Log: Complete

[lady-turk.livejournal.com]

When; May 8th, Late Tuesday/Wednesday night
Rating; PG (There one curse word I think)
Characters; Jr./Rubedo red_dragon_666 & Elena lady_turk
Summary; Jr. really sucks at reading women's minds. The end.
Log;

It had been almost a week now, since Elena had started to act strange. It took some checking on the network to realize that it had been right around the time her co-workers had showed up in the City again, and it would have been foolish to brush it off and think the two things weren't connected.

What did she have to be weird about, though? Because she was dead? That was quite something to deal with, but he couldn't imagine that Elena would really avoid them for nearly five days because of that... Especially when he knew very well she seriously respected one of those Turks.

Tseng was his name?

"Elena?" Just to be polite, he knocked before putting in the command to open the door. Locks be damned when he was involved. It was pretty hard to hide from him in his own ship...unless you were chaos.

Besides, this was a room he'd set aside just for when Elena wanted to be alone... Which was...an awful lot lately.

Grumbling over the latest set of tricks and troubles that cropped up as she attempted to learn more about the exact inner workings and systems of the Durandal, Elena didn’t hear the door open. Rather, she didn’t really pay it much mind. She couldn’t help but hear it of course, as she couldn’t help but hear her name being called, but she tuned it out into being nothing more than background noise.

She didn’t want to pay attention to anything else besides the computer systems. Elena had of course, noticed when two very familiar faces had appeared in the City. But it was those same two faces that caused her to retreat into her current little project. She hadn’t left it, perusing her little goal with an almost fanatical mindset, as evident by the coffee cups that littered the desk around her.

Avoiding the network, avoiding anyone else, staying awake by a rather fanatical consumption of caffeine, and passing out due to exhaustion over the very same desk that she was working at now… Elena wasn’t afraid of the meeting… But she wasn’t quite ready to head straight first back into their presence either. Not when so much had happened.

He wasn't too surprised that she didn't even answer, considering how obsessed she seemed with what she was doing. And it didn't look like she was even trying to hide it very well, considering he could look right over her shoulder when he stepped up behind her to where she sat at her terminal.

Glancing at the empty cups of coffee scattered around, the slight mess made him worry. Elena didn't tend to be messy...

With a sigh, Rubedo folded his arms across his chest and shook his head, though he kept his tone light. "Why're you trying to hack into the Durandal's mainframe?"

The only real sign that Elena had really registered the question being asked was the stopping of her fingers over the keyboard; one that was rather fun to use if she was honest with herself. Typing a few more keys, before sighing and pushing herself away from the computer screen, Elena raked a hand through her hair.

“Just thought it might be an interesting little project to work on for a while,” Elena stated, plastering a small grin on her face as she turned her head to meet Jr.’s gaze. It wasn’t entirely a fake smile, but it wasn’t nearly as cheerful at it appeared t be. Groaning lightly, Elena cracked her knuckles outwards and stretched. “So how long have I been in here exactly?”

Project? Hacking the Durandal? That nearly made him roll his eyes. Such a task wasn't easy for people who were master hackers where he was from, let alone somebody who had only just recently been introduced to his world's technology only months before. He didn't doubt what a quick learner Elena was, but some things were just too far out of her reach.

Still, since he knew there was no danger of her doing anything serious, he shrugged it off. What was he supposed to do? Arrest her? The Durandal didn't exist anymore back home, anyway, which only made him depressed all over again.

"How long? Let's see." He lifted his wrist to look at the imaginary watch. "Only about three to four...days, woman." His hands settled back on his hips and he gave her a stern look.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd suspect you're avoiding me and anybody else who has a face."

Blinking for a moment, Elena thought for a moment just what it meant that she’d been in her little room for days now. Ah wow… She really had become wrapped up in her little project, even if it had been intentional. Though… Maybe not quite as much or for as long as she had originally hopped for. Weeks would have been better than days.

“Me? Why would I be doing something silly like that?” she asked, faking innocence. Just carrying on a normal conversation, like any of the countless others they’d had before. “I didn’t think it had been that long. Guess I got a little wrapped up.”

Rubedo stared at the blonde for a little bit longer before sighing. "I don't know. But it seems pretty weird to me that two of your co-workers are back in the City and you haven't even gone to see them. That guy... Tseng? You've talked about him before. You made him sound so important, and he's worried for you, Elena."

He pushed his hands into his jacket pockets. "You getting wrapped up in a project is one thing...but totally ignoring everyone? I may be on the bridge a lot with my books, but I still make time to see people. And I still go to bed at night. What's up with you?"

What a very loaded question, if it hadn’t exactly been intended as such. And the mere mention of Tseng name… Elena couldn’t help the slight tension that came with hearing his name again. Even seeing him, or his post on the network… She felt like such a rookie again. All embarrassed and shy and not sure what she should do.

“I was just writing up a report give them, kind of an overview of everything that’s happen,” Elena started, figuring it would be the best reason to use, since it was partially true. She was going to leave out a few key details and hoped that neither Tseng nor Reno picked up on the few things she wanted to leave out. Things like the fact that she’d died twice. “I guess I got a little distracted and forgot all about actually finishing it up and giving it to them.”

“I’m not really trying to avoid anyone, especially two people who I used to work with. And I’m not trying to ignore everyone else.”

Rubedo drummed his fingers against his hips as he eyed her warily. Elena...get distracted from work? It sounded like a load of bull in his opinion, but calling her a liar wasn't going to get him anywhere.

He was worried about her, not mad at her. And with these things, maybe the direct approach wasn't best. If Elena was scared of meeting her co-workers, Rubedo could only think of one reason for that... And he had already told Tseng that she was dead.

Of course, she probably didn't know that.

Trying to smile a bit, Rubedo stepped over to her side, wrapping his arms loosely around her shoulders while leaning in to gently nuzzle against her cheek. "Sounds like you've been working yourself too hard. You need to sleep in a real bed again, I think. Namely...ours?"

Giving something of a real smile now, Elena still couldn’t help but feel rather sick as she felt a knot in her stomach give a small twist and tighten. Had it been in any other time, Elena would have agreed and left with Jr. easily and quickly. However, it wasn’t quite like the rest of the time had been. It wouldn’t have been fair for her to act completely the same when she didn’t feel quite the same.

Turning her head to give him a quick peck on the cheek, Elena offered him an apologetic grin. “That sounds nice and all, but I’m not really all that tired right now. Something like this isn’t really that much of a big deal. Thanks for reminding me about the report though. I really should finish it now, while I remember it.”

Had he just been brushed off?

...No, she was just trying to be productive, right? Still, somehow he got a bizarre sense of deja vu out of this. He distinctly remembered one time she had tried to distract him away from his books when he had been intently researching, and that had...ended up interesting.

His grin a little more heartfelt and cheeky now, he just moved to lightly kiss her ear, fingertips fiddling with the top button of her shirt. "You can finish it later... You've put it off for nearly a week, haven't you? We can go to bed, but that doesn't mean we have to sleep."

“Jr…”

He was being rather sneaky with trying to get at her ears and doing a few suggestive things, something Elena really couldn’t fault him for. She used the method often enough in the past herself. However, even though Elena did a lot of things, there were still some things that she was more than just a touch hesitant to do. And one of them was to betray her feelings, no matter to whom they were for.

Placing a hand over the one that was fiddling with the top of her shirt, stopping it in its movements, Elena turned her head to give Jr. a bit more of a proper kiss. If Jr. was going to be sneaky, then she could be so too. And distraction was one of the better ways to be sneaky.

Breaking off, Elena gave him a small smile. “And that sounds like an even more tempting offer, but I’ll don’t know how good of an idea of that is.”

Considering he hadn't even gotten a kiss out of her since the other Turks' arrivals, it was enough to shut him up for a bit, although it was a struggle on deciding if it would sate him or just make the desire for more kisses worse.

He had just decided that more kisses would be better when she spoke, and that made him pause and lean back, quirking an eyebrow a suggestive smile. "I dunno, it sounds like a pretty fine idea to me."

“It would,” she teased. “But I really don’t think it’s a good idea on the whole right now.”

Giving his hand a squeeze, Elena tried once more to dissuade Jr. from making her actually have to reenter society, as it were. Even if it the only person she’d interact with would be him. Course, she had no doubt that once he got her out of this room once, he’d make sure she wouldn’t be able to get back in for a while. And probably, with only good intentions in mind, force her to meet up with her teammates. “Maybe later, okay? Not quite in the mood right now.”

Well, that was definitely a brush off. At least she didn't lie and use the excuse of having a headache or something, but it still stung nonetheless. It wasn't as if he'd been hounding her every night or anything. He'd let her do her anti-social thing for nearly a week now, and he had finally had enough and tried to tempt her into doing something, anything with him, and she wasn't in the mood.

Glancing down, his gaze centered on the ring on her finger, and he sunk down to crouch in front of the chair. Reaching out, he took her right hand and clutched it, thumb caressing the ring as he looked up at her, as if pleading with her to just communicate with him.

"Elena... Did I do something wrong? Is this about them, or is this about me?"

Elena could now officially add guilty to the range of emotions that she was feeling, twisting around in her gut. She hadn’t meant for Jr. to think that it had been anything he’d done. Well, in a twisted odd sort of way, it had been Jr.’s fault, though not in the way that he was probably thinking of. More in the sense that Jr. being Jr., had made him more important to Elena than she cared to admit, especially when dealing with her first crush, back in the same place where she hadn’t ever expected to see him again.

“It’s not you, Jr. And it’s not them. It’s one of those really stupidly complicated things that’s mostly only one person problem because they’re making more of an issue out of something than they should be.” Sighing and leaning her head back, but not removing her hand from its grasp, Elena took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. “I’m trying to figure out how to make the issue less, but it’s not exactly easy to do.”

Well at least she was admitting that she was going through something, but she was being as vague as possible, damnit. What was that supposed to mean?

She was acting funny, avoiding everyone, and apparently getting easily distracted from reports. She didn't want to have sex or socialize with anyone...

"...Uh." Suddenly he eyes dropped to her stomach. There was...no way that she could be pregnant. He was pretty sure that even at his biological age, he was capable of reproduction. And they hadn't been using protection... But there was a reason for that. She was dead. Dead women just didn't have babies.

Then again, dead women weren't supposed to walk and talk, either. What if it had happened during the time she was alive, and just...stayed that way?

Rubedo quickly glanced back up to her closed eyes, and his grip tightened on hers. "...Whatever it is, you don't have to...be afraid of telling me, you know." Shit, had his voice just cracked? "I want to help."

And here was one of those reasons that Elena was so very, very fond of the figure in front of her. Letting out another deep breath, and chewing lightly on her bottom lip, Elena shook her head as she tilted it upwards.

“You really wouldn’t want to hear what it is that I’m trying to figure out,” Elena stated. How would anyone react to hearing the little, well maybe not so little problem that Elena was trying to figure out a solution for? It wouldn’t be a pretty sight, if Elena had to guess. And she didn’t want to hurt Jr. like that.

But she wasn’t going to hurt or mislead Tseng whenever she saw him again either. There were still… “Sides, I don’t know how you could possible help with this.”

You really wouldn't want to hear what it is that I'm trying to figure out, she said, and that made Rubedo's stomach do a few flip-flops. He had to be reading this wrong. It had to be something else.

But what else could it be?

If that was the situation, and she was pregnant, then why didn't she want to tell him? Was she afraid he'd be mad? Considering what happened the last time she'd gotten 'pregnant'... No no no, that wasn't the same thing at all!

Clearing his throat, Rubedo's boots squeaked against the floor as he shifted his weight a bit to get more comfortable. He picked up her hand to gently kiss her knuckles, lips brushing against the metal of the ring before working to keep his voice steady. If she wasn't ready to tell him, he couldn't force it out of her, but maybe he could communicate that he had guessed?

Or at least try to soothe her.

"Whatever it is... I support you one hundred percent, okay? I'll always back you up. No matter what is going on," he stressed.

Elena groaned and bowed her head so that her chin was barely touching her chest. Why did he have to be so damn sweet? He probably wasn’t even fully aware of what he was saying and what it was doing to her emotions and how it was fighting with her rational state of mind. If she was more logical and wasn’t so emotional all the time she might have actually been able to say exactly what it was she was dealing with. Or maybe she could have figured out what an ideal solution might have been. Though what on all the planets could possibly be the ideal solution in this case?

“Wonder how much longer you’d say that if you actually knew,” Elena mumbled lightly under her breath. Shaking her head and lifting it back up, Elena tried for a small grin and a light-hearted tease. “Now you’re making me feel bad for brushing you off earlier, but that won’t make me change my mind you know.”

His brow furrowed a bit, but then he quickly smiled. Hopefully she wasn't aware of just how fast his heart was beating right then. Maybe he was still in shock, because he still didn't know what to think.

"I'd say it no matter what, trust me. That's what love is about, right?" He squeezed her hand again before letting go and standing up. Stepping by, he wondered why he was feeling so dizzy.

"But you need rest, you know! Like, in a real bed! And some actual food... Stop drinking so much coffee. If you promise to go lay down for a bit and let me go get you something to eat, you can come back here and do whatever you want tomorrow, okay?"

‘Love.’ It was one of those really horrible words that were a pain in the butt to hear or to say, but that Elena couldn’t help but say she might have been admittedly a victim of. Problem was who that love was directed at or completely towards. She wouldn’t be fickle like that. It wouldn’t be fair.

Raising an eyebrow at Jr.’s behavior though, Elena wasn’t quite sure what to say. Well, at least he wasn’t pressing the issue of getting her to actually say anything anymore. She had to be grateful for that at least. And she had successfully changed the topic completely away from the real issue at hand. “You’re not going to let me get out of doing what you say, are you?”

Her response made him grin again, and he leaned in to give her a quick peck on the lips before taking her hand and tugging for her to stand. "Nope! Trust me, it's for your own good!"

Stepping around behind her, Rubedo gently nudged at her back to guide her to the door. "You go lay down and get comfy, and I'll get you something to eat. What do you want? Anything you want."

Hopefully nothing too bizarre. He heard pregnant women got weird cravings.

Uch, his head was buzzing. He really hoped he wasn't about to pass out. That would be...inconvenient at best.

Raising an eyebrow, Elena wondered if Jr. wasn’t being just a little too over-helpful or enthusiastic about getting her to eat and be comfortable. She did agree that it probably would be best for her to get some real food and rest, but it wasn’t that much of an immediate need. She could come with him while they got food together. And then afterwards, sleep wouldn’t be that much of a big deal.

“I could just come with you and we can get something together,” Elena suggested, questioning and curious tone to her voice. She wasn’t exactly protesting, but she was waiting for an answer of some kind.

He really wanted her to go get some rest, but he also knew that exercise was supposed to be good. A walk to the kitchen would be just enough, and then he could try to cook something.

Really, his cooking wasn't that great, but it wasn't bad. It was definitely better than Mary's cooking, anyway.

"All right. But then straight to bed with you, missy!" Rubedo eyed her carefully before turning and leading the way down the hall, shaking his head a bed in an attempt to get rid of that light headed feeling.

He was just in shock. Once they finished eating and he got her to sleep, he could go...think. And maybe find someone he trusted to talk to about it. chaos would normally be his first choice, but he wasn't around anymore, damnit.

Beggars can't be choosers.