as_damaged | ☎ voicemail

Right. Well they're yours. They're of you. Should I just tack them on the whiteboard, or do you want to check what might be missing?

They might be pictures of me, but I doubt they're mine. [Awkward pause as she glares at a large latte, which doesn't really deserve it, but such is life.]

What's the last one?

I've seen one of them at your place. The wedding photo.

[His voice drops quieter for that, losing the annoyed timbre it picks up when he's trying to deflect. And a hesitation, because this last one makes him feel uncomfortable, and he's not entirely sure why.]

You know I said there's one of us when I'm pretty sure a camera was there? There's one of us when I'm pretty sure I wasn't.

I guessed that's the one you meant. But it isn't missing, it must be... [She lets out the remainder of her breath, not quite a sigh.] The same thing happened last year; that's how I got mine to begin with.

How can there be a picture of you that you weren't there for?

[He hadn't really thought about why she'd have the picture to begin with. Might have thought she'd kept it in her bag, at home, and brought it through. So he doesn't reply to that, though there's a soft exhalation that sounds half like an Oh, and then he's considering again.]

It's not Peter Pevensie. Could be, you know--the one with the wings. [Although it's not. He can see the differences, even in this seated scene. But it doesn't quite look like him, either.] Either that or I got remarkably lax with a razor, and you've all been keeping the retrograde amnesia to yourselves. We're on a couch. Your place. Here.

[It looks both intimate and miserable, and if she ever looked at the winged guy this way Chase may never get past the jealousy.]

Ishaiah.

[It's a good thing they're not in the same place; the way she freezes would give her up. As it is it's a wonder she doesn't spill her coffee. Some things shouldn't be real enough to be preserved in photograph form. She thinks of them as different enough that the idea didn't occur to her, but Cameron knows exactly what he must be looking at.]

I have no idea what that could be.

You just said you had no idea about any of them. Obviously you did.

[Annoyance creeps back in as a cover for the nerves.]

You really expect me to believe it's just two people who look like us, breaking into your apartment for a heart to heart?

I haven't found any pictures, I didn't realize this curse had come around again. The only one I know is my wedding photograph, I can't imagine why there'd be a picture of House.

[Her defense is a little less calm than usual.]

Could have been a curse? People don't always remember. Especially when something's off about the time.

[And there's a different silence now, as much as silences can be different. The light rustle of his shirt sleeves as he leans forward over the desk. That's what was so strange about him, in the picture. She's not telling him something.]

How did you know something was off about the time?

It was an example. I was thinking of Wilson, a few months back.

[And Chase, on his wedding night. Which is a perfect and useless example; as far as she's been able to tell she's the only one who recalls it.]

[It stops him for a minute, and he traces his thumb across the picture as if he could magnify it somehow. He's met her, older, and never mentioned it. It could be.]

You're blonde, in this. [He admits, although she's not to know that she will be.] So you think we showed up from some point in our future just to cuddle on your couch?

[The idea isn't terrible. Maybe he's reading the desperation into the hunch of his shoulders, the pity into her eyes. Photographs can lie.]

It's possible. Or given the fluidity of time, maybe this hasn't happened yet. Maybe we'll be stuck here longer than we can guess at.

[As long as the man in the picture isn't wearing a ring, she's probably in the clear. She hates this, lying to him; but the truth is too complicated to get in to, and as of late too unpleasant to break.]

[He's willing to give that some consideration, even if there's some betraying note in her voice that he should pick up on. The man in the picture is wearing a ring, but that detail is too small and only barely visible.]

It would mean at some point in our future we like to cuddle on your couch.

I suppose anything's possible.

[The haughty tone is an obvious jest, and an attempt to distract him from further questioning.]

[It gets the right response: he laughs and lets the picture drop back onto the desk.]

You know, I wouldn't mind doing that now.

[A boy has to try.]

Tuesday was yesterday, you know.

[Somewhere along the line keeping her distance has become more of a game than a defense; which makes success less imperative. She doesn't feel any safer, overall, but it seems much less unhealthy.]

You could come watch Bambi, if you like.

I've decided to be more flexible when it comes to time.

[He hasn't done that in a while, the Tuesday reminders, though there isn't one where he hasn't thought about it. It was time to take a break when he did, and there are still a few things, conflicting and messy, that mean he's holding back too. He's just never been very good at that. There's a soft groan down the phone line. Bambi. Somehow he'd forgotten.]

That must be why I look like such a miserable bastard, in the picture. Do you want me to bring these over for you?

You can if you like. I don't know what else to do with them.

[It's not that she misses his weekly nagging; but it was kind of nice, in an odd way. If nothing else it was reassuring to know she hadn't pushed too far.]

I'll bring them over. No promises on the film.

[Though he'll stay for it if she asks him while he's there. But of course he'll give her the pictures -- slightly odd to hand over that one of the two of them with lips locked, but he doesn't want anything to do with the picture of House, and that one odd picture-- he'd just rather she had it.]

How can you not like it? It's a classic.

[Something more to set aside as impossible but undeniably real. It might be nice to have some company, though.]

It's a classic tearjerker full of baby animals. Or would you like me to list the reasons individually. The skunks have eyelashes.

I think the skunks are cute!

You would.

What's that supposed to mean?

The Disney versions are small, cute, and completely unrealistic. Just your type.

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