“Yeah? You think?” Ray beamed, taking his card back and sloppily scribbling a few lines as his signature. He leaned on the bar, resting his head in his hand as he looked at the woman.
“Wren? That’s a nice name. Rhymes with Ben! That was the name of my fish in the third grade. He was nice.” Ray sighed, missing his little fish from so, so many years ago. “I mean, I was pacing myself, then I realized I had nobody to keep pace with, and these mixed drinks? So good!”
“Yes, I do think.” She couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled from her lips. She wet them with a small sip from her drink and inclined her hair. Her dark hair swept across her shoulder. “Thank you. I was named after a bird,” she said. The anecdote wasn’t entirely true, but intended to make him laugh. In his inebriated state, she figured it wouldn’t take much. “Or a type of bird, rather.”
She tapped a long, elegant finger against her glass. “It’s no fun drinking alone, so they say. But I’ve never tried to listen much to what they say. What were you drinking?”
“Ohmygosh, that’s so nice!” Ray’s words slurred as he grinned at the woman. “Birds are nice, just like you!” He said, pointing a long finger in her direction. His head was swimming. Foggy. Wired. He blinked a few times as he processed her question.
“Drink. Yes. I had a long island iced tea, a few foofy fruity drinks, and some, uh….white claws? Those are great! Those weren’t a thing last time I was here.” Here as in central city, current timeline, as opposed to another city, another time. Ray giggled to himself, remembering his adventures through time.
“ Who’s to say I don’t have friends in, uh, what did you say, droves? ” Stefan hummed, curious about the man before him. He hadn’t compelled himself any friends, other than to feed from. He wanted to get back to his hunt, but he had a feeling that wasn’t going to happen under Klaus’ apparent watchful eye. “ Klaus? I’m Stefan. It’s a pleasure to meet you. ”
❝ Well Stefan, ❞ Klaus started, a smirk on his face already. He could tell that his companion seemed annoyed and that only delighted him more. After all, he wanted Stefan to know who was actually calling the shots in this place. ❝ It’s not often that a man with friends would be at a club like this alone. ❞ His eyebrows raised as though his point was made.
“ So what if I am? ” He asked with a smile, though his tone suggested defensiveness. Stefan straightened his tie, fully abandoning his hunt and letting the hunger ache in his belly keep him on his toes. “ You know, I think I might take you up on that offered drink, after all. ”
“I doubt I’d even have service way out here, but okay,” Tom quipped, reaching for the first aid kit once more. When he looked back at the woman, his face was plastered in worry. “Hey, Hey! I need you to stay awake. Talk to me, about anything,” he suggested, knowing that if she fell unconscious that he might not get her back. Tom was worried for the woman that lay before him – she had lost a lot of blood, and with no IV fluids or transfusion to give her, there was no way to replenish what she’d lost. He gut turned at the thought of losing her. No. Not today. He wasn’t going to lose her. He was determined. Tom dug through the first aid kit, finding a pair of tweezers and found a bottle of water in the duffel. He stabbed a hole in the lid of the plastic water bottle, preparing to irrigate the wound. “This is going to hurt like hell, but I need you to keep talking to me, okay?”
“You wouldn’t,” Cara murmured. But, if she put the gun down and let her guard down along with it, what was to stop him from taking off until he could find cell service? The fear that he would do just that was what she was holding onto, internally reminding herself of it over and over again as she fought to stay conscious. And the man must’ve realized she was barely succeeding, because he was suddenly urging her to stay awake. To talk to him. What she said she would later blame on having lost so much blood and the pain of the wound itself, “…I saved her. I was worried that I was too late.” Or that too much damage had been done to the poor girl’s body while she’d been possessed. “…But now that she has a chance, that she’s made it this far and she’s in surgery… She has to survive.” Or Cara had failed. Her eyes glazed over at the thought, but the man’s warning forced her to focus again, and she nodded, “I’ve had worse. Just do it.”
Yeah, keep talking. C’mon. Tom thought to himself, willing his hands to steady. “Lilah? Yeah, she’ll make it, because you saved her. Tell me about Lilah,” he urged, hoping she would continue talking as he irrigated the wound. He flooded the wound with the water, and he saw a glint of the bullet. He took hold of the bullet with the tweezers and pulled it out. “I’m sorry, I know it hurts, but I got the bullet out. The worst of it is still ahead of us,” he warned, irrigating the wound again before pressing gauze to the wound. Tom turned and washed his hands off before turning and grabbing a suture kit from the well stocked first aid kit. “I have to stitch you up, but I have to tell you that I’m not comfortable doing this outside of a sterile environment and without proper lighting. If I do it here, you could get a major infection.”
Allie let out a heavy sigh, looking over at the man who’d just saved her. She thought she should be more thankful of her savior, but the frustration of losing her sleep place was outweighing that in her tired mind. “Well, sorry for being in the way, I guess.”
She continued to limp toward the main road, the light at the end of the dark alleyway. She pushed through the pain, trying to hide the hurt from the man. She let out a small hiss each time she put weight on her leg. When the man stopped, Allie limped a few more times before stopping and looking back. “What, you gonna carry me? I sure as hell can’t run, seeing as I can barely walk.”
“It had nothing to do with you; you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Lucan said. “But that man and the people that he works for – they want what they want when they want it. And collateral damage means nothing to them so long as they achieve their objective.” Especially if collateral damage was ‘just the cost of a human life.’ He knew that all too well.
“I’m going to help you,” Lucan replied, reaching a hand out towards her own. And she would likely assume that meant he would either support her or carry her to the motel. But he had every intention of taking her wound now. He was used to having to move with a multitude of different wounds; years of experience. Not to mention that, while it would take some time (without seeing the wound, he could only guess it would be between a handful of hours and a whole day), he would start healing right away. So as soon as his hand touched hers, he made the connection, her skin slowly starting to knit itself back together while his own burned and bled.
“Okay,” Allie responded, readying herself to be picked up. When he took her hand, the sensation in her leg was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. “Wha- What are you doing?” There was panic in her voice, and her face showed it. “Stop it, stop it!” She cried out, pulling her hand away only when it was too late. Her wound was healed and he bore it on his own leg. “What the hell, dude? What did you do? Why did you do that?” That was mine, she thought after the words left her mouth. That was her wound. She needed to feel the pain from it. To take care of it.
She turned and shoved the other’s shoulder. “I can’t believe you just did that! That was my cross to carry, not yours!” Her words were bitter coming out of her mouth. “Who the hell do you think you are, anyway?”
Knapsack over shoulder, papers in arms, coffee in hand. Clark rushed down the sidewalk when his shoulder collided with another, sending papers and coffee flying. “Oh goodness, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” He looked up at the other, pushing his glasses up on his face.
Cisco backup 