The Way Out [Lilith]

[Lilith Prescott]

Lilith had finally gotten up the courage to venture out into the city without feeling like she was going to have a nervous breakdown. She stared at the money she had in her hand. She had managed to do a couple of odd jobs over the last week. She hadn't had any of her photographs from before to sell, but she had just enough money for a decent camera. 

Lately, Lilith had been getting more and more worried about Drew. He wasn't doing well, handling the jobs that he was doing for the mob boss, and Lilith wasn't quite sure how to help him. She knew that just her being there wasn't enough. He was doing it for her, and the thought that the pain he was in was because of her made her pause and touch her stomach lightly. She would be able to have his children...but at what cost? Losing the man she loved? She blinked, continueing to walk down the street. If only there was something she could do...

The sun on her skin was warm and she enjoyed the feeling of it, making a note that maybe she should get out more often. She was in jeans, flats, and a regular t-shirt today as she walked towards the store to get the camera. Maybe getting that would help her feel more like her old self. Window shopping used to be her favorite thing when she was downtown and she started giving glances to the window displays in stores.

One such display made her pause. She stared at the item on display, memories coming back to her. She thought about how much money she had in her purse, and made up her mind right then, walking through the door next to the neon sign that marked open.

---

That afternoon, Lilith watched the television, anxiously waiting for Drew to come home. She fidgeted, looking towards the bedroom where Drew's present was on a stand next to the wall. She had just turned the channel again when Drew walked in. She blinked, standing up. He looked awful and she watched as he walked to the kitchen. When he came out, Lilith followed him to the bathroom. "Drew, Sweety...let me." She took the rag, cleaning the cut on his side. 

Why was he bleeding? She frowned as she cleaned it up, trying not to think about what caused the bleeding that she was currently cleaning up. When she was done, she stood up straight, taking Drew's hand. Hearing the television, Lilith looked down. She knew that Drew was doing something shady, but if this man was making Drew kill....she went and turned off the television before moving back to where Drew was and guiding him out of the bathroom."I have a surprise." She touched his face, her heart saddening with how tired he looked. She pulled him into the bedroom. "I don't know if you would still like it...and if you don't I can return it. The guy at the store said I had 24 hours to return it if you really didn't want it, or if I got the wrong one." Lilith gestured to a simple tan acoustic guitar that was sitting on a stand. "I mean, it probably isn't as great as your last one. But I know you like playing and...I just..I saw it and knew you had to have it. Drew, I'm so worried about you, and if you don't want it, no problem. It's ok. I just really hope you like it. I mean,..." She let out a breath, studying him. She knew she was talking because she was so nervous that he wasn't going to like it, and everything in her just wanted him to be ok, for them to be ok. 

[Drew Schultz]

Glancing up as Lilith came in, he put the rag down and pulled his shirt off before bracing his large hands on either side of the sink. All he could think about as she cleaned the thin cut was that she knew what he was doing. Surely, she had put two and two together. He was still expecting her to be upset when she left the room and turned the television off. When she came back, he could only blink blankly at her. She wasn't pissed? She wasn't even visibly upset. She looked... sad, if anything. The thought made him sigh as she tugged at his hand and started leading him into the bedroom. She had a surprise for him? That was unexpected, considering...

The sight of the guitar was like a kick to the gut, and he took a couple steps forward before gently touching the top of it. The instrument was a simple acoustic, and its nickel strings had a little corrosion from age and use, but it was far and away better than what he'd had previously, which was nothing. It would need the strings replaced soon, but for now, he was just touched that she had thought to get it. He glanced at her with a question in his eyes, and signed, How? How could she afford something like this, when she almost never left the apartment?

Picking it off of the stand, he ran the flat of his thumb along the strings, producing the least melodic sound imaginable. He sat on the bed and adjusted the tuning, twisting the knobs at the top until the sounds were closer to what he remembered as correct. The next time he strummed, the sound was a recognizable chord, and he adjusted his hands to make a better one. A small smile tugged at his lips as his eyes softened. Being able to make music was something that it had taken him being unable to make any sound at all to appreciate completely. Perhaps there was a way to make all of this bearable... The wolf in him was entirely settled, as it only ever was when he had a guitar in his hands.

Looking back up at Lilith with dark brown eyes, he lifted his flat hand to his lips and dropped it away, toward her. The sign for Thank you.

[Lilith Prescott]

Watching Drew, Lilith took a step back as he studied the instrument. She felt a smile tug at her lips when he looked at her, asking her how. She ran a hand through her long, wild hair. She blushed as he sat down and tuned the instrument. "Well...I had been doing some odd jobs here and there. I was trying to save up some money and when I went into town today, I saw that guitar in this window and I knew, ya know?" Lilith was so happy he liked it, she would leave out what she was really saving the money up for, because she didn't want Drew to feel bad or anything. 

When the smile tugged on his lips a little bit, Lilith could have jumped for joy and screamed because there was nothing like seeing the man she was closest with happy. Her heart thumped hard in her chest as she leaned against the wall, watching him. He thanked her and it made a bright smile, probably the first good smile that she had had in what felt like years, appear on her face. "You don't have to thank me. Just know how much I love you. I'll go make something to eat, ok?" She turned, skipping into the kitchen, so happy about how it all turned out. She pulled out some thawed chicken. "Maybe chicken salad, that does sound good." 

Humming, Lilith prepared the chicken, lost in her own thoughts as she meandered around the kitchen. Drew would get better, she hoped. It saddened her to think of how they ended up like this, but it was harder to think how much Drew had suffered...she blinked, taking a deep breath and successfully controlling the anger she felt. Turning a little to quickly, she hit the half full water bottle, knocking it to the floor with a loud thud, causing her to jump. "Fuck..." Grabbing a towel, she knelt down and mopped it up, then just sat on the floor as angry tears came down her face. Anger at the water falling, at herself for being clumsy, at the sadness she felt in her heart, and at the suffering that Drew had to go through.

It was all the fault of that stupid boss and she threw the rag into the wall, trying to stop her tears from falling. She wiped her face. "Just let it go, Lilith." She told herself under her breath, standing up. she was going to be fine, even if it wasn't right now, the anger would go away. It had to.

[Drew Schultz]

It took Drew a second to hear the change in her breathing that told him that she'd started crying, but he laid the guitar on the bed and headed into the kitchen as soon as he did. She was standing, but the salt-scent of her tears was as confusing as it was upsetting. He approached her tentatively, wondering if it was something that he'd done. Glancing at the mostly-empty water bottle, he picked it up off the floor and dropped it into the sink, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of the moisture on his fingertips as he rubbed them together. Looking at her, he could see the tears that were streaming down her cheeks, and it felt like a physical ache in his chest. His fingertips were warm as he gently wiped them away with his thumb, his eyebrows furrowed.

Looking her in the eyes for a long moment, he guided her chin upward so that he could kiss her on the forehead, dipping his head to put his forehead against hers. Brushing her wild hair over her ear, he closed his eyes and nuzzled her for a moment, grateful that she was still willing to let him be tender with her, after all that had happened. There was so much that he wanted to say to her, things that he couldn't communicate with his rudimentary understanding of sign language. The last thing he wanted was for her to have to shoulder the same burdens that he had taken on willingly. It defeated the purpose.

The concern in his eyes was obvious as he pulled away, brushing her cheek with his thumb. He had always been able to endure anything, but seeing Lilith in pain was the one thing that made him feel like he was falling apart. If there was anything he could do to make it stop, he would find a way to do it. Frustrated with being unable to communicate, he looked around the apartment for a second and found a piece of paper and a pen. His handwriting wasn't the best, but it was better than nothing. Leaning over the counter, he scratched out a few sentences to her.

Please don't cry. I'm sorry if I did something wrong. Is there anything I can do to make it right?

He looked up at her, nudging the page toward her so that she could read it. It would be faster than trying to figure out the sign language for it.

[Lilith Prescott]

Lilith blinked, looking at Drew as he wiped her tears away. He had heard her of course before she could calm down. She breathed in as he leaned in, kissing her on the forehead. He was so warm and tender and caring. She felt awful at the concern in his eyes. Why did their lives have to be like this, pain and suffering. She allowed him to nuzzle her, feeling slightly calmer in terms of being upset, but her anger was slowly growing.

She blinked as he pulled away, looking around and grabbing a piece of paper. She read his scratchy handwriting and let out a sigh, turning towards him. She moved close, kissing his chest before resting her forehead on it. "It isn't you Drew, it could never be you...it is...all this crap. I'm so angry at all the shit in our lives!" She fisted his shirt in her hands. "All we are doing is suffering or making ourselves suffer. I can't take it anymore!" Lilith looked up, new tears falling from her eyes as she touched her face.

"Please Drew...please stop killing for that phsycopath." Her voice was soft as she angrily brushed the tears away from her face. "It isn't helping anyone, not you or me or anyone. No one but him." She run her hand through her hair a couple times. "I love you. But you can't keep doing this...I see what you look like every time you come home...I can't watch you destroy yourself..." She wasn't going to leave him, but she was just saying the truth. If he was going to keep killing, she couldn't watch him do it and destroy himself from the inside out.

[Drew Schultz]

He held her as she cried, feeling torn inside. He knew what breaking the agreement would mean. They would have to run, and keep running. They would live their lives looking over their shoulders, but then again, that was nothing new. The idea of Salazar pointing a gun at her back was one that he could barely stomach, but what happened if he stayed the course and lost her anyway, because he couldn't get past what he was being forced to do? That was equally impossible for him to contemplate, which meant that he had no good options left.

He would need to figure out the next move, even if it meant that he had to face some tough choices. For now, he would see what options presented themselves. Hopefully, he would figure it out before anything else drastic happened...

-------------------

The target was young, he knew from the photograph he'd received. It just wasn't until he'd seen the young man's face in person that Drew realized that it was just a teenager. Why would anyone want to kill a teenager? Leaning against the building with his phone in his face, he kept his senses trained on the target while looking anywhere but. From the fancy cars and bodyguards, Drew could guess that the boy was the son of someone rich, and probably someone important. What he had done to piss of the mob was less certain. Killing children shouldn't have bothered Drew, really. He'd killed dozens of them in his life, though admittedly it had been back when he had been a child himself. The thought made his chest feel tight.

Walking across the street with his eyes on his phone, he hunched slightly to keep from attracting the attention of the single bodyguard that was keeping an eye on the boy. The boy himself, short and redheaded, looked like he'd just started gaining the weight that would fuel his next growth spurt. Dropping his hand to the knife inside his jacket, Drew meandered toward the target as he walked out of the hotel, gritting his teeth. It wasn't until the boy turned that Drew realized that he had blue eyes, just like Lilith. His breath stopped in his lungs, and all he could remember was Lilith's tearful request.

His sudden stop finally clued the bodyguard into his existence, and with Drew's hand under his jacket, he was immediately identified for the threat that he was. The guard shouted, and Drew's eyes turned to look at the man who was drawing a gun on him. Former military, certainly. There was a determination in his eyes that told Drew that he would shoot. Damn it, he'd botched the whole operation already, and now...

His grip moved from the knife to the gun, but the guard started shooting before he could even draw. The first bullet went straight through his shoulder, but Drew was already moving, and avoided the next. Using the traffic behind him to break line of sight, he withdrew before anything worse could happen. Leaning against the bricks in the alley, he clenched his hand to the wound, which was bleeding badly. He needed a doctor, but going to Kavanagh would just put him in deeper with the boss, and they would know he failed the job. He leaned forward, gritting his teeth as another wave of pain hit him.

He had no choice. He had to go.

--------------------

"I've never known you to be this sloppy, Andrew," Kavanagh commented, his head cocked to the side as he examined the injury. "You got lucky, though. The bullet went straight through. No excess digging necessary."

It took all of an hour for Kavanagh's powers to close the wound completely, even if he couldn't return the blood Drew had lost. By the end of it, though, Drew had made up his mind. This would be his last chance to get his voice back, because he couldn't go back to Marconi. It was either get it fixed now, or be mute forever. Standing slowly, he made his way to the desk and got out a piece of paper and a pen.

I need you to fix my throat. Now.

He underlined the last word, and when Kavanagh's eyes widened, Drew kept writing.

I can't kill for him anymore. I'm leaving, and I'm never coming back.

When he looked back up at Kavanagh, he was surprised to see a smile crossing the man's lips.

"We don't have time to do this right," he said. "If you can bear with me, we can get you started, but it's going to be quick and dirty. You'll have to recover the rest of the way on your own."

Drew nodded. With that, he allowed himself to be led into the operating room. Only a few swigs of alcohol to keep him steady would be possible as sedative for this, so he would have to endure the pain. If he jerked, the doctor would cut his throat on accident, and he would die. Leaning back and closing his eyes, he pictured Lilith as the doctor began his work. The pain was incredible, but he'd had far too much practice not screaming. He was still.

-------------------

The wound was closed within a couple of hours, but with Marconi liable to stop by any minute, the doctor only had time to remove some scar tissue and reattach the cords. He would have to deal with the atrophy on his own time, exercise it out day-by-day. He had other concerns now. By then, Marconi had to have heard what Drew had done, and that meant that he and Lilith were in danger. He staggered home, completely exhausted and more than a little pale. It took a lot of determination to get himself up those stairs, but he finally got to their door and unlocked it before going in. The hour was late, and he guessed Lilith would be asleep, but there wasn't time for subtlety.

Heading into the bedroom, he started packing a bag with the essentials for travel. It took him all of fifteen minutes to do it, but he froze at the sound of every car passing by, certain that it was Marconi. Only once he was packed did he wake Lilith with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"We're leaving," he said, the low rumble of his voice raspy but still audible for the first time in a couple of months.

It hurt because it was still inflamed, and he could barely manage any volume, but it felt damn good to speak again.

[Lilith Prescott]

Lilith knew Drew was on a job. She still hated it. Moving through the apartment, Lilith tried anything to keep herself busy. Cleaning until nothing else could be cleaned, making food for Drew when he got home, more cleaning. Brushing her red hair aside, Lilith finally gave up and went into the bedroom, changing into pajamas and crawling under the covers. It smelled like Drew and a small smile touched her lips. His smell was the one thing that comforted her anymore, and his arms, and all the amazing things he was to her. But what he was doing now...she wished he would just stop.

Lilith tossed and turned on the bed, fighting for sleep. Before long a dreamless sleep from exhaustion over took her finally. It had been a while since she had had sleep without dreams, being exhausted did that to you sometimes, and if Lilith had been awake she would have been thanking something for the sleep without nightmares.

Blinking her eyes, Lilith turned over at the hand on her shoulder. Drew was home. She gave him a sleepy smile then blinked when she heard his voice. It wasn't what he said but the audible sounds that came from his lips. She sat straight up, turning on the bedside lamp. "Drew you spoke! How?" She got out of bed, seeing his fresh wound on his neck and touched his chest. "Your throat...does that mean..? Leaving?" It didn't help Lilith was still waking up and barely cognitive but she was getting hit with two things. Where were they going?

Judging by the bag that Drew packed they were not coming back. Lilith blinked, understanding dawning on her face. They were leaving for good. No more killing, no more anything. She watched as Drew grabbed the bag and she followed him out of the apartment. They were leaving everything behind, but Lilith wasn't sad about it. She was thrilled to finally be moving on, no more memories of this town, the horrible things that happened, and no more Drew killing for people. She idly wondered if he paid of his debt to the mob but she didn't think so in the end with the speed that they were leaving.

Holding Drew's hand in hers, Lilith thought nothing could be more perfect then when they slipped out of New Orlando in the night.