[GGH] Dark Drive, Eve of Emergency

[Charlotte Jacobs]

Charlotte was slightly befuddled. The last thing she really remembered was being in David’s car... The Smoking Man and his rusted car had vanished... she’d climbed back inside... and they’d spun out a little...

There had been someone shouting. She vaguely remembered hearing someone shouting. Someone with... a cowboy hat and an impressive moustache. Why is there a cowboy in Greenvale? He had been the one shouting...

Had someone moved her? Moved them?

Her brow furrowed as she tried to piece together exactly how she’d gone from outside in a car in the rain to inside a far-too-brightly-lit hospital. David was beside her; he was leaning on her for support almost as much as she was leaning on him. She wondered vaguely if they were going into shock. She was having a little trouble thinking straight again, the tattered threads of her thought processes starting to slip through her fingers. She felt like she should make some effort to keep grasping them, but she was just so tired...

My head hurts... ALL of her hurt. She wanted to just curl up in a ball... but she settled for resting her head against his shoulder again and closing her eyes.

He was still there... she was probably far more comforted by that than she should have been, but she wasn’t in a mindset to notice... or care.

Someone tried to pull her away from him. She shrugged them off and pressed herself closer to him even as he held her tighter and said something in response. Please don’t let go...

Another voice followed David’s... she knew that voice. Emily?

[David Young Henning]

In the absence of any immediate weirdness, comfortably surrounded by concerned human faces, Henning found himself slowly thawing back into the role he was normally used to inhabiting. His voice was much stronger as he said, "Deputy Wyatt, Sheriff Woodman. Thanks for getting here so quickly. If you don't mind, though, I'd like to stay with Ms. Jacobs. We can discuss what happened out on the road there... I think she should be there to hear it, at least."

Unspoken in this statement was the fact that Henning still did not know the circumstances surrounding Charlotte's initial condition. Though it was a mystery to him, it was one he was becoming oddly protective of; if she had been unwilling to tell him exactly what had happened to her, it was unlikely she would want to confide to the anonymous group of white lab coats surrounding them. One of the doctors was already badgering him for details; he just shook his head and began walking in the direction they were coaxing him, slowly so that Charlotte could keep up. He bent his head towards her and added, more quietly, "Charlotte, if you can hear me... I'm not going to leave you, but you need to be looked after by professionals. We'll be in the room with you; I don't want you to talk if you can help it, but you'll be able to listen in if you can stay awake."

He glanced over at Deputy Wyatt and Sheriff Woodman, tilted his head, beckoning them to follow them down the corridor....

[Charlotte Jacobs]

Charlotte let David lead her, too tired to do anything more at that point. He’d told her that he was staying with her, and that was enough to un-knot her shoulders a little (and cause a sudden warmth to bloom in her chest, which she couldn't quite explain).

She blinked in the bright lights of the hospital. They certainly weren’t helping her head any. Maybe I should have kept my eyes closed... The further they went, the more she leaned on him. It was like all the strength had leeched from her body. She could feel herself starting to shake. Whether from cold or something else... she wasn’t entirely certain.

Now is not the time to fall apart, she chastised herself, but she began to wonder absently... when IS the right time to fall apart?

[George Woodman]

George drove the two up to the hospital. From the look of it, Ms. Jacobs wasn't the only one with an injury: Agent Dave seemed to be in a state of shock, trying to figure out what happened. He kept his mind on getting to the hospital quickly. Although it was close by, carrying Ms. Jacobs up the hill would have been a lot slower.

When he pulled out front, he saw the hospital staff ready to go. "We've got an injured person in the back." he yelled out to them. Immediately, they wheeled a stretcher over to the backseat door. George opened it for them, allowing them to load her onto it and wheel her into the hospital. However, the Agent seemed reluctant to let the girl go. "Agent Dave, I know it's hard, but you have to let the doctors do their job." he said to him. He was yelling something, but he heard the words vehicular manslaughter. "Great, another psycho on the loose."

With Emily coaxing the two into the lobby, Agent Dave was slowing starting to snap out of it. George felt relieved. He might be able to figure out what happened after all. He listened to the Agent's request.

"Very well, if your presence will comfort her, you can stay with her. But just remember, Agent: she's here for medical attention, not an interrogation. We'll get a statement from her when she feels up to it." he replied.

He followed the Agent, Emily and Ms. Jacobs down the corridor. "I want to understand what happened to you on the way here. I heard you say the words vehicular manslaughter and if what I'm thinking is true, we might have another murderer loose in Greenvale."

[Emily Wyatt]

Emily was momentarily taken aback by David's response but she completely understood. She wouldn't want to leave Charlotte's side if she was in his position too.

This reminds me of Ewan's rescue of Victoria from that psycho fan just last week in City Lights...Oh how romantic! David has become Charlotte's knight in shining armor! They would make such a cute couple too...

She grinned slightly at the thought and had to give herself a mental shake when she began planning the pairs' Autumn wedding. Really, this was not the time! She could play match maker later!

The group began to move down the hall and out of the lobby so Emily quickly followed suit. The knots in her stomach had made a return due to David's earlier comment, does this mean Greenvale has to deal with two killers now? Emily shuddered at the thought. Who would think such violence could strike their sleepy small town back to back like this. It's a good thing there will be two agents in Greenvale, the Sheriff department will need all the help they can get...

[David Young Henning]

[Kind sorta mini-RPing the NPC doctors and nurses here, hope nobody minds. Anyone else is free to do the same.]

Henning finally let go as the nurses gently removed Charlotte from his grasp, all of them having been led to one of the many empty rooms in the emergency ward. As they surrounded her, like a flock of bustling white seagulls, he finally turned to face the two police officers. He didn't show it, but his relief at seeing those silver badges, symbols of normalcy, was overwhelming. Unlike some of his colleagues, he had never run into problems with the local authorities, and didn't intend on doing so now...

At least, that was his plan until he remembered Charlotte's inexplicable injuries, her reluctance to tell him what had happened... The strange visions, the disappearing car. He hesitated only slightly before making his decision:

"I understand, Sheriff. I don't intend on pressing her; it's just that we've met before, under certain... not unsimilar circumstances. I just want to be with her, that's all."

To Woodman's inquiry about what had happened on the road, he replied, "Well, as Polly may or may not have mentioned, I found Ms. Jacobs like this in the hotel lobby. We set off in my car at around 7:30. Somewhere along the way, approximately halfway to the hospital, another driver pulled up behind us, then alongside our vehicle on the driver's side.

"At first I thought he wanted to pass, but he feinted sideways instead, as if trying to force me off the road. At the same time, my brakes failed, so I was unable to stop. The other car continued to match pace with us until we were in sight of the building, after which point the unseen driver deliberately attempted to make forcible contact with our car. We slid out, somehow managing to avoid a collision, and he disappeared. No model or license plate, and no identifying marks, except the side panels seemed to be covered in rust. That's it."

He noticed Deputy Wyatt's wide, sparkling eyes as she watched him, contrasted with Woodman's stolid, unreadable expression, and felt like he had read their work dynamic in a nutshell. Recounting the events out loud, deliberately leaving out why the brakes had failed and what had happened to the evidence, it seemed fantastically unbelievable. But the truth was even more difficult to explain... and Henning, for the first time in his career, had found himself on the other side of the story.

[George Woodman]

George, Emily, and the Agent followed Charlotte into an empty emergency room. The sheriff gave room for the doctors to do their work and gestured the others to do the same. It was then that Agent Dave decided to talk about what happened to him.

George attempted to mentally take down the notes about what happened:

"Ok, so here's what we know. Agent Dave found Ms. Jacobs in the lobby of the hotel and decided to give her a lift over to the hospital. However, around that point, another driver attacked. He tried to avoid him but the brakes failed. Although he was able to avoid the car, it got stuck in a ditch. There was nothing identifiable about the car, save for rust on the side panels."

"That sounds a lot like an attack to me. However, we don't have enough information about the suspect to start looking for him..."

Now that he though about it, he saw no one driving along the road that night. He had combed every section of the town he could, how could he have missed a psychopath playing deadly bumper cars?

"If you can remember anything else, please let us know. We want to bring this person to justice before any more people get killed."

He looked over at Charlotte rather solemnly. "Hopefully, she'll be able to shed some more light on this crazy situation once she gets better." he thought. He hated the idea of not one, but two killers on the loose in Greenvale and he could do nothing about it. He took another look at the girl. "She's quite pretty too. A shame she's from out of town..."

[David Young Henning]

"I'm sorry there isn't more data. It was dark and the situation was harrowing, to say the least. You don't know of any cars in Greenvale that have completely rusted over? To tell you the truth, the vehicle didn't seem like it should have been operational..."

Henning thought over what he'd bothered to learn about the town before arriving. "Is there a junkyard in town? Might be one place to start looking."

He noticed the Sheriff glancing over at Charlotte, who looked very small as she lay in the bed. The doctors and nurses didn't seem like they intended to kick them out, which meant it wasn't an immediate emergency. He breathed a sigh of relief... At least there was that to be thankful about.

[Emily Wyatt]

Emily was quick to answer the agent, "Yes, that would be Lysander's. If anyone can get a piece of junk, like the one you described, running it would be him. He's a genius with cars and can fix anything no matter its original state!"

It was her day off tomorrow but she and George should really head to the scrap yard. It was way too late to go there and try to question the General now. So with the present circumstances she'll just have to forgo her weekly marathon of City Lights episodes. A shame really...she was looking forward to catching up after the excitement of the big Jake and Sam kiss from her marathon last week.

With a small sigh and a slight frown of disappointment over her delayed plans Emily looked over to her boss and said, "George... I think it will be an excellent idea to try and question the General about any repair work he's done recently sometime tomorrow. I don't know why but my gut is telling me that whomever tried to run Agent Henning off the road is a Greenvale resident."

[Charlotte Jacobs]

They finally reached whatever room they were being led to... at which time Charlotte had to acquiesce and let them put her in a hospital bed. She felt a bit like she was being swarmed by a flock of very business-like, medically trained seagulls as they poked and prodded her and did whatever it was they were doing. She knew they had to... but it was setting her on edge. She’d gone from one other person, to three, to a whole bloody roomful. Only two of which she actually knew.

Time seemed to skip a few frames, which threw her off a little. Logically she knew it had to be from the blow to the head and the stress of the preceding hours, but it was still disconcerting.

The pang of fear and... nervousness at being physically separated from David caught Charlotte by surprise, and she tried quickly to quell it. He’s not going anywhere. He’s still in the room, she told herself. They’re all still in the room. And if the doctors and nurses tried to kick them out she’d have to protest. Vehemently. She did not want to be alone with them.

What she really wanted to do was just get out of there... but she had the sinking suspicion that it wasn't going to happen for a while. She pressed bloody fingers to her head. Wish they'd just fix me up and leave me the fuck alone.

[George Woodman]

George listened a bit more to Agent Dave. "So the car, and not just the side panels were covered in rust. Doesn't sound like any car I know in Greenvale." he thought. Could this killer be from someplace else?

He was about to answer the Agent's question, but Emily jumped in first. It was true though: Lysander, old as he may be, knew a thing or two about auto mechanics.

"If you think the General has any information, then feel free to ask, though I doubt you'll find anything. If this rusted car Agent Dave is referring to really did belong to a Greenvale resident, then I would know about it." George replied. "In fact, I think it stick out among the other cars here." He began thinking to himself again. "Then again, where do you start with a phantom car like this?"

[David Young Henning]

As Deputy Wyatt and Sheriff Woodman were conversing about how best to carry out the investigation into the other car, Henning had moved past the nurses to Charlotte's side. The whitecoats were peeling away, one by one; it seemed they'd been a bit overeager to help, given that there weren't too many other patients in the ward that evening. He thought he heard one of them mention checking on "the lawyer with the shoulder wound" but he was too preoccupied for that to linger too long in his mind. It would come back to bother him later.

Trying not to get in the doctor's way, he furtively brushed a strand of Charlotte's red hair out of her eyes and whispered, "How's it going? I told the police what happened, but if you need to rest, we could leave you alone..."

Secretly hoping her answer wouldn't be a simple "Yes, please".

[Emily Wyatt]

"George, you can't claim to know about every vehicle in Greenvale. For all you know if could have been stashed in a garage somewhere..." Emily noticed David head over to Charlotte's side and smiled. They are so adorable!!!

Emily knew she had more important things to focus on but hey if she's missing out on her TV romance tomorrow she's going to take what she can find!

When David leaned over to whisper something and brushed a strand of Charlotte's hair back. Emily could have just died! Real life tenderness beats the TV romance any day! It was so sweet! What will happen next...maybe long gazes into each others eyes...

Unfortunately George seemed to notice her distraction and cut in front of her view of the touching scene.

Emily pouted just a little. Damn.

[Charlotte Jacobs]

Something unclenched in Charlotte’s chest when she saw David making his way past the medical seagulls towards the side of her bed. Were they done? A part of her was suddenly afraid he was coming over to tell her he was leaving (and whatever had unclenched went rather tight again). She wanted him to stay... she was surprised just how much she wanted him to stay.

But then he furtively brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes (an act that made her smile), and gave her an opening that she couldn’t help but take.

“I’m tired of being poked and prodded. I wish they’d just DO something and get it over with,” she groused to him, addressing his question of how it was going first. “No... I’d... really like you to stay,” Charlotte told him softly. And before she could stop herself she reached for his hand.

[David Young Henning]

Henning was fully planning on following the police as they looked into the origins of the other car, but he didn't want to seem too obtrusive about it. He had been carefully listening to their conversation, and it sounded like Deputy Wyatt might be slightly easier to get information from; at the very least, she seemed eager and on the ball to get the case moving. He'd just finished storing this bit of profiling away when Charlotte took his hand, smiling through the pain and her obvious irritation at the leftover whitecoats still swarming around them. He squeezed it, trying not grin too widely, then wondering who he was trying to hide it from.

"Okay. I'll be here as long as you need me." Had he said that the first time they'd met? He hoped not. Then he turned, still holding Charlotte's hand, and said to the others, "Oh, Sheriff Woodman, Deputy... One more detail I forgot to mention. The car you're looking for should have a splintered passenger side window... If I were you, I'd make sure this Lysander knows about this in case someone tries to get it repaired there."