Keep On Running (Natalie)

[William Blake]

Will breathed heavily, his hand still clutched Natalie's tightly as they ran. His Dad hadn't made it easy for them to escape; there'd been three other goons posted at the secret exit Will had been forced to use. Refusing to let any more blood be shed, he merely rendered two of them unconscious with a few well placed moves - not before receiving a bash in the head himself - and Natalie took care of the other one. Knowing that time was of the essence, he didn't want to pause for anything, but knelt down to rummage around in the men's pockets, pulling out a couple of wallets and a pen. He scribbled something on one of the guy's credit cards then tossed it into the verge - hopefully Anna would find it later.

They'd then taken off to the South, heading into the forest surrounding the house, Will's mind racing the whole way. They needed somewhere to lay low, to get their bearings, and figure out how the hell they were going to fix this. The problem was, a swarm of other thoughts were swirling round Will's head too. Why hadn't his Dad killed them? Was it just to frame them? Or hadn't he wanted to? He could have shot Natalie, made it look like an accident. Hell, he could have shot Will and done the same, but he hadn't. WHY?

Mentally slapping himself, he shoved all thoughts to one side and concentrated; get Natalie to safety.

If he remembered rightly, which he always did, one of his old college buddies - who had gone on to become a world leader in the neuroscience field - kept an old apartment of his in Manchester for whenever he came back to visit family or friends, or when he was attending conferences in the area. Will highly doubted that he was there right now, and he knew the pass code to the door. Hurrah, finally an idea!

Once they reached the outer limits of the city, he slowed down to a walk - he couldn't feel his feet burning or his head throbbing through the adrenline - and led them directly to the place, sneaking them into the building the back way. Only once they were safely inside the apartment did he stop and look at Natalie. Exhausted didn't even begin to cover it. And he was sure she had about as many questions as he did, if not more.

Not entirely sure what he should or could say, he tugged her close, pulling her into a hug, his breath unsteady."You're safe," he said, "we're safe, it's okay." He was saying it to himself as much as he was to her.

[Natalie Blake]

As she fled with Will, there were only two things Natalie truly registered; one was the fact that her legs had to keep moving, on pain of death no doubt, and two was that his hand around hers was all that was keeping her from falling into an all-out state of panic. The rest of her had gone on autopilot, simply along for the ride but not contributing in any way. This had to be what people meant by mind-numbing terror.

Thankfully, even though he seemed distracted, Will seemed more aware of where they were going. She trusted him faultlessly, and simply prayed that wherever he was taking them they'd be safe, at least for a while. For a moment, pure horror filled her as she thought of her mother--they wouldn't go after her, would they? But then she relaxed slightly. No, this target was purely on their backs. Elaine should be safe back in Minnesota.

There's been a few men on the yard, and they'd taken care of them quickly. She grew worried when she saw that he'd been hit in the head, but as he didn't seem dizzy or nauseas because of it, she decided she could wait to tend to it until they were sure they were safe. Not that they'd be properly safe for a while yet, what with both R4 and UGAP after them.

She honestly hadn't noticed how her lungs were burning or how her legs ached until Will slowed them down, and the thundering of her heart against her sternum made her grimace. Silently the two of them stole into a building through what appeared to be a back entrance, and it wasn't until they'd entered one of the apartments that they finally came to a complete stop.

Despite the fact that she hurt almost everywhere, Natalie was grateful when Will pulled her into his arms, and she hugged him back tightly, burying her face in his neck and only just managing to keep it together. After a moment, however, she remembered his head and pulled back to examine it. It didn't surprise her overmuch when her voice wavered a little as she spoke.

"We should take care of that," she murmured, leading him over to an adjacent chesterfield and pushing him down onto it. She then sought out a bathroom and rifled through the medicine cabinet on the wall, unearthing the things she'd need before coming back out to where Will waited. "So where are we?" she questioned, forcing her hands not to shake as she tore open a packet of gauze.

[William Blake]

Will felt her grip him tightly as they embraced, the terror she was feeling about the whole situation evident in the tenseness of her body, and the way she was shaking. He kissed the top of her head, his own body coming to the realisation that it could relax, there was no more running for a little while at least. It hadn't had a work out like that in a while, he needed to do it more often - just not when running for his life.

He hadn't remembered about the cut on his head until she mentioned it, her voice wavering. Plonking him down into a chair, she rushed off to find a medikit, and he reached up to touch the cut, igniting the pain there that he should have been feeling all the while. When he brought his fingers back, he found blood on them, and wondered how bad he actually looked; that couldn't have been helping how Natalie felt about this whole situation.

She returned, and gave him a question to answer. That was better, hopefully talking would give them something to help them calm down. "It's Dave Price's, he's a neurosurgeon I met at college. He keeps it up just in case he comes back this way for work, I figured it would probably be the closest and safest place to come. It has a security system, and a bed. And there's probably food in the fridge too." Thank God his common sense hadn't deserted him.

He watched her as she ripped open the packet and gauze spilled all over the floor. Ignoring the gauze, he scooped up her hands in his and forced her to look at him. "Hey," he said, squeezing her hands tightly, "I'm so sorry about all this," there were that word again, sorry, she seemed to be the only person he used it around, "that definitely brought a whole new meaning to 'meeting the parents' back there."

[Natalie Blake]

Will's voice was far more steady than Natalie's had been, and she envied him slightly for being able to keep himself calm. On the outside, anyway. She knew him well enough to notice the small signs that gave away the fact that he was just as scared as she was. Then again, they'd already established that he was the better actor between the two of them. The trivial thought helped her relax some.

When he mentioned that there was probably food in the fridge, she nodded a little. "All right, then. I'll make us something when I finished up here, then," she offered. Often her mother had been too busy tending the bar to cook meals for her, so she wasn't entirely hopeless in the kitchen. Another thought occurred to her then. "How long are we going to stay here? If we stay too long, they'll find us, but... where else do we have to go?"

The gauze spilled onto the floor once she'd finally gotten the packet open and Natalie cursed quietly. But when she made to pick it up Will took her hands in his, and the contact made her jump a little out of surprise. His apology brought a weak smile to her face, and freed one of her hands in order to run her fingers across his cheek.

"You didn't know he was going to be there," she pointed out, trying to soothe him. "You couldn't have known. There's nothing to apologize for, even if you had known. I mean, I was probably going to meet him eventually anyway, one way or another." Reaching down, she picked up the gauze and went back to tending to his head.

After cleaning it up as best she could, she bundled up a little wad of gauze and pressed it over the wound. "You'll have to keep pressure on that until it stops seeping," she told him, taking one of his hands and bringing it up to replace her own. Now that she had nothing to focus on, her fear started creeping up on her again, and she realized she'd have to keep busy in order to stay calm.

Deciding to cook, as that would occupy her for a while, Natalie turned and headed into the kitchen. She felt strange--almost like all the fight had been sucked out of her, and she was just going through the motions without really being there. Don't think about that, she chastised mentally, Think about what you're doing.

Opening one of the cupboards, she pulled down the first thing she found--a box of spaghetti. It was a bit more noticeable than she would have liked, as she was filching food, but it would have to do. "You're okay with pasta, right?" she called out to Will, just to make sure.

[William Blake]

"You don't have to..." he said, trailing off slightly at the end. It was clear she wanted to keep busy, he knew it was how she dealt with stress... with most things actually. He didn't blame her, usually when he had stuff on his mind, he would disappear into the recesses of Engineering and not emerge for days. "We can rest here," he said, "maybe only for tonight. Get a handle on what's going on and how bad this is, then we'll have to move on." He didn't know where to yet, but his brain would no doubt come up with something - he'd probably end up staying awake throughout the night thinking instead of sleeping, like he should be. "I'll think of something," he reassured her. He'd get them out of this.

Will sighed a little, "even so," he said, "I should have been more stubborn back on the Venia. Or let Anna and Ben handle this instead of us. They're used to danger, and they would have had no problem dealing with Henry." There was something he would never be able to do, and that was shoot his own father, no matter how much pain that pig had caused. "Next time," he said, "let's go to Minnesota instead. I'd much rather meet my maker with your mother's sharp wit a thousand times over."

He winced, screwing up his nose as she cleaned the wound, being as gentle as she possibly could without taking too long. "All right," he said, keeping his hand fixed in position over the gauze, applying as much pressure as he could stand - he was going to have a cracking headache for a while. "I think I can manage it."

She was up and off, busying herself in the kitchen. Will slid down in the chair, tilting his head back slightly as he groaned silently. He was wrecked, he truly was. He wasn't keen on letting Natalie see just how much this was actually effecting him, mostly because one of them had to keep their head and see sense, be strong, and all that. He was the guy, he'd been put through a pile of crap his life, he was the one who could deal with it.

He sat up a little too quickly when he heard her voice and his head span. "Whoa," he murmured. I mean... "Yeah, pasta is good." Carbs, lots of carbs. His stomach grumbled, delighted at the thought of food. "You are going to serve it with something though, right?" he added, a small smirk playing across his lips. "Other than plates and cutlery."

[Natalie Blake]

Will was using a soothing voice as he spoke, and Natalie found herself feeling a little guilty. She was panicking like a child, whereas Will, who was sitting far worse off than she was, was taking everything in stride. After all, it was his father they were dealing with, which meant it would be on his conscience, and he was already suffering from a head injury. She needed to suck it up if she wanted to help him through this.

She shook her head when Will said he should have fought harder to keep at lest herself back on the Venia, if not both of them, and left it to the tactical officers. "Will, it's not your fault," she chided, caressing his jaw comfortingly. "It's happened already anyway. There's no point in demurring it now."

Despite having moved into the kitchen, she was not so far away as to not be able to hear Will groan, even if he was being quiet about it. Setting the box of spaghetti down on the counter, she grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water, wandering back out to give it to him before digging through the medicine kit for some pain-killers.

Offering them to him--along with a smile that wasn't very strong--she went back out into the kitchen. His response to her question about spaghetti made her snort, and she began rifling through the fridge and cupboards. "I can make some meat sauce, too. And I think this is garlic butter, so I could make some garlic bread as well, if you'd like."

Setting the ingredients on the counter she went about preparing supper. She'd just set some water on to boil when something else occurred to her. "Hey, Will? Do you think Henry'll have had someone call UGAP?" If so, it was likely their faces would be all over the news in no time. That wasn't a pleasant thought.

[William Blake]

It wasn't easy staying calm inside, he could feel his whole body aching over what had just happened, he was so tired, but on the outside, the soothing voice and steady, calm demeanour just came naturally. He'd been hiding his feelings all his life, especially when it came to his Dad; it was natural, why would that change now?

Will appreciated that she was trying, to lessen his guilt and to remain as relatively calm as possible herself. If she had freaked out, then he would have dealt with it, but it was a lot easier this way, he had to say. "You're right," he agreed, deciding that she was too stubborn to let him even try and take the blame. Her touching his face helped him feel a little better.

Apparently he wasn't as covert as he'd thought, she'd heard his quiet moment of weakness, handing him painkillers and water with a silent order to take them. He wouldn't argue. "Thanks," he said, knocking them back, drinking all the water in one long gulp. Truth be told, he could probably do with something stronger right now. Painkillers and alcohol weren't exactly a match made in heaven, but if they knocked him out, he wouldn't complain.

"Just the pasta and sauce is fine," he said, "we don't need anything elaborate, just something to keep my stomach quiet." Before it started rumbling louder than a volcano about to blow. Her question made him frown slightly, it was a good one. "Yes, knowing him. He'd want to draw attention to it as quickly as possible," he said, "but I'd imagine the UGAP will try and keep it quiet for as long as possible, they won't want the media and public finding out that two of their precious saviours have apparently gone rogue."

He sighed, "I'm hoping they'll send someone from the Venia to check it out, Anna and/or Ben. I left something which they'll hopefully find. They're clever people, they'll figure everything out eventually." That he was sure of, he just didn't know exactly how long it would take.