tearmeanewone | trois + action/voice

[Action]

[It's been over a week since the mission ended, but Elizabeth has been watching over Gai like a hawk anyway. The virus had really done a number on him this time, apparently. Even though she lived with Booker, Robert, and now Rosalind in their, admittedly, much more spacious house, she'd still kept Gai resting and recuperating in her own room. Maybe it was rude, but she wasn't bothering anybody... right?]

[Friday morning, she comes back into her room to see if Gai is awake yet (it was still her house, and so she still slept in a separate room--for Booker and Robert, and honestly for Gai's sake too), and she's surprised to see the bed is empty and made. His clothes are gone too. She sighs and puts her hands on her hips. The least he could have done was tell her he was doing better and was going back to his apartment...]

[Still, she worries. Maybe Booker or Robert had said something to him and he'd packed up and left before he was ready to move again. Elizabeth gets dressed quickly and says she's going to get groceries--but she heads in the opposite direction to make certain Gai made it to his apartment alright.]

[When she gets there, she lets herself in the way she always does--by picking the lock on the door. But once it's open, she does announce that it's her and she's coming in because apparently someone couldn't be bothered to leave a note at least.]

[Gai's apartment was never the most decorated place... but Elizabeth immediately notices some things are missing. And when she goes into the bedroom it's even more apparent. She goes back to the door and checks the number, but it's definitely his apartment. Had he moved without telling her? Was everything just stuffed into the closet for some reason?]

[No... there's a chemise in one of the drawers, ripped right up the center. Elizabeth knows he wouldn't have left without taking it. Not voluntarily.]

[She sits down hard on the floor, staring at the destroyed garment in mute shock. There are tears, eventually, and she can't think any other thought besides 'Why didn't you just say yes?']

[Voice]

[An hour or so later, Elizabeth feels as though she couldn't possibly cry again for at least another thirty minutes, she's so spent. So it's best to get it out now, before the message becomes garbled and emotional.]

Gai Tsutsugami... has been taken back to his world.

[And considering he had admitted to dying before arriving in Luceti, she can't even think about what that means.]

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I want to. [Elizabeth squeezes Gai a little, reassuringly, before she backs up and takes his elbows to guide him back to the bed.] You don't have to thank me.

[And he just follows, allowing her to lead him over to it. He needs this, he knows he does, and he has at least enough sense remaining to recognize that much.]

You could have turned your back on me when I told you what I'd done.

No I couldn't have. [She turns around briefly to pull the covers down so Gai can climb into her bed.] I love you.

I love you too.

[And he does, more than anything else in the world. Going back to his world had only cemented that fact for him-- she's the best thing he's had in his entire life and he doesn't want to lose that.]

[God, how many times had she prayed she could hear those words one more time? Elizabeth straightens up and swallows down her tears again for what feels like the hundredth time, and moves out of the way so she can press Gai into laying down.]

See? That means I couldn't turn my back on you. [That sounds idiotic, doesn't it? There are so many steps of logic missing there.] I'm not... so naive to think that no one ever does something hard for the sake of good. Robert put me in a tower, after all. To protect me when I was a child and couldn't control the tears. I can't hate him because he wasn't able to stop it when things got out of hand.

And I can't hate you for anything, ever. Men with guns... [Elizabeth's laugh is a little rattle, but there's some genuine amusement in it.] I tend to see them as protectors, not as killers or monsters. [Not anymore.]

[He lets her do so, glad to be off his feet and lying down; once he's settled, he reaches out an arm to pull her down against him, because he really doesn't want to let go of her right now.

He's safe. He's home. This is where he belongs.]

That gun in my heart is to protect you now. I'd always hated its shape, hated what it said about me... but if I can use it to keep you safe, then I'll bear it with pride. That's all that matters to me.

[Elizabeth raises her eyebrows slightly at first, but then easily tucks herself into Gai once he asks for her there. As far as she's concerned, Gai is home now, too, and she needs to feel him hold her too.]

[She runs her fingers through Gai's hair, just to comb it back over his shoulder, and smiles at him.] Well, you know I get into all kinds of trouble here...

[Now he manages a short, quiet little laugh. It's not 100% genuine yet, but he's getting there. Just lying here with her like this is going a long way towards making him feel better already.]

I hope you can hold off on getting into any more until I've at least had a nap.

[Maybe it's completely inappropriate to joke right at that moment, but the relief is finally setting into her body and speech. So when Gai jokes back about her getting into more trouble, she slowly puts her weight into Gai's arms. As though she were 'trying' to roll out of bed.]

[And, as Elizabeth probably predicted, Gai's response is to just wrap his arms around her even more tightly to hold her right where she is. Even if it is a joke, he's not about to allow the possibility of her getting out of bed, not just yet.

Not for a while, if he has anything to say about it.]

[She had expected that, and the response makes Elizabeth laugh softly and wrap her arms around Gai's back. She's holding him protectively too, he's not getting up if she has anything to say about it either.]

[There's still tension in his body that won't be going away anytime soon, as she'll no doubt be able to feel when she's curled up against him like that. But it's a far cry from what it was when he first arrived; maybe now, like this, he actually will be able to get some sleep. He needs it, if only to clear his head from that outpouring of emotion.]

[Yes, Elizabeth can feel that tension in Gai's body and she tries to rub some of it out with little presses of her fingers. She wants to ask a question, but she's half afraid of it.]

[So she asks Gai's chest, almost in a whisper.]

How long has it been since you last kissed me?

[That question comes of something of a surprise to Gai until he realizes what she's really getting at-- she wants to know how long he'd been back at home.

To him, that answer is "far too long."]

A few months. Everything was set into motion almost as soon as I was brought back.

[A few months?] And I only went without you for a few hours...

[She keeps massaging Gai's back, increasing the pressure because his back feels like it's a rock wall.]

I don't ever want to be without you again.

[There's such conviction in his statement that it almost manages to mask the hint of desperation that he can't quite hide even despite his best efforts.

That massaging is nice, though, and he lets out a quiet murmur to show his enjoyment of it.]

[Elizabeth rests her forehead against Gai's chest and bites her lip hard, even as she nods her agreement. She can't cry, she can't cry now. Later, when Gai didn't need her to be an anchor.]

[She keeps nodding and keeps massaging Gai's back. Maybe she can relax him into sleeping, it would be best for him now.]

[Gai tilts his head enough to brush a kiss against her hair and then just bury his face there so that he can breathe in the scent of her shampoo. It's such a tiny thing, yet somehow it's become infinitely soothing in the wake of everything that's happened.

Elizabeth is here and he's back in Luceti. What happened in his world is just a distant memory... he'll make it a distant memory, because he won't let it ruin what he has here.]