Starring:
Summary:
After being healed by Peter, Cass makes her way home to Lachlan. Some half-truths keep him from freaking out.
September 30th, 2007:
Try a Little Tenderness
Cass and Lachlan's Apartment, Brooklyn
It's late, and with dinner pretty much over and done, Lachlan's got one thing left before sleep: a shower. Well, that and putting away the leftovers that are still on the coffee table. He got some Chinese on the way home from work. So other than the sound of the TV playing the news on low-volume, the only other sounds in the apartment are the running shower.
There's a knock on the door, which is kind of strange. By now it's almost eleven, but Cass did say that she'd be late. Right outside, dressed in clothes she did not leave in - a pair of sweats and a light shirt. Plus a jacket that's not her own either. Really, she looks a little piecemeal and her hairs damp, but drying. Her face has been healed, so it's not easy to see that she just had a bit of a traumatizing run in. Not yet, at least.
Not too long after the knock, the bathroom door opens and out comes a wet and be-toweled Lachlan. He doesn't look too thrilled at having been interrupted. There's even still shampoo in his hair. "Bloody Jehovah's Witness … put their bloody faces through the damn door." Grumblegrumblesnarlgrowl. After pulling the chain and the bolt, the Scot whips open the door, dripping wet and very scowly — only to blink in surprise. "Cassie?" He blinks again, stares, pauses, then adds, "… di'ye take a swim inna Hudson again?"
"I, uh. No." Not exactly. Though there were Evolved involved. Kissing Lachlan absently on the way past, Cass steps inside and sheds her borrowed coat. Careful to make sure it's hung up - so when she gives it back to Peter it's not wrinkled - she moves to get a blanket. Now it's possible to see the bandage wrapped neatly around her wrist. Though not professionally done, it's just as good. Once she's wrapped that around her she moves for the couch. "Sorry to interrupt your shower. Why don't you finish up and dry off? There's something I need to talk to you about." Strangely enough, she's pretty calm about the whole thing.
See normally, this would be a prime time to make a smarmy remark, but no. Lachlan sees that bandage, he knows something's up. After closing the door behind Cass, he watches her with a quickly furrowing brow. "Somethin' wrong?" Why's she dressed like that? Why's she damp? Why's he damp? Oh yeah, shower. "Oh, uh, yeah. Uh. 'll be back." And off he awkwardly shuffles to the bathroom.
It's not too long before the shower shuts off and he reemerges again, this time dressed in boxers and rubbing water from his hair with the towel. He doesn't hesitate to move to the couch to sit down next to Cass. "Wha's up?"
In the short time that Lachlan's been in the shower, Cass has put on the kettle for tea. Wrapping the blanket around her kind of like a cape, she's settled to wait for the water to boil on the couch. "Okay. So." She's so glad that Peter was able to heal her face and much her the cuts and burn on her wrist. This sort of conversation would be impossible if she was even more visibly in pain. What with the pain killers Elena gave her, it's only now just a dull throb that she can push to the back of her head. "Um. You know how things just seem to keep happening to us? Peter, Elena, me, our friends?" She's been meaning to have this sort of conversation with him for awhile. "Well, I just want you to know that whatever happens, I'm going to be alright. And I want you to be careful, too."
W-wait, what? Now Lachlan's just confused. He drapes the towel over the back of his neck and frowns at Cass, unsure what she's getting at. But! Agreement is usually the thing to do when unsure, so after some hesitation, he utters, "A'righ'?" So how 'bout them wrist bandages? "Wha's goin' on?"
"I don't know, honestly." Cass frowns a little and notices him checking out her bandage. Rubbing at it absently, as if to put it out of mind, she shakes her head. "There's these two Evolved out there…they're the kind of people my father warned me about. The ones the Company actually targets. People who use their powers to cause mayhem and to hurt people. They robbed a liquor store I was in." But, look, she's okay! "Peter helped me out, but my clothes were all ruined, so he let me borrow some of his clothes."
Robbed a— But she looks unhurt. Except the wrist. She doesn't look like she's suffered any major awful trauma and/or maiming and/or near-death. So she must be okay, right? Wait, why were— "Yer clothes?" Lachlan only assumes Peter helped her out by beating the snot out of the bad guys or some such. Maybe healed minor injuries. Or perhaps not, since her wrist is still bandaged.
"Uh…yeah. They got drenched with wine and kind of ripped up." Why bother lying about it when she's already gotten this far in the discussion. It was traumatic, there was maiming, but so far it's all taken on more of a dream-like quality for the bookstore owner. Especially now that her wounds are all but healed. "I called Peter after they left and he took me back to his place." Cass is fine now, and that's the important part, right?
Lachlan nods. He's amazingly calm about the whole thing, but then again, there was no grievous harm. Cass isn't lying in a hospital or bleeding to death in an alley, and Lord knows he's had his fair share of really cruddy trips to the liquor store. He reaches out an arm as though to wrap it around her shoulders, then hesitates. Er. "But yer a'righ', righ'? Yer no' bleedin' 'r anythin' under there?" 'There' meaning the clothes and blanket. He'd rather not aggravate any hidden injuries. "Why di'ye no' call me?"
Just as calm as Cass is about the situation. Maybe there will be some sort of freak out down the road. However, strangely enough she's gone through enough strange situations and life-threatening events that this is actually disconnecting. The brunette doesn't pull away from Lachlan. Instead, she just leans against him. "I'm fine. Peter healed just about everything." Before she was a huge mess, but that's why she didn't call Lachlan first. Later he can investigate what's under the blanket and clothes, but for now he'll just have to put up with verbal reassurances. "Because Peter could get me out of there invisibly and fast. With the added bonus of healing. And I didn't want to worry you unduly."
Oh good, so Lachlan's not going to cause pain and agony if he wraps both arms around Cass and rests his cheek on the top of her head. Cuddling. It's nice. The need to call Peter makes sense to him. Granted, if he knew what actually went on in that liquor store, he would very much not be this mellow about it. As far as he knows, they were minor injuries. Cass is walking and talking and breathing, therefore it couldn't have been too bad. Letting out a sigh, the Scotsman closes his eyes. "Bloody city's crazy."
Far to the contrary. Cass really wants some of that cuddling, too. While Peter and Elena were comforting and helped heal her wounds, finally being in Lachlan's arms finally relaxes some of that tension that just never left since everything happened. And it's nice to come home and not have Lachlan freak out about something that already occurred and that nothing could be done about. "It is. And it's going to get crazier. There are people on the loose. Bad people. My father warned me about it. And so now I'm warning you. Just…be careful, Lach." Wrapping her arms around his waist, she all but sinks into his embrace.
"Bad like tha' Sylar guy?" Who Lachlan doesn't think is really scary, but apparently he is a Big Bad Ugly, and the Scot knows in some disconnected sort of way that the man is dangerous. The question itself isn't derisive or sarcastic, simply curious, an attempt to gauge the threat level. It's not like he's going to go out hunting them.
"Maybe worse." Cass isn't quite sure, but her father seemed so scared and shaken. Even moreso than when he talked about Sylar. "They may be all working together. Some evil league of evil or something before he takes all their powers? No one's quite sure on the motives." The bookstore owner knows how seriously Lachlan takes the Sylar threat - not seriously at all - and that still scares her. "But, they're out there."
Lachlan gives those shoulders a squeeze. It's meant to be reassuring, though for which one of them is a mystery. Probably both. "Yeah, well, they come near ye again, I'll make 'em wish they'd stayed … wherever they were." He doesn't know. The threat itself is fairly mellow, and followed shortly by: "'M glad yer a'righ'."
Whoever Lachlan is trying to comfort, it helps Cass so at least it works for one of them. "I know you will," she says softly, giving him a tight squeeze. "I am too." And she's glad that Lachlan doesn't know how bad it was before Peter helped heal her. Maybe they're finally at a point where can trust her to be able to handle herself. "I'm going to take an actual shower. I feel like I can still smell all that wine."
"Yeah?" Well this is a theory that needs testing. So Lachlan drops his head and starts sniffing at Cass' face and ear and neck and shoulder and neck and ear. Snffsnffsnffsnff? SNFFFFF? Snffsnff. And who cares if it tickles a little? "Dunna smell nothin' 'cept ye an' those clothes yer wearin'." The second one isn't as wonderful as the first. Not even comparable. He grins and gives her shoulders another squeeze. "'ll warm up some leftovers fer ye."
Giggling, Cass moves to give Lachlan a bit of a tickle when he tries to sniff her. Though she protests half-heartedly, she doesn't mind. "You're just being nice." Maybe he is or maybe he isn't, but she can still smell it and she won't be satisfied until she's washed it all away. "And biased." Not that she minds that. "Love you." Swooping forward, she gives him a stealth kiss before dragging herself up and over to the bathroom. The blanket will come with for now.