Post-Possession Night: Salvage Duty

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

After her dunk in the lake, Marie tries to find her way home. She has a little trouble, but a certain Mountie comes to her rescue.

Marie was still pouting after Cain's lecture as she floated through the mansion, trying to remember which way to turn to get to her room. Actually, she knew exactly how to get to her room, the problem was that knowing you needed to turn right wasn't very helpful when you couldn't remember which way right was. She paused as she reached another hallway, looking one way and then the other. Unfortunately, she'd turned herself around and so began heading back the way she'd just come.

"You know, there are, like, four hallways on this floor. That's a 25% chance of finding the right one even if you've never been here before. You, Beullah, are officially a statistical anomaly." Kane said, wandering up behind her. He'd been heading to his room when he heard the dripping sound and noticed the trail of water on the rug. "You are damp."

Marie turned around, her face lighting up as she saw the Canadian. "Ah had to go fishing. Nate sorta, um...fell in the lake," she said solemnly. "It wasn't my fault. Ah'm just quicker and more maneu...maneuv...faster."

Kane leaned back slightly at the wash of booze and dank pond water from her. "You've been drinking, girlfriend."

He tugged her idly floating form closer and slipped an arm around her waist, to guide her to her room. "I'm going to ignore the reason why Nate fell in the lake... again. And-- wait, again? Moira needs to get one of those child harnesses for that man. Pass them out to the Elpis staff. Maybe a foam helmet too."

Marie leaned against him as she slipped her arms around him, her feet landing softly on the ground. "Yes! A Nate-leash. It should have bells that jingle! He gets lost too often." She swayed unsteadily, holding Garrison tighter. "And yes. Ah was drinking. It was possession night down at Harry's and Ah more than qualified for attendance."

"I'd say by sheer weight of numbers alone." He kicked open her door with his foot, and walked her through into the suite. Kane considered lying her on the bed, but considering the fact that her clothes still squelched, decided to take her into the bathroom directly. He got her in on the tiles and sat her carefully down on the edge of the tub. "Here, dry off your hair." He said, wrapping a fluffy towel around her.

Reaching for an edge of the towel, she began patting it against her hair while at the same time grinning at Garrison. "Ah sang at the bar," she said, oblivious to the random shift in topic. "Wanda and Haller and Ah did a duet. Wait. A tre-et? Or is it more because each of us is more than one? Well Wanda isn't. She's just Wanda now."

"Trio. Or maybe a Greek chorus, really." Garrison left the bathroom for a second, before coming back in with her old robe and another towel. He sat down beside her, taking the towel from her and scrubbing against her hair quickly. "What did you sing, babe?"

"Crazy!" she said, giggling at his strange look. "You know, Ah 'member when, Ah 'member, Ah 'member when Ah lost my mind." Marie beamed up at him, peeling off her wet gloves and dropping them into the bathtub. "We picked good, right?"

"I'd have to agree with that one. Personally, I'd have chosen American Woman, but that's for my own reasons." Kane leaned forward to kiss her quickly on the end of her nose, before he brushed the towel over her face. "Despite the fact that this sounds like a line, and I have been relatively effective with it in the past, you're going to need to get out of those wet clothes."

She eyed him suspiciously before her bare hand came to rest on the soaking wet excuse of a shirt she had on, at which point she made a face. "Okay, but you gotta turn around." Without waiting to see if he did or didn't, she started to peel off her shirt, the material getting stuck on her head.

Garrison put his hand over his eyes with a muffled laugh. "Oh yeah, babe. This is sexy." he said, as Marie struggled to pull off her shirt. Finally, he walked over.

"Alright, this could take hours in your condition, and frankly, you're liable to hurt yourself or break the mansion in the process. Just figure I'm being a lech or something." Kane pushed her hands away, being careful to limit the contact to seconds only, and carefully disentangled her shirt from over her head, deftly freeing her before turning to wring it out into the tub.

"Ah am always sexy," Marie said, slurring her words slightly. "But ok, mebbe Ah need a lil' help. Just a lil' though." She reached out for her robe, slipping it over the lacey bra she still had on as she kicked off her strappy heels. "So how was your evening before your life was brightened by my appear-pres...by me."

"A lot less damp. And decidingly lacking in hot lacey bras." Kane ran his hand down her back, outside the robe, feeling the play of her muscles behind the fabric. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but give me a yell if you can't get your pants off." He patted her rear before ducking out of the bathroom long enough for her to get the rest of her wet clothes off.

There were a few thumps following his exit, but Marie managed to handle the rest of her disrobing by herself. She emerged from the bathroom wrapped in the fluffy robe and stumbled her way to her dresser for a fresh pair of gloves. "Food?" she asked hopefully glancing from the Canadian to her kitchen and back again.

"Sure. I'll see what I can scrape up while you lay down." Kane wandered into his kitchen and began to root around. Something simple, quick and bland was the order of the night. Ah, perfect, he thought, pulling out the box of kraft dinner that Marie had in her secret cabinet of late night instant study food. He put a pan of water on her hot plate to boil and came out with a glass of water and a couple of aspirin. "Here, take these before you do anything. Otherwise, you'll be invulnerable and have a massive headache tomorrow."

Marie popped the pills, gulping down half the glass of water in a single sip. "Invulnerable good. Headache bad." She then proceeded to drink the rest of the water. "Thanks," she added, reaching out to rub his arm, her fingers sliding down his sleeve until she could slip her fingers through his and squeeze his hand.

"That's what I'm here for, you know." He said, echoing the squeeze with his own. Only the sound of water boiling pulled him from the bed, as he tore the top off of the box and poured the pasta into the water. "Room started spinning yet?"

"No," she lied. "Rooms don't spin, that's silly. People spin though. Betsy span...spinned...made Nate spin. It looked fun. Ah'd try it, but then Ah might end up upside down. Again."

"Yup, you're going to throw up in the morning." Garrison said, stirring the pot. He'd been drinking with Marie more than a few times, and knew most of the danger signals. He dumped the pasta into a colander and drained it quickly before putting it in a bowl and mixing up the cheese. He stuck a fork in it, flicking the television on as he walked back into the room and passed it to her.

Marie sat back up from where she'd been collapsed, reaching eagerly for the bowl. Shoving a forkful in her mouth, she was glad that Garrison was there - and not just because he'd supplied her with cheesy goodness. "Am not," she said, holding the fork out to him. "And if Ah do, Ah will do so in a ladylike fashion with none the wiser."

"Yeah, I'll know if you hork. Special talents." Kane munched off the fork and flipped over the channels to a news station. Marie wasn't really going to watch any how, and he leaned back to make himself comfortable. "Anything inspire this sudden binge, babe?"

"Haller broke his brain and then fixed it again," Marie said, shoving another bite of macaroni into her mouth before she lost her grip on the fork and it slipped into the bowl. "So all of us who had broken our brains with other people coming into our brains went out to drink." Her body started to sway ever so slightly again, but this time it was the sway of exhaustion instead of drunken stupor.

"This job should involve multiple personality insurance. I swear." Garrison shuffled himself more comfortably behind her, supporting her rapidly slouching form more easily. "Still, the night ended just like you always dream. Getting drunk and ending up in bed with me."

Marie's only response was to continue her slump across him, letting out a happy little sigh as she snuggled against him. The bowl slipped out of her hands, somehow managing to land right side up on the floor.

"And that's goodnight, folks."