Starring:
Date: November 21, 2009
Summary:
Charlotte gets angry with Micah. Cam for once can claim total innocence…
"Video Fallout"
Cam and Micah's Room - German Orphanage
After airing the video and interrupting television programming across the United States, Micah is exhausted. Lying in bed, he's playing a handheld video game he'd managed to pick up in town, tucked underneath the covers. There's no window in the room, but if there was, a person would see snow. Yes, it's an incredibly cold day. With a sigh, he puts the game down and just cuddles under the covers. "Hopefully I didn't go too far this time…" he mutters to the ceiling.
Cam comes in the door to the room, he's been out enjoying the snow all day. Sure, he had to wear a jacket to maintain appearances to anybody driving by, but the winter is his time to shine. So, he hasn't been inside to hear about the whole TV event. Except for slight dusting of snow in his hair, it's hard to tell he's been outside, though. He doesn't have the telltale flush that most people do after being out in the cold. "Too far? What do you mean?"
It isn't long after that there's a knock at the door. It's Charlotte, and she doesn't look happy. But when is she ever? The boys probably haven't seen the woman smile in months. They don't even realize that it's because of them that she's so miserable. "Micah," she says easily, looking to Cam, and then back to the boy. He'll know why she's here. She stands in the doorway, fingers resting lightly on the door itself as she looks at the boys. There's no expression there - another supremely unusual thing.
"It's better you don't know— " Micah begins to say until there's a knock at the door at which he sits up in the bed. He knows what's coming. Or at least, he thinks he knows what's coming. He and Jamie both knew that there would be trouble. But he tries to act natural, clearing his throat as she hangs in the doorway. He furrows his eyebrows in response, "Charlotte."
Cam frowns a little at Micah's words, "What do you mean?" Then he looks up to Charlotte, smiling again and says, "Hey." He blinks again as he notices her expression, and says, "I was just outside, made a snowman and stuff. Sorry if I skipped chores, kinda lost track of time."
She steps in, closing the door. She'd expected something from him. Some apology, some explanation. Not this dry tone. She knows now that nothing will ever change. But Cam? He actually gets a smile, sad though it is. "I'd like to see that snowman. It's alright, you're kids. I expect you to skip chores or something every now and again, so long as you don't make a habit of it." But now, back to why she's here. "Micah, I've tried to keep you safe." She seems to not mind that Cam is here. "But you…won't stop putting yourself out there, even after I've asked you not to. Or at least to be up front with me. I understand why you want to do what you want to do, but….this can't go on. I'm going to have to move you. I'm going to have to move everyone." She closes her eyes, swallowing hard. She's never failed at relocating children until Micah came along. "I'm so sorry," she really does look sorry, like this is tearing at her soul. It is. "I've been working with SEnator Ivory to try and get this all figured out, but…I'm sorry for whatever I've done so that you can't trust me, and I'm even more sorry I can't be the protector and guardian you need or respect." It really hurts, that he has no respect for her at all.
Micah's jaw visible tenses as does the rest of his body. He says nothing for several moments as he just studies Charlotte plainly, unsure of what to say. After swallowing he sighs slightly, "I'm doing what I have to do. You might not agree with it, but I do what I feel is right." What he thinks his parents would feel right. "And there's no reason to move anyone. The signal was untraceable! I'm not so sloppy at my gift that I'd be careless enough to neglect that! I operated under the nose of the government for a long time with no one being the wiser until Tracy tricked me." He frowns. "No one could find it! Not ONE person! AND Jamie wanted to do it! She wants to be famous…"
Cam blinks in confusion, looking between Micah and Charlotte. "What? What happened? What'd you do?" He's confused, and sounds like he feels a little left out. He adds quickly, "I… we do respect you. Right Micah? We don't always need protecting, though… but anyway, what happened? Who's Jamie?"
Charlotte shakes her head. "I'm not asking to protect you always. But…." She shakes her head, biting on her lower lip and closing her eyes for a moment. She looks back to Micah. "We may disagree on what to do her,e Micah. But you promised me you wouldn't go behind my back anymore, and as soon as I look away - as soon as I trust you again - that's exactly what you do. This time you use your ability to present the face of one of our children - one of the people we were supposed to protect all over the world. Jamie won't be able to go back to the states for a long, long, long time. Everyone will know her face .Everyone will call in and report her to the police the moment she's seen anywhere civilized. I expected you to know better than this." She brings her hand up, covering her mouth a moment. "Senator Ivory has asked that you stop doing what you do, Micah. Every time you contact a fugitive or circumvent the government laws, they get more funding. Every time you prove you are above and beyond them, they become more afraid and therefore….they get more money and more power to do the things they're doing. Do you trust and respect him?" Her tone clearly says what her words do not: As opposed to me.
A glance is given to Cam. A glance that says I'll tell you about it later. He frowns, but Micah doesn't back down. "I waited. And I waited. And I thought on this for a long time. There was a lot more that we could've said, but we didn't. I talked to another kid in the US, and the truth is there needs to be more. Like the public needs to know what's happening to us. Public opinion in democracy is everything." Pause.
"Jamie will be fine. They won't be able to touch her. She's cute, they have nothing on her. They won't dare touch her now." He frowns at the mention of the Senator, but he still stands his ground, "The video was to sway that public opinion. People need to know the truth. And even if they're getting more funding, a president who has people arrested before they commit a crime should be impeached. EVERYONE knows that." He glances at Cam and then back to Charlotte.
Cam blinks, looking to Micah a moment more at his glance. But he quiets now. He looks between the two, looking totally lost. He doesn't know what to say or do to stop this argument, to save this whole situation. So he ends up just sitting quietly, watching.
"Micah, I know. I've been doing this sort of thing for years now. But you could have told me all of that. Instead you…you just…" She can't actually acuse him of anything that might hurt him. No matter what happens, Micah has to come out of this alright. It's what Niki would want. "What you're saying is a job for people like Senator Ivory. But you're making it harder for them to do just that. You won't even try to work with him, you won't even try to work with me. And you put people like Jamie in horrible, horrible danger just to get what you want - and you're doing it in such a way that you won't get it. I know you understand that. What have we all done so wrong that you refuse to work with any of us?"
"You've refused to work with me," Micah quips quietly shaking his head slightly. "We're not all damaged because we had tubes in our noses. It's traumatizing, sure, but people need to know the truth. And Ivory can't just go in front of a camera without him losing any of his standing." He continues to frown. "Jamie and I talked about it before. She volunteered! I talked to another guy over the internet and we can only combat this by public opinion and blogs aren't going to cut it." He crosses his arms over his chest, "I'm sorry if I make your life so difficult." Pause. "Maybe you should just send me back to New York." He stares at her.
Cam blinks, looking up quickly to Micah at his last words. "What? Are you… " He trails off. He doesn't want to argue with Micah in this kind of situation. At the same time, his initial reaction shows a lot.
Charlotte gapes a little at Micah's words. "I've done everything I can for you! And you are not going back to New York." She pauses, taking a moment to swallow, hard. "I'm going to protect you, even if you don't want to be protected. I'll find a way. It's what your mother and father would want above everything else and it's what I want above everything else." She looks between them, yes Cam, you too. "Both of you. You two are my priorities in all of this, and you will always be. Just…promise me that you understand that. Please."
Micah sighs. He's feeling rather sullen again. Not that this conversation is a surprise for him. "I'm not just some kid, Charlotte. I knew my parents too. Pretty well, I think. I was never one of those kids who didn't like my parents…" Pause. "And … they made a lot of mistakes. A lot of mistakes. But they were good people. I'm still learning how to be like them. It's not okay for me to just hide. They would do more… I need to stay on top of this." His frown deepens as he sighs, "I know you're looking out for us… you just… you can't hold on so tight… I started taking care of myself many years ago when Jessica first showed up… and when Dad couldn't get a job, I figured it out…" By stealing from the ATM. "… Cam is even more independent than I am…" He drums his fingers on the comforter, "I just… I don't feel like I can tell you stuff… I feel… like you'd just say no, you're so worried…"
Cam looks to Micah and then up to Charlotte, and adds to her, "You do seem real over-protective. We're not babies. Not that we want you to stop all together, we don't want that at all! Just…" He trails off again, shrugging a little and glancing down.
Charlotte shakes her head at Micah, eyes softening. "No, Micah, no. I already told you that I wouldn't make you stop. But I would make you slow down, think a little, perhaps discuss with other people what they are doing, and not just through random text messages where you decide everything." She shakes her head a bit, thinking quickly. "Why don't you try a blog? You can make postings about this place, if you're careful. No discussing where we are, how many we are, what chores we do or what powers we have. But you could have your thoughts heard out there, it's perfectly legal and it doesn't put anyone's face in danger." She looks apologetically to them both. "I know I'm overprotective, and I'm sorry. But if we can…just talk about these things before you do them, if you can just trust me on these things then I might not feel like I have to protect you from everything. I know we all agreed that you boys would have secrets, it's what you're supposed to do. You're teenagers. But we also agreed that you wouldn't have secrets about this stuff, because it's so dangerous for everyone involved. Now you've gone behind my back twice now. Why don't you just give me a chance? Trust me and talk to me and see if we can't do something together?"
Micah sighs again and merely replies, "Maybe," to the idea of a blog. "No one would read it though. Blogs are full of conspiracy theories." His lips twitch a bit, "I like having someone looking out for us. We just… we need some space. I'm still watching the internet for people like us. I found a guy who was looking for me… " His jaw finally relaxes, "I'll try. It's hard to trust. The last people that looked out for us died looking out for us. Doesn't exactly instil confidence…"
Cam looks up to Charlotte again and nods a little to that, and starts to say something, but then Micah answers and he just quiets again. After a moment, he says, "And with me, I'm just used to doing things on my own. I never even usually ran stuff by Niki before doing them."
Charlotte nods. "I know, but no matter what happens, I won't go anywhere. I'm here for you two above all else. I promise that. And if this were a fight about…I don't know. Bed times or deserts or whatever….but if we don't trust each other here something bad could happen. That's what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid of what happened with Tracy - secrets leading to a bad ending. I'm trying to give you as much space in every other aspect of your life as I can, but because we're fugitives it does limit our space somewhat. Once this is all over, that might change a bit. In the meantime….tell me about this man that was looking for you." That makes her nervous. But she's talking it over. See?
Staring at Charlotte, Micah nods a little and then smirks at the notion of a man looking for him. "It was Kitty's brother," he replies. "He had an ability of some kind, was looking for my name really fast, and was impossible to track…"
Cam nods quickly to Charlotte and says, "Yeah, I understand." He quiets again a few moments, until Micah's words, which makes him blink again, "Kitty's got a brother? Wow." He sits up a little straighter, but still for the most part stays quiet.
Alright. Charlotte's going to give it one last try. "Feel free to keep talking to him, but don't give out any of our information until you talk to me, okay? And if you want to meet him you let me go and get him and we can arrange something." She nods to both the boys once more. "Just please talk to me. I promise I won't just shut you down on all of this. But you have to at least try to talk to me about it."
"I don't say anything like that to anyone on the internet," Micah agrees with a nod. "Charlotte, I'll talk to you about it all. I'll do my best. And at least I'll talk to you before doing anything really really irrational…"
Cam, after Micah answers, nods quickly in agreement as well, "Yep, promise." He doesn't say much more than that, but he doesn't seem to be brushing it off. He means it.
Charlotte nods after looking over each of them equally. "My definition of irrational," she points out. "That's a rule I'm laying down. So long as we all understand what that means, then….just…don't do this again. Please."
A small nod is given to Charlotte, but Micah doesn't ask exactly what Charlotte's definition of irrational is. Now's not the time to question. He sideglances Cam, but really has nothing else to say at this moment.