Paranoia - s.reid

Doppelgänger

"Ellie." Spencer rasped, looking up at a terrified Liz, hand attempting to reach through the metal bars as his shoulder hit the ground, crimson blood spilling from his mouth.

She gasped, bending down, still restricted by the wall between them. "Baby? What happened?" 

"I-" A feminine hand appeared next to him, clasping a bright silver blade. Within one swipe, a thin line of thick red had drawn itself across his neck, the tip of the knife sporting the same color. "Why aren't you helping me, Liz?" The 'injury' hadn't affected him at all as he looked up at Liz, pleading as she began ripping off her blazer, bunching it up and pressing it to his wound.

She furrowed her eyebrows and paused her movements with the blood soaked material, still horrified from what she'd witnessed moments before. "What?"

"I said," He was more stern. "Why aren't you helping me?"

"I'm, I'm trying my best. I'm trying to stop the bleeding."

He sat up straight, almost forcing her to fall backwards onto her backside in an attempt to stumble away. "I mean, why aren't you getting me out of prison, Elizabeth?"

Her eyes shot open, chest rising and falling at a rapid pace as she absorbed the safeness of her surroundings of her living room, dreading the fact that she'd fallen asleep on the sofa again before noticing a little hand on her arm. "Hey, baby. What's wrong?" Liz asked, running a hand through Alex's hair.

"My game is in 56 minutes, mommy."

Liz almost immediately kicked the blanket away from her, still clad in yesterday's blouse and trousers. "What time is it, sweetie?"

"3:19 in the afternoon."

She gasped, frantically checking her watch, confirming the time. "Jesus. Where are your siblings? Did they make it to school? I'm so sorry, Alex."

"We went to school already, mommy! You were still sleeping and Dee told us not to wake you up, so we took the bus. She and Margie said they'd be at the library until my game starts, and Lyle's with his friend. We had eggs for breakfast! Grandma ate some, too. She's out with the nurse, right now."

The exhaustion had finally crept up on her as she looked at her husband's doppelgänger. "Can I have a hug?"

The little boy didn't even question it, throwing his arms around her.

The mother of four did feel a sense of shame with her sleeping. She had gotten 9 hours of sleep, the most she's gotten in months. Although, her heart did swell with pride at the fact that her children were so capable of responsibly taking care of themselves. A ping on her phone from work had reminded her of her main errand that day, forcing her to purse her lips. "Okay, I need to go see your dad today, and you have to come with me since there's no where for you to go. I'll pack you a pair of headphones so you can listen to music on my phone. We'll go see him and then head to your game, sound good?"

He nodded, enthusiastic.

------

She'd already enforced the rules with Alex, telling him that 'mommy and daddy were having a serious conversation and that he couldn't say anything'

Liz cautiously entered the room, a distracted Alex in her arms, massive headphones in his ears no doubt playing some kind of classic Spencer encourages him to listen to. Luckily, Spencer's face wasn't bruised at all during this visit.

"What's he doing here?" 

She sighed. "There was no where else for him to go and his game is in 40 minutes. There's going to be a continuance in your trial."