Pirate's Heart [Zee/Louis]

[Zee Pritchard]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i52.tinypic.com/27zjc40.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #a0978c; width: 500px; height: 600px; padding: 0px;, bTable] She'd called and asked him to meet her in Spokane, alone, as soon as he could get away. When Louis had asked, perfectly reasonably, what kind of hunt it was, Zee had hemmed and hawed a bit before admitting that it wasn't a hunt. It was personal, she'd said, but she needed him and it would maybe take a couple of days to take care of. Louis had agreed just before it started to sound like Zee might start pleading; he wasn't sure he could handle that. Zee didn't plead. She bullied, she demanded, she teased and bargained and maneuvered. Begging would have unnerved him no end, and so he'd agreed not only to come but to not tell his brothers and sister who he was meeting or why. When he knocked on the door of the motel room in a bad neighborhood of Spokane, there was a bare rattle of chains and locks before Zee opened the door and said quietly, "C'mon in. There's Thai food." Immediately and on first sight, there were things wrong, with both Zee and the motel room. First and most obviously? No smell of cigarettes. Zee smoked like a chimney, had done for as long as anyone had known her, and anywhere she went she left behind the memory of her Marlboros like a scent-marking. But this room didn't smell like smoke, and there was no pack or ashtray to be seen anywhere. Zee herself didn't look quite right, either. Her outfit of jeans and a plain tank with the heavy hoodie over top was a bit subdued, even for just sitting around the motel room, and while she wore the heavy eyeliner that was practically a part of her face, she didn't have any other makeup on. It was still Zee, there were still salt lines across all the window sills and sigils inked discreetly around the room, she was still carrying a Hi-Power at her hip under the too-warm hoodie, but the pieces didn't add up right; to someone who knew her, it was clear that there was something wrong. She led him over to the cheap plywood-and-veneer table where there was a decent spread of takeout Thai food arrayed, picked up the container of pad thai that she'd been working on and asked dully, "How are you doing, my babe? Everything going good?" Was she putting off the inevitable moment where she'd have to admit what was going on with her? Maybe just a bit. [style=padding-left: 35px; font-size: smaller; text-align: left;] Location: Royal Scot Motel, Spokane WA Outfit: Something comfy and unfashionable Music: Fondu au Noir - Coeur de Pirate Notes: Now that the moment is upon her, she might chicken out. [/style]

[Henry & Louis Koch]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i54.tinypic.com/2j4zla1.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #d3d5db; width: 500px; height: 600px; padding: 0px;, bTable] Louis had parked his bike outside, almost literally inches from Zee's door. Partially because, as the concern had grown, he'd simply stopped caring if he was breaking the law. Tickets could be dealt with later. He'd locked everything down before knocking on her door, helmet tucked under one arm. As soon as she opened the door, he knew something was very wrong. Just the way she was dressed tipped him off. Not to mention the way she talked, her voice wasn't as lively as usual. He inhaled deeply, surprised when there was no sign of cigarette smoke in the motel room. She led him to the little table and, as promised, there was Thai food waiting for him. Louis set down his helmet, and pulled off his gloves and jacket. He took a seat, eying his psuedo-sister carefully. "I am perfectly fine, Zee. The real question is, how are you? And whatever has happened to you? You are beautiful as ever, but you aren't shining today." He studied her, blue gaze trying to penetrate to her soul. "Everyone at 'home' is good. Flynn is getting a little antsy since it's been a while since you last checked in. Henry was irritable the last I saw of him. I think Zaza came across something new as she hasn't said much in the last two days." His run down of the others was quick, and skipped some of the details. "My beloved Zee...Why the mystery? Flynn is worried about you. I'm worried." He picked up a container of Thai food before setting it down again, feeling uncomfortable with the idea of eating while he was trying to figure out what was going on. [style=padding: 0px 10px; font-size: smaller;] Location: Royal Scot Motel, Spokane WA Outfit: Grey turtleneck, jeans and boots. There's a leather jacket and gloves too, but he took them off. Music: None. Notes: FIRST LOUIS POST!!!! [/style]

[Zee Pritchard]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i52.tinypic.com/27zjc40.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #a0978c; width: 500px; height: 600px; padding: 0px;, bTable] Goddamnit. She'd been afraid of this. It seemed like ever since she'd seen two pink lines on a stick the tears had been right there, waiting to happen without at all waiting for her to give them permission. Which she would not at all have done if she'd had a choice in the matter. Zee did not cry. She never cried, not since she was fourteen, and the fact that she'd started leaking tears like four times in the past two months was making her crazy. But here came Louis, sounding all worried and looking at her all gentle and with that little smile on his face and the fact that him and his brothers and sisters were the only people in the entire world that Zee was completely sure would never hurt her on purpose and that among them Louis was the one she was sure would never hurt her at all and all of it together had her eyes prickling and her feeling like the world's biggest tool for waiting so long to start admitting to anybody what was going on. She had her head bent over the pad thai as she said, "I'm in trouble, Louis. Serious, ruin-your-life trouble. And I don't know what to do about it. The only thing I'm sure of is the first thing I have to do to deal with it, and I can't do that alone, I need you to help me because I just--" she shook her head, fighting a rising tightness in her throat. "I just can't. Not alone." It occurred to Zee that she wasn't really making the most sense, she shoved a bite of noodles into her mouth to take a moment to think, and then backed up to the really salient fact. "I'm pregnant." [style=padding-left: 35px; font-size: smaller; text-align: left;] Location: Royal Scot Motel, Spokane WA Outfit: Something comfy and unfashionable Music: Fondu au Noir - Coeur de Pirate Notes: So bad at asking for help. [/style]

[Henry & Louis Koch]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i54.tinypic.com/2j4zla1.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #d3d5db; width: 500px; height: 600px; padding: 0px;, bTable] Louis was silent for a long time while his brain put together the fact that his precious Zee was pregnant. He choked on whatever it was he'd been attempting to eat and had to spit it into a napkin. Flynn would have gotten overprotective in this situation, Henry would have charged out the door in a rage, Louis did neither. There was a quiet fire of anger in his gaze when he lifted it to hers, but it was not directed at her. Instead, Louis stood and picked Zee up. Carrying her silently over to the bed, he took a seat, keeping the small form securely against his chest. "Tell me." His voice had gone quiet, but it was gentle without any anger. It was hard to tell if he was internally struggling not to destroy everything in the room because he gave no sign. In fact, he'd even gone so far as to abolish the instantanous anger he'd felt in the first few seconds of the new knowledge. "You don't have to go through this alone, Zee. Whatever you decide, I will back you up. And I solemnly swear that I will not tell a soul until you are ready to do so yourself." Inside of him, something broke. This would be the biggest secret he'd ever kept and Flynn might murder him for it. However, he gave no sign of his own internal turmoil. His hands were gentle as they smoothed the fine black locks from her face. Obviously, he was no longer interested in the food. His attention was all hers to do with as she pleased. [style=padding: 0px 10px; font-size: smaller;] Location: Royal Scot Motel, Spokane WA Outfit: Grey turtleneck, jeans and boots. There's a leather jacket and gloves too, but he took them off. Music: None. Notes: Twin love...There's nothing quite like it. [/style]

[Zee Pritchard]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i52.tinypic.com/27zjc40.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #a0978c; width: 500px; height: 600px; padding: 0px;, bTable] Anybody else, anyone else in the world and Zee would have fought being lifted and carried around. She barely let anybody carry her around when she was so injured that she couldn't walk, much less when she was fully healthy. But it was Louis, the gentlest and safest man in her world, and she was already most of the way demolished even before he'd walked in the door. From the moment that angel had popped in on her down near the Arizona/Mexico border Zee had been aware that her time wasn't unlimited. That she had to start dealing with this for real, and this was her trying to take the first step. And so when Louis settled onto the bed instead of sliding away from him and probably punching him like she would have done with any other person and at any other time, Zee stayed on his lap, curled up and laid her head on his shoulder. It was only moments like this when she seemed as small as she truly was, when it was clear that she really was well more than a foot shorter than Louis and that she wouldn't top a hundred pounds unless she filled her pocket with rocks before stepping on a scale. She was always stomping around in those big heavy boots, filling the air around her with her personality to cover up the fact that she really was just tiny. One skinny arm slid around Louis's waist and her voice was just barely over a whisper as she said, "I'm just past ten weeks according to Planned Parenthood. It's...I know who the father is, but I haven't been able to get up the nerve to talk to him yet. It was an accident, we used protection, but it happened anyway." She squeezed her eyes shut and didn't get into her suspicions as to why that was. She didn't want to confuse the issue. Instead she kept her head tucked down and her cheek on Louis's shoulder as she said, "I need my medical records. My real ones. But I--" her voice trailed off, and all of a sudden Zee was kind of disgusted with herself. Weak and clinging, whispering about her problems, creeping up on tears. This wasn't her. This wasn't what she was supposed to be. She straightened up on Louis's lap, but couldn't quite make herself scoot away. One finger hooked in the front of her tank top, pulling it down a little ways. Enough to just barely show the shallow curves of her upper breasts, but mostly to point out the wide, sunken, shiny white scar that traveled down over her breastbone. It looked like a surgery scar, which it was. "I've got a heart defect." Very matter-of-fact, very calm. "It's called Tetralogy of Fallot, they used to call it 'Blue Baby Syndrome'. It's a pretty common defect, and fairly minor in the larger shceme. they put a shunt in when I was about six weeks old, then a permanent repair when I was a year and a bit. When I was a kid I'd have tet spells, fainting spells, but as I got older it stopped being a problem. No exercise intolerance, nothing to worry about at all, really. Except that when I'm about thirty I'll need an exploratory procedure to make sure that my heart hasn't outgrown the grafted valve, and I need to be carefully monitored during pregnancy. You have more blood when you're pregnant, it can put a strain on the valve." This was all explained calmly and clinically, the tet had been a part of her life from her earliest memory, and she knew as much about it as a lifelong diabetic knows about insulin, she could rattle off facts and figures all day. It was the next part that was difficult. A breath, slowly in and out. "So I need my medical records, my actual ones under my real name. Only," she dropped her eyes briefly, then made herself look up at Louis, "I can't get them without my parents signing off on them. They, um, won't release medical records to a minor without parental consent." She'd lost the eye contact a while ago. Zee had claimed to be eighteen when she went on the road with Paul, and while Paul had known better and she hadn't figured she'd actually completely fooled anybody, including the Koches, she also knew that they'd assumed that she was sixteen or seventeen when they'd first met, not fourteen. [style=padding-left: 35px; font-size: smaller; text-align: left;] Location: Royal Scot Motel, Spokane WA Outfit: Something comfy and unfashionable Music: Fondu au Noir - Coeur de Pirate Notes: Oh wow, did she ever not want to admit that. [/style]

[Henry & Louis Koch]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i54.tinypic.com/2j4zla1.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #d3d5db; width: 500px; height: 600px; padding: 0px;, bTable] Although he wanted to ask who the father was, he could tell Zee wasn't yet ready to say. She would have named the man if she had been ready, he was certain of it. He had a feeling she wanted to tell the father herself rather than let crazy rumors float around to him. Louis could and would respect that. So, he left that whole thing alone and focused on the rest of her words. For a brief moment, he tensed under her and then he relaxed again. They had always known that Zee was younger than she claimed. How much younger had been anyone's guess. To think that she was still under eighteen. He pictured the girl he'd met three years ago, tried to place an age on her. They had imagined she was about sixteen, but she could very well be sixteen now. Louis cupped her cheek, blue eyes intent on her face. "How old are you, Zee? This will affect how dead the baby's father is going to be when Flynn finds out." He didn't bother to mention Paul. He knew that Paul was gone, Zee wouldn't be driving the car alone if he was still around. "I can get ahold of your medical records for you, sweetheart." He wanted to draw her close again, to rub her back and tell her everything was going to be fine. And yet, he couldn't do that. It would be a lie. He didn't know what the future held for her, so he couldn't make a promise that it would somehow brighten up. Leaning forward, he pressed his lips to her forehead. "I'll need your name when you're ready." Which was his way of telling her he'd wait forever. He didn't ask if she was planning to abort the fetus, it never even occurred to him. Not because he assumed she wouldn't or because he was pro-life. No, it was because she had said she hadn't talked to the father. Thus, he theorized she might be waiting until the meeting. [style=padding: 0px 10px; font-size: smaller;] Location: Royal Scot Motel, Spokane WA Outfit: Grey turtleneck, jeans and boots. There's a leather jacket and gloves too, but he took them off. Music: None. Notes: He's already making plans to move mountains on her behalf. [/style]

[Zee Pritchard]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i52.tinypic.com/27zjc40.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #a0978c; width: 500px; height: 600px; padding: 0px;, bTable] She sniffed, but did not cry. Zee still had her standards. "I'll be eighteen at the end of January. When I started traveling with Paul I'd just turned fourteen, I met you guys like a month or two after that." She hadn't changed so very much, not in looks. She seemed destined to be scrawny for life, and the dyed hair and lacy black-and-denim clothes and smeary black eyeliner all did exactly what they were intended to do and provided a barrier to keep people from being able to focus on her true face. "But the father didn't know. Nobody knows, knew. Except for Paul. We decided pretty much from the start that it would be safer if we told people I was eighteen so they'd think sixteen rather than try to admit that I was still in junior high school and try to pass me off as his real kid." She shook her head. "Anyway, it's not his fault. I don't know how much he's gonna want to be around for this, whether he's going to want anything to do with an accidental kid. But I've been lying to people about my age for so long even I forget sometimes." And she was getting off the topic. Zee picked up the hem of Louis's shirt and twisted her fingers up in it, a behavior that he would only have ever seen her use with Paul before. She'd used to grip the hem of the rangy hunter's shirt just like this when she was uncertain or afraid and trying to pretend she wasn't. "My name's Mackenzie Jessica Pritchard, I was born in Couer d'Alene, Idaho on January 24, 1994." It sounded strange even to her own ears. "But I need all my records, birth certificate and everything. Which means I have to--" a very shaky breath, "go see my parents." She drew back only far enough that she could see Louis's face. "When I left, it was to get away from a really bad scene. The worst. And that wasn't my family's fault, they didn't do it to me. But they did ignore that it was happening, they missed signs they shouldn't have. And so I've just...never been back. I've been waiting to forgive them, and it hadn't happened yet. But to get the papers I need I really need to talk to them and I just...please come with me? I don't want to do it alone. I need someone there with me, somebody who'll be able to think straight, because I know me and I'll cut and run before I should because I'm so messed up about them." Just thinking about it had her stomach in a slow miserable roil of sickness. "Please come do this with me?" [style=padding-left: 35px; font-size: smaller; text-align: left;] Location: Royal Scot Motel, Spokane WA Outfit: Something comfy and unfashionable Music: Fondu au Noir - Coeur de Pirate Notes: She's closer to a panic attack now than she was when she walked into a nest of hellspawn alone. [/style]

[Henry & Louis Koch]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i54.tinypic.com/2j4zla1.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #d3d5db; width: 500px; height: 600px; padding: 0px;, bTable] God, but she'd practically been taken out of her cradle. Not that Paul had kidnapped her, but to think of her alone and aware of the dangerous world around him made him want to pull her close. He wished he could go back and protect her, but what had happened was done and gone. There was nothing he could do about it. Agonizing about a distant past would not help the girl in his lap now. So, Louis focused on her. Right here and right now. Part of him could actually feel for whoever the mysterious father was. "Alright. You're right, of course. Flynn will still be pissed, but since I'd rather not have to break him out of jail, I'll put my full effort into preventing him from killing the father." It was the least he could do, for her sake more than the baby's father. Louis was quiet as she explained who she was and little of her history, something he'd never thought to ask about as it was not his business unless she chose to make it so. He let her use his shirt, remember how she used to do that to Paul's shirts. A twitch of a smile was quickly smoothed out, he didn't need her to think she was laughing at him. Pregnant women were incredibly emotional he'd read somewhere. And it was not his intention to offend her. "I will come with you. I'd follow you to the ends of the earth, Zee. You have my loyalty and need never ask. I will help you to the best of my abilities." He brushed some inky black locks behind her ear, the touch affectionate. "You don't have to face your past alone." [style=padding: 0px 10px; font-size: smaller;] Location: Royal Scot Motel, Spokane WA Outfit: Grey turtleneck, jeans and boots. There's a leather jacket and gloves too, but he took them off. Music: None. Notes: He's got her back. [/style]

[Zee Pritchard]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign,top][atrb=style, background: url(http://i52.tinypic.com/27zjc40.jpg) center bottom no-repeat; outline: 1px solid #a0978c; width: 500px; height: 600px; padding: 0px;, bTable] "Thanks." She pushed her face into his shoulder and mumbled again, "Thanks." Of all of them, Louis was the only one who would understand how hard it had been for her to ask, which was part of why he was the only one she could possibly have turned to for this. All the ways that Zee was broken, and there were a lot of them, admitting to weakness was one of her very worst. Paul had never been able to convince her that he wouldn't just abandon her in an orphanage somewhere if she hadn't turned out to be a decent hunter, Zee always had to pull her weight and put on the show and while she would have dropped everything going on in her life to rush off to help any of the Koches with anything from a broken heart to a federal prison break, asking them, or anyone, to help her tore at her sense of self-worth something fierce. And so she clung to Louis for a long time without speaking. Kept her face against the soft cotton of his shirt, felt the warm strength of his arms around her and the even, soothing rhythm of his breathing. Allowed herself something she'd only rarely given herself even with Paul and pretended for a good ten or fifteen whole minutes that loving and being loved would be enough to keep her safe. But fifteen minutes goes by fast, and when she raised her head again Zee's eyes were clear and dry, when she spoke her voice was calm. "It's only like forty miles over the border to Coeur d'Alene, we can head over tomorrow morning after breakfast. It's a Saturday, they should be home. I know they're still in the same house, I've kept track." Even when she thought sometimes that she shouldn't. But Zee had never hated her parents, and certainly not her little sister and brother. Only resented them for never noticing what was being done to her, and not known how to explain herself to them in any way that they could understand. "I've got the release forms they need to sign, to get my medical records, birth certificate, a replacement Social Security card. Figure I might as well do it while I'm doing it. Hopefully it won't take more than a couple of hours." Which even she knew was wishful thinking, but it let her put a sort of a cap on the subject and move on to other things. His family, her friends, stories of what they'd been doing for the past couple of months. They ate Thai food and talked research and told 'no shit, there I was...' stories and Zee kept the topic steered firmly away from herself and her family, both past and future. Time enough to deal with that in the morning, for the moment Zee was all tapped out of high emotion and needed to stick with what she knew. Money, guns and monsters were none of them nearly as scary as her heart. FIN [style=padding-left: 35px; font-size: smaller; text-align: left;] Location: Royal Scot Motel, Spokane WA Outfit: Something comfy and unfashionable Music: Fondu au Noir - Coeur de Pirate Notes: That's a wrap. [/style]