A hopeful return (Nora)

[norafreeze]

Nora smiled and nodded at the two men in turn, shaking Billy's offered hand when it was close enough. She should have known better. Victor didn't, he never had, made friends easily. These were some hired criminals. Lovely. They were still people though, and Nora certainly was not going to treat them badly. Well that, and the one had an obvious interest in guns.

"That's alright, I'm fine." Nora waved off the offer for a drink. She released her tense grip on the doorway and walked shakily to a chair. Nora was glad to have done that much on her own, even though it had only been a few feet. She sat down, wrapping her arms around herself to conserve heat. "I'm afraid there's not much to tell. I got sick once." Nora laughed and shrugged, immediately liking the look of this hired thug...he appeared to be just a teenager and there was a clever twinkle to his eyes.

Realizing this was the perfect time to get some answers, Nora hoped the kid was willing to offer some information. She had the feeling that anything she asked Victor would be down-played and his love for her would try to spare her from details. She wanted details. She needed them. How to put it delicately? "My husband said you were in danger...the FBI coming after you. You must be rather well known rogues then." Rogues was the only word she could think of, as she wondered if he would feel 'Criminals' was offensive. "So, you're the brains out of the three, I suppose?" Nora noticed his laptop, and motioned to it, giving an unabashedly friendly smile.

[pioneer315]

" Oh I'm not a rogue nor a criminal I'm just someone who likes doing what I do. You see Victor took me in when no one else would, so I stick around even during the abnormal of times. The FBI is after criminals, and Victor is a criminal to them." He warmly smiled, she was good company he only wished Victor told him more about her. Though he was still empathetic.

He looked around, "Yes, I guess you could say that. I'm the geek with the computer, help with anything electrical or computer like in any of his plans." He laughed, not many people had thought he was smart. His parents knew he was they just didn't want him to hang out with his friends. He usually see's them, though they live in Kansas in the Midwest. Though he can't leave because the flights are cancelled. " I dropped out of Yale computer programming school. Though I plan on going back eventually."

Now if she wasn't Victor's wife he would have definitly gotten to know her even more. Though he didn't want to cross that boundary, never. For he didn't want to anger Freeze, get eaten by the polar bears, or frozen for enternity. Never anger winter. Most of the people who once lived here were middle class. But now it's full of hiding members.

[norafreeze]

Okay, obviously trying to put it delicately hadn't worked. He knew what she had meant. So, she supposed subtlety was still not her strong point, and she listened intently to his tale. She was glad that Victor still had a heart for people other than herself...although if the boy had not been useful, would Vic have kept him around? She brushed the thought aside.

When he described himself as "the geek" Nora laughed along with him, then got coughing, her lungs burning with the cold air for a few moments. She was surprised that he still had plans for college, seeing as he was a criminal. But, he seemed like a decent, normal, kid. She supposed she had always trusted the police, and never really deeply considered the soul behind the actions.

"You said you love doing this...but, don't people get hurt? There have to be people suffering for your actions, the actions of my husband, all of you." Nora remembered how Victor had said that he did everything for her. She didn't want to be the "just cause" behind what ever her husband was up to. Not now that she was awake.

[pioneer315]

"Sure people get hurt, but I don't kill people. People will always be hurt for right reasons." The door opened and Freeze was in his suit carrying his gun and a box with Carl and Ricky behind him, " Nora? Shouldn't you be asleep, love?" Freeze put the box in his research room along with his gun and changed into his regular clothes. He turned to Billy, "Are the cameras set up with the defense mechanisms?" Billy began typing finally clicking two keys, "Yes, I'll have to do some check up and re-programming in the next week though. We'll need some fortifications though if they come knocking." Freeze had already forseen this, "Leave that to me". Carl and Ricky closed the door, "Gentleman, would you kindly drop of one of those three crates the nearest dump." "No problem boss," Said Carl and Ricky at the same time accidentally of course. Billy went with them, putting on a summer jacket and closing the frozen door behind him.

Victor touched her hand, "How are you today? Feeling better at all?" He wanted her to get back to full strength as soon as possible, he wanted to leave Gotham soon, and never return. Though part of him knew that is a false hope, simply because he is a rogue and part of the "Rouge gallery" of Gotham City. He walked to the tv and click a button on the bottom and an electronic door slid out with his and Nora's favorite movies. Mainly a collection of suspense, comedy, thriller, and horror movies. He grabbed an Alfred Hitchcock film titled, Rear window. "I've always enjoyed this movie. How about we watch it tonight." He loved films, even as a child developing a passion for reviewing them and getting to know the art of film. He rememberd Nora's love for dance and film when they were in College. He would take her out to see a movie each saturday night.

[norafreeze]

Everything was justifiable in some state of mind. Nora didn't press him further, and quietly took in the sight of her husband in the full suit he had described earlier. It was...different. She couldn't really notice anything other than the glowing red goggles made him look very eerie and he was carrying a gun. Silently, she let things happen around her. Just smiling when he suggested she should still be sleeping.

To her ears, it sounded like they were preparing for war. She was getting scared again, and she realized...she would have to decide what side she was on. Would she actively try to evade the police or would she trust them to be doing the right thing, as she had in the past. Did they deserve to get caught? Nora was in the middle of it now, and somehow she had twisted Victor into depending so deeply on her that he became this. She might as well go to jail too.

Brain muddled with all her concerns, she completely missed that he was asking her about a movie. She did notice that there was silence now...and she shook from her thoughts and glanced up. Vic was looking at her expectantly. Holding some video and obviously wanting a reply.

"No. Vic, this isn't right. We can't...I can't live like this." Nora took a deep breath, releasing it with a puff of warm air. "I don't belong here. Oh god, I can't believe I'm saying this! I don't belong here. We can't play house and watch movies. Do you honestly not see everything has changed!?" All those fears exploded from her mouth, a stream of visible heat in the cold air. Her voice rising in intensity, her eyes bright with both anger and tears. "You never once thought this was right, did you? Look around! Look at what you've become... and what you've made me. Some sort of prize? I married someone who cared about others, who was hurt but was better for it. I don't know who you are! Sometimes, I can see him... but sometimes all I can see is that I am being locked inside a house with a self confessed criminal... And I honestly cannot say which terrifies me more." He was holding the movie, expecting some sort of sweet reply, to cuddle close as if nothing had changed? She couldn't do that. She didn't want to touch him, or for him to touch her. She was too angry to want anything to do with him. She wanted Victor back, not this man with his gun and his minions. It was horrible, selfish of her to say these things, but she didn't want to be a criminal. Nora was not going to support this life, and she certainly was not going to sit back and live it. "I want to call my parents. I want them to come get me." Nora realized they probably didn't even know she was alive. Would they even be willing to drive all the way to Gotham?

[pioneer315]

He stared at her as her volume ascended the room with her voice. "Nora, I was never like this, this life was forced upon me. This life was forced when I was trying to save you. I cured your disease, I never gave up hope. That man is me, and I will always be that. I thought you would understand my pain, depression, and fear in all of this. You are the Light in the ice, if you fade, I'll be encased forever until the end of time. Have you thought of it from my point of view, Nora? Hmm?"

He blinked, "I have to take precautions. If you no longer want a part in my life, it makes my heart sink and freeze even further from when I was like this. But I will accept it, though I won't be able to recover from it." She was afraid of him, and he could understand why. Though he did not understand why she didn't accept him for this. She was supposed to be faithful, he was.

He gave her a phone from the side of the house. His demeanor now shifted to sadness with little acceptance. "You can call them, but please Nora think about this. I wasn't born like this. Please talk to me." He knew that if she left, the good part in his soul would be gone. Gotham would have no happiness, not now not ever. Winter is coming. Winter will not be forgiving, and neither will Freeze.

[norafreeze]

Her husband looked surprised and sad, which made Nora's heart hurt to see. She looked down to her lap, unable to stand that hurt in his eyes. She had never been like this before to him, she had always accepted his differences, loved him regardless. Love him, she still loved him so much that it ached to be so unsure of if she could be near him. He was hurting too, she could hear it, he wanted her to be the one that held his hand, no matter what anyone else thought. But this was not the same as a bullied child in school, this was a man that was willing to be the cruel one to get what he wanted. And he wanted her. She wanted him too...but she didn't know how to be the woman she wanted to be, and be honest with herself about what he was now.

"This isn't about what you look like, I don't care how you physically change. I fell in love with the sweet, kind man who is inside of you...But, you made choices, you did it to save me, I understand that. I don't support it." Nora held the phone lightly in her fingers, tracing the numbers with her nail. "You have been faithful, you have been abolutely faithful, haven't you. To get me back no matter the cost." She paused, tears escaping her eyes. "And I love you. I want nothing more than...to curl up and watch a movie. To feel you beside me. It's like a burning ache in my chest."

He had asked her to talk, and she was. It was almost as if he couldn't hear though. He didn't understand. Nora held to the phone, unwilling to give it up, and unwilling to give him up yet. She could not have both, a life she believed was good and right, and the husband she loved. "Would you want me by your side, accepting your criminal actions without issue? Is that the woman you want?" Nora asked genuinely, clutching the phone in one hand, and shakily getting to her feet, her free hand reaching up to pull him close if he would let her.

[pioneer315]

Victor didn't know how to respond. He felt like he was being betrayed and abandoned, " I want someone who understands why I did the things that I did. I'm not asking you to believe me but to move on and put whatever fear or doubt in your mind to rest." He moved closer, but he looked away momentarily. It wasn't her, but it was. She always did worry about things, but now she was leaving his grasp. She was going to leave him. The thought of that happening, angered him in a dark way. No, she wouldn't leave him. He would get her back, if he had to go across the world until the end of time he would get her back. And if she didn't accept it, then the world will have no joy. If this is how life is, then it is a cruel life filled with deceit and no appreciation.

Victor was hurt, he wanted a warm day and actually feel something, but he was too cold for that.

[norafreeze]

It was as if she was speaking another language. He just could not seem to grasp how she could love him and not approve of his actions. How could she put her fears to rest? Nora noticed he did not seem able to look at her at the moment. With a bit of shame, Nora knew she had just hurt him deeply. She had always been the one to be there for him when he needed a companion, and now she wasn't able to be that. Not without giving up what she knew was right.

Standing on her toes, she took advantage of his nearness and leaned to kiss his cheek, feeling his cold skin. She went back to her normal height and regarded him silently for a second. "I love you." Nora said finally, putting the phone down on the chair she had been sitting on. With a few shaky steps, she made her way back towards her room. There didn't seem to be anything else to say, and nothing she could do until she was stronger.

---- 2 Weeks Later----

Nora was cuddled on the floor with Altra and Shaka, she had just finished her stretches, trying to get her legs stronger and the aches to go away. She closed her eyes, warm against these huge animals. They had become almost like pets, but still slightly terrifying at times.
She reflected on the last few weeks, things had been tense between her and Victor, they were both hurt and worried what the other would do. At least, she assumed he felt that way, it was hard to tell what he was thinking.

They had been getting along well enough, she had avoided any mention of her concerns, locking it all away in her heart. Instead, she considered this to be the time when she could spend her last days with him. So, she tried to cherish them as best she could, she would be leaving as soon as she was strong enough...and had figured out how to slip out without being stopped. She figured her best chance would while everyone was either away or sleeping, she knew they probably had cameras to watch for Police, so they would eventually see her walk away of her own will. But, if she could just get into Gotham, she would be almost impossible to find...it was just too crowded.

Nora leaned her head into Altra's side, listening to his deep breathing and thumping heart. She swallowed hard, she had been pushing herself to regain strength as soon as possible. There would be no dancing anytime soon, but she was able to walk around now...that meant it was almost time to go.

Rolling off of Altra, who gave a growling-snort in response, Nora got to her feet and picked up a folder, one that had some notes about her condition. She had also been taking the time to try to learn as much as she could about her cure...if she could help get this cure out to the public, she would. But, she was not going to steal Victor's notes, she was not leaving this place with anything that she did not own. It was the principle of the thing...she would not be a hypocrite. Judging him for his actions and then stealing things herself. She could only hope she had memorized enough to assist some other doctor into discovering the cure.

Walking to the kitchen and setting the folder on the table, Nora set to work making some dinner. Chicken noodle soup, she had always liked that. She was going to leave tonight...and she wanted to be sure that no one expected it.