Guess it's me and me

[cutting_edgex23]

X scoops Farrah up on her way back from the kitchen.

The fish have been fed, the cats have been watered, and so has the Cactus With No Name.

Now all that remains is to sit down, which she does.

Steve McQueen, from his perch on the cat tree, might look a little put out.

X turns to Elle, nudging her knee against the other woman's just for a second.

Then --

"You are okay?"

It is rarely a bad thing to ask. And X wants to know.

Comments

[ellectrical]

Elle silently watches her progress from the kitchen, taking a moment to react when X nudges her knee, and even longer to answer.

Then - "I'm not the one who went to hell."

Nearly blown up and now taking refuge in yet another concrete building. But not hell.

[cutting_edgex23]

X offers a quick, one-shouldered shrug, scratching behind Farrah's ears.

"It was not worse than the Facility. Or Kimura."

Her expression does not darken.

She does not freeze up.

"It is okay."

[ellectrical]

She nods, no sign of surprise. "I believe you."


After another moment, she answers, "I'm okay, too."

[cutting_edgex23]

"Okay."

X does not look dubious.

Why would she?

"Good."

[ellectrical]

For a few minutes, Elle is content to sit in silence, leaning into the sofa.

Then, "It was a while. In my world."

[cutting_edgex23]

X frowns, but only for a second.

"The time you were gone? This time."

Beat.

"I did not think it was a long time. Here."

If she sounds a little uncertain, that's because she is. Dates are not something she keeps much track of.

It is difficult.

[ellectrical]

She nods.

"It was a few months out there, before I found a door back here."

[cutting_edgex23]

X tries very hard not to look startled.

"It was not too long?"

Beat.

"For you."

[ellectrical]

Beat.

"It felt like a while."

She's not totally sure if that's what X means.

[cutting_edgex23]

"You were not worried?"

X might hope the answer is no.

Worry is unpleasant.

And often useless.

[ellectrical]

She does hesitate. Just for a moment.

Then, "I was busy."

[cutting_edgex23]

"Working?"

X tilts her head fractionally, watching Elle.

"Or running."

[ellectrical]

Quietly, "They caught up with me."

[cutting_edgex23]

X does not flinch, though her nostrils flare again, as if to check the evidence again.

Just in case.

Then --

"You are not dead."

Beat.

"They are?"

[ellectrical]

Elle shakes her head, still leaning into the couch.

"Some of the people - like me -"

(Maybe like us, but it's not really the same)

"- they made a place for us to hide. One of them helped me get there."

[cutting_edgex23]

"I am allowed to ask?"

If it is a secret -- even if this is a different world, maybe there could be trouble.

Or maybe Elle does not want to talk about it.

"Where it is. The place people like you hide."

[ellectrical]

For a moment, Elle doesn't speak, and looks away.

However, it's not because she doesn't want to tell X. It's more that she's not entirely sure of the answer herself.

"... I think it's New Mexico. Or part of it. Someone had built some kind of shelter in the desert there a while ago and - we made it bigger."

She shrugs her free shoulder. "We go somewhere else right away. When we leave."

[cutting_edgex23]

X absorbs that, or tries to.

The shelter in the desert she understands, mostly. The expansion she also understands.

But the rest --

"Somewhere else. That is not the desert? Or the shelter."

She does not understand.

[ellectrical]

Elle pulls her knees up onto the sofa.

"Sometimes we go out. To get others like us and bring them there, too. For right now."

[cutting_edgex23]

"Oh."

X absorbs that, shifting position so that her toes press against Elle's calf.

"You like it? Going out."

Beat.

"And coming back."

[ellectrical]

After a beat -

"I don't know."


"I'm not sure what that means."

[cutting_edgex23]

"Okay."

X curls her arms around her own legs, resting her cheek on her upraised knees.

She's still watching Elle.

"You want to? Be sure. Or it is not relevant?"

[ellectrical]

Elle goes quiet again.

Then, "You're asking if I like doing it."

[cutting_edgex23]

"Yes," X says, after a moment of reflection.

"Or if you do not like doing it. And want to stop."

[ellectrical]

"We're not hurting them."

She's not sure why it's the first thing out of her mouth. Like she has to defend herself. Or know it's not what X is thinking.

(Or what Elle is thinking.)

"They don't have to come. But it keeps them safe."