Taking Care of Things

Who: Herbert and Olivia
When: 6ish
Where: Apartment

Olivia was more or less emotionally drained by the time evening rolled around. She had Herbert's things ready to go and she was laying on the couch, thinking over what had happened with Brian earlier. She still had to work at Babylon that evening. Afterward, all she really wanted to do was slip into Judi's bed and sleep all night if she could. Even if she felt better having been able to talk to her dad, Olivia was still tired and a bit depressed that so many people she knew were leaving. They all had their reasons, and all those reasons were valid, only she wished they would stay. Her father figure was leaving, the guy she thought of as her brother in a sense was also leaving, and Corwin, one of the only friends she had made in town who had also saved her life. Sighing heavily, Olivia closed her eyes against the couch pillow, hoping that maybe if she woke up, this would have all been a bad dream.

Really, Herbert was still wishing vaguely that all of this was a bad dream, too. He'd said goodbye to so many people today, had so many unhappy scents registering in his brain, and the brief romp through the woods with Sasha and Sammy had been too brief. He hadn't wanted to leave. Neither had Sammy, seemed like.

But he had to. His pa needed him. So he cycled slowly back home, locked the bicycle up-- wondered again if and how he'd get it up north with him-- and trudged up the stairs. The scent of unhappiness wasn't any better as he opened the door and came inside.

She opened her eyes the moment the door opened and Olivia pushed herself up and smiled tiredly. "Hey. How did everything go?" She knew he had a lot to take care of, and she hoped he was able to see everyone he had wanted before he left.

"Rrrmm," was Herbert's first, not-terribly-enthusiastic answer as he hut the door behind him and continued his trudge over to join her on he couch. Only once he was sitting down did he come up with a verbal answer. It wasn't a very good one, not really answering her question, but he didn't really know how to answer, so this would have to do. "I wish none of this were happening...."

"I know." She reached over to pat his shoulder comfortingly. "I'm sorry, Herbert. I wish it weren't happening also. Are you going to be okay?"

"I don't know," Herbert sighed, shifting just a tiny bit into her patting hand. "Sammy was very upset." That one was the freshest in his mind, and really, the one with the most emotion involved. Everyone else had been sad, but understanding-- not the kind of pained Sammy had been.

Olivia frowned. "I'm sorry." She wasn't sure what else she could say. She knew it was hard for him - and his friends - to have to say goodbye. And Olivia knew how hard goodbyes were. "He'll be okay. You will be too. You won't be gone forever, and you'll keep in touch."

"I hope so," Herbert fretted a little, thinking of the way Sammy had just frozen, of the little stone lynx in his pocket, of the photos in his backpack. "But my pa needs me." And so that was that. His aunt and cousins didn't know the routines, the things he needed, how it had worked last time. After a whole year, not even Herbert was going to forget. He needed to be there, he just wished he didn't. He shook his head and asked, "Do I need to get my ticket?" Plane, train, he didn't know if she's bought them yet or not....

She could understand that. Sometimes you had to sacrifice for other people - especially family members. She just knew how hard it was for him to leave. Olivia stood and walked over to the phone where she had kept the information. "You need to pick up your ticket," she informed him, picking up the envelope with all of the departure information, and the cash inside. She handed it to him. "This is everything you need to know. There's several seats available, so you should be okay. I've called you a cab to drive you, since I can't. There's money inside to pay for that too. Do you have someone picking you up at the airport?"

"I'll have to call my aunt... she'll come get me." He'd better call her now, actually. It was a long way from home to the airport.... He heaved himself back to his feet, too, and headed over towards the phone, taking the envelope, too. He stopped halfway at the smell and reminding quack from Elda in his room. "Will it be okay to bring her, then?" he asked, changing direction to go get her. Maybe on the way out he could stop by a pet store and get her a pet carrier, or something.

"I've got that taken care of," Olivia told him, walking behind the side of the couch. She pulled out the small cat carrier. "I borrowed this from Mrs. Wilkes a few doors down. Her cat's too big for it now. It'll be a bit extra to take Elda on the plane, but I've put enough money in the envelope to cover. Really, I didn't want you to have to worry about anything."

Herbert blinked a little as he came out of the bedroom, duckling in hand, then dredged up a smile. "Thank you...." She really had thought of everything. And really had done it all for him. He kind of wanted to cry a little, but he forced it down again. "Olivia, you've been... you've been great. You know that?"

She smiled a little and set the carrier down on the couch. "Are you sure you're going to be okay?" She didn't think Herbert had ever had this much stress on him before. Well, maybe when his father had been sick the first time, but he probably hadn't had to uproot and leave people behind for that. She just really hoped he would handle it okay.

The smile came back, a little, but it was a little wry and uncertain, which looked a bit odd on his face. "No, not really. But I don't think I really have any choice, so... I'll have to be." At least he still had phone numbers and addresses and things.

Which reminded him. He started for his backpack. "I should... give you the cell phone back. You shouldn't have to pay for something when I'm not here to use it." Not like he thought she should've had to pay for it, period, but that one hadn't been up for argument.

"No, keep the cell phone," Olivia insisted. It's a pay by the minute, so you can still add minutes onto it when you get home. You have all your friends numbers in there, and they have that number for you. It's be silly to give it back to me."

It felt like he was doing a lot of getting-halfway-there today. He stopped halfway to his backpack. "Are you sure?" he asked, a little fretfully. "Send me the bills, at least... I'll give you my address back home." But it was a bit of a relief, too. Everyone did have that number, and now he could still text Sammy without needing the email thing. Though he'd still try to learn that.

She smiled again and shook her head. "No bills. Pay by the minute. All you have to do is buy those reloadable cards with minutes on them and add them onto your phone. No bills for you to worry about, I promise." She walked over to hug him, duck and all. "Promise you'll call when you get there, okay?"

"Oooh...." He hadn't actually called anyone on the cell phone, just sent texts, so he hadn't run out of minutes yet, apparently. "Okay." He had no problems with being hugged, and he wrapped his non-duckling arm around her tightly-- the other a little less tightly, so he wouldn't wind up with Elda trying to nibble on her hair, but still there. "I'm gonna miss you...." She'd been good to him. Even when she basically locked him up inside, it'd been out of worry for him.

"I'll miss you too," Olivia told him. And she really meant that. She was dreading having to see him off. She blinked rapidly a few times to keep the tears at bay. No need to make him feel awkward right before he had to leave. "But we'll keep in touch, won't we?"

"I'll call," Herbert nodded, making the promise she'd asked. "And write, too.... And maybe he'll get better quick and I can come back." Though he wasn't going to hold his breath for that one. He was, however, holding onto hope that he would get better. Losing his pa wasn't something that was even crossing his mind at this point-- if it did, it simply got shunted aside before he could register it. "You'll be okay here, right? With-- everything?" With whatever hit Marquette next.

"I promise I'll be fine. I don't want you to worry about me. I'll be thinking about you and your dad, and hoping for a quick recovery for him." Olivia sighed and stepped back to look at him. "I'll keep you updated on everything going on here the best I can. I imagine your friends might do a better job of that though."

"You're a friend, too, you know," Herbert pointed out with a little grin. "And I definitely want to keep hearing from you, too. Even if it's to tell me I'm not eating enough or that my clothes don't match." Which they probably wouldn't, anymore, unless his aunt took it upon herself to look out for that-- and it wasn't like she'd know, but those were familiar, comforting kinds of comments from her.

Olivia chuckled a bit and nodded. "I promise I'll do what I can to make sure you're taking care of yourself." She reached out to touch his arm. "Why don't I make you some food before you leave, that way you're not hungry on the flight. We'll make sure you have everything ready to go." At least if she could fix him a sandwich or something, she might continue feeling useful. At least until he left. Then she wasn't sure what she was going to do.

Though Herbert wasn't really hungry-- and hadn't been all day; the only thing that really put him off food was stress like this-- he knew Olivia well enough by now that he knew she needed that. And in some little way, so did he. One last sandwich sounded just fine, to him, even though his stomach didn't like the idea so much as the rest of him. "That'll be good," he said, then. "Thank you. For everything."

"Don't thank me," Olivia told him, taking his hand to lead him to the kitchen. "Just promise me you'll be careful, that you'll call and write and that you'll take care of yourself. And then when everything is better, you'll come back."

Following obediently, Herbert gave her hand a warm squeeze and said dutifully, "I promise. I want to come back... hopefully soon." He didn't even want to leave, as much because of what leaving meant as because of the... well, leaving. And he still felt that Olivia deserved a lot of thanks, even if she wouldn't take it. He'd have to think up something he could send back here to her, once he got home. Some kind of gift. "But I'll come back. Once I can."

That's all she could really ask for. She smiled faintly and nodded before releasing his hand to get to making the sandwich. She wasn't sure who she would cook for once he left. She rarely ate herself, and when she did it wasn't anything fancy unless she had cooked something for Herbert. Maybe Judi would like her to cook? Maybe. Olivia bit back the sigh and got to work. There was really nothing else she could do after that. Everything was taken care of. Maybe a really big hug would be enough.