"Twenty-five."
Bennet pauses in his calculation, and glances at Claude, annoyed. "What?"
"Twenty-five."
He sees Bennet swallow in barely-concealed irritation. "Yes. What about twenty-five?"
"Route 25. Look, the road joins up just here." He trails a finger along the line. "Probably about twenty miles down the road, give or take."
"Yes, I can see that."
He waits just long enough, until Bennet's lips start to twitch from the resumption of his internal arithmetic, and-
"Sorry, mate, didn't mean to interrupt."
Bennet fixes him with a stare that is becoming somewhat strained. "You're doing it again."
He allows a long sigh. "Fine." He's bored; bored stiff after several hours of sitting in the damn car. Bennet's been in one of those moods where he barely talks, leaving Claude to stare out of the window at signs for places with names like Hooker and Beaver and Ulysses.
Bennet coughs; he ignores it.
Another cough. "Claude."
"Yeah."
"Don't do that in the car."
He shrugs, even though Bennet can't see it. "There's nobody here! Not another sodding person for miles, an' I doubt the cattle give a toss."
"Just- don't. Please."
"Fine," he sighs again, and fades back into visibility.
He watches Bennet's fingers tapping against the steering-wheel.
"What did you say this woman's ability was?"
"Obscurity."
"Seriously?"
Bennet gives him a rather condescending look. "You didn't read the file?"
" 'Course I read it. An' I bet she's laughin' her arse off at us right now."
Bennet looks around, outside; water still streaks the windscreen, but the storm is lessening, the clouds almost rained out. "You don't think ... ?"
"Yeah, mate, that's exactly what I think."
Bennet's dry chuckle makes him grin in response.
Claude runs a hand through dirty blonde hair. "On foot, yeah?"
Bennet nods. "On foot."
They get out of the car.
[A/N: prompts, provided by entangled_now were: rain, maps, hidden and "Don't do that in the car".]
x-posted to brave_new_slash, morallygrayfic, paper_pwns_all and heroes_fic
Rating: G, really
Word count: 600
Spoilers: Technically, up to 1.17 ("Company Man")
Summary: Bennet's pulled over because the rain is just getting worse and he - they - can't see a damn thing.
A/N: This is for entangled_now, who helped to drag me in from the writing wilderness by giving me prompts. Thanks, babe! :)
There's rain pelting down on the car, drumming fiercely against the windscreen and pounding in tinny, metallic fury on the hood. Inside, the temperature in the car has dropped a couple of degrees, and the glass is beginning to steam up a little.
Bennet's pulled over because the rain is just getting worse and he - they - can't see a damn thing. The light's gone grey - not that sickly yellow-grey that you usually get out here in a storm, but a cold, wet grey that reminds Claude of home and reluctant visits to ancient grandparents by train.
He sighs and spreads out the map. "Should be here, more or less."
"More or less?" Bennet raises an eyebrow. "You said you knew where we were."
"I did! Then it started tankin' it down, an' I lost my bearins because you-" pointing at Bennet with a long, impatient finger "-started askin' me whether this road joins up with the highway at the end or not. An' it does, by the way. Join up."
"But you don't know where we are." Bennet's voice is perfectly even, and entirely implacable.
Claude snorts in exasperation and shifts the map across to cover the steering-wheel in front of Bennet. Points along yellow lines. "Somewhere between here and here. You work it out, since you're so smart."
Bennet considers the map for a moment and it's a few seconds before Claude realises that Bennet is doing sums in his head, for Christ's sake.
"Twenty-five."
Bennet pauses in his calculation, and glances at Claude, annoyed. "What?"
"Twenty-five."
He sees Bennet swallow in barely-concealed irritation. "Yes. What about twenty-five?"
"Route 25. Look, the road joins up just here." He trails a finger along the line. "Probably about twenty miles down the road, give or take."
"Yes, I can see that."
He waits just long enough, until Bennet's lips start to twitch from the resumption of his internal arithmetic, and-
"Sorry, mate, didn't mean to interrupt."
Bennet fixes him with a stare that is becoming somewhat strained. "You're doing it again."
He allows a long sigh. "Fine." He's bored; bored stiff after several hours of sitting in the damn car. Bennet's been in one of those moods where he barely talks, leaving Claude to stare out of the window at signs for places with names like Hooker and Beaver and Ulysses.
Bennet coughs; he ignores it.
Another cough. "Claude."
"Yeah."
"Don't do that in the car."
He shrugs, even though Bennet can't see it. "There's nobody here! Not another sodding person for miles, an' I doubt the cattle give a toss."
"Just- don't. Please."
"Fine," he sighs again, and fades back into visibility.
He watches Bennet's fingers tapping against the steering-wheel.
"What did you say this woman's ability was?"
"Obscurity."
"Seriously?"
Bennet gives him a rather condescending look. "You didn't read the file?"
" 'Course I read it. An' I bet she's laughin' her arse off at us right now."
Bennet looks around, outside; water still streaks the windscreen, but the storm is lessening, the clouds almost rained out. "You don't think ... ?"
"Yeah, mate, that's exactly what I think."
Bennet's dry chuckle makes him grin in response.
Claude runs a hand through dirty blonde hair. "On foot, yeah?"
Bennet nods. "On foot."
They get out of the car.
[A/N: prompts, provided by entangled_now were: rain, maps, hidden and "Don't do that in the car".]
x-posted to brave_new_slash, morallygrayfic, paper_pwns_all and heroes_fic