Dollhouse Fic - There's Still Tomorrow; PG -13
Title: There’s Still Tomorrow
Characters: Adelle DeWitt, Alpha, Laurence Dominic
Pairing: hints of Adelle DeWitt/Laurence Dominic
Rating: PG-13 for violence, language
Word Count: 1,800
Disclaimer: I do not own Dollhouse
Notes: Set before 1x09
Summary: Alpha finds a way to get inside the Dollhouse.
Author’s notes: This is the first story I’ve written for Dollhouse. It might be a start of a series I’ve also decided that this will be the start of a series of one-shots because I don’t want to write an epic fic for Dollhouse. (because my epic fics are epic. Seriously. Epic. And the fact that I’m writing an epic fic for Alias is also a factor…).
Enjoy.
***
“So, they can be anyone I want them to be?”
The incredulity in his tone is quite obvious but it’s something she expects. After all, he is a new client and first meetings are almost always about explaining how this fantastical idea works and how it benefits them.
“Yes,” Adelle answers, “Anyone you want them or need them to be, they will. Within reason, of course.”
The new client - Mr. Davidson - is a large man with sandy brown hair, in his early 30s. She admits she finds him charming, but feels that his gaze is too unsettling.
“What if I want someone who can perform escape magic like Houdini and at the same time is,” he thinks for a second and then shrugs, “I don’t know, a world-class chef. If I request that, would you be able to give that to me?”
She doesn’t really know how anyone could cook while trying to escape a Chinese water cell (or how can anyone watch someone try to escape a Chinese water cell while eating), but if that’s what the client wants,
“I assure you that what we say we can do, we can deliver. “
She’s proud of her ability to read new clients and to be able to decipher what they truly want. She’s done it with every single client that entered her office. But this is a first for her. Adelle DeWitt cannot figure out what this client wants.
There is something about him. She couldn’t tell what it is, but it makes her immensely uncomfortable. She has met a lot of clients and Mr. Davidson isn’t like any of them. Yes, there is curiosity in his tone, with a dash of hesitation and excitement, but that was it. There’s neither a hint of depravity nor loneliness in his eyes.
“And how did you manage to get all these people?”
Again, a question that gets brought up by some of the new clients. Adelle believes that it’s a way to appease them of the feeling of guilt.
“They are volunteers,” she answers, unconsciously angling her head slightly to the left as she observes the new client’s movements. Smooth, but somehow, stilted-as if he’s trying to control his actions.
“And where do you find them?”
“They are everywhere, Mr. Davidson.” She replies as she stands up, “You just have to know where to look.” She had never purposefully stood up during a one-on-one meeting. This is another first.
The background check on Mr. Davidson yielded no red flags (and Mr. Dominic made sure to check twice), although that is not a guarantee that he’s not a complete psychopath. Instinct tells her that the new client is not to be trusted with any of their Actives.
“More scotch, Mr. Davidson?”
Wait. Maybe she shouldn’t have turned her back away from him. Adelle shifts to face the client.
She doesn’t see the empty glass of scotch flying towards her face.
***
The impact stuns her for a few minutes and when she opens her eyes, she finds herself sprawled on the floor. There’s loud ringing on her ears and the left side of her face feels like it’s on fire.
“A rose, a daisy, a tulip. A tulip, a rose, a daisy. A daisy, a tulip a rose…”
Her vision clears. Mr. Davidson is sitting on the floor, in the middle of the room. His knees are tucked under his chin and he’s rocking back and forth, mumbling.
“There are three flowers in a vase. A rose, a daisy and a tulip. The rose is red. The daisy is yellow. The tulip is green.”
Adelle grows tense and she can feel her heart beating faster. He had changed his face, changed the inflection of his voice and controlled his body language to fool her, but she was able to sense him. And now, she is stuck in a sound-proof room with a bloody lunatic-a lunatic they created with multitudes of skills and personalities that they bestowed on him.
“The third flower is green. The third flower is a tulip. The third flower is a tulip…”
She pushes herself up on the floor. There are shards of broken glass and crimson droplets around her. Blood trickles down the side of her face. She squeezes her eyes shut and ignored the throbbing of her head and the stinging pain by her eye.
Adelle takes a deep breath and opens her eyes once again.
“Hello, Alpha.”
He stops. The large man with sandy brown hair looks at her. And smiles.
“How are you feeling, Ms. DeWitt?” he asks, “I apologize for what I did, it wasn’t part of the plan, but there was a part of me that wanted to bash your face.”
She gives him a grim smile, “No need to apologize.” She says coolly, “How are you?”
He stands up and approached her, “I’m feeling alright, thank you for asking.” He answers and holds out his left hand, “Let me help you up. I won’t hurt you. After all, you have something I want.”
Adelle accepts the helping hand and feels herself being pulled up to her feet. She knows what he wants. She just doesn’t know if she’s willing to give it to him.
“And what is it that you want, Alpha?” she inquires. He is starting to drag her towards the computer. He might not hurt her right now, but she’s quite sure he will kill her. In eight seconds or less.
There’s a part of her that wants to run, to scream for help. But all that will only be hysterics, which will get her killed faster. The other part of her- the more dominant part - wants her to be calm. A switch underneath her desk will alert Mr. Dominic of the security breach and a team will come bursting into the door in less than two minutes.
She trusts Mr. Dominic and his security team in handling this situation more than she trusts herself.
Something changes on his face. “You know what I want.” His grip on her is firm and his fingers are digging into her wrist.
“Caroline.”
His expression changes again. Alpha beams almost giddily at her, “Yes. Caroline.”
Suddenly, his brows then furrow and he pulls her towards him, “I’m not going to kill you.” he says in a low tone. “I can inflict you pain, but no matter how much I want to kill you, I won’t be able to do it.”
Her heart is hammering hard against her chest. She had just witnessed Alpha going through three mood shifts in a span of a minute. Her chest tightens and the simple act of breathing has become difficult to accomplish.
“Show me where she is.” His tone sounds feral. She can feel her composure rapidly slipping.
If she shows him where Echo is, there’s a great chance that he’ll kill to get to her. Adelle thinks of the handlers, the staff and the Actives that he might encounter. They shouldn’t be put through this, not again.
“SHOW ME WHERE THE FUCK SHE IS!”
The switch is just under the computer. Maybe she should take this chance. It’s only a few steps away.
With all the quickness she can muster, she lunges towards Alpha. And with the shard of broken glass she hid in her hand, she slashes him on the face.
She hears a grunt. There’s blood on her hands. She becomes acutely aware of her surroundings. Adrenaline surges through her veins. It will only take a second, she thinks, it will only take a second to flick the switch.
Adelle turns towards the desk and reaches for the alarm.
Suddenly, a pair of large hands grabs her shoulders and pulls her away. She feels herself being slammed on the table.
Darkness pools around her.
***
“The third flower is green. The tulip is green. The third flower is a tulip…”
Choking. He’s choking her.
Alpha.
She wakes up with a start and she quickly sits upright, gasping for air. Sheer panic rushes through her body.
Run. She has to run, she has to escape this. She cannot take this anymore.
The smell of antiseptic assaults her nose and she stops. She suddenly becomes aware of a faint beeping noise coming from outside the room and the pristine white walls.
She’s in the hospital.
Immense relief immediately flows through her. Gingerly, she touches her face. There’s a strip of gauze by her left eye. She looks at her hands and sees dark bruises on her left wrist while bandages wrap her right hand.
“Ms. DeWitt.”
Adelle looks up and finds Mr. Dominic entering the room with a brown paper bag in his hand. In two large strides, he crosses the room and puts the bag by the side table.
“You shouldn’t be sitting up.” He says then starts arranging the pillows on her back so that she can lean on them, “How are you feeling?” Adelle can hear a hint of softness underneath his usually business-like tone.
She feels… extremely relieved. Tired. Scared. Probably on the verge of weeping her heart out.
Adelle musters a small smile, “I’m alright.”
His stare drills through her. “Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure.” She snaps irritably. A nasty headache is starting to manifest itself. She tries to ignore it, but she can’t help but let out a tired sigh. She doesn’t think she has the strength to maintain the façade that she’s alright. She’s in a hospital and no matter what, she can’t trick her brain into thinking she’s somewhere else because the smell of antiseptic is too strong.
“I’m sorry, ma’am.”
“No, I’m sorry. That was rude.” She massages the temple of her head, “I don’t suppose we can talk about work right now.”
“No, ma’am. But if it makes you feel any better, operations can start running again by tomorrow morning if all goes well. ” Mr. Dominic answers. He takes the chair from the side of the door and pulls it towards the bed, “I also brought you dinner.” He says as he sits on the chair and grabbing the paper bag from the table.
“Dinner?”
“It’s a little after seven, ma’am.” He hands her a sandwich in a plastic container, “Its chicken.”
Adelle stares at the sandwich. He gives no mention about Alpha, which tells her that they did not get him. Which means Alpha got to Echo. Which means she can expect a high body count when she receives the reports.
“We still have tomorrow, Ms. DeWitt.” She looks at him. He seems tired, “We’ll get Alpha and we’ll get Echo back.”
His posture indicates that he’s not going to leave her in this room and it somehow makes her feel at ease.
Adelle takes a bite from the sandwich.
Characters: Adelle DeWitt, Alpha, Laurence Dominic
Pairing: hints of Adelle DeWitt/Laurence Dominic
Rating: PG-13 for violence, language
Word Count: 1,800
Disclaimer: I do not own Dollhouse
Notes: Set before 1x09
Summary: Alpha finds a way to get inside the Dollhouse.
Author’s notes: This is the first story I’ve written for Dollhouse. It might be a start of a series I’ve also decided that this will be the start of a series of one-shots because I don’t want to write an epic fic for Dollhouse. (because my epic fics are epic. Seriously. Epic. And the fact that I’m writing an epic fic for Alias is also a factor…).
Enjoy.
***
“So, they can be anyone I want them to be?”
The incredulity in his tone is quite obvious but it’s something she expects. After all, he is a new client and first meetings are almost always about explaining how this fantastical idea works and how it benefits them.
“Yes,” Adelle answers, “Anyone you want them or need them to be, they will. Within reason, of course.”
The new client - Mr. Davidson - is a large man with sandy brown hair, in his early 30s. She admits she finds him charming, but feels that his gaze is too unsettling.
“What if I want someone who can perform escape magic like Houdini and at the same time is,” he thinks for a second and then shrugs, “I don’t know, a world-class chef. If I request that, would you be able to give that to me?”
She doesn’t really know how anyone could cook while trying to escape a Chinese water cell (or how can anyone watch someone try to escape a Chinese water cell while eating), but if that’s what the client wants,
“I assure you that what we say we can do, we can deliver. “
She’s proud of her ability to read new clients and to be able to decipher what they truly want. She’s done it with every single client that entered her office. But this is a first for her. Adelle DeWitt cannot figure out what this client wants.
There is something about him. She couldn’t tell what it is, but it makes her immensely uncomfortable. She has met a lot of clients and Mr. Davidson isn’t like any of them. Yes, there is curiosity in his tone, with a dash of hesitation and excitement, but that was it. There’s neither a hint of depravity nor loneliness in his eyes.
“And how did you manage to get all these people?”
Again, a question that gets brought up by some of the new clients. Adelle believes that it’s a way to appease them of the feeling of guilt.
“They are volunteers,” she answers, unconsciously angling her head slightly to the left as she observes the new client’s movements. Smooth, but somehow, stilted-as if he’s trying to control his actions.
“And where do you find them?”
“They are everywhere, Mr. Davidson.” She replies as she stands up, “You just have to know where to look.” She had never purposefully stood up during a one-on-one meeting. This is another first.
The background check on Mr. Davidson yielded no red flags (and Mr. Dominic made sure to check twice), although that is not a guarantee that he’s not a complete psychopath. Instinct tells her that the new client is not to be trusted with any of their Actives.
“More scotch, Mr. Davidson?”
Wait. Maybe she shouldn’t have turned her back away from him. Adelle shifts to face the client.
She doesn’t see the empty glass of scotch flying towards her face.
***
The impact stuns her for a few minutes and when she opens her eyes, she finds herself sprawled on the floor. There’s loud ringing on her ears and the left side of her face feels like it’s on fire.
“A rose, a daisy, a tulip. A tulip, a rose, a daisy. A daisy, a tulip a rose…”
Her vision clears. Mr. Davidson is sitting on the floor, in the middle of the room. His knees are tucked under his chin and he’s rocking back and forth, mumbling.
“There are three flowers in a vase. A rose, a daisy and a tulip. The rose is red. The daisy is yellow. The tulip is green.”
Adelle grows tense and she can feel her heart beating faster. He had changed his face, changed the inflection of his voice and controlled his body language to fool her, but she was able to sense him. And now, she is stuck in a sound-proof room with a bloody lunatic-a lunatic they created with multitudes of skills and personalities that they bestowed on him.
“The third flower is green. The third flower is a tulip. The third flower is a tulip…”
She pushes herself up on the floor. There are shards of broken glass and crimson droplets around her. Blood trickles down the side of her face. She squeezes her eyes shut and ignored the throbbing of her head and the stinging pain by her eye.
Adelle takes a deep breath and opens her eyes once again.
“Hello, Alpha.”
He stops. The large man with sandy brown hair looks at her. And smiles.
“How are you feeling, Ms. DeWitt?” he asks, “I apologize for what I did, it wasn’t part of the plan, but there was a part of me that wanted to bash your face.”
She gives him a grim smile, “No need to apologize.” She says coolly, “How are you?”
He stands up and approached her, “I’m feeling alright, thank you for asking.” He answers and holds out his left hand, “Let me help you up. I won’t hurt you. After all, you have something I want.”
Adelle accepts the helping hand and feels herself being pulled up to her feet. She knows what he wants. She just doesn’t know if she’s willing to give it to him.
“And what is it that you want, Alpha?” she inquires. He is starting to drag her towards the computer. He might not hurt her right now, but she’s quite sure he will kill her. In eight seconds or less.
There’s a part of her that wants to run, to scream for help. But all that will only be hysterics, which will get her killed faster. The other part of her- the more dominant part - wants her to be calm. A switch underneath her desk will alert Mr. Dominic of the security breach and a team will come bursting into the door in less than two minutes.
She trusts Mr. Dominic and his security team in handling this situation more than she trusts herself.
Something changes on his face. “You know what I want.” His grip on her is firm and his fingers are digging into her wrist.
“Caroline.”
His expression changes again. Alpha beams almost giddily at her, “Yes. Caroline.”
Suddenly, his brows then furrow and he pulls her towards him, “I’m not going to kill you.” he says in a low tone. “I can inflict you pain, but no matter how much I want to kill you, I won’t be able to do it.”
Her heart is hammering hard against her chest. She had just witnessed Alpha going through three mood shifts in a span of a minute. Her chest tightens and the simple act of breathing has become difficult to accomplish.
“Show me where she is.” His tone sounds feral. She can feel her composure rapidly slipping.
If she shows him where Echo is, there’s a great chance that he’ll kill to get to her. Adelle thinks of the handlers, the staff and the Actives that he might encounter. They shouldn’t be put through this, not again.
“SHOW ME WHERE THE FUCK SHE IS!”
The switch is just under the computer. Maybe she should take this chance. It’s only a few steps away.
With all the quickness she can muster, she lunges towards Alpha. And with the shard of broken glass she hid in her hand, she slashes him on the face.
She hears a grunt. There’s blood on her hands. She becomes acutely aware of her surroundings. Adrenaline surges through her veins. It will only take a second, she thinks, it will only take a second to flick the switch.
Adelle turns towards the desk and reaches for the alarm.
Suddenly, a pair of large hands grabs her shoulders and pulls her away. She feels herself being slammed on the table.
Darkness pools around her.
***
“The third flower is green. The tulip is green. The third flower is a tulip…”
Choking. He’s choking her.
Alpha.
She wakes up with a start and she quickly sits upright, gasping for air. Sheer panic rushes through her body.
Run. She has to run, she has to escape this. She cannot take this anymore.
The smell of antiseptic assaults her nose and she stops. She suddenly becomes aware of a faint beeping noise coming from outside the room and the pristine white walls.
She’s in the hospital.
Immense relief immediately flows through her. Gingerly, she touches her face. There’s a strip of gauze by her left eye. She looks at her hands and sees dark bruises on her left wrist while bandages wrap her right hand.
“Ms. DeWitt.”
Adelle looks up and finds Mr. Dominic entering the room with a brown paper bag in his hand. In two large strides, he crosses the room and puts the bag by the side table.
“You shouldn’t be sitting up.” He says then starts arranging the pillows on her back so that she can lean on them, “How are you feeling?” Adelle can hear a hint of softness underneath his usually business-like tone.
She feels… extremely relieved. Tired. Scared. Probably on the verge of weeping her heart out.
Adelle musters a small smile, “I’m alright.”
His stare drills through her. “Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure.” She snaps irritably. A nasty headache is starting to manifest itself. She tries to ignore it, but she can’t help but let out a tired sigh. She doesn’t think she has the strength to maintain the façade that she’s alright. She’s in a hospital and no matter what, she can’t trick her brain into thinking she’s somewhere else because the smell of antiseptic is too strong.
“I’m sorry, ma’am.”
“No, I’m sorry. That was rude.” She massages the temple of her head, “I don’t suppose we can talk about work right now.”
“No, ma’am. But if it makes you feel any better, operations can start running again by tomorrow morning if all goes well. ” Mr. Dominic answers. He takes the chair from the side of the door and pulls it towards the bed, “I also brought you dinner.” He says as he sits on the chair and grabbing the paper bag from the table.
“Dinner?”
“It’s a little after seven, ma’am.” He hands her a sandwich in a plastic container, “Its chicken.”
Adelle stares at the sandwich. He gives no mention about Alpha, which tells her that they did not get him. Which means Alpha got to Echo. Which means she can expect a high body count when she receives the reports.
“We still have tomorrow, Ms. DeWitt.” She looks at him. He seems tired, “We’ll get Alpha and we’ll get Echo back.”
His posture indicates that he’s not going to leave her in this room and it somehow makes her feel at ease.
Adelle takes a bite from the sandwich.