Burning the midnight oil (Sepia)

[sepia]

"Unless you physically put a gun to their heads and pulled the trigger," Lee drawled, allowing himself to be led off on a tangent while he contemplated his next plan of attack on the 'Getting-Cara-To-Accept-At-Least-Some-Medical-Care-So-She-Doesn't-Die-Of-Some-Infection' front of things. "I highly doubt that you did cause their deaths." A firm believer in the idea that, very frequently, a tough love approach was the best approach, he didn't bother to go for a more sympathetic argument.

"And given that you don't strike me as the type to let loose with weapons, though I have been wrong about people before and this may be when you prove me wrong by whipping out a large knife, I think I can relatively safely assume that you didn't kill them." And here was where he was proved wrong when Cara told him that they'd died throwing her out of a burning building, in which case he'd have to resort to his second line of defence.

He let the matter of her injuries drop for the moment, somewhat hoping that if he could convince Cara on this point - which, wait, hadn't a moment ago he'd been deciding he was unlikely to be able to fundamentally change her beliefs? Apparently his logical thinking got somewhat scrambled at this time of night - or perhaps he was just tactical enough to utterly change tactics when he realised things weren't working. Such as now, when he was beginning to wonder if he was going to have leave Cara in the stable - no. That was a worst case scenario.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara shrugged. "I didn't... don't know my parents, I can't even bring up an image of their faces! I can remember everything down to the very smallest detail, but I can't remember them. If it wasn't for me, they both would have been home that night. If it weren't for me, Father wouldn't have been trying to finish a project so that he could land a contract and Ma would never have taken him dinner." She shrugged again, and wished she hadn't as pain shot through her body once more.

She glanced toward the door, where Lee was standing, and wondered if she should let him have a look at her back. She went through the pros and cons of letting him treat the wounds. She frowned as all the different arguments ran through her head. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place, not knowing what to do or who she could trust. She didn't even trust herself! And she knew that she would have to make a decision soon as she knew she couldn't fight the weariness that had caught hold of her forever, and right now she just wanted to curl up and go to sleep.

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"Hardly sounds like you killed them. Sounds like an unfair world decided to deal you a terrible hand. Coincidence is an awful thing, sometimes." Aware that he was beginning to mix his metaphors and noting both Cara's rather pained-looking shrug and her look towards the door (some part of his brain wondering whether he was the proverbial rock, or the proverbial hard place) he came to the conclusion that this argument would probably be better served by having it later. Probably, sitting (or standing, in his case) in stables at a ridiculous hour of the very early morning weren't the best circumstances in which to induce a change of mind in Cara's long-held beliefs - and, equally probably, he wasn't the person to do so, given his usual emotional tactic of utter repression.

"I can see why you don't want to show me your injuries," he began, returning to a previous argument. "But I can - and will - swear that I'm not going to blow the whistle. I'll resist the temptation to call someone in, as I suspect, as I think you do, that that wouldn't be a particularly helpful move. I just want to make sure that you're not going to get your back infected, and that your actually going to be able to be mobile and active for the next few days." He shrugged, then, adding, "And there's the fact that agreeing will mean that I stop nattering at you and actually allow you to get some sleep, which would probably be a good idea."

He studied her again, carefully, and mentally sighed. "Please let me help?" He said, finally, unsure of quite what else to say.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

"I may not have killed them, but I am the reason they are dead!" She argued. The sudden rush of emotion sped up her heart and caused the ever present drumming just behind her eyes turn into a thudding. She closed her eyes and slowly counted to ten - an a couple of languages - before opening them again and letting out a slow breath, even though the thudding in her head had only lessened slightly.

She rested her forehead on her knees as she gently rocked back and forth. "I'll be fine by the time classes start." She said. "I've done sports for long enough to be able to push things to the back of my mind. It just burns at the moment." She suddenly pressed her lips together, realizing that she had just pretty much confessed to there being something wrong with her back. "Oops" She whispered. The weariness was obviously clouding her thoughts.

She looked at Lee, her eyebrows raised in a helpless look. "If I allow you to to do your magic, you swear you won't tell anyone?" She bit her lower lip as she wondered if she was doing the right thing.

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Lee bit back the urge to continue to debate with Cara about her parents (another time, possibly another person), and restrained himself from making any form of even mildly sarcastic response. His usual method of professing to not take things seriously by inserting snark into his words - when, in fact, usually when he was being most sarcastic was also, conversely, when he was being most sincere - would not be a good idea right now. Tough love, to something more gentle, he thought, brotherly instincts helping him out a good deal.

"I promise," he said, suspecting that he might well come to regret those words, later. For now, though, the priority was dealing with Cara in the here-and-now, rather than worrying about the bigger picture. "Not a word, to anyone." He backed up a pace from the door, holding out a hand in a beckoning gesture, face serious and eyes calm. "Come on - the faster we do this, the faster you can allow yourself to be weary."

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Terror raced through the girl's mind as she thought about what she had said. She looked at the mare who had her nose resting on the bedding of her stall, carefully watching the girl.

"Come on - the faster we do this, the faster you can allow yourself to be weary."

Swallowing hard, she slowly rose to her feet. "Hush." She said as the mare straightened out her front feet, she made a down motion with her hand and the mare tucked her legs back under her as she watched the girl gather her things and walk over to the stall door.

She exited the stall and looked toward Lee. "Where shall we do this?" She asked, a slight tremor in her voice as she thought about how vulnerable she would be while he worked on her back. The muscles in her face tensed slightly as she wondered if she were doing the right thing. She could imagine that she must look like a horse ready for flight about now.

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Right: and this is where he got to the point of not having actually thought this far ahead, as well as the point of ensuring that she didn't decide to flee. Tension was clearly thrumming through her body, and Lee knew he was going to have to tread carefully if he didn't want to send this house of cards toppling gracelessly. Making sure to keep his movements soft and relatively slow, he gestured towards the door of the barn as he took a few paces in that direction, making sure to keep a close eye on Cara - though what he would do if she did decide to run he wasn't at all sure.

"Well, the stuff's back in my rooms, so you could come back there," and, wow, this conversation could really be taken in the wrong way if heard out of context, "Or we can go somewhere else, if you'd prefer. Of course, it being the middle of the night our choices are a little limited, but at least we're unlikely to run into anyone." And, no, really, I'm not a creep, honest. I really am just trying to help. Lee refrained from adding that last bit, however, coming to the conclusion that it really didn't make his case sound any better, and hoping that the sincerity in his tone would continue to keep Cara convinced that he really didn't mean her any harm.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara shook her head when Lee mentioned his room. Yes, that's were all his medical equipment was, but there was too much of a chance of her being seen entering with him, or leaving and she didn't want stories flying around the place.

"The gym. In the gymnastics studio." She suggested, her mind racing and her words working at the speed of her thoughts. "It's always empty at this time of the morning - I should know I'm there often enough. And if anyone comes across us, you could always lie." Also, it gave her the chance to get herself psyched up for this while he went and collected whatever he needed. No, she told herself, it does not give you the chance to run. Every movement of her body burned, and she did her best to keep her face as still as possible to mask the pain. Stop being such a baby! She growled at herself. You have been through way worse, a small punishment like this should have just washed over you! You are getting out of condition! The weariness was now replaced with self-hatred as she was angry with herself for letting this get on top of her. Where was her normal competitive spirit where nothing could get her down? In the days when she was competing in the gymnastics arena every other week, ten lashes was nothing but water on a duck's back.

[sepia]

Somehow, being in the gym made this suddenly somewhat awkward situation rather less awkward, and Lee nodded. His next problem was whether he had to physical shadow Cara continuously until he managed to get her to sit down long enough for him to take a look at her back, or whether he could trust her to get to the gym and not scarper as soon as he was out of sight. Heh. Dilemma. This was all a great deal more complicated than what he'd been hoping for when he'd decided to give in to insomnia and come down to the barn; but also probably a great deal more practical, too, if it - as he was hoping it would - Cara the chance to trust him.

"The gym sounds good," he agreed, nodding, and making a split-second decision. "I'll meet you there, then." Trust went both ways, after all, wasn't that what people were always saying? "And I'll come and find you if you decide to... get lost on the way there." He tempered his last words with a friendly smile, caring and concern still bleeding though every inch of his expression.

"Right, the gym, then," he repeated, then ducked his head to her in what was almost a bow, and went off to get the relevant gear. Good thing he'd unpacked!