A. H. Wong

Chapter Seventeen

 

April 15th, 2010

 

Late Night

 

"Janelle...?" Maverick murmurs, scooting towards the place where she had lain. Finding nothing but an empty bed, she looks around silently. In the dim, dark glow of the stars, she spots Janelle by the window. She is nude, the moonlight alighting upon her curves. The soft globes of her ass, cast into shadow, shift softly as Janelle changes her weight from foot to foot.

 

Her heart racing, caught by the beauty, Maverick rises slowly to her feet.

 

Only to collapse back onto her ass, as she sees the abnormal backwards lean. The thick, dark material around her throat. The paleness in her lover's body.

 

Beginning to shake, she screams.

 

<3 <3 <3 </3

 

Forty-Five Minutes Later

 

"W-Will she....Did I wake up in time?" Maverick whispers, flinching from Taylor's hand. He sits beside her impassionately, waiting for the doctor to return.  The pair of them had been waiting for almost half an hour now, but the doctor has not yet returned.

 

Taylor lowers his hand slowly, making a mental note to not attempt to touch her. "I do believe you did, Maverick. He would not have been in there so long if she was a lost cause."

 

"S-So she--she could be alive in there?" she asks quietly, her body shaking now. Her eyes were red from tears already, but he knew that she had more than a few left in her to cry.

 

"I do believe she is"

 

<3 <3 <3 </3

 

Ten Minutes Later

 

"M-Maverick! I came as soon as I heard," Beatrix says softly, carefully lowering herself to her knees in front of the trembling girl. "I-I'm so glad you woke up in time. Have you guys heard anything?"

 

Taylor shakes his head, as Maverick doesn't seem able to speak. Beatrix shoots him a quick glance, before touching Maverick's arm. Unlike her reaction to Taylor's attempt, Maverick appears to welcome it, leaning softly into her hand. Keeping her eyes trained on Maverick's hair-drowned face, Beatrix orders, "Go fetch us some coffee, Taylor. Four creams, five sugars for her. Two creams and a sugar for me."

 

Taylor nods, not even bothering to question her. He rises to his feet, and hurries off to fill the order. As he does so, he remarks silently to himself upon the apparent soothing ability of very sweet caffeinated drinks.

 

As he preferred black coffee himself, he could voice no opinion, but supposed it must truly be for the best. It does, after all, appear to help them in times of trouble.

 

As he reaches the cafeteria, he gives a quick nod to the cafeteria ladies. They nod to him silently, allowing him to dart around and fill the required mugs. He chooses the biggest sizes they have, and leaves the room.

 

One day, he might just choose to take advantage of the cafeteria's willingness to let him steal--but today was not this day.

 

<3 <3 <3 </3

 

Meanwhile

 

"She is awake. Maverick, she has been asking for you."

 

"Is she...."

 

"You got to her just in time."

 

"Thank god...."

 

"Trust me.God had nothing to do with this."

 

The door clicks closed, leaving Beatrix alone in the waiting room.

 

She sits, staring at the door, silent.

 

Before too long, Taylor returns. He spots her, sitting there alone, and hands her her coffee. "I trust Maverick is in there, then?"

 

Beatrix nods, leaning silently into his shoulder. "Oh, god, Taylor...."

 

He holds her tightly, kissing her cheek. He kisses her forehead, smiling just a tiny bit. "I'm so sorry, Beatrix....I really am, but I'm here now. I'll be able to help you, I promise."

 

She looks at him slowly, tears forming in her eyes. Finally, she reaches to take his hand, still not looking away. He keeps his eyes trained on hers, smiling ever slightly. Before too long, she has leaned closer to him, pressing her lips to his. He flushes faintly, shaking his head when she pulls away. She blinks at him, but he soothes her with a whisper, "I'm not used to affection, little miss. I'm sorry, but it really is strange for me."

 

She blushes a tiny bit, nodding. "Yes, I do believe I understand. I really do...want us to work, you know? I mean....I essentially left Martin for you. I don't want that to count for nothing."

 

"And of course it won't, little Beatrix. I will ensure your love of me earns absolutely everything it deserves."

 

She goes silent after that, just curling up beside him. She sips slowly at her coffee, and he smiles when he visibly sees her begin to calm down. Sugar-better than intensive therapy, apparently, if the time was right.

 

Together, in silence, they wait.

 

<3 <3 <3 </3

 

Meanwhile

 

"Hey, guess what? There's supposed to be a dance soon," Sarah says, plopping herself down onto David's lap. He barely spares her a glance, too busy focusing on the game he was playing. When she realizes that he is, indeed, ignoring her, she doesn't bother moving. She, instead, kisses his cheek softly. "Don't cha worry about me, lovely. I'll be here when you're ready to actually pay attention to your girlfriend."

 

Finally realizing something potentially important was going on with his girlfriend, he glances at her--but not before pausing my game. "Uh, what do you want? I'm kind of--"

 

"Being a butthead, but that's all fine with me," she murmured, nuzzling into his neck. "I just wanted to tell my darling that there will be a dance soon, and I'd really...you know...want to take you. I want to go on a real date with you. We barely get any time to be a couple."

 

"Wait, how did....How did you hear that there was going to be a dance? That sounds weird as hell. You sure it will be for residents, and not just another money-making attempt?" he asks, frowning. He puts his controller down on the bed, angling his head at her.

 

"I heard Taylor muttering about it when I came into his office. Also, I saw him doodling what looked like decoration plans--sounds like it will be majorly cheesy. Like, think high school prom cheesy."

 

He laughed at that. "Girl, you and I both know that neither of us went near prom."

 

"Yeah? So? But, we all've seen the movies. Think about that dance in the movie with the...the uh telekinetic girl. With all the blood."

 

"I....You totally stole that movie from Taylor's office, didn't you? I know he'd never let that just hang around. Sounds too 'bloody'."

 

"Heh. Yeah, I stole it from him. No, I ain't going to give it back. Weird how I didn't watch it with you yet, though...."

 

David nodded, lying back on the bed. In the process, he dumps her onto her back, so she lies horizontally across his legs. He snickers softly, looking up at the plain white ceiling. "You know what I want to do one day?"

 

"What?"

 

"I want...all of us to go outside for once. You know how it is--other residences get to go out on all those nature hikes, but...not us. I wish I...."

 

Sarah moved, shifting and crawling to him so she could lie beside him. "You wish you understood why? Jeez, it should be obvious....They'd never let us go out there because we're apparently just going to kill each other."

 

David went quiet for a bit, shutting his eyes. "I'd never kill you."

 

"Yeah, but David....Would you stop at killing someone else, if you wanted to?" Sarah asked, looking up at him. She scoots closer, planting a soft kiss upon his neck.

 

"No, I....I guess I wouldn't."

 

"See? That's why we can't go outside."

 

David plants a kiss upon her hair, before asking her. "Did you hear that Maverick pro--"

 

"Proposed to Janelle? Hell's yeah. It's been going through the entire Agency. Fricken awesome news. Do you know how she got the ring? I heard nobody knows...."

 

"I wish I knew. I think...maybe she stole it?"

 

She just laughed. "Hell's no. There's no way that Master John, or Taylor, would've allowed a stolen ring. And I really doubt they'd let her steal enough money for it, either. Maybe she was turning tricks during missions?"

 

"Nah. That girl wouldn't put out to anybody but Janelle. I mean, when I...."

 

"You dog. Don't tell me ya tried to seduce her!" Sarah snapped, brushing her hair back from her face. She sat up, glaring at him.

 

"I-I....I uh...."

 

"You know what? Don't. Let's just keep cuddling."

 

Sarah and David stayed like that for a while, talking on and off. Laughter rose up at times, but it wasn't uncommon for either of their voice to snap in anger. Even so, they seemed calm enough together--love was apparent in them, even though it didn't seem to make much sense.

 

Before too long, though, their peaceful little world was interrupted.

 

A pounding at the door, a yelling voice. "Guys! Guys, you have to come out of there now. Janelle's in the infirmary."

 

They bolted to their feet, Sarah whispering as she went, "I knew it was too good to last...."

 

<3 <3 <3 </3

 

One Hour Later

 

"You're sure she's going to wake up again? Right? I mean....What if it was just a one-time thing? Shouldn't we keep her awake? I-I mean, with some things, isn't it dangerous for them to sleep?"

 

The doctor, a relatively old blond-haired man, just laughed. "Oh, if only you knew how adorable you are. You really don't need to worry--your girlfriend is going to be just fine. You only have to keep people with major head injuries awake--near strangulation? She can sleep as much as she likes."

 

Maverick sat down hard in the chair, staring at the figure of her lover. "W-Will the marks...."

 

The doctor nodded slowly. "Yes. The rope marks will fade. Meanwhile, the effects of all of this...won't. Do you know why she did this? Because, if you do, I would recommend avoiding all of that as much as you can."

 

"That much is obvious, good doctor, but you see....I fear that that is impossible," Taylor broke in quietly, glancing over at Maverick. He had sent Beatrix to the cafeteria, ordering her to fetch herself as much ice cream as the cafeteria ladies would allow, and told her to tell them it was on his orders. If his assumptions were correct, she would be in a sugary comatose state long before he finished up here. "Things are a good deal more complex than you realize."

 

"That, too, is obvious. Anything that involves you is usually complicated, and difficult, and hard to control, and foolish, and silly...."

 

"And you are abusing the use of the word 'and', and I would request you stop," Taylor replied, smiling ever so faintly. People's reactions to him were continually a source of amusement for him. "Shall we move on to the major matters, though? I feel we need to...."

 

"J-Just please, be quiet. If the doctor says she needs to sleep, then she...she needs to sleep," Maverick whispers. Her voice is shivering, shuddering--a storm barely held at bay. "Please leave me alone with her."

 

Taylor nodded, and stepped from the room. After a few quick words with her, the doctor followed him. When the pair of them had moved far enough away from the door, Taylor leaned against the wall. "So, Doctor Pavel, please tell me how you truly feel. Is Janelle going to be just fine?"

 

Dr. Pavel nods, but his face is strained. "I have to say that...she will be perfectly healthy on the outside--really, Maverick got to her in the nick of time. Any longer, and Janelle would have killed herself. Still, there is a lot more damage done to the girl than physical. And, forgive me, but I am curious. Do you know why she did it?"

 

"Ha. Yes, I know. But, no, I'm not going to tell you. It will be on the grape vine soon enough, so I'd like it very much for you to wait for that to happen."

 

With that, Taylor turned and walked away, not sparing anyone a backward glance.

 

Looks like he was going to see Beatrix early.