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 Posted: Sat May 29, 2010 1:23 pm
She had been sitting with Tony since the harried, nervous staff had let her in at eight in the morning. It was lunchtime now, and she was picking apart a piece of baguette, eating little fingernailfuls of bread with tiny pangs of nervousness. Being in the hospital with all these bodies reminded her of Barren Pines--and she had come through better than the others, but she still didn't like to think about it or remember it. At least the Princess still woke up. She was going to cling to that fact like glue. And Grayson as well, he was just fine.
Just fine...
The bluenette picked through her lunch box, opened up the tupperware of chicken alfredo and picked up her fork. Hardly anyone had come by for more than a few moments today, which was all right. It meant she could keep her vigil and not feel guilty--who knew who was actually related to Tony? Elke was only allowed to stay as often as she did because they thought she was related to him and no one seemed to have the heart to ask her to provide identification or proof.
She bowed her head a little further and poked her fork through the chunks of chicken and thick noodles.
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Posted: Sat May 29, 2010 2:22 pm
So his father was here, in the hospital of all places? It had been a bit of a difficult task, tracking the man down. Nathan's mother had told him that the man he wanted was Anthony Darrow, and that he worked at the library here, but she hadn't seen him in some ten years, and he hadn't seen her in seventeen.
He had no idea who was coming to visit him.
Through some searching, which probably could have taken less time if Nathan had been more diligent about it, he tracked down where Tony lived, and had broken in so he could sleep there. "Broken in" being asking the front desk for an extra key, and telling the old woman of his relation to the man. She believed him without any convincing, the old dear, and had let him in.
With all the crazy stuff going on, tracking Carol down was not fun. She told him that Anthony was in the hospital. So here Nathan was, standing in the doorway of his father's hospital room, staring at a young woman who was sitting at his side, eating her lunch. Was she some kid he had when he had when he got his life together? She looked a bit too old for that, but Nathan didn't know.
"I thought these visiting hours were for family only?" he said, coming into the room. He had his hands in his pockets, his dark eyes fixed on the man in the bed, though he spoke to the girl. That was him. His father. Not the impressive sight Nate had been hoping for. He saw tons of unconscious people in the hospital, but none of them were beaten up like Tony was, with his leg in a cast. What had happened to him?
Nate wasn't sure yet if he cared.
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Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 12:42 am
Why did perfectly good chicken, made just that morning, taste like rubber?... but then, the noodles tasted like rubber, too. Everything felt like chewing rubber anymore, so she set the fork back in her lunchbox and started to pack away the food. Just in time, too; she could hear footsteps approaching, and she didn't want to be seen eating over poor Tony.
The boy who entered was a stranger, but a little familiar for that. His eyes were the wrong color and the tips of his hair were strange, but the chestnut was Tony's color and the shape of his face was similar, too. She stared at him for a long moment, her hands still fluttering like nervous birds over the baguette.
"They are," she said in a small voice; "I'm, ah, his... his niece." She belonged here, she thought forcefully. She did belong here. This was her place. Elke would watch over Tony (when had he stopped being Mr. Darrow? When had she stopped thinking of how Elke Darrow would sound?). And when he woke up, she was going to give him a good long talking-to on not sneaking out of the hospital in order to go... somewhere. Then they could maybe get ice cream.
(They said he wasn't going to wake up; Elke knew better. Tony would be fine. He had to be.)
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Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 9:41 am
Nate watched her for a very long time, not saying anything. He just seemed to be taking stock of her, deciding who she was and what she was. His niece? She said it like she wasn't even sure of it, so Nate didn't believe her for a moment. Anyway, he had never heard of any family in all his research, so where would a niece come from? That would make them cousins, and he certainly didn't feel any familial bond with this girl.
Of course, that could be said about him and his father at the moment, but he hadn't had time to really figure Anthony Darrow out yet. And with him in a coma, like all the others, Nate now didn't know if he would get the chance.
"He doesn't have any siblings, so how could they have a kid?" he dared to say, almost certain that was true. If it wasn't, she could call him on it, but he'd take the risk this time. He had no where else to be, and nothing else to do, anyway.
His eyes moved to the prone man in the bed. He seemed to be quietly asleep, though that didn't prompt Nate to keep his voice down. He knew the man was unconscious, and not likely to wake up. Frown deepening, he returned his dark eyes to Elke.
"You're young to be a prostitute," he said, seemingly out of the blue. Of course, he was just being a jerk, as he knew his father had 'liked' them once, or else he never would have been born.
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Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 2:13 pm
Predictably, the longer he stared the redder she turned, returning her gaze to her hands. She wasn't even eating the tiny crescents of bread she was picking off the chunk of baguette anymore, just picking them out and depositing them on the wax paper the bread rested on. What could she say? Oh I know he doesn't have any siblings but I am a member of the Zodiac Guard and I intend to watch over Tony until he wakes up and you really can't do proper watching-over during open visitor hours, can you probably wouldn't go over well. He'd probably report her as a terrorist. It would be ridiculously hard to watch over Tony from prison.
She didn't answer his question. This was because he was correct, so he wasn't going to argue or defend herself. It was simply being honest. When he accused her of being a prostitute, she jerked, the lines of her shoulders going rigid. "I am not," snapped Elke, looking up at him, "I am--" but she didn't want anyone telling anyone any reason to doubt her story, so she had to be nice to this person who was actually seeming to check.
"I am the reason he's in here," she said, pulling her composure back as she straightened up. "So I'm waiting for him to wake up so I may apologize."
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Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 2:53 pm
"You put him in here?" Nate asked quickly, smirking. He came into the room, shutting the door behind him. He didn't explain why he was there, during family visiting hours, because he didn't think she needed to know. Plus, she didn't ask. He moved to sit in a chair against the wall opposite Tony's bed, watching the two keenly.
No, there was no resemblance between them.
"What did you do to put him in here? Is he that much of a wuss that he got beaten up by a girl?" It was a silly conclusion to jump to, and he didn't seem to mean it, but he watched Tony now, trying to figure out the unconscious man without any clues. Clearly this girl cared enough about him to stay here at the hospital and watch him, even eating here. So she must have liked him well enough. Did that make Tony a good man? Or just good with young girls?
Nate slouched in the seat, tilting his head at her.
"You can relax, I'm not going to get you thrown out of here," he said, noticing she was tense.
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