An Eye For An Eye

Trente-Sept

We were leaving Beacon Hills.

And while I liked the place, I had to leave it behind. Despite the fond memories, with Kara and Chris, and even Mom when she had been alive, there were bad memories too. I had been shot, I had almost died. And that ruined the good.

On the plus side, I was driving a rather nice car. It was Deucalion’s and he couldn’t exactly drive. Apparently, he had never liked it much anyway.

“Why don't you like to drive?” I asked as I stretched my arms out.
“I'm just not fond of it, it just made some things easier,” he replied.
“I can't imagine you driving, you know?” I said while walking around to stretch my legs. Driving for several hours straight was not fun.
“Why not?”
“I don’t know, you just feel too rich to be driving yourself places, don’t you have a chauffeur or something?” I said jokingly. He just shook his head slightly but there was still a smile on his face.

“You can have the car, if you want,” Deuc said. I froze up, was he serious?
“You’re kidding, right?” I asked. He couldn’t be serious, it was a relatively new car and surely he’d rather sell it.
“No, why would I be?”
“You could sell it or something,” I said. “I don’t know, why would you just give it away?”
“I’m not, I’m giving it to you specifically,” he said as his hand ran along the side of the car. “You don’t have a car at the moment.”

He had a point, sort of. I did have a car, it was around two hours behind us, in Beacon Hills.
“I do have a car though,” I said. I’d feel bad having his car anyway, especially for free.
“Do you have a car you can drive?”
“No…” I said quietly. “But that’s not the point.”
“Besides, Gerard knows what your car looks like, he might use it to try to find you if he thinks you’re alive,” said Deuc as his hand grabbed onto the handle of the door.

Frowning, I started walking around to the other side of the car, reluctant to sit down for another few hours.
“Do you think he’s suspicious?” I asked.
“Of course he is,” said Deuc as he opened the car door. “He never saw your dead body and the man isn’t sane.” His response surprised me. I hadn’t considered that, I had thought that he would just listen to Chris.
“I guess so.”

Taking a deep breath, I pulled the car door open and sat down.
“How far have we got to go?” I asked as I shut the door. He sat in the passenger seat and shut the door before answering.
“About eight hours, I think.” Groaning, I threw my head back against the headrest.
“It’s going to kill me,” I muttered before fastening my seatbelt.

“I hope not, I’d have to call one of the others. Or just walk.” I stared at him for a moment and watched as he fastened his own seatbelt.
“Right, you don’t want me to die because you’d have to walk?” I said. I could see the smirk on his face but I pretended to be insulted.
“No, it would be a shame,” he said.
“It would be a shame if next time we stopped, I drove off without you,” I said as I started the car. He chuckled.

It was quiet for a moment and I was about to pull out of the rest area when he spoke.
“I’d miss you really.”
Smiling, I leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’d hope you would after all this.”

I pulled out of the rest area, a huge smile on my face. I couldn’t deal with music at the moment, I just didn’t feel like listening to any of the CDs he had in the car.
“You can have the car.”
“I don’t want your car,” I said as I pulled out onto the road.
“When’s your birthday?”
I smiled, realising what he was trying to do. “I’m not having your car as a birthday present, as nice as your car is.” I said. I couldn’t accept a car from him, not after everything he had done already. “I’m not having it, it’s your car.”

“I can’t use it,” he said with an exasperated sigh.
“Give it to Charles or Tasha or someone.”
“Charles doesn’t drive any more and Tasha has her own car,” he said.
“Doesn’t drive any more?” I asked.
“He’s too nervous.”
“Okay, don’t give it to Charles then but I already have a car.” I wondered why Charles was too nervous to drive, he did seem a little anxious when I had met him but not that bad.

“Tasha is currently driving her car,” he argued. “And you can’t drive yours and you’re driving mine.”
“I am not having your car,” I repeated. “I’d feel bad, you’ve already given me a place to stay and you paid for all of my food and everything, I can’t accept a car too.”
“Liza, you don’t have to pay me back for those things, I’ve told you that before,” he said.

“But I’d still feel bad,” I protested. “I mean, I don’t even know how I can even thank you for saving my life.”
“Being alive is enough for me, you don’t need to do anything else,” he said seriously and I took a deep breath. I wished I wasn’t driving but that meant sharing a car with some of the other Betas and that was the last thing either of us wanted to do.

“I’m still not having your car,” I said, sticking firmly to my decision.
“Liza?”
“Yes?”
“When’s your birthday?” he asked again.
“You tried that already,” I sighed. I was quiet for a moment and then answered: “September 21st. But, I’m not having your car as a present.”
“No, you can have it as a Christmas present if you’re that insistent.” Glancing over at him, I could see his smile but reminded myself to keep my eyes on the road.

“I don’t care how much you like your tea, I need coffee for this.”