checking in

Who: Mickey and Elle
When: Early
Where: Elle’s place

Everything had fallen apart. No, that wasn’t quite true. Everything had been smashed apart. So many things would be in tatters now. Elle was still trying to process it. Details unfolded like memories of a film, existing in their own time and space in a disjointed reality. She watched herself standing there like a rabbit in headlights when the men had burst in. It didn’t take long for the screaming to start. Loud, guttural cries of pain and fear. She had thought that this was wrong, it was all wrong. She saw a man crumple to the ground like a rag doll then stars as a large, hard fist connected with her jaw. It had sent her reeling and after that she had stayed down, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. The only thing she drew attention from was people’s feet as they scrambled to flee or find another victim.

She should have been looking for Mickey and Shannah. She should have been doing something. She had tried to look for her friends but couldn’t pick them out of the throng. Couldn’t move from the spot she was rooted to. Elle told herself over and over that they would be fine. It would all be over soon and they would be fine.

She would still be telling herself they would be fine when she found them both.

Now back in the still and the quiet of her and Shannah’s home, Elle was curled up on the sofa. Her body ached from bruises and tiredness but sleep wouldn’t come. If she slept, she knew she would see it all again. Cheek on the armrest, she stared at a crocus next to her. Fingering its leaves with a sore hand, she silently focused on the delicacy of its yellow petals.

Mickey just let himself in without knocking. He’d had the key since they moved in, making himself a copy in the event of an emergency, and for the most part it stayed on his key ring, ignored at what it could mean. When he got Shoshannah and himself the the hospital he realized that he didn’t have Elle and had spent the next few hours while the doctors looked at Shannah looking for Elle.

Panicked when he didn’t find her, he wound up leaving after checking in on Shoshannah, forking over the cash for a cab ride as the sun came up to her apartment. Fear had him letting himself in, invading Elle’s space just to make sure she was fine. Once inside he let out a sigh of relief when he spotted her on the couch, moving across the small room to her, arms open. “Thank God.” Someone had listened to his furious prayers.

For a split second Elle looked past him, expecting Shannah to follow. But she didn’t. The worry and dread that filled her was clear on her face. Again she checked the door, as if her friend would magically appear out of nowhere. Jumping up from her seat, she almost sent the plant flying to the floor. Her head snapped towards it, watching the pot wobble with big eyes. Once it settled, she whirled back round to Mickey. “Is Shannah okay? Are you okay? Where is she?” The words couldn’t come out quickly enough.

“She’s fine,” Mickey answered, pulling Elle into a big hug once he was close enough. “She’s at the hospital with her father. Just a little bruised, but she’s resting now.” He pulled back holding her at arms length and studying her. “Are you okay? Hurt anywhere?”

“What happened to her? I didn’t see. I didn’t...” Elle lowered her head and closed her eyes. At least Shannah was in good hands and being taken care of. That was the main thing. And if she was with her father, she wasn’t alone. Not that it completely quelled the feeling that she should have been there with her friend. “I’m okay,” she told him, nodding. “I got hit, but I’m okay.” Raising her head, she studied him in kind. “What about you? Are you alright?”

“She fell and got kicked. She’s fine. I’m glad you’re alright.” Mickey tilted Elle’s chin up gently studying her bruise there. “I’ve been better.” His second eye was black which gave him a dark look overall, the cut over his eye was stitched up and bandaged and his hand was in the same place with stitches and a bandage. “Come on, sit,” he said pulling her towards the couch.

Nodding again, Elle did as she was told and sat back down, hands resting tightly on her knees. Shannah may not have been too badly injured but that didn’t much make up for the other kinds of hurt. Her beautiful gallery would be ruined. And Mickey had already been through the trauma of the vigil, now this. Silent, Elle bit her bottom lip. She didn’t want to cry. It wasn’t going to do any good. “At least you got to be her hero, right?” she said eventually with the tiniest of put on smiles.

Mickey sat with her, keeping his own hands on his knees, watching her carefully. He could tell she was upset, that much was obvious, and he didn’t want her to be. Even though the light tease was put on and the smile not as genuine as it could be, he found one of his own and shook his head. “I don’t think that’s the way she’ll see it.” There was the issue with Eily and how she’d reacted to him, but Mickey pushed that away to think on later.

“She might do. It could be your big turning point.” There was a quietly serious element to her words. It was the easiest aspect of the event for her to focus on, and it could show him in a whole new light.

He had a sinking feeling they were avoiding the important parts of the situation, the parts where people had almost, where people had actually died and he hadn’t been there for Elle. “Maybe,” he said, giving her some ground since she sounded serious. “I almost told her. Ridiculous hm? I almost said ‘Shoshannah you’ve never seen me as more than Elle’s best friend’, but I wound up not.”

“It’s not so ridiculous,” she answered quietly. Given the utter chaos the evening had descended into, it didn’t seem so out of place. A confession in the heat of danger, in what could have been last moments. It sounded like something on the screen at the Apollo. Except those moments had been the last for some. Grand finale, curtain down and no one applauds. A sick, twisting feeling creeping into her stomach, Elle covered her face with her hands.

Mickey was ready to shake his head, tell her how that wasn’t the case at all, that he’d just almost goofed up and told a panicking Shoshannah that he was interested in her, but she covered her face in her hands like that and Mickey rested a hand on her back, rubbing in small circles. “You’re safe now Elle,” he said softly trying to be reassuring.

It was nice of him to be comforting. Only being safe now wasn’t really the point. They should have been safe then. Ordinary, every day people at a gallery showing. What harm did they pose to anyone? What reason was there to invade it in such a brutal way? Face emerging from the cocoon of her hands, she looked over at Mickey. “I don’t want her to have to see her gallery like that. All that hard work, all those paintings... She shouldn’t have to see it.”

Mickey nodded, blue eyes full of understanding. “I was thinking the same thing. Tomorrow, I’ve got to replace a door, but then I was going to go over there and clean up, start...doing whatever I can.” It might not be much, but he’d make an effort.

“Do you think you’ll be able to do much?” What she wanted to hear was yes, it would be fixed and it would be Shannah’s gallery again. In reality she knew that the extent of the damage probably wasn’t known yet, and that it might take longer than that to make right. “I can help you, if you want. I could tidy and you could fix.” How misleadingly simple it sounded. “I should do something, you know?”

“I’ll do as much as I can,” Mickey promised. It might not be everything, but he’d get as much done as he could. It wouldn’t look fixed, but it would look less ransacked. “Help would be great, but only if you’re up for it,” he told her, not wanting her to push herself too hard. “You should sleep first though.”

Elle sat up straighter, as though trying to prove that she was indeed up to the task. “I can do it,” she told him with a resolute nod. “Maybe some sleep first. But I can do it.” And that was a rather big maybe right now. Despite the weariness she felt, she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to settle enough to sleep.

Mickey loved his best friend’s resolution. She could find it in herself, that strength that it looked like she might not have. It warmed his heart and brought a real smile to his lips to see it. “Do you want me to stay?” he suggested, wondering if that might put her at ease. He could sleep on the couch and she’d know she was safe at least.

“You don’t have to. I mean, you know I’m okay now so if there are things you need to do, that’s okay.” Elle didn’t want him to feel like he had to babysit her. No doubt he had other places to be, and she was sure she’d be fine. “But thank you for offering. You can be too nice for your own good sometimes.” Putting an arm around him, she gave him a half hug.

“You know I don’t mind,” Mickey said, but she was right about him being too nice. He knew people took advantage of it from time to time. Wrapping an arm around her he returned the half hug. “If you need anything just call me okay?”

“I know you don’t mind. You just don’t have to. You’re welcome to stay, of course, but you don’t have to.” If the worst came to the worst, she could always retreat back to her family home. Though that had the potential to open up far more issues than she was prepared to deal with right now. “As long as you promise to do the same. No manly ‘I can cope with everything myself’ behaviour.” She managed to raise something closer to a real smile to tack onto the end of that comment.

“I only want to if you need me here. If you don’t I’ll get out of your hair and let you rest,” Mickey explained, obviously giving more than taking again. At her warning he smiled, and nodded, but knew he would be slow to come to her. If he was going to go to anyone it would be Elle, but he doubted he’d do it. “Yes ma’am,” he told her, brushing her hair back a little.

Elle gave him a little bit of a frown. “Don’t make it sound like you’re in the way.” He was hardly bothering her. The expression fading into one that was softer, Elle sighed gently. “Besides, it isn’t just about me. You can be here for you too, you know.” It wasn’t fair for him to try and take everything on his shoulders. Even though his words said he agreed, Elle still gave him a look that suggested she wasn’t completely convinced.

“I’m alright,” Mickey reassure her again leaning in to kiss her temple lightly. “I promise.” He got up, awkwardly given his leg, but strong nonetheless. “Get some rest. You’ll need it alright? I’m gonna put you to work later at the gallery.” He was teasing, light smile on his lips. He did feel in the way, like he had no right to lean on Elle even if the prospect of going on home to his cheap apartment wasn’t appealing.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be ready.” It didn’t quite come out as light as she’d intended, some of the need to show that she was fine, that she was capable, slipping through. Elle watched him for a moment then sprang up from the couch to pull him into a big hug. “Make sure you take care of yourself. Sometimes you worry me.” After giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, she moved back from him, hands clasped behind her back. “We’ll talk properly sometime, okay?” She could make herself talk about all the things she didn’t want to, if that’s what was needed. Her internalizing it all was one thing. She regarded him doing it as quite another.

Mickey hugged her back, smiling when she kissed his cheek. “I will do my best,” he promised about taking care of himself. “Whenever you want. You know I’m always here to listen.” He didn’t expect them to talk, though he did appreciate the offer. There was no need to put her through things again just because he couldn’t quite sort them out in his own head. “Get some rest,” he ordered gently waving her towards her bedroom before making his way towards the door.