closed;

[washitaway]

Characters: Booker and Elizabeth
Date: Way backdated to the start of the console crash event!
Location: Starting in Earth Sector; possibly moving elsewhere.
Situation: Booker got back from his mission just in time to see the city going up in smoke. Naturally, he's kind of freaked out and needs to find Elizabeth.
Warnings/Rating: None as yet! Will edit this if necessary.

Booker doesn't know what to expect as he makes his way through the city. He'd only stopped long enough to make sure the dignitaries they'd been escorting were safe, and now he's striding with purpose, his gun out and ready for a fight, just in case.

He has no idea what's happening, but he knows he needs to find his daughter.

"Elizabeth?" he calls as he approaches the suite they share. It's undamaged. He hasn't really been paying attention to what's damaged and what isn't, too closely, but all the residential buildings around them appear to be untouched - at least for the moment.

"Elizabeth!"

Comments

[beunbroken]

It's the hand on her forehead that gets her to open her bright blue eyes. In the dark, her vision slightly blurry, it takes a few moments for her to recognize who's in front of her.

"...dad...? You're home." There's a soft smile in her words.

[washitaway]

Booker's breath lets out in a soft woosh, and he frowns down at her. "Are you alright? Where are you hurt? Do you need a doctor?"

[beunbroken]

"No- no, I'm fine. I'm just..." She yawns, moving to sit up slowly. "I'm not hurt at all. I was helping people who were hurt."

[washitaway]

"You sure? That's - you've got a lot of blood..."

He glances down at her soiled clothes, and stands after a moment. "I'll get you some towels..."

[beunbroken]

Elizabeth has to chuckle, realizing how their positions have changed.

"I'm alright, Booker. If anything, just a few scrapes."

[washitaway]

"Well, you should at least change, then. You about gave me heart palpitations," he mutters, still moving to the kitchen to wet some towels down.

"How - what got hit?"

[beunbroken]

"I didn't mean to, I'm sorry." Still, she rises, moving towards her room.

"I think- I don't even know. There was so much going on. A bunch of buildings, all around the city were hit."

[washitaway]

"I'm just glad you're okay," he says, frowning down at his hands. He hates that he was away now. Why does he keep getting sent away if things like this are going to happen right here?

"Do they know who did it? Was it -"

[beunbroken]

"We don't know yet. I'd assume, but with the sorts of people here? I don't want to make that mistake."

She closes her bedroom door, and a few minutes later, returns in a simple dress, a few scrapes now more evident on her arms and face. As well as a few forming bruises.

[washitaway]

Booker goes to the sink in the kitchen to wash up a little - he's dirty and sweaty just from making his way through the city in search of her. When she gets back out, looking much better than she did a few moments ago, he waves her over.

"I guess so. No word from the Emperor? C'mere, let me clean those cuts."

[beunbroken]

"No word," she agreed, moving over to him.

"Alright. Can I have some tea, too? If you don't mind?"

[washitaway]

"Oh, sure," he says with a nod, moving to put the kettle on. "And this just - happened today? Everything was okay until now?"

[beunbroken]

"Just today," she says, taking a seat in the small kitchen. "Everything was great. Pavel stayed over again with me, and then... this happened. It was so sudden. No one even really knows what happened. I don't..." She pauses, glancing towards the window. "Booker, I'm frightened."

[washitaway]

"Hey, it's okay," he says, giving Elizabeth a concerned look. "We've been through worse, right? I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."

[beunbroken]

"I know," she concedes, leaning her head against Booker's shoulder. "But this is... When Columbia was falling, we weren't there for a lot of it. We just went from world to world, each one getting progressively worse. Now, for the first time, we're actually here. And I'm powerless to do anything about it."

[washitaway]

His arm wraps around her protectively and he nods. "But this time - you're not the Lamb, and I'm not the False Shepherd. We're nobody important. We'll be okay."

[beunbroken]

The very words Lamb and False Shepherd make her stiffen slightly in his arms. "I know. But I still have this horrible feeling, Booker. That somehow, I could be doing more. That somehow it's my fault. I know it's not. There's nothing I can do. But I hate this."

[washitaway]

If anything, that just makes his grip on her tighten a little. "I'm sure you helped a lot. This is bigger'n us. I don't want you putting yourself in danger when there are other folks who have a better idea what's goin' on."

[beunbroken]

Elizabeth drops her head against her father's chest, letting him hold her tightly. She'd never get tired of that. Feeling like his daughter. Feeling loved unconditionally by this man.

"I took care of some Kedan children," she admits. "Until their parents could get them. And I... I used my Tears, Booker. To help get people out of the wreckage."

[washitaway]

Booker knows the feeling. He also knows the feeling of hoping to have found a peaceful place to settle down, only to have it ripped away. At least they still have each other.

"See? Sounds like you did a lot. And I'm sure you'll do more, whether I like it or not."

[beunbroken]

"I know," she says with a deep sigh. "But that doesn't take away the feeling I have."

[washitaway]

It's something Booker can't relate to - a feeling of obligation to other people, to strangers, to people he doesn't care about and who don't care about him. As far as he's concerned, his only real obligation is to Elizabeth. His daughter, the girl he wronged so badly.

He's long since abandoned any such feelings for other people.

"I guess that's how you know you're a good person," he finally murmurs.

[beunbroken]

"Am I?" Is her quiet response. She doesn't feel like a good person, not sometimes. Not when she thinks about all that was done in Columbia in her name. All the murder and violence, all the destruction...

But that was there. This is here.

"Thank you," she says after a moment, before the tea kettle starts to sing. "I'd say I got it from my mother, but... There's part of you in that, too."

[washitaway]

It's all her mother, he would argue - Booker has none of those feelings, just guilt for destroying her life, and anger at Comstock for facilitating it. That's not goodness, not by a long shot.

But he knows better than to argue about things like that, so he turns instead to the tea kettle.

"I'm just glad you're okay."

[beunbroken]

"And I'm glad you're okay," she manages. "Everything go okay on the mission?"