[For Baze] Dated to the wee hours of 27 April

[illuxinated]

For the entire walk home, Lux keeps it together. It had been easier to do in the clinic, feeling like she needed to be strong for Jason. It wasn't as if she'd been the one buried alive, and it didn't seem fair to cry all over him or make a scene. James had been there, so eventually she'd left, and let the numb feeling carry her down the winding paths in the rain.

Telling Baze what's happened is the right thing to do, but beyond that, she just needs to lay eyes on him, to affirm something steady in her life. She keeps it together all the way to the front door of his hut, keeps it together even after she knocks, but the moment the door begins to swing open, everything hits her in a rush.

Standing there, she paints an alarming sight, soaking wet, clothes dirty, and fingertips taped up with bandages. Her face crumples, and before she can stop it, a loud sob pushes it's way free of her throat.

Comments

[weusedtoshine.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, Lux, I know," says Baze, nodding. He's still got his arms tight around her, frowning so hard that his temples are starting to hurt. "They told me. I don't think I've ever been that scared in my life."

[illuxinated]

That really doesn't make it any easier to confess to him what happened, but there's no getting around it now outside of lying, and Lux just isn't sure she has the energy for that tonight.

"I went home with Jason and his brother, Tim," she says, and wipes at her eyes to try and stave off a fresh wave of tears. "Some things happened while we were there. Not because of Jason or Tim, they just happened." That sort of vagary isn't going to fly and she knows it, but none of this is easy to say. "I was just walking in the garden of the house, and these guys in masks jumped out of a van and grabbed me. They took me, and I just…" A sob hiccups up from her throat, and she buries her face against Baze's shirt again. "I was really scared."

[weusedtoshine.livejournal.com]

He feels himself stiffen, even though he fights against it; that isn't what she needs from him right now. Every so often, he gets reminded that he's a father now like a punch to the gut. His arms tighten around her. He lets his nose drop into her hair.

"Did they...?" He can't believe he asks, but he has to. He has to know, one way or another.