darker_london | A heart on the run (Rachel, Danny)

Harley woke her up a little before five in the morning. He tried to be gentle, but when he loomed over her with a "Rachel? Rachel," she sprung from sleep so violently she shrieked. Bolt upright, the blankets clutched to her chest, she stared at him, panting and on the verge of a panicky cry.

"I gotta get to work," he told her, in a really bad whisper, as if there was some reason other than the hour for secrecy and quiet. "Gonna be there till six. Didn't wantcha to wake up alone."

Rachel look around her at the unfamiliar room. She'd gone to sleep soon after they'd arrived at the motel, her body and mind completely drained of energy. She still felt drained, but she must had slept a long time. All day, and most of the night. A bright orange light was coming in through the thin curtains, an electric dawn. She couldn't count the number of times in her life that she'd woken up up in a strange, hired bed. "Are we still in London?"

"Yeah, princess," he said, sitting on the side of his bed as he lased up his shoes. "Gotta job here, can't just pack up and leave. Why, you wanna?"

Rachel shrugged, then shook her head a little, then shrugged again. "Dunno," she said.

"We'll talk bout it later," he said, then kissed her forehead and left. He smelled like stale breath.

"Brush your teeth," she reminded him, and he turned at her doorway and saluted.

Rachel settled back down into the bed, though she kept the top blankets off. It was hot, the air in here felt close, and she was sticky with sweat from the warm night. This warm night and the night before. It had been warm in jail. Uncomfortably warm. It was uncomfortable warm again, but she didn't want to shower yet.

Her dad left by half past five; she listened to the car leave. The walls were thin here, noises everywhere, from the street outside her window. Imogene's house had been quiet, the walls thick and the house set well back from the street. When she first moved in there it had been too quiet, and she had trouble sleeping. Now it was loud, and she wondered if Imogene was still going to be a problem in her life. She wondered where Indigo was. She hoped they would just leave her and Harley alone. She hoped for a clean break from her old life...

Except her old life contained people like Zoe and Danny, like Cai and Liz. Rachel didn't think they would want anything to do with her now - except, she hadn't really done anything wrong, had she?

Just used her dad's credit card one time. Like he'd said, there was no crime in that. Rachel covered her mouth to stop herself making some cry of relief. She hadn't done anything wrong. She was the victim here, the victim of Imogene's crazy ideas. Danny and Zoe knew that Imogene and Indigo were monsters. They wouldn't believe the Dumires if they told them Rachel was a criminal.

They'd believe Rachel. She was sure of it.

They'd believe her, because they had faith in her. Real, proper faith like no one had had in her before. Hope welled up inside her, filled her up. To think that just two nights ago she'd been thoroughly devoid of hope, completely ready to die... the idea was so stupid now! And it scared her, because she knew that place wasn't gone. It was still inside her, somewhere. She was just a little further away from it now.

It was so early in the morning, but she wanted to call Danny. She didn't think he'd be mad if she woke him up. He'd understand, because Danny understood everything.

Rachel kicked her way out of bed and began to search for her phone. It wasn't on the surfaces beside the bed and it wasn't anywhere easy to see in the tiny living room slash kitchen where her dad had made a nest on the couch. Well, she thought, it's probably dead anyway. Two days without charging was a really long time. But there was a phone on the cinderblock wall of the motel, and she knew Danny's number. Out of all the things in her mind, she was glad she remembered that. But of course she did - it was Danny. She still remembered his timetable, every day of the week, and they hadn't had classes for more than a month

She rang his number, sinking own to sit on the floor and press her hot back against the cool painted stone.