Well then, yay! This is a little exploration of how things (attitudes? relationships) might change immediately post-coma. It's not porny - when I fill at a kink meme I always aim to do porn but this time it just didn't happen. Hope you find it interesting anyway. It's also maybe a little slashy if you choose to look at it that way.
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Desmond's not the same; even a fool can see that, and Shaun's no fool. He's changed, like time in the Animus – Christ, Shaun doesn't even want to think about how long – has done something to him that no amount of Bleed Effect could. Shaun expected anger when Desmond awoke, he expected grief, confusion even, but when Desmond had opened his eyes and looked at his father and said I know what I have to do, it had set the tone for everything after it.
Someone who didn't know any better might think this new, quiet, self possessed Desmond is an improvement. Some asshole who was always complaining that Desmond did nothing but sit around while real assassins were out there getting killed might have taken it back, seeing Desmond now. But Shaun's not that asshole, not anymore. No, what Shaun is, is worried. Desmond's hardly spoken a word – let alone to Shaun – since he came out of the coma, but when Shaun tries, it's not like he gets stonewalled. That would be normal, he thinks. That would be running away, which Desmond has obviously been doing for a long time now. But instead what he gets is a faint smile and an assurance that he's ‘fine', that everything is fine. And then Desmond puts his hand on his shoulder or his arm, gives it a reassuring squeeze, and wanders away, and Shaun can only stand there and let him.
It's not good enough. Desmond has to be feeling something. No one who's gone through what he's gone through wouldn't be feeling something, and Shaun will be damned if he's going to sit by and let the guy self destruct again. Desmond had been suffering Bleed Effect – badly – before they'd gone for the artefact, and no one had listened to him. Lucy had paid the price for that, and Shaun isn't going to let that happen again, not to Desmond and not to anyone else.
But with Desmond not talking, Shaun doesn't have a lot of avenues. Bill won't do anything – this is what he's wanted from the start. He's going to have to go straight to the source, so to speak, except...
"There's nothing there, Shaun. I'm telling you." Rebecca sounds like she looks, worn down to her raw components. "It's all gone."
Shaun frowns and gestures at the idle machine. Bec's been working on it since Desmond woke up and he's not sure she's slept a whole lot in that time.
"It's operating isn't it? So there must be an environment."
"It's not that simple!" she snaps, but Shaun is not backing down from this one.
"Just give me what you have, I don't care. I'm not having a repeat of before."
Rebecca freezes at that and, if possible, goes even paler. "You think it will?" Her eyes search his face, like he has all the answers. He wishes he did.
"I think it's a possibility," he tells her grimly, looking around the empty store room they're discussing this in, away from Bill, certainly away from Desmond.
"All right, Shaun," Rebecca sighs, her posture slumping a little. "All right. I'll send what I have to you when I get back to the machine." She doesn't call it ‘baby' anymore. She hasn't called it baby since Lucy died.
"Thanks," Shaun says, and then as Rebecca makes to leave, his conscience twinges and he reaches out and clasps her shoulder, stopping her on her way past him. "It'll be okay, Becca."
It's the best he can do under the circumstances, and she gives him a smile that says she doesn't believe him but she's grateful he's trying.
"Yeah, Shaun," she agrees. "Of course it will."
Shaun watches her leave, and wonders how it is if the Assassins have everything they want now, does it feel like they have nothing at all.
Fill - Chrysalis 1/5
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Desmond's not the same; even a fool can see that, and Shaun's no fool. He's changed, like time in the Animus – Christ, Shaun doesn't even want to think about how long – has done something to him that no amount of Bleed Effect could. Shaun expected anger when Desmond awoke, he expected grief, confusion even, but when Desmond had opened his eyes and looked at his father and said I know what I have to do, it had set the tone for everything after it.
Someone who didn't know any better might think this new, quiet, self possessed Desmond is an improvement. Some asshole who was always complaining that Desmond did nothing but sit around while real assassins were out there getting killed might have taken it back, seeing Desmond now. But Shaun's not that asshole, not anymore. No, what Shaun is, is worried. Desmond's hardly spoken a word – let alone to Shaun – since he came out of the coma, but when Shaun tries, it's not like he gets stonewalled. That would be normal, he thinks. That would be running away, which Desmond has obviously been doing for a long time now. But instead what he gets is a faint smile and an assurance that he's ‘fine', that everything is fine. And then Desmond puts his hand on his shoulder or his arm, gives it a reassuring squeeze, and wanders away, and Shaun can only stand there and let him.
It's not good enough. Desmond has to be feeling something. No one who's gone through what he's gone through wouldn't be feeling something, and Shaun will be damned if he's going to sit by and let the guy self destruct again. Desmond had been suffering Bleed Effect – badly – before they'd gone for the artefact, and no one had listened to him. Lucy had paid the price for that, and Shaun isn't going to let that happen again, not to Desmond and not to anyone else.
But with Desmond not talking, Shaun doesn't have a lot of avenues. Bill won't do anything – this is what he's wanted from the start. He's going to have to go straight to the source, so to speak, except...
"There's nothing there, Shaun. I'm telling you." Rebecca sounds like she looks, worn down to her raw components. "It's all gone."
Shaun frowns and gestures at the idle machine. Bec's been working on it since Desmond woke up and he's not sure she's slept a whole lot in that time.
"It's operating isn't it? So there must be an environment."
"It's not that simple!" she snaps, but Shaun is not backing down from this one.
"Just give me what you have, I don't care. I'm not having a repeat of before."
Rebecca freezes at that and, if possible, goes even paler. "You think it will?" Her eyes search his face, like he has all the answers. He wishes he did.
"I think it's a possibility," he tells her grimly, looking around the empty store room they're discussing this in, away from Bill, certainly away from Desmond.
"All right, Shaun," Rebecca sighs, her posture slumping a little. "All right. I'll send what I have to you when I get back to the machine." She doesn't call it ‘baby' anymore. She hasn't called it baby since Lucy died.
"Thanks," Shaun says, and then as Rebecca makes to leave, his conscience twinges and he reaches out and clasps her shoulder, stopping her on her way past him. "It'll be okay, Becca."
It's the best he can do under the circumstances, and she gives him a smile that says she doesn't believe him but she's grateful he's trying.
"Yeah, Shaun," she agrees. "Of course it will."
Shaun watches her leave, and wonders how it is if the Assassins have everything they want now, does it feel like they have nothing at all.
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