Garrison and Marie: Coming Home

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Kane and Marie talk about leaving Logan behind. Marie can't seem to avoid blaming herself, but Kane does his best to get her to stop.

Kane popped the trunk and hauled out Marie's case, passing it over. They'd just finished the drive home from Canada, noticeably missing one of the the people they started with. It had been an uncharacteristically silent drive back, only the odd bit of chitchit or slow conversations over lunch. Both of them seemed wrapped up in thoughts.

Kane pulled his own bags out, looking around. "Well, it didn't burn down. I'm almost surprised." He said, looking at the school.

"Actually, Ah'm betting it did and they just built a new one. We'll go inside and everything will be a mirror image," she said, though her voice wasn't as light as her words. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she reached out to take one of Kane's hands before heading inside.

He gave her a brief squeeze. "Entirely possible. It wouldn't actually surprise me. I think that's a sign that our lives are just a little too weird most of the time." Kane paused, giving his beard a scratch, considering before they walked through the door. "Look, you know he's made the right decision, eh?"

"Ah know he needs to get his head on straight," Marie said, not exactly saying yes. "And that he can't do that here." She didn't know how to explain that she felt abandoned regardless.

"Sometimes, the best thing someone can do is to get themselves out of a situation. It's not his fault, or anyone elses." Garrison said. He knew very well how hard it was for Marie to trust people, and to face separation from Logan. Their relationship was deep, familial, and his decision not to return with them couldn't be sitting well.

"Ah know. Had to do it myself not too long ago," she said, keeping her eyes carefully trained on the ground directly in front of her feet. "Ah guess this was just the last thing Ah expected to happen after Ah called Heather."

"Me either. Joseph getting attacked by the savage spirit of a cannibalistic Inuit demon? I don't think anyone could have seen that coming, Marie." Garrison paused, turning her to face him. "You didn't do this. I can see that look in your eyes that is you running right at blaming yourself."

She looked away, but didn't pull away. If Ah'd just been a little faster...maybe he wouldn't have had to lose himself so much. "Ah just...Ah couldn't protect either of you."

"That's not your job, babe. We're a team, remember? That means it's not just you or me, or anyone who is supposed to protect everyone. We all do it together." Kane dropped his bag. "Hey, listen to me. Logan did what he had to so we'd have enough time to get Heather clear. That was a conscious decision. You heard Joseph. That thing is unkillable. Even your invulnerability wouldn't have been enough toe to toe. Instead, you got the ritual completed so Logan could take it down, and Heather ended up unhurt because of it."

Teams aren't supposed to leave a man behind. Instead of speaking her thought out loud, Marie just nodded mutely. She knew things probably couldn't have gone a different way - it didn't wish it could have or that she'd stop trying to find a way to have made the outcome different. "Ah think Ah just want to soak in a hot tub for a day or so to get the chill out of my bones. Try to blank my mind a bit."

Kane knew when she wasn't going to talk to him about something. He'd grown used to the wall between them, and it seemed since Canada, it had grown a little higher than before. He picked his bags back up, knowing when pushing her would have the opposite effect.

"Sounds like a plan; you with the bathing, me watching you bathe. We should say hello first."

Rolling her eyes, the ghost of a smile lifted the edge of her lips. "Hey, this show isn't free."

"Name your price."