[TheNoir] "A Place to Sleep"
- From: Isabella Valentine <wistful_fancy_noir@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: thenoir@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 22:40:53 -0800 (PST)
A Place to Sleep
By Cervin Molari and Isabella Valentine
It had been over an hour since Shane had walked out that door. Bella still
hadn?t taken her eyes off of it. She had no idea what the hell had happened.
And she thought she was the mentally unstable one... damn. Compared to the
others on this ship she was doing really fucking well.
Shane has flipped like a switch. One minute, he?s obviously hurting - upset,
repentant even, over what he had done. The next second, he?s saying the most
vile thing she could?ve imagined coming out of someone?s mouth. Well, someone
she cared about, anyway.
Cared about.
That bastard.
It was her own fault. She knew she liked him too much. She knew she had let him
in just a little. And just when she was considering the fact that she may not
want to be... alone anymore.
Bella was too angry to cry. Instead, she lie on the bio bed, staring at the
door, hoping she never saw Shane again. And hoping he would come back.
Cervin walked in, Anita's limp body in his arms as he slowly walked over to the
other free bio bed. He hadn't bothered to say any pleasantries, figuring that
Bella might made a snide comment. Cervin put Anita onto the bed, spreading her
legs down, and making sure her neck wasn?t bent awkwardly. It wasn't until he
did these small things that Cervin realize it confused the hell out of him. Why
should he care what happens to her? She got whatever she deserved. Yet the back
of his head came screaming at him, telling him it was the sake of trusting
M.E.'s judgement on keeping Anita.
Bella sat up slowly as Cervin?s attention was on Anita. She gasped lightly, her
ribs were fiercely hurting her. But she knew it would pass. It still didn?t
compare to the heaviness in her heart. In fact, it was a nice distraction. She
waited until Cervin was finished, stepping back to look at the girl he had
arranged on the bed that she spoke.
"Crypto?" she asked quietly. When he turned to regard her, she added, "Sorry, I
can?t remember your name."
"Cervin," he replied simply, "What's up?"
"Cervin," she said, trying his actual name out for the first time, "I - need to
get out of here and I can?t do it myself. I was hoping maybe you could help
me... I don?t think you or M.E. is going to want the two - " she paused to
catch her breath, "of us to be in the same room."
"Whatever you want, just don?t bitch when the painkillers stop working. You're
gonna have to get here on your own." Cervin walked up, helping her off the bed
slowly.
"I won?t need them," she said. "They don?t really touch the pain anyway." She
spoke in nearly a whisper. This was not the same girl he had met that first day.
"Oh, right. You're Miss Bad Ass, like Anita there, I forgot," Cervin retorted
but helped Bella to get on her two feet. Her knees were a little shaky, but she
managed to stop the trembling.
"Has nothing to do with that," she winced. "Anais prefers herbal type
painkillers and they don?t seem to really help me without... dreams." She
panted again, taking very shallow breaths. "Honestly, I?m a big baby when it
comes to pain," she bit her lip, nearly in tears. "I just wanna get the hell
outta here. I don?t even have quarters. And my stuff is over there." She nodded
to her bag tipped in the corner.
"Don?t mind while I take your baggage," Cervin said dryly.
"Well, you know how it is... get a broken rib, get to make people carry your
shit," she said, as sarcastically as she could muster.
Cervin chuckled, taking the sling of her bag over his left shoulder and walking
back to support her as she limped slowly. "You do realize that if we're gonna
limp, this is gonna take forever."
"I?m doing the best I can." She wanted to snap, but it just didn?t come out
right in her present condition. It was more pitiful than anything else.
"Take your time. I've got some better pain killers than the ones Anais is
giving you."
She managed a small smile, "If you gave ?em to me, I may just fall in love with
you." As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. It brought back
her encounter with Shane and her face clouded over.
Cervin ignored the comment, seeing something pass her face, "Let's get going...
slowly."
It took them nearly twenty minutes to hobble to the turbo-lift and up a deck to
crew quarters. Cervin had a better idea of what quarters were available and
furnished, so it didn't take long for him to lead her into something suitable.
Bella was exhausted by the time he sat her gently on the bed. She was
incredibly pale and there was perspiration gleaming at her hair line.
"Take these pills. Three every eight hours..." he considered why Anais hadn't
prescribed them sooner, "Okay, take two instead. Don?t want you high." He
placed them on the side of her bed, "I'll be back with a glass of water.
Replicators are still not functioning."
"Fixed..." she said. "We fixed them." She was still out of breath.
"Better still, then." Replicating a cup of water, he got Bella to slowly take
her pills. He simply smiled, "Anything else for Queen Bella?"
She shook her head slowly. "Sorry to have imposed," she said a bit
sarcastically, though in a way she meant it sincerely. She despised being this
helpless. "Actually, if you could just, y'know, make sure every couple days
that I'm still alive, that'd be nice." She stopped for a moment. "On second
thought, don't. Wouldn't matter much anyway." She looked away and hoped he
would take that as his cue to leave.
"Right, I'll drop by."
"Don't bother," she said, peeling back the covers and painfully sliding into
bed. The odd thought crossed her mind to wonder if the sheets were clean.
Considering all the places she had slept, it was absolutely absurd. She laid
her head down gingerly and looked at Cervin. "Thanks,' she whispered, shivering.
"Don?t mention it," Cervin smiled and left.
---------------------------------
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