☂ 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 || 𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙶𝚁𝙴𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚂 𝚡 𝙾𝙲 || 𝐁𝐊. 𝟐 ☂

07. FRANKEL FOOTAGE

Five and Elaina landed in a flash of blue inside of the shipping and receiving door of Morty's Television & Radio. He led her up the stairs carefully, the lights were off except for one at the top of the stairway that shined in front of the door to Elliot's loft.

"He must be asleep," muttered Five as he jumped them through the door.

"It is pretty late," noted Elaina as she could barely make out the shapes of the area around them in the darkness.

"Come on," said Five as he grabbed her hand. "This way is the spare room," he remembered, having earlier inspected the place.

He tugged Elaina along until they walked through the doorway of the spare room, Five flipping on the switch to the lights and closed the door behind them. It was a decently-sized room with strange newspaper clippings on the surrounding walls.

"He sure likes his UFOs, huh?" asked Elaina, noticing a theme in them.

"That reminds me," he said, taking his blazer off. "He thinks we're aliens from Roswell."

Elaina looked at him with furrowed brows. "Why on earth would he think that?"

"Because I told him we were," he shrugged, walking over to her. "It was the only way to get him to stop freaking out and actually help out."

"By telling him that we're aliens, that's how you got him to stop freaking out?" she asked with an entertained smile as she chuckled a little. "Sounds like a fun guy. I'm excited to meet him."

"You'll just have to wait for the morning," he stopped in front of her and stared down at her. "I think we better get some rest, we'll be needing it."

"Maybe I don't want to rest," she whispered as she stared right back, getting lost in the greens of his eyes. "What if I wake up and you're gone again?"

Five brought his hand up to her cheek as he caressed it, the lids of his eyes lowering as a gentle smile crossed his face. "I'm not going anywhere. Not this time."

A soft scoff escaped Elaina's mouth, not maliciously, but unconvinced. "You can't promise that. We don't know how we're going to stop this thing, you may need to use your vortex again."

Five shook his head. "I won't. We'll find another way, I'm sure of it."

Elaina could only just look at him, her lips pursed to the side as she sighed. She knew he meant it, or at least, that he wanted to mean it. She wasn't a fool. A crybaby? Maybe. Hard-headed? No doubt. But she knew when to be rational. This was a moment that she would have to wait and see, rather than hope blindly that it wouldn't have to come down to the vortex and it's unpredictable outcomes.

She gave him a weak smile. "Only time will tell," she brought her hand up to cover his, the one that held her cheek. "But there is one promise I would like to hear from you, that is, if you can keep it."

"Anything," he responded.

Elaina's eyes hardened as she looked into his. "No more hiding things from me, Five. Last time the apocalypse happened, you had me go in blindly without telling me a thing til the last moment, but not this time. We're a team, you got that? Everything out on the table." she told him firmly. "Can you promise that?"

She could see the hesitation as he weighed his options. He wanted nothing more than to keep her safe, but knew that perhaps she was right. Maybe her knowing everything he did would give them a leg up this time around. Maybe he needed to allow himself to not carry everything on his own.

Five sighed as he brought his hand down from her cheek to her shoulder. "You know, being alone in that first apocalypse, I learned how to survive on my own. How to be on my own, without the need of anyone, even when I joined the Commission. It was all I knew how to do for a very long time, Laney," he explained as she tilted her head, taking in his words. "I suppose it's a habit that wasn't easy for me to break once I returned from the future. But I will try to do so, for you. I'll tell you everything I can. Just please be patient, I'm still learning how to do that." he said softly, like the 16-year-old boy he was when he left her the first time, not like the 58-year-old man he was when he returned.