Log:A Kiss to Seal a Deal

The Madness of David Flyte 2020/02/06 Porter Grimm 19

It's late, and Porter receives a text from Grimm. From an hour ago, but only now is he seeing it. << I really need to not be alone right now. Could I come over?>>

Porter's qPid is like that. Though when you have to re-synch a new device every week or so... weird things are bound to happen. He frowns, both at getting it late and the content. <> Not that she's not welcome, but maybe he underestimated the nightmares. He doesn't want Kyssie upset. He thinks to add. << I can be right there if so.>>

<> Grimm offers. She's already trying to set up location share on her phone.

Lucky for Grimm, he already did. Sort of. Better? Once he realized how bad things were... Ok, before he had more idea of how bad... Ok, he doesn't really really know. But he doesn't know he doesn't know. So it's all good. He lets Para know what's up, and that he'll keep her informed of everything. And then it's off to help!

FLASHTHWUMP.

Gabrielle was not expecting him to be able to find her without directions, and especially not so soon.

Porter FLASHTHWUMPS into a decently roomy master bedroom of the old spooky house Grimm got at a steal (somewhat literally, due to smuggling to get a downpayment on the house that the real estate agent felt was unsellable.) It's got a four poster king sized bed with black sheets. The walls are painted a dark red. It's all very gothic in feel. There's a sliding closet with mirrored doors that make the room look twice its actual size. There's an alarm clock on the black nightstand, a desk with computer and scattered homework assignments and a plate from last night's dinner.

Gabrielle's sitting crosslegged on her bed wearing just a t-shirt and jeans, holding her cell phone with tears rolling down her cheeks. That is, until Porter aPorterates. Causing her to jump. While crosslegged. Which causes her to really just roll onto her back in a flail. "Ah!"

"Hey, Gabrie-ah!" Porter's not startled by her place, or her. Just that she yelled and flopped, so he yells. And flails a little. "Sorry! Didn't mean to startle you! Just came as soon as I could."

"Sorry. Came as soon as I could," Porter explains. Apologizes. "Just didn't get your message right away..." He notices the sniffling and wiping and his concern grows. "What's wrong? Another nightmare?" He sits on the bed at her back. Rather than at her face. That'd be rude.

"No. I haven't slept yet," Gabrielle says as she wipes her eyes again. She pushes herself back up into a sitting position and looks at Porter. And then looks like she's about to cry again.

"I finally got a chance to see Mal. It's been...a long time. And...and my heart hurts."

Porter's face starts to brighten at the news. Seeing Mal's a good thing. Especially after they seem to have terrible luck with schedules. Work. School. It reminds him how nice it is to be "retired." Even if family life can be hectic.

And the she goes in a direction he didn't expect. Maybe? He knows she's upset. Maybe it's totally unrelated to the first part? Optimism! The brightening halts. Tries not to reverse. So he just nods. Attentively.

"He just cuddled me close and held me like everything was fine. I haven't had a chance to tell him about everything that's been going on for the past several...weeks. Months? I didn't know how to tell him," Gabrielle explains, trying to pull herself together. But as she goes on, her voice starts breaking and wavering more and more. "And...and when I told him I didn't know what to say, he...he said it was okay if I wasn't in love with him anymore. That he...he understood...and..and..."

And Gabrielle loses it, sobbing into her hands. "I'm terrible. I'm awful if he thought I wasn't in love with him anymore..."

Porter blinks. Parses. Blinks again. Tries that again. Well, at least reflexive takes over and he reaches out to wrap his arms around her. Hugs never hurt anyone. Usually. "Gabrielle, you're not terrible... and maybe that's not what he thought..." Why would he say that then? Porter will figure that out in a second. Maybe.

Maybe hugs will help, because Gabrielle's cracking up. Literally. She curls up a bit as she's hugged, just sniffling against his shirt. "Hearing him say that hurt so much..." she says in heartwrenching tones as new cracks sprout and spread in her aura.

"It's Ok..." Porter just hugs her. Pets her hair. Even if it might bite off his hand. "I don't think he meant it like that..." He gives her a squeeze. "And even if he did... I think it just means he loves you even more." Maybe it's Porter logic. Maybe he just didn't parse it enough.

Grimm nods weakly. No hair bites happen ...yet. "I...I know. He said I meant the world to him, but he just wanted me to be happy and free to live my best life. That he understood he hadn't been around much. That he figured his luck finally ran out and I was out of his league," she sniffles.

Porter exhales a breath. "Yeah. That's what I was thinking." That's a good thing. Right? "I mean, that you mean the world to him. That he wants you to be happy. I want you to be happy, too. So you should be." She's outnumbered! Therefor, happiness must ensue!

Grimm snuffles a little before finally lifting her head to look Porter in the eyes. "It's hard to be happy. I told him I loved him...and finally told him what I was trying to say. About the issues I was having, and the vision of my potential death. It scared him so much..."

A smile for her. Porter is good at that. Mostly because it's reflexive. "Of course it scares him. He's worried for you. And-" He blinks. "What do you mean potential death?! Wait. Is that what the nightmares are about?"

Grimm wipes at her eyes. "Radical used a spell to see the future. He saw a vision of me dead on the ground with a red headed teenager standing over me with a sword. He...he thinks I sacrificed myself and let her do it."

Porter's smile finally dissipates in shock. "Sacrifice yourself?" He thought that's what the other guy was trying to do. And she sure as heck wasn't liking that. "Why? And how do you know that's really the future? I mean, things change all the time. I'm been there. And back. Even ran into myself before." A pause. "Or after. I'm still getting used to how all the time stuff works. But why would you do that?"

"Flyte was using a ritual to use me...and it might've killed me letting N'zrathol in the world. But if I die before N'zrathol can break through, his way in is gone," Gabrielle says slowly. "If I sacrificed myself, or asked someone to kill me...it must've been hopeless. Or the world must've been at risk."

"The world's already at risk from something," Porter points out, "and it's never hopeless." He eyes her with concern. Or firm intensity. Or both. "So there was nothing to fix. And you doing that wouldn't fix it. Since it wasn't broke."

"What...? What does that mean?" Grimm asks. "This thing that wants to get through...they destroy realities, Porter. There's a reason they're locked away in inaccessible dimensions. It can't come through. Please, promise me," she takes his hands. "We can never let it come through."

Porter wasn't going to ask who Neanderthal was. He got enough glimpse of weird tentacles to know better than to ask. And how many tentacled, reality-destroying things can there be? Nope, not going to ask that, either. "What? That the world's at risk? Of course it is. There's always something. Invading aliens. Crazy tyrants. Weird bugs. Rats with laser guns. Alien vampire cyborg plants that want to eat everyone's left toe..." A shrug. Then a grin. "Still always hope." He may have made at least one of those up.

When she takes his hands, though, his smile... not dims completely, but firms up. Serious time. He nods. "Alright. I promise we can never let it through... if you promise me something."

Grimm nods slowly. "What's that?"

Porter gives her hands a squeeze. "That its WE. WE won't let it happen. That means you have to be there. Not dead. Or there can't be a WE."

Grimm swallows hard, then nods and offers a wavering smile. "Okay. We," she agrees.

"Good. Cause I don't think any of the rest of us can do it by ourselves." Porter now smiles more warmly. "You're the one that knows what you're doing." Since he's already holding her hand, both of them, in fact, he lifts one to kiss the back of it. A kiss to seal the deal. In a platonic gentlemanly polite and possible cheesy fashion. So, appropriate in Porter logic.

Grimm smiles and chuckles, blushing a bit at the gentlemanly kiss. She finds it somehow strangely enchanting.

"So..." Porter straightens up after the deal is struck to see her smile. Which broadens his. "You're smiling. You're loved. You're going to be around a long, long time. What'd you need me for, again?"

Gabrielle smiles softly, sniffing a final time as she recovers from her melancholy. "I was afraid to be alone with my feelings after hurting Mal and scaring him. But...I was right. You helped me remember to hope."

Porter gives her hands another squeeze before gently releasing them. Mostly so he can give her a hug. "It's alot of stuff. But you two'll figure it out. Nothing great turns out easy. I learned that the hard way." Then he realizes that may not be very helpful and adds, "But its worth it."

Next: Log:Chemical Happiness