nadiathesaint | The Arms Hotel, late Saturday (after Empire Records) [NFB]

Nadia ran the whole way from Empire Records to the hotel. After quickly ~~and handwavily~~ asking what room Sloane was in, she bolted up the stairs (the elevator would require too much standing still) and stopped short outside the room.

She took a few deep breaths, and knocked.


	Arvin opened the door almost immediately. He knew it was Nadia, he had an arrangement with one of the desk clerks to let him know if she was coming.
	Nadia had spent the entire time since saying good-bye to Marty trying not to cry. She was losing that battle right now. "I--Mr. Slo--Dad."
	"Nadia," he said, his heard breaking to hear her call him that. "Nadia what's wrong? What happened?" he led her inside. "Sit down. Please."
	Nadia started pacing back and forth as soon as she was in the room. "Tonight, after dinner, my friend, he . . ." she stopped and faced her father. He'd said he had a "checkered" past, maybe-- "Someone put a 'hit' out on my life. And my friends'. We had to . . . ." The tears finally came out. "I watched myself die, tonight."
	"Who." his voice held none of the tenderness it had whenever he'd spoken to her before. For just that moment, the man who'd ruthlessly killed many people came through, but he backed off the deadly tone immediately. "Who wanted you dead?" God could Elana have arranged this? No, Nadia was her key to fulfilling her own endgame.
	"I don't know, someone . . . Soze?" Nadia sat down on the bed. "I think . . . I think we took care of it. A friend of mine knows . . . about assassins. He helped." She let out a long, shuddering breath. "I'm sorry, I just . . . I needed to see someone, and Veronica was there too, already, and I didn't want to go back to the school. Not yet."
	Soze. His blood chilled. What did that monster want with his little girl? "Thank God you're all right." he said sincerely. "I'm glad you came." he was so gratefull that he was who she'd come to. "You're safe now." He sat down beside her, and tentatively, giving her a chance to back away, put a comforting arm around her shoulder.
	Nadia hesitated for a moment, then leaned into him. "Thank you. For finding me."
	He swallowed, and hugged her close. "I'll always find you. And I'll do whatever it takes to protect you. Always. I promise."
	Nadia sniffled slightly, starting to calm down a little. She pulled back, wiping at her face a little. She laughed slightly. "I can't believe I finally have a father."
	"Here," he said, reaching for a half empty glass resting on the nightstand. "Have something to drink, to calm your nerves."
	Nadia accepted it with a nod. Maybe it was how tired she felt, after the stress of the shootout. Maybe it was just that she wasn't thinking. But she should have known better than to take a drink offered her by an almost stranger that she hadn't watched being poured. Still, she drank it down quickly and nodded again. "Thank you."
	His heart broke to do it. But as always, he did what he had to. What needed to be done. The drug began to take hold quickly.
	Nadia barely had time to register what was happening. She turned to Sloane, her head suddenly spinning. "You. . . ." And she collapsed.
	"I'm sorry Nadia." he said sincerely, just before she dropped. "It's for your own good." he caught her as she fell, and lowered her gently to the bed. Then he set about restraining her, and preparing the medication. * time * lapse * The elixer was prepared, and Sloane had set up the paper and pen, just as he had with her when she was older. She was strapped down, in a comfortable position where she'd be able to write. He waited patiently, steeling himself for the onslaught that was sure to come when she awoke.
	Nadia slowly blinked awake, her body still feeling heavy and sluggish from the drug. She peered up at the ceiling, and tried to raise her hand to her head. And was quite alarmed to discover she couldn't. She looked down at her arms, her eyes widening. "No," she whimpered. "Madre del dios, NO!"
	"Nadia," Arvin said, quickly rising, and moving to calm her as best he could given the circumstances. "Nadia it's all right. I promise, no harm will come to you."
	Nadia struggled against the restraints. "What are you doing?! Let me go!"
	The time had come to come clean. he picked up a bottle full of the altered elixer. It was a slightly different shade of green than the previous formula. "Nadia everything I've told you is true. The formula the russians were using worked. And it led me to the final Rambaldi device. Unfortunately your Aunt Elana gained control of it."
	Nadia spotted the elixir and struggled harder, her breath coming in short gasps. "No, please, don't,"
	"Please listen." he said. "You, your mother, and I along with some others tried to stop Elana Derevko, your aunt, from unleashing a perverted vision of Rambaldi's plan onto the earth. It would have wiped out countless lives. in the struggle you were infected with a contagion, one that made you attack those closest to you. We finally had to keep you in a coma so you couldn't hurt yourself or others." He carefully but firmly grasped her arm and found a vein. "I searched for a cure for almost a year, and finally discovered a variation on the Rambaldi Elixer. It should reveal a cure for the disease that's infected you in the future. I don't expect you to believe me now, but, this truly is for your own good." he injected her with the formula. ~~hell of a lot clearer than jj ever explained anything~~
	"What? No, you're insa--" Nadia's voice cut off with a tremendous gasp as her back arched up from the bed. Her right hand began to twitch as her eyes rolled up into her head.
	The paper was in place, and he placed the pen in it. he prayed this wouldn't take long, for her sake. "Insane?" he smirked. "Maybe. It certainly sounds insane sometimes."
	Nadia didn't reply as her hand instinctively gripped the pen and began to write.