As Angela heads out the front door, Dave steps in the bedroom with a breakfast tray, omlet, toast and coffee moving to where Rayne is sitting. He sets the tray on the night stand then sits on the corner still somewhat trying to wrap his head around the news this morning.
The men last night that he confirmed were not Pam's even before going up, which would have been apparent when he interacted with them. Interacted, such a casual term for harming someone. Would she despise him if she was aware of what he could do if violence was necessary.
It was painfully obvious that those men were not professionals, more rent a thugs from the Mayor.
He was expecting a patrol to have been to his house to bring him to the station, yet the news talked about a minor disturbance involving drunks at the hospital. Not the ‘police looking for…’ he waited for. Typical story of reports of shots fired that turned out to be teenagers shooting off fireworks, teens warned, no tickets issued.
The more interesting story was the Mayor being out of town, details still unclear, Deputy Mayor Joseph Myers to provide more details at a later time. The real shocker came in the news story retraction, that Sergeant Nichols was not suspended however on vacation blaming an unnamed no intern on jumbling several releases together giving the wrong story Monday. The intern released from the internship. All that is simply an afterthought, his one … and only focus now is on Rayne.
Seeing she is holding the picture of Kathy, starts with a soft “I can store that, how are you holding up darling? If you are able, can you please try to eat something?”
Rayne looks at the tray with mild interest, then sets the picture beside her, “Maybe later,” she says, referring to both the photo and the food. She reaches over and puts her arm around his waist, pulling him closer to her so she can rest her head against him. “I want to talk about early this morning...what happened at the hospital.”
Having hoped she was not aware fully what he had done aside from bringing her to his home this morning, he caresses her cheek, not wanting to aggravate the lacerations on her back. Dave kissed her softly on the forehead before looking her in the eyes, softly he asks “How much do you remember, ask me anything.”
She tries to determine the best way to phrase her question, without blaming him outright for what she saw when he helped her from the room. After a long pause, she says, “Angela said you had a plan before you came to my room. Was the plan to hurt those men?” Her only memory of the men came shortly after she arrived, seeing them talking to the doctor. Their dress had not been that of hospital personnel, otherwise she would not have noticed them. It was only after she saw them sprawled out in the hallway that she suspected they might be there for her.
His tone soft, a bit of concern evident, he did not want to alarm Rayne during her recovery by telling her the men may have been trying to remove her from the hospital, they were definitely there to keep people from her, possibly even threaten her or worse. He responds keeping as much to himself as possible “I never make plans to do harm to anyone, however if the need does present itself, I would resort to necessary force.”
His face cringed a brief second, thoughts of ‘could I possibly sound anymore like I am on a witness stand or an Internal Affairs excessive force interview’ wishing he could rewind time and give a more thought out answer.
Rayne nods, chewing on her lower lip. “So...you planned on harming them if needed..to get me out. Why?” No matter how hard she racks her brain she can not recall why she needed to leave the hospital. Angela had visited her once, telling her to be ready, but she did not know for what. It was shortly after that that Dave showed up. There wasn’t a lot of sense to it...she had been careful not to talk about vampires or anything else crazy..had even confirmed the doctor’s assumption that she had been attacked by a bear. All to keep the mayor and Pam’s people off her back. No one had questioned her, not even the police. She looks at Dave, thinking she must have missed something.
Dave still does not want to cause her undue worry, he knows her strength, but during recoveries, he would not cause that unnecessary stress. He thinks of a way to tell her something for now and later more of the details. He will tell her cliff notes version of his taking her home. “When I came to get you, they did come at me, I did not injure them, more prevented them from taking you.” He immediately closes his eyes in total disbelief he actually let the words ‘take you’ slip. He stops before anything else comes out reaching to the tray taking the coffee cup “try to take in at least some liquids.”
Rayne’s eyes narrow, but she takes the cup from him and puts the hot brew to her lips and takes a sip. She reaches for the toast as stretches out her legs in front of her. Normally she would throw the cup, coffee and all, due to the frustration she was feeling at his inadequate answers, but instead she smiles, takes a bite of toast and chews, almost making a show of the act. “You say ‘ask me anything’ but are giving me the runaround. I want to know where they were going to take me...to the station for questioning? Cause they didn’t look like cops and they weren’t Gorillas.” She lets out an exaggerated puff of breath, “I am not a child Dave, please just tell me the truth. I need to know what and who to be afraid of if I am going to survive this.”
Dave knows that trying to keep something from Rayne when she is determined is like trying to keep papers on a desk during a hurricane. He looks softly toward her
“I am sorry, this is new to me. I will tell you everything but I was frightened..” that alone would be the first time her or anyone else would have heard him use that word “..on how it would affect you. Not emotionally, I know you could handle anyone or anything, I just didn't want to aggravate what you physically went through. I promise I will tell you, but can I do so when Angela determines you are ready?” already knowing that Ang knew what the Mayor's rented help was there for.
It is obvious that she is upset, but in her current condition she cannot pace the room or storm out of his house, so she simply gives in and says, “fine,” but it is not fine and the purse of her lips tells all. “Then I suppose talking about anything that may ‘upset’ my delicate condition is off limits.” She scowls at him and pulls away from the physical contact she had initiated, once again pulling her legs up close to her chest and wrapping her arms around her knees.
Dave moves close to Rayne resting his hand on hers, besides Ang mentioning to himself and Kevin that she might be moved to a psych ward, he did receive a text from Pam that Mayor PP had been discussing moving RayRay to Olympia and blocking access to her. He had figured that she had his office bugged.
He says with hesitation “You are right. At best you might have been taken to see the Mayor, threatened or jailed to keep you silent, at worse, a trip to Olympia's mental health facility as in inpatient.” waiting to see how she processes it, still not fully told by Pam that she visited the Mayor.
The anger dissipates as her expression changes to confusion once again. “...but why? I lied. I told them what I thought they wanted to hear.” But it doesn’t take much for her to determine the reason. She is like a pitbull--aggressive and determined--when it comes to reporting the truth. They would have seen through her lies and expected her to spin another tale once she was released. “I...think I understand...but how could they do that? It would require a lot of people to pull that off...nurses, doctors, psychiatrists...how could they have all those people under their control?”
Almost like a gut punch, he thinks ‘to an extent I was one of their mouth pieces, telling the story, not asking why’ Not sure if she would accept it, not knowing if she would reject him, but hate him or not, he is determined that he will not keep anything from her. In a tone almost of that of someone who admitted to burning down a puppy shelter
“I think I was one of them, reading the stat… no, not statement, reading the lie. Chief told me to control the fear. I am not stupid, I saw the developers, seemed for others, it might of been greed, what they could gain, or fear. The chief would often tell me I was jeopardizing his job when I couldn't read some lies with a clear conscious. Each that do the mayor's dirty work do it for their own gain.” He looks to her, being eaten up inside, waiting for a slap, a ‘I hate you’, just waiting for his life to be taken from him for - his lies.
Rayne’s brows furrow, he was not telling her anything she did not already know. She had never been satisfied with ‘no comment’ but the other words that did come from his mouth so often were vague or purposely misleading. “So you were a pawn...just following orders? Like when you were in the army?” It is a lame excuse, one which anyone with a conscious should be able to resist. And although it is difficult for her to accept, she realizes that even the most honest people can be manipulated.
She lowers her gaze and mumbles softly, ”I’m sorry. I have already forgiven you for that. Water under the bridge and all that.” It is a comment she has said to him before, not that long ago. “Start over?” ...and then she smiles at him, her hand slipping into his.
His first thought is on how lucky he to be with such an understanding woman, is she separating the professional jobs with the personal life he wants to build with her. As she slips her hand into his, he raises it giving a soft kiss. He offers “at the beginning I might stumble, but I can say that I will not keep anything from you.” He lowers her hand wanting to have her as relaxed as possible, in the moment he had forgotten one thing he wanted to say to her.
“I do want to mention while you were sleeping, the 8:30 news was interesting. The usual officers responding to shots fired calls from the public only found teenagers using fireworks. There was no mention of you. The story that shocked me was the mayor's office offered a revision on the smear of me they released just yesterday. Blamed it on an intern, unnamed intern at that, that jumbled several releases together sending a mixed one on me. Seems I am on vacation, not suspended. Also that the Mayor is out of town, no other explanation on that one.” giving her time to absorb what he still has not wrapped his head around.
Rayne can imagine Pam being behind the Mayor’s unexpected disappearance, especially since the mayor was responsible in part for Dave’s firing, but the rest seems more like the precinct’s doing. She couldn’t decide if it is a good or bad thing that his job is available to him again. “Are you going to go back?” she asks, also wondering if she should write a different spin on what happened at the park. Would that put her in danger? And would it be worth the risk? Just a week ago she would have dove in to get the truth out there, journalism a risky business but not life threatening. Now, she just doesn’t know.
The question he had been asking himself. If he does go back, he is sure it will be just the same old cover up this and cover up that. There is no longer a line in the sand he would not cross to consider on each lie they will ask him to tell. He does not want to have any lines to consider. His answer is simple “I don't want to go back to that kind of life. I want to be clean, you might not know just how dirty I sometimes felt. The radio the other day hurt bad. Looking back, the weight was actually lifted, no, I don't want to nor plan to go back. Can you help me? I really think I screwed up Kevin this morning, help me get to the bottom of what is going on.”
Rayne smiles, squeezing his hand. “Of course I will...and I can help you get back on good terms with Kevin, or at least talking terms.” Dave’s words resonate within her, she wants to feel clean also...and she knows now her decision regarding her past. “Can I borrow your laptop?” she asks. “I have something to show you.”
Dave steps over to the night stand on other side of the bed removing his laptop. Opening it and entering the password, he moves back around to Rayne setting it alongside her “all yours darling.” Sitting on the side of the bed close to her.
Rayne crosses her legs and places the computer on her lap. She starts typing lines of code, going from one screen to another until two files, appearing like ordinary manilla folders, are lined up together. She enters in a password and then looks at him. “I have never shown these to anyone and I trust no matter how they affect you, you will not make them public.” She says it as a statement, not a question. “The other day when I said I might not pass a background check I was lying to you. The truth is I would not. These files are from 10 years ago and have been sitting here all that time...just in case. I guess in a way I made them for you.” She hits the enter key and the first file opens, a picture of a young girl in the forefront, age 11. It is obvious that the girl in the photo is a younger version of Rayne, but the name is listed as Emily Mitchell.
Rayne pushes the computer towards Dave without an explanation.
Dave takes the computer initially having thought she was going to say that she had a source that was a criminal or she was married and escaped an abusive husband. As he reads the file, each year photos more like her, her record, her foster care, each page his face looks more pained. He is familiar of the charge sheets so he knows what each code represents. As he reads on, continues pained expressions. As he opens the second file, new name, new identity, it is clearly evident what these files contain. He simply closes the laptop lid when done reading looking to her a brief moment. Finally he could speak
“Oh god Rayne…” while moving close to her, holding her carefully so as not to aggravate her injuries “... I can't begin to imagine the pain you had to have been through when younger. The difficulties you have gone through then, even now with this lingering. Oh god my darling, I don't have the words right now, I wish I had someway to take any pain you still have and keep it myself.”
Holding her more tenderly than he has ever “I love you, not some date on some calendar. I would never think of allowing this public, not for what people might think of you, those people could go to hell, but for anymore pain it would cause you.”
Rayne’s body stiffens when Dave’s arms first enclose her, his empathy not at all what she expected...perhaps over time, but not so soon after seeing who she really was. Allowing herself to relax in his embrace she leans into him, tears starting to cloud her vision. She feels it is over now...all the years of worry. For the first time she has met someone she wanted to bare her soul to...and despite her flaws and emotional scars, he still was able to say he loved her. Her body flushes with emotion and as she looks up at him, she feels a deeper connection to him than she ever has to anyone, “I love you too,” she says in a breathy whisper.
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