Pretend.Relive.Regret. (Rhys)

[Sawyer Carson]

Stepping into the rehearsal room Sawyer rubbed her face. Her eyes stung. She hadn't felt well in a few days. Of course she hadn't told Rhys this. Sawyer didn't want him to worry. Running a hand through her hair she closed her eyes. Her arms felt heavy. Her legs felt feeble. Her head felt.....like it was in a fishbowl. But she had to do this. She had to be here. Turning on the music Sawyer stretched out and tried not to think about how her stomach felt.

Breathing, she tried to concentrate. It wasn't working. She opened a window and let the cool air hit her face. Turning back to the studio she ran through the first quarter of her routine and stopped. Puting her hands on her knees she breathed. She was gonna barf. Swallowing she shook her head and started the music over. she got half way through that time before having to stop.

Sawyer was getting frustrated. She usually nailed this. Getting mad at herself she started the music again closing my eyes this time and letting the music pierce her. Dancing felt like making love. You didn't remember every second when you thought about it later. You just saw bits and pieces of it in a montage of images from your memory. As the song grew to a climax so did her dance. She was doing spins across the floor before finally she stopped. Now she had the spins.

The room shifted. The walls were rising. The floor was coming at her. And the ceiling was running away. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head before her body collapsed on the floor, banging loudly, and painfully against it.

[Rhys Rockwood]

Rhys had been thrilled to get his last real bit of work off his desk and filed away. The next two days were going to be easy: show up and make it look like he was doing something important, maybe even do some real research looking for the next potential recruit in news paper articles and such. There was no reason to totally waste work time. Sometimes, being a recruiter for Hammel had some great perks as a job.

Other times, it sucks. Toward the end of the day, he'd gotten a message about a recruit he was supposed to go after the next day. If he was lucky, Rhys might be back by Saturday: just in time to miss some of the time he had planned with Sawyer. Nothing better than canceling a date because work stuff, right? At least this only the first time he had needed to cancel on her because work sent him to some other part of the country.

Rhys finished packing things up for the day and said good-bye to the last few coworkers that were still there. He headed toward the rehearsal area he knew Sawyer was supposed to be using this afternoon. If he had to tell her about canceling their plans, he might as well have the respect to do it in person since he could. At least most of the students were out of the way by now.

His knuckles rapped against the door once, twice, three times before he let himself in, already smiling a little. Rhys just liked to see her-

Pause.

Confusion: The sight before him was off. This wasn't right. Sawyer, floor...why wasn't she standing?

It only took Rhys a moment to snap out of it and get over to her side, dropping to his knees and sliding the last foot or two. "Sawyer??" He picked her up a little, patting her cheek heavily to try and get her to stir. "Sawyer?! Wake up!" He checked for a pulse and breathing, and thank everything, those were still there.

Still holding her up a little, Rhys pulled out his cell phone, flipped it open, and...who was he going to call? A hospital...to discover her drug history? School official...to send her to a hospital (see above) and possibly figure out their relationship? He couldn't call no one; her life could be at risk. Calling anyone was going to have consequences besides saving her health, but he had to do something.

[Sawyer Carson]

She didn't stir when he called her name. Her blond exhausted head rolled back over his arm as he held her. But she could hear the panic in his voice as her mind seemed to creep back to her. It was just a faint. A dizzy spell brought on by exhaustion and withdrawal. Taking in a little bit of a deeper breath, she opened her eyes halfway before trying to turn her head. Which now throbbed.

Who??? her vision was slowly coming out of its tunnel as she opened her eyes a little more and looked up at him. "Rhys?? What are you doing here? You'll get caught..." Trying to sit up on her own, she realized just how much her body ached. And the more she tried to move the more she felt like she was going to throw up. Her guts rolled around inside her. Groaning Sawyer breathed a little and closed her eyes. "What... What happened??"

Her arms felt heavy. But they were shaking. Looking up at him she swallowed a little and sighed, her eyelids heavy. "I don't feel very well..." Her skin felt warm and clammy even she could tell that. But she felt cold on her insides. And... nauseous. Sooo Nauseous.

[Rhys Rockwood]

"Yeah, I'll get caught. I'll get caught carrying an unhealthy student to a nurse. You must have passed out while you were practicing...I have no idea how long you were out. You could have a concussion or something." He pushed the hair out of her face and smiled down at her, knowing he had to take her somewhere. The threat of a concussion alone made that seem important; no, he definitely couldn't just help her up and hope she felt better.

Rhys sighed and rubbed his forehead for a moment. "I have to take you somewhere to get checked out, Sawyer. This isn't healthy. In fact, a fall like that is outright dangerous." He paused for a moment thinking about what he could when he realized all he could do was take her somewhere and not worry for a few days. "And I'm supposed to go out of town tomorrow. I'll spend the entire recruiting trip worrying about this," he muttered, standing up with the small girl in his arms.

"Alright, Sawyer, where do I need to take you? I can take you to a school physician or to the hospital, your call. If we hit the school nurse, we can just pass it off as exhaustion and not enough food, maybe get around the blood-work that would show your past extracurricular activities."

[Sawyer Carson]

She smiled as she watched him work it all out in his head. He had a good point. Leaning into him she closed her eyes. "You worry too much." She was very still for a moment. Very quiet. Just trying to gather herself. Her whole world felt fuzzy. He'd noticed how little she ate. She felt guilt hit her a little. But she couldn't. That was harder to come out of that just quitting drugs. She had support for that. But her stomach literally would not take healthy amounts of food anymore.

"My ears... they aren't ringing. I have total control of- okay well aside from them feeling like led right now, I have control of my limbs. My vision is fine, I know my name, I know what....no.. I don't." she laughed. "But I don't think I knew what day it was before I fell." Taking a fist full of his shirt in her hand she sighed and buried her face into him.

Swallowing, she closed her eyes and sighed. "Rhys... Just take me home, keep me awake and you can look at me yourself. It's just safer that way. Then no one will get found out." If she was that comprehensive she figured she was fine. And most of her symptoms had come around before she fell. Dizziness, nausea, fatigue....All something she had before.

[Rhys Rockwood]

"Sawyer, no. I can't take you home," he said quietly. "The only way you can be there is if you drive yourself, and that can't possibly be safe right now." Rhys frowned; all the options sucked. Doctors would discover her old drug habits. School officials would likely figure out the connection between them. Doing nothing put him at risk to be responsible for anything that happened to her now.

Rhys set her on her feet after their few minutes of talking. "Can you walk?" he asked, still helping her stand. He wasn't going to be satisfied with her explanation until he saw her have and use the control she claimed to have. "Walk a straight line and do a few other things. I'll decide if you're okay then. And you need to eat more. You're clearly overworked and exhausted on top of not eating enough. More activity, more food. Carbs and meat in appropriate amounts will keep you on your feet."

[Sawyer Carson]

She let him put her upright and stayed close to him. She felt alright. Just weak and very tired. Licking her lips she put a shaking hand to her for head as he spoke. He was right about everything. God she hated when he was right. It usually meant she was wrong. Brushing her hair back, she sighed. "I'll be fine." Looking down she stared at her feet and slowly walked around a little. "I was dancing before I fell, walking and driving aren't going to be a problem."

Taking in a deep breath, she looked at him. "Rhys... you don't get it. I can't eat. I've been this way so long. Starved myself for so long now, my body will not accept those foods so easily. Even some of the dinners we have make me feel horrible. Mentally and Physically." She sighed and breathed a little more. "If I don't get sick I think I can drive. I'm comprehending things, I....can tell you the answers to my advanced chem homework. And they'll be right answers." She breathed and found her bag still on wobly legs and shut off her music, taking her ipod up and stuffing it in her bag. She paused to breath and gather herself a little more. "Just take me home..."

[Rhys Rockwood]

"Sorry, Sawyer, but that's just not an option. I'd like to, but I really can't. I have to leave for a few days in the morning; you'll have to stay here. I'll help you up to your dorm room and give your dorm mates a warning about your possible condition." Rhys slipped an arm around her back, under her arms. He was really concerned about her condition, but with nothing apparent, he couldn't do anything about it. He'd have to hope she was okay and that her dorm mates would catch the problem if there was one.

Rhys had noticed her issue with food, but he hadn't thought it was quite as bad as she made it sound. "The eating thing is just another problem we'll tackle together," he said quietly, "But there are other issues to make sure are settled first. Don't want to push you back into them while fixing your appetite," he ended with a quiet laugh, starting to help Sawyer out of the room. "Let's get your things and get you to your room. I'll talk to your roommates and leave a number for the school medical aid."

[Sawyer Carson]

She looked up at him and sighed. "I'm not a baby Rhys. And I've been around these sorts of things a few times. If I say I'm fine... I'm usually fine." She was a little irritated, but she'd come from a world where she typically got what she wanted. And she was a little upset he was leaving. It wasn't her favorite thing in the world spending a weekend without him.

Her jaw held tight as she let him lead her out of the room. "I'm not really close with my dorm mates so I don't know what good it will do." Licking her lips she sighed again. "If you have to tell someone in the dorm, tell Mia, I don't need to take any crap from the boys." Walking the hall she hoped no one would see them. "If you could.... leave a message... for my brother too.. that'd be cool.. But I don't expect much from him and neither should you."

[Rhys Rockwood]

"You're still a student. I'm probably breaking rules by not taking you to the nurse. I understand you don't like being treated like this, but there's not much choice in the matter since we're on school grounds." Rhys didn't have a clue who Mia was; he was just going to help Sawyer to her room and talk to whoever was there. As for her brother, he had no idea how to contact the boy. Sawyer was better off calling him herself, though Rhys did feel like he should talk to the kid sooner or later. He didn't know if he could help the relationship between the twins, but it couldn't hurt to let Braxton know his sister was getting cleaned up.

"So yeah...sorry, about having to cancel our plans this weekend. That's just the unfortunate luck of the job. I gotta leave when I gotta leave. It's what pays my bills." Rhys shrugged a little, unsure what else to say about it. It hadn't really happened yet, but it was inevitable to occur sometime. Rhys wasn't terribly happy about the interruption to their plans either. While something he had known would happen with this job, it hadn't ever interfered with his life before.

[Sawyer Carson]

'"It's fine. I understand that it's your job." she looked up at him and took his hand. She knew he'd have no clue how to find Braxton. Pulling out a pen I sucked in my bottom lip while writing down Brax's dorm number and his cell phone number. "just.... leave him a voice mail." Trying to smile at him she sighed.

Swallowing she tried to shake her feelings aside, and the nausea, and focus on him. "It's only for a weekend." She looked down the halls and smiled lovingly up at him through her tired eyes. "You'll be back soon. I'll be okay. Just as long as you stay safe." She patted his cheek once, then sighed, continuing along the hall.

[Rhys Rockwood]

"I'll be fine. Routine recruiting mission. The kid isn't even that dangerous, and I'm getting used to dealing with parents." Rhys smirked with confidence and gave her hand a slight squeeze. "Dare I say I'm finally getting good at making these trips short and sweet. In and out, get the kid and get back with the parents feeling secure about their child." After a handful of these trips on his own, he really was thinking the job was a good fit for him. He wasn't struggling to convince people the Institute was a great place for metahumans in need of some care.

It didn't take too much time to reach her dorm, and Rhys gave her a quick hug and a peck on the cheek after checking the hall to make sure no one was around. "Don't worry about me. Just make sure you take care of yourself. You have a key to my place if you need to get away. Just don't do anything I wouldn't approve of," he told her quietly. "Make sure...Mia, was it?...knows you may have some issues and to keep an eye on you for a day or two when she can."

[Sawyer Carson]

Smiling she looked up. "Alright... but make it as quick as possible?" She wrinkled her nose and smiled. He was all she had right now. It had come to her attention as she ran over who else she could tell to keep an eye on her..... And came up with... Mia Keystone? Seriously??? Sawyer was deffinatly going to miss him. Maybe she'd just sleep the whole weekend.

Taking the peck for all it was worth she grinned. "I'll be careful. Besides, what am I going to do at the apartment that you wouldn't approve of?? Clean...more??" Laughing she rolled her eyes. "Can't have a party.... I have no friends!!" Not because no one liked her. There were plenty of people who liked her fairly well. But... for all the wrong reasons. Besides, in the past, Sawyer never really liked to bother with keeping anyone very close. "Don't worry about me. I'm tough." She didn't look tough. But she was on the inside. Turning she looked inside, "Oh Mia!!" Looking back as the door was closing she gave him a wink and a sexy sexy smile to remember her by.