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Post by Rochester on Feb 18, 2009 15:26:58 GMT -5
"No, I didn't." *Rochester was quick to agree.*
"But I figured we'd need a place to figure this all out, and I for one would rather do it in private."
*He glanced out the window briefly.*
"The hotel's just up around this bend." *He pointed.* "Though if it doesn't suit you, we can continue to the next."
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Post by Shadi on Feb 18, 2009 15:39:16 GMT -5
Shadi didn't even look.
"I'm sure it's fine," she said quickly. She didn't care a lick. She'd have to tell Pina. Oh, Pina. She couldn't just leave her...
"Wait," she said. "I can't. I told Pina... well we..." Her brow furrowed with the knowledge of how what she was about to say would sound. "We joined the circus. I can't just leave her there."
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Post by Rochester on Feb 18, 2009 15:46:05 GMT -5
"Oh!" *Rochester piped up, surprised. And a little confused.*
"A...circus?" *That was better than staying with him?*
"If you have to...I...I'll understand." *He pursed his lips, unhappy with the solution.* "Or she can come too, I suppose. If you'd like to share a room with her..." *He was clutching at straws, but he had to try.*
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Post by Shadi on Feb 18, 2009 15:59:23 GMT -5
"Well of course I'd rather live with you than at the circus," she said. "But she needed a place to go, when... Well, never mind. Her family is unsuitable. But I don't think... That is, I'm not sure she'd accept such an arrangement. It's just that I can't abandon her."
She fell silent, trying to come up with a solution.
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Post by Rochester on Feb 18, 2009 16:08:29 GMT -5
"I'm not asking you to, darling." *Rochester assured her readily.*
"But how can you know if you don't ask?"
*He wanted to be patient and understanding, but blast it all, he wanted Shadi too.*
"If she doesn't want to, we'll...just have to work something else out."
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Post by Shadi on Feb 18, 2009 17:12:50 GMT -5
"No, you're right," she nodded. "I can ask her." After the carrying-on she'd done, maybe Pina would want to get away from her, anyway. "Maybe she wouldn't miss having knives thrown at her every night."
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Post by Rochester on Feb 18, 2009 17:21:13 GMT -5
*Rochester coughed lightly in surprise.*
"You...throw knives at her?" *He sounded a little nervous, but she obviously hadn't killed her yet.*
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Post by Shadi on Feb 18, 2009 17:45:48 GMT -5
"Oh, yes," Shadi said, a little perkier now, given the subject. "I'm very good. I haven't nicked her once. And she hasn't any nose, and so people pay to see us."
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Post by Rochester on Feb 18, 2009 17:55:20 GMT -5
"Oh...well...uh..." *What exactly did one say to that? Not even Rochester new the etiquette on that one.*
"How...unique." *He assured her with a careful smile.*
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Post by Shadi on Feb 18, 2009 18:08:27 GMT -5
"You'd like her," Shadi continued, babbling because she didn't know what else to do. "I told her she'd like you, too..." She trailed off. This great gulf lay between them, the one she'd put there. She looked out the window.
"Wasn't ever about me... not wanting you," she said, swallowing heavily.
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Post by Rochester on Feb 18, 2009 18:14:33 GMT -5
*Rochester wanted to tell her that he knew that, that he could understand why she'd done it. But part of him just wasn't ready to. He swallowed slowly.*
"It's all right." *He managed, drawing her hand to his knee gently.*
"No need to fuss about it now." *He needed time. He had to understand his own feelings before he could deal with hers.*
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Post by Shadi on Feb 18, 2009 18:39:09 GMT -5
Her fingers tightened, squeezing his knee gently, but she did not look at him. She shouldn't have said that. That was pressure. She was supposed to be letting him figure things out. But she didn't know what that meant, or how she was to do that. There was so much guilt roiling her insides. She wasn't even ready to start thinking about Valmont.
"You're right. Sorry," she said, still gazing out the window.
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Post by Rochester on Feb 18, 2009 18:44:19 GMT -5
*She seemed so sad. Had he made her this way? Or was it something else? It had to be him, didn't it? It filled Rochester with this sick feeling. But he was trying? Wasn't that better? He wanted to take her up in his arms and cover her in soft kisses and wash away any of this badness. But he couldn't. He wasn't even sure she'd want him to.*
"It's all right." *He repeated softly, even as the carriage slowed in front of the Much Nicer Hotel than the Hilton. He caressed her hand softly where it rested.*
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Post by Shadi on Feb 18, 2009 18:50:21 GMT -5
At the touch of his hand, she turned and smiled involuntarily. Not her full smile, but something. Like an offering. Hungover and sick and guilty and relieved, it was the best she could muster for the moment.
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Post by Rochester on Feb 18, 2009 18:55:07 GMT -5
*Rochester mirrored her expression and pat her hand gently.*
"Come along, darling. I think a bath and a nap will do you worlds of good."
*He opened the cab door and exited, offering her a hand down.*
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