Recovery [Open]

[tarnishedbadge]

After two days spent at the family's house Levi announced that they either stop trying to prevent him from going home or he would injure himself further so he could get sent back to the hospital. They must have thought he was stupid or stubborn enough to do it because Thursday night they dropped him off back at his place. His sister had insisted on staying the night and Levi had been too tired to argue with her beyond making her promise to leave first thing in the morning.

Fortunately some booze and pain killers sent Levi off to sleep in a hurry and by Friday morning he had barely remembered that his sister had been there. Only a note promising to drop some groceries by and an omelette were any indication that she had been there. He had tossed the omelette, knowing all too well how poorly his sister could cook, and instead settled for some toast and dry cereal.

He had a dozen message on his answering machine, most of them work colleagues congratulating him on graduating from the "James Thornton Academy of Avoiding Work" by getting injured. That made him smile, not just for the dig at James but for the harassment. If the other cops hadn't cared about him they wouldn't have called. None would have showed genuine sympathy, giving each other shit was how they showed they cared.

Once he listened through the messages again and wrote a few notes to remember who said something he decided to go about trying to cure himself of feeling stir crazy. Normally he would have gone for a swim or tried some surfing but the cut on his hip wasn't supposed to get wet for several more weeks.

Instead he settled on a short walk down the beach with a cane the hospital had given him to use for the next week or so. With how easily the thing continued to sink in the sand though it was probably more of a pain in the ass to use it than not. Out of sheer stubbornness and the relief of two more pain killers he was able to go for a decent walk down the beach, at least enough to make him feel like he had gone out and done something.

By the time he made it back home though he was exhausted and just collapsed at his kitchen table. For the last few days he'd been thinking about the investigation, unable to focus on saving Corry, Emily and Wulfric but instead on the frustration he felt at being kept in the dark by different sides of the community. How much pain and anguish could he have saved the captives from if people would have just talked to him? His own girlfriend had been a siren and not only had he not known, she hadn't trusted him with the information he was looking for.

As far as detectives went, he wasn't much of one. He had become a police officer to protect the people of Siren Cove but he wasn't even sure if the people needed or wanted his protection. Grabbing a legal pad and a pen Levi wrote out his resignation letter from the force. Rereading it he crumpled it into a ball and drafted another. And another. And another. By the time he gave up over an hour later the table was littered with abandoned attempts.

Forcing himself away from the table he wandered aimlessly for a bit before deciding to kill his brain a bit with whatever was on TV. When it seemed like all that was on were police procedural he gave a growl of frustration and turned it off, instead settling for the stack of comics that had been delivered while he was in the hospital.

ooc: If you're a friend or colleague, come by and check on him. Anyone else can just find him wandering along the beach and say hi.

Comments

[asharpertongue]

Lara's been driving past his house every day since she'd heard he'd been let out of the hospital. She'd toyed with the idea of going to see him at his parents, even going so far as to drive over to the super-rich side of town but she got cold feet. Dealing with Levi's disappointment and fear was going to be bad enough without adding suspicious parents into the mix.

It was early evening when she drove past and as she slowed down to pass by she saw a light on inside. He was home.

She swallowed hard and kept driving until she could turn around, deciding to park outside his house. It wasn't like he wouldn't know it was her when she pulled up anyway. The engine would give it away.

She parks quickly and gets out, heading up the path before she can chicken out. She needs to face this because if this thing with Levi is going to end, she needs to do it soon. Band-aids are always best when they're snatched off quickly.

Straightening her jacket and wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans, she walks up the path to his front door.

There's only a moments hesitation before she knocks.

[tarnishedbadge]

The knock surprised Levi, he hadn't expected anyone to come. That was the point of having a secluded beach house, privacy. Giving an exaggerated groan he pushed himself off the couch and hobbled over to the door with his cane. The hobble and cane were mostly for effect, in case his guest was going to over stay their welcome he could feign his injury acting up.

He wasn't sure who he expected when he opened the door, maybe one of his family, but it wasn't Lara. She hadn't called his house phone, she hadn't stopped by and in general he thought she was avoiding him. That she was going to keep avoiding him because of what he now knew.

Seeing her there though caused his stomach to flutter and his pulse quicken. He always forgot how beautiful she was, even if it was just a few hours between seeing her, like his mind refused to accept that his memory of her was accurate, that anyone could be that perfect. She was always better than his memory though and seeing her standing at his door he just wanted to pull her close and kiss her.

"Hey," he said instead, turning to the side so she could come in. "Come on in. Uh, if you're staying for a bit..."

[asharpertongue]

She couldn't move for a second. He was still a little banged up but mostly he was intact. It was a serious effort not to just push him back against the door so she could check him all over, make sure her eyes weren't deceiving her and then kiss him hello the way she wanted to. But then her eyes found the cane he was leaning hard on and she frowned at it, hating that he was hurt enough to need that kind of help. She hadn't realised how deep the wound had gone. it was enough to sober her up though and she fought down her instincts.

Shaking herself, she smiled a little and stepped inside, giving him a wide birth so he wasn't forced to touch her. The last thing she wanted was to hear the horror and fear in his voice she'd heard that night at the hospital.

She waited for him to close the door, hovering awkwardly in the doorway as he locked it and led the way inside. Following she hissed quietly at the limp and fought the urge to just duck under his arm to help him.

[tarnishedbadge]

Levi didn't miss how she was giving him a wide berth, as if physical contact with him was something to be avoided. He wondered if she was silently making a point because he could pick up on her desire to touch him, to comfort him, but she was holding back. Maybe she was preparing to reject him, trying not to give him false hope. He knew that she was a siren now so maybe she couldn't be with him in order to protect the other sirens.

He glanced over at the table littered with his letters of resignation and wished that he had cleaned those up before she came by. While he'd been hoping she would come by seeing her like this, refusing to get close to him, hurt. It hurt worse than any of the injuries he had sustained.

"How are you?" he asked, leaning the cane against the table and straightening up as he walked to the couch. "You... I remember you were hurt."

[asharpertongue]

It's so much harder than she was expecting to be in the same room as him without touching him. He's right there and she can't just go to him. She has to look away and get herself together before she can speak.

She wraps an arm around her middle, hand laying over her side where the demented siren had torn into her. "I'm fine. Healing." She took an involuntary step forward before she caught herself and stopped. "How are you?"

[tarnishedbadge]

"Doing pretty terrible since you'll barely look at me and won't get close to me," he said. It was abrupt for sure but they'd never shied away of those honest reactions so far so why now? Why when seeing her be afraid to even look at him hurt far, far worse than anything the monster had done to him. Levi was tired, hurt and upset and he didn't have the energy to pretend otherwise.

"Look, if this is you... telling me it's over just do it or dumping me or whatever just do it, please."

[asharpertongue]

"Me telling you...? What? No! I..." She blew out a frustrated breath. "I'm just giving you room. I don't want to..."

Pacing away she scratched at her healing arm. This conversation went simpler in her head. She turned back and shook her head. "I don't want to scare you. When that...creature went after you, I saw the way you looked at me. And after. I went to see you at the hospital that night and you...you were dreaming about me. You called me a monster and to get away." she finished, lifting her chin, waiting for the death knell.

[tarnishedbadge]

"Jesus, Lara."

Levi let out a huff of frustration and collapsed onto his couch, hands scrubbing over his face. Everything about them had been so easy up until now and when they could have really done with some simplicity things seemed more complicated than ever. He could feel her fear bleeding through, pounding in sync with his head, and he knew that she was scared of how this would go. Levi just wasn't sure what outcome she was afraid of.

"I saw what I thought was my human girlfriend turn into something that was definitely not human. Yes, you were absolutely scary looking, but I wasn't afraid of you, I was afraid for you."

He hadn't even known that she was with him at the hospital. There had been a dream, but that's all that he thought it had been since she was gone when he woke up.

"What did I say in the dream?"

[asharpertongue]

The idea that he'd been scared for her hadn't even entered her head. As it was she was struggling to process it. He wasn't scared of her? But...she was a monster. He'd said so himself.

"You...you called my name and it sounded happy but then you started panicking, saying 'No!' and 'Monster!' and 'Get away!'. And you seemed to calm down when I moved away from you so... I assumed it was me you were seeing."

[tarnishedbadge]

"It's almost as if earlier that night I had watched a monster, the type the kidnaps and murders people, get into a fight with my girl friend and hurt her," he said, remembering that dream all too well. The vision of Lara getting attacked by the monster, of it slashing into her, was one that he probably wouldn't ever get out of his mind.

"And I probably calmed down because the drugs kicked in. Lara, the last thing in the entire world that I want is for you to be away from me. So you've got some crazy ultimate form or something, I don't know. I don't care."

[asharpertongue]

"You're serious?" She didn't want to ask, she just wanted to believe that he didn't care at all, take it on faith but she was an entirely different species. No one could be that blasé about it, not even Levi. "You saw what I was. I'm the same as that creature that killed all those people. He and I...we're the same species, Levi."

[tarnishedbadge]

"What does that have to do with anything? I'm the same species as the guy that forced him to do it," he said, looking up to meet her eyes. He was exhausted and he probably looked like hell. He hadn't realized until right now how much of that was due to going so long without seeing Lara, to wondering what was going to happen to them now.

"Do you really think I'm the type of person that would judge someone based off of what another member of their species has done? I'm a cop, I see people being terrible every day. But I know that's not all there is to humanity. Whatever you are... you're nothing like that thing. I know you better than anyone and I know you're a good person. Siren. Whatever."

[asharpertongue]

She shook her head. "I'm not. I lied to you. Lie of omission but I still lied. I should have told you what I was from the day we decided that this was something other than casual."

This was ridiculous. The urge to go and check on him was going to tear her apart if she didn't figure out where they stood soon.

"I'm sorry for lying, Levi. You've no goddamn idea how sorry I am. I had reasons for not telling you - reasons I will give you later, one way or another - but that doesn't change the fact that seeing you get hurt, watching you nearly die could have been prevented if I'd told you." She took a step forward and steeled herself. "If you want to end this thing we have, please tell me now. No qualifiers - no if/thens. I just need to know."

[tarnishedbadge]

"You absolutely should have hidden it from me," he said with a laugh, unable to believe that they were having this conversation. Maybe it was because he had his own secret and wanted to defend not telling her that he was taking this side, but he still felt that she had done the right thing.

"Not because I would have run, because I wouldn't. I'm not. Everyone in Siren Cove has secrets. There's no clear line that says when you should tell someone what you are or aren't, Lara. Am I upset that you didn't tell me as a cop who was trying to save people? Absolutely. I don't care what you are or when you should have told me. I care about you and-"

He tried to stand up but his hip was a lot more tired than he thought it was and all he managed to do was push up off the couch a bit and fall back down.

"-Okay, pretend that was me standing up and shutting us both up with a kiss."

[asharpertongue]

"Thank god." She was on her knees in front of him before he could say another word. "I have to...Can I...?" The urge to check him over was astonishing. Fairly certain her eyes were glowing she reached out, hands on his arms, running up and down them gently before moving to his torso and up to his face, fingers tracing the edges of his bruises and the split in his lip.

"He hurt you." She said as she pulled her hands back to trail lightly over where she knew his wound was, looking up at him, eyes still gold-white and voice pitching just slightly off the edge of normal into her true voice, melodic and lilting until she got it under control, blinking her eyes back to normal "He fucking hurt you and I...I wanted to rip him open and feed him his insides."

[tarnishedbadge]

Levi felt his body react to Lara's touch, the simultaneous feeling of being charged with energy but completely relaxed. He watched as her eyes glowed while she ran her hands over him, bright and golden as she gently touched him. How she could think she was a monster when she was touching him so gently, was so concerned for him, he couldn't fathom.

"I'm fine," he said, leaning forward to press his forehead against hers, taking all the comfort she was willing to answer. "The cut was shallow and the rest just looks bad because I bruise ugly. It's all relatively minor because you were a complete bad ass and saved your boyfriend."

[asharpertongue]

He was touching her again and she hadn't realised how much she'd missed it until that exact moment. She wrapped her hands around his forearms and gripped there gently, leaning up to kiss him. It was just a short kiss, enough to reassure herself that he was real, that he was there in one piece.

She pulled away and smiled at him tentatively. "You, the man with the firearms, think I'm a badass?"

[tarnishedbadge]

The kiss was good, grounding and he wanted more but was afraid if he took it they'd never stop and they had more they needed to say.

"You have claws," Levi pointed out, which couldn't get knocked away from you in a fight like his gun could and had. "Which, you have totally been holding out on me. You know how much I love when you scratch my back or run your nails through my hair, and all this time you had claws you could have used."

[seas_open]

She's fresh out of the ocean, having only allowed herself to melt back to the shape she wears most of the time and slipped back into her bikini when she catches sight of someone walking down the beach. It looks like he's struggling with a cane and she watches with a faintly amused smile for a moment before glancing down at herself to make sure there are no residual scales still showing through before she saunters closer.

She leaves her towel and sandals behind under her blue umbrella, a book open face down in the sand.

"Well, this isn't quite the beach activity I've gotten used to," she comments when she's near enough to be heard, reaching up to squeeze excess water from her hair at the same time.

[asharpertongue]

Lara barked a laugh and then covered her mouth with her hand. Only Levi could find out his girlfriend was a legendary creature from ancient times and make it fun and a little bit sexy.

"They're not really meant for that." She said, smiling. "You don't want to end up with scars every time we sleep together do you?"

[just_another]

Joel doesn't know if he and Detective Astor are friends; the fact that, even now, he refers to him as Detective instead of by his name might suggest they're not, but the truth is Joel's always been uncomfortable making the switch from an official title to a person's first name. He knows he likes the other man, despite the talking to he'd gotten, and he appreciates both what he'd done while Mark was around and everything he knows he'd done for Spencer after his family had been killed.

The fact that he had helped save Raleigh just cements the fact that Joel thinks highly of him, though he'll never know how to say that and so instead he shows up on the Detective's doorstep with several books and a cup of coffee. Besides a healing potion, the books are the only thing he can think to give, and while he's revealed himself to Raleigh recently, he's not ready to continue on that path.

Chewing his lower lip nervously, he knocks, then shifts from one foot to the other.

[tarnishedbadge]

"I'm sure you could be gentle," he said, smiling at her and relieved to hear her laugh. He had missed her so much and when she had showed up he had been sure she was going to say it was over. Laughing or crying that it wasn't seemed equally valid reactions.

"Show me?" he asked, reaching out to touch her hand. His fingertips traced little patterns on her palm before his fingers threaded between hers. "Show me the other you again?"

[tarnishedbadge]

She was gorgeous. The kind of beautiful where you had to do a double take not just to admire her but because at first glance there was no way anyone could be that beautiful. Levi would have thought living in Siren Cove he'd gotten used to people like that but seeing the woman on the beach made him realize he probably never would.

"I'm a pirate captain in training," he said, giving her a smile as he got closer. "Any day now I'll get called up to the big time and they'll give me a wooden leg. Have to make sure I'm ready."

[tarnishedbadge]

Levi thought about not answering the door, about just letting whoever it was knock until they went away. But he lived on the edge of town, a ways out, and if someone came to see him they had put in a little bit of effort to do so. Grunting with effort he pushed himself off the couch and headed toward the door.

He smiled when he opened it, surprised to see Joel but not disappointed. He liked the other man, despite the lecture he'd given him before, and especially since Joel had taken it well.

"Joel," he said, moving aside so the other man could come in. "Come on in, it's good to see you. I was hoping you weren't a reporter."

[asharpertongue]

That took her aback. He wanted to see her siren form again. She swallowed. She wanted to ask him if he was sure, be certain that he could handle what she had to show him, but she clamped down on the question. If he was asking then he knew what he wanted. She'd never known him to be anything other than confident in his wants so why should she doubt him now?

She smiled and shrugged out of her jacket, leaving her in just a vest and jeans. "Okay."

The change started under his fingers, scales rippling up to the surface iridescent blue-green and smooth to the touch. They spread like a sheet being drawn back over skin up her arm, her neck, the ones forming from her waist up rising to meet them on her chest, darkening to a complex knot in the centre of her décolletage only to spread out again, flowing down her other arm. When they reached the bandage on her right arm she winced, the scales underneath hadn't grown back in yet and the sensation was intense. But she pushed through it and relaxed until the pain dimmed to something dull and ignorable.

She left her face til last, leaving her teeth unchanged but letting the delicate scales around her cheeks and brow form, eyes changing to slits, glowing faintly as she gazed at him. Lara didn't know how she'd gotten so lucky but she was going to do her damnedest to deserve it.