A Little Bit of Trust Cpt. 36

Colfax was grateful for how few cars went past Felicia's house. It meant he could listen to what was going on inside. He couldn't hear the actual words that Adrian and Felicia said, but he could hear the awkward. If things weren't so dire right now, he'd probably allow himself to laugh. As it was, he needed to keep himself unknown to Felicia until the last possible moment. Hopefully the last possible moment would be well after Charlie and Sawyer were out of danger. With any luck, Adrian could keep up his distraction long enough.

Felicia leaned on the counter opposite Adrian, taking a sip of her own ice water, still a little giddy that he was there. "Well, thank you for coming to check up on us. I know things were very hectic back at your apartment, but I'm glad you could get away this quickly." She tilted her head slightly, smiling.

Jesus God, Adrian thought, keeping from rolling his eyes but only barely. She just batted her eyes at me. He hadn't really ever been in the dating game, thanks to his qualms about physical contact, but Adrian recognized bad flirting nonetheless. He knew he wasn't any better at it, but boy did he hate this; he'd definitely have to gripe at Colfax for suggesting this once it all blew over. "Well, you were very bold," he said. "I hope you don't form a habit out of barging into my home, but your initiative was certainly impressive." He wished he could crawl into a hole, this was so agonizing. He made due by taking a long drink of his water. At least he knew that Sawyer was hard at work getting Charlie to safety right out from under Felicia's nose. But she wouldn't linger in the kitchen for too long; their time was limited and he only hoped she wouldn't catch him in the lie.

With a final grunt of effort Sawyer managed to disengage the latch, and with both of them working on it the door to the cage swung open. Charlie hobbled out onto the table and fell into Sawyer, embracing him tightly in a hug. Sawyer hugged him back, feeling how his friend was shaking from head to toe and patting Charlie’s head where it was buried into his chest. “Thank god you came,” Charlie whispered, still trembling. He disengaged from Sawyer and looked up at his friend, eyes red and blotchy from tears.

Sawyer gave him a tight, concerned smile and quietly said, “Of course. Like any of us would leave you here.” The idea was unthinkable, especially given the circumstances they had found him in. Sawyer didn’t ever want to see a friend in a cage again, furnished or otherwise. Glancing towards the kitchen he added, “We have to go as fast as we can, though. Adrian’s distracting her now, but who knows how long that’ll keep her occupied.” He turned and gave Charlie a serious look. “We need to make it to the front door. Can you do that?”

Though Charlie was still trembling, and looked like he could hardly stand up as it was, he put on a determined face and replied, “I can try.” Sawyer nodded, sharing in his determination. With Charlie leaning on him for support they made their way over to the edge of the table, where Sawyer’s fishhook was still trailing the rope off to the floor. After helping Charlie to sit down on the edge Sawyer climbed onto the rope, shimmying down it quickly. Once he had reached the floor Charlie did the same thing, the muscles in his arms pulling taunt as he climbed down without the use of his casted leg. Sawyer caught him at the bottom, helping him stand balanced on the floor before flicking the rope and catching the hook as it fell towards them. Coiling it up he slung it over his shoulder once more, before helping Charlie to lean on him. Going as quickly as they could with Charlie’s cast, they began to make their way back towards the front door, staying against the wall and under cover of furniture whenever they could.

After a few more minutes of polite banter, Felicia set down her glass. "Adrian, don't you want to see the viri? I think he'd be really happy to see you. He was very upset about leaving, I think he was worried that you might not visit!" She reached out to take his hand, and though he set his glass down, he didn't take it. He just tilted his head and kept his perfect blue gaze on her face.

Adrian hurriedly threw an excuse together, knowing that both viri would definitely need more time to get to the door. "D-don't you want to talk more? I'm sure he could use a rest from all the um, excitement from today." He smiled hopefully, resisting the urge to glance at her offered hand in dismay. He didn't want to hold her hand again, and indeed he was already wishing to scrub his own hands until the feeling went away.

Felicia smiled. "That's so sweet of you, Adrian. You really are princely," she said, blushing a little again. (Colfax, outside, actually caught the words and threw a hand over his mouth to keep the laughter from bursting forth.) She reached out with both hands to grasp his arm, feeling his entire body go completely tense at the contact. Awww... he's nervous! That's so cute! This is perfect! "But I'm sure he'd be happy to see you! Let's go!"

She led him into the living room, her eyes going immediately to the cage. Her expression went to one of panic and shock, and she practically threw herself across the room to the cage to investigate the floor near it.

Adrian, knowing the facade would soon be over, kept his eyes on the floor. He caught a glimpse of two small figures ducking under the couch as he and Felicia entered the room, glad to see that the woman only had eyes for her empty cage. Adrian, relieved that she'd let him go, nonetheless felt primed and ready for her to catch on to what was happening. So, without further pretense, he crouched to the floor, offering his cupped hands for the viri to climb on.

As they heard Felicia and Adrian coming their way the two viri all but sprinted for cover, Charlie gritting his teeth at the pain that shot up his leg thanks to the harsh movement. They scurried under the cover of the couch, hearts pounding with apprehension; they knew they would be found, it was only a matter of who by. Hands reached under the couch and they recoiled back instinctively, only to realize it was Adrian and breath a joint sigh of relief. As quickly as they could they scrambled on, Sawyer helping Charlie up even as Adrian drew his hands out and up.

When he stood, Felicia was standing at the other side of the room, staring at him with a hollow, crazed look in her eyes. He saw what looked like betrayal cross her features, just before pure anger took over. She pointed an accusing finger at him and shrieked something unintelligible, startling non-confrontational Adrian into stepping backwards and holding his viri passengers even closer to his chest.

Colfax leapt to his feet when he heard Felicia cry out in alarm. Without waiting, he stormed into the house, quickly finding the living room. Adrian appeared to have recoiled up against a wall, completely surprised by Felicia's sudden turn, and the woman was crossing the room toward him with her shoulders tense and aggressive. So Colfax, being the largest person there by far, stepped between the two of them to halt her advance. He heard Adrian shuffle out from behind him and out the door. Then, in a voice laced with more anger than he'd shown in a long time, Colfax barked "That's enough."


Looking over the viri could see Felicia, wild-eyed and shrieking. As Adrian stepped back and held them closer Charlie turned into him and clutched his shirt, beginning to tremble again. Sawyer placed himself between Charlie and the front of Adrian’s hands, effectively shielding him from Felicia’s sight, though it wasn’t going to do much good otherwise. Luckily Colfax stepped between them, leaving Adrian free to slip out of the house. Sawyer heard Colfax stop Felicia, in a voice he would not like to be on the end of, before they were outside and headed towards the car.

Feeling Charlie still shaking behind him, Sawyer turned around to comfort his friend. Charlie was curled up against Adrian, clutching the human’s shirt in white-knuckled hands as tears leaked out of eyes shut tight. “Hey, buddy,” Sawyer said softly, getting closer to him and patting his shoulder. “Hey. It’s all okay now, we got you. You’re safe.” Charlie opened his eyes and looked up at him, tears still streaming down his cheeks. Sawyer gave him a caring smile, understanding that Charlie just needed to let it all out. It had been a pretty traumatic experience, after all, and he wasn’t in the best condition to begin with. “We’ll all be okay,” he assured his friend, hugging him with one arm. Charlie sniffled and smiled weakly back at him, feeling immensely grateful to have friends that would go to such lengths for him. Adrian was even holding them, which Charlie was sure wasn’t easy for him; the hands beneath them weren’t even trembling, though, and it was with a great deal of surprise that Charlie realized Adrian’s concern for them beat out even his long-term phobia of making physical contact with people.

Adrian was still a little shocked from the sight of a crazy woman coming at him. His heart pounded and his skin crawled, both from adrenaline and the fact that she had touched him with both of her hands. He suppressed a shudder, his focus now on making sure his hands remained steady. Having never directly held a viri before, he was newly experiencing just how lightweight they were. Even with both of them and Charlie's thick cast, Adrian barely felt them there. He could feel Charlie clinging to him in fear, so he moved slowly as he exited Felicia's house and walked toward the car. He hesitated a moment, wondering how to get inside without use of his hands, but then balanced on one leg and deftly used his shoe to get the door pried open. From there it was simple to slip into the driver's seat. He slumped over, leaning his forehead on the steering wheel, his arms beginning to quiver from the leftover adrenaline. "I'm...I'm so sorry, Charlie," he muttered, his voice tight. "That should never have happened. I'm going to do better, okay? You're safe now."

Charlie and Sawyer jostled a bit as Adrian sat down in the driver’s seat, but they were just as relieved as he was to be in the car and away from all that madness. They could feel Adrian’s voice as he spoke, the vibrations of the sound mixing with the slight tremble in his arms. “It’s not your fault, Adrian,” Charlie said, finally letting go of the human’s shirt. Sitting up he looked up at his friend. With the most gratitude he could convey he said, “Thank you for coming to get me.” His voice began to quaver at the end and he couldn’t help a few more tears from slipping out, which he hastily wiped away. Looking over at Sawyer he smiled slightly and added, “All of you.” Even Colfax, whom he would have thanked as well, were the human not presumably still dealing with Felicia inside.

Sawyer patted him on the shoulder with a grin, making Charlie smile. “We won’t let it happen again bud,” he said, still smiling but perfectly serious now. “Cross my heart.” He did so and Charlie nodded, thankful for their efforts to make him feel better. Though he didn’t blame any of them for what had happened (obviously Felicia was just incredibly neurotic), it was still nice to hear their reassurances. Charlie patted the hand beneath them and smiled up at Adrian, which frankly amazed Sawyer. Here Adrian was, actually touching somebody, and Charlie, actually comfortable in a human’s hands; if that wasn’t a remarkable sign of trust Sawyer didn’t know what was. They’d come so far in such a short time. It was strange to think that, less than a week ago, the humans and viri involved never would have even considered meeting each other. Now… now Sawyer didn’t think they could consider living without each other.

Adrian allowed himself a faint smile, glad to see that Charlie was already recovering somewhat from the ordeal. Though if he were honest with himself, Adrian wouldn't blame the viri if he had nightmares for a few nights over it. It was likely that Adrian would. He allowed some of the excitement of the whole situation to wear off before straightening up in his seat. "I think we should probably get back... it might take Colfax a little while to calm Felicia down and we shouldn't wait around here." He gently set the two viri down in the passenger seat, wishing he had a safer place for them to travel. But, he reasoned, if he drove carefully, then they shouldn't shift around much. "I'd say 'buckle up', but I don't know if it would make that much of a difference," he quipped with a chuckle. Then, he started the car and gently took off, his hands gripping the steering wheel tighter than he might on a normal drive. He took residential and side streets where he could, avoiding other traffic. He didn't think anyone would notice his tiny passengers, but he was a little paranoid that someone in a taller vehicle would spot them.

Once he had parked back at his home, he waited a few minutes for a man walking his dog to turn the corner. Then, he held out a hand for Sawyer and Charlie, keeping one hand free so he could open doors. He held them steadily once more, glancing around and making sure no other humans would see. By the time he got back into his own apartment, Adrian had been holding his breath, and he released it in a heavy sigh. He locked the door behind him before taking the viri back to the shelf where their “house” still sat. "Here we are. Home sweet home. If you'll excuse me, I have got to wash my hands." He paused, then his eyes widened as he realized that his words could have sounded offensive. "N-not that that's a comment on y-you guys or anything, b-but... F-Felicia, she... hands..." His shoulders slumped and he sat back, his face reddening some. "Sorry...." he finished lamely.

Sawyer chuckled, waving it away. “No worries Adrian, we get what you meant,” he said. “She made our skin crawl too.” At that Charlie nodded fervently in agreement; he could still remember how it felt to be trapped in her hands, though he was trying his best to forget. “Go wash up,” said Sawyer. “We’ll be here.” He gave Adrian an encouraging smile as he left to go scrub his hands, before turning back to Charlie. His friend was sitting on the shelf in front of the house looking pretty wrecked from his recent ordeal. “Here now, let’s get you inside, bud,” he said, helping him to his feet. “You need to rest after all of that I’m sure.” He was just going to let Charlie lean on him to walk into their house, but the shorter viri insisted on getting his crutch and walking by himself. He was tired of feeling helpless, which Sawyer could understand; but that didn’t stop the taller viri from walking closely behind him the whole time, ready to catch him should he fall.

They made their way back to the room on the left, which was Charlie’s, and he sat down on his bed with a small sigh. Despite having mostly cried himself out his eyes were still red and watery, and he looked like he could break down again at any moment. It was obvious he was barely holding himself together. He felt exhausted, more spent than ever, but he didn’t want to go to sleep. A large part of him still desperately needed the visual evidence that they were home, he was fine, and nothing bad was going to happen.

“Sit with me,” he asked Sawyer, his voice still hoarse and thick with emotion. Sawyer nodded and quietly sat at the edge of the bed, which was really just the dishtowel Charlie had been using a few days ago folded into a small tupperware Adrian had provided. Charlie curled up on the other end and they sat there in silence for a few minutes until, despite his feelings and the bad thoughts still whirling in his head, Charlie fell asleep.

When Sawyer noticed, he stood up and quietly placed the edge of the blanket over his friend, glad that he was able to rest despite it all. It would do him good, Sawyer was sure. All but tiptoeing out of the room, Sawyer made his way out of the house once more.