OOM: Room 6620, #4

[the_gene_genie]

 He hadn't dozed for long yesterday. And it had been another restless night, although not as bad as before - he still gave up in the end though, and slipped out of bed before Alex woke up. He thought she'd be awake by the time he got out of the shower, but no. 

He went downstairs for a pint. Ridiculous really, at that time of morning, but he always recommended the pub after long operations that finished in the morning, so why should now be any different?  

Of course, he got a bit more than he bargained for.

Which is why he's not trying to be quiet when he comes back into the room. If she wakes up, good. She needs to hear this.

Comments

[lady_bols]

Alas, she does not wake up. She is out like a light.

It may have been the best night's sleep she's had in the past three years.

[the_gene_genie]

He sits next to her on the bed, and brushes her hair back from her face. He shouldn't really wake her, but this is important.


'Bols.'

[lady_bols]

'Mmm.' She smiles in her sleep at the touch of his hand.

The sound of his voice isn't nearly as comforting. One eye opens.

'What's happened?' He isn't dressed to go home, so that's one small bit of relief, but his face tells her something has deeply disturbed him.

[the_gene_genie]

'Shaz is here.'

He's a touch paler than normal, and clearly shaken.

'From...same as you.'

[lady_bols]

She sits up, immediately, one hand on his arm, her concern for him derailed by the news.

'Shaz, here... You mean -- she came back from the pub?' Why? Why would she do that? Why didn't she stay with Chris?

[the_gene_genie]

'No. No, she never got there. Straight from the street to here.'

He feels like a shit.

'She's on her own. The lads aren't...I left her down there on her own.'

[lady_bols]

She tugs at the bedsheets, trying to sit up.

'Okay. All right,' she murmurs, still half-asleep and struggling to understand.

'What does she remember? What did you tell her?'

Information. She needs more information. And possibly, clothes.

[the_gene_genie]

'She remembers everything.'

He scrubs his hand over his aching eyes, and tries to collect his thoughts.

'I dunno what I told her. She thought you'd stayed. She thought maybe she wasn'...y'know, that maybe there'd been a mistake. I told her that's not what it meant.'

[lady_bols]

Alex takes a deep breath, her eyes closing for a moment. (She would have stayed, if he'd let her. But he couldn't. And he's here, now.) Her hand squeezes his arm, though whether it's to comfort him or herself, it's unclear.

'She didn't think she was still alive, did she?'

[the_gene_genie]

'Dunno. No. I don't think so.'

Who can tell?

'Think she was just hoping it, really.'

[lady_bols]

She scoots to the edge of the bed, holding the sheet around her midriff without any real attempt at modesty.

'Weren't we all?'

It's not really a question.

'What do you want to do?' Her first impulse is to throw on clothes and dash down the stairs to see her friend, but things are different now. And if his answer is anything other than drink a whole bottle of scotch in one sitting, then she thinks she might need to hear it.

[the_gene_genie]

'Don't know.'

And that's why he's going to start drinking pretty soon. He doesn't know what it means, or what he should do about it. He's glad to see her, and also wishes she weren't here. He wants to know where the lads are, and hopes they never turn up.

He takes a deep breath.

'I told her to come up if she needed anything. But you can't leave her down there on her own.'

[lady_bols]

One eyebrow rises at that, and her lips thin into a smirk.

'I think Shaz might object to the idea that she can't take care of herself, but of course I'll go down and welcome her.' Her tone gentles at the next bit. 'But you need to come with me. If she has questions, I want you to be the one to answer them. She deserves that much.'

[the_gene_genie]

'Like we've been looking after ourselves so well?' he mutters.

Because it's been pretty bad, and they've had each other for distraction. But he sighs, and gets up and heads for the Scotch.

'I asked her if she had questions, an' she said no. I don't want to make it worse.'

[lady_bols]

'She will.'

She watches him go, feeling the weight of their situation descend on her again. She can't imagine what Shaz is going through right now.

'And there are things I suspect you'd rather we kept between the two of us.' It's his call. She won't make that decision for him.

Getting showered and dressed seems an infinitely better course of action than sitting here brooding about it some more. Hot water is fantastic for providing some much needed perspective.

'Be out in a moment.' She doesn't close the door behind her. There's no need now.

[the_gene_genie]

He slumps down into the armchair, and stares forward. Maybe he should be trying to work out what he should say, what shouldn't get passed on, what he cares that people know or not. It's hard to focus on what he thinks about it. A large part of him thinks that he doesn't really have the right to hold anything back. At the same time, when he considers admitting what happened to him his insides recoil at once. So...no. Probably not that. But if she asks-

He drinks his drink, and gets another, and drinks that too. He'll still be sitting there, smoking distractedly, when she comes back.

[lady_bols]

She takes her time getting ready, using her regimen as an excuse to get her thoughts together. Hair and makeup and clothes, they're all armour of a sort. Only this isn't the look Shaz will know.

She's not quite the Alex Drake she was at Fenchurch, but then again, she's not quite the Alex Drake of 2008 either.

She wanders back out to the wardrobe, her towel forgotten entirely this time. Another set of clothes is waiting for her, and she doesn't even have the wherewithal to be surprised by that. Another simple silk tunic and couture jeans. And her favourite pair of trainers. That does manage to get a smile.

When she's dressed, she ambles back over and nudges his booted foot with a toe.

'You hungry, love?'

[the_gene_genie]

He shrugs a shoulder, and grinds the butt of his fag into the ashtray.

'She might not be there now. She was going to get a room.'

A bit more important than food, he thinks.

[lady_bols]

'Well...' He's right. But that doesn't make her any less likely to skip breakfast.

'Doesn't mean you and I can't go have a pot of tea and some eggs, does it?'

Her weight shifts, and she fiddles with the simple hoop earrings she's wearing.

[the_gene_genie]

He stands up, and scoops the room key up.

'C'mon then.'

Stuff it. Get it done. And he can always drink tea.

[lady_bols]

Again, she's swept along in his wake, only this time, she's smiling quietly to herself.

Tea cures a world of ills.

'You know... She's going to take one look at us and know we're sleeping together.'

[the_gene_genie]

'I already told her.'

He amends straight after.

'Didn't put it like that. Didn't have to.'

He glances over as they walk.

'I don' think we've got it tattooed on our foreheads.'

[lady_bols]

She grins, looking down at their feet, a bit of colour rising in her cheeks.

'I suspect they thought we already were.'

Not that they had an entirely professional and platonic relationship. It was always something more than that, at least that's how it felt to her.

[the_gene_genie]

'They had a pool going.'

Which he had suspected for a long time as well. It doesn't bother him, even if they should have had better things to do. It's just normal station behaviour, as far as he's concerned.

'She said Ray won. Or would've. She looked a bit sick about the whole idea, actually.'

Which is weird to him, but whatever. He hasn't really understood what they had, so he doesn't expect anyone else to get it either.

[lady_bols]

'A pool!?' All right, yes, that's a bit much for liking. She mutter something colourful about Ray's lineage under her breath, but smirks nonetheless.

'She probably thinks it's none of her business, and rightfully so.'

If Shaz has any other problems with her and Gene ending up together, well, she'll deal with it then. Right now, she just wants to make sure her friend and colleague is taken care of, settling in and what not.