Closed RP with [immaculates]

[make_it_hurt]

From here.

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James smiled. "You will be able to, I promise you that. We'll get you both out and you'll be safe." He clutched her tightly to his chest, stroking her hair gently.  "You and Thomas will be safe from him, I promise." And he couldn't do anything less than promise. He had to. He had to get her and Thomas out, and keep them safe, and make sure he would never be able to hurt them again.

Comments

[make_it_hurt]

James had dozed off while waiting for Amanda to wake up, lulled by the movement of the train and also exhausted from being up all night and getting up early the previous morning.

He was woken up by Becky patting on his shoulder. She'd been awake and heard Amanda wake up.

James groaned and opened his eyes reluctantly before he sat up and looked across the compartment at Amanda.

He didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth to speak then closed it.

Finally he said quietly, "We're heading to Germany. I'm sorry I drugged you."

[immaculates]

Amanda didn’t said anything to him, she just shrugged and let it be, she was too pissed off at him to be able to say something without just screaming at him and she didn’t wanted to scare Becky or Thomas with anything she might do or say.

Instead she just ran her fingers against Thomas hair and leaned against her seat, pondering on the information he had just given her. Germany was probably an adequate place to go, since he will have more freedom and rights there, but honestly what were they supposed to do once they got there? She will need to find a place to stay and they were whole unprepared for it.

[make_it_hurt]

James glanced between Becky and Amanda, keeping his ears tucked down against his head, a big ashamed.

"We have a hotel room set up already... Should be able to stay there long enough to find an apartment... Ella has friends over there, they already found me a job... It's not much, but it's something." He wouldn't have to stand all day and it wasn't manual labor - sorting and filing forms, mostly. "Ella said since you're fleeing an abusive relationship, you can probably get money from the government to help get you back on your feet..."

He kept his eyes down and his shoulders slumped. His entire body screamed 'submission' and he was careful to keep his hands out in the open and his teeth covered.

[immaculates]

Of course, Amanda should have figured it out, it looked that at the very least they had things ready for him and she had been a bit of a sudden anomaly that had showed up out of the blue, and really she could have not done so, she could have just called but she had wanted to honor whatever little promise she made and come meet him face to face for the last time and this had happened.

She finally turned to look at him. “Am I to expect more drugging in the future?” And yes okay, maybe she was feeling a bit vindictive and it was wrong for her to let it out on him, but she hadn’t liked that and it had triggered a whole can of memories she had done her best to block out.

[make_it_hurt]

James flinched at the question. "No, never," he said and lifted his eyes to look at her. "I'm sorry, I... It'll never happen again." He swallowed hard, reaching up to stroke Becky's back to reassure himself. "I promise." He wanted her forgiveness for doing what he had done, but he knew he would have to earn it. Amanda had every right to be mad at him for drugging her and taking her halfway across the country and onto a train that was going to take them to a completely different country.

[immaculates]

Normally Amanda would have felt bad when she saw the flinch, but right now she was angry enough to ignore it, to oversee it because she had quite valid reasons to be angry at him. “Is that so?” She gave him a bit of a blank look then. “Hopefully you will be better at keeping that promise.” Because this wasn’t the first time she had been promised that and while she knew she could believe James, it didn’t changed the fact she still felt a bit betrayed at what he had done to her.

[make_it_hurt]

He nodded. He would of course keep that promise. James turned and ruffled through the last bag Ella had given him and dug out a pamphlet. "Here's the hotel we're staying in. If you want another room, you should be able to get one." Ella had booked a room with two beds, but Amanda might not want to sleep in the same room as him, especially after all she had been through.

[immaculates]

She looked at him for a bit before moving, being mindful of Thomas, to accept the pamphlet and browse it a bit. Of course Thomas was a bit more interested on the brightly colored thing and the pretty pictures; she just took a cursory glance at it and then let her son carefully watch through it. And really she was so tempted to just get another room, but she needed to be careful with whatever money she had and couldn’t spend more than necessary, an extra room will do just that. “No, it’s okay.”

[make_it_hurt]

James nodded. "Are you hungry?" He went through the bag again - there were sandwiches and drinks in there, mostly for the kids, but there was stuff for them as well. He offered one to Amanda, hoping she would take it.

[immaculates]

Amanda gave him a bit of a blank look, did he really expected her to accept something from him after what happened last time? There was a slight narrow of her eyes before she looked away. "No, thank you."

[make_it_hurt]

James hesitated then nodded. "Beck, here, you hungry?" He pulled one half of the sandwich out of the bag and put it in her hands, then ate the other half himself. He kept his eyes down on Becky, finished his half in a few minutes then dug around a bit more before coming up with a few bills. He offered them to Amanda, "There's vending machines... I saw them a bit further up the train." He pointed in the right direction. "If you want something."

[immaculates]

Amanda took a deep breath and dared to draw the drapes from her side of the window to look outside, at the changing scenario, and given the reaction she got from Thomas he was more than happy she had done so since he was now close to being plastered against the window pane. She turned to look at James; she did consider the machines and then suddenly thought of something, looking down at her son and catching his attention to ask if he was hungry and wasn’t surprised when he said yes.

Carefully she set Thomas on the seat, and his attention was once again to looking out the window, before she picked up her purse clearly not going to accept the offered money. “Can you watch over him for a bit?”

[make_it_hurt]

James's ears flickered back, unsure. Something in her expression told him something was wrong, but he didn't know what. Finally he nodded. "Alright." He set Becky next to him then said, a pleading tone in his voice, "Don't do anything that will leave him alone. Please. He needs you, Amanda." He wasn't going to stop her, or confront her, and he knew she would always think of Thomas, but she would put her son first to the point of losing herself. And James couldn't stand even the thought.

[immaculates]

Amanda just gave him a bit of a startled look and looked confused for a few seconds. “...I’m not doing anything, James, where do you think I could go on a moving train anyway?” She shook her head a bit and moved to ruffle Thomas hair, before after a bit of pondering, she also gently petted Becky’s hair, which seemed to perk her up a bit. “I will be right back.”

She had to unlock the compartment door, before she finally left in search of said vending machines or anything else. Turned out she took longer than expected, when she returned she had a bit of a small thoughtful expression before sitting down and giving Thomas small pieces of an apple croissant. “We apparently have trolley service and access to the restaurant in the train since we apparently have first class tickets.”

[make_it_hurt]

James sat, tense and nervous, until Amanda came back. He didn't relax until she came back in and even then he relaxed only a fraction. He nodded slowly, knowing that he wouldn't be allowed to go to the restaurant or even buy food from the trolley. That was still a service only given to humans. Until they left the train in Germany, he was still a pet, still under Amanda. "I'm going to try to sleep," he said and started moving bags to the floor. He laid down, curling up with his back to Amanda, and closed his eyes, hoping for sleep to come.

It didn't, and he laid awake for a long, long time.

[immaculates]

Amanda didn’t say anything, he couldn’t get anything but she could and that was what mattered at the moment she supposed. She continued to make sure Thomas ate and had something to drink, not minding when Becky made her way to the free spot at her side to leave James alone. This was probably going to be quite a long trip. They sat in silence for a bit, before Thomas got bored with the sights and pressed to her side, with a small smile she wrapped her arms around them both.

“When I was a young girl, I used to dream of a lover. He’ll be my shinning knight of strength one day. He carried me to castle in the heavens and battle all my dragons on the way…” Her hands carefully forming and creating the familiar signs for Thomas, she knew he couldn’t hear but she still had the habit of singing along anyway, and Becky could hear her anyway. “…he’ll bring me love, I was longing for. He’ll bring me joy and lasting peace…”

And really, Becky and Thomas had probably more success at falling asleep, considering that it didn’t took her long to lull them into that state, with their heads resting against her lap and still keeping a secure hold on them while she stared out of the window. “I guess there were no castles for me; I do hope it’s different for you two.”