Freedom

[amelia-z.livejournal.com]

This morning starts like any other morning. There were no restless points the night before, no enthusiasm-based insomnia, and this morning is cold and groggy.

As per usual, Amelia is awake disturbingly early. At five AM, she begins to collect her things. She has no one to say goodbye to, so the following four hours are spent packing in silence and solitude. For the first time in many years, Amelia's mind is clear.

When everything has been packed, the room looks like the only bit of life that might've ever breathed into it has been sucked out. It's become another dead cell, cleaned and prepped for someone else's humiliation.

Amelia covers her eyes, and closes the door.

There's two hours of meetings with her various doctors during her stay, and her lawyer. Then it's time to make the appearance in court. The warden and psychiatric head are kinder than she thought they'd be. Dr. Tomin is not, but Amelia keeps a neutral face and answers as best she can. The judge reiterates all the information of her release, but finally it's done. She signs a head-spinning amount of paperwork.

At seven after two-- at least, Eastern Standard Time-- she's on her way back to her big, empty house for the first time in many months. Setting down her things in the front hallway makes an echo. She closes the door, shutting out the snow and wind.

Comments

[amelia-z.livejournal.com]

"The same can be said for vodka. No, the beer is enough." Besides, Amelia's not exactly in for getting drunk tonight. Perhaps another night, perhaps a night to celebrate her freedom, but not tonight.

"It wasn't Mara, I just saw her in-- something else. A different one. I don't know the blonde, never seen her before although I feel like I have. Somewhere." The slight frown says it's been on her mind, and now that she's free, she hopes to find out. "We died in Africa. And I saw Tara in Rhzev and she... wasn't the same. It all came back to Christie, or I hope. She might hate me now, but I can't let Tara be what I saw. It's not her; she's too good."

Amelia rubs her temple. "So if it's all the same... that's really all I want to say on it. There's a lot I'm not sure whether I believe or not, and--" Ibn. She breathes, then fakes a smile. "Probably hallucinations, like you said. I had enough of them."

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

Caleb doesn't seem to bent out of shape. He just shrugs, and continues tossing crumpled paper into the fire. If she doesn't want to talk about it, she doesn't want to talk about it.

"I think you'll like Mara," Caleb notes, a private smile forming at the edges of his lips. "She's remarkably vibrant."

[amelia-z.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure--" She stops, giving him a look. He wants them to meet? It doesn't really matter, Amelia won't, not right now, at least. It's probably time she stopped worrying about what her brother was doing with his life and simply trusted him.

"I think the important thing is that she makes you happy." Amelia scoffs at herself and gives her older brother a half-smile. "I'm never going to stop worrying some girl's going to tear you up. Too many have and maybe I can't see 50% of those constant equations even when I want to. So just be happy. I'll work myself out."

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

Now that's the Birdie I remember, he thinks with pride.

Caleb tosses the last page into the fire, and then haphazardly flops onto his back.

"You know, I've been thinking about it, and those crawlers would make wonderful home security devices. I know you don't want to commercialize them, but if you wanted some project to keep you busy or some such, I'd love to have a few to keep an eye on Alice."

[amelia-z.livejournal.com]

Amelia laughs. "[Absolutely not.]"

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

"No? You sure?" He fakes a look of disappointment. "I guess I'll have to settle for my own magic, then."

[amelia-z.livejournal.com]

She rolls her eyes. "For your car? Did you think I'd say yes? I'm not even allowed to drive that thing!"

Amelia blows her bangs out of her face, curling the longer tendrils back around her ear with fumbley fingers. She's got a lot of work to do before the crawlers do anything, anyway. "They're very... it's hard to explain. The way I've networked their programming between each other, they can get... temperamental. Some of them don't work so well together. Didn't, uh... work out all the bugs yet."

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

"Well, you might want to do so before the summer," he cautions. "If you're going to be driving my car for the entire road trip, I'll want you to be looking out for it's best interests."

[amelia-z.livejournal.com]

It doesn't take much knowledge of her to know Amelia's not a very good listener. She's still thinking about her crawlers halfway through Caleb's talking.

It's all white noise until 'driving my car'. "лежал."

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

"I'm being perfectly serious, now. You, uh ... you need to become part of the world again, Bird, so I thought 'Why not give her the car for the summer and let her go have at.'"

[amelia-z.livejournal.com]

"Because you're not dad with the Miata, but we all still see the whites of your eyes when someone breathes on Alice's paint job funny," she shoots back, still unconvinced.

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

"Then best return her in one piece," he retorts as he tosses her they keys to her. "Or, at the, uh ... at the very least, see to it that I never know about any, uh ... damages."

[amelia-z.livejournal.com]

Amelia catches the keys, staring at them, first bewildered and then stunned speechless.

"Spasiba." She looks at the keys again and puts them in her pocket. With a yawn, she lays back on the rug and puts her hands behind her head. She could get up and go to bed, but she thinks she'll just stay here and watch the fire. If she dozes off, she'll be doing it at home, at least.

[caleb-z.livejournal.com]

Caleb waits for her to doze off, and then gently raises her off the floor, and carries her to her bed. After sparing a moment to drape a blanket over her, he turns off her light, and heads back downstairs.

He opens the wall-sized curtains, and takes a moment to appreciate the moonlit landscape before laying across the couch, and enjoying the blissful silence. Sleep doesn't come for almost and hour, and at first Caleb appreciates the time alone with his thoughts, but as the minutes pass, the he finds himself imagining all the things Amelia might do to his car. But for Amelia, it's a sacrifice he's willing to make.