LadyDove09

Just Passing Through

She laughed as he began to joke with her about being crazy. She shook her head and settled back into the chair, it was going to be a long night. "Therapy always sucks. I think that is the point, to make you so miserable you never want to get injured again." She said with a sigh. "You'll make it though. Although something tells me this isn't the first time." She said with a smile.

She just sat there in silence. It was hard to believe he was over one hundred years old. It was going to take her some time to get used to this. It wasn't something you ran across every day. What was she doing just sitting here accepting this like it was normal? Part of her rebelled against the idea, that there was something seriously wrong. The other part of her brain, well she always had been a little off center, why not just go with it.

"Do tell. We have all night, and no new movies." She said kicking her shoes off and curling up in the chair trying to get more comfortable. "You might as well share."

Just Passing Through

She Smiled and brushed her thumb across his knuckles. "Of course I will be right here with you. We will get you through this no matter what happens. Of course I am not going to CALL you crazy." She said teasing him. She gently slipped her hand out of his and went about starting to clean up after dinner.

"You'll get the casts off... in 6 weeks. Let yourself heal up, unless of course you heal faster than normal. If that's the case I have a sawsall in storage." She said with a grin tossing the empty food containers in the trash and packing up full ones and putting them back in the bag. He would need left overs tomorrow to hold him over until they discharged him.

"So 150 huh?" She asked almost absently like her brain was still trying to process the information. "I bet you have some stories to tell."

(Sorry for delay and short. Got crazy here)

Just Passing Through

"No more hiding, no more running." he said and that made her smile. "Glad to hear it." She said giving his hand a squeeze as he grabbed her hand. "It's not going to be easy you know." She sat back down still holding his hand.

"You are going to have a lot of times when you want to just hide away from the world, but you can't. That is when you HAVE to go out. Go to a bar, flirt with the cute waitress. You will have to keep that in mind." She leaned over and laid her head against the edge of the bed with a sigh.

"You are going to have to learn to let those old memories go. Grieve for them, cry, scream, throw a tantrum, but learn to let them go. They will eventually stop you from having the life you want to have. You have to communicate, you have to tell someone what is going on in your head. The more you talk, the better you get at communicating."

Just Passing Through

She put her food down and took a deep breath. "Ok, so you irritated Apollo. Probably not the brightest idea anyone has ever had." She said slowly. The whole idea of the old gods being around a little hard to grasp, but hey, why not go with it. At least for now. She sighed and ran a hand through her dark auburn hair.

"Well, It sounds to me, and this is just a theory, that instead of embracing the lesson you are running from it. Have you ever bothered to get close to someone? I mean really close. Have them be the first person you think about in the morning, the last person you think of at night?" She sat up in the chair swinging her legs around so she was now sitting in the chair properly.

"You said you didn't know the meaning of having people close that you cared about. Do you yet? Could you get hurt? Sure! But you know what, so could I. Hell I did. I have lost friends and family. It has nothing to do with never dying James. I think the problem is you have never learned how to LIVE."

She stood up making sure he could really get a good look at her. "Life is all about loving, and yes sometimes losing. No one, present company excluded, lives forever. I mean sure. I could never make friends, never fall in love, never get married or have kids, but have I really lived my life if I hide away from all that?" She demanded to know.

Just Passing Through

That sounds like a good lesson for him to learn.

Just Passing Through

She glared at him her arms still crossed over her chest. "Perez Pity Party of one" She said grumpily. "You are not a coward, but you sir ARE an idiot." She sighed and shook her head. "I understand why you avoid people. That's not where my confusion is." She shifted in her chair crossing her legs again.

"Ok, you're cursed. Happens to the best of people." Oh she was being sarcastic she was irritated. "Why were you cursed, when did it happen, what were you doing, who cursed you."

She reached out and grabbed a carton of the abandoned Chinese food, and opened it. She hated pork, but that was what she was shoveling in her mouth right now. "You want me to believe you, then tell me the whole story." She said around a mouth full of food. "I mean I kind of get it. If you were being a pain in the ass, kinda like now... I totally get cursing you. I mean maybe not immortality, but totally would have made sure your bacon always burned."

She shifted so that her legs hung over the arm of the chair and she kicked them back and forth as she ate her dinner. "Seems to me if the whole curse was supposed to be a punishment, there is probably a lesson Right? I mean hell if I get written up at work, it is because I screwed the fuck up. and need a reminder never do that again." She said

"So spill. Tell me, were you living a life of crime? A cold hearted bastard who would rather count money while you watched orphans freeze to death in the streets." She had finally calmed down enough to realize she was eating the Mu Shu Pork and made a face setting the carton down while she reached for the veggie fried rice instead.

Just Passing Through

Heading into work for a few hours. I will have my laptop with me though so I will be able to respond, but there will be a delay. I should be back on around 5 or so.

Just Passing Through

She jumped out of her chair and stalked to the door shutting it firmly. She didn't quite slam it, but it was close. "Don't get pissed off at me James Perez!" She shouted. "You dump a giant piece of information in my lap, well parts of it anyway and give me less than 30 seconds to either accept it or walk away?" She demanded.

She stalked back to the side of the bed and leaned over to make sure he could see her. "I am beginning to suspect you LIKE being a miserable bastard." She said, the harshness gone from her voice. "You're looking for any excuse to run, hell you didn't even give me a chance to walk away, you just fucking went ahead and did it."

She pushed away from the bed and began pacing, irritation evident in her every movement. "Here's a hint James, when someone says 'I don't understand' it generally means they DON'T FUCKING UNDER-GOD DAMN-STAND!" Her arms were waving as she yelled. Suddenly she stopped looked skyward and sighed muttering "Give me strength, for all that is holy, give me the patience not to strangle him."

"No, I am not going to do this. I am not going to yell." She takes a deep breath and walks over to the chair and sits down again crossing her arms over her chest. "I am just going to fucking sit right here until I get an explanation."

She nodded her head and muttered to herself "Tell me how I'M going to think, react, or feel. Damn man has another god damned thing coming to him if he thinks he can just drop a bomb like that then throw a pity party when I don't jump for freaking joy over having my second date with the world's oldest man."

Just Passing Through

She stiffened her body tense. She was listening to this and couldn't help but think that it was the craziest thing she had ever heard. No wonder he didn't want to see a therapist, he would be locked up! She pulled her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them listening to what to her sounded like the rantings of a lunatic.

" I see" She said slowly. "So ummm I am afraid I don't understand. You are telling me you are around 150 years old, and that you don't age." She exhaled loudly blowing her breath out with a WOOSH. She's pretty sure she doesn't believe a damn word he is saying, but she is willing to hear the entire story.

She leaned forward resting her chin on her knees watching him carefully. She did her best to try to keep the suspicion from her voice, but she wasn't sure she was able to. She was tempted to run, oh was she ever tempted to run, but for some reason unknown to her she stayed. She sat there rooted to her chair, unable to get up and leave.

"I have no idea what to say here James, I don't really understand what is happening."

Just Passing Through

She handed him his meds with a glass of water. "Nothing wrong with a therapist." She said as she adjusted the pillows behind him, trying to make him more comfortable. "I've gone a time or two myself. It can be helpful." It was helpful, she at first had to be ordered to go after the fire that had cost many of her friends her life. She had fought against the entire process thinking she could handle it on her own, but soon the panic attacks started, the mere scent of a neighbor's grill would send her into a panic. She couldn't do her job, she stopped eating, couldn't focus.

"You need to talk to someone. You can't hold it all in. Trust me." She finished arranging the bed and flopped down in the chair with a sigh. She gazed off into the distance wondering if she should share her story. "So umm about 3 years ago there was a huge fire. I don't know if you remember, but an entire apartment complex went up in flames. It wasn't a slow growing fire, that could have been dealt with. This was a massive conflagration. The whole thing was engulfed almost immediately." She said her eyes traveling to stare out the window. She wasn't actually seeing anything other than flames. She decided to tell him. He needed to know he wasn't the only one.

"I never bothered to train as a firefighter. I enjoyed being an EMT, I had never felt the need to run INTO a burning building. Marc and I could do nothing but wait outside. We were busy of course, basic things, minor bandaging, some oxygen here and there. It was a mass casualty situation, we weren't transporting anyone but the most serious of cases." She sighed softly shaking her head a little to try to clear the flames from her vision.

"The building wasn't in exactly the best shape before the fire. I remember I was wrapping a sprained ankle on a teenage kid when I heard this horrible roar. I turned in time to see flames growing, and then a large portion of the building collapsed. Five of our guys were trapped." She stopped talking and turned to look at him her eyes meeting his.

"It stays with you, but you need to realize that it never gets easier unless you talk about it." She made sure to maintain eye contact. Yes there was sadness in her gaze, grief she would carry for the rest of her days, but there wasn't the haunted look one would expect to see. She still grieved, and would forever, but the loss did not haunt her every step.