[psl] 2015: I've been worrying I will become what I deserve

[firewatcher]

Palmer scrolled through the contacts list on her phone, finally finding the right one. A small, morbid smile sprang to her lips. She'd spoken to the owner of this number earlier tonight--like every night--but it had been a while since she'd last made a social call. What a reason to get back in touch.

Like old times, really, except not really at all.

She glanced back into the dining room. Amity still seemed to be sitting tight—not that she had any way of not doing that, being handcuffed to the chair, ha fucking ha, but at least she was eating, now. Well. For a given value of "eating."

Christ in heaven, this was her life, now.

Well, she already committed to this. No reason to hesitate. She hit the call button.

"Hi, Danielle," she said, not even bothering to disguise the weariness in her voice. "It's me."

Comments

[firewatcher]

"Yeah, honestly, this is frankly embarrassing. I knew I should have insisted that Amity keep up more with the self-defense." It was kind of a glib statement to make, but it was either that or have a nervous breakdown, and Palmer was pretty sure she'd rather not.

She prodded the luckless Jones with her boot. "Well, I don't know how long you can stay up—I can put you up on the couch here, or in the other bed in the darkroom, if you need to have a lie-down. I can handle cleanup. Have a bunch of other things I ought to do today, anyway. Like call in sick to work."

[beyondthisillusion]

Danielle shook her head. "I can manage. If you want, I can sit up with Amity. Watch over her for a few hours."

She knew Palmer was going to object to that, so she raced on as quickly as she could. "Look, I'm not going to argue with you or try to talk you out of this or anything. But if you're going to do it, at least do it smart. You need to get some sleep. At least five hours. I'll settle for four. Tonight is going to be a very, very long night."

[firewatcher]

Palmer was indeed about to protest, but interrupted herself with a yawn. She had been up all night, there was no denying that—one of her odd late shifts coupled with coming home to this mess. "I... ugh, you're probably right. Seriously, though, don't let me sleep more than four hours. I want to be functional, but I have a hell of a lot to do."

She almost ran a hand through her hair, but then realized she had not a small amount of blood on her hand, now, and grimaced. "Well, maybe I'll wash up real quick, too. After I take care of this guy."

[beyondthisillusion]

To say Danielle was surprised she'd actually won the argument was something of an understatement. To say she was pleased was more so.

Well, no. No. Not pleased. Because this was pretty much one of the worst case scenarios her mind could possibly come up with. But there was a chance, a sliver-of-the-moon chance that they could work it out. She'd made it this far as a vampire. Maybe Amity could do the same. At least she'd have the benefit of role models who weren't psycho Invictus spies, anyway.

"Okay," she sighed. "You shower. Once you're in bed, I'll set an alarm. After you've had four hours, I'll call to wake you. And I'll stay with Amity the entire time."

[firewatcher]

Palmer grabbed the bottom of the chair with both hands, Jones still strapped to it, and hefted it. "Yeah," she said, quietly. "Sounds good." She smiled, wearily. "I'm going to go upstairs and take this guy for a little... visit to the backyard while the sun's coming up; I'll close the blinds on the way back so that you can actually go upstairs."

She stopped on the first step of the staircase, and turned her head to look back at Danielle. "And..." She paused for one long moment, her face serious. "Danielle. Thanks."

[beyondthisillusion]

This time, Danielle actually let her surprise show. What had Palmer expected of her? The mind boggled. Probably not a good intellectual path to try to stumble down.

So she shrugged, trying to shrug off the words and the tone. "It's family business," she said.

Which seemed to say it all.

[firewatcher]

Palmer's mouth twitched at one end, slightly—but then she nodded again, without saying another word, and continued up the stairs, toward the dawn.