Starring:
Summary: Cam comes back from checking on Kory and finds Niki getting ready for something.
Date It Happened: June 29th, 2008
Light Hides Dark
Deveaux Building, Upper West Side, NYC
Daylight has long since hit, and Niki has made every effort to make this apartment a comfortable place to be instead of a reminder of who it came from. It was sparse to start with; shouldn't be hard, right? Well, she opened the curtains wide and it started to rain. The TV is on playing random talk shows that she's ignoring. She shut the closet door in the bedroom where Peter of the future left some clothes, only to be forced to throw it open again — because Niki, it seems, is packing for a trip.
The door to the master bedroom is open. It would be halfway tidy in there if it weren't for the clothes strewn about the bed and the small, open suitcase, a generic shade of wine red. Recently showered and in a grey tank top and jean shorts, wet hair drawn back into a ponytail to be out of the way, Niki is in the midst of folding a blanket. With a vengeance. She's mastered the fine domestic art of folding angrily.
Cam comes back into the apartment, and makes his way through looking for others. When he finds Niki he says, "Kory said to tell you she's doing ok, and that she's having a key to her place cut for you. And she just needs a day or two to recover before we get back to fighting Pinehearst." Then he asks, "What're you doing?"
Niki stops to listen to the sounds of Cam making his way into the apartment as she leans over the suitcase to cram the small quilt she's folded inside. She smiles tiredly at him after he passes the news along — and cringes. "… God. I'll have to pay her back for the door." She stands up straight and looks down at the suitcase (and the surrounding disaster), knowing that's what Cam is asking about. With Micah around, it's safe to say it's not the first curious question she's gotten today. "Packing!" Niki smiles brightly at Cam. The brilliance lasts for all of two seconds, though the smile remains. "…We know where Cass is. I'm gonna have to go away for a couple days soon."
Cam blinks, and then smiles back, "Awesome. Glad we… well, you I guess, can finally do something. What about me and Micah? Anything we can do to help?" There's a slight worry visible too, but he focuses on the brighter side of things.
"It was Micah that found Cass. Or— well, his computer. I guess he had some kind of watch out. Her photo was ran through some place in California." Niki takes a shirt from the bed and folds it in half, letting it drop into the suitcase roundabout the same time she flops onto the edge of the bed beside it. "You can help me find a first aid kit. I swear there's one in this apartment somewhere."
Cam nods quickly and says, "I saw one, yeah." He hesitates a moment, going searching. He yells back, "California's a long way! Are we all going, or Micah and me staying here?" He can be heard moving about searching.
"I'll find someone for you to stay with," Niki calls out while Cam's on the hunt. So that would be a no, they have to stay behind. She leans on her knees for a while. "I don't want you guys coming for this."
Cam admits, "Probably wouldn't be much help anyway. Unless Pinehearst uses snowballs instead of guns." He comes back with a kit and passes it to Niki. "You'll be careful, right?"
Mustering a little smile for Cam's comment, Niki sets it aside on top of the other suitcase contents. "Thanks. I knew it was hiding somewhere. And of course!" She takes Cam's hand and holds it. "I won't be alone."
Cam grips Niki's hand and gives a smile again, "Good." He then says, "Any idea who we'll be staying with? Gotta be someone on the List, I guess, or Pinehearst might find out somehow."
"I'd say Kory, but…" Maybe not the best time. Thinking of Kory's state of mind reminds her of her own, and Niki forces away a troublesomely dark expression with another smile for Cam. "Don't worry, I'll find someone. And it won't be long."
Cam nods quickly again and says, "Yeah, she's not doing that great right now." He sits on the edge of the bed by Niki and says, "Ok. We'll be ok, promise."
"I bet she's not," Niki says under her breath, more sympathetic than she can really get across at the moment. Kory's grieving and battered. Niki has to keep it together — because of this, right here. She lets go of Cam's hand in favour of wrapping an arm around him. "Hey, you better be. I'll hold you to that promise."
Cam nods a little again and smiles, leaning in against Niki's side a little. "I'm good at taking care of myself, and so's Micah. Together, we'll be fine, no matter what happens. But nothing bad'll happen anyway."
Because nothing ever goes wrong! "Bingo." Niki just smiles and squeezes Cam arm where her hand wraps around his other side. "Are you hungry? I know it's… been kind of chaotic…"
Cam nods quickly and grins, "Starving! There was lots of food at Kory's, everybody but me brought some, but I didn't know what to say and stuff so when she said she just needed time I came back here."
"…Yeah, I figured there'd be a lot of people there." Which is one of the reasons Niki stayed here. She half-heartedly shoves the first aid kit further into the suitcase; it's something like Tetris. Not quite as complicated. She's packing light, and little of it is for her. "Why don't you go pull Micah off the computer. I'll make you some lunch."
Cam nods quickly again and says, "Sure." He hops to his feet again, pausing to say to Niki, "Mr. Jones saw me at Kory's. He didn't look too happy." That news delivered, he turns to hurry off to get Micah.
Niki can't help but roll her eyes slightly, but she waits until Cam's out the door. The thought of Mr. Jones is shelved quickly, though; she sighs now that she's alone momentarily, gathering a few things on the bed and putting them aside somewhat more neatly beside the suitcase. A pistol is uncovered, half-hidden under a pair of jeans. She eyes it for a moment before tucking it away in the suitcase, which she closes, the top flopping shut unzippered. Niki heads out into the apartment where the boys are, closing the bedroom door tight.