X-23

Gadreel had felt empty since the Halloween fiasco making Adriel almost ignore every single attempt at conversation with him. It broke his heart to see how much pain he’d cause someone he greatly cared about. He found himself showing up to this party just to see if his beloved Angel would make an appearance, Zatanna stated she’d be there so many she could talk Adriel into coming. 

As he moved through the crowd he really tried not the hit or bump into anyone with very little success when he found some women’s claws in between his fingers not at all how he wanted to spend the night. “Oi! don’t you snip at me little girl, It’s not my fault I ran into you so don’t get on my bad side!” he snapped back in no mood to be anything other than the demon he was.

A bubble of laughter suddenly threatened to break past her lips, but Laura kept them sealed, a small smile growing at the edge of her lips. She gently pushed the man with her hip so she could regain her spot at the bar, then stole a side glance at him, retracting her claws and freeing his fingers. He had a funny accent, and he looked.. eccentric. “Do I really look like a little girl to you?” She asked, profoundly curious. No one had ever called her a ‘little girl’. Laura waved the bartender over and ordered a drink for her new companion. It seemed as if he needed it more than she did. “I could offer an ear for you to pour your problems into but I think alcohol is a smarter solution for whatever love trouble you’re having. Because it is love what has you so snippy, isn’t it?” She raised an eyebrow, handing him the drink. 

She seemed so calm and cool, so in control of herself while he practically buzzed with resentment. I bet he likes her more than me because her mind isn’t a disaster. He thought to himself. He’d noticed how David would ask him to take the blue stuff often. How he always seemed to want him high. Maybe he was just too much for him when he was sober. Maybe he didn’t really like him at all, let alone love him. But then why would he keep having tea with me? He has to care. He has to. He bit his lip and tried to focus on the topic at hand but they were already walking towards the garden, stepping out into the fresher, cooler air. He preferred it outside. Away from all the people. Away from the clock that was always ticking. The heartbeat of the house, reminding him that he couldn’t really use his powers. Laura asked him a question and he was back to reality. Watching as she took out her cigarette. That’s so bad for her. He thought. 

“Well, it wasn’t a hobby.” He said, digging into his coat and pulling out a small business card. On it wrote “The Great Jervis Tetch”. His real name and the phone number he once had. Hiding away now in storage. He probably wasn’t allowed to have this. Just like his hat, it was something that he carried from the real world into Wonderland. Something that David for some reason didn’t like them doing. “It was how I made my living. I did shows, everywhere. I mostly did them in Gotham, but I travelled too.” He recalled and then paused. “I won’t really be doing anymore shows… I guess. But I did help people get off that nasty little smoking habit. If you’d let me, I can try and help you. It’s been a while since I did a show, though. I might be rusty.” 

She took a long drag, looking down at the small business card before she took it carefully between her fingers, inspecting it with a small smile as the cigarette dangled at the edge of her lip. “The Great Jervis Tetch.” She mumbled, nodding in approval. “This is awesome, Jervis.” The smile turned into a full-on grin as she looked up, breathing out the smoke to the side so he wouldn’t smell it. She knew most people hated the cancerous smell of cigarettes, but Laura found it comforting. It reminded her of Logan, as if she were breathing him in somehow. “So you can control people up to some extent, right? Manipulate them a little.” She said, returning the business card to Jervis. Laura imagined the card was one of the few things of his past he’d held onto. The past could burden you, make you slower if you were running for your life as Laura used to, but it was also a part of your identity. Forgetting it was something only cowards could do, in her opinion. She thought it was nice he’d kept it, not a lot of people in this house can say the same. “Oh, it’s fine. It doesn’t hurt me. Unfortunately, I’m indestructible.” Her grin faded, leaving behind only the taste of bitterness. “And I like the smell. It reminds me of the people I’ve loved.” 

I missed you, so much. David smiled wanly, and drank when Laura did. He’d missed her sleeping there too, waking up next to her and stroking her hair, her little smile as she just woke up. He lowered his glass to his side and held it across the top, his fingertips pressed against the rims. “Things… changed,” he said, quietly. “While you were away.” He remembered waking up and seeing she was gone. The voices telling him he was stupid to think she’d stay – of course she abandoned him, just like his parents, just like Syd. He’d lost it, for a second. His control. His powers. He’d lashed out, sending everything flying through the air, the way he used to before he even knew he had powers, when he thought he was crazy.

Laura mentioned the Daily Bugle, and David’s smile faded. He looked at her. She knows – Don’t be stupid, she can’t know – She fucking knows, man. Why’d she mention it? – He didn’t blink. The blue stuff did nothing to stop the panic. He’d just got her back, and she would leave if she knew what he’d done. What they’d done. Sydney had said he was a monster – the real villain – and Laura would believe it too. She’d leave him. He couldn’t lose her, not after he just got her back. Ask her – What? If she knows we killed two dozen people? – Smart move, idiot –

He realised he hadn’t said anything for a few seconds. He’d just been staring at her in total silence, holding his glass. “What?” he said, blinking. “Oh… You know. Taking care of the family.” His tone was calm, gentle – the voice he knew she hated – but it was the only way he could lie to her. He drank the rest of the vodka in one go, wincing at the awful taste, and looked at Laura again. “We had a couple of new members join. Alice and Jervis. They’re nice. You’ll like them.” He sighed. “I was thinking… We really need to be more careful. About who we let in. We’re not a shelter, you know? We’re a family. I think Alice and Jervis are the last. No one else…” He trailed off and fell silent.

He couldn’t have people randomly walking into his home anymore. Not with the cops looking at Dolly – looking at him. It made it way too easy for people to find shit out. That was how this whole thing started – because some reporter had snuck in. They had to close their doors, stop letting strangers hang out. It was safer that way.

Laura only stared as David’s gaze buried deeper into the emptiness, his mind a thousand miles away from that room. Things changed. While you were away. She swallowed, concentrating on the sound of his heart beating erratically inside his chest. Laura swore she could feel how the molecules of the chemical he’d smoked intermingled with his red blood cells, how his blood smelled more like an odd cocktail of sweet flavors. Something was off, and with every tick of the clock Laura felt how each muscle in her body tensed, how the bile threatened to rise up her throat as soon as she heard that voice. That fake mask he hid behind. Hesitating at first, Laura placed a hand on top of his and offered a weak smile, nodding as he spoke. She wasn’t a member of his family, it definitely wasn’t her thing, but she could respect his beliefs even if she didn’t share them. “That’s your decision, David.” She mumbled, smiling weakly as she searched his eyes with hers. “I’m not exactly part of this.” 

She stayed quiet a couple of seconds, enjoying the peace before the storm she knew was coming. Slowly raising her hand up to his face, she gently cupped his cheek and made him look at her. “What happened?”

Laura Kinney as Wolverine (herself)

Laura pulled her hand away, and David sighed and smiled apologetically. He figured that would freak her out, but he wanted to show her that he wasn’t afraid of her. She held her hand against her chest and looked away, and David didn’t say anything for a second. He just looked at her. Tell her, man – I can’t – Shut up – “Sure,” he said, out loud. They started walking towards the house, and he let her walk ahead, so she didn’t have to look at him. At least she wasn’t pissed anymore. He couldn’t tell what she was feeling, without reading her mind, and he didn’t wanna do that and risk her getting mad again.

When she said she wasn’t gonna like what she was going to hear, he met her gaze. “Lenny –” he began, awkwardly, ignoring what she’d said, “– She keeps some vodka in her room. She thinks I don’t know about it, but…” His voice trailed off, and he tapped his temple, and flashed her a nervous smile. “Head over to my room, I’ll be there in a minute.”

He teleported to Lenny’s room without saying anything else. Most of the family slept wherever, but he and Lenny had their own private rooms. He reached under her mattress and grabbed a vodka bottle. That was where they used to hide contraband stuff when they were in hospital. Some things never changed. He smiled to himself, and held the bottle by the neck for a few seconds and just looked at it. God, he wanted to talk to Lenny. They hadn’t spoken since… Jeez, he couldn’t remember the last time. Where was she? He hadn’t seen her for days.

He blinked, and brought himself back to the present. Laura. She was waiting for him. He teleported into his room, and held the bottle up to show her. “It’s not exactly fancy,” he said, “But at least it’s not tea, right?” He walked over to the table where he usually made tea for visitors, and poured them both mugs of vodka, keeping his back to Laura. He still felt weird, sort of out of it from the blue stuff, like this wasn’t really happening. He picked up their mugs and walked over to hand Laura her drink. “You know,” he said, “I didn’t say this before, but… I’m really glad you’re back, Laura.”

Laura nodded before David disappeared to find the vodka, then sat down on the edge of his bed and began wringing her fingers, a habit she sometimes did whenever she felt nervous. She looked down at the bed and ran a hand past the covers. She couldn’t help but remember the times they’d spent there, cuddling and kissing and talking and laughing and sleeping, something she hardly ever did and specially not with someone else. Laura suddenly realized how far she and David had gone since that day at the coffee shop, where she’d pointed her claws at him and almost poked out one of his pretty, blue eyes she now loved so much. A small but sad smile formed on her lips; they’d lived so much in such a small amount of time, that it felt somewhat unreal. David came back with the vodka in hand and served two mugs; Laura frowned. David didn’t drink. Why was he serving himself vodka? A wave of coldness ran through her body; if he needed alcohol to get past this conversation, then it was more serious than what she’d initially thought. 

She took one of the mugs and smiled weakly up at David, mumbling a thank you. “I’m glad I’m back too. I missed this,” She looked around, then back at the bed. “I missed sleeping here,” Then she looked up at him. “And I missed you. So much." Laura looked down at the mug, staring at the clear liquid for a bit before she took a long sip, the strong taste of vodka doing little to her throat. She was used to it. Way too used to it. “A lot happened while I was away. It was only two weeks and yet it feels like a lifetime passed here.” She smiled, thinking of that morning at the diner where she’d had breakfast. As soon as she’d entered the dingy shop at the side of the road, Laura noticed everyone eyes were glued to the TV. “Did you see what happened at The Daily Bugle? Crazy, right?” Her eyes stayed down on the mug as she continued thinking of what she’d seen on the News Channel. They’d shown pictures of the murder scene, where masses of bodies lied either on the floor or somehow stuck to the walls. It seemed sort of familiar, now that she thought of it. Like she’d somehow seen that same kind of killings before. “Two weeks and the city goes to shit.” She mumbled, not really interested in the killings. She was just trying to make small talk, even though she sucked at it. “So what were you up while I was gone?”

She wasn’t even thinking about joining and yet him, a man who left everything behind for David got no time with him. What did he have to do to get David’s attention? Why was he so ignored? So forgotten. It was like Alice all over again. Anger whirled in his chest like a whirl pool, tempted to steal away his heart into the abyss. The Hatter’s lips twitched and he let out a soft, “Oh.” He said, trying to ignore the hypnotic ticking of the clock. How he heard it whispering through the walls and how he felt it vibrating through the floorboards. Hickory dickory dock. The mouse ran up the clock. Oh how he longed to lay down a trap for that insufferable little mouse. “You know. I used to just hang out with David too. He has a way of convincing you to join. Took me a few weeks but my dear sister-” He gestured in the direction of Alice. “She was convinced in a mere hour… Shouldn’t be long before he gets you to join too, I think. Free will’s an illusion… I should know. I’m a hypnotist.” 

She wasn’t even a fan of tea. He tried not to sigh. David had such poor taste. If he was going to replace him he should have at least picked someone who’d join Jervis’s tea parties. Jervis shook his head at her request. “Only the blue stuff, I’m afraid.” He told her, “There’s not much else here in Wonderland.” He began moving towards the door. “Come, the Garden’s much nicer anyway… and you look like you might need that smoke.” 

Laura’s smile faltered as soon as she saw Jervis’ lips twitching, then the girl, Alice, staring blankly at... something, someone, or somewhere. “I—” Laura began, but shut her mouth closed immediately. Was there even a point? She turned to look at Alice and wondered what had David done to convince her so quickly. Had they had.. sex, maybe? Something inside Laura told her to get away from these people, to run as fast as she could, but her feet remained glued to the ground. No one could do her any harm, specially not these two. “Cool. A hypnotist.” Laura nodded, her voice cool and steady. Her claws were at the edge of her skin, ready to come out at any moment. When Jervis mentioned the blue stuff, Laura’s eyes flew back to his empty ones. So everyone in the house consumed that stuff. That explained why she sometimes had a hard time smelling it; it was everywhere, so her nose was too saturated with the drug’s molecules. Laura walked behind Jervis as they made their way to the garden, her eyes studying his every move. They were slow, lazy, uncontrolled. She closed her eyes as they walked and listened to his body, aware of every single sound emanating from him. “So, Jervis,” Laura opened her eyes, focusing on her companion as she pulled a cigarette from her leather jacket. “Is the hypnotist thing a hobby or is that part of your mutation?”

I’m not Sydney, David. He blinked, and stared at her. She really thought he was with her because of Syd? Sure, in the beginning, she’d reminded him of Sydney. Her cute smile, her innocence, the way she believed in him, like Syd used to before Farouk poisoned her mind. But now, he was with Laura because she wasn’t like Sydney. He could touch her, in this plane of existence. She was so wild and sort of like an animal, sort of broken, like he was. She got him, in a way someone like Syd never could. Life had been cruel to Sydney, and she’d suffered, and he thought that made them closer. But Sydney didn’t love every part of him. She wanted to make him clean, manageable, ordinary. She’d wanted him drugged and zombified, like he’d been at Clockworks.

But Laura didn’t want that. She knew he was good, she trusted him. Until she’d left him to go to Paris, he’d been so sure she wouldn’t betray him, like Sydney had. And now she was back, and she’d explained herself, he wasn’t mad anymore. He forgave her. She wasn’t like Syd. She was better than Syd, and that was why he cared about her. Don’t be stupid, man, that’s why we love her. He looked into Laura’s eyes, and knew the voice was right. He loved Laura. Not in the vague way he loved the family, all that spiritual higher-consciousness bullshit. He wanted Laura to be the last thing he saw before he fell asleep, and the first thing he saw when he woke up. He wanted to kiss her until she didn’t feel like a monster anymore, until she believed that she was worthy of love. If Syd was right about one thing, it was that love was what they had to save, and he wanted to keep Laura safe.

She reached out and linked their hands together, and David looked down at their fingers. He’d always been the one to touch her first, to stroke her hair or kiss her or hold her. This felt like it meant something, like she was trying to tell him something. But then she looked away from him and breathed shallowly. What’s she doing? Is she gonna go berserk on us? David squinted and watched her carefully, but when she said the blue stuff was making her dizzy, he got it. She could smell it. He’d forgotten that, about her. How much she sense. He smiled. “Sorry,” he said. “I always forget you can do that. Read me.” He paused, and didn’t know what to say next.

“I know you’re not Sydney,” he continued, turning to look into her eyes again, bending his head a little so he could meet her gaze where she was trying not to look at him. “Baby, that’s why I like you. Sure, you reminded me of her at first. But then I got to know you, and I know you’re nothing like her. And I don’t want you to be. I want you to be you.” He raised their linked hands to his lips and kissed the back of her fingers, as close to her knuckles as he could get, where he knew her claws were, right underneath her skin. She trusted him, she believed in him, and he believed in her. He wasn’t afraid of what she could do, how violent she could be. He wanted her to know that.

You’re not telling me something. The part of what she’d said that he hadn’t responded to hung between them, and he lowered their hands and let go of her, so he could run his fingers through his hair. Laura understood what it was like to take lives – she’d probably killed the guy she’d chased down in Paris. But what if she didn’t understand why he’d needed to kill those people at the newspaper factory? What if he scared her away? He breathed out slowly. “We should go inside,” he said, after a few seconds. “I’ll make us some tea, and we can… talk.” He said the last word carefully, cautiously, and studied her reaction without reaching into her mind. “Okay?”

Laura nodded, still unable to look at him directly in the eyes. She quickly met his gaze, as he’d bent his head purposefully to look at her, but she didn’t want to look at him, so she looked away again. Couldn’t, without giving away what she was feeling. She was confused, and somewhat disappointed. Why did he have to take that blue stuff? Did he really want to be so out of it, like the rest of the people in the house? Couldn’t he see that they were all zombies enslaved by the drugs? You reminded me of her at first. Laura’s eyes flew back to his in less than a second. “Is that why you brought me here, David? Because you thought maybe I could be her?” She sighed, scratching the back of her neck with her free hand. It was useless; there was no point in talking about Sydney and his initial reactions to Laura. I want you to be you. And then he did it. The one thing Laura would have never allowed anyone else to do, nor did she think anyone would be stupid enough to dare. Suddenly his lips were on her knuckles, right on top of the patch of skin where her claws protruded from. Laura’s anger dissipated like air seeping out of a balloon. He knew what could happen; one wrong move and her claws could pop out without Laura meaning to. He knew how much she distrusted her own hands. And yet he pressed his lips to her knuckles and lingered there, like her hand was precious. She swallowed, her breath hitched at the base of her throat. 

The sensation of his lips on her skin sent waves of pleasure through her body, the skin around her claws far more sensitive than any other part of her body. She bit her lower lip, her eyes threatening to flutter closed. Suddenly, she yanked her hand away as he lowered their hands. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, or that she didn’t want him to touch her. On the contrary, the waves of pleasure rocking through her body just asked for more. But Laura didn’t trust herself. She couldn’t risk it. She held her hand against her chest as if it were a dangerous thing, then looked away again, nodding. “Do you have something that isn’t... tea?” She said, biting the inside of her cheeks as she began walking towards the house. “I think I might need something stronger for this conversation.” She stood on top of the porch and turned around, finally daring to look at David in the eyes. “Rum. Whiskey. Anything. I’ll even take ethanol if you have some.” Laura shrugged, looking down at her feet. “Something tells me I’m not going to like what I’m about to hear.” 

She’s smoking, man. So much for the innocent virgin bullshit we were into – David blinked, and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. He’d thought Laura was different. He’d thought she was better than Syd. She hadn’t judged him, or tried to trick him. Laura had seen that he was a good person. She believed in him. We were all she saw. But then she’d abandoned him, just like Syd. Like his parents. David gritted his teeth and watched Laura breathe out the smoke, and he hated her. He’d believed in her – really believed in her – and she’d left him. He taught the family that hatred and love were the same, that it was all a spectrum, but right then, it didn’t feel like love. Love had been when he’d kissed her in the white room, when he’d taken her to that private place where it was just the two of them, when he’d shown her that reality was what he made it. This didn’t feel like love.

When she started walking away, he considered making her stop, using his powers to hold her still. No one walks away from us – Stop her – I don’t wanna hurt her – I still care about her – Even after what she did to us? Pathetic – He felt a muscle in his cheek twitch. He was high – he was always high when he gave sermons to the family – and it dulled his anger, made the voices quieter, more like whispers. He needed more of the blue stuff. Laura kept walking, and David bit his bottom lip and ripped a shard of dry skin away, fighting the voices. He didn’t wanna hold Laura still, didn’t want to use her like that. You drugged me and –  He wasn’t that guy. The guy Sydney thought he was. He wasn’t going to do that to Laura. He’d show Syd. He was a good person.

So, he let her walk away, and when she stopped, he breathed out slowly. See? I didn’t need to stop her – It pays to be kind – She turned around to look at him, and he waited. Patience was a virtue. That was what he was always telling the family. Laura said she’d been to Paris, and David tried to imagine it. Laura and who knew how many of her clones, together. It was a weird image. She didn’t need to spell it out for him. They’d murdered this guy she was talking about. He was about to ask why she hadn’t told him where she was going, but then she apologised, and he cut himself off. She was sorry? Syd had never said she was sorry. “You are?” he asked, frowned. She was sorry. Really sorry. “Of course I’d care, Laura,” he said, quietly. “You’re my girl. I thought you’d left us – Me. I thought you’d left me.”

She just wants you to fuck her! He would have been angry, but the blue stuff made everything feel distant. Laura’s words washed over him like a tide. He just looked at her as she started crying. She’s jealous? Of Stevie? Seriously? He hadn’t taken any of the other family members to the white room. Not even Lenny. Laura hadn’t told him where she was going because she thought he wouldn’t care, thought he wouldn’t miss her. Not because she wanted to hurt him. But because she didn’t realise how much she meant to him. Just like Lenny, when she’d asked if he still cared about her. He looked at Laura, and he didn’t see a traitor, he didn’t see someone just like Syd, who’d walked away from him when he needed her. He saw his girl, the one who had told him she was all he saw, who had kissed him back, who had said he was a good person. He couldn’t let her leave. She said she’d go crazy murderous on him, and he just smiled. That was such a Laura thing to say. He hadn’t let himself miss her. From the moment he’d woken up to find her gone, he hadn’t let himself actually miss her, because it would’ve hurt too much. But he missed her right then, and he teleported from the porch to stand in front of her.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I know you hate telepathy. I… forgot.” He smiled apologetically, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. And he reached out and placed his hands on her shoulders carefully, like she was going to break. He just had to touch her, to remind himself he could, because she wasn’t Syd. “Baby, don’t go,” he whispered. “I missed you. I’m sorry. I – Someone abandoned me.” He hadn’t known he was going to say that until he said it. She’d told him not to talk inside her head, but he couldn’t help the image he sent out, like a nervous tick – Syd smiling at him in Clockworks, her knees drawn up to her chest, her sleeves pulled over her wrists. It only lasted a second, and he pulled away from Laura’s mind. “Someone abandoned me. And I was – I was so worried you were going to turn out like her.” He hadn’t mentioned Syd before. Laura had no idea. He looked into her bright blue eyes and he didn’t want her to cry anymore. He didn’t want her to hurt.

“Please don’t go,” he said quietly. “It’s not just you anymore. It’s us, okay? I’m right here.” He ran his hands down her arms gently, the way he had in the white room. “I forgive you. I know you’re trying. I’m trying too.” He smiled again, and he was close enough to feel her ragged breath on his lips, but he didn’t move any closer. “Don’t go, Laura,” he said again. “I need you.”

She took a step back instinctively as soon as he flashed in front of her, but didn’t move when he put his hands on her shoulders and stepped closer to her. There was so much anger, so much energy contained within her chest, but she didn’t scream, didn’t push him away, didn’t do anything even though she felt like doing everything. Her claws were itching to come out, and she could feel the violence palpitating right beneath her skin, like an animal she could barely hold back. Anger had always been her biggest weakness, her very own version of Achilles’ heel. Laura took a deep breath, biting on her lower lip hard as he spoke, his voice a hybrid between the soothing guru and the real David. Something wasn’t clicking. 

She looked up at him when he apologized, and noticed his smile was odd. Different. Dulled. It didn’t light up his face as it usually did when he really smiled. She suddenly tasted blood on her tongue; she’d bitten too hard when he said I missed you. She’d missed him too. So much it had completely thrown her off. She had never experienced the feeling of yearning before. Of wishing she could hold someone who wasn’t there. Even though it was impossible for Laura to be cold, she’d felt cold the entire time she’d been away. Tracking the group manufacturing the scent had taken her a whole extra week because of how distracted she’d been thinking of David. 

Now, she was too angry to think of how much she’d missed him. Her anger didn’t allow her to remember how much she’d yearned for him. She was about to take his hands off of her when suddenly she smelled it. That odd, diluted scent of mixed molecules clashing against one another. It was a smell both natural and yet profoundly chemical, as if the elixir of life, the very substance that fed the Earth's soul, had suffered several rounds of distillation in a cold laboratory. And she’d smelled it before, inside the house. Laura had seen several people smoking something blue which produced that smell. And right then, as she stared at David explaining himself without really listening to him, she breathed in the molecules seeping through his pores and knew his bloodstream was filled with the blue crap. 

Before she could say anything, David flooded her mind with images of a blonde woman wearing a hospital gown. Sydney Barrett. She was smiling, and Laura suddenly felt like smiling too. It was such a contagious smile, the way her blue eyes lit up and did something magical. The image was gone as fast as it had appeared, and David was standing in front of her once again, running his hands down Laura’s arms. And suddenly she understood. The realization dawned slowly upon her, like a small stream of information cascading on her shoulders. He wasn’t weird because she’d left. There was something else going on. Something about Sydney, or the blue stuff, or perhaps a combination of the two. 

 “I’m not Sydney, David." She said, finally daring to speak. Her voice felt stronger, more controlled. “And I’m not interested in being her for you. Not even a little bit.” Was he high because it was easier to see Sydney in Laura? No, that’s not it. She took a deep breath in, smelling him again. He reeked of it. How hadn’t she noticed before? “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. But you’re not telling me something and I’m starting to think it doesn’t have a lot to do with me being gone.” She said, frowning while she took a step back and looked away from him. The smell of the drug coursing through his veins was making her feel lightheaded. Hesitating at first, Laura took his hand and laced their fingers together, the act somewhat foreign to her, but still didn’t dare look at him. Instead, she glued her eyes on their linked hands, her face angled so that she was breathing fresh air. “I...” She began, trying to explain herself without exactly calling him out. “I’m sorry. The blue stuff in your body is making me dizzy.” 

When Stevie took her hand off his lap, David looked down at her and frowned. He’d heard Laura snarl, but he wasn’t going to look at her. He didn’t wanna give her the satisfaction. He wasn’t mad at her, but he needed her to understand that her actions had consequences. She’d acted like a traitor, so she was gonna get treated like one until she said she was sorry. He wasn’t angry – he’d been in total control of his emotions since the newspaper factory – and he felt nothing but indifference for her. He breathed slowly, and kept watching the family as Laura spoke, giving no indication that he’d heard her. He waited until she’d left before exhaling slowly and smiling at the crowd.

Fine. If she didn’t wanna talk about where she’d been in front of the family, if she wanted to act like an outsider, then he’d be the bigger person and oblige her. He looked around at the family, smiling benignly “Daddy has to go talk to Laura, my beauties,” he said. “The meeting’s over for tonight. Don’t come outside unless I call you. Daddy’s got this.” He reached down and stroked Stevie’s hair, and sent them all a wave of calm and happiness, in cause Laura had upset them with her anger. They all smiled, and relaxed onto the floor, and David glanced at them all one by one before deciding it was safe to leave them by themselves.

He teleported outside, to the front porch, and just stood there in silence, watching Laura. After a few seconds, he said, gently, “Don’t threaten Stevie again.” He stared into her eyes. She left us, man – She abandoned us – I know, I’m handling it –  “Don’t threaten any of the family again,” he said, out loud. Then, he just looked at her, taking her in. She was carrying a backpack. She was wearing clothes he’d never seen before. He reached out for her mind without asking permission, trying to see where she’d been, why she’d abandoned him. Where did you go? he asked her, telepathically, in the same soothing and calm voice.

Daddy’s got this, he said, using that same voice Laura disliked so much. She could hear him trying to comfort the people inside, soothing their empty minds like some kind of spiritual guide. Laura sighed, pulling a cigarette from her jacket and quickly flaming the tip. She closed her eyes as she inhaled the smoke, already feeling her self-control slipping from her grasp. Last time she’d seen David, things had been great. Better than great. Magical. Not that she would ever say those words out loud. Laura had never felt so at ease with anyone else in her entire life. They’d spent hours in that mental room of his, just talking and kissing and holding each other like nothing else in the world mattered but them. 

Don’t threaten Stevie again. The words felt like he’d slapped her with a bat. And when it felt like it couldn’t get any worse, Don’t threaten any of the family again. Laura opened her eyes, chuckling bitterly as she looked away from David, still holding on to the cigarette for dear life. Various thoughts flew past her head as she took another drag from the cigarette and held the smoke inside, but nothing came out of her lips except for the grey cloud of smoke. She didn’t dare to tell him to fuck off, even though she could feel the words building up in the base of her throat. As soon as he uttered the first word inside her head, Laura completely lost it, crushing the lit cigarette in her hand before letting it fall on the ground. Her heartbeat quickened, and she could feel her claws edging past her skin, but she clenched her jaw, tightened her fists, and suddenly turned around and began walking away from the porch.

She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t do relationships. She wasn’t built for them. She couldn’t even have a conversation with David without wanting to shred him to pieces. Don’t threaten any of the family again. Are you fucking kidding me? Logan was right, there wasn’t any point in trying to connect with people because they couldn’t even navigate a simple conversation without wanting to explode. Logan, Laura, her sisters. They were ticking bombs, too involved in their own craziness to deal with normal things like a couple’s fight. And David— Fucking hell, David. She stopped a couple of meters away from the house, not realizing how far away she’d walked. 

Calm down, she told herself. She could do this. Or at least she could try. He was worth it, no matter how frustrating he could be sometimes. Turning around, Laura stood in front of the porch and stared up at David, trying as best as she could to organize her thoughts and form a coherent sentence. She knew she lacked the words to properly express herself, but she could at least try. “I was in Paris. I chased my sisters down and together we found someone who was manufacturing that scent that makes me go crazy murderous. I’m—” The words got stuck on her tongue. Fuck. Laura sighed, a knot already forming inside her throat. “I’m sorry I left without saying anything. I didn’t plan it, and I’m not used to having someone worried about where I am. It’s always been just me and I didn’t... I didn’t think you’d notice. Or care. Whatever.” She looked away, frowning. There was an excessive amount of adrenaline surging through her veins. It felt like there was fire burning beneath her skin.