[TheNoir] "The Last Straw"
- From: Isabella Valentine <wistful_fancy_noir@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: thenoir@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 21:18:21 -0800 (PST)
The Last Straw
By Shane Taggart and Isabella Valentine
Shane had attempted to figure Anita out, but had come up short mentally and
emotionally. He'd come to the conclusion that there was something wrong with
her and that it was messing him up in more ways than one. Fuck it, he thought
as he rounded the corner to the final straightaway before sickbay, that crazy
bitch deserves to be alone and feared by people.
Entering sickbay he saw Bella lying on the bed. He smiled, looking at her, and
then walked closer. "Bella, I'm back."
Her eyes fluttered a bit. "Are you my dream too?" she asked weakly. Anais had
given her quite a dose of pain medication once she determined that she didn't
have a concussion. However, Bella's face was beginning to show the bruises, her
arm was wrapped in bandage as well as her sides.
"What happened to you?" Shane said, his voice nearly cracking under the
surprise and panic. She looked worse than when he'd left sickbay the first
time, let alone after she'd started her recovery. "She was here again, wasn't
she? She came back, like she said, and did it again?"
"Are we dead and this is hell? Feels like hell and you?re dead. Am I dead? Did
the Gravedigger come?" She wasn't making much sense, having just come out of a
particularly strange dream and being doped up on painkillers. "I wish you
would've come back. I didn't want you to die, Shane. I liked you. And it was my
fault."
"No," Shane said, unsure of how to proceed, "It wasn't your fault in the least.
I'm not dead, Bell, I'm here. You're not dead, you're here too. We're
here...together. Anita is not able to hurt you anymore. She won't hurt you
anymore." He ran a hand across her forehead and stared into her eyes - those
pain-filled eyes. "I won't leave until you're able to leave with me."
"You're not dead?" she asked innocently. "God she told me... I can't think.
Shane, get me something to wake me up." She was slurring her words groggily,
but really wanted to talk to him, to make sure she wasn't dreaming anymore.
Shane stood and moved to a medical cart. Scanning the contents of the
hyposprays, he found an adrenaline stimulant and picked it up. "This should
give you a pick-me-up." He smiled as he pressed the small contraption against
her neck and heard the accompanied hissing sound. "All right, what happened?
Bella blinked a few slow times and lightly shook her head back and forth to
clear it. Looking at him, she realised it wasn't a dream. He wasn't dead. She
pressed her hand against her mouth and swallowed thickly to push back the
emotions that rose up. She shifted position slightly, grimacing in pain. "She
came here, told me you were dead, that she had slit your throat. Actually, she
came here and asked me how long I thought it took you to die. I...I didn't like
it," Bella said quickly. "You hadn't come back and she's so fuckin' believable
when she wants to be, Shane." Bella squeezed her eyes tightly shut. "I'm such a
fool."
"No," Shane said again, "you're not a fool. She has a way of getting into
people's mind. Unlike anything I've ever seen before, to be sure, but that
doesn't make you or anyone else foolish. I tried playing her game, but she was
just as hostile in a different way. I don't care what that fuckin' bitch says
or does, she shouldn't have crossed this line." He moved again for the door.
"You can't leave," she said. "Don't leave me here, Shane. For fuck's sake,
don't leave me here."
Pausing, he looked up to the ceiling hoping for a explanation of what to do.
Clenching his fists, he nodded and moved back to her side. "I won't leave you
again, I promise. And, when you're ready, we'll go after her together. Show her
that there's better ways of making friends than attempting to kill them."
"I tried. I tried talking to her. For real, I mean. Not just playing a game."
She shifted painfully so that he could sit down beside her.
"Well, we'll make her listen."
Bella detected the shift in his demeanor. "You don't want to be here," she said
plainly. "You want to go after her, but you're being nice."
"Can you blame me?"
"Don't get defensive. I'm the last person on this ship you have for an enemy,
Shane." She had raised her voice slightly and it caused her to become out of
breath with all the bruising on her sides and stomach. Not to mention the
cracked ribs.
"She's a menace. I'm familiar with scumbags, Bell, you know that, but this one
takes the cake. Not only does she make mercenaries and bounty hunters cringe,
but she's just an overall nuisance. Regardless of how our almighty illustrious
captain makes herself up to be, she can't even handle Anita," Shane stood and
moved back to the center of sickbay. He grabbed a vial and threw it against the
wall. It shattered and sent the contents splashing against the wall. "She has
to be sedated or beaten into submission."
"Kill her," Bella said suddenly. "There is no fuckin' reason for things to be
like this. This is twice she's done this to me." Tears formed in her eyes.
"And," she swallowed, "I don't like this - what she's doing to you. Just kill
her. Don't speak to her, don't play her fucking games, just slit the bitch's
throat." She reached up to wipe tears from her cheeks. She sniffed, "If M.E.
kicks you off, we'll go together.
His hand, instinctively, found its way to her arm. Stroking the bruised skin
slightly, Shane nodded and headed for the door. His heart betrayed him in that
moment. He was no longer thinking of his own well-being, but more for hers. A
feeling that he felt had long since eluded him. "I'll fix this, Bella, I
promise you that." With that, he trudged out the door, a new passion burning in
his soul.
---------------------------------
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