Doug & Darcy | Aftermath
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xp_logs(Backdated) Overnight in London, Darcy gets a call from Doug about Wade's note.
Darcy let out a loud whine as the ringing of her phone penetrated her mind, rousing her from what had been the start of some finally decent sleep. She contemplated just letting it go to voicemail – it was after midnight, sleeping was perfectly reasonable. Her sleep-fogged mind was trying to figure out why that was a bad idea even as she reached a hand out from the blankets to curl around the device.
Oh, Doug. He knew she was in London, right? She thought she'd put it in her calendar and texted people that needed to know. She rubbed her forehead, then pressed the button for video. "S'it an emergency? It's after midnight," she complained, voice groggy. The video on her end blurred as she wiggled around, finally getting close enough to a lamp to tap it on before settling back into her pillows. "What's wrong babe?"
"Yeah, but I figured this was the kind of thing you'd want to hear about from me instead of reading the team writeup on it." It had been a bit of an internal struggle for Doug - wake Darcy after jet lag and time zone nonsense, or have her feel out of the loop the next morning. In the end, the feeling that she'd feel like Doug wasn't trusting her with something about a past relationship had won out. That and Darcy's potential ability to check in on how Maya was dealing with the news she had given him. "Maya texted me. Turns out that when they got attacked at the festival, it was Malice and the Marauders like we figured, but there was a 'decoy' Death...and it was Wade. He stuffed a note in her boot during the fight."
"Thought she was gonna wait to send you that once we were on Muir," Darcy groused, mind still trying to process the information. "Gimme a sec."
She muted the phone on her end with a thought, dropping it facedown on the pillow so she could curl into her knees and let out a loud, heartfelt "FUCK" muffled by blanket and skin. 'Fuckfuckfuckityfuckfuck.' Her mind was starting to race, and in the moment she really, really wished she could teleport. Her legs swung over the bed, and she went to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face before returning to the bed, phone still ticking the seconds and minutes as she unmuted. "Sorry, I didn't–" she leaned her head back against the headboard and let out a loud sigh. "The note fell out of her boot while I was getting her ready for check-out at the hospital. I haven't read it, and I promise I wasn't keeping it from you. I was just waiting until we had secure internet access. On the Eurostar didn't seem like a good time to talk about anything serious. Do... do you want to talk about it?"
Doug made a frustrated noise. "I mean, I'm doing my best to deal with it. The lousy thing is that apparently he was lucid to pass a message in the midst of whatever shit had been done to him to make him full-on crazy. Like, the shot on Maya was non-lethal on purpose, so he clearly recognized her." But Kevin had been right, they had to plan for worst possible outcomes, really, even if the idea of taking Wade out appealed a lot less than it did for Laurie.
"Moments of lucidity aren't uncommon, even with people with acute mental illness." She let that hang in the air as she thought. "You aren't trying to deal alone, are you? Because I will make someone stuff your ass on a plane to meet us in Scotland." Darcy gave him as stern of a look through the phone as she could manage this late on little sleep. "You are welcome to join us, if it would be helpful. I'm told Muir's internet is very secure, although a bit spotty on the windy days. Do you want to talk about what the message said now, later in person, or is it something you're not wanting to share?"
"Kevin said roughly the same thing. And Topaz was unusually direct about dragging me out for noodles " Doug shrugged a bit. "I promise I won't keep it all bottled in. That's part of why I thought I should call you, despite the time difference and jet lag and all." He flopped a bit more on the armchair he was in. "As for the note...it was basically 'you should stop looking for me, I'm too crazy'. Which, I mean, on the one hand I get, but if we need to address that he might potentially be a threat to others..." It would still be looking for him, just for different reasons.
"I get your point but..." she paused, biting her lip uncertainly. "I think maybe you need to take a backseat on this one. Marie-Ange and anyone else in the shop that was particularly close to Wade as well. That probably sounds hypocritical, since we all know I'd like to get the drop on Malice, but those emotions are why I'm not allowed to take lead on any searching. Wade left on more uncertain terms and I know you love him deeply. Please let those of us with some emotional distance take this burden on." Possibly not even her, given her proximity to Doug. Fuck, this could be a disaster. Darcy trailed a thumb down the side of her phone case in a poor imitation of a caress. "I'm glad you aren't keeping it bottled in, but I also wish I was there to give you a hug."
Doug made a quiet noise of agreement. "Hugs would be good." He hadn't quite thrown his phone at the wall, but there had definitely been a complex burst of emotion, big enough that Topaz had noticed it from a distance. "I'm not taking myself off it completely," he said slowly, as he thought through how he felt and what he was trying to say. "But yes, I promise to listen to the rest of the team and not do anything rash on my own." Fuck, and he'd talked with Kevin about Pripyat during the battle in New York. The parallels - having to potentially put down someone not entirely in their right mind - were not lost on him.
Her voice was gentle. "Not completely. Just not driving the car. Not just you, either. Wade was around so long..." Darcy's sigh morphed into a jaw-cracking yawn. "Sorry. Just–you love him," she finally started with. "Even with time and distance, Wade is still an emotional minefield for you. It would be obscene to ask you or Marie-Ange or the other people he was close with to shoulder the bulk of that burden. Bad enough we don't have enough people with the space and distance to say that's it, this group of people are too close to the issue, they're fully benched, but since we don't have that luxury I can damn well at least plant myself between you and more emotional harm." She gave her phone the fiercest scowl she could manage this late, but the effect was ruined by another yawn and accidentally smacking herself in the mouth with her brace.
"Point taken," Doug replied. They certainly weren't going to find him any time soon, so it's not like they needed to solve things right away. "Why don't you get some sleep?" he suggested. "I wanted to let you hear about it from me, but it'll keep. And give my best to Maya - I'm sure she's gonna be struggling with it too once she's more recovered and on less painkillers."
"I'll try to get more sleep if you'll try to do the same later." Darcy gave him a soft, tired smile. "And of course I'll pass on to Maya. We'll talk more when I get home to you?"
"Sounds good. Travel safe."
"Take care of yourself. Love you." Darcy waited until the screen went dark, then rolled onto her back with another heartfelt "fuck" as she let her arm flop over her eyes, brain now fully awake.
Darcy let out a loud whine as the ringing of her phone penetrated her mind, rousing her from what had been the start of some finally decent sleep. She contemplated just letting it go to voicemail – it was after midnight, sleeping was perfectly reasonable. Her sleep-fogged mind was trying to figure out why that was a bad idea even as she reached a hand out from the blankets to curl around the device.
Oh, Doug. He knew she was in London, right? She thought she'd put it in her calendar and texted people that needed to know. She rubbed her forehead, then pressed the button for video. "S'it an emergency? It's after midnight," she complained, voice groggy. The video on her end blurred as she wiggled around, finally getting close enough to a lamp to tap it on before settling back into her pillows. "What's wrong babe?"
"Yeah, but I figured this was the kind of thing you'd want to hear about from me instead of reading the team writeup on it." It had been a bit of an internal struggle for Doug - wake Darcy after jet lag and time zone nonsense, or have her feel out of the loop the next morning. In the end, the feeling that she'd feel like Doug wasn't trusting her with something about a past relationship had won out. That and Darcy's potential ability to check in on how Maya was dealing with the news she had given him. "Maya texted me. Turns out that when they got attacked at the festival, it was Malice and the Marauders like we figured, but there was a 'decoy' Death...and it was Wade. He stuffed a note in her boot during the fight."
"Thought she was gonna wait to send you that once we were on Muir," Darcy groused, mind still trying to process the information. "Gimme a sec."
She muted the phone on her end with a thought, dropping it facedown on the pillow so she could curl into her knees and let out a loud, heartfelt "FUCK" muffled by blanket and skin. 'Fuckfuckfuckityfuckfuck.' Her mind was starting to race, and in the moment she really, really wished she could teleport. Her legs swung over the bed, and she went to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face before returning to the bed, phone still ticking the seconds and minutes as she unmuted. "Sorry, I didn't–" she leaned her head back against the headboard and let out a loud sigh. "The note fell out of her boot while I was getting her ready for check-out at the hospital. I haven't read it, and I promise I wasn't keeping it from you. I was just waiting until we had secure internet access. On the Eurostar didn't seem like a good time to talk about anything serious. Do... do you want to talk about it?"
Doug made a frustrated noise. "I mean, I'm doing my best to deal with it. The lousy thing is that apparently he was lucid to pass a message in the midst of whatever shit had been done to him to make him full-on crazy. Like, the shot on Maya was non-lethal on purpose, so he clearly recognized her." But Kevin had been right, they had to plan for worst possible outcomes, really, even if the idea of taking Wade out appealed a lot less than it did for Laurie.
"Moments of lucidity aren't uncommon, even with people with acute mental illness." She let that hang in the air as she thought. "You aren't trying to deal alone, are you? Because I will make someone stuff your ass on a plane to meet us in Scotland." Darcy gave him as stern of a look through the phone as she could manage this late on little sleep. "You are welcome to join us, if it would be helpful. I'm told Muir's internet is very secure, although a bit spotty on the windy days. Do you want to talk about what the message said now, later in person, or is it something you're not wanting to share?"
"Kevin said roughly the same thing. And Topaz was unusually direct about dragging me out for noodles " Doug shrugged a bit. "I promise I won't keep it all bottled in. That's part of why I thought I should call you, despite the time difference and jet lag and all." He flopped a bit more on the armchair he was in. "As for the note...it was basically 'you should stop looking for me, I'm too crazy'. Which, I mean, on the one hand I get, but if we need to address that he might potentially be a threat to others..." It would still be looking for him, just for different reasons.
"I get your point but..." she paused, biting her lip uncertainly. "I think maybe you need to take a backseat on this one. Marie-Ange and anyone else in the shop that was particularly close to Wade as well. That probably sounds hypocritical, since we all know I'd like to get the drop on Malice, but those emotions are why I'm not allowed to take lead on any searching. Wade left on more uncertain terms and I know you love him deeply. Please let those of us with some emotional distance take this burden on." Possibly not even her, given her proximity to Doug. Fuck, this could be a disaster. Darcy trailed a thumb down the side of her phone case in a poor imitation of a caress. "I'm glad you aren't keeping it bottled in, but I also wish I was there to give you a hug."
Doug made a quiet noise of agreement. "Hugs would be good." He hadn't quite thrown his phone at the wall, but there had definitely been a complex burst of emotion, big enough that Topaz had noticed it from a distance. "I'm not taking myself off it completely," he said slowly, as he thought through how he felt and what he was trying to say. "But yes, I promise to listen to the rest of the team and not do anything rash on my own." Fuck, and he'd talked with Kevin about Pripyat during the battle in New York. The parallels - having to potentially put down someone not entirely in their right mind - were not lost on him.
Her voice was gentle. "Not completely. Just not driving the car. Not just you, either. Wade was around so long..." Darcy's sigh morphed into a jaw-cracking yawn. "Sorry. Just–you love him," she finally started with. "Even with time and distance, Wade is still an emotional minefield for you. It would be obscene to ask you or Marie-Ange or the other people he was close with to shoulder the bulk of that burden. Bad enough we don't have enough people with the space and distance to say that's it, this group of people are too close to the issue, they're fully benched, but since we don't have that luxury I can damn well at least plant myself between you and more emotional harm." She gave her phone the fiercest scowl she could manage this late, but the effect was ruined by another yawn and accidentally smacking herself in the mouth with her brace.
"Point taken," Doug replied. They certainly weren't going to find him any time soon, so it's not like they needed to solve things right away. "Why don't you get some sleep?" he suggested. "I wanted to let you hear about it from me, but it'll keep. And give my best to Maya - I'm sure she's gonna be struggling with it too once she's more recovered and on less painkillers."
"I'll try to get more sleep if you'll try to do the same later." Darcy gave him a soft, tired smile. "And of course I'll pass on to Maya. We'll talk more when I get home to you?"
"Sounds good. Travel safe."
"Take care of yourself. Love you." Darcy waited until the screen went dark, then rolled onto her back with another heartfelt "fuck" as she let her arm flop over her eyes, brain now fully awake.
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Date: 2024-02-03 01:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-02-03 10:55 pm (UTC)