Lily Lynde-Hauser : A Garden of Her Own

[susan]

Night before everyone departed for Paris

The minutes had clicked by like hours in the hotel room as Lily sat in a chair, fingers tapping on the table. Patience wasn’t a virtue she possessed. The person who called had told her to meet them; it wasn’t the other way around so why was she waiting? Smoke floated through the room as she waited. The window opened behind her—she never expected it or even heard it because she was up so far she didn’t think it was possible.

“You aren’t nearly cautious enough”..the voice echoed from right behind her. She moved to jump up but two strong hands pushed down on her shoulders, holding her there. “Don’t move. If you do I don’t tell you the information you want and that will compromise our business venture.” She wanted to scream that her sister’s life wasn’t a bargaining chip but didn’t. Instead, she sat perfectly still as told, just waiting. The old man walked around her, sizing her up.

“So you’re Lily. It’s a very appropriate name. You’ve got your grandmother’s eyes”…she turned them to him, wondering how he knew the blaylocks. She didn’t think she looked a thing like that bitch Ana Blossom wouldn’t even take the kids around if Ana was home…she raised an eyebrow…and he nodded. “Yes, I know your grandmother… your mother... She knows me very well. If she’d come to me your sister would already be well.” Lily felt her blood boil. She knew this all had something to do with Blossom, now she’d heard it with her own two ears. The man lit a cigarette, took a hit off of it, and then handed it to Lily. “..so you know it wouldn’t kill you to smile. It’s a pity to see such a pretty girl with such a sour look..”

Finally, having enough, she held up her hand to stop him. “What do I have to do to get my sister well?” He smiled at her, handing her an envelope. “All of the answers you need are there. You take the full responsibility on yourself for the deeds you’ll have to commit to retrieve the cure. I’ll tell you, though, darling Rose doesn’t have much time left. The medicines they’re giving her won’t help. They’ll stop working and she’ll die..”…she nodded, glancing down at the envelope. “Her own little garden….Violet would be proud..” when Lily looked back the man was gone. The only trace of him ever being there was the cigarette, the envelope and a card with only a bulls eye and a number on it.


Night after everyone was gone to Paris

Lily’s heart pounded as she ran through the building. An alarm was sounding, voices echoed down the hallway behind her. The cure had been in the governments possession all along she’d found out inside the envelope. A military research center disguised as a daycare center held the cure in a vault. It hadn’t taken her long to prepare, pretty much everything was outlined in the packet. Everything had gone smoothly until one of the scientist stumbled upon the woman dressed from head to toe in black. The only thing he saw were her shining eyes before she delivered a kick straight to his face. She’d held back, making sure she didn’t kill the man. The packet demanded she not leave a body count or Rose would be reinfected. By holding back, though, the man had kept consciousness long enough to sound the alarm.

The strike had caught Lily by surprise, knocking the air out of her. The first bullet tore into her shoulder, pain more intense than the break only a few weeks previous. The second bullet that hit her spun her around, making a clean exit through her shoulder this time. They were shooting for her heart and she realized it. She fought back, though, still not killing anyone. People lay piled on the floor, looking as if they’d died but they were just severely injured. There was a thin line..if they weren’t strong enough to recover from injuries that wasn’t her problem. She slid out the same window she climbed through to gain entrance to the building. The throbbing got worse as she slipped away from the building. It didn’t matter to her, though, because she could feel the vile pressed against her body. It would make Rose better. Rose being better was all that mattered. The laws she’d broke, the people she’d quite possibly killed….none of them mattered.

Before she hailed a cab, she went back to the hotel room, changing clothes and trying to stop the bleeding. She managed to erase any trace of herself and leave. The cab pulled off and she gave the driver directions. The driver kept looking at the girl in the backseat. She was too pale, she didn’t look good. The bright red was seeping through her shirt, though she kept a hand pressed to it for pressure. One bullet was lodged in her back, just beneath the skin while the other had made a clean exit wound. She struggled to stay awake until the driver stopped. She paid him with blood stained money and climbed from the car.

“Miss. Do you need me to take you to the hospital?” …she glanced over her shoulder and laughed a bit. “This? It’s just a scratch…”…with that he drove off. It was easy to get into the building and she knocked on the door. As she waited, she lit a cigarette, managing to get blood on her paled face and the cigarette. She knocked again, sliding down the doorframe to lean against the door. “Just my luck…out drinking..son of a bit..…”…everything went black, it all finally getting to her. When Anson finally made it home, he’d find Lily laying on the ground in front of his door, the tips of her blonde hair snaking into a pool of her blood.

[Anson Williams]

Anson was lightly buzzed and had been enjoying a night with the girls at Solid Gold. He was even lucky enough to catch the one stripper, Dymond's eye. Well, it wasn't that hard. She was too high to care.

As he arrived at his apartment and walked down the hallway, his eyes widened and the stripper aside from him let out a horrific scream. He immediately went to Lily's side and set about to examine her.

"Holy fuck, Lily...Lily, wake up!" He lifted her up, his hands being covered in blood as he barked out to the stripper to call 911 with the cell phone that was in his pocket.

"Awww hell no!"

Dymond run away, leaving Anson to pick up the cell phone with his bloody hands and dial.

The ambulance came, and Anson travelled after them in a cab. Lily was brought to the hospital and Anson stood outside in the waiting room after cleaning off his hands and face in the bathrooms. He waited, wondering how the woman had gotten herself into that situation in the first place...

[susan]

The doctors worked to clean Lily up and did a good job. Other than the blood she lost, the bullets hadn't done too much damage. The clean shot through her back had just tore muscle--the shot lodged beneath her skin had hit her breast bone, then bounced off. She was a lucky girl. They kept saying how lucky she was. Two attacks in a months time and she was still alive.

Hours later, Lily sat in the hospital bed giving her statement to an agent sent to collect it. She told the man she'd made a quick trip out to get dinner and was grabbed by a masked man. They had asked her questions regarding her parents that she'd refused to answer, thus the gunshots. When they finally decided they wouldn't get information out of her, they'd dropped her in an alley somewhere that was located close to Anson's house. She explained a short cab ride because she was far too weak to walk, barely making it to his door.

How did you know the agent in questions address? the man asked, suspiciously glaring at her.
"My mother told me. She always said it's good to know where everyone is so that you'll know when they're missing." it was a lie but her mother would never find out or argue it with another agent. The gap between the two was growing further....she looked at the agent, her eyes filled with tears. She was tired, she'd told him and terrified of being attacked again. It was happening to her so often now. The agent frowned a little, then nodded. She was a sweet girl who was be punished for her parents sins--it was basically open and closed. The one moment he'd thought she was lying was erased from memory when he saw how shaken she was in the bed. So small, so fragile. She reached up, wiping a tear from her face and he smiled, patting her hand.

"This isn't your fault, Lily. Don't be upset..It'll all be ok."

It took all her power not to smirk at the man and keep the tears flowing. Before he left, she kissed his cheek softly. "Thank you..for being so kind.."..he left with a slight spring in his step. "What an idiot", she thought, laying her head back and just waiting. Always waiting...

After 12 hours, they released Lily under the orders to repeatedly check in at the infirmory at school and to take it easy. If anson was still there, she rode silently in a cab with him (if not, alone) back to the academy, staring at the tips of her hair that were now stained red.

A few days later, an envelope containing the vile of medicine and a letter on how to cure Rose was found on sean blaylock's desk. "It was under your nose all along..."

The Hunter sat at his desk, watching the video over and over of Lily's operation to retrieve the cure. His smile grew larger each time through the video...He picked up the phone, speaking when they answered "Make it happen. She's one of us from now on..."

((anyone who's associated with the hunter can answer the phone...lol...))

[Anson Williams]

Anson sat in the back of the cab silently as they drove together towards the school. He put himself out there as her escort back to the school and as well corroborated any story that Lily had made up. Anson had stayed at the hospital for the duration of her stay (leaving for home once to take a shower) and up until she had recovered enough to leave.

Anson reached over for the tips of her hair and examined it himself.

"...Suits you."

He said quietly, scoffing a bit of a laugh at himself. He lit a smoke, regardless if he could or not as they were driven back and handed it to her if she wanted it. When they were at the school, he spoke up again.

"Call me if you need anything."

Anson didn't have any feeling for Lily deeper than something that was on the surface, but he was attached to the blond at least enough to give a damn, even if she didn't. Anson had bigger things on his mind, like finding his little girl and taking her back from Hana, that little girl who wasn't exactly so little anymore.