Starring:
Summary: Everyone is BFF! No really! Why wouldn't they be!?
Date It Happened: January 23rd, 2008
Log Title Best Friends Forever
Company Hospital Facilities
So many of their meetings are in hospitals lately. It kind of sucks, but hey, what can you do when you work a dangerous job? One day, they'll all retire and laugh about these terribly trying times like old war buddies, but for now, they have to hang out in the bunkers together, and hope that the next time they get shot isn't their last.
She waited for a time when Benjamin was asleep before she arrived. It's a hospital, so he was bound to nod off eventually, so she patiently waited outside the room until he did. Then she moved in, setting up shop around his bed. Only it's more like she's pulled a chair up to the bed, plopped down in it, and propped her feet up on the bed.
To entertain herself, she's looking through a file. It's a very interesting one, by the look on her face, with a decent stack of papers inside.
This is a familiar setting. A hospital room. Surgery to fish a bullet out of the body. Although just a short few months ago in Australia, the bullet made a clean exit. So this is just /pleasant/. No really. Benjamin's /so/ happy to find himself back in a hospital room. So happy he forgets to even think sarcastically. The IV full of happy fun painkillers and antibiotics have done well to keep him in a fuzzy haze. So, it's no surprise that he hasn't noticed Meryl's arrival thus far. He hasn't had very many moments of clarity since being brought in.
"Nngh.. Vote 'em off.. stupid hair." Benjamin mutters as it seems like he just might be waking up any moment now.
Oh-ho! He is stirring! This is a positively excellent sign. Meryl smiles to herself, continuing to page through the folder with a constant flick, flick, flick of pages, eyes scanning over the documents without much focus, while still maintaining that keen interest about her. Idly, she looks up at the heart monitor, then back down at her papers.
"Are you dreaming about yourself?" she asks, nudging him with the toe of her shoe. Stupid hair just about covers it, and she's made no secret of thinking that the style looks - quote - like a 'baboon's arse.' Granted, he's not the only one with 80's hair. Meryl, when she puts her mind to it, can really get a horrible style going with hers. At the moment, though, the blonde-streaked black mess is pulled back into a ponytail.
Someone must have had American Idol or a recap on at some point on the room's television. That would explain things. Maybe. Without lifting his head, Benjamin tilts on his pillow once. Wrong direction. So slowly he tries this again, oh there she is. "Heeeeey.. what are you in for?" A large and dopey grin spreads across his face. "I'd hug you but I don't think I can move.. n'the.. I forgot what I was gonna say. You look like a skunk. But a cute one." He has no idea where he is or what he's saying just yet.
"Aw, you like it!" Meryl says. It's likely she was doing laundry and accidentally splashed bleach in her hair. This would not be a stretch.
Holding up the papers she has, she says, "I made a full copy of your file. They really go into detail in these things, yeah? I mean, right down to the security pictures from the bathroom on the third floor of the ol' Hartsdale facility." She laughs, giving Benjamin an incredulous look. "What were you doing in there?"
Hint: There aren't really any pictures.
"Anyway, it says here that you're a CPA. But it's the one thing in the whole file that no one ever thinks to, you know, define. So." She pulls out a piece of yellow steno paper. "I've taken the liberty of making a list of what I believe CPA might stand for. Tell me when I get close."
And so Benjamin can't tell her… Well, she picks up a pair of bulky headphones from under the chair and puts them over her ears. "First: Car Park Attendant. Second: Circular Probe Area. Third: Crashdump Pool Analyzer. Fourth…" And she will go on. And on. And on.
Benjamin stares at Meryl, that dopey grin fading to a blank stare as the woman goes on. "S'an inva..uh.. not right. Takin' pictures when you're on the toilet." Maybe he's buying what Meryl's saying or he's just continuing that train of thought.. which quickly derails. "Certified.. public.. asshole.." is what he says when she's confused by the acronym CPA. Not that she can hear him. Now that Meryl's added a pair of headphones over her ears. "Why'd you ask if you aren't gonna listen?" Aaah, pointless question. He even tries to reach a hand out to clumsily grab for some papers. Well, that's what the general idea was in his head. Needless to say, the arm isn't raised. At all. Just even trying to move it at the moment is /not/ happening. Not with the fresh stitches, the bandaging and the sling.
And Meryl deftly maneuvers the file away from Benjamin's grasp!
"Thirteenth: Cut and Paste Artist. Fourteenth: Colorado Payphone Association. Fifteenth: Co-Polymer Alloy." Every once in awhile, she looks up to see if she's close. Of course, she looks behind her, which is telling her absolutely nothing, but that would be the point.
Sometime later: "One hundred: Certified Public Accountant." At this point, she takes off the headphones, and places them over the arm of the chair she's in, smiling broadly at Benjamin. Oh, she's well-aware that she just put him through ninety-nine volumes of torture only to get the right answer last, but she looks completely innocent all the same. "So, were any of those close?"
That was torture? Benjamin blanked out through a good percentage of it! "Mmmm?" he asks placidly. "Nooo.. I gave you the right one but you weren't listening.. but the last one you said was good." He shuts his eyes, humming the Smurfs theme a little to himself. "What were we going on about?" Opening his eyes, he turns his head, smiling at Meryl the way you normally do after about five tequilas. "Where's the cat?"
Aw! This is awesome! He's like mini-Meryl right now! She needs to find some makeup and decorate him while he's asleep. She'll do that soon, but for now, there's the question about where Tiger's gotten off to. "He's safe in my apartment." And by that, she obviously means that he's not safe at all, judging by the amount of not-safe stuff she has everywhere. Meryl will later go home to chaos, pick everything up, and repeat tomorrow.
What fun is the world without a little uncertainty?
"I brought you a gift, too." Prepare for something like a brick, Benjamin! Reaching into her bag, she pulls out a small jewelry box, and hands it to him. "This was going to be a 'just because' present, but you went and got yourself shot, so now it's a 'get well' present."
"I hate being a bad guy," Benjamin mumbles. "Stupid getting shot. /Just/ healed from the last ti.. huh?" Meryl said the cat was safe? Zoom. Right over the head, in one ear and out the other. "Hate this kidnapping stuff.. n'sorry 'bout messing it all up." What the hell was the Company thinking in recruiting him?? The offered box is stared at a moment, before he awkwardly reaches his good arm around to try and take it. "Aaw.. n'I didn't get you nothing. So sweet." Sure he says that now, but he hasn't looked into the box yet.
She doesn't say anything, but her expression is OPEN IT OPEN IT OPEN IT OPEN IT. Obviously, whatever is in there is something she's proud of.
When he does open it, he will find a bracelet that looks to be gold, with a charm on it. Just a simple half-circle with some sort of foreign writing on it.
Once he sees it, Meryl holds up the identical bracelet, only the charm on hers has different writing on it. "See?! Isn't it awesome??" she asks, fitting the two charms together so they make a whole circle. "They say 'Best Friends!' In Klingon!"
Benjamin fumbles one handedly with the box before he finally gets it opened. If he weren't high on morphine, he'd be mortified by this gift. Alas, in his current state, it's Teh Best Thing Evar. (Later, it's going on his keychain.) "That's so sweet of you Meryl. Haven't gotten anything this nice in ages." He also sounds so incredibly sincere, and that's not being sarcastic either! "What's Klingon?"
"To think I almost learned how to speak that language."
The calm voice of HRG announces his arrival as he enters the room, dressed in his usual suit. Glancing over the room once as he walks in, the senior agent merely moves over toward the foot of Winters' bed, looking over Winters' medical findings that are held in his hand. "One girl caused this much trouble for you two," he points out as he continues to look at the diagnosis.
What's Klingon? WHAT'S KLINGON!? Well, Meryl will just have to explain! …Later.
If there's one person Meryl doesn't mess around with, it's Bruce Willis.
And also Noah Bennet.
As soon as he walks in, the smile on Meryl's face falters, and she gets to her feet, putting the file folder with all of Ben's fake information aside. "Mister Bennet," she says. She's not going to argue, because Kitty was a hassle, honestly. Mistakes were made, and the end result was that the capture wasn't as quiet as it should have been.
"Uhoh, we're in trouble now.. Sssssh.. it's the boss man," Benjamin says to Meryl, taking no note or care that Noah's /right there/. "Don't tell him s'all my fault, stupid rookie," he says, holding his good hand up to his mouth and makes shushing noises. (Bracelet still in hand.) "Oh budgies, he heard me didn't he? Hi sir, please don't shoot me. Already been shot, kid beat you to it."
The eyes shielded by layers of glass glare toward Benji, only his condition sparring him from swift verbal retribution. Closing the file swiftly and decisively, the Company Man turns toward the more coherent member present (it's a sad day when Meryl is the more coherent one). "I seem to remember that we utilized the skills of a healer after the attack on Level 5… If Agent Winters is not able to leave this bed in the next couple of days, we will need find her or another one. We have work to do." It seems that the talk of Kitty is forgotten, or at least postponed until more urgent matters are attended to.
Meryl is going to kill him. Meryl is going to reach down and pull is larynx out through his nose, tie it in a knot, and put it back so he shuts. up. …Benjamin. Not Noah. You don't say 'Oh Budgies' to Noah!
Of course, telling Angela that she has lovely cankles is okay.
"Bekah Morgan is on call when we need her, Sir." She's never happy about coming in for something like this, but Meryl's beginning to think that Bekah isn't happy about anything ever. When you kidnap a person - even if it wasn't a kidnapping so much as a 'come with us or we'll kidnap you' situation - they tend to not like you very much. "I'll make sure I call her as soon as possible."
Benjamin's whole attitude goes straight to sober at Bennet's tone. Some things just translate through drugged fog. Lucky him, the boss man is /pissed/. "Don't need a healer, m'okay to get up." Just don't ask him to prove that he's able to get up. "S'all my fault, let her get out of my sight. Botched it all, won't happen again." Is he looking at Noah? Uh. No. HRG scares him. "We don't need to bother the healer." It's only a flesh wound, save it for more important and dire injuries.
The problems with the abduction isn't even noted, but it maybe unknown if that is a good or a bad thing. When a certain someone is involved, the rest of Company duties always fall by the way side. A slight frown appears on Noah's face, clearly disappointed with Winters' response. "You need to be at the top of your game, Benjamin. Soon I'll have a location. Once I do, we will move in and we will move in with all available agents. We have a sensitive situation and your unique skills will likely be needed. Both of you get as much rest as you can, you'll need it."
His stoney facade soon turns toward Meryl as he lays down the law in the way the Company always does. "If he is not at or near a hundred precent, be sure to bring in Miss Morgan if possible. Benjamin will have time to prove his worth in the days to come, not with attempts of machismo now." The folder is tossed on the bed with a causal flick.
Pissed, it seems like if he was any matter, that calm curtain he has over his true emotions would be torn down… The business calm understored by a harshness that only comes up when someone has REALLY screwed up or times are tough for Bennet and Company. "Unless you have anything pressing to speak with me, I have some other issues to attend to."
Well, this little visit turned into something that's going to keep Meryl awake for at least two extra minutes tonight. Dammit, Noah. Don't you know that she needs her beauty sleep? At least he's not shouting. Then again, were he shouting, it would be slightly less unsettling. Even if Noah were happy, he'd still be unsettling. Because he's Noah.
And he should never know that Meryl ever spoke with Claire. Ever!
EVER.
"I'll give her a call tonight," she says. Just to alert Bekah to the possibility of needing her to come in. "I think we're fine, sir. Thank you."
That was a bad or good choice of words. Noah always manages to drive home that 'You are expendable' talk from early on that he gave Benjamin. This just.. reinforces it. "Understood sir," Ben says as he finally looks in Noah's direction. If Ben could turn invisible, he would about now. "Is this the Peter Petrelli or Elle Bishop situation?" He doesn't know about the other development. Looks like he was a little out at the time that news started leaking. It's incredibly unsettling to be reduced to quaking in your boots as a grown man. He nods a little to Meryl as she says she'll call Bekah. "I.. Just say when. I'll be ready for the situation sir."
"When the time comes, I'll tell you what is needed, Agent Winters." Surprise surprise another Company mission with a 'need to know basis'. "In the meantime, focus on your recovery. If either of you are selected to join me, know it will be an important task. Good evening, Wolfe… Winters."
Without looking back, Noah makes his way out, likely to reassure his wife that their daughter will be home soon.