tampered | (no subject)

When; 01/10/13
Rating; (coming soon)
Characters; Charlie and her husband, Merlin
Summary; Charlie's dad is back in the City. Sort of. It's a ghoul and they decide to herd it to the stadium.
Log;

Charlie'd taken to sitting in the living, ducked below one of the windows as she watched the device. This was nothing but pure chaos. Her friends were being hurt in more ways than she liked to think about. Emotions were being screwed with, people were being injured. She didn't like it. So she kept her eyes on things from the safety of her house, fingers flexing occasionally with the need to just burn one of the things outside.

But she couldn't. They multiplied each time. She'd already dealt with seeing and beheading several copies of Captain Hollister and while it hadn't been emotionally trying (What did she care he was an asshole who tried to get her killed and kept her from her father no good son of a---) it had been physically exhausting trying to keep that fire back.

And occasionally on the device, she was sure she saw the craggy, scarred face of someone else. A man with an eyepatch that dug into his rotting skin but then he'd disappear. So Charlie just set her device down, nudging it away with her foot and standing slightly to peek outside.

What she saw filled her with cold dread, an icy feeling settling over every part of her and freeze her in her tracks.

When she could move, she stood and ran barefoot through the house, wordlessly searching for her husband. She was ghost pale when she found him, obviously shaken and slightly sickened by what she saw.

"One of those things looks like my dad. He's outside, staring at the house." Even saying it, she was convinced it wasn't a thing and was really him so she didn't say it easily. It came out stuttered and shaky.

"What do we do?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I've seen worse."

Not a lie, because after years at Gaius's and Arthur's side through physician work and battle, he's seen a lot of things. But it does give the illusion of it not being so bad at all, which he's sure will suffice for her.

If he wasn't used to looking after Arthur when he was wounded, this might be a bit worse. It's never nice to see someone you love hurt, of course, but this... should be fine. At least, that's what he keeps telling himself. His throat still feels a little thick, though.

"But this might hurt," he adds, before he starts cleaning it.

She smiles, nodding once and closing her eyes. She won't flinch or pull away when he starts cleaning though her hand will curl into the blankets on the bed and her face will scrunch up some, soft hisses escaping on occasion.

"Thank you for coming with me, Merlin." Which she probably doesn't have to say, she just needs to distract herself from having her bite cleaned.

Merlin exhales a soft laughter and shakes his head. It actually makes him smile, though, which is always a good thing, he supposes.

"I'd do it a hundred times over."

Charlie turns to look at him, smiling as well. She's still tired, still pale but at least she looks significantly less stressed. He helps, just by being there. Her arm reaches backwards for him, brushing against his side before her fingers curl into his shirt some. There's a slight tug. She wants him closer, just for how reassuring it is to have him near.

"People'd say you were nuts for even doing it once." Charlie'd think he was insane for doing it because it was a huge risk, but she wouldn't have it any other way.

"Then I guess I'm nuts."

He moves closer, presses a kiss to her cheek and he's done cleaning so he needs to move to get new things, really, but... Well, he can stay for a while, it's not a great rush now that it's clean, he thinks. Not so much that he can't cuddle with her for a moment, at least.

If he waits and whatever he does doesn't work, then it wouldn't have worked even if he would have done it this very second.