RP post, family, wintergreen storyline

[sylph_fics]

There had surely been moments that he had been in a more uncomfortable position than currently being unable to trust either of the people he loved most (for justified suspicions on both sides), but, sitting on his couch with tension through the entire East Side penthouse, he couldn't think of a single one.

Wintergreen in the bedroom that had always been his, likely still on the phone, Adeline braced in the space between the bedroom and where he sat, Joseph hovering worriedly in the echoing space between the three of them... quite the situation for the little Martian telepath to come into.

Especially because his composure was barely a pasted-over thing on actual his mental state.

But they needed the girl's un-biased ability to test minds, to be sure that neither of them held a poisoned kiss without knowing it.

Comments

[silent_jericho.livejournal.com]

Joe felt very confused, because his dad, until he'd gotten under control, had been looking a lot like Dick sometimes got, when pulled between Kory and that Gotham girl.

[tm-wintergreen.livejournal.com]

Wintergreen hung up and exited back to the main room, just as the Martian girl was being let fully inside.

[lady-kane.livejournal.com]

Hearing the door open means I move back to the main room, knowing Wintergreen is behind me, and narrowing my eyes at the girl in the doorway. Martian, very clearly, and hopefully her answers... will be something that will not break Slade.

[silent_jericho.livejournal.com]

Joe and the girl 'spoke' briefly, via telepathy, as Joe's hands remained at his sides.

"I take it I am to do a deep scan of both of you, Mrs. Wilson and Mr. Wintergreen?" the perky green girl asked with a touch of gentle reassurance.

[tm-wintergreen.livejournal.com]

"Just Wintergreen, girl. And yes."

[lady-kane.livejournal.com]

"If you would be so kind." For this, I will need to sit. Moving to the center of the room, away from anything I could use as a weapon save myself, and sinking to the floor, tucking my feet under me, to sit quietly. Harder to attack from this position.

I do not know what she will find in me, and I would rather make it more difficult to attack anyone in the room than easier.

[tm-wintergreen.livejournal.com]

Wintergreen managed to hide the pain and flinch when the woman did not refute the last name that the girl had used. He did remove his own weapons...the Browning and the snubnose pistol at his ankle. These he placed carefully on the table, before sitting on the floor...so much easier now.

[lady-kane.livejournal.com]

Flicker of triumph at the reaction Wintergreen had not managed to hide well enough, though I attempt to ignore it. Permitting the girl to call me by the name I have refuted so often... it was petty, but I had not found it in me to correct her. Not right now.

That, too, will come later, if the man beside me on the floor is who he appears to me.

Rethread: tm_wintergreen

[lady-kane.livejournal.com]

"Nor are you. Excellent." I cannot stay here. I cannot.

Wintergreen's heart is in my mind, all his long-held devotion and his awareness of what he could have back again, and I cannot stand to be here to see Slade go back to him. I am still shaking with my fury, the bleak edge of pain.

I will break some(one) thing if I stay, and no one here deserves that.

[tm-wintergreen.livejournal.com]

"Indeed." It is a pinched, pained response. "Slade, I have other matters that need my attention, now that my hypothesis is proven wrong. You can reach me through the network."

He did not want to push this issue, not until he had slept on it, and secured his new identity.

[masked-merc.livejournal.com]

The flat, deadly pained tone of Wintergreen's voice as he and Addie spoke, as he said he was going away again... //No. No, please. Don't.//

"Wintergreen?" he knew, all too well, that his voice hadn't sounded that young since... possibly before Wintergreen had known it, but he hadn't realized it in time to force control.

[tm-wintergreen.livejournal.com]

Wintergreen looked at the boy he'd loved staring out from a man's face, one marked by pains and tragedies.

"Dear boy, I must go." There, pain in his voice, compassion in his eyes, but an admittance that he needed this retreat badly.

[masked-merc.livejournal.com]

The woman he loved most was shaking with fury and (pain?) something else, and her voice was low and flat with danger and what had that child done? "Addie?"

[lady-kane.livejournal.com]

"Yes?" Something else I cannot do is staying away from him when there is such pain in his voice. A step closer, but I do not touch him. If I touch him I will not leave, and I must.

[silent_jericho.livejournal.com]

Joe took one more look at the situation, and decided leaving was likely his best bet for sanity.

With luck, no one would die before morning.

[tm-wintergreen.livejournal.com]

"Adeline." Wintergreen took on the voice of 'dear old friend', for its less-threatening tones. "Please...stay here. Consider it my apology for misreading the intelligence." He had noted Joe's exit, but said nothing about it.

[masked-merc.livejournal.com]

"What... what did she do, Addie, that you're both...?" He flicked his hands in one of the complicated gestures he'd picked up from Joe, signing distress and pain.

Control? He had none, at this point, not with both of them so furious, so hurt... He couldn't chose between them, not now, they both...

How was he supposed to deal with this?

[tm-wintergreen.livejournal.com]

He made it to the lobby, then felt the pain threaten to consume him. He had cleared the field to the woman Slade had long ago placed ahead of himself...but he could not truly bring himself to leave fully. Breathing deeply, a hard catch in his throat, let him clear his mind some, but he still balked at leaving.

Instead, he headed up again, to use the other apartment Slade's paranoia insisted on, the one below the penthouse, so that he would be near.

[masked-merc.livejournal.com]

Under this level, and above the one above, state of the art soundproofing and baffles protected their privacy.

In this level, set up as it was to be bait and first-level of trap, those protections would have been worse than useless. These rooms were set up for Slade to be able to hear below... which, unfortunately, meant that someone who had reached them--and not set off the warnings--would be able to hear above, as well.

[tm-wintergreen.livejournal.com]

Wintergreen made it in...and froze as the noises from above penetrated his hearing fully. The instinct to go, to aid warred only briefly with his resolve to let Addie have a clear opening.

He was upstairs in heartbeats, and coming back through the door he'd left minutes before, coming to kneel in front of Slade and his ex-wife with remorse.

"My dear boy, I never wished for hurt to come to you like this." He ignored Addie for the moment, as his hand came to rest on Slade's leg.

[lady-kane.livejournal.com]

I had seen Wintergreen enter, and it was another bolt of fury that he had left only to return after he had already broken Slade. I do not move yet, waiting to see if he will make it necessary to injure him now, or whether I will wait.

The near-apology is enough to make me bite my anger back again, shift in Slade's lap so that Wintergreen can touch Slade more easily. Apologize.

[tm-wintergreen.livejournal.com]

Wintergreen smiled at Slade, a small expression. "Superstitious claptrap," he murmured, as things came to a small peace between the three of them. He could still read Slade's curiosity like a book. "I knew I got the rough end of the inheritance when I accepted that bloody rifle."

[masked-merc.livejournal.com]

"The ri--Matilda? Your uncle's... and he was... Raven felt magic in the storm, some kind of primal energy she couldn't trace..." Slade cocked his head, looking at Wintergreen, still holding Addie tight against him.

Wintergreen had left the choice in her hands, and then she had said she would stay with him... As long as she could, at least, even if it turned out not as long as she thought...

Perhaps there was some way this could work? That he could cease being torn in two by loving, needing, wanting them both?

[lady-kane.livejournal.com]

If Slade continues to have that quiet hope in his voice, I am aware somewhere in the back of my consciousness, I will agree to this madcap scheme, if only because I cannot stand the thought of how it would hurt him for me to say no.

I do not want to share him. I cannot see another way for him to be happy, to make up for how long I had pretended to us both that I did not care for him and never would again.

[tm-wintergreen.livejournal.com]

"Yes, Matilda." He sighed ruefully. "Adeline, did I ever tell you about my wayward uncle Allan Quatermain?" He shifted up on to the couch, expertly fitting himself to the other side of Slade, so he could see them both...and still touch Slade.