Party Post: Won't You join The Dance?

[nosecretmeaning]

Once upon a time, because let's face it, 9if anything is going to start with 'Once upon a time' it is going to happen this week, there was a woman. She was kind and good and strong. She took care of the people she loved and even the people she liked

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[handswillwork]

Neal is a family friend, and he seems like the kind of person who would be up for a dance, so when Abby spots him, she makes a beeline across the room. In a crowd like this, it's not until she gets a few feet from him that she realizes that one of the dull (for her) pains she's picking up on is from him, and then the smile falls off her face and into a look of concern as she reaches him.

"What happened?" she asks immediately, already tugging at the edge of her glove.

[smileforaliving]

He looks up at her, about to open his mouth before he sighs, rolling his eyes. He takes up the white board and writes out his answer.

"No idea. I'm blaming the Rift."

[handswillwork]

She frowns all the more when he writes instead of speaking, and nudges him towards a chair. "Sit down, for God's sake," she insists, pulling her glove off. She gestures towards his hand and wiggles her fingers at him. "Can I?"

[smileforaliving]

He considers for a moment, weighing the pros and cons. On one hand, getting rid of this would be

[handswillwork]

"You're welcome," she says with a small smile, and lays her hand on top of his, closing her eyes and bracing herself to take on some of the burden.

And it does come on, enough to make her knees buckle a little bit with the strain of holding her up, enough that it takes her a second to realize the onslaught is all that's happening, that the usual feeling of healing happening isn't there.

"What?" she mutters out loud, pulling her hand back and scowling at it, shaking it out, rolling her shoulders, and touching the back of his hand again. The pain stabs in again, but there's still not the relief of healing on the other side of it.

She looks very, very confused and is going to be keeping her hand on his until he pulls it away. Maybe if she just keeps connected it will work.

[smileforaliving]

he pulls away after a couple of minutes, realizing that it's not going anywhere and not wanting Abby to strain herself or get even more of the pain tan she's already received.

Pulling away, he shakes his head, grabbing up the white board again. "Don't worry about it. It'll probably go away soon." Or not. He doens't know but for the sake of today, he is being an optimist.

[handswillwork]

She still looks confused as he pulls away, running her fingers through her hair and frowning as she watches him write, her mind racing over possibilities.

She nods after reading his message, although it doesn't look like she'll stop worrying any time soon -- about him, or about why she's not working right, for that matter. "At least sit down, then."

[smileforaliving]

he nods, moving to take a seat. It makes sense, he was just planing ot stay on his seat so he could make a beeline for Peter and Elizabeth if he saw them.

It feels so good though, he kind of feels like an idiot for not sitting down earlier.

"Happy?" He writes with a slight smirk, even though the relief on his face is evident.

[handswillwork]

She makes a face at his smirk. "Yep. You not being dumb about this makes me very happy. Can I get anything for you?"

He is going to have an Abby hovering around and popping in on him until this goes away, trying to be helpful. She can't help it. He's hurting and she can't help him like she's supposed to so she wants to help him somehow.

[smileforaliving]

"I'm good," he writes and offers a reassuring smile to go with it.

Stretching his legs out, he winces a little and moves to rub at them but it only seems to make things worse. Sighing, he just shakes his head and looks up at Abby with a vaguely pathetic expression on hi face.

He won't say he's miserable but....

[handswillwork]

The frustrated worry melts into pure sympathy, at least for the moment. Abby is really easy for people in pain.

"Do you want aspirin?" she offers, although she sincerely doubts medication will succeed where she failed. "Or -- are you sure you don't want a drink? Or... a wheelchair? I can try to find a wheelchair."

[smileforaliving]

If you can find alcohol," he informs, "I'll kiss you."

Yes, he's serious about that Abby, though he'll be behave, only on the hand, or possibly the cheek, depending on if he wants to get up or not.

[handswillwork]

That gets a laugh, and she nods. "I'll see what I can do, though I may have to drag them back over here to prove that I'm getting it for someone else before they'll give it to me." Not only is she actually underage after all, but she'll probably look underage for the next decade or so, thanks to slow angelic aging.

It does not actually come to that, possibly because she decides to bypass trying to make her way through crowds at the drink area and trying to convince anyone serving drinks she's older than she looks and just goes to raid the kitchen instead. It pays off, and when she returns to Neal it's with a tray.

"Red wine, rum and coke, whiskey which you can just have straight out of the flask or I can get coffee to put it in. I don't know what you drink," she explains, setting the tray down on a nearby table.

[smileforaliving]

he takes th whiskey first, downing a gulp of it and letting it burn down his throat. It doesn't make this feel any better but it does give hi something else to concentrate on for a few seconds.

Picking up his white board again, he smiles a little. "Thanks," he scrawls. I think I was kidding but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't grateful."

[handswillwork]

She smiles a little at his message. "Yeah, but don't tell me you couldn't use it. And you're welcome."

She takes a seat next to him at the table, though she probably won't stay long. She feels bad for Neal and if she can help him in any way she'll be there in a second, but she's a little too bouncy about everything to stay there for long. "Are you sure there's nothing else you want? I could try to set up a room on the first floor for you so you don't have to tromp upstairs until after this goes away," she suggests after a second's thought.