2007-04-28: Contingency Plans

Starring:

Elena_icon.gif Lachlan_icon.gif Megan_icon.gif

Summary:

Lachlan finds Elena in Central Park and speaks to her about the recovery of memories after being Haitian'd. He also completely misunderstands the meaning of the word "constingencies" and sparks a very awkward vein of conversation. Megan shows up and faints, worrying her older brother immensely.

Date It Happened: April 28th, 2007

Contingency Plans


Central Park

The weather has gotten cold again. But it was nice enough out despite the chill. Elena leans back on a park bench, her hand up to shield her eyes from the dying sun as she looks at her purple-and-gold sky. The time was approaching twilight, the red tinges on the horizon are indicative that the sun was about to turn in for the day. Dressed in a warm, black coat, and a pair of jeans and some worn boots, she's even got a pull-down, knitted hat on to protect her head from the cold. A multicolored scarf ruffles against her shoulders and her cheek at the gust of wind that blows across the landscape.

People were just getting off work, she can see the executives and the blue collar joes milling a few yards away. School buses are busy driving children home from school. Manhattanites are walking their fluffy, white toy terriers that they favored.

Her gloved hand lifts up her styrofoam cup of hot chocolate, blowing softly against the lip, before taking a quiet sip.

There are a few great things to do on a cold day: smoke, a hot drink, sex, booze. Sex is out because Cass is at work, and booze is out because Lachlan swore he wouldn't drink in public without Cass, who is (again) at work. That leaves him with smoking and a hot drink. The drink in question is a latte from a coffee vendor in the park, the smoke is a cigarette freshly lit dangling between his lips. There's a dog with him — Max, the Doberman/German shepherd mix — and he wears his old leather jacket over his usual jeans-and-T combo. He almost passes right by Elena, except that Max picks up on her presence as soon as they're near. The Scotsman stops and offers a greeting: "Hey."

The teenager looks away from her sky, given someone tall and broad-shouldered looms over her. Elena lowers her hand, and while she doesn't see him right away, the accent was an instant giveaway. "Lachlan," she greets, giving him a cheerful smile and resting her hands on her knees. "Annnnnd….Max, yeah?" She offers her gloved hand for the dog to sniff. She doesn't pet him yet though, until the dog lets her. The dog WAS a shepherd/doberman mix. She isn't about to take any chances. "What's up? How was your day?"

Max gives a few sniffs of the offered hand and gives it a reflexive lick — but it's a glove, so ew. He sits on his haunches near the bench and wags his tail happily. The Scotsman at the other end of the leash gives a shrug. "S'fine." He rolls his shoulders, frowning a little and glancing up and off into the distance a moment. "Hey, uh. Cass said ye got yer head wiped by the …" vague gesture of the coffee cup "… Hasbrown guy 'r wha'ever his name is. From the … y'know." Maybe best not to be mentioning the Company out here in a public place.

She grins when the dog sits on his haunches in front of her, Elena taking off her glove so she could scratch Max's ears in a warm and affectionate manner. When Lachlan broaches the subject awkwardly, she doesn't seem to have heard him - though judging by the slight faltering of her smile, he can tell that it's a subject that she doesn't talk about too often for a reason. "Only a handful of people know. Cass is one of them, but yeah," she says. Finally, she looks up from Max to Lachlan, her expression serious despite its gentleness. "I….don't remember it, of course. But there were a few witnesses. That was the only way I knew that things weren't right. What's up?"

Luckily, there are /some/ subtle signs that Lachlan is able to pick up on when it comes to people and their emotions. He's only really dense when it comes to rejection and the like. He gets that this line of questioning might be a bit uncomfortable, and this only makes him all the more nervous. Crud. He takes a pull from the cigarette to steady himself and plucks it from between his lips with his (semi-)free hand. "Well," he starts before releasing the cloud in one whooshing breath, "'M just … ah … y'know, Cass. Tha' note ye gave 'er last nigh' kinda shook 'er up b'cause she knew one o' the names on it an' now she's freakin' tha' mebbe they'll wipe 'er head. An' I'm tryin' ta figure out how ta help 'er remember things if tha' happens." Things like himself, because that's the big important one. "Tol' 'er ta write stuff down an' give it ta me so I could hide it, but was just wonderin' if there's somethin' ye did ta fix yer head 'r wha'ever."

"…..really?" Elena says, frowning, and her eyes take on a worried cast. "Which was the one she recognized?" she asks. Hopefully Lachlan will be able to tell her what's going on. Because if Cass is worried, she's worried for a reason - a very good reason. She sits up a little straighter, and she could feel the waves of awkwardness and apprehension from the Scot. So without saying too much, she scoots over so Lachlan can sit with her on the bench. She rests her hand on Max's head, but slowly retracts it so she could put it back into her glove. "Lachlan…" she says slowly. "I…you know me. I hate to worry anyone. But the fact of the matter is…..no one fixed my head. Drake was apparently there when it happened to me, but they put me in a different room so he doesn't know what happened exactly. And then….he and Eric took turns trying to make me remember the things I forgot. Papa did too. To this day, though, I don't remember anything. I can only go by hearsay, these things I supposedly knew but forgot. They're from the people I trust so I don't have any reason to disbelieve them. But….if I'm going by memories alone, I don't remember. I don't remember anything."

Obligingly, Lachlan takes a seat on the bench, Max scooting over a little to accommodate the extra body nearby. The Scot shakes his head. "Dunno, dinna say. Somethin' 'bout a girl shook up the store while back." When Elena goes into her explanation, he listens attentively — but the more she talks, the more crestfallen he starts to look until he's finally just staring down at his hands wrapped around his coffee cup in his lap. But … Elena's got it /together/. She knows /everything/ (or, well, a lot; /Cass/ is the one who knows everything, obviously). Elena clearly can't /have/ big patches of blank memories. "So … tha' Hashbrown guy could totally wipe 'er head an' there's nothin' ta do 'bout it? She'll no' get tha' back no matter wha' I tell 'er?" By the look and sound of things, she might as well have told him that Cass was dying from cancer and had three months to live. His voice is very solemn and flat, withdrawn.

She pauses for a moment, and then, Elena leans back. "What I think," she says after a long pause. "Is that when people's minds are wiped, they're not absolute. They selectively eradicate memories that they feel compromises them in some way." She doesn't specify who 'they' are, but Lachlan can probably guess. "In Cass's case…since Dr. Aldric works for them, I don't think they're going to go that far in erasing -everything- inside her head. After all, she still has to remember her father, her childhood. But…." She pauses. "….to be honest if they did come for Cass, and they were successful in taking her, I don't know which memories they're going to take. Cass and I share information all the time, but there are some things she knows that I don't, and vice-versa. Maybe something can be done about it, but I don't know what it is. All I can tell you is that in my case, I don't….there's this hole in my memory that I can't call up, no matter how hard I try. Thankfully, they got to me -before- I learned about everything else. So what they took was probably inconsequential now compared to everything that I know now. Cass though….Cass is a different story. She's in too deep." She looks over at Lachlan. "So she's convinced that the Company is tipped off on her?"

Doesn't matter what Elena says; in his head, Lachlan's got it worked out to a worst-case scenario. /Anything/ that Cass loses memory-wise is going to have a major impact, and it's going to be rough. Considering how deep she /is/ into it, well … she stands to lose a lot. And that's troubling. The Scotsman is very silent for a few seconds, simply nodding a little in comprehension before he sighs and leans back again, taking another drag from the cigarette. "Dunno. Says mebbe no' b'cause they've no' come after 'er yet, but she doesna know fer sure."

"…I'm sorry," Elena says quietly. Because Lachlan looks like someone kicked Max right— no, no if someone kicked Max, Lachlan would be frothing in the mouth and wielding a deadly spud. But he does look like someone just told him that someone he cared about had some sort of terminal disease. While she doesn't know Lachlan well, she reaches out anyway, resting a gentle hand on his shoulder and pat-patting him there gently. "I told you, I don't mean to worry you. I mean…you're Lach the Tank though. The Scottish Surge! The Deadliest Man Who Ever Wielded A Vegetable! If there's anyone who could keep Cass away from them, it's you, right?" She tries to be optimistic, and she tries to cheer him up by tapping into his badass self. But even then it falls flat, and she exhales softly. "Have you guys talked about contigencies?"

Unfortunately, when Lachlan gets down in the dumps, it takes a bit to get him back out. When he flies high, he really soars; when he crashes, he /really/ crashes. With a lot on his mind at the moment, he can only offer a weak half-smile at Elena's attempts to cheer him up. "Yeah, sure." He sounds as confident as he feels: which is to say, not at all. Company people are scary, and Cass has already proven to be less than accommodating when it comes to his trying to keep her safe (read: locked away from the world in a very large and impenetrable vault). And then Elena asks a question with a big word and his brow furrows a bit. A … what? He squints at his coffee cup a moment, then his face lights up in what he /believes/ is recognition. "Oh. Uh, we used ta use rubbers, but now she's onna pill," he responds. The way the response is posed, Lachlan obviously has no idea why Elena would be asking about their form of birth control. Maybe she wants pointers for her relationship with Eric, who knows?

Elena is relationship free. But STILL! What was he going on about? The young woman sees the weak smile, but at least he's trying. She then pauses, when he turns the topic to birth control. The resulting reaction is rather interesting. First, the young Gomez is all smiles…and then it falters. There's a bit of confusion….and suddenly….she FLUSHES. Pink stains her cheeks, and she groans. "Lachlan, that wasn't what I meant!" she exclaims. "-Surge-. You know. Going forward forcefully? Pushing determinedly towards an inevita—" And then she pauses, and sinks further into her bench. "….nevermind." One day, one day she will laugh about this. She was sure of it. God, she was lucky Jack wasn't around. She'd NEVER hear the end of it. "So ….what do you think you guys are gonna do?" she asks, switching topics. "In case…you know?"

Wait, wait. Lachlan wasn't /talking/ about surging. He was talking about contingencies. Isn't that what a contingency is? He stares at Elena like she just started speaking Greek — until she asks the next question, and then his eyes go wide. It … wait, /whoa/. He never gave /that/ any thought before. That's just … his stomach just dropped into his shoes and he looks as though someone just grabbed him by the balls and squeezed. "Uh." The pause between the utterance and an actual coherent answer is lengthier this time as he fumbles with that answer. "I, uh. Uh. Dunno. Guess we'd, uh, try ta raise it? If Cass wanted too, I mean, b'cause I dunna care 'bout tha' abortion stuff one way 'r the other." It's quite possible that /one/ of them is speaking Greek.

And then, Elena stares. She tries to think about how she -got- to this point, but then she palms her face. She can't help it. She starts laughing. She rolls her head back and just lets loose. After wiping a few stray tears, she reaches out to clap Lachlan in a buddy gesture on his shoulder. "You…" she says with a grin. "And Cass make quite a pair. I'm kinda jealous." She winks at him, and she exhales. "And while I'm glad you're going to let your future son or daughter live….because you and Cass would probably churn out some pretty adorable children, I was talking about….you know. What you guys are going to do if they try to come after you guys. I mean, you're both living together now, right?"

What's so funny? Lachlan is Very Confused, and the more Elena laughs, the more confused he gets. Is … what … it … /what/. When Elena clarifies the subject of conversation, he looks first bewildered, then enlightened, then embarrassed. /God/. And when he gets embarrassed, Lachlan gets a bit broody. "Yeah, well, ye could o' said tha' inna first place," he huffs, slumping down into his seat a little more. "We're no' havin' kids." Ever. Because at this point in his life, the thought of children is /scary as hell/. He's still adjusting to life as a Boyfriend. Father's just out of the question. He settles down a bit at the new question and rolls his shoulders. "Nah, we're no'. Tried ta get 'er ta move in fer 'er protection— " against something totally unrelated, mind "— but she said no. Dunno wha' we're gonna do if it happens."

Suddenly, that Bat Cave that Jaden wanted to build Cass didn't seem like such a bad idea -now-. Elena now feels bad for making fun of Jaden for presenting that suggestion because….well, it looks necessary now. "Well, I guess she just wasn't ready. That sort of thing is pretty big according to my older friends," she tells Lachlan. "Maybe she might not move in with you but maybe you could move in with her? Unless you talked about that too and she said no. Or hell, just move closer so you can keep an eye on her. Save for that I don't know…I'm just hoping the fact that she's Dr. Aldric's daughter and that she hasn't done any harm would convince them to let her slide, you know?" And then she pauses. Elle's own FATHER had her wiped, who was to say Dr. Aldric wouldn't do the same. "Maybe you two need a system."

Hmm. Crazily enough, Lachlan /hadn't/ suggested that he move in with Cass. Even temporarily, it'd be a nice solution. It's not like he hasn't stayed over before (and vice versa). He considers this a moment before filing it away as Something To Ask Cass Later and giving a shrug. "Mebbe." Then there's talk of a system and his brow furrows upward. "System fer wha'?"

"For emergencies. Some sort of bat signal." Elena pauses. "….ignore I said the last part." She's been hanging out with Jaden WAY TOO MUCH these days. Then again, she did work for the guy. "Like…I don't know. An automatic message sent to your phone if Cass presses a button in hers. That sort of thing. Something she can do quickly. ….it's just that Cass is a little disconnected when it comes to technology, so I don't know how well that would work. But something like that. Moving in with her temporarily is a simpler solution though. Otherwise you're just going to spend nights staring at the ceiling of your pad worrying about her now that she's told you all this."

In a city of millions, it seems like people who have connections with each other shouldn't just randomly meet up. However, it happens all the time and it chance meetings seem to be on the rise in New York lately. That's certainly what might be the reason why Megan Deatley is wandering around Central Park with an obviously confused and lost expression on her face. /Where/ is she exactly? This park is so big and she has no idea where she entered and where that is in relation to where she is now. Slowly, she wanders down one of the paths, looking this way and that trying to finally get her bearings. It's not hard for her to spot her brother on a bench with a girl that she doesn't know not too far ahead of her. Almost by instinct, she goes skittering behind a nearby tree to hide. It's weird to just run into your older brother on the sidewalk, right? Right. And it looks like they're involved in /serious conversation/, too. She doesn't want to interrupt. And she might be able to hear something, too. Peeking out from behind her tree, she studies Elena and tries to listen in.

Thankfully, Lachlan hasn't had a night to himself since he found out about all this — naturally, he'll have to talk to Cass about it tonight — so he's not had an opportunity to stare sleeplessly at the ceiling worrying. Still, he would kinda like to avoid that. He nods a little again, though the clarification of the system makes him frown again. He's a bit of a dunce when it comes to technology, too — he doesn't even own a laptop. "Can ye do tha' with a phone?" He has no idea. "An' wha' if she doesna have a phone 'r she canna use it?" It does sound better for him to just … /live there/ for a little while. He rubs the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger with a pained grimace, as though taken by a sudden headache. "'D be so much easier if she was a dog 'r somethin'." … wait. Frown. "Tha' … dinna mean it like tha'." He doesn't notice Megan's stealthy spying, too wrapped up in the conversation.

"I think so," Elena says. "They do all sorts of things with phones lately. But like I said, I know Cass isn't the most technologically savvy person on the face of the planet, I've seen her shorthand notes on everything since this entire thing started. I honestly do think living together is probably one of the best ways you can keep an eye on her though." And she's so not nudging them together to take the next step. No, really! God, she already pulled a Cupid 'Lena on her father and Desiree. At the last comment, she stares at him. When he corrects himself though, she grins. "I won't say anything," she says, making a cross over her heart with a pinky finger. And like Lachlan, she doesn't sense or see Megan. Because she's being ninja.

From her position behind the tree, Megan can make out some of the conversation, but not a lot of it. Something about moving and technology. That doesn't mean all that much to her. She wants to get closer to hear more, but that would risk being seen. But, then, moving away would risk her being seen, too. How does she get away without looking like she's spying? Hm. Conundrum. Well, for now she'll lean forward just a bit more to see if she can hear what else is going on, because Lachlan looks…pained and that can never be a good sign. If she can figure out what it is that's going on, then maybe she can help.

"Yeah." Lachlan agrees with that assessment wholeheartedly. Better access to Cass is, oddly enough, the furthest thing from his mind right now — so far from his thoughts that he doesn't even /consider/ that perk. The man is either ill or just gravely concerned. "Mebbe. Dunno. She said somethin' 'bout it bein' a big step 'r wha'ever — s'no' like I'm movin' in fer life, though, righ'?" Right. Just a month, maybe, just to be sure she's out of harm's way. He remains oblivious of Megan. Nobody ever said he was the brightest of crayons in the tool shed.

"Yeah exactly. It's so you can keep an eye on her," Elena says. She likes the plan, and it would give -her- peace of mind. She doesn't want Cass to be alone in her apartment when she's worried. When she hears a twig snap behind her, however, she turns around, and her gaze falls on Megan Deatley. She pauses, and inclines her head a bit. Hello. Who are you? She doesn't say it out loud, but she does give Megan a small smile.

Eep! She's been spotted! Megan freezes when Elena looks straight at her. She even has the classic deer in headlights look: wide eyes and holding as perfectly still as she can. That only lasts a few moments, though, because soon enough, Lachlan will be turning and the gig will be up. Debating just hiding behind the tree again and pretending to be invisible, she says nothing for a little while. "Oh. Uh, h-hello there," she says softly, her Scottish accent fainter than Lachlan's, but still very noticeable. "Hi there. Sorry. Dinna mean to interrupt. Sorry." She doesn't approach yet, though. She'll just hang out by her tree here.

Lachlan nods definitively when Elena agrees with him. Right. Keeping an eye on Cass is /crucial/. And then Elena is staring off at something with an interesting expression on her face. Confused, he turns to follow her gaze and … holy crap! Squint. Blink. /Stare/. "Meg!" He sounds absolutely overjoyed, as though she just sprang a surprise birthday part on him. "Bloody hell! Wha're ye doin' here?" Interrupting? /Never/. "C'mon over here! How long ye been standin' there?"

….Meg? Who's Meg? An ex-girlfriend? But she had a Scottish accent too, and Lachlan's expression was surprised, not OMG Let Me Out of Here Now. Elena gives Meg a small wave from where she is, but she doesn't say anything. She lets Lachlan get himself reacquainted with this Meg person. "It's okay, we're just shooting the breeze," she says finally with a grin towards the redhead.

Slowly, Megan picks her way back to the path and out from behind the tree. She grins sheepishly at Lachlan and then at Elena. "I got lost. Ye know I never could figure out this place. I wasn't there long. Promise. Hey Lachy." Her smile is warm. Then, she turns her attention to Elena. "Hi. Sorry again. 'M Lach's sister, Megan." She shyly holds out a hand to shake. This is what people do when meeting friends of relatives! Make nice!

Hopefully before said friends misconstrue said relative's relationship. "Need ta tie a bell 'round yer bloody neck again, aye?" Lachlan jokes roughly, rising to give his sister a big warm brotherly hug that might threaten to squeeze the life right out of her. /Then/ she can go shaking hands wherever she likes.

"Eh? Really? I didn't know Lachlan had a sister," Elena says, beaming at Megan more brightly now. She stands up from the bench, and crosses over so she can offer her hand for a warm, hearty shake. "My name's Elena. Elena Gomez. I'm a friend of Lachlan's." It's safe to say they were pals, though they certainly aren't close. But Lachlan was definitely a buddy so she introduces herself as such. "Are you just visiting, or do you live around here, or…?"

Megan squeaks, yes, squeaks when Lachlan pulls her up into a life crushing hug. "Ach! Lach!" She returns it, though hers is much gentler version. When she's put down, she's blushing slightly from this obvious show of affection from her older brother and she delicately pushes some stray hair behind her ear. "Ye try ta put a bell on me and 'll make ye choke on it." Talking to her brother always brings out the stronger version of her accent. Then, she smiles. "Yeah. Try to pretend like 'm adopted. Confuses people less. Nice to meet you, Elena." The handshake is warmly reciprocated, but after a moment and without any sort of warning, she slumps to the ground. She's out like a light.

It's a good thing Lachlan's so close to Megan, otherwise she might /make/ the trip to the ground. When she starts to go down, he reflexively reaches out to snag her, and though it's clumsy, he manages to keep her from hitting the path. He remains standing there a moment, half-crouched with his sister's limp body held up by an arm and one hand beneath her armpit, shocked. Then, he lets out a soft grunt and eases Megan into his arms, hefting her as he straightens. His first reaction, of course, is to peer at Elena. "The bloody hell'd ye do?" he demands in a low grumble as he makes for the bench and moves to lay his sister out on it.

"….what? ME? I didn't do anything!" Elena tells Lachlan defensively, even as she attempts to help the Scot get his sister to the bench. "My abilities don't work that way." They were unique in the sense that they didn't just lash out, no matter how stressed she was. Her default setting was a lockdown, until she wanted to use them. "She just keeled over, is she asthmatic? Any health problems?" Luckily, Elena is pre-med and considering the circumstances, maybe the cold was just too much for Megan. She has no cause to think that anything unusual happened. So whenever Megan is set down, she'll move to examine the young woman, squinting to see if she can sense what's wrong with her that just suddenly forced her to keel over. She doesn't seem to be able to pick up anything unusual about her body right now. At least not yet.

There is actually nothing unusual about Megan's body. Her temperature, blood pressure, heart rate are all normal. It's just like she fainted. However, for Megan, she's having quite an unusual moment of watching this all as if from Elena's eyes. She sees Lachlan catching her body, feels herself moving over to check her own vitals.

If Lachlan didn't trust Elena so much, he'd be inclined to shove her away from Megan and tell her to never, ever touch his sister again ever. However, he just stands back and lets the teenager work, face contorting worriedly. This … this is just … /baffling/. "Nah, she doesna have nothin' like tha'." He doesn't think. She would've told him, right?

"….she's normal," Elena murmurs. "There's nothing off kilter with her." She looks over at Lachlan. "I think maybe she just fainted. Do you know if she's on a diet? Or anything like that? She might just need something to eat or drink." She drags out her purse, rifling through it before she comes out with a small tube of smelling salts. This, she puts under Megan's nose to see if it'll wake her up.

It's a couple of seconds but the smelling salts do their work. Megan's eyes flutter open and she jerks a little when she realizes she's seeing out of her own eyes again. "'M fine. Really." On the bench, she shifts so that she's farther away from these people looming over her. Not quite up to sitting up yet, she just kind of lays there. "Just give me a minute."

"Nah, she's no' on a diet." He thinks. He /hopes/. Megan would've told him that too, right? Lachlan is definitely concerned, even when Megan finally comes back to the conscious world and offers up her assurances. "Yer no' a'righ'," he grunts sternly. "The hell happened ta ye?" Elena doesn't know so /obviously/ his sister would know.

"Did you eat today, Megan?" Elena asks concernedly, stowing away the smelling salts. She lets her lie there though, and she offers up her cup of hot chocolate for the younger Scot to drink should she want it. "You fainted for a bit, it was short but it was pretty sudden. You sure you're okay?" The young woman, as perceptive as she is, is completely oblivious to the fact that Megan just had an out-of-body experience…..and fell right into hers.

Unfortunately, Megan is just as confused as Lachlan is about the condition. A few more moments and she finally feels like she can sit up, which she does, pushing herself up by her elbows. "No diet." She shakes her head slowly. "Dunno what it is. Keeps happenin' at work. They asked me to take a medical leave. Everyone thinks 'm pregnant." She blushes, knowing how Lachlan will take that and quickly covers it up. "'M not! Took the test. Took a million of 'em. Dunno what's wrong." As for the questions she nods and then shakes her head as answers. "'ve been eating like normal. No, 'm fine. Just gimme a second to get my bearings."

When the P-word falls out of Megan's mouth, Lachlan's blood pressure shoots right up through the proverbial roof. If either woman listens closely, they'll hear his stomach /thud/ into the bottoms of his boots; if they're looking close, they'll see his heart jump into his throat. Alarm bells start going off in his head: the Emergency Big Brother Has To Kick Some Ass alarms. /WHAT/. PREGNANT. /WHAT/. Max actually leaps to his feet and starts barking for no discernible reason whatsoever, and Lachlan does nothing to quiet him at first. Megan's follow-up to the alarming word returns all of Lachlan's body parts to normal and shuts off the blaring red lights and sirens going off in his head. He visibly relaxes with a sigh and a muttered "fuck" under his breath. "Max, shut it." The dog shuts up immediately and sits quietly by. "This's been happenin' ta ye at werk? Fer how long?" And why didn't she tell him?

At the last, Elena furrows her brows. What? So it's been happening REGULARLY? "I think if you were pregnant you'd be doing more than just fainting," she tells her. "But that doesn't sound normal, Megan. I mean it could be that you have Narcolepsy." Which certainly isn't NORMAL. In fact, far from it. "But I don't think that's the case." That's her opinion anyway, judging from what she saw. "Did you try having your doctors give you a CAT scan?" she asks. She looks over at Lachlan. Her expression has a look to it. A certain look. A 'try to convince your sister to see a medical professional' look.

All these questions are making Megan uncomfortable. It's bad enough she's getting them from work, but now from her brother and strangers. "Just…not long. Coupla weeks?" She winces slightly at the statement. Normally she tells her brother everything, but this is something she's been putting off. "Just…dinna want you ta worry," she mumbles, looking more toward the ground than at him. "'S not narcolepsy. Not even tired. 'Ve /been/ checked out. Dunno what it is. 'M a medical mystery. Even fainted on the doctor and he still couldn' figure it out."

Megan's a medical mystery. His /sister/ is a medical mystery. She could be /dying/ of some /horrible disease/ and nobody would know because it's a mystery, and God, why is everyone he cares for in some sort of /trouble/ these days? Lachlan can do nothing but stare in disbelief and no small amount of worry. How did this happen? What … /why/? "Well … how many doctors ye been ta see?"

Elena falls silent and just lets the brother and sister talk for now. She is watching Megan quietly from where she's sitting, by the side of the bench. But she lets both of them discuss this for now. Meanwhile she's just looking at the two of them - Megan, in particular.

"A few." Megan's face sets into something that Lachlan should be use to seeing - The Patented Deatley Stubborn Face (tm). "Look. Said 'm fine. Doesn't happen all the time. Just once in awhile. 'll be fine. Stop lookin' at me like 'm gonna die tomorrow." Shaking her head she swings her feet off the bench so they're back on the ground again. Seeing Elena studying her as well, she frowns. "What?" It's not snapped, it's more of a worried question.

A few doctors and none of them can figure out what's wrong. Hmm. "Yer no' /fine/," Lachlan grunts, and he's just as good at The Patented Deatley Stubborn Face (tm) as his sister. "'F ye were fine, ye'd no' be faintin' willy-nilly." Displaying some clarity usually considered beneath him, he pipes up with another question after a pause: "Wha' happens when ye pass out? Just goes black?"

"…it's nothing," Elena says with a nervous laugh and waving her hands to the sides. "No really, it's just strange is all." She could say that she didn't think any relative of Lachlan's would be so pretty, but he might beat her with a potato and he really isn't a bad looking guy. He's just old. She drops her hand on Max's head to scritch him, in case he gets agitated while his master worries over his sister. But she does listen in when Lachlan asks his question, inclining her head at Ms. Deatley curiously.

"'s /not/ willy-nilly," Megan fights back, face still set into a stubborn scowl. "No. 'S like. You know, those dreams I told you 'bout before." She flushes a bright red and her eyes dart over to Elena. This isn't something she wants to talk about in front of a total stranger. "Look, 'll be fine. Don't worry about it."

… oh. Oh those dreams. Oh. Lachlan immediately decides that, well, it's best not to pry when it comes to those things. Not here in front of Elena, much as he trusts her. This is a Family Matter to be discussed with Elena perhaps at a later date, when the Scotsman has had time to speak with his sister privately. "Righ'. Fine. Ye better call me soon." In other words: We Need To Talk.

"……I think that's my cue," Elena says, but she does flash them a sheepish grin to denote that there are no hard feelings. She stands up, and picks up her backpack to sling it on her shoulder. "Say hi to Cass for me, Lachlan," she says. "It was very nice to meet you, Megan." With a wave, she slides a step back, and gets on the path to head out of the park. So the Deatleys could talk. Or argue about hospital stuffs.

"Nice to meet ye, too, Elena," Megan tells the younger woman with a weaker smile. It was nice to have met Elena, but the circumstances where weird under which they met. "Fine. We'll talk about it later. Not much else to talk about, though. That's all 've got." Even if they Need to Talk, doesn't mean Megan is going to be any less stubborn about the subject.

Oh, there's /plenty/ to talk about, and Lachlan will see to it that they /do/. He offers Elena a wave and a nod. "Ye take care o' yerself, Elena, an' thank ye fer the help." She /did/ help, that's certain, even if it was to give him a more sobering outlook on what might come to be. Giving Megan one last stern look, he drops the completely smoked cigarette butt onto the path, grinds it out with the toe of his boot, and takes up Max's leash with renewed fervor. "'F ye dunna call me, I'll call ye later." And don't think he won't, either. "C'mon, I'll walk ye out." Since she was lost before.

"Sure ye will," Megan gives a roll of her eyes. "Ye know, I can take care of myself now. 'M not twelve anymore." Standing up, she eyes the smashed up cigarette butt and frowns. "Ye should stop smoking. 'S bad for ye." Because two can play at the nagging card. "Fine. Let's go."

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