A slow recovery [backdated to Monday afternoon]
ooc: RP started in email, so it's kind of back and forth more than a normal ficlet would be.
It had been a long weekend; possibly even longer, in some ways, than the one before it. While Lindsey was home now, things between them were strained and awkward, and most of their time was spent apart: him downstairs on the couch and her up in their bedroom. Where she slept alone. They agreed it was because he was still weak and it would be easier if he didn't have to deal with the stairs, but deep down, they both knew it was more than that. Cordelia was still angry, and that meant she wasn't going to be sharing her bed until she cooled off.
Too bad for Lindsey that she never cooled off very quickly. Just ask Xander, or Angel. She could hold a grudge like no one's business.
Aside from a few minutes in the kitchen to get their morning coffee, Cordelia hadn't seen much of Lindsey today. She'd been upstairs on her computer for most of it, doing some research in between surfing gossip sites. (The Brangelina marriage will they/won't they stories were too juicy to pass up.) After a while, she caught sight of the time and decided she should go back down and check on him. She was angry, but that didn't mean she'd stopped caring.
He was on the couch, flipping through some of his books, his usual pastime lately when he wasn't sleeping. She hadn't asked him much about it, so she didn't know if he was researching his problem, or hers. She hoped it was his, because she felt that was the more urgent situation right now. She still had hope that her own problem would work itself out in time, but his... well, she doubted the demon mafia was just going to back off on their own.
"How are you doing?" she asked once she reached the bottom of the stairs. Her standard greeting these days. "Do you want some lunch?"
Lindsey flipped between working on both their problems, and was waiting on hearing back from Anya and Sylar. He had hacked into Wolfram and Hart, but his files were suddenly locked up so tight he couldn't figure out all the encryptions in time before the IT department noticed him. It wouldn't do either of them any good to have Lindsey arrested for computer hacking, and legally too.
As for still sleeping on the couch, part of it was due to him not wanting to bother with the stairs. He would still get dizzy at times, and he didn't want to risk it. But part of it was because he didn't know how he was feeling towards sharing Cordelia's bed again. He knew she was still angry, and by staying downstairs he avoided having to be in that space, and risk having to deal with more questions and talk about things. Every time they tried, they kept going in circles and he refused to continue.
At the moment he was in a Bri'ahn book, looking at the way contracts work within their clan. If he couldn't find a loophole on the W&H end, he might be lucky enough to find one on their end.
Kona, used to Lindsey being downstairs all the time now, was sitting on the couch at Lindsey's feet. When Cordelia entered, he lifted his head, tail wagging.
"I'm alright," he said, not looking up right away. He put a post-it note at the spot he was stopping at, then closed it on his lap. "Depends. Are you cooking?" He tried a teasing smile.
"Only if you count making sandwiches as cooking." She smiled back, a little bit, then turned towards the kitchen. She took about three steps before she felt the vision coming, and grabbed for the wall. Once again, the Powers were giving her close to no warning.
She managed to gasp, "vision!" before she lost all control and slid down the wall, holding her head between both hands as though she were trying to keep it from bursting. Which she supposed she was, as silly as it sounded. When the visions hit now, it was almost like having a seizure. A skull-crushing, screaming seizure. If there was no one to hold her steady, or no way to wedge herself against the wall and keep still, she was likely to hurt herself. It wasn't pretty, which was part of the reason she'd tried so hard to keep them to herself. Even now that people knew, she had still hoped she would be able to keep hiding them. Having that one at the agency had been embarrassing enough.
The second she stopped to grab the wall, Kona's ears flattened against his head and he whimpered. The book was out of his lap instantly and Lindsey jumped off the couch and made his way to her as fast as he could. He would have tried to hold her up by TK... but his magic hadn't exactly come back to him yet. It was there, he could feel it... but just not accessible.
No matter. He rushed to her and grabbed her, carefully helping her down to the floor and holding her in his arms while she went through the vision. There was a pang of guilt that hit him, but he took a deep breath and focused on making sure she didn't hurt herself until it was over.
She wasn't even aware that he'd caught her until the vision ended - that's how all-consuming they'd become. She'd forgotten before how bad they could be, and with every one she had, she realized more and more how much she'd taken for granted her part-demon ones.
For a few minutes after it ended, all Cordelia could do was lean against Lindsey and close her eyes against the light. She waited for her breathing to even out and her heart to steady, then took a deep breath and tried to sit up again.
"I'm okay."
"You sure?" He wanted to hold her longer, as if it was a way to make it all better. But Lindsey knew it wasn't, and when she started to sit up and pull away, he let her. "Want me to get you something? Water? Your pills?"
He knew where she hid them now
"Yeah, thanks." She actually wasn't okay, but it was instinct to say it. Instinct to do what she could to keep people from worrying too much.
She motioned towards her purse, even though she knew he knew they were in there. "One of each, and some water. They taste nasty when I swallow them dry."
God, her head was killing her. She closed her eyes again and leaned against the wall while she waited for Lindsey to get everything.
Lindsey got back up, heading into the kitchen to get the glass of water and find her purse.
Kona walked over slowly, whimpering a bit, then put his puppy head in Cordelia's lap, licking her hand.
Lindsey came back, kneeling on the floor and handing her the pills and water. "What did you see?"
She waited until she'd taken the pills and drank half the water before turning back to him and answering.
"It's a New York one. I'll call Angel later and tell him about it." Later, because she'd learned if she called him too soon after a vision, he'd hear something was wrong in her voice. She was going to tell him about the visions later that week, but until then, she'd rather he not get too suspicious.
She closed her eyes again and scratched Kona's head, not feeling strong enough yet to get up.
"Sorry about lunch. I don't think I'm going to be able to make those sandwiches for a while."
Look! He didn't even flinch or make a face at the mention of Angel! Which could be a sign that he's too worried to care, or getting better in keeping his expressions in check. Either way...
"I wasn't that hungry anyway." He kicked his feet out, sitting against the wall next to her. "We can just order something later."
It's too bad she hadn't been paying any attention to his reaction to notice that lack of it. She would have bee proud.
"All right." There wasn't much conviction in her voice, mostly because she was in too much pain to care about eating anymore. It seemed like the meds took longer to work with every vision.
Sighing, she shifted around to get more comfortable and leaned her head back against the wall.
"Thanks for catching me."
"Well, I couldn't just let you fall down," Lindsey stated, reaching over to pet Kona's head.
"And I probably would have, if you hadn't been here." Now that the Powers weren't giving her any warning, she was in more danger every time one of them hit. Just when she'd thought they couldn't get any worse...
"God, I'd forgotten how much I hated those things. The pain is bad enough, but when they hit me that fast, and I don't even have time to sit down, I just... I feel so damn helpless."
Helpless is not an emotion Cordelia handles well, either. Usually, it makes her irritable at best, downright bitchy at worst. But lucky for Lindsey, she was too busy hurting to feel anything but pain, so she didn't snap at him the way she might have otherwise. She just sighed again and rested her head against his shoulder. It was a small concession, a brief truce in the cold war that'd been raging silently between them. Not quite a laying down of arms, but it's a start.
It had been a long weekend; possibly even longer, in some ways, than the one before it. While Lindsey was home now, things between them were strained and awkward, and most of their time was spent apart: him downstairs on the couch and her up in their bedroom. Where she slept alone. They agreed it was because he was still weak and it would be easier if he didn't have to deal with the stairs, but deep down, they both knew it was more than that. Cordelia was still angry, and that meant she wasn't going to be sharing her bed until she cooled off.
Too bad for Lindsey that she never cooled off very quickly. Just ask Xander, or Angel. She could hold a grudge like no one's business.
Aside from a few minutes in the kitchen to get their morning coffee, Cordelia hadn't seen much of Lindsey today. She'd been upstairs on her computer for most of it, doing some research in between surfing gossip sites. (The Brangelina marriage will they/won't they stories were too juicy to pass up.) After a while, she caught sight of the time and decided she should go back down and check on him. She was angry, but that didn't mean she'd stopped caring.
He was on the couch, flipping through some of his books, his usual pastime lately when he wasn't sleeping. She hadn't asked him much about it, so she didn't know if he was researching his problem, or hers. She hoped it was his, because she felt that was the more urgent situation right now. She still had hope that her own problem would work itself out in time, but his... well, she doubted the demon mafia was just going to back off on their own.
"How are you doing?" she asked once she reached the bottom of the stairs. Her standard greeting these days. "Do you want some lunch?"
Lindsey flipped between working on both their problems, and was waiting on hearing back from Anya and Sylar. He had hacked into Wolfram and Hart, but his files were suddenly locked up so tight he couldn't figure out all the encryptions in time before the IT department noticed him. It wouldn't do either of them any good to have Lindsey arrested for computer hacking, and legally too.
As for still sleeping on the couch, part of it was due to him not wanting to bother with the stairs. He would still get dizzy at times, and he didn't want to risk it. But part of it was because he didn't know how he was feeling towards sharing Cordelia's bed again. He knew she was still angry, and by staying downstairs he avoided having to be in that space, and risk having to deal with more questions and talk about things. Every time they tried, they kept going in circles and he refused to continue.
At the moment he was in a Bri'ahn book, looking at the way contracts work within their clan. If he couldn't find a loophole on the W&H end, he might be lucky enough to find one on their end.
Kona, used to Lindsey being downstairs all the time now, was sitting on the couch at Lindsey's feet. When Cordelia entered, he lifted his head, tail wagging.
"I'm alright," he said, not looking up right away. He put a post-it note at the spot he was stopping at, then closed it on his lap. "Depends. Are you cooking?" He tried a teasing smile.
"Only if you count making sandwiches as cooking." She smiled back, a little bit, then turned towards the kitchen. She took about three steps before she felt the vision coming, and grabbed for the wall. Once again, the Powers were giving her close to no warning.
She managed to gasp, "vision!" before she lost all control and slid down the wall, holding her head between both hands as though she were trying to keep it from bursting. Which she supposed she was, as silly as it sounded. When the visions hit now, it was almost like having a seizure. A skull-crushing, screaming seizure. If there was no one to hold her steady, or no way to wedge herself against the wall and keep still, she was likely to hurt herself. It wasn't pretty, which was part of the reason she'd tried so hard to keep them to herself. Even now that people knew, she had still hoped she would be able to keep hiding them. Having that one at the agency had been embarrassing enough.
The second she stopped to grab the wall, Kona's ears flattened against his head and he whimpered. The book was out of his lap instantly and Lindsey jumped off the couch and made his way to her as fast as he could. He would have tried to hold her up by TK... but his magic hadn't exactly come back to him yet. It was there, he could feel it... but just not accessible.
No matter. He rushed to her and grabbed her, carefully helping her down to the floor and holding her in his arms while she went through the vision. There was a pang of guilt that hit him, but he took a deep breath and focused on making sure she didn't hurt herself until it was over.
She wasn't even aware that he'd caught her until the vision ended - that's how all-consuming they'd become. She'd forgotten before how bad they could be, and with every one she had, she realized more and more how much she'd taken for granted her part-demon ones.
For a few minutes after it ended, all Cordelia could do was lean against Lindsey and close her eyes against the light. She waited for her breathing to even out and her heart to steady, then took a deep breath and tried to sit up again.
"I'm okay."
"You sure?" He wanted to hold her longer, as if it was a way to make it all better. But Lindsey knew it wasn't, and when she started to sit up and pull away, he let her. "Want me to get you something? Water? Your pills?"
He knew where she hid them now
"Yeah, thanks." She actually wasn't okay, but it was instinct to say it. Instinct to do what she could to keep people from worrying too much.
She motioned towards her purse, even though she knew he knew they were in there. "One of each, and some water. They taste nasty when I swallow them dry."
God, her head was killing her. She closed her eyes again and leaned against the wall while she waited for Lindsey to get everything.
Lindsey got back up, heading into the kitchen to get the glass of water and find her purse.
Kona walked over slowly, whimpering a bit, then put his puppy head in Cordelia's lap, licking her hand.
Lindsey came back, kneeling on the floor and handing her the pills and water. "What did you see?"
She waited until she'd taken the pills and drank half the water before turning back to him and answering.
"It's a New York one. I'll call Angel later and tell him about it." Later, because she'd learned if she called him too soon after a vision, he'd hear something was wrong in her voice. She was going to tell him about the visions later that week, but until then, she'd rather he not get too suspicious.
She closed her eyes again and scratched Kona's head, not feeling strong enough yet to get up.
"Sorry about lunch. I don't think I'm going to be able to make those sandwiches for a while."
Look! He didn't even flinch or make a face at the mention of Angel! Which could be a sign that he's too worried to care, or getting better in keeping his expressions in check. Either way...
"I wasn't that hungry anyway." He kicked his feet out, sitting against the wall next to her. "We can just order something later."
It's too bad she hadn't been paying any attention to his reaction to notice that lack of it. She would have bee proud.
"All right." There wasn't much conviction in her voice, mostly because she was in too much pain to care about eating anymore. It seemed like the meds took longer to work with every vision.
Sighing, she shifted around to get more comfortable and leaned her head back against the wall.
"Thanks for catching me."
"Well, I couldn't just let you fall down," Lindsey stated, reaching over to pet Kona's head.
"And I probably would have, if you hadn't been here." Now that the Powers weren't giving her any warning, she was in more danger every time one of them hit. Just when she'd thought they couldn't get any worse...
"God, I'd forgotten how much I hated those things. The pain is bad enough, but when they hit me that fast, and I don't even have time to sit down, I just... I feel so damn helpless."
Helpless is not an emotion Cordelia handles well, either. Usually, it makes her irritable at best, downright bitchy at worst. But lucky for Lindsey, she was too busy hurting to feel anything but pain, so she didn't snap at him the way she might have otherwise. She just sighed again and rested her head against his shoulder. It was a small concession, a brief truce in the cold war that'd been raging silently between them. Not quite a laying down of arms, but it's a start.