Sleep, My Young Love

[resoluteprotector]

“I love you… I love you… I love you…”

He doesn’t dream; Whispers could still get to him that way. For Will it’s as though no time has passed between falling into unconsciousness in the passenger seat of the ambulance, telling Riley over and over again that he loves her, and slowly waking up. His eyes remain closed, but even through his eyelids he can tell that he is surrounded by light. Small arms are wrapped around him and he can feel his body rocking gently back and forth. For a second he is reminded of falling asleep in his mother’s arms. But this is not his mother holding him, he knows that. It’s Riley – Riley – safe and well. She must sense that he has regained consciousness because she begins to sing to him, an old Icelandic lullaby.

“Sofŏu, ung stin mín…”

Sleep, my young love. It’s all he hears before her voice quickly fades away. Everything fades away – the light behind his eyelids, the rocking motion of the boat, Riley’s hand on his chest, and the warm feelings of I love you and You’re safe radiating between them. Instead, he feels cold, hard floor against his back. The only warmth and comfort remaining is the blanket and BPO jacket draped over him.

Will had forgotten what it was like to feel this alone.

“Riley?” he whispers.

He opens his eyes. Darkness. His mind and body are still a little slow and blurred from the sedative, but his police training is still coming through enough to tell him to remain calm and think.

Light. He needs light.There's a fluorescent sliver coming in through the edges of a door, but it’s not enough. He could wait for his eyes to adjust, but there’s a quicker way. Will throws off the blanket and jacket, sitting up dizzily, feeling too weak to stand just yet. Thankfully, his phone is still in the pocket of his jeans. He shines the bright glow of the screen from side to side. Shelves of boxes and folders surround him. Will thinks he knows what this room might be - the records room at a police station.

Comments

[artoflove]

It's a strange feeling, but one so imminently familiar that Lito nearly wants to weep. One moment, he'd been coming out of the shower and mopping his wet hair, wearing nothing but boxers and a t-shirt, and the next, he's standing in the middle of a police station that he vaguely recognizes from his initial tours of the city.

This is the Darrow Police Department, but why is he here? Blinking, he realizes he is not alone and when he sees who it is, Lito exhales joyfully, staring at Will and barrelling into him to embrace him. "I didn't think it was real," he mumbles. "But it is. You're here!"

[resoluteprotector]

Will is almost knocked onto his back again by the force of the hug. "Careful," he chokes out, his throat parched and his mind and body both still feeling weighted from the sedative.

Will is now thoroughly confused. How did he get here? Where is Riley?

And why is Lito so happy to see him? Will's arms feel too weak to hug back properly, but he manages to lift one arm around his clustermate, resting a hand on his shoulder blade. He may not know why yet, but he can tell that Lito is in need of a hug, and Will won't deny him that.

He takes in more clues in an instant. Lito seems to be in his apartment. He's never seen Lito's home before now. Well, he was in it that one time, but he wasn't exactly paying attention to the decor. Will sits on the floor of Lito's bathroom, and he can feel damp hair against the side of his face. It seemed an odd time for Lito to take a shower... unless, Will realises, more time has past than he originally thought.

"Lito, why am I in a police station? Is Riley safe?"

[artoflove]

Lito eases back when Will sounds (and feels, he can feel it again) rough, as if something terrible has happened. He keeps one hand on Will's shoulder, glancing around the apartment they're in with a frown, hating that this is his new lot in life and not the one at home. As quickly as that thought comes, though, it's replaced by the police station and Lito is imminently glad to escape for a moment.

"Riley was safe, but the last time I visited her was ages ago," he confesses. "Nomi was the last one I saw." He gestures around them to the station beyond the door, not sure how to explain this, but at least Will will know he's not lying. "This is a place called Darrow. Will, what happened? You look terrible," he says softly.

[resoluteprotector]

The read Will gets on Lito as he glances around the apartment only confuses him further. This place isn't 'home' to Lito. So, where is he? Staying in a hotel? It's as though every answer only leads to more questions.

"I don't know what happened. I don't know how I got here. The last thing I remember is driving away with Riley and... no, wait..." He stops talking for a second and rubs his temple - the sedation is gradually wearing off, but a headache seems to be taking its place. "There was something else after that. I was waking up. I could hear Riley singing. I think we were on a boat. But I don't remember anything after that. She must have given me more sedative and brought me here."

Sedative! Whispers could realise that he is conscious any second now! He looks around the records room again to see if Riley has left the drugs nearby, but he notices something else instead. The labels on the folders, he can read them, and not just because he can now read Icelandic. They're written in English. "Lito, is Darrow in Iceland?"

[artoflove]

"No, no, as far as anyone knows, it's in America," he explains, which doesn't make sense as to why Lito can be here without visiting and the part where no one has ever heard of his movies is even stranger because they ought to have. After all, he is famous enough that they should at least recognize him. What Will is saying is frightening, but more so is what he's feeling.

"Will, why did she sedate you?" he asks, refusing to release Will's shoulder as he clasps on, as if the contact will help steady the long-sought connection.

[resoluteprotector]

How the hell did he get all the way back to America without knowing about it? And what does 'as far as anyone knows' mean? Not having anybody know exactly where he is is definitely something to be concerned about, but Will decides to answer Lito's question before asking any more of his own.

"Because of Whispers. I looked into his eyes as we were leaving the facility. Lito, if you don't help me sedate myself soon, he'll use me to find you and the others and he'll lobotomize us all like he tried to do to Nomi and Riley."

[artoflove]

The bathroom is hardly a place to have this kind of conversation and neither is the cupboard of a police station. It strikes Lito, in the back of his mind, that he's actually going to get to meet Will. It will prove whether he's crazy or not and he reaches for that possibility above all else. "We have to get you out of here," Lito says, standing up and giving Will an encouraging raise of his brow.

"No one else is here, Will," Lito says, knowing that it's impossible to be gentle with this news. "No Riley, no Nomi, Sun or Capheus, Kala and Wolfgang, none of them are here. Only you and I. And if only you and I are here, then I'm not sure Whispers is, either."

He's not sure. He can't be completely confident. "Why do you say he is after you?"

[resoluteprotector]

Will uses a shelf to help pull himself up, but he's actually sturdier on his feet than he had expected to be.

"I know he's after me because he told me that he would be. And then he came after us with a helicopter.... Wait, when you say only you and I are here, do you mean we're visiting each other right now from the same city? Sounds like you and I both have a lot we need to fill each other in on, but let's get me out of this police station first. At least, I'm pretty sure this is a police station."

He walks over to the door and grips the handle. "I'm going to take a peek."

[artoflove]

Lito definitely doesn't remember any helicopter, though he does think that it sounds like something out of one of his movies, in a way that is almost suspicious. He arches his brow, but watches Will and follows along after him, feeling immensely relieved and beyond grateful to be slipping back into such a visit. It's been so long, but it feels so easy to come back to it. "Go ahead," he coaxes, whispering even though he knows he doesn't have to.

"There will be plenty of people. We're in a city," he informs Will, as if he needs to know that and the noise wouldn't tell him that.

[resoluteprotector]

Slowly, Will eases the door open a few inches or so, just enough to get an idea of what he might be heading into. The records storage room that he is in leads directly into another room, where at least three people, from what he can see, sit in front of computers. The records clerks, he assumes.

Beyond them, Will can see what appears to be the lobby. Officers, detectives, citizens, and detainees come and go. He can hear laughter and shouting and crying all coming from that one room. Even though he's still trying to make sense of where he is and how he got here, it puts him at ease a little to be in a building and around people so similar to what he's known his entire life. What doesn't put him at ease is seeing that there is no way out without being seen.

As Will slowly pulls the door closed, the clerk sitting nearest to him pushes her chair away from her desk. As she does, Will gets a glimpse of her heavily pregnant belly. Memories of Riley's pain crash into him, causing his eyes to well up with tears.

[artoflove]

Lito lingers behind him, always present and careful. He does not have to be connected to Will to see the heartache, but he is connected and so he feels it deep in his gut, a grief that he hasn't felt since he first arrived howling Hernando's name for anyone to hear. "It's not her," is what Lito quietly says.

"Here," he says, taking Will by the shoulders. "You wait and I'll get us out of here. Okay?"

[resoluteprotector]

"I know, I know. I'm okay," Will whispers slowly, hoping to reassure both Lito and himself. "She just took me by surprise, that's all." He may no longer be connected to Riley like he was in the ambulance and on the mountain, but he can still remember the weight of her loss like it's his own loss

Lito's hands on his shoulders are a comfort, and he lets out a deep breath of air before nodding 'okay'. He trusts Lito, of course; has seen for himself that he is capable of quick thinking, or rather, 'improvising', to use a term better suited to an actor. "I'll watch and listen and let you know anything you might need to know. Just keep in mind, I don't have any ID on me. I hid my wallet and passport as I left the airport."

[artoflove]

Lito takes in the situation and nods, knowing that he's going to have to be very convincing. He clasps Will's shoulder again and gestures, an unspoken 'may I?' because he likes to be polite about taking control given how he knows how strange it can be. Once Will has stepped back, Lito takes over and rubs his hands through his hair, exhaling as though exhausted, making sure to rumple up his hair.

He knows he needs to keep Will's reputation intact because if he wants to work here, they will need to believe he is trustworthy. "Have you heard anything about my missing ID?" he asks the nearest passing officer. "Will Gorski. I just got the job, they said they'd get me my badge," he says. "I just worked the longest shift and I thought of course it'd be here by now...you know what I mean," Lito says, eyes sparkling as he glances down at his badge. "I hear nothing about how hard-working Officer Mylar is."

Past the hemming and hawing, Lito eases them into a gentle walk down the hall. "I'm hoping to get home and get some rest. Could I borrow your pass? Or maybe just a temporary one. You can look up my ID if you want."

Mylar seems to consider it, but another quick compliment and promise from Lito gets him a temporary visitor's badge to return later. He taps it on Will's forehead as he returns, grinning victoriously. "Just don't forget to apply for a job," he insists. "Or all my hard work will be undone."

[resoluteprotector]

In awe of Lito's ability to be so convincing, to portray such charm without overdoing it, Will's mouth falls open as he observes the scene. But the look of disbelief remains on his face, even as Lito grins and taps him on the head with the pass, because he's almost one hundred percent sure that Lito isn't kidding.

"Wait, apply for a job here? Exactly how long do you think I'm going to be staying for?"

He is speaking to Lito while visiting him, of course, not wanting to look as though he's talking to himself while making his way down the hallway of the police station. Wherever Lito is looks a little more lived in than a hotel room. Is this Lito's new apartment? How long has he been in Darrow?

[artoflove]

"Of course," Lito replies instantly, as if any other idea would be ridiculous. Will is a police officer, they are stuck in Darrow, and he needs a job. It's the only logical thing. He stops to use Will's hands to scribble an address, pressing it into his palm. "Here, tell a taxi driver to take you there and I'll be decent by the time you get there," he promises, glancing around to make sure his lie was well-enough believed.

"Just trust me. This will be a better conversation to have when it doesn't look like you're talking to yourself." Lito has far too much experience in that, given Hernando's doubting of his sanity.

[resoluteprotector]

"Uh, yeah, okay, I'll be there," he stammers out the words, still trying to wrap his foggy mind around the situation. Making sure his visitor's badge is clearly visible, Will makes his way to the front exit. He tries to move as quickly as possible without looking suspicious.

It's a relief when he steps out onto the street, having made it out without any kind of search or interrogation. He knows from experience that it shouldn't be long until an available taxi swings past the station. He hails at a driver, who slows down to a crawl rather than pulling up to the curb. "Where do you need to go?" he shouts out the window. "The Bramford Building?" Will answers quickly, not wanting to waste time in giving the entire address. "On Graymalkin," the driver replies, even as another car honks its horn behind him, "Not far from here. Get in."

As Will sits in the back of the taxi, a feeling of excited anticipation settles into the pit of his stomach. He's on his way to meet Lito. He'll be able to touch him like he had Riley, the connection to another person stronger than he had ever experienced before.

The taxi turns onto Graymalkin, and it suddenly dawns on Will that he doesn't have any money on him. "I'm almost here," he says, appearing beside Lito, "but you're going to have to come down and pay the driver."

[artoflove]

Lito gathers the money and collects himself, double-checking his reflection in the mirror at least three times, wanting to look perfect for this, despite the fact that Will already knows what he looks like. He's so excited to finally meet one of the people who's been in his mind (and one he's had sex with, no less) and finally he has his keys and the money, paying the driver before he opens the back door with a bright smile on his face, practically bouncing in place to be greeting Will.

"I'm going to hug you now," he warns, before glomming onto the man and holding on possessively tight, so starved of physical affection that he only leans harder into it, burying his face in Will's very strong neck.

[resoluteprotector]

Will starts to fidget in the backseat as the taxi pulls up outside The Bramford Building. "My friend will be down in a second. He'll pay you." The driver sighs, but keeps the meter running and settles back in his seat, getting comfortable for the wait.

But he doesn't have to wait long.

Seeing Lito approaching the car, much like when he walked into that room and saw Riley just a few steps away from him, is like a dream. Will can hear what Lito can hear, can feel the temperature around him, and it's the same as what he himself is experiencing. He can feel Lito's excitement, too, and knows how much this moment means to the both of them.

"Hi," he manages to say, staring stunned at Lito, who grins back at him. Two seconds later, Lito has his arms around him, and he wastes no time in hugging him back. The connection between them is stronger than it has ever been before. He can feel how lonely Lito has been, and while he doesn't quite understand yet how that's happened, he wants Lito to know that he doesn't have to be the only one of their cluster in Darrow any more, that he's going to do whatever he can to not leave Lito alone ever again. He would say all of this out loud, but when they're holding each other this close, he knows that he doesn't have to.

And then the beautiful moment is interrupted by the barking voice of the cab driver. "Can you two lovebirds please take this somewhere else so that I can leave?"

[artoflove]

Lito goes a touch paler at the accusation, stepping away from Will as if he's been burned. For all that he's grateful to be in a new place, his career is still something that must be constantly worried over and the taxi driver may be a stranger, but it only takes a few strangers and a few connections before suddenly, Lito's reputation is in trouble.

Still, he's beyond glad to see Will here and he gestures excitedly for him to come inside. "I didn't have much time to clean and it is a mess," he says. "It's very dirty. Very small, not like my home in Mexico City. You've seen it," he reminds him, though he's not sure whether the house is what Will remembers from that incredible afternoon.

"I know I don't have to ask how you are, but I think it's polite. Are you okay?"

[resoluteprotector]

"Uh, sorry, sir," Will says to the driver as he steps up onto the pavement, still almost getting run over by the taxi as the driver takes off immediately. But then all of his attention is back on Lito.

"Hi," he says again, not sure what else to say. He listens and follows. "I remember. It was nice. Your apartment, I mean. You had nice, uh... sheets." Will can feel himself blushing. "I'm sure this place is fine, too. Don't worry about it." The state of Lito's apartment doesn't both him, especially not when he has so much else to be concerned about.

"It's been a long day, and I get the feeling it's not over yet. You've gotta try and explain all this to me, Lito. What is this place?"

[artoflove]

Will's blush makes Lito smirk, given that the incident that caused such a reaction is one that Lito will never forget as it had been a very special time for him, one that he will forever share with Will and Wolfgang and Nomi. Perhaps, one day, if he is ever to reunite and rekindle with Hernando, he will tell him of the company they had. For now, though, he digs out his keys and gestures for Will to follow him as they begin their ascent.

"I can try," he says, very serious about this. "But I do not think it will make much sense. If it weren't for the connection and the things we've seen, I'd worry that you will think I'm crazy."

[resoluteprotector]

"I won't think you're crazy. Just start at the beginning." Will has known since he was a child what it's like to have others think that he is crazy, and to wonder it about himself. All eight of them had thought they were losing their minds when their connection had first begun, only weeks ago. But he knows that everything Lito had told him so far hasn't been a lie, and he can see the evidence of the city around him. If Lito has gone crazy, then Will is stuck in the same delusion.

[artoflove]

Lito breathes in and decides to start at the beginning. "I was kidnapped here, I don't know how. I was drunk one moment and then I was here. There is no escape," he says, grateful that Will is going to believe him because he knows every bit of Lito himself. "And we cannot leave, and there are many strange things like bees and changing into a woman or a child."