Mr. Robot Fanfic

Chapter 27

Sarah

     And that's how I ended up following Elliot around town.
We return to the building where Tyrell shot him, of course causing some mild panic from me, but I fearlessly follow him into the building and towards the floor that we were on. I half expect Tyrell to appear and shoot Elliot again, but when we turn the corner and look, the whole room is empty. There's no evidence to suggest that someone had previously been there. I should have suspected something like that, since the elevator wasn't working when we arrived.
     I gently take Elliot's hand in mine and looked up at him.
     "Are you okay?" I whisper.
     "I'm fine," he whispered back. Then he looked at me. "Why are you whispering all of a sudden?"
     "No reason," I whisper again, but he's not buying it. I can tell, it's in his eyes.
     "No, come on, out with it, why are you whispering?" He lays a hand on my shoulder, which is so out of character for him, but I can't help notice that he does it to make me feel better.
     I sigh. "The last time I was in here, Elliot, you got shot," I say, words chosen as carefully as I dare. "I was tied up, and I heard the gunshot-" my throat closes on me and I can't breathe. I feel tears well up in my eyes. "I thought I lost you, Elliot." A single tear slides down my face as I look at him. "I guess the reason why I'm whispering is because I'm scared. I'm scared, Elliot."
He looks at me and at first I feel nothing coming from him, but then he pulls me into his warm embrace and holds me there.
"I'm so sorry about that, Sarah," he whispers as he holds me close to him. "I should have known about that." He pulls away from me and looks at me. "I promise I'll keep you safe from now on, okay?"
I nod, wiping the tears from my eyes. "And I'll keep you safe."
He leans over and kisses my forehead, signaling the pact that we've made to each other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A short while later, we return to the apartment building, which I haven't seen in a few days, so to see it again brings me a certain kind of joy, until the landlord says that there is someone in Elliot's apartment.
I feel Elliot squeeze my hand, a sure sign of nervousness from him. I look at him and see his jaw clenched tight.
I can almost read his mind.
The bad men are following us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elliot

I go up the stairs to my apartment, Sarah's hand still in mine.
They've found me, the FBI are after me.
I have to keep her safe.
I open the door to the apartment to see Darlene standing there.
"Where the hell have you been?" She asks me, staring at Sarah.
"You shouldn't be here," I say, pushing past her and into the apartment.
"Who the hell is she?" Darlene snaps.
"Sarah, I live next door," Sarah answers weakly, waving her hand ever so slightly.
"Elliot, I have to talk to you," Darlene says, her voice cracking.
"You shouldn't be here," I repeat, looking around the apartment for something to block out any of our conversation that we might have soon. I finally find a small radio sitting close by, and turn it on. I turn sharply to Darlene, who looks like she's about to have a meltdown.
     "What's wrong?" I hear Sarah ask Darlene as I continue to stare into Darlene's eyes.
     "Cisco's dead," Darlene spits out, her voice cracking.
     I stare at her, not sure how to respond to her.
     She continues to tell her tale, of how the Dark Army killed him, and how she thinks they've targeted her next. I can't help but feel a little nervous.
How am I going to keep Sarah out of this?
     Darlene mentions the FBI questioned her.
What did she tell them?
     "What did you tell them?" I ask her, sitting next to her, hoping that she can tell me she didn't tell them about our plans.
     She huffs. "You're the worst brother ever," she says.
     I realize what I said was a little insensitive, but I genuinely want to know. I feel Sarah's eyes on me and look at her.
"I almost died, nowhere is safe for me, and that's all you frickin care about," Darlene shouts, her voice breaking again. "Now, what is Stage 2?"
I freeze. How does she know about that?
"What is Stage 2?" She asks again, slowly this time.
     I stand and walk to my computer. "The femtocell that Angela planted? It opened a back door into EvilCorp. It's inside the building that's housing their recovery program. Everything, paper records, titles, deeds."
"So, what, you were just going to blow it up? Jesus, Elliot," Darlene starts to get angry. "Why didn't you tell me? Is it because you didn't think I'd go along with killing all of those people? Or any of it?"
"IT WASN'T ME!" I shout, anger and frustration boiling throughout my bloodstream. I feel Sarah's eyes on me, burning through my soul. What does she see there? Does she see the horrible person I am, the horrible person I've become? Or does she see someone who is trying to make everything better?
"I can fix this," I say. I reach for my computer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sarah

I listen to the tense conversation, but don't feel like I can leave. I know I need to give them some privacy, but I don't think I'm able to leave. What if the bad men are coming? What if they take me away?
Darlene tells Elliot to change his shirt, we're going out again. I turn to leave but Elliot tells me to stay. So I stay in the apartment and don't move.
Darlene looks at me, a question on her lips. "So, where did my brother find you?" She asks.
"I live next door," I say awkwardly. "And, he didn't find me. I wasn't lost. I'm still not lost."
She shrugs. I turn away from her and look at Elliot, and for the first time I see how thin and sickly he looks. I feel tears flood my eyes as I continue to stare. He catches my eye and notices the tears, noticing one slide down my face.
"What's wrong, Sarah?" He asks me, his voice soft.
I shake my head, unable to speak. Instead, I close the space between us and pull him into my embrace, letting his warmth comfort me. He lifts my chin, and for a second I'm lost in his eyes, which I just now notice are softer than when I first met him.
"If this is about me going to stop this, you don't need to be worried," he whispers, tightening his grip on my waist. "I'll be fine. Please don't cry."
"It's not that, Elliot," I whisper back. That's when I become aware of Darlene watching us. I look back at her and wipe my eyes. "Forget about it."
He's not buying it. "If something is bothering you, you can talk to me."
I feel myself reach for him and pull his face down to mine, urgency rushing through my veins as I kiss him hungrily. I need him more than I need air, it seems like. I'm never letting him go.
He pulls away for the air that I don't want, then comes back in, just as hungrily, if not starving, for more. I'm drinking the moment, the dire urgency that I'm feeling not relenting as I feel him pull me tighter against him.
"Ugh, get a room you two," I hear Darlene snort from the other end of the room. I turn and look at her and see a look of slight amusement on her face. I had almost forgotten she was there.
Elliot looks at me, out of breath but smiling at me nonetheless. I look at him and feel the three cliche words bubble up in my throat, but now is not the time to say them. We have work to do.