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"OW" Came the howl as the hurled shoe smacked Taylor flush in the back of the head. The combination of the show and Ellie's words surprised more than hurt, causing the rookie cop to wheel around, hands balled into fists. He didn't move, not at first, rather he stood, seething with anger as he glared across the alley. Now she was going to respond with more than simply dismissing him? Now when he had just set his mind to walking away for good? Now when he'd finally resigned himself to letting all the immature bullshit he'd clung to while an ocean away go?
"What the fuck?" Taylor stood there, staring. He could scarcely believe what he was seeing or hearing. Was she actually blaming all his on him? When he'd told her he had to leave she just dismissed him, waved a hand and sent him on his way without a second thought. "Did it ever occur to you that I had to leave?" He growled in response, slowly starting to move forward to close the gap between them.
The pleased feeling lasted for only but a moment. Once he turned, the brunette's eyes narrowed defensively. She'd always been volatile, her actions often speaking volumes. She'd never been good with words, which often came back to bite her in the ass. Like right now. He was as pissed as she'd ever seen him before and yet, she was too stubborn to back down.
She straightened, the hand still holding the shoe lowered, while she reached her other hand out to flatten out on the wall while she supported her weight long enough to put the shoe on. "Oh yeah, here comes the fucking excuses." She barely managed to roll her eyes before, she felt the slight pull of her power. "Don't you ever have-" Her eyes went blank, body freezing as her hand splayed out over the concrete wall beside her.
Images flashed before her eyes. Erratic and in no particular order. Blinking lights, cars honking, the constant noise of people talking on the phone and cars speeding by. A hooded figure walked down the very same alley way she'd been standing only seconds before, a cardboard box in his hands. A noise, feeble and whining came from the box. He walked further into the darkness of the alley, looking around as if expecting someone to be following him. His elbow brushed against the wall she was holding, eyes darting back and forth. She could see his face clearly now; He was neither old, nor young. Mid-thirties, perhaps, though his thick beard had started to gray, or maybe it was dirt. She couldn't tell.
He opened one of the garbage containers at the end of the alley way and threw the box inside. He shut it and ran off.
As she was sucked back to the presence, Eleanor inhaled sharply, hand clutching to the fabric on her chest. Immediately, she turned towards the container.
Oh, no. Taylor was not falling for this shit. Undeterred by the sudden shock Ellie seemed to have gotten Taylor continued moving forward just as enraged as ever. It was just like her to try and throw him off with some bullshit and here she was talking about excuses. He should've known trying to even talk to her was a lost cause and not worth the headache.
"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" He nearly spat the words, his accent coming out clearly. "Are you seriously throwing that at me?" It didn't matter that she wasn't looking at him anymore or seemed to care that he was there. Taylor was pissed and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to say what he'd been holding in this entire time. "You never even asked what was going on or even acted like you gave a shit and now you're going to act like this is my fault?"
But there was no response. Ellie was distracted by something even though Taylor was going off. It was disconcerting and served to confuse more than irritate. Taylor stood there, staring at her, his features softening from rage to something more akin to exasperated curiosity. He exhaled and brought a hand up to press against his forehead. Why did he put himself through this shit again and again? "What- What are you doing?" He asked finally as Ellie turned her attention fully to the dumpster beside her.
His words was entirely lost on the entranced brunette. She couldn't hear, nor see anything past her psychometric vision. It was a curse most of the times, though, if luck was on her side, it wouldn't be too late.
"No, no, no, no." She said frantically, dropping the shoe she was still holding. She made her way towards the dumpster, completely ignoring the fact that she was running barefoot over the snow covered concrete floor of the alley way. Once she reached her destination, she pushed the lid open. Brown eyes darted over the contents within, ignoring the smell of garbage.
With her small stature and short, 5'3 height, she couldn't reach inside. Instead, she placed both of her hands on the rim of the container and hoisted herself inside. She felt around for the cardboard box and once she finally found it, pulled it close. She fell silent for a moment, listening.
The whimpers were weak, but there. A sigh of relief fell from her lips as she opened the lid, revealing a kitten, dirty and small. Leaning her back against the dumpster, she lifted the kitten out of the box and held it to her chest.
Taylor McCarthy
I gave you the last word, and that's the last thing you'll take from me
By the time Ellie started climbing into the dumpster Taylor had given up his angry tirade. He didn't bother asking what the hell she was doing, rather he followed along, instantly more concerned about what she'd seen now than saying his piece. Yes, he was well aware of her power and how it could flare up from time to time and yes, he also didn't put it passed her to try and use that to further manipulate him. But the moment she began scaling the side of the dumpster Taylor realized something more was going on.
He stepped forward, using his much taller form to help Ellie climb out while still clutching the small thing to her chest. Taylor's eyes narrowed, studying whatever it was for a moment until he could see what it was. "Well, shit." He muttered quietly under his breath. Part of him wanted to stay pissed off, wanted to unleash everything she made him feel, throwing it all back in her face. But something always seemed to come up, didn't it? "There's an emergency vet a couple blocks down the way there." He said, waving a hand in the direction. "Animal control goes there during off hours."
As soon as her feet landed back on the snow covered ground, she made a beeline for her bag. Though she heard his words, they fell on deaf ears. With one still holding the small, frail kitten to her chest, she used the other to rummage through the contents of the bag, pulling out a sweater. She wrapped the sweater around the kitten. Hopefully that'd keep it warm.
She moved to collect her shoes. She put them on and hoisted her bag over her shoulder. "Yeah, okay." She didn't even wait to see if he was following before she rounded the corner, stopping as she reached the end of the alleyway, eyes darting between the two possible directions to take. Which direction had he gestured towards again?
She turned. "Which way?"
Taylor McCarthy
I gave you the last word, and that's the last thing you'll take from me
It almost felt as though Taylor hardly knew this young woman who was so concerned with a life other than her own. He'd never seen her act this way, which was almost startling given how just mere moments before she had been hurling her show at him. It made sense, though, that she would find herself more worried about a stray kitten than another person. He'd just add it to the long list of quirks he'd discovered.
"This way." He said, pointing to the left of the alley. His hand came out to instinctively touch her shoulder, leading her in the right direction. In a way he could understand her concern for the animal, though he wasn't optimistic about its chances. How often did newborn kittens spend God knows how long in a dumpster and survive? Still, even he couldn't resist the small smile that surfaced when a pair of big, blue eyes peeked out of the sweater and looked up to him. "Five minutes." He assured Ellie with a nod.
In many ways, she could relate to the kitten. Naturally, she'd never been thrown and abandoned in a dumpster, but it reminded her of home. Long before Bellefonte had become her reality. Besides, she couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that anyone would throw such a precious little thing away. From the clarity of the image, it couldn't have been there for more than a few hours; All she had to do was remember the man's face.
The trio reached the vet's office and they took the kitten off of her hands immediately. They were guided to a waiting room and being told they'd let them know when they had news. Any news.
Sitting in one of the chairs with her legs pulled up against her, the brunette closed her eyes as she rested her chin against her knees. She felt exhausted - not only because of the fight, but because the way her power always seemed to drain her energy.
Taylor McCarthy
I gave you the last word, and that's the last thing you'll take from me
And that was that. In the blink of an eye the situation between the two of them had been deescalated, taking all the wind out of Taylor's sails. He'd been ready to let loose and now was sitting in a dimly lit waiting room beside her, silently hoping like hell a kitten she'd found five minutes ago wasn't so sick or malnourished that it couldn't be nursed back to health. He sat for a long while, elbows resting on his legs, staring down at the floor in front of him. Even with the feline distraction his mind couldn't help but drift back to the emotions that ran high whenever he was near Ellie. She never failed to elicit an extreme response, be it good or bad. Finally he spoke, breaking the silence between them with a simple, quietly uttered statement that came with a soft chuckle.
Even Eleanor couldn't help the smile and the laugh that followed by his statement. She had hit him with her shoe.
"I hit you with my shoe." She repeated.
A sigh fell from her then as she lifted her head. Her gaze drew towards the closed door they'd taken the kitten through. "Sorry about that." The word 'sorry' felt odd against her lips, but there was no doubt she meant it.
Taylor McCarthy
I gave you the last word, and that's the last thing you'll take from me
Unexpectedly Taylor joined in the brief, subdued laughter. He hadn't been making a joke of the situation, rather simply pointing out that it had happened. If there were to be any thought given to the events that had transpired within the last ten minutes, though, humor couldn't certainly be found. What was it about the two of them that made their inner, bratty child come out? It was as if they weren't adults who could handle themselves with maturity and grace.
"That's alright." He replied, waving a hand dismissively. "I probably did something along the lines to deserve it." Taylor fell silent again, this time his eyes lifted to the girl sitting beside him. He studied her a moment, taking the time to feel a certain sense of relief that came with seeing her again. He couldn't allow his gaze to linger, though, as he hardly wanted to start another fight. He glanced down again before a thought popped into his mind.
"You remember that school camping trip we went on?" Taylor asked, smirking at the memory. "When my brother crawled into your tent because he was scared of thunder?"
"You probably did." She agreed with ease. She tossed a glance his way, smirking.
His next words had the brunette grimacing. "Urgh." She couldn't keep the spite out of her voice. There was no one, not one person, in the world she loathed as much as Jack.
"No offense, but your brother is the single most useless person I have ever met." She really could not stress that enough.
Taylor McCarthy
I gave you the last word, and that's the last thing you'll take from me
Taylor had said far worse things about the junior McCarthy, most often to his face, but for someone else to speak them would usually result in a fight. In this case, though, Taylor actually understood the ire Ellie held for his brother. Jack, for some reason, had latched onto her in the most annoying of ways which was, after all, something Taylor could relate to but his brother lacked a certain... stubbornness to tolerate Ellie's more... difficult moments. "He's not all bad." Was all Taylor would offer as a counter. "He's grown up... some." Which was easily the nicest thing Taylor could say at this point.
Once again Taylor fell silent, unable to keep up with any one line of conversation. He didn't really want to sit here and talk about his brother, that was yet another dysfunctional relationship that often left him feeling lost and uncertain. Of course he couldn't very well sit here in awkward silence. There were so many things he wanted to say if only he could piece together the right words. He had to say something before this opportunity was lost. He had no idea when they'd find another moment like this where they both seemed lucid and under control. So without thinking his lips parted and he said the first thing that came to mind.
"If you say so." She didn't doubt that deep down, Jack was a nice guy. Of course, Taylor was also biased in his opinion, but she saw little point in voicing her own. He wasn't her concern. He never would be.
They had landed upon safe grounds for now, but when he spoke, she felt every muscle in her body tense. She could feel the vile words that acted as a self defense mechanism build on her tongue. Anything to get her away from topics she was too proud to discuss.
"Mmm." The sound came out as an almost painful rumble. She rolled her now tense shoulders, trying to reel back her slowly flaring emotions. The self control was painful.
"Di..tto." She pressed her lips together, the muscles in her jaw tightening.
Taylor McCarthy
I gave you the last word, and that's the last thing you'll take from me
Taylor could almost feel the need to lash out with some sharp tongued remark roiling from Ellie. In a way it was a comfortable, familiar feel that made him think all the more he was something of a masochist to continue putting his head in the vice and turning the crank tighter and tighter. He fully expected her to give in to her usual urges and steeled himself for the onslaught of insults that would soon be hurled his way. When that didn't happen it was possibly more surprising than the show she'd thrown at his head.
"I wanted to keep in touch." Taylor cautiously ventured further. If she wasn't going to get overly defensive yet he may as well take advantage of her moment of weakness. "But a lot of things were... fucked up, you know?" Yes. A vague and uncertain explanation would surely make up for nearly 3 years of silence between the two. "I didn't want to drag you into it when I didn't have a clue what was going on."
