Involuntary Convalescence (Brennan / "PG-13")

[madison]

Madison was walking on air by the time she and Sastre arrived home. It had been such a wonderful night. Dinner and a movie. Talking at the coffee shop afterward. There were no supernatural crisis that needed to be taken care of. No human ones either. For once, it was just a calm, lovely evening.

She absolutely loved the fact that Sastre seemed to ease into things as the night went on. The tension lines in his jaw settled, and she noticed his shoulders weren't as rigid. He was always on the look out. She knew that, but it was nice to know that he could relax when the occasion called for it.

It seemed the night flew by with idle chatter and laughter and all two soon the pair were walking up the steps of Madison and Sastre's home. Brennan and Lily had been staying with them, mostly so Madison could keep an eye on Lily. The girl was stubborn, but she needed rest so she could get back to a hundred percent. In fact the first thing Madison had planned on doing was check on the hunter and see how she was feeling.

She smiled at Brennan's greeting. "We had a wonderful time." Though her response was seemingly drowned out by Sastre and Brennan's conversation. Her brow furrowed a bit when Sastre asked if Lily had taken off again. If she had Madison would sedate her until she was fully healed. The girl was going to get herself killed!

Then she relaxed when Brennan said she was upstairs sleeping. There seemed to be a tension in the air. Sastre was right, something was certainly going on. Leaning up on her tiptoes, she kissed Sastre's cheek. "I'll go check on Lily." With that she was quickly moving towards the stairs to make sure her patient was still in bed.

[Florian Raniari]

Sastre nodded in agreement with Madison's idea, then went to follow after Brennan.

He leaned in the doorway, watching her for a few moments, his arms crossed over his chest. Something was definitely wrong. She was acting strange, and the tension in the air was so thick he could have cut it with one of the many machetes that he had stashed around the house. He figured it wasn't anything too serious--or, rather, nothing life threatening at least--since Brennan wouldn't keep such a thing to herself, but he was still worried that something had happened while he and Madison were out.

Finally he cleared his throat.

"You might be able to fool anyone else around here into thinking nothing's wrong," he said flatly, "but not me. I've known you too long, Abbie. I've always been able to tell when your mother was giving me the run around, and you're not as different from her as you might think sometimes. So," he said, walking into the kitchen and leaning on the counter across from the refrigerator as watched her, "tell me what happened."

With that he crossed his arms over his chest again and waited for a response. He kept his expression neutral, in part because he didn't really know what he should be feeling. He wondered if he was wrong, maybe, and that perhaps whatever was bothering her had nothing at all to do with Lily, or with anything that concerned him, but he immediately pushed that thought aside.

There had been plenty of times in the past when Brennan had come to him for advice, and he knew that if something were troubling her she'd tell him. Or at least he hoped she would. Since having given up Lily shortly after birth, Sastre had viewed Brennan as a sort of daughter, one that he'd watched grow up into a fantastic young woman, and he often thought that Brennan felt some sort of familial relationship with him as well. That didn't mean that she told him everything of course, but he knew that if something important was troubling her, she'd come to him, particularly since her mother wasn't around.

The fact that she was acting so nervous, and that she was clearly hiding something from him, meant that whatever was going on involved him somehow. And, since he'd been gone most of the day with Madison, it made sense that whatever it was that was bothering Brennan stemmed from something to do not with Sastre, but with his daughter. If Lily had hurt herself, or gotten into some kind of trouble, Sastre knew that Brennan might blame herself for it, and that would make her reticent to come right out and tell the old hunter what exactly had happened.

So, rather than push the issue any more, Sastre simply waited for her to speak, hoping that she'd be truthful with him due to the almost father/daughter bond that they shared. If she really didn't want to talk about it, and it seemed like she was uncomfortable or afraid, then he wouldn't push the issue, knowing that it would all come out on its own eventually. Still, he hoped that Brennan trusted him enough to know that she would've had to do something incredibly bad for him to get truly upset with her.

[Abigail Faraday-Brennan]

He’d used her first name.

Brennan froze, her upper half still buried in the refrigerator, and squeezed her eyes closed. Damn it, why did he always have to do this to her? He knew that got to her every time. She could never keep anything from him for very long. Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out again, Brennan opened her eyes and grabbed a bowl of leftovers, straightening and crossing to the counter. She set the container down and removed the cover with slow, deliberate motions, watching Sastre out of the corner of her eye.

Damn it, she hated this. In the many years she’d known Sastre, she’d never before felt the need to keep something from him. He was always generous and thoughtful with his advice, and he seldom judged. He’d taken everything she’d ever thrown at him in stride, and she’d grown to value his opinion above almost any other. Maybe… maybe everything really would be okay. Utterly torn, Brennan rested her elbows on the counter and dropped her head, rubbing her hands over her face.

“I… I…” she finally managed, locking eyes with the old hunter.

But no matter how hard she tried to make herself say the words, the rest refused to come. She tried to be reasonable. After all, what was the worst that could happen? Brennan’s stomach twisted painfully as her mind exploded with possibilities, most of them unpleasant. She had crossed a line and completely abused Sastre’s trust in her. There was no getting around it, and all she wanted to do now was get out from under his scrutiny as quickly as possible. Brennan’s shoulders slumped in defeat, and she dropped her eyes, turning back to the leftovers and scooping a generous portion into a bowl.

“I wasn’t paying enough attention, and Lily snuck out,” she said emotionlessly, not looking at Sastre.

God, she hated lying to him. But she couldn’t seem to force herself to tell the truth, so she spit out the first logical explanation that came to mind, hoping he would mistake her dishonesty for guilt. Not that there wasn't plenty of that mixed in already.

“By the time I realized what’d happened, she was gone,” she continued in a subdued voice, shoving the container of leftovers back into the fridge. “But, she’s back now, and she doesn’t seem to be hurt any worse than she was.”

Brennan glanced quickly toward Sastre, eyes making it as high as his chest and no further.

“I'm sorry, Sastre,” she offered miserably, her voice quiet.

She knew he could have no idea what she was really apologizing for as she headed back to the living room and dropped onto the couch, her food untouched.

[Sastre Quicksilver]

Lily lay in a half-doze, absently wondering where Brennan had gone.

It worried her that the witch wasn't here, and she wondered if maybe she'd managed to scare her off. Really, though, she couldn't blame her if she had; one didn't just throw around the "L" word after only a few hours together. Lily did regret saying it now, especially if it had made Brennan uncomfortable enough that she'd left...

Sighing, she sprawled out on the bed, the sheets tangled around her, trying her hardest to ignore the steadily increasing pain from her injured ribs. Shifting position a bit, she winced and lifted her head, looking around for her discarded bandages to no avail. Honestly, they could have ended up anywhere, and she knew that even if she did find them, she was in no position to apply them herself.

So, instead, she closed her eyes again, willing herself back into full sleep. This proved to be nearly impossible, though, as her ribs began to protest loudly at not being bound up. In fact, she could probably use a bit more of the swamp gunk as well, assuming she could find someone to apply it. She wondered again where Brennan had gone, and if she intended on coming back or not.

It was then that she heard the voices downstairs, faintly. She couldn't make out anything that was being said, but she recognized the sounds of Sastre and Madison, as well as Brennan. Her brow furrowed, and she wondered what was being said. Had Brennan confessed what had happened? Or would she try and keep it secret? Did she feel guilty about it, like she'd made some sort of mistake?

Deciding she should get dressed and head downstairs, Lily attempted to sit up. Biting back a yelp of pain, she quickly laid back down, thinking that maybe she'd be better off just staying put until someone showed up to help her out. It certainly didn't look like she was going to be going anywhere on her own steam, that was for sure.

So she simply laid there, closing her eyes and smiling a bit at the memory of her and Brennan. Doing this seemed to take her mind off of the pain at least, though it was also going a long way to making her more uncomfortable in the long run.

God, she wished Brennan were there...

[madison]

Madison honestly wondered what was going on. As much as she felt like Sastre, Brennan, and Lily were family, she also felt out of the loop a lot too. They were all trying to protect her, and while the thought was appreciated, the execution was making Madison feel like a helpless child that the adults didn't want to speak around.

Right now though, she just wanted to know what was going on with Lily. If the woman had hurt herself again, Madison was more than likely going to tie her down to the bed with restraints and keep her sedated until she was well enough to move on her own. Yes, she would threaten Lily with a bedpan. Somehow she didn't think the young hunter would like that very much and may just be the angle Madison needed to get her to stay in bed.

Madison knocked on the door. "Lily?" Technically she could have just barged in, but Madison wasn't sure if Lily was sleeping, crying, happy, upset. Besides, Madison's old habits of having a good bedside manner were instilled into her mind. "It's Madison. Can I come in?"

[Sastre Quicksilver]

Lily perked up a bit when she heard the knock, and Madison's voice outside the door.

Ignoring the pain in her ribs, she quickly gathered the bed-sheet around her, as she couldn't really get to any of her clothing. God, it hurt! Closing her eyes and biting back an exclamation, Lily took a few deep breaths, which aggravated her broken ribs even more, before giving up and simply lying there. Clearing her throat, she spoke hesitantly.

"Actually... it would be great if you'd come in and help me out," she said honestly. She was certain that Madison wouldn't be happy that her bandages weren't on, and she was also pretty sure that the doctor might have some questions about what was going on, but at the moment she really didn't care. Lily was a prideful woman, but in her current state she wouldn't turn down any help getting the bandages back on, or even getting dressed.

Lily wondered what exactly Brennan had told them, if anything. Should she bring up what had really happened if asked, or should she not mention it yet, until she'd had a chance to speak with Brennan? The witch had told her that she didn't mind people knowing, and Lily certainly didn't care what people thought about it either.

She figured she'd just take it as it came, and not dwell on it too much until then...

[madison]

Madison opened the door and peeked her head inside, raising a brow when she saw Lily lying in there in bed. Without clothes on. Trying to conceal a smirk, Madison walked into the room, closing the door behind her and wandered over to the bed.

"Did your clothes become too constricting?" Before Lily could answer, Madison simply smiled. "I guess you didn't get out of bed and get into trouble at least."

Judging by the awkwardness downstairs and Lily's lack of clothes upstairs, well Madison could guess what was going on. Though honestly, she hadn't seen it coming. Mainly because Lily and Brennan had never really showed any sort of affection in an intimate sort of way towards each other or anyone else.

"Let me check you over and then we'll get you dressed." Getting up, Madison crossed to the bathroom, grabbing any medical supplies she might need before reclaiming her spot at Lily's side.

The girl was still a mess, but at least she was healing now. So long as she didn't go any dare devil hunts she would make a full recovery.

"So what did you and Brennan do while Sastre and I were at the movies?" She swept over Lily's body, assessing the damage, checking for infections, and making sure that nothing else had managed to get bruised, broken, or maimed in the few hours they were gone.

After changing Lily's wounds, Madison returned the medkit to the bathroom, and got a cup of water from the tap. She returned to Lily with an antibiotic and the water. "You don't seem to have any infections from the wounds. It's just preventative."

Before Lily could protest, Madison held up a hand. "Think of it this way, if you get an infection you'll get a fever. If you get a fever you get sick. If you get sick you're going to be down longer than you need to be."

Madison stood there, pill and water in hand, waiting for Lily's reply.

[Sastre Quicksilver]

Lily eyed the pill dubiously for a moment before relenting.

Once that was out of the way, Lily went about gathering up her cast-off clothing, slowly and carefully, with Madison's help. She remained silent all the while, her mind spinning but unable to come up with a good lie. Instead, she opted for the easy way out.

"I don't know, didn't see her," Lily told Madison with a half-shrug. "I mean, I saw her, earlier, downstairs. But then I came up here and went to bed." Flicking her eyes toward Madison as she sat back down and the bed and began dressing, she added quickly, "Why, did Brennan say something?"

Getting dressed was just as difficult, and painful, as Lily had figured it would be. Over the years, she'd broken ribs before, but never this many, or this badly. And it was a nightmare for her not to be able to take care of herself, and to have to rely on the kindness of others, but by now she realized that Madison was right:

If she didn't take the time to relax and heal up, then she'd just go out and hurt herself even worse, if she survived at all...

"Help me downstairs?" she asked, a little ashamed to even have to as she stood on unstable legs, leaning on Madison for support.

[madison]

Madison was grateful that Lily took the pill without a fight. The girl was just as stubborn as her father if not more so. It made Madison smile, but honestly if one or the other didn't give a little soon, one or the other was going to wind up dead. She didn't want to see that happen.

Lily asking for help was a feat in itself and step in the right direction. Madison hoped the girl realized she was a friend. Seeing Lily bruised and broken made Madison wince. Sometimes she felt like she was looking into a mirror reflecting the same injuries back. Only Lily had them for a much more noble and courageous cause. Madison's....well Madison's were because she had been a coward.

Smiling, Madison gently wrapped an arm around Lily's waist. "I'll help you downstairs, but you still need to rest." She gave Lily a pointed look. "Meaning you're on couch duty." She smiled at Lily and started for the stairs.

"And no Brennan didn't say anything interesting. I was just curious as to why you were naked in bed since when we left, I'm fairly certain you were fully clothed." Her voice was light, maybe full of amusement. Sastre would probably have a heart attack. His daughter and Lillian's daughter. This was definitely going to be interesting.

[Florian Raniari]

Sastre leaned against the wall in the living room, watching Brennan closely.

He remained silent all the while rather than asking any more questions. It was obvious that something had happened, and Brennan's story just felt wrong to him. He couldn't put his finger on it, exactly, but his instincts told him that there was something more going on. And, as a hunter, Sastre trusted his instincts implicitly. If there was more to this than met the eye, he'd find out.

Soundlessly, he moved through the house and slipped out the back door, heading for the jeep that he'd been borrowing from Lily. There were contacts in the area that Sastre had set up some time ago to be on the lookout for anything unusual, particularly anything involving his family. Once he'd gotten in touch with them, he'd feel a bit better. Assuming, of course, that they'd noticed anything at all.

Turning the key and listening in satisfaction as the engine roared to life, Sastre backed the jeep down the driveway, determined to get to the bottom of this, and to find out what could have been so bad that Brennan would lie to him...