savetheearth | [ closed log but you probably wouldn't want to be here anyway ]

Who: Elizabeth and Jack
What: Jack's run away from his responsibilities for the last time. :|
When: Backdated to the late night of/morning after of their run-in with Blood Keys.
Where: Elizabeth's apartment.
Warnings: None as of yet but subject to change.

Weariness had sunk into Elizabeth's very bones. From the very moment she first stepped off that plane to find vertigo upon her, besieged by memories of things she should have known, that she had no business forgetting, she felt spread too thin. There was simply so much to take in all at once, so much to react to and scramble after, and she had let so much time slip by already that she couldn't waste another moment.

By now it was all a dizzying blur of sensation, of too-bright streetlights and gunshots and the thick, nauseating smell of blood. Stumbling towards home, Elizabeth found it difficult even to keep upright, so physically spent and emotionally exhausted. It had been over an hour before anyone at the hospital could even tell her that Banagher was going to be fine. He'd lost a considerable amount of blood, and it took some time before they were able to stabilize him. Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to leave the hospital until she had been reassured that there was nothing more her presence could do. One of the nurses had noticed her nearly passing out sitting upright in the waiting room and urged her to get some proper rest before she needed to be checked in as well.

Now here Elizabeth was, and she knew her work was not yet done. There was still one very large matter to see to before she could sleep.

Coming up to her front door, she drew in a deep breath and knocked. She'd given Jack her only key, after all. The spare was sitting in her nightstand drawer.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

One large matter, definitely not cleaned up, and slumped in her couch after leaving the machine gun lying across the coffee table.

He'd hoped to make it up as stealthily as he could, but whatever was going on internally ran screaming up every nerve as he'd approached the building. There was no way he could collapse in the middle of the street... Jack had dragged himself in through the front door, up the stairs. Now, in the wee hours of the morning, it's not likely that anyone saw him... but all it would take is one person glancing out their window at the wrong time to see a ragged figure with a fully automatic weapon staggering into an apartment complex.

Damn it. Damn it all. Everything was falling apart. Again. He just had to stay long enough to assuage Elizabeth's concerns. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like that was exactly going to be easy...

At least whatever was going on internally wasn't so bad now, just a strangely discomforting feeling each time he moved, and the knock at the door was enough to jerk him out of his unpleasant reflection, moving quickly to the door.

At least a quick check of the peephole showed it wasn't any trouble yet. Or, trouble from the authorities, at least.

"How's he doing?" were the first concerned words out of his mouth as soon as Elizabeth was inside, closing and bolting the door behind her.

"He's stable. It was a clean shot, miraculously lucky they said, but he lost a lot of blood," Elizabeth answered as she ducked inside, giving Jack a quick once-over to see what shape he was in. At least he didn't appear to be actively bleeding, but-- He looked pale, and... Something was off. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Frowning, she gestured him sharply back to the couch.

"Sit back down." Stepping into the kitchen, Elizabeth set herself upon the task of getting Jack some water and something to eat. She hadn't gotten the chance to go grocery shopping just yet with everything else that was going on, but there were canned goods tucked away around here somewhere--

Aha.

Before long Elizabeth was returning with a bowl of soup in one hand and a glass of water in the other, and god help you Jack Sears if you weren't seated on the couch again as she asked.

"How are you feeling?"

He knew well enough by now not to try anything other than sitting back down, and considered passing his problems off with the usual rough 'I'm fine'. But with no other explanation for the circumstances, he decided against prevaricating.

"Not so good. Had to come in the front. With any luck, nobody saw me. But, well, I don't know about you, but I don't think I'm that lucky these days."

After setting both items in her hands on the table before Jack, Elizabeth settled herself down on the couch next to him, shifting to inspect him a bit more thoroughly now that there was time to.

"Oh, I don't know, Jack. Something tells me luck only has a little to do with it," she quipped in response, expression and tone both rather severe. That being said, Elizabeth sighed to herself and her expression softened some as she shook her head just so, reaching up to brush some of Jack's hair out of his face. She saw him take a fairly hard blow, and unlike Banagher simply taking him to the hospital wasn't even an option for them.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. If there is any trouble, we'll deal with it somehow. Now where does it hurt...?"

She was a mechanical engineering student, not any kind of premed, but, well. She had the ability to Google things and a bank account with quite a few zeroes tacked on at the end, so surely between the two of them they could figure something out.

"Somehow, huh..." Though he didn't shy away from the touch, the look that crossed his face was somewhere between mildly exasperated and long-suffering tolerance. There was already a pretty good bruise swelling on his temple where he was hit that would probably be good and black tomorrow.

Jack hadn't really talked with anyone about the flashes of another life he's gotten. There'd never been a reason to, especially when they'd been so fragmented to be unable to guess at the full story. And with that pulse attached to another sudden recollection, there was no obvious reason to suspect it was related to his current state... but on the other hand he'd never felt anything quite like this paricularly odd sensation before.

"Head'll be fine. Just give me a few minutes and I bet it'll pass," he said, and paused, taking a moment to collect his thoughts before trying to head off Elizabeth's help at the pass. "I know you think you're doing what's best here, Liz. But have you looked at the network lately? Kept up with the news at all? Maybe the manhunt for me has cooled off, but the amount of attention everyone on the network is getting from the authorities just keeps on going up. You think it's going to do anyone any good, having someone like me lurking around?"

"I'm under no delusions that I'm doing what's best, Jack," Elizabeth answered with a sigh, reluctantly drawing her hands back as she worriedly passed her gaze over him one more time for good measure. In a few minutes she intended to make a point to check his pupils for reaction to light, see if he'd gone and gotten himself concussed. But for now--

"Banagher is shot, and you're in fairly rough shape yourself. This is on my account, my actions, and I know that. However, what I do still believe is that I am doing the best that I can," she went on to say, hands folding in her lap to twist absently at the fabric of her skirts.

"I'm not certain what it is you think I am trying to do, Jack, but let me set the record straight here and now. I am not trying to be reckless, or selfless, or any sort of hero. I am only doing what I can for me and mine." Pausing, Elizabeth cast a hard stare in Jack's direction, lips drawn taut.

"And believe you me, I count you as one of mine. So yes, I do think it would do me a world of good to know that you are safe and well, and I would prefer it if we could put this topic to rest."

"Safe and well doesn't mean any--" Jack snapped before catching himself and continuing with a little less harshness in his voice. "So what, I just stay here until this whole thing blows over? A few months, years, god knows how long? Look, I... I appreciate what you're trying to do. But it just... can't end well for anyone," he added, recalling a few incidents months ago.

"And what does ending well mean to you?" Lifting her chin in challenge, Elizabeth stared Jack dead in the eye. She may have fought no wars in her time, not in this life or the last, but when it came to matters of debate and persuasion, Elizabeth was fearless in holding her ground. Jack snapping at her failed to make her flinch in the slightest, and if anything his aggression only emboldened her and made her that much more determined.

"Because I will tell you what it does not mean to me. It does not mean losing track of my friends for the illusion of safety. My safety will never be guaranteed. You understand that, don't you? As long as I am involved, there will be risk. And I fully intend to remain involved. Even beyond the network and this terrible business we must face--" Sighing, she folded her arms firmly over her chest, not breaking eye contact for a second.

"Life is risk. Living is meaningless if you become someone who does things you cannot live with. And I do not ever intend to be someone who cannot shelter her friends. Your days of running are over, Jack Sears."

[ closed log but you probably wouldn't want to be here anyway ]

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