...After the Other

[_fredless]

Who: Fred Burkle and YOU
What: Fred returns after the Expedition
When: Sometime before escape...
Where: Around town and the castle (Initial section for Wesley with more sections to follow)
Rating: PG-13

Comments

[_fredless]

She's long past the point of being tired.

Whatever weariness that'd settled in over the last few hours of their journey back had fled not long after Wesley had answered his door. From a distance Fred recognizes it partly as hard-earned skills, the need to have an ability to push herself through the point of exhaustion. Survival didn't always account for sleep.

But it's more than that. Being back, having Wesley close. There's a cataloged list still spinning inside her head, observations and accounts ten times over the meager accounting of samples inside her bag. Not just what happened. But the new species she saw, the thoughts that lingered. Her hand strays to cross the distance that sits between them on the couch, unconsciously just brushing against Wesley's leg.

"Bodies." No, that isn't right. But they felt that substantial. "Little more than skeletal remains now. It was impossible to say how old, especially not knowing the sort of conditions they were exposed to. Sixty, maybe as many as seventy." Fred glances down at her own hand, remembering the message one of them held. "They could've been us, Wesley. And not just...so many different species. Different structures and composition and some that weren't bone at all. In twos and threes and grouped together like they were just waiting for it." And there. That small, unhelpful word. Now knowing what 'it' was. "Waiting for...they all died in that room. Together. And they left a note."

How did they just wait?

Her gaze flickers, finds Wesley again.

"Some of the other groups found more. A lobby. Bedrooms, just like at the castle. All different sizes and shapes and preferences. They even found something that looked like a journal."

[demonologist]

He's frowning now, processing what she's telling him, fitting the pieces together for himself and intuitively filling in the gaps of what she's not saying.

"You found the ruins of another Paradisa? A place that once housed many diverse people and which one day just...for whatever reason...stopped? No longer supporting those who'd lived in it?"

And they'd died, huddled together, knowing the end was near. It sounded like a terrible series of tableaux to stumble upon. He remembered how one of his goals had always been to visit the ruins of Pompeii. But now Wes wondered what he would make of it in this context. To see the remains of people who had lived and loved, hoped and despaired. To wonder if a similar fate awaited them all.

"That had to be a disturbing thing to discover. What did the note say?"

[_fredless]

"Libet. We think that it's -- it was Libet." Her fingers curl slightly, as if to again remind herself of Wesley's presence. It had certainly helped, having Lana isolated in the same group after the bridge collapse. But she only knew so much.

"You should've seen it Wesley. The technology that was still powering sections of it was unlike anything I'd ever encountered. For parts of it still to be working after all this time? And if the people in that auditorium died all at once, who was left to set up all those traps we kept running into."

Were they trying to hide what was inside? Or protect it.

She reaches then with her good arm to navigate the pack that now rests at er feet. For a moment the zipper is stubborn, but then it gives. Ignoring other samples Fred pulls out her own copy of the message she scribbled into her journal and passes it wordlessly over to Wesley. Notations and thoughts are scattered around the edges.

[demonologist]

Libet. His gaze narrowed with thought at the name. There were traps. Strange technology. People waiting for their deaths. Had they tried to prevent others from getting to them? Or had the traps been to prevent them from leaving?

Wes reached for the journal, opening it to skim through the first few pages. He would want time to peruse it thoroughly. Time to question her more closely on its contents.

"Libet. Latin for 'pleasing' or 'agreeable'. Plautus, the Ancient Roman playwright coined the phrase: Dīc quod libet. The modern English version being 'say what you will'. It's derived from the Proto-European Luabh, which also can mean love, depending on the context."

His tone was grave but also preoccupied as he leafed though the journal.

[_fredless]

Fred nodded then, watching Wesley's hands as they worked over the pages and her scribbled notations. She didn't need to see his face to be able to navigate the distracted tone in his voice and it some ways? It was easier.

Of course what was eased wasn't in a single one of the entries he was currently examining.

"...and now we're in paradise."

Wesley wouldn't need her to translate. Instead, Fred let a subtle tilt of her chin indicate her journal.

"I can leave it here, if you like. I don't mind."

There wasn't a single entry there she hadn't poured over a half-dozen times already. The walk back had been a fairly quiet one as well, with the injured to attend to. The initial, contained energy from the beginning of the expedition had long given way to a collective exhaustion and people's own thoughts.

[demonologist]

Something in her tone made him look up at her again. Then after the briefest of pauses, he nodded and then deliberately closed the journal.

"It can wait until tomorrow. Right now, you need a hot shower or bath and a decent night's sleep in a proper bed. You're exhausted. Stay here, so that you don't have to make the trek back to the castle."

[_fredless]

It was strange, watching the pages of the journal close and Wesley's hand fold over the binding. It had an oddly quieting effect on her own thoughts, leaving behind a muffled sort of silence. She was aware of how quiet the townhouse now seemed, compared to the near-constant noise of the past week.

"I'm surprised it took you this long to point out how disgusting I am. I probably shouldn't even be sitting on your couch."

Fred wasn't being coy. The matter-of-factness in her tone made that perfectly clear. There hadn't been a single opportunity for shower their entire time out, unless you included their near-drowning during one of the obstacles. And that might've been helpful if not for all the bugs, many of which Fred still wore.

And the vampire finches. Had she mentioned the vampire finches?

She stood then, a flicker of something in her expression acknowledging all normal protests she might've made.

"...how knocked back are you going to be when I tell you I'm too tired to even argue with you?"

[demonologist]

"Don't worry about that."

He smiled, acknowledging that while she did smell a bit...ripe. It was perfectly natural considering the circumstances and he didn't care what she got dirty, he was just glad she was home safe again.

"I promise to be stunned about it in retrospect, but right now? I'm just relieved and pleased. I'll go draw you a bath. You just sit for a bit and finish that tea. Let yourself settle. I'll be back in a few minutes. Would you like a robe to change into?"

It would be a large terry cloth one that he used for himself.

[_fredless]

She wouldn't not worry about it, but then she really hadn't expected Wesley to object either. They were both of them settled in their ways, but neither of them convinced of their ability to alter the other's mindset either. It was a very amicable form of agreeing to disagree.

A silent one as well.

Fred took another sip of the tea, casting a look down at her pack.

"I think I'm going to have no will whatsoever and take you up on that offer too. I don't think I've got anything left that's salvageable in there. It probably all just needs to be thrown away."

[demonologist]

"All right, then. I'll put it out for you. Come upstairs when you're ready." He stood up, then leaned down to kiss her brow and headed upstairs to get the bath started and lay out the robe for her on his bed. He made sure to put some nice bath salts and foaming gel in the water. Scents of jasmine, sandalwood and lavender filled the small room. He lit the candles as well, remembering for a moment the bath that she had given him. One of these days they'd have one that was purely for pleasure and company.

But not tonight. Tonight Fred was troubled and tired, and sorely needed to be soothed and bundled into bed, not romanced.

[_fredless]

Fred wasn't certain how long she sat there on Wesley's couch, letting her thoughts fill the space he previously occupied. At some point she stood, however, moving towards the kitchen to deposit her mug into the now-familiar sink. The sound of water being turned off overhead tugged her back into the present.

Walking upstairs, she made her way directly to the bathroom. Freshly reminded of just how much of the past week she still wore, Fred didn't want to drag it through any more of Wesley's house than she had to.

The flickering candlelight and scented water brought her up short, but just for a moment. She hadn't intended for Wesley to go to that much trouble. But now that it was there --

Why was she moving so slowly? It couldn't be soon enough that she was out of those clothes and submerged in the welcoming heat of the tub. But the actual process of peeling of her abused and damaged clothes away from her abused and damaged person seemed to go on forever.

Finally she'd untangled herself from them, depositing her jeans and shirt directly into the small trash bin. The rest of her clothing soon followed. She stepped into the tub, welcoming the warmth.

[demonologist]

Wes had tried to stay out of her way once she'd mounted the stairs, but then he'd noticed that she hadn't taken the robe in with her. After he was sure she was well settled in the tub, he knocked quietly on the door.

"May I come in for a moment? You forgot to grab something to change into."

[_fredless]

From the quiet light of the bathroom, Fred's face tilted towards the door. Her hair clung damply to her face her shoulders. She hadn't had time to properly was it yet? But she also hadn't wasted any time in immediately submerging herself in the tub and letting the fresh, scented water close over her head.

"...I suppose that's true." Fred trusted Wesley to interpret her conversation as the invitation that it was. "Honestly, once I heard the running water I was a little to distracted by the notion of what I was finally going to get out of to even consider what I would put on after."

[demonologist]

He let himself in and moved to stand where they could see each other. He didn't avert his eyes, but nor did he leer. She was a very beautiful woman, and he desired her, that was an absolute given. But his focus was on ensuring that she was comfortable and allowing her cares to ease.

"I brought you some socks as well. Much too big, but they're winter ones so they should keep your feet pretty toasty." He set the clothes on the counter by the sink. "I hesitate to offer you a pair of boxers, but if you feel the need to wear clean underwear, I'll fetch some."

He gave her a wry sort of half-smile.

[_fredless]

Fred felt herself smile at the offer of underwear, and it occurred to her in that moment she wasn't entirely certain of the last time she had. Maybe with Ray, when he had attempted to tease her to some level of distraction as he tended to her arm.

She sank deeper into the water then --

Not out of shyness but a simple need for more of the damp heat to sooth tired, sore muscles.

"The socks should be plenty. I spent over four years without a shred of underwear to my nap in Pylea. There's only so much you can do with scraps of fabric and animal skins. I got so out of habit with it, I honestly had trouble remembering underthings those first few months at the hotel."

There was less of an edge in her voice now, when Fred spoke about Pylea. A definite shift since Wesley witnessed the cave walls.

"I think I can manage for one night."

[demonologist]

"You really shouldn't be telling me things like that. My mind wasn't ready for it." His smile had deepened at her words, though.

"Alright, then, I'll leave you to your bath. Unless you'd like me to scrub your back or wash your hair...?"