20 Connections

Dana and Rebecca was once again seated on their mattress on the floor, this time together with Lucy as well. She'd apparently accepted Dana for the time being - even gave her a hug once Rebecca and Shaun had gotten back from their excursion and things had calmed down with Desmond. Rebecca was glad for that. Dana was trustworthy, and she didn't anymore want to have to pick one or the other. Having them both accepting each other's company was a relief.

There was still a sort of tension between them, but at least now they talked to each other. Lucy had even gone as far as to reveal bits and pieces about her previous life. About her mother, the brother she never really knew, the wish to want kids at an early age, and about the university that kicked her off. Dana showed sympathy at this and shared her own little details about her life here in New York. Rebecca listened intently and took a mental note of the tabloids she had apparently written for. She wondered for a minute if that might've been a detail she'd missed during their earlier conversations.

"So" Lucy spoke up after a second of silence. She stretched her arms and back with a satisfied sigh before looking over at Dana, seeking eye contact. "Alex is your brother". It was a statement rather than a question, but Dana nodded anyway. Rebecca bit the inside of her cheek. Either a fight would very soon erupt, or it was simple small talk. She certainly hoped for the latter.

"He is". Dana leaned backwards to support her weight on her hands. "Though, we were a lot more alike when we were younger. We both have mother's eyes, black hair and a lot of her temper, but there's a lot of his traits that I just can't place. I never knew father, but I don't think he had the same one either. From what I know, mother was not only alcoholic and abusive, but also a prostitute. I don't even want to think about how many she's shared a bed with". Rebecca shuddered. Imagine all the possible STDs she might've caught. Eugh!

"Or the amount of STDs" Lucy said with a rise of her eyebrows, grabbing the thoughts right out of Becca's head. All three gave off noises of disgust before falling into a fit of giggles. Little smiles remained on their faces as silence fell. The tension between the individuals currently inside the cellar was slowly but surely easing up, and Rebecca couldn't be happier. It felt good to laugh over simple things with Lucy again. Lately it had felt like they'd grown apart, and she didn't like it. She wanted to be friends with her friend, so to speak. She wanted to be friends with Dana as well, but that was another thing. Lucy and Rebecca had known each other for years, and for it to become unbalanced due to some stranger walking in on them all randomly.. She wouldn't have that. The alternatives were simply unthinkable.

"How is Desmond doing?" Dana asked after a minute. Lucy blinked at her, as if not quite believing that she'd actually asked the question. Why wouldn't she though? Dana cared about Desmond, even if Lucy didn't particularly seem to care about Dana, or her brother for that matter. Rebecca doubted that Lucy would ever see the good in Alex. They'd come off with a bad start, and their first expressions toward each other could definitely had been better. Rebecca shook the image of those piercing blue eyes out of her head. Yea, Alex could definitely use some work on his introductions.

"Thanks to the supplies you helped us get, his fever has gone down" Lucy said while looking back at the mattress their unconscious friend was lying on. Her expression didn't agree with her words however, and there was something unspoken hanging heavily in the air. Dana apparently noticed it too.

"But?" she said, frowning. Lucy hesitated for a short moment before responding.

"But... We might have to seek out that doctor of yours. No amount of meds can sustain him if he doesn't get any nutrients into his system"

"He doesn't eat?" Rebecca asked and looked over at Desmond. He was paler than usual, but would otherwise seem like he was sleeping peacefully. Once again she felt the sting of helplessness. Lucy knew more than her when it came to medicine, and unless they would get time over to educate each other, that fact wouldn't change.

"I managed to wake him up only briefly enough to get the meds down. He was barely conscious and definitely not enough to chew a sandwich" was the answer provided. Lucy looked honestly worried. If Rebecca knew her friend, she knew that Lucy didn't get worried often. She would almost always keep her cool, and unless it was only the two of them or with someone they knew very well, she didn't give in to emotion. She had always been strong mentally, and Rebecca lowkey envied her for it.

What was said next almost came as a relief, but under the current circumstances Rebecca got stuck in a state between relief and agony for her friend. "I'm worried about him.." Lucy spoke, almost inaudibly. Now they could be certain that Desmond wasn't about to get back up on his feet anytime soon. Lucy knew what she was doing, and to hear her verbally express her thoughts couldn't be a good sign. Rebecca processed this for a moment, giving enough room for Dana to express sympathy before her.

"He'll be alright" she said, putting a hand on the blonde's shoulder. She sounded so confident in her sentence, and her blue eyes shone with something she couldn't quite put her finger on. It was strength and something to rely on. "We'll get him back on his feet". A smile painted Dana's lips, and Lucy smiled back - a gesture that warmed Rebecca's heart. She was hopeful. Both for Desmond and for the bond slowly forming between her friends.

Shortly after the sentence was spoken, the three reacted to a noise coming from the other side of the two tables that was haphazardly placed in the middle of the cellar room. Shaun, who had decided to take a nap after his and Rebecca's adventure, was stirring where he lay. Muffled words and grunts left him before he sat up and stretched his arms and back. He apparently felt the girls staring at him, because he turned his head their way. Rebecca smiled sheepishly.

"Slept well?" Dana asked, getting nothing but a grumble for a response. He voted to lie back down again and Rebecca gave a chuckle. "Not a morning person?"

"Definitely not" Becca responded to Dana's question. "He can't to do any work before he's gotten his coffee, and his morning mood is not something anyone wants to tamper with. If not possibly that brother of yours. He seems like a tough guy"

"Should I be glad I haven't known him for long then?"

"His sarcasm is worse" Rebecca commented, making Dana snort and Lucy snicker.

"You're the one with bad temper when Shaun is being sarcastic" she said, pointing an accusing finger at Becca, who admitted herself defeated by raising her hands. Guilty as charged.

Silence didn't last long before Rebecca pointed them back to more pressing matters again. "So this doctor... Roland, was it?" she asked, looking at Dana.

"Ragland" she corrected. "He runs the morgue at St. Paul's Hospital". Lucy frowned at this and Shaun seemed to have been awakened from his slumber.

"The morgue?" he questioned, walking over to their side of the tables. Dana looked up at him for two seconds before Rebecca spoke again.

"Does he have any ties to the uuh... Black-whatever-they-are..?"

Like last time Rebecca had failed to remember the name of the black operations unit, one of the Mercer siblings corrected her. "Blackwatch" Dana said, tapping her knee once with her hand.

Shaun chimed in from where he stood. "No matter. Who is he and how do you know about him?". It sounded almost accusing in Rebecca's ears. She could understand his concern, but she didn't see the point in being impolite when asking. But then again, this was Shaun.

Dana took only a second to respond. "Alex were looking into this company he was working at, Gentek, and he mailed me his laptop where he'd stored all of his files. There's a shitload of suspicious information, and I found that Blackwatch had been watching this doctor named Bradley Ragland. Gentek did all sorts of fucked up shit and Ragland didn't want to be part of it, so he quit. The boss at the company, Raymond McMullen, was apparently the one who wanted him watched". She thought for a moment before looking at Rebecca again. "That's his only tie to Blackwatch".

Silence fell for a few moments as the three individuals melted the information. Lucy was the first one to speak. "Is that the only information there is about him?"

"No, but that's all I can remember from the file right now" Dana responded with a sort of sharpness to her voice. Rebecca saw Shaun give a rise of his eyebrows behind her back and frowned at him. He might be able to remember every single word in all the database entries he'd written for the Animus, but Dana might not have that kind of memory. Or she might be troubled by something else. Like the way the figuratively hovered over her to make sure she wouldn't slit their throats or something.

But before Rebecca could voice her thoughts, Dana rose from her place on the mattress and spoke up again. "I can run back up and see what more information there is. I might've missed something, or there could be more in related files" she said. She had her back toward Rebecca, so she couldn't see her face, but Shaun had a hard look in his eyes. The trust between them was evidently something that still needed work. Understandably, she guessed.

Not a second passed before Dana was on her way out. Rebecca noticed how she pressed her ear against the door before opening it - apparently a precaution after the time a zombie had almost eaten Rebecca alive. She shuddered from the memory. How did Alex pull that off anyway? It had felt like he was two yards away and he'd been at her side in less than half a second. And for that matter, what had actually happened back at the pharmacy, and why had he been there so conveniently to save her ass again? It had literally been a war zone outside the building, and there was no getting in or out without passing through it. Maybe she should ask him the next time they saw each other. Certainly, no one in their right mind would willingly pass through a war zone.