Out of Sync Chapter 5
Information, as always, is on chapter one. Be ye warned, it gets intense in this one.
John squeezed Ashley’s hand for a moment before extracting his own so he could knock. Ashley stood next to him breathing a prayer as they heard Helen give the signal to come in. He gently pushed the door open and let Ashley through first. “Hello Helen,” he called quietly.
Ashley moved to stand behind her mother, anticipation making her fidget as she tried to stand still until they were gone. Helen didn’t notice a thing. She looked up at him. “John,” she greeted. “Is there something you need?”
“I was…hoping I might be able to talk to you,” he said.
“What about?” she wondered.
“Pick a topic, any topic,” Ashley told him.
John looked down for a moment then back to her. “Actually it’s about James,” he replied slowly, “And…”
“And…Ashley?” she ventured.
John nodded. “Any topic but that,” Ashley groaned from behind her mother. John marshaled his control so as not to glare at his errant daughter.
“I understand,” Helen smiled. “I thought you might come up here to discuss that.” She looked down at the paperwork piled on her desk. “But John I do have quite a bit of work here.”
“Helen, working yourself to the bone will not bring either one back,” he told her gently. Ashley made a gagging noise. “Please I know this may not be the best time but we really should talk.”
“I suppose I could take a few moments away,” she grudgingly agreed. “Why don’t you come in and sit.”
Ashley began to frantically shake her head. “Get her out of the room,” she snapped. “Think of something!”
John’s mind raced as he tried to plot his next move. In an act of almost desperation, he reached out and put his hand over Helen’s, stopping her from picking up the next file on her desk. Mother and daughter stared at him. “Helen we both know if we talk in here you will simply become distracted by your work again,” he pointed out gently. “We should talk somewhere else. Somewhere where we won’t be distracted or barged in upon.” He removed his hand from hers. “Please Helen,” he whispered. “We should do this sooner rather than later.”
Ashley looked away, expecting her mother to give Druitt an icy brush off. Instead Magnus looked down at her hand and then back at him. “I suppose you’re right,” she agreed. She glanced at the clock. “It’s nearly tea time,” she commented. “Will you come to the sitting room and have a cup with me?”
Ashley whipped around to stare at her mother. Her eyes flashed up to her father whose smile was very nearly a smirk. “Oh you are devious,” she stated.
“I would like that very much,” he said.
“Lovely,” Magnus smiled. Ashley noted with some satisfaction that her tone was still professional. Her mother set her things in order and rose to join her father at the door. “If you wouldn’t mind walking down there I would appreciate it,” she said.
“As the lady wishes,” he agreed, holding the door open. As he turned to close it after them he winked at Ashley.
“I share his genes,” she whined, “Could life possibly suck anymore?” She shook herself out of her loathing and hurried to her mother’s desk. Helen Magnus was the ultimate organization Nazi. If Uncle James’ things had been delivered here, they would have been logged and their location noted. She opened her mother’s files and began to search for a clue. Finding a folder marked ‘inventory’ she clicked on it. She found excel documents for the belongings of every Sanctuary head that had died since her mom had started the network. “My god, mom you are anal,” she muttered. She opened the most recent folder that was labeled with the name James Watson. “Jackpot,” she murmured. It seemed like her adoptive uncle liked to collect things. It was one long spread sheet but she finally found an entry for journals. “Knew he had more than one,” she said, “now the question is mom, where did you put them?” Their location was marked as ‘T/O’.
“T/O?” Ashley asked the air. “What the hell does that mean? Come on mom, throw me a line.” She continued clicking through things until she stumbled on a file that required a password. A few quick strokes and she was in. “Never let Henry do your passwords, mom,” she advised. The folder had a map of certain places in the Sanctuary. It was marked out in code and one section was of her mother’s office. She searched through the plans to find where T/O was. Having found it she hurried to that corner of the room to shift through things. “Of course,” she sighed. “T/O. Trunk/office. God I feel like a blonde some days.”
She actually picked the lock on the trunk and rooted through it. Finally at the bottom were the journals. They varied in size and color, some with yellowing pages and others that could have been purchased yesterday but all with same neat label on them. The name James Watson followed by a set of years going all the way back to 1879. “Good god, you liked to write didn’t you?” she muttered. “I’m gonna need a bag for all these.”
She cast around the room before finding a roll of trash bags that the Big Guy must have left there at one point. “Not what I would have liked but it’ll have to do,” she sighed. She ripped off a bag and began piling the journals inside. As she worked, she noticed that there was a gap in the dates. “Somehow I doubt he stopped journaling for ten straight years,” she sighed. She heard footsteps coming down the hall; clearly her parents were on their way back. “Just stall a little longer,” she whispered.
She threw the rest of the books in the bag and dug deeper into the trunk. She still couldn’t find the missing journal. As the steps came closer she threw everything back in the trunk and began to look around the rest of the room. “Not yet,” she muttered, “not yet.” What she wouldn’t give right now for Will’s eye for detail. “But no, I had to get teleporting and insanity,” she spat. “Life is so freaking unfair.” Moving aside a stack of papers she finally found the journal. She threw it in and ran back to the computer. She finished logging out just as her father opened the door. He looked in as she teleported out.
“Thank you,” John said, keeping his eyes on Helen. “I’ve been meaning to get some of that out in the open for some time now.”
Helen gave him a small smile. “I’m happy to help,” she told him quietly. “And believe the talk did us both a world of good.” She moved to sit back at her desk. “If you ever need to talk again John, I’m here."
John smiled at her. “I’ll remember that,” he agreed. Still smiling, he teleported out of the room.
And into a scene from a nightmare. Ashley was curled into the corner of her room, screaming in agony. As he watched she began to sink through the floor. “No!” he shouted without thought for anyone passing outside the door. He vaulted over her bed and pulled her into his arms in a desperate attempt to keep her in the room.
Ashley couldn’t see, couldn’t think, couldn’t feel anything beyond the all-encompassing pain that wracked every inch of her body. It was like she had been thrown into the heart of a lightening storm the moment she teleported. As her control slipped she felt herself sinking into the floor. Then a pair of warm strong arms wrapped around her and lifted her back up. She gripped tightly to the fabric of her father’s shirt and howled out her tears. “Please don’t let go,” she begged, “please I swear I’ll be good. Oh, god it hurts. I promise I'll do as I'm told just don't let go.”
John thought his heart could break no more. He was so very wrong. At Ashley’s nearly incoherent babbling about the pain, the tiny fragments left shattered into dust. “It’s alright,” he whispered brokenly. “I’m here, Ashley, I will not let go. I promise you. You are safe here.” He continued his murmuring as he pulled his daughter to the window. He lifted her shaking body so that she was curled up in his arms. Ashley continued begging him not to let her go as he did it. “I won’t let you go,” he repeated. “I’ll take care of you Ashley, don’t you worry.” Her voice began to quiet but he could tell it was only because her throat was beginning to give out. Finally the shaking and the tears stopped. John wasn’t sure if it was because she had fallen asleep or passed out from the pain. In the end it didn’t matter. As long as she stopped hurting he didn’t care how it happened. Pressing a gentle kiss to her temple, he set her down on her bed. He covered her up and settled in on her lounge chair with the journals. He didn’t want to be far if the pain struck her again.
When Ashley opened her eyes again it was dark. Night had clearly fallen a long time ago. She rested there to see how her muscles were feeling. The mind numbing pain was not there anymore. Now there was just a deep-set ache like the kind she’d get when she over did a work out. As she continued to stare at her ceiling, a soft voice floated towards her. “How are you feeling?”
She carefully sat up to see her father sitting on her lounge chair. The moonlight hitting him made him look unreal. And not in a completely good way either. “I’m better than I was,” she whispered then coughed.
“Your throat is probably still sore,” he told her in the same soft tone. “Would you like me to get you some water?” Ashley gave a slow nod. She had to close her eyes against the bright flash of his teleporting in the dark room. He was back quickly and handed her the glass before taking up his seat on the chair again.
Ashley drank half the glass and then tried her voice once more. “Well that was an experience,” she rasped. “I guess my voice is going to be gone for a while.”
“Most likely,” John agreed.
“So, teleporting…not a good idea in this state.”
“That is an understatement,” he sighed. “Are you still in pain?”
Ashley could read the concern in his voice even if she couldn’t see his eyes. She watched his hand twitch as he checked the instinctive reaction to reach out. She was glad for that. She wasn’t certain that she could handle too much compassion or empathy right now. “There’s an ache but no real pain,” she told him. She reached for the glass again. “What time is it?”
“About two thirty in the morning,” he supplied. “You’ve been out for quite a while.” Ashley tried to laugh but ended up coughing. John leaned forward but caught himself before he went any further. She shook her head.
“Tell me about it,” she said when she got the coughing under control. “Looks like I used up an entire day.”
“After what happened I believe rest was quite warranted,” he told her.
Ashley nodded without really hearing. A thought struck her. “Have you been here the whole time?” she asked.
“I have,” he nodded. “I was worried that the pain might come back and I didn't want you to be alone if that happened."
"Oh," she said, clearly surprised. "Um, thanks...for staying. Didn't they wonder where you were?"
"It's quite possible," he agreed. "But I believe most people here think that I'm only staying around for your mother so they don't much care."
Ashley didn't answer that. "Have you made any progress on the journals yet?" she asked.
"I tried but then I realized that if anyone happened to glance at the camera they would think it rather odd. Better that they just think I was mourning the daughter I barely knew."
Ashley looked out the window to gather her thoughts. She really didn't want to hit on these topics right now. She reached for the glass and sipped more water. "You can look at them once night falls," she told him.
"Excuse me?"
"The journals," she explained. "Once it gets late, like around ten or so, mom has Henry turn the cameras off."
"Doesn't that leave the Sanctuary unprotected?" John wondered.
"There's infrared and heat sensors," Ashley told him. "So they know that you're in the room but they can't tell what exactly you're doing. It would probably be best to put the books in your room for that reason."
John nodded. "Do you feel up to walking?" he asked.
"Teleport the books over first," Ashley decided. "I should be ready to walk by the time you come back." Again she had to close her eyes against bright light. Ashley swung her legs out and got up gingerly. It was a little painful but nothing she couldn't deal with.
"Would you like help?" her father wondered. Ashley shook her head. John held out his hand to her. Ashley bit her lip as she looked at it. "I won't hurt you," he whispered. Ashley continued to hesitate. Just as he was about to withdraw his offer, she reached out and grabbed it like a lifeline. John gave her a soft smile and together they walked back to his room.
"We should hide them for now," Ashley said. "Dawn will be coming soon and the cameras switch on automatically at that."
"Is there anywhere that butler of yours doesn't look?" John asked her.
"You mean he actually comes in here?" she scoffed.
"Well, I'm certainly not the one cleaning," John shrugged.
Ashley snickered at that. "We can put them in the drawers," she suggested. "The Big Guy doesn't actually put the clothes away if I remember correctly."
"That is true," John agreed. "We should still scatter them just in case." Ashley couldn't deny the logic in that. They each took a handful of books and began to hide them around the room in various places. "That's all of them," John said finally.
"You should try to sleep," Ashley told him. "We won't get anything done if you're exhausted tomorrow."
"I'm not sure if I'll be able to sleep much," he confessed. "Are you going to stay here?"
"If you don't mind," she nodded.
"Of course not," John told her. "Feel free to wake me up if you need anything." Ashley nodded again. "If you'd face the window so that I may get undressed." She turned around and John quickly shed his clothes and got into bed. “You can look now,” he told her.
Ashley settled on the window sill again. “Sleep well,” she said quietly.
“You too,” he agreed.