(Untitled)

[moraldyslexic]

Never before in his entire time on the island had Lennox been hit with so many disappearances at once. He was depressed as all hell, lonely, and pretty damn angry at the whole situation, but he hadn't talked about it much. There wasn't much to say and not many people left to even say it to, which was why he was sitting on the beach surrounded by

Comments

[robin_sparkles]

"See, that's cats for you," Robin remarked objectively, thumbs hooked in the loops of her jeans as she approached, figuring that Lennox definitely looked like he'd had better days and Robin always approached potentially emotional situations with caution. "Never listening."

[moraldyslexic]

"I think he just misses Miguel," Lennox answered, tipping his head back to look at Robin as she approached, offering her a faint but genuine smile. At least not everyone had disappeared, even though it sort of felt like they all had. "He doesn't know what to do with me."

[robin_sparkles]

Robin sat herself down with a heavy 'thud' beside him, reaching out her hand for the joint that she always counted on with Lennox. "So..." she tentatively started to speak, not sure she wanted to poke this bear, but already started. "Gone?"

[moraldyslexic]

"Not just Miguel, but Eddie and Lily and the kids," Lennox confirmed with a nod. That had to be some kind of a record, he figured. "Five people at once. Just... I don't know. Slap a label on me that says 'here to watch everyone leave'."

[crazyspacegirl]

River had hoped that the days of having to keep baby Zoe moving in order to keep her quiet had passed, but she hadn't accounted for teething. The fussing seemed a little bit easier to manage out in the open air than when confined inside Serenity, so Simon Chicago got some nice long walks on the beach. He stopped and looked back at River when he saw the gang of his siblings and friends romping in the sand.

"Go on," she told the dog, giving the baby a useless pat on the back as she wailed. At least one of them could have a nice time. "We'll just say hello to Lennox. That'll be fun, right Zoe?"

Zoe sniffled and chewed on the wing of her stuffed parrot.

[moraldyslexic]

"Fun for me, even if one pretty little lady looks unhappy about it," Lennox said as he looked up at River and Zoe, offering them both a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. It was good to see them, good to be reminded that he wasn't left totally alone here, but it was hard, too. Seeing Zoe reminded him that he'd never get to see Dylan grow up.

Hell, back home, Dylan might not even exist.

"How're you guys doing?" he asked.

[crazyspacegirl]

"Growing teeth is apparently very hard work. Also, it's louder than I would have expected." Zoe laid her head on River's shoulder and whimpered quietly, and River sighed. "And I don't really know what to do to help her."

River hadn't realized how much she had come to rely on Lily's advice about babies until she didn't have her around to give it anymore.

"Other than that, I suppose we're all right. How are you?"

[moraldyslexic]

Lennox lifted his shoulders in a deep shrug, because that was about as articulate as he could get with regard to just how crappy he felt. "You know," he said. "It sucks to lose anyone here, but it especially sucks to lose five people all within a few days of each other."

And it especially sucked when four of those five people were your family and when two of them were only kids.

[m_pinocchio]

The leg has been bothering him more lately, but even if he's abandoned baseball and the ITF and everything else, he still tries to get a run in. And running usually means thinking. He misses Lennox until he's almost on top of him, despite all the animals, and he skids to a halt, bending over his knees and panting.

"Jesus Christ, man." He looks around at all of them. "What's with the zoo? Looks like my house."

[moraldyslexic]

"Someone needs to take care of them, man," he answered, looking up at Mike with a small, faint smile. It was just going to keep happening and he knew it, but it still felt good to see Mike now. To know that he was still around.

"Miguel's gone. So are Eddie and Lily and the kids," he said, because it was easier to just say it than to beat around the bush. "I'm the lucky bastard who inherits all the pets when people go, I guess."

[m_pinocchio]

"Oh," he says, and drops down to a crouch, raking a hand back through his hair, feeling a little as though he's just taken a hard hit to the chest. For Lennox. Just... like that. "Oh... Jesus Christ. I'm sorry."

What the fuck else to say? But it sounds stupid. Inadequate. It always does.

[moraldyslexic]

Lennox nodded, because he was sorry, too. He was sorry that he let himself get all tangled up with people and he was sorry they disappeared, but he couldn't change either of those things. He loved people. And people here disappeared.

"Yeah, it fucking sucks," he said heavily. "There aren't even words, man."

[supersmeller]

There wasn't much to do when no one would hire them and his other job was nonexistent on the island. And after the whole thing with Quinn, Gus was definitely in favor of leaving the compound, even if it was really hot.

Which it almost always was.

However, it wasn't every day, even here, that one saw a guy surrounded by animals on the beach. Gus wasn't sure he wanted to be interrupted, so the plan was for Gus to just walk on by and never be noticed.

A well-placed stick in the sand ruined that plan, sending Gus stumbling like an idiot.

[moraldyslexic]

"Whoa, man, are you okay?" Lennox asked, watching the trip with a bit of a wince and then trying not to grin as King ran over to the man and began to nose his legs curiously. The other two dogs hung back and watched, but King decided to make a new friend and bounced in front of him, tail wagging and tongue lolling.

"Shit, sorry," he said, getting up. "C'mon, King, leave the poor guy alone."

[supersmeller]

Okay, so the dog didn't look vicious. It looked pretty happy, actually, but Gus was still cautious when he held out a hand for the dog to sniff.

To the guy, he said, "Yeah, I'm good," nonchalance in his tone. As if he hadn't just made a fool of himself. As if his gaze wasn't still glued to the dog, just in case it decided to attack.

[moraldyslexic]

"He won't bite," Lennox assured him. "That's King. The two hanging back there are Hal and Gordon. They're good dogs. They're friendly."

He paused, watching the guy, then added, "I'm Jim."

[hymned_in]

"I've never seen a cat on the beach before," Eugene says by way of greeting, his hands thrust into his pockets as he pauses in his walk down the shore. Not that he'd spent a whole lot of time at the beach, relatively speaking, but there'd never been any cats there when they'd gone on vacation to Gulf Shores.

Canting his head, he regards the clearly-miserable kitty. "Not that that one looks happy about it."

[moraldyslexic]

"No, he looks pretty damn unhappy about it, doesn't he?" Lennox asked as Angelo yowled again, then made a beeline for the other guy, trying desperately to sit on his feet.

With a wry twist of his mouth, something that was almost a smile, Lennox lifted his eyebrows. "But he certainly seems to like you."

[hymned_in]

When Eugene stoops down to scratch the cat behind the ears, it's mostly instinctive; he's always liked animals, and particularly appreciates them since the end of the war. They don't ask questions and never judge you.

"He have a name?" he asks, stooping down to better pet the cat.

[moraldyslexic]

"Angelo," Lennox answered, watching the guy pet the cat. "And I'm Jim. He used to belong to a friend of mine, he hasn't seemed quite the same since he disappeared."

But now... well, now Angelo seemed a little happier. Maybe not about being on the beach, but he was enjoying the attention, that much was obvious.