Room 410, Sunday afternoon

[not_called_icky]

Ichabod was waiting, restless and unable to concentrate on anything that would make the time pass quicker. He had stopped by Barry's warehouse and seen Celia and the others on the monitors. A horrible nightmarish place, what he had seen of Rapture would haunt him, and he imagined it would be far worse for Celia, as she had actually been there. He

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[pasunereveuse]

Celia had let Barry check her, and had said goodbye to Louise -- which was a much more emotional affair than she would have previously thought, but that was hardly the most surprising thing about this weekend.

She stopped by her own room long enough to shower and change, and then quietly vanish the clothes she'd been wearing. She didn't need any unwitting reminders of Rapture popping up later on. She was so exhausted that even such a small act of magic took a great deal of her remaining energy, so, it was a fairly bedraggled-looking Celia, with her hair still drying in damp curls, who knocked lightly on Ichabod's door.

She was so relieved to finally be here -- to finally be home -- that she found herself slouching in the doorway, despite herself.

[not_called_icky]

A knock. He reached the door quickly and opened, a feeling of warm relief as he saw Celia. She must be exhausted, but she had come here, and for that he was happy. He would offer whatever comfort he could

"Come in," he said, reaching for her hand to pull her close. "Celia."

[pasunereveuse]

In light of the last forty-eight hours -- in light of what she'd done, and what she'd almost done, in light of how horrifically afraid she'd been that she'd never see him again, Celia was willing to be a little less than ladylike.

She reached out to wrap her arms tightly around Ichabod, wavering a little in the process. Normally, she wouldn't have leaned against him quite so much, but normally she would have slept, and normally she wouldn't feel like she was on the verge of tears again. "I'm back," she mumbled, wholly unnecessarily.

[not_called_icky]

He responded by pulling Celia close, shutting the door behind her with one hand to give them some privacy. Then he just held her, letting the feeling of relief fill him.

"I've waited," he said, which was also fairly obvious.

[pasunereveuse]

"I'm sorry." It was such a pleasant shock from the last few days to just be held, to feel warm and safe and to be here, with him. "I'm sorry for going, and for not letting you come, and -- I'm sorry, Ichabod."

She wasn't really sorry for going, not given what they'd accomplished. But she'd been short-sighted, and cocky, and fairly unprepared, and she'd be reliving the horrors of her mistakes for a long time after this.

[not_called_icky]

He didn't answer at first, his only response being to pull her closer. He had felt rejected when she wouldn't let him come with them, and worrying all weekend hadn't made things better. All that was fading now.

"I saw your arm break," Ichabod eventually said, as it was the first ting that came into his mind,

[pasunereveuse]

She'd known he'd watched from what Barry had told her -- and given what Barry had told her about the process of watching, the futility of it, she felt her heart sink a little. "I fixed it," she murmured, leaning her head against his chest a little. "It was barely anything, compared to some of the others."

But he'd watched, and if their positions had been reversed, Celia would have been utterly inconsolable regardless of how quickly the healing had occurred. She clung a little tighter, in response.

[not_called_icky]

He had felt helpless, but she must know that. Now, the closeness was comforting. He tilted his head and placed a kiss on her temple. "You must be tired. I'm glad you came."

If he could be of any help now, he would, he told himself.

[pasunereveuse]

"I'm exhausted," she agreed, and it wasn't often that she'd actually admit to having overexerted herself, "but I had to see you. I just -- everything down there was like a nightmare." She was just hoping he hadn't seen the worst of it all -- as intoxicatingly powerful as she'd felt, Celia was increasingly uncomfortable with how she'd behaved. She'd never used her magic on anyone without their permission, before -- to harm someone, to nearly kill someone with it, was such a violation of her own moral code that she barely knew how to begin to deal with it.

This, though, was why she'd come here -- the comfort of being held, of knowing she was safe and cared for, was almost dizzying in its relief. "Barry checked me before I left, though," she added, because that was something she'd worry about if their positions were reversed -- she was trying to keep that in mind, now, given how horrifying it must have been to watch. "I'm physically fine, including my arm."

[not_called_icky]

"Did you find what you went looking for?" he asked. Physically fine, but what about her mind? Nightmares like that would not be easily forgotten, Ichabod thought.

He released Celia and gestured for her to have a seat on the bed nearby.

[pasunereveuse]

"We found Grace," she said with a vague nod as she carefully sat down. "And we rescued a little girl, too -- I don't know if you saw her. She was with the gentleman who broke my arm." She'd been a little different then, though. "It just -- took a lot to get there. Fighting, and bribes, and -- all sorts of things I never thought I'd be involved in."

[not_called_icky]

"The strange child?" He sat down next to Celia and added quietly: "Do you want to tell me about it?"

[pasunereveuse]

"In Rapture, they use little girls to gather a sort of -- biological compound," Celia explained quietly, leaning her head on his shoulder almost immediately. "It's what gives those people their powers. The Little Sisters -- that's what they call them -- are drugged, and given those giant creatures as their protectors while they gather the compound. It's difficult work, though, because...." She swallowed, breathing sharply through her nose. "Because it's found in the stomachs of corpses, and splicers will go after the girls as they gather. Eleanor was one of them, once, and...because of who she is, she was able to wake the child out of her stupor and restore her consciousness."

She worried her lower lip for a moment. "Her name's Louise. I made her a dress. It was about the only good thing I managed to do all weekend."

[not_called_icky]

"Eleanor was like them?" He frowned, finding it hard to imagine.

Ichabod wrapped his arm around her. "And that dress wasn't the only good thing. You helped a friend, you helped rescuing strangers from that horrible place."

[pasunereveuse]

"I suppose." Celia was still struggling to find the words to tell him what she'd almost done, how she'd abused her powers. "I -- that sort of place makes you adapt to it, and I hope nothing you saw makes you...think differently about me."

Because the truth of it was that Rapture had changed her, and her priorities, and as scared as she was of articulating her feelings, she'd realized that there were much, much more frightening things out there.

[not_called_icky]

He sensed that there was something she wasn't saying clearly, and Ichabod was unsure if she wanted to tell him, or indeed if he wanted to know. No, he decided, he knew. He wanted to know.

"Why would I think differently of you?" he asked, looking straight at Celia.