missingthekeep | Homeplot: Border Crossing

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Homeplot: Border Crossing

It's a long damn time before they manage to get a moment to themselves. The ride to the border had been miserable, dealing with awkward explanations in between jibes and taunts from a man who seemed more enamoured with the idea of killing the two of them than the target of his mission, so much so that by the time they came across Romanova's car abandoned by the side of the road about twenty miles out, Sean had been ready to put a bullet between Creed's eyes and try his luck on his own with Meredith. Still, the prospect of wandering stranded through Soviet territory with no reason for being there, legal or otherwise, struck him as marginally more insane than playing along with all of this, so he reined in the impulse.

They almost snagged a minute alone at the guard station, but Wolverine had vetoed his request to stay with her in the back of the truck at the last second, leading to an argument that had ended with his taking her along as they ventured out. It had ended both far better and far worse than it could have; the guards had all been dead, which made things pretty easy for them, but the perpetrator had insisted on tagging along with them the rest of the way, and if there was one person he trusted less in all of this than Creed, it was Mystique. Any chance they'd have had to break away from the group to talk after that had been lost when their hostage and driver, Ivan, had made a break for it and needed to be chased down.

All in all, the idea of ditching the lot of them and getting as far as his scream will go is starting to look more and more appealing. Eventually, though, they get their chance.

They're stopped at a small village for supplies to get them the rest of the way to Minsk, where Ivan's informed them the Black Widow is heading. For an interrogator, he sure doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut. Stashing the truck behind a two-storey box of a building (the biggest one in the entire town), a discussion ensues about how to split everyone up to get everything they need. While splitting up at all strikes Sean as a truly terrible idea, given all the unknown factors in the group, it's exactly what he's been wishing for for hours, so he's not about to complain. It's another matter entirely to get them to agree to let he and Meredith go off on their own, but he's nothing if not persistent, and eventually, they strike off under the pretense of securing breakfast for everyone with a plan to meet back at the truck in half an hour.

Finally.

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The longer it all goes on, the more apparent it becomes to Meredith both that the smartest thing for her to do is keep quiet and that doing so is incredibly hard. She hates taking the taunts and commentary without snapping back even more than she dislikes relying on strangers who'd probably find it a relief if she just died and got out of their way. The reprieve from their company comes not a moment too soon, then. She's not sure how she's managed not to say something incredibly stupid yet, her nerves frayed by the tension and excitement.

"I thought we'd never get a minute," she says once they're away from the rest, turning to press her forehead to his shoulder for a moment as she walks. "This is really our best option?"

"I don't know," Sean sighs, dropping his careful front of stoicism and simmering rage as the others drop out of sight. He can handle stress, it's the worrying he isn't used to, and it's exhausting. "I jus' don't know anymore. I dinnae e'en ken if... is this real? We're still there, right? Like before?"

This isn't anything like before, but Meredith doesn't say so. She knows what he means, she just isn't sure what to think. "I don't know," she says, straightening up again. "I think so, maybe, but it's not really something I wanna test. We just have to make it a couple days and see."

A couple days might as well be an eternity right now, but Sean just nods, taking her hand in his. Motioning for her to duck, he leads her across a gap between buildings toward the back of a small farmer's market, pausing when they get to the back door.

"All I want ta do is get us out o' here an' lay low, but wi' me throat the way it is, we could only go so far. Wi' the KGB tailin' us an' that army base nae far outta town... I dinnae ken what else t'do."

"We just have to be careful," Meredith says, turning to look at him. With what he's said, it sounds absurdly simplistic even to her. There's too much here to be wary of and she doesn't know what she's doing other than trying to keep out of the way like she said. She's relying on him and on sheer dumb luck and only one of those has proven at all reliable. Until they pull through this, though, she can't let it get to her and give him one more thing to worry about. "I don't like this, Sean, not at all. But if it's what we have to do... I don't want you straining your throat more than you have to anyway."

Sean scoffs, shaking his head as he disengages to start fiddling with the lock. "That's me last concern. If it meant gettin' ye out o' here, I'd ne'er speak again." Growing frustrated, he quickly gives in and puts his weight on the aging door handle, snapping it off and splintering the wood around it. Waiting for a moment to make sure nobody's heard them, he forces the door open and sticks his head inside. "'S all clear. C'mon."

Following after, though she knows she's supposed to be helping, Meredith's attention stays on him. "Except that'd be pointless because we couldn't get far enough," she says. "But I think it's a very real possibility if you're not careful with your voice. Which I'd miss hearing." There was a period earlier in the day (god, it feels like it's been so much longer) when she'd thought she'd never hear him, never see him, again in spite of all their promises. That he still managed to turn up — maybe it's just the nature of what's happening, the shared dream or whatever it is, and she couldn't be here without him, but there's still something intensely reassuring about the fact he found her, that sense of validation so out of place amidst all the fear. He found her, though, he always will. "We can do this. We'll get through it."

Sean looks up from where he's scrounging in the back for a sack to put stuff in, unable to come up with a reply to that. "Ah, screw it, we got time," he mutters, heading back over to her and sitting roughly down against the wall. "Let's jus'... take a minute. Hmm?"

Meredith glances over at the closed door first (so maybe what she hates most is that, try as she might to hide it, this is turning her skittish, afraid, like the others might change their minds, send someone to check on them). Nodding, she sinks slowly down beside him. "Okay," she says. "A minute sounds good." More than that would be better, but she'll take what she can get until they're out of this mess.

Sean will be keeping an ear out for unwanted company long after the minute is over either way, so while he can't afford to relax anytime soon, can't drop his guard for an instant, he takes the opportunity to just be still and not quite on the offensive, pulling the pistol he snagged back at the prison from the waistband of his jeans and setting it on the floor next to him. "It's jus' been so... 'go, go, go' since we woke up, ye know? I'm sorry f'r draggin' ye into this."

"You didn't drag me into anything," Meredith says, leaning her head against his shoulder. "You didn't ask for this any more than I did." Whatever the circumstances, it's not like she has anywhere to be but with him. If it had been up to her, they'd be in Seattle again, somewhere far less dangerous, but it's hardly his fault that she got pulled here instead.

Sean shakes his head, but it's only a mild protest. "If I weren't here, ye wouldnae be either," he says, slipping his arm around her. "I did. I didnae mean to, maybe it's nae me fault, but it's still on me that ye're here. How're ye holdin' up?"

It's not something Meredith can argue, much as she'd like to. Instead she leans closer, lifting her head to give him a quick kiss. "I'm fine," she says. She shakes her head, though, as it occurs to her that isn't going to cut it, not now. Nothing's fine about this. "It's exhausting. Not physically as much as — I'm exhausted and you don't keep especially charming company, but I'm holding up. How are you?"

"It's me life, innit?" Sean deadpans. "I'm right at home." Never mind that it's a blatant lie. "An' as f'r the company... always did say me life turned a corner when I met ye, didn't I?"

"I never realized how vast the improvement was," Meredith says wryly. Reaching up, she rests a hand on his. That first day seems such a long time ago now, his throat injured then, too. "But I can deal with it. All of it. Just get us through this."

Sean nods, tightening his hold on her minutely. "That's what I'm doin'," he says, trying to reassure himself just as much as her. He needs to have faith in his decisions and in his capabilities, or they'll both be lost, and hoping this is all just a dream isn't going to cut it if that comes to pass. "I know I been screwin' up a lot lately, but that... I cannae let that happen anymore. This is too... we're gettin' through this."

"We made it this far," Meredith says, shaking her head. "You're doing good. And you will stay on top of it. You just need to keep focused. Don't worry too much about me, I'll just follow your lead." This is his territory, after all, and she's more clueless than ever. At least, that's how she feels, useless and uncertain, but he's got them this far. "Mostly just by staying out of the way, of course."

"It'll only get harder from here on out," Sean says, but her words do go a long way toward placating him, upping his confidence. They're in a bind, all right, but it's not hopeless. Sighing, he knows that he should get up and get moving again, but he puts it off a little longer. "Ye understand where we're goin', right? Who they're after?"

Meredith nods, glancing away. "I understand," she says. It's something she's tried not to think about, the one thing made easier by the constant company. She has enough to worry about without adding that to the rest. Looking up again, she draws in a deep breath, gaze fixed on him for several seconds before she actually speaks again. "What happens? When you find her?"

Sean hesitates, mouth pressed into a thin line. He'd been expecting the question, maybe even actively seeking it out, but that doesn't make it any easier to answer.

"I'm nae sure," he says, staring straight ahead. What he came here for and what he wants are two very different things, especially now that he's a got an entirely different set of concerns to worry about. Then again, there's no way of predicting how he'll feel when he actually sees her again, how Meredith's presence might influence things. "I jus' don't know. Nae yet."

"Now might be a good time to start figuring that out," Meredith says, reaching up to cup his cheek, still watching him. It's a lot to handle for her; she can't imagine what he must be going through with this. Under all the concern, though, and the uncertainty is curiosity. With all the trouble the Widow's caused, intentional or accidental, she has to wonder what she's like firsthand and if she'll even get to find out. It only gets harder from here, he's said, and she believes it.

Right, because it's not as if he has anything else on his mind at the moment. That doesn't change how right she is, though, and Sean knows it. "What does it e'en matter?" he asks, eyes darting to the side as he hedges. "None o' this is real, anyway."

Maybe.

"It matters," Meredith says, brow raising a little, "and we don't know that it's not. We don't know how going home works. This could be it." She's not sure at all that it is, that he isn't right and this is just another stupid dream, but right now, the idea that, if anything goes wrong, she'll just wake up is too tempting to put much faith in.

Sean opens his mouth to reply to that more than once before anything actually comes out, and he nods slowly as he replies. "No, that's... ye're right. O' course ye're right." He pauses again, still searching for an answer that he just doesn't have yet. "I'll do what I need ta do."

"What you need to do." Meredith nods slowly, licking her lips. "Okay," she says. She's not sure what that means or if she likes the sound of it, and she wishes she were wrong, that he could say so and mean it, because this isn't where she wants to be the rest of her life. "It's probably just like before, you're right. I just... don't think we should take any chances yet."

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