Because You Left, Chapter Sixteen

[lookninjas]

Title: Because You Left, Chapter Sixteen: Ask Me No More Questions
Pairing/Character(s): Blaine Anderson, Ben Linus Anderson, Carole Hudson, Leslie Arzt (aka Paul Karofsky), Burt Hummel
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Potential hostage situation (averted), very threatening language. Don't make Ben Linus angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry.

Comments

[sinkwriter]

Just some of my musings as I read this chapter:

They throw away your contact lenses at the hospital? I had no idea.

Oh, that scene between Carole and Blaine was so sweet and gentle, I'm still melting over here. So lovely. *has heart eyes for that scene*

And then there's that tentative exchange between Ben and Blaine after Carole goes to get them some coffee, and it's just another gem of a moment, the tenderness and care you demonstrate so beautifully between them. You can really tell that for the longest time, they've only had each other to rely on and trust. ♥

And all Carole's musings about how ordinary Ben seems. Hehhh. If she only knew...

I do like her wanting to protect Finn, above all else, though. That seems highly fitting. Also, it's a lovely parallel to all the parents mentioned in that section, how Burt fiercely protects and loves his son, Ben is the same with Blaine, and now Carole with Finn. They all feel this about their children; it's the most important thing for each of them.

I don't know why, but this part was particularly striking to me:

Linus lets out a long, slow breath; it doesn't seem to relax him any. "Well," he says, his voice very soft and very, very dangerous.

I can practically hear and see Michael Emerson say "Well" in that creepy powerful way of his, as if he were in the room with me. It's marvelous, this characterization of Ben that you've written. So vivid and true.

This is what I remember loving about watching Lost. How marvelously sinister he could be with the softest voice and body language that was all about stillness. He was one of the scariest guys ever, and he barely had to do anything. He just had such a presence. :)

I can't wait to read the next chapter! Answers, answers, answers! ;D

[lookninjas]

In all honesty? By the time I wrote this scene, I was kind of immensely frustrated by the research I was trying (and failing) to do in terms of the hospital stuff (seriously, you don't know how hard it is to find good info on a non-lethal gunshot wound), so I was kind of just winging it. My thought at the time of writing the scene was that with someone who is being sedated for surgery, they probably wouldn't just leave the contacts in for however long and would take them out. But it's also possible that the contacts were removed afterwards and Ben either tossed them (because all their stuff is still at McKinley and he doesn't have a case and there are SO MANY OTHER THINGS TO THINK ABOUT he can have a fresh pair tomorrow when he goes home) or actually did scrounge a case and some solution from a nurse, but Blaine was too stoned/unconscious at the time to really know and is still not really sober. So basically, I'm totally claiming unreliable narrator privilege on this one.

And I totally agree about how Ben's calm and stillness and sort of zen poise made him so much more frightening than shouting could ever be. It's interesting how he sort of got more demonstrative towards the end of everything, when he was also so much more powerless. (And on the other hand, Locke started off as someone who struggled to maintain that kind of calm and sort of invariably lapsed back into shouting, red-faced rage, and got calmer as he went along. Although I suppose some of that was Smokey. Most of it was Smokey. Probably all of it was Smokey.)

I love Carole. God, I just love Carole so much. I hope that the direction she takes in this continues to work for you.