2008-02-09: Meryl vs. The Looking Glass

Starring:

Church_icon.gif Meryl_icon.gif

Summary: Meryl is still quite upset about what happened to Benjamin, and Church tries to help. In the end, Meryl knows exactly how to derail his train. And with the least likely thing he expected.

Date It Happened: February 9th, 2008

Meryl vs. The Looking Glass


NYC - Level 1 - Company Headquarters

First floor.

Everything's quiet. A couple people are in the vicinity, but when you have an organisation that's as… unique… as the Company, its employees are on the job all the time. There's no room for a break.

To be perfectly honest, Meryl came here to check on Benjamin, but she never reached the cell he's in. She reached the floor, the hallway where he's roomed, even to a point where she could see the door, but decided at the last moment that she really had to head to the washroom and splash some cold water on her face and calm down before she did anything stupid, like try again to get her partner to understand the severity of the situation he is in and what was done to him. But…

There's always a but.

She doesn't want Angela doing the same thing to her.

So now? She's lost a best friend, and she has a cardboard Company Cutout for a partner. From the rather rich-looking unisex lavoratory on the first floor comes an enormous crash, followed by a lot of littler crashes as the mirror that Meryl just punched crashes piece by piece to the tile floor.

At that point, there is at least one person that is sent skittering frightened the other direction. Just one goes towards it; Lawrence, possibly here for the exact same thing, is just heading towards the restroom door when the noise breaks his concentration away from fruitlessly trying to fix his tie without a mirror. The agent stares after the woman turning away, then pauses before he decides to creep over and open the door to the lavatory.

So. Meryl obviously knows, judging by the fact that there is glittering mirror all over the tiled floor. "Meryl?!"

Holding her hand, clamping her teeth down on her bottom lip, Meryl swears under her breath and backs away from the broken mirror, sitting down on the floor under a glass-block window. There is red oozing from between her fingers; droplets of blood are visible here and there on the floor and sinks, as well. "Aaah— ah. Ow. Hey, Lawrie," she says, squeezing her eyes shut and greeting her fellow agent as if there weren't small shards of glass all over the place. Pulling her hand away from the cuts on her knuckles, she surveys the damage. It's bad, but not unfixable.

"She was giving me lip. Had to put her in her place. Forgot it was my reflection - honest to god, that's the truth. Might have something to do with the fact that THESE PEOPLE ARE FUCKING INSANE." This last statement is punctuated by her foot kicking a chunk of glass across the floor with enough velocity that it hits the opposite wall and breaks into smaller pieces.

Lawrence has already taken a few steps when Meryl yells and kicks the chunk of glass across the room. He sidesteps away from its course even if it has no chance of hitting him. "Mer-" He's only about three steps away now, his eyes on her bleeding hand. "-what's going on?" Before he gets closer, he shifts to uproot a wad of paper towels from the nearest dispenser. Church kicks away what chunks of glass he can see before getting down on one knee in front of Meryl, the towels in one hand and the other reaching in a 'let me see it' gesture. "…is this about Benji?"

"It's not fair," she says, holding out her hand so that Church can see it. Thankfully, there's no glass stuck inside it, and the cuts probably aren't deep enough to require stitches. There are a lot of them, though. She's not sure if she can tell anyone what's going on - whether it's supposed to be some huge secret or public knowledge. Either way, everyone's going to figure out sooner or later that Benjamin is acting different.

Is this about Benji?

Meryl pulls her hand back, eyes meeting Church's. They're incredulous, disbelieving. "You knew what they were gonna do to 'im?" she asks. "Do you know what they did to him? He's practically a zombie now. If I told him to face the wall for half a day, he'd probably do it if he knew he wasn't breaking any Company rules."

The retraction leaves Lawrence with an empty palm, now with a small smear of blood on the surface. "No. I- Yes b-" He can't get a word in when she is like this, so he frowns, glances down at the floor, and waits until she is done. "I didn't know they were going to. I found out not long after- I was going down there, but you're in here smashing yourself up." His chest lifts and falls in a small sigh, and his jaw gives a visible clench.

"I don't know what happened with him, and it's not fair, I know- but Spooky can only take." Ben is that way now, and they have to deal with it. "He'll be okay."

Meryl rubs her knuckles again, only managing to spread the blood around a bit more instead of actually stopping the bleeding at all. Giving her hand a good shake sends droplets splattering all over the place… But by the look of fascination on her face, she kind of did that on purpose, just to see what would happen. Yes, easily distracted.

Her eyes find his again, though, when Church says that Ben will 'be okay.' Do people not realise what's going on here? Is Meryl not allowed a little selfishness? "He was my best. Friend," she says, finally allowing the tears in her eyes to spill over, before she reaches out to grab hold of Church's shirt. "BEST FRIEND. And my partner. I was teaching him, Lawrie! I was doing fine! He was doing fine! Now he's nothing. There's nothing left of him. He's got the memories, but everything else is gone. It's not Ben anymore!"

There goes the clean shirt. He doesn't stop her, and she's shaking blood and grabbing onto the front of his shirt as a result. Lawrence can only stare weakly back at her, lifting his own hand to take her injured one again. The blood at this point is a distraction and distracting at the same time.

"I know, Mer. I know he was. I was helping him too." Whether or not he does have her hand by now, the man blinks up into her eyes again. "Look at me. I'm fine now, and Ben will be too. Deep down, he's still him- we just have to help him. He needs us. I'd have killed to have someone like you around when I was like that, Meryl." Someone to worry, someone to look out for him. Lawrence makes doubly sure to keep his face aimed at hers, in his best efforts to keep that poor attention span aimed in his direction.

It's hard to feel sadness when her mind is going in thirty different directions all at the same time, but she's holding onto that emotion, embracing it, because Benjamin deserves that, at least. When someone you love dies, you're supposed to mourn. The point is, at the moment, it's a lot easier than it should be. She barely shed a tear when Benjamin put her parents into a coma, and here she is, crying for someone who can still walk and talk and laugh and cry and fight if he wants to. In a way, it's worse than what happened to her parents.

So she looks at Lawrence. Briefly, her concentration wanes thanks to the incredible proportions of his chin, and she wonders if perhaps there are cybernetic implants in there that fire lasers at bad guys when— no. No.

"I have no one left."

There's a tenseness in her jaw as she continues to hold onto his shirt, fighting off tears as her eyes become redder and redder. "I needed him. I just — I just asked him not to leave me. This is his fault."

Fortunately and unfortunately, Boomer has no cybernetic laser implants in his chin.

Church tilts his head slightly to make sure she's still paying attention as she speaks. "It's not his fault, Mer. You know he'd never hurt you on purpose." Don't blame the little guy on what the big guy does. "If it's any consolation, you've got me too." Lawrence finds her bloodied hand with the wad of paper in his other one. Still bleeding, you kook. "But don't blame him. He really didn't do anything wrong." Someone else did, along the line- but there is no taking it back now.

The same mind that has the capacity for innocence and practically unconditional love is also as stubborn as a damn bull. "There's gotta be somethin' he could have done," Meryl mutters, finally allowing Church to tend to her hand as she's distracted by her thoughts. It might have been ninjas. Lots and lots of ninjas, in which case, she can eventually forgive Benjamin, pending her own personal review of the security tapes. Perhaps it was intelligent raptor clones.

"It's not the same," she says when he assures her that he's there for her, too. It's not Benjamin. Meryl didn't give Church the Klingon friendship bracelet that she had custom made. But he's right here, and he's helping her, and she has to appreciate that. Closing her eyes, Meryl lets go of his shirt, and reaches for his hand, instead. "He was so sweet, Lawrie. Nicest person I ever knew."

Church knows what probably happened, honestly- but he is not going to say a word. He can't help but wonder if Angela didn't quite see what he saw. He should have said nothing. Tending to her bleeding cuts, it's no surprise to Church when she brings her other one up and off of his shirt.

"I know, Meryl. He was one of my best friends too." He glances up to her closed eyes for a second or two. "That's why he still needs our help. He'd be patient, and sweet, and he'd do all the same for us, wouldn't he?" Yes, he would.

She knows she's being selfish and petulent here. It's just that she really needed Ben. She can't get close to people because she just doesn't have the capacity for it, so when she does, she tends to try to keep those people nearby. Benjamin and Meryl have an understanding of sorts. She's not sure what it is, but it's important, and he's her partner, and she cares for him. She'd die for him, and he went and got his brain scrambled.

Meryl nods, though, settling back against the wall, sliding down it more than she had before. After breaking the mirror, she's tired. The adrenaline surge is melting from her system. "They did this to you, too?" She pauses. "I wonder if they ever did it to me."

Now, Lawrence is trying to take out what tiny pieces of glass that he can find in the surface of her skin, lest he disturb them trying to clean it up. At least Meryl isn't fighting him about it, so he does have success. When the conversation turns momentarily away from Benji specifically, Church seems to relax some more.

"I doubt it. You've always been right by things." He avoids his question for a few more seconds, thinking. "Yes, they did. Even more than Ben. My first memory is waking up on Level Five. Did I ever tell you that?" Lawrence can't remember, which in itself is somewhat entertaining.

There aren't many pieces of glass in her hand, but there are enough that she winces every once in a while as Church pulls them out. Actually, with all the bleeding and pain, a little more really doesn't matter much. This'll still take awhile to heal, though, and Meryl feels pretty guilty for calling Bekah every time she's hurt. At least she hit the mirror with her left hand.

"Oh, I'm sure I stole your personnel file at some point," Meryl comments flatly, looking at the pieces of shattered mirror on the floor. "But no, you never told me." She wonders what he was like before. Everyone knows that he has a dangerous ability, but it's hard to imagine Church being anything other than loyal. And she likes Church. He's a nice guy… And he's here. "I was… I was workin' with Ben t'teach him the ropes. They could have given me more time. He's my partner. He was my responsibility, and I failed him. Now how much has he lost? He's got a kid, y'know? What if he can't remember her?"

Reaching up, she takes Church's face, leaving a streak of red across it. Oops. Smiling through the tears that have manifested in her eyes, she says, "I could have— I— How long is it going to take for him to…"
Sigh.

Church raises an eyebrow. "Stole my…" Maybe it's a good thing that Meryl is Meryl when it comes to that. Oh well. He can't help but give her a wary smile at that. Sometimes he wishes that he had the guts to even look at his own file. It's both forgiveness and cowardice, in nonspecific terms. Would he be surprised to see that man he was? Maybe. John was a lot different than Lawrence is.

Church blinks softly back at the woman when she puts her hand to his face. He's always been just a little bit warmer than everyone else, though not because of metaphors. He really is. What if he can't remember his daughter? Lawrence doubts that it went so far, but even that makes him simmer again; he lifts his hand tentatively up to hers again, unsure if he should move it or not. Bleeding on me. "I didn't have friends back then, so for him? I don't know. I had nobody and it took me a while, but it's not like that for him."

The best thing is, he'll never know if Meryl really did steal it or not. Beautiful. Truthfully, Meryl isn't even sure if she stole it. She's gotten hold of many personnel files over the years, mostly just because it's fun to say she managed to get ahold of them.

"I think I've lost a bit of blood," she says quite matter-of-factly when she pulls her hand away. "Kinna looks like a bunny. A red bunny. See, here's the ears." Aaand that's gross. Meryl even seems to realise it, so she shuts up, dropping her hand into her lap again as Church works on continuing to work the glass out of the injured one.

Suddenly, she doesn't want to think about Benjamin anymore.

"I know this is a weird place to ask, and I'm horrible with pickup lines, so I'll just out and say it. I need someone tonight, and you're a good looking guy. You're hot." Shrugging, she arches her eyebrows. "Let's make babies."

Her hand seems clean when she comes around to grabbing his attention up again. Church looks up at 'ask', only having a few seconds to wonder what it is that she wants to ask before- well. Before she just says it. And punctuates it with images of little exploding ADHD babies. Lawrence isn't sure if he should laugh, be flattered, or just be plain bewildered.

So he opts for the second, putting a suspicious smile on his face. "What?" He heard her, loud and clear. But he sticks to playing surprised instead. For now. Lawrence does have that continuously growing smirk, though, so it is obvious he both heard her ask, and is thinking about a positive answer. "Do you even- I mean, have you- you say that every so often, but I'm never sure if you actually …know all about the birds and the bees. You're not that easy to read."

See? This is the type of reaction she lives for. "If you could see the look on your face…" she says, actually allowing a bit of a smile. Sitting up again a bit, she examines the hand that Church has just cleaned of glass. It's not pretty, but it'll heal. If she wraps it, it'll feel better. Eventually, she puches herself to her feet with her uninjured hand, leaving a handprint behind on the floor. Someone is going to come in here and wonder what the hell happened.

Heading over to the sink, she runs her hands under the water, swearing profusely. Oh, god that stings. After the pain numbs down again, she turns around to look over her shoulder. "You're seriously asking me that?" she inquires, still smiling, allowing a pause before she answers, "Yes, Lawrie. Of course I have."

He sort of sees it, when he stands up again. Mirrors(-1), remember. As Meryl goes to wash the blood from her hand, Church watches her closely. Since she was the one to bring it up, he's not finding anything wrong with looking places other than her hair, hands, or her face. Take your pick.

"Yes. It's not like I… could just ask you if you have. That's not something I ask women. …Not a lot, anyway." He'd want to ask, but couldn't bring himself to do it. "So you're… seriously asking me that?" Church mimics her, wondering again if she knows what she was asking. Pick-up lines- who needs them when you're like Meryl.

"Well, in civilised conversation, it's not exactly polite to ask your hosts - or dinner guests, whatever the case may be - if they've had sex. It's actually kind of rude if you're following human rules, but my sources say you're an alien, and while you are living on earth, you must have some sort of different set of rules. And me, well. Acceptable topics of conversation with me include techniques for shooting villains in the head. And - relatively speaking…" She gestures with her hands at this point, a sort of circular maneuver. "Discussing divination with the remnants of peoples' brains left all over a wall is just a little bit more disgusting than 'are you a virgin.' So if you're ever in doubt again, you know… Feel free to ask."

Way to set the mood, Wolfe.

"That being said, yes, I'm really asking." Why not? Sure, it might be weird for a little while around the water cooler, and, yeah, it's probably really damn likely that she'll make a banner for her office that says something along the lines of 'ME AND CHURCH DID IT,' but is there REALLY anything wrong with a little embarrassment? It doesn't hurt anyone. "If you want, you can even buy me dinner."

Asking about sex. Rude. I'm an alien. Living on Earth. Different rules. Acceptable topics. Disgusting-ness. Virgins. Lawrence is trying his best to listen. Really. He loses it around 'virgins' and 'asking again' so close to each other.

"I suppose I won't need to ask again, will I?" And there it is: both eyebrows lift quizzically, one just a centimeter higher. He probably won't mind the banner. And he surely won't mind that awkwardness that always happens when it comes to… co-workers. Ahem. "Do you want to? We can, if you want. But if your hand hurts too much, I could always take you home…" And make it better. Lawrence was ready to make that same offer earlier, but now since the general rule of conversation has shifted, the inquiry also comes with a not-so-unusual lowering of his voice.

Rule one: Never Try to Follow Meryl's Train of Thought. Eventually, you will go right over a cliff, into a chasm, which leads to an alternate reality where everything is constructed of puppies and two by fours. It's actually not pretty, despite the puppies. "Lawrie, I'm asking you because my hand hurts."

Read into that what you will.

There's a moment where she seems less than amorous as she pulls her hand out of the sink. It's still bleeding. Maybe they should head over to the hospital first. OH. IDEA. "We can head to Mount Sinai. I'll get my hand looked at, you can buy me dinner at the cafeteria - hospital food is the best - and then we can go back to your place and see what happens."

"…" Oh. Church is going to say something, but it suddenly not there anymore. "…wh-" So for a little bit, he does stare. At her, yes. Not her face. "…as long as you leave my fishtank alone, that sounds like a plan to me." His eyebrows crease, then lift again, and by now Lawrence wears a crooked little smile. He tosses out the bloodied towel wad in exchange for a new one. Of course, like the gentleman he is, the man offers his left elbow to her right side, holding out his right hand with the new towels for her to take as well.

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