missthis_ass | (no subject)

Entry tags:

coop,
therese

(no subject)

Nate's gone and, truth be told, she'd kind of seen it coming.

It's not that Chloe had been expecting him to disappear, she hadn't been waiting for the other shoe to drop and she hadn't seen signs from the city that it was going to happen, but leaving is what they do. It's what they both do, so she's honestly a little surprised it hadn't happened sooner.

Were she anywhere else in the entire world, she'd just move on. Collect what few things matter to her, throw them in a duffle bag and catch the next plane out of the country to somewhere new. She'd find a job, she'd get lost in the work, and none of it would matter. But she isn't anywhere else. She's here. Stuck. Until she, too, of course, disappears eventually. Because she will.

It's what they do.

The worst part is cleaning up after him. Well, the worst part she'll admit to. The real worst part is the ache in her chest that reminds her of everything she's just lost, a man she actually loved, the one she thought spending her time committed to would be enjoyable instead of just a lesson in torture, but she's not about to say so to anyone.

Nate's gone. Crying over it won't help.

Still, he has a lot of notes left in his flat and she's sitting on the floor of his bedroom -- his, not theirs, she can't afford to think that way -- when she realizes she's going to have to move most of this back to her place. It's going to take a few trips down to her car and she knows she has to actually tell some people about Nate being gone, so she shoots off a quick text or two.

At Nate's, it reads. Do you have time to give me a hand with something?

To Coop, she doesn't add anything else. She can't tell him via text message that his closest friend is gone. To Therese, she includes Nate's address. Then she continues to sort through the papers and notebooks he's left behind.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Nate and I... we've been doing this for ten years," she explains, knowing it might not make sense to anyone else. She's hurting, knowing he won't be there tonight when she goes back to her own apartment, but it's a hurt she tries to push away. Her life has been full of painful abandonment and she refuses to let this be the one that breaks her.

Nate would never let her live that down if he knew.

"I know it's different," she says as she pours them both a glass of scotch. "In some ways anyway, but in other ways it's not." She pauses, takes a sip of the scotch, then says, "I think he found a lead on the people sending me those letters."

"Did he leave anything behind about those?" Coop asks, reaching for his glass and taking a few small sips. The loss of Nate sucked but it hadn't really sunk in yet. He'd just always expected Nate around to fuck shit up with, he guesses.

"Something to point you in the right direction?" he wonders. "I'll help you, if you want, but you'll have to get me a little more up to speed. I know about the letters but not much detail or how often and that sort of thing."

"I've gotten about half a dozen by now," she admits. "One a month since we took the compass. They're all the same, full of threats, telling them they'll give me until the end of the year to buy the compass back and return it to them. Saying if I don't, they'll unleash hell, blah blah blah. A lot of bullshit, if you ask me."

This is so much easier. She can talk about work, about the letters, she can distract herself and pretend Nate's not actually gone. She can act as if he's just working a job somewhere else in the world now and she might see him again in another six months or so.

"And some of Nate's notes indicate he thinks he's got a good lead on who the leader might be."

"Does he give a name? A location? Something?"

A lead is all well and good but they can't do anything if they don't know where to look. Nate struck him as a thorough type when it came to some things but a little flighty when it came to others. It was probably why they'd gotten along so well.

"Leads are good but I hope he left you an arrow that said 'it's this guy here' so someone can find him and confront him."

"But it's less fun when it's so easy," Chloe answers with a small tilt of her head and a smile. "No names, but a potential home base for their meetings, which is better than a name. That gives us the entire cult if he's right about it."

And Chloe's not reckless enough to confront the entire cult on her own, but she wants to see who the leader is. She wants to learn faces and names before she puts in an anonymous call to the police. Or one of the vigilante groups she sees working this city.

"And what are you planning on doing with the information?" Coop asked her, frowning. He hoped she wasn't going to go balls to the wall, full force into a situation that would probably get her killed but he knew she'd do risky things if so motivated.

"If you say you're going to go there, I'm going to tie you down and make sure you don't," Coop warned her.

"You'd have to catch me first," Chloe answers with a smirk before she lifts her shoulders, shrugging as she considers it. "I would want to be sure before I sent the police in their direction. I'd want to go and do a little recon work, see if I can get some names and faces to go along with the information Nate has collected. You can come with me. I promise we won't engage with the enemy."

She pauses, then adds, "And I'm still undecided on the police. I know I can find a way to call anonymously, but there are other ways to deal with people like this. Other... organizations in the city." She's spoken with Tony often enough now to know there are other options. She might just have to call him up and see what he'd be willing to do for her.

"I'd just rather avoid getting arrested," Coop said because been there, done that. "You know I'll go with you but I'm gonna need some time to get up to speed, send out a few feelers of my own. I've got contacts that you don't have."

Not many but some. He moved in different circles.

"But be careful with vigilante groups. I don't want you to owe someone."

“Feel free, darling, it’s why I’m sharing this with you,” Chloe says easily. Maybe she’s used to working alone, but she’s not adverse to using the resources of others when they’re offered. Coop is one of the few people she trusts and she knows he wouldn’t go asking around in a way that will end up with her getting killed by these fools, so she’s happy enough to let him do what he likes.

“Please, I doubt any of them would ask for anything,” she adds with a laugh. “They’re the do-gooder sort, aren’t they? Superheroes and masked men patrolling at night. I met a man who’s built himself flying suits of armour so that he can keep the city safe.”

"They're not always do gooders," Coop said, shaking his head. "Maybe here that's what they are but I've known a few who are pretty violent and just do what they do to get what they want. Just be careful."

He doesn't want to sound overbearing or like he's trying to handcuff her but he has so few people still here that he actually cares about that he'd like to keep those that are still around in one piece.

"Flying suits of armor is just asking for trouble," he mentioned. "When they take on sentience and come alive."

"It's sweet that you're worried about me," she says and leaves it at that. Another time, she might tell Coop to back off, that she'll be fine, that she doesn't need a man trying to keep her reined in, but she appreciates what he's saying. He's only doing it because he cares and she has so few people in her life here who actually do. Even in her current state, trying to deny how hurt she is by Nate's disappearance, she knows better than to alienate Coop now, too.

"I wonder if they did that," she adds thoughtfully. "Took on sentience, I mean, when all the phones and electronics went haywire. I had to save a woman from a rabid electric blanket."

"...fun." This town was so nuts. Coop was going to end up in years of therapy if he ever got out of this place. He sighed and shook his head.

"Yeah, I'm worried about you. Don't let it go to your head and don't think you're going to shake me either," Coop told her. "I'm a cockroach. I am unshakeable."

"I have no desire to shake you off," Chloe promises him. "I would have done so a long time ago if that were the case."

Which is rare enough. It's kind of impossible in a place like Darrow, not to get attached at least somewhat. She's done her best, kept her connections minimal and kept most people at a distance, but she can't do it with everyone. Although she knows, no matter what happens down the road, she's not going to be dipping into monogamy again any time soon. Trying with Nate and the losing him, that's enough for her.

"Do you wanna stay at my place tonight?" Coop offered without much thought. But, it was with her best interest at heart. He was not doing it to take advantage. He didn't want her to be alone and he had a couch and a bed so there were plenty of places to sleep.

Separately.

"Not like that," he said quickly. "But you can. Just to not be on your own."

"Oh, not like that?" she asks, looking amused. "Are you saying you wouldn't want to cuddle?"

But she knows what he means. And it's for the best, even if the idea of sleeping with Coop is terribly appealing. She doesn't know a lot of healthy ways to deal with what she's feeling and sleeping with him might distract her, might distract them both, but it would be a bad idea. She knows it wouldn't end well, no matter what sort of good intentions they had to begin with.

"I'll be fine on my own," she says. "I promise. I kind of want my own bed right now anyway, so if you're worried about me being alone, you're welcome to stay with me. But there will be popcorn in bed and there will be movies on the TV and you will be required to cuddle just a little."

"I will stay on your couch," Coop said because he knew just as well as she did that anything more would just be a terrible idea and it would probably throw a huge wrench into their friendship. No, better to keep it platonic and somewhat distanced.

"So, you won't have to worry about popcorn in the bed because I will be on the couch, stretched out and snoring," he promised.

"I'm not going to try to fuck you if we watch a movie in bed," Chloe says and she knows she ought to make it into a joke, but she suddenly doesn't feel like it's all that funny. Mostly because, in another situation, maybe she would try to sleep with him. Maybe it would help her feel better, giving herself that kind of distraction.

But she doesn't want to. She absolutely does not want to do anything but just go back to her own flat where things are familiar and comfortable.

"Trust me," she says, finally smiling a little. "I can resist you."

"I didn't think that was going to happen," Coop said, rolling his eyes. It was more that he'd feel weird about sleeping in the same bed with her, innocent or not, so soon after Nate's departure. He didn't want to make things awkward.

"We'll figure out what to do when we get over there," he said neutrally. "Don't worry about convincing yourself you'll resist me. I know you will."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only