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Close to Home - epilogue
Close to Home
Epilogue
Justine finished reading the article out loud and folded up the paper. She tucked it under the edge of Alex's lunch tray. "Poor kids," she said, her pretty face twisting into a frown. "Conner's so sweet. He came to check on you, and he was such a mess. He was trying to reassure me, though."
"He's a good kid," Alex agreed. They all were, really. He turned his head as far as the neck brace would allow and looked at the row of cards and vases that stretched along the window ledge. Funny thing, you never knew how popular you were until everybody thought you were dying. "I can't believe he's dating a celebrity," he said, and chuckled. "Small town boy made good, I guess."
"Hasn't sent a card, yet," Justine said. Lorelei tugged at her pant-leg, so she bent and lifted her up onto the bed to sit between Alex's feet. "There's one from that woman - his aunt, you said? She sent jam or something, too. Something in a jar."
Alex made a face. "Why didn't you tell me that before I ate that awful meatloaf? I'd have sent you down for extra rolls, or something."
"Hey."
Alex looked down the bed at the girl who was, for all intents and purposes, his stepdaughter. Her mother had pulled her hair back in a ponytail today, and it shone like copper in the sunlight. "Yes, sweetie?"
"Can I eat your jello?"
Justine snorted and pulled the rolling tray-table toward her daughter. "Have at, kid," she said, sticking a spork in her hand.
Lorelei's little face lit up, and she dug into the quivering green mass with great delight.
"You know what that's made of?" Alex said, smirking.
"Cow feet and pig bones," she said, sounding bored. "You told me already. But it still tastes good."
Alex chuckled, wincing a little at the pain in his ribs. "I find your pragmatism most admirable, young lady," he said.
Lorelei slurped jello through her teeth at him.
Someone knocked on the door, and then one of the nurses poked her head in. Alex hoped it wasn't a bad sign that he couldn't remember her name. "You've had another delivery," she said.
Justine exhaled and looked around. "I don't think there's room for more flowers. You think they're expecting bonus points in return, or what?"
"It's not flowers," the nurse said. She stepped into the room with a small, flat, brown box. "Little package."
"Maybe it's more cookies!" Lorelei said excitedly.
"You've already got jello," Justine said absently as she took the box. It was stamped 'FRAGILE', so she refrained from shaking it. "Want me to open it?"
Alex held up his hands, which were still loosely bandaged over his burns. "I think you'd better."
"No, me," Lorelei, said, reaching, but her mother pulled it out of her grasp.
"Honey, it says ‘fragile’. That means there's something in it that could break." She slid her nail under the packing tape, and then stopped, looking down at the box with a sardonic expression. "Alex? Have you been sending off letters to supermodels?"
To..."What?" he asked.
"The return address says ‘Kory Anders’."
Kory Anders? What? Alex tried to sit up, only to be fussed at by both his girlfriend and the nurse. Justine helped him raise the bed a little, and held the box out in front of him as she opened it. Inside, there was a card with a picture of a cartoon scientist on it, and a small, framed photo of Anders in a bikini under a waterfall, signed and bearing a lipstick print. Alex was already grinning at the thought of the comments he'd get from his students with that on his desk.
"Oh, that's tasteful," Justine said, dryly, and pulled the photo out to shove it under a blanket before Lorelei could see. The box rattled, and
Justine lifted them out for his inspection. One was full of thick, dark, vibrantly orange liquid, and the other contained a curl of reddish-brown hair.
"Oh my god," Alex said, his breath coming quick. "They're samples."
"What?" Justine asked. "Hold on!" she scolded as he fumbled for the card with his painfully swollen fingers. "I'll read it!"
The card didn't have a printed message in it. Instead, it bore a few lines of delicate, loopy script in purple ink.
"’Dear Alex’," Justine read out. "’I've heard an awful lot about you from a friend of mine, and I just wanted to express my wishes for your speedy recovery. My friend thought you might have enough flowers, so he asked me to send along something a little more personal, with his regards. Best of luck, Kory Anders. PS, I'd love a copy of the paper when you're done with these. You can pass it on to Conner.’ And then she kissed the paper. You'd think the picture would have been enough."
Alex's fingers twitched under the bandages. "Oh my god," he said again. He turned to the nurse quickly. "Was the package at the desk for long? I need to know how old that blood sample is." His heart sank. "The mail must have come hours ago."
"Didn't come with the mail," the nurse said, taking the card from Justine to look it over. "This kid delivered it to the station just now. I barely even saw him, he disappeared so fast."
"Can you get me some ice? Dry ice, I mean. And an insulated box. You've got to have them in the phlebotomy and histology labs-"
"Mr. Dalton," the nurse said suddenly. "Calm down. You're sending your monitor haywire."
Alex took a deep breath and forced himself back against the pillows. "But can you get the ice?"
"I've got a friend downstairs," she said. She stepped forward and adjusted his IV. "I'll go call him, but you've got to stay calm, okay?"
"Right," Alex said, trying very hard to control his breathing. "Calm. Okay. Honey, can you call Charles? Tell him he can co-author if he'll let me use his lab. Oh, fuck. I can't even use my hands."
"Alex!" Justine snapped, clapping her hands over her daughter's ears.
He fell silent, feeling suddenly sheepish.
Justine sighed and gave him a fondly exasperated look. "They won't let you out of here if you give yourself a heart attack. I'll call Charles. Just calm down, okay?"
"Yes, dear," Alex said, but his mind was racing.
Alien DNA. Alex grinned. Oh, that was much better than another potted mum. What a thoughtful boy!
Index
no subject
My Tim's a big jerk, actually. No one's coming out of this mess unscathed. I'm trying to be equal about it and not trash any one person, though.
no subject
And I never really felt Tim liked Zoanne all that much, but was mostly using her as an attempt to cling to the few pieces of "normal Tim" he had left whereas dating Cassie was basically about Kon-el.
Just tossing that in, as for Cassie being cheated on, I agree with you about the differences between hero/normal life split, one, and two, I honestly always assumed Cassie and Tim would end up sharing Kon in the long run, and their attempt at dating kind of solidified that idea in my head.
Baring in mind I am much more interested in Triads and polyamory relationships. Bruce wasn't particularly faithful that I can track - it makes sense it would take Tim awhile to find someone like Selina that crossed from Brucie to Batman equally. Kon could do that, of course, but who knows.
Also, I wanted to say, after going over this again - I noticed a lot more of how you were blending metaphors, and it was extremely satisfying to read through. And you said a lot of interesting things about how the Supers operate versus how the Bats operate.
Oh! Also, Tim's relationship with steph started when she was pregnant with someone else. I...still think that was a little like Tim going in more with compassion and his attempts to help while crossing over with his fizzling out with Ari. Which frankly, all of Tim's relationships with females are pointless anyway.
oh god. I'm sorry it's 2 in the morning and I'm rambling.
no subject
And I also love triads. ^_^ So much.
no subject
I just think he loved her for the characteristics she has that he admires in people [like in Dick and Kon but can't have/express himself] but I think biologically Tim just isn't really attracted to women. So he can fake it a lot, and he can love them, but I mean, I think he's utterly gay - 6 on a kinsey scale. He's a Bat so he can be flexible there, but that's my opinion. /shrugs/
He almost never touched her, she had to fight him for it. I know he is strange about touching anyone, but they dated for what, two years? And she's crazy hot. There is only so much, well, he's closed off you can really use as an excuse. He stalked Dick forever. Part of that was Batman...but srsly part of it wasn't.
no subject
wrote a whole long thing about him *not* getting laid. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have been interesting for any other character.
no subject
:|
no subject
First because time between the TEEN TITANS book and ROBIN book, were never on the same page, so to speak. It was never clear when one incident was happening compared to another.
Second, Cassie and Tim never REALLY dated. Yes, they kissed on several occassions, but the first few times, it ended with them doing the whole "It's a mistake" stuff, and trying to refuse to aknowledge it. Finally, after the whole Titans of the Future thing, they had ONE offical date, and Cassie immediately broke it off.
Meanwhile, Tim and Zoanne dated roughly during the time that Tim and Cassie were refusing to talk about their kiss and being emo and weird. She then broke it off with him. They kept TRYING to date off and on during that time, but Tim's life as Robin interfered constantly, and then Steph came back, and things got even more complicated.
Tim primarily had sexual tension with both Cassie and Zoanne, but their is nothing to say that he was seeing them both officially at the same time.
I just hope that while Tim is doing his own version of "Brucie", he's still the moral character deep down that he always was in the comics.
no subject
The thing about comics is they can't keep *facts* straight, let alone characterization, so I feel like multiple interpretations are equally valid. I've had this discussion with a few people (about Tim and fidelity) and the first few people mostly agreed with me, so I went with it.
And I'm not suggesting Tim date Conner and Steph and Tam Fox and who knows who else all at the same time... I just think he wouldn't be quite as upset at the idea of making out with Cassie's boyfriend if he could justify it to himself as being for a case.
no subject
Yeah, I will concede that he would allow himself to be COMPLETELY in character during the initial case. Kon asked him, and he agreed to it, and Bruce did teach him proper undercover work. But Tim wouldn't milk it.
The guilt of it would be too much for a guy who already carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. I mean, that pretty much the reason Bruce never makes good on his 'Brucie' act and why so many of his bimbos splash drinks in his face. He hams it up, and then 'conveniently' flakes out.
I keep thinking about how horrible Tim always felt about having to lie and manipulate his dad and Dana, and how the only reason he never said the truth, was because of Batman and the others.
Tim over-thinks EVERYTHING. Its both his biggest asset and failing as Robin, something that has been acknowledged by off and on screen by the character and writers. And for the longest time, Cassie was his only friend left alive. I just can't see him risking that, even if he could justify it to himself.
I guess I just want to see the motivation for Tim for his actions, which clearly Kon wants to understand as well in your story.