2008-02-20: Still Here

Starring:

Benjamin_icon.gif Meryl_icon.gif

Summary: Ben comes by to take Meryl home. But! There's still a present to be opened.

Date It Happened: 20 February 2008

Still Here


Company Medical Facility

Meryl's still in the medical facility, mostly because she's still a danger to herself and others if allowed to walk around with so much heavy medication in her system. She's sitting up on the bed, though, legs hanging over the side, fully clothed and ready to go home now for a couple days' rest. The bandages are gone; a long still-pink incision that runs along the original injury is quite visible across one side of her head, and the only reason it's visible is because she's completely bald.

Well, not completely. It's been a couple days, so her hand is gently brushing over the black fuzz that's started to regrow. The box that Ben gave her still sits unopened nearby.

She looks… lost. Distant. Blank. Green eyes are focused on nothing in particular. Take away her parents, shoot her in the ribs, remove her best friend's memories and she remains steadfastly without tears. Take away her hair, apparently, and she's a complete wreck. Poor Meryl. Poor, poor Meryl.

—-

Benjamin knocks at the door to the hospital room before entering. Now that Meryl's awake, but still drugged, he's here to escort her home and to make sure she doesn't hurt herself. "Meryl? It's Benjamin, mind if I come in?" If she says no, he'll make other transportation arrangements for her. He's not exactly giving up on things with the woman, he's just not trying as hard.

—-

For awhile, she doesn't answer. Not because she doesn't want to talk to Ben, but because she's wondering if - by any chance - the surgeons implanted top secret government technology in her brain that can only be unlocked by her own death. Every spy in the country - NAY, THE WORLD - will be after her. It's easier than thinking about getting up and looking in that mirror across the room.

"…Yeah, Ben. Y'can come in," she says quietly. It's a subdued Meryl that the other agent will see. Like the time she had the painkillers in her system from being shot, they're having a considerable calming effect on her now, as well.

Her hands drop to her sides, palms pressed against the bed as she looks at the floor. How can a woman who will burp the alphabet at social event be embarrassed? Well… Take away a woman's best feature, and anything can happen. Including Meryl being embarrassed.

—-

Benjamin waits outside the door, ready to walk away, when the response comes. He opens the door and pokes his head into the room. "Ready to go home?" The rest of him soon follows and he shuts the door behind him. He makes himself look at his partner, and it's not because she's now bald. It's because he's responsible for her condition. "Hey, you didn't open your present," he tries to say in a light tone. "Basil'll be happy to see you. I don't think he likes me much." How can you tell if a guinea pig likes anyone?

—-

This time she's quiet, but for other reasons. She can't really remember what happened, and the explanation of it that she recalls leaves something to be desired, but she knows two things - first, Ben lost control of his ability. Second - she hit her head because of it. Briefly, she looks up at her partner, frowning, concerned. Maybe she's responsible for his condition, too. Maybe she didn't try hard enough. Looking away, back to the floor, she says, "I was angry. Because… I couldn't do anything. That no matter what I do now, it's not going to be enough. I mean, th— " Pausing, she reins herself in before she goes off on a tangent.

"I know you're still 'ere, Ben." Another period of silence as she looks toward him sidelong, never really looking directly at him. "I jus'… I liked what we had. You an' me, it was that… dywhatsit." Dynamic. It's gone now. She can't fix that. He can't fix it, either.

"I'm sorry."

—-

Benjamin should be outraged at what the Company did to him, yet with the doctrine they filled his head with … He knows it's procedure because he did something out of line. He walks up to Meryl and finally crouches down so that he can try to look up and catch her eyes, "You don't have anything to apologize for. I should have been a better agent. Kept my mouth shut, do what I'm told and this wouldn't have happened. I also should have accepted that you didn't want to talk to me, or at least given you space and not have pressed. We still have each other, and we can find what we had."

"It's just that I…" Ben smiles faintly and doesn't finish the statement. "Open your present. I hunted all over for it."

—-

His words break her heart. And that's a hard thing to break, considering the fact that it's made out of sugar, bound together with taffy, has a candy shell, and also a mind of its own. Right now, though… All she can do when he meets her eyes is shake her head a little, trying to smile. It's not Benjamin. It's someone that looks like him, has his name… But now she has to start at square one and train him all over again.

"You were a good person," she says. "You didn't have to be better than you were, Mate. You were a good person. A good father - or, I think y'were. I mean, I don't really— " Tangent, again. She looks frustrated for a second or two, then reaches for the present, pulling the paper off piece by piece. Get over it, Meryl, she tells herself. You can't have the old Ben back. He might as well have never existed.

She won't accept that. Not really. Pulling open the top of the box, she looks inside.

—-

"Perhaps. All I know is I do the best I can with a daughter I don't know," Benjamin says, not really wanting to go there. He's still not sure why he was such a schlub, allowed himself to be used as people seem to suggest. "I'll take your word for it," he says. He just /knows/ that he can trust Meryl and Church. "Maybe if you're willing to help, I can be that person again," Ben says, trying to keep up a conversation as Meryl opens her gift. It's the first of many hats he has in mind to find for her, as well as the wigs he is plotting to purchase.

—-

Well, now that Meryl's over her initial misdirected rage (Which, really, who else was she going to direct it at? Angela? No, she enjoys living, thanks), she's more likely to want to help Benjamin out a little. She's formulating plans. They aren't necessarily good plans, but she can reform them with time to come up with something a bit more logical. Time is the operative word here, since 'Logic' and 'Meryl' aren't normally found in the same paragraph. Or, hell, even the same book. She can help him, though. She just needs to get over the hurt.

The contents of the box helps! Pulling out the hat, she quickly identifies it as a BRAIN-EATING ALIEN (Which it actually is, go figure) and plops it onto her head. By this point, she's beaming, radiant, as if her past worries have simply evaporated thanks to the presence of this hat. After all, you can't enjoy something while you're sad, right? Looking up at Ben just before she gets to her feet, Meryl gives no warning before she tackles him. "You can learn!" she says.

—-

Benjamin looks pleased that Meryl clearly likes the hat he found for her. There are more possibilities where that came from! This could be a moment to ask if she wants her half of the bracelet back, but he's distracted from that thought as he's tackled. Stumbling back a few steps, he holds his ground, arms around Meryl.

"I'm glad you're that confident," Ben says, grinning a little at the woman. More than that, he's glad to see this side of Meryl again. The exuberant nature, even if she's still hopped up on medication that's in her system.

—-

She's probably not going to be too happy when she gets back to her apartment and has to clean the carpet, because… damn. But that's beside the point right now. She has a hat, and she saw a sign that Benjamin can improve, because … well, she doesn't know. It's not much different than what he was trying to do before, but she's getting used to it. It kind of helps when she can recall that he really didn't leave her room that much since the accident. He's trying. He just doesn't know why he's trying. That's okay.

That little burst of energy it took to get out of the bed and leap at Ben means she just kind of leans on him, arms wrapped around his shoulders for the moment.

And then, she starts snoring in his ear.

—-

"… Meryl?" Benjamin asks quietly, noting the lack of movement following the tackle. The snore he gets in response earns a small smile from him. Since his arms are already around her, he shifts his grip in order to pick her up in his arms. "Let's get you home." Fortunately for Meryl, they have first rate cleaning services with the Company. The blood from her accident is long gone.

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