Editing Damage Control

<span style="color:#800000">'''''Terri was kind enough to let Mason play with Irina. Not that Irina's too good at making friends but still, I'm hopeful things will turn out all right.--Maer'''''</span> <br> <br>




He was sitting in the waiting room. No one was allowed back while they were struggling to stabilize her. Mason rested forward with his elbows resting on his knees, his hands clasped between them. His back teeth were grinding. Right now he wanted nothing more than to go back and shoot that bastard who'd put his teeth into Caroline's arm and bled her nearly dry. And a part of him was beyond horrified that it had actually happened in front of his eyes. Christ, what the hell was going on in this town?<br><br>



'''Saturday, 06 Aug 2011'''<br>
'''Adams County General Hospital'''<br>
'''Natchez MS'''<br>
'''2300hrs, local time'''<br><br>

Irina saw him across the room and she stood to the side watching him a moment. She saw his jaw clench, his fingers twist. Frustration and anger in every line of him, but holding it together. ''Please God, don't let me fuck this up''. Taking a deep breath, Irina got moving and took the seat next to him.<br><br>

"Mason," she said, her voice low so as not to carry. She nodded at the woman sitting across from them, a little boy and girl gathered tightly to her side. "Lighten up. You're scaring the children."<br><br>

His blue eyes came up when Irina DiSanti joined him, and Mason glared at her. Flickering a glance toward the woman and her kids, he made a conscious effort to stop clenching his jaw. He kept his voice low too, his Southern drawl very prevalent even in a hiss. "Lighten up? Woman, have ya lost yer fuckin' mind? My fiancée’s in there fightin' for her life because some redneck motherfucker drank. her. blood. And you want me to lighten up?" He couldn't contain his rage, reaching out to grab her by the elbow and lever both of them to their feet. He didn't say 'come with me' but the order is explicit in the way he 'helps' her out of the waiting room to a more private location.<br><br>

Once clear of onlookers, especially the two kids, Irina deftly twisted free of his grip and aborted her automatic next move, that of putting Mason in a compliance hold. Seven years on the force was sufficient to have her reaching for handcuffs that were no longer there, even after two and a half years of retirement. Her fingertips brushed her gun and she pulled her hand away.<br><br>

"That won't be necessary. I know the way," she said, tugging her jacket straight, ignoring the blood on it. "Let's go."<br><br>

Mason released her immediately, putting enough space between them that if she opted to try to step into that hold he'd be able to evade her. His blue eyes were practically sparking with fury. He gestured silently for her to precede him, and it was not until they got all the way outside the ER into the garden outside the main doors that he finally spoke. "Y'all have some serious shit coming down, DiSanti. An' I'll keep my goddamn mouth shut until I can talk to her, but let me tell you something. I don't like this. Whatever y'all have roped her into, I'm getting her out."<br><br>

"I hope you do," Irina said evenly, subtly shifting her stance to present a narrower profile in case it came down to a fight. "I don't like any of this either, Mason. right now, the cop in me is going fuckin' apeshit. But you're a soldier. You understand that you have to pick your battles and trust me, right now this isn't a battle you're going to win. That doesn't make any of this ''right''," she added. "It's just not winnable. Not right now. And there's something you should know."<br><br>

Irina swept the garden for eavesdroppers and saw that they were blessedly alone. She put some steel into her tone and nailed him with a glare.<br><br>

"If you ''ever'' mention bloodsucking or anything related to vampires in a civilian's hearing while you're with me again, so help me God, I'll ''hurt'' you." Irina took a step into his personal space. "Maybe no one's mentioned it to you yet, but if you fuck up, Caroline is going to pay for it. She's made it clear that she's marrying you. You think ''they'' won't use that against her? Anything you do comes back to her. And it'll come back to me, because Caroline's a friend and I care what happens to her. So damn right, ''you'll keep your mouth shut on this''."<br><br>

''Someone needs to sit this man down and give him a Vamps 101. Seriously''.<br><br>

"You're all fuckin' insane, DiSanti," Mason informs her. "That ain't no vampire, that's a fuckin' crazy cult. You stay away from her. I trusted you to keep her safe, and you failed." His tone is hard on her. "A real friend would have gotten her the hell out of all this before she was willing to slit her own goddamn wrist to let a guy drink it. I'm gettin' a deprogrammer in here if I have to, but you? You just get the hell away from us."<br><br>

"You're right,” Irina agreed. “I failed. But don't you ''dare'' trivialize what Caroline did. ''For you''. For ''all'' of us. She kept Cord from going into a frenzy and killing everyone in his reach. She did the one thing that saved her life, Mason, which is more than we were able to do. So go ahead, yell your guts out, call me every dirty name in the book, but don't you ''dare'' insult Caroline. She deserves better than that from you."<br><br>

The man stares at her like she's gone around the bend. "Jesus Christ, you're drinkin' the Kool-Aid too," Mason retorts. "I'm done. With all of y'all. Don't come back here, DiSanti. The hospital security'll have orders." His tone brooks zero argument from her and he pivots on a heel. "And if you don't think I can do it, then you don't know me -- or her family -- at all." He stalks back toward the hospital's doors.<br><br>

Irina gave him no warning. She grabbed his wrist and twisted it up into an armlock. She put him down on the ground with a kidney punch, planted her knee in the small of his back, and applied steady upward pressure on his arm. She made sure he wasn't going anywhere and said loud enough for him to hear, "Mason, I'm fully deputized by the Adams County Sheriff's Department. Don't make me run you in for disturbing the peace. I need you to listen to me."<br><br>

He might have fought back, he was pissed enough, but the kidney punch slows anyone down. And then she had him on the ground in an arm lock. He wasn't stupid enough to continue to fight with her right then, though rage darkened his features. He was raised right -- any man worthy of the name did not hit women. No matter how much they deserved it. Mason was still under her hands, neither acknowledging nor disputing her words. It was all she would get.<br><br>

Irina felt it the second he acquiesced.  She gave it a slow count to three to verify it, then eased off. She shifted her grip to a hand up and stepped back when he got to his feet.<br><br>

"C'mon," she said. "I don't know about you, but I could use a drink. You think they got any booze in there?" She tipped her chin toward the hospital doors. "No? Coffee then. I'm sure the cafeteria has some."<br><br>

He pulled himself to his feet and turned to look at her. "No," Mason replied flatly. "You say whatever you got on your mind and then get the hell on out of here." He's going to be a mule about it. She's pushed all the wrong buttons with him tonight. Too much has happened, too many weird and unexplained things, and the woman he's loved since before she was old enough to love is in there fighting for her life while he's out here dealin' with a Damn Yankee.<br><br>

"All right," Irina said, noting the mulish set of his jaw. "Mr. McAllistar, I apologize for manhandling you just now but I had to be certain you wouldn't go in there and make a scene that would make the ...," she paused, searching for the right word. "The ''crazoids'' notice and step in. However much you and I might disagree on what's real and what's not, we can both agree that those people are dangerous, am I right?" She didn't stop but went on. "I'm a—'''was'''—a cop. NYPD. Homicide. Early on, I learned that there's a metric ''shit''-ton of crap that makes no sense but is ''still'' reality. Shakespeare had it right, Horatio, and this is one of them. These ''things'' exist. They have a code, a hierarchy, and a cover to maintain. Like the ''cosi nostra'', if you will. That means there is a way to deal with them but you have to be patient. What happened tonight was a power play for the top position, because the guy holding it was bad for the city and nobody wanted him making things worse. Caroline was on the side that won. No one's going to move against her. That gives us some breathing space. Don't waste it by doing anything stupid to put ''you'' on their hit list. Grabbing Caroline and bugging out of town will do exactly that."<br><br>

Irina sighed and hoped what she was saying was sinking in.<br><br>

"You can't move her right now anyway. They've ordered another transfusion and from what I overheard, the docs are pretty sure it'll do the trick. And by now, Renny's done his thing and no one is going to ask questions about why she's here. Nobody's cover gets blown and everyone gets to live. I call that a win. Don't mess with it."<br><br>

His attention is diverted by the fact that Caroline's getting yet ANOTHER transfusion. "Christ," he whispered. "That's the fifth one." He shook his head, his face gray in the lights of the garden. "I need to go back in. I'm not talking about this anymore," he told her. "Just stay away from me, DiSanti." He might be taking her words to heart, he might not. Mason's not as easy to read in some cases.<br><br>

As much as she wanted to convince him she was right, Irina heeded her own advice about picking her battles and let him go.<br><br>

''Give him some space, you. He'll come around. He loves her too much not to''.<br><br>

Irina dragged a sigh up from her toes and watched him through the glass lobby doors.  When he turned the corner, she went back in. It was going to be a long night. She might as well get started on it.<br><br>




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