Hawks and Doves

[opposite_forces]

"Hank, have you considered that maybe you should just talk to her?"

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[opposite-forces.livejournal.com]

Hank Hall sighs and looks his brother over. "It's not that easy, Don."

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Don shakes his head. He and his brother both had a new lease on life... and they were sharing their powers now with Dawn and Holly Granger. But Hank hadn't been to talk to Dawn yet.

"You're acting like a wuss."

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"I am not acting like a wuss," Hank snarls at his younger brother. "I'm the definition of not-a-wuss. You're the one who refuses to throw a punch. Call me a wuss again, and I'll pound you senseless."

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"Don't change the subject," Don chides. "You just need to talk to her. Did you consider that maybe she's missed you?"

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"She thought I killed her... or I tried to... and that I tried to rewrite the universe," Hank snaps back. "You missed all that."

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"Yeah, but it wasn't you," Don replies. "Now that she knows that..."

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"She'll still need some space to figure things out," Hank replies. "And I'm going to give her that space. She'll come to me when she's ready to... talk, or whatever."

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Don sighs and hefts himself up to his feet.

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"Where are you going?" Hank demands.

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[hawk-and-dove.livejournal.com]

The apartment was nothing grand, just a homey 2 bedroom place shared by sisters. What made it unique was the absolute clash of styles that adorned it. A red leather chair, tapped with long strands of black electrical tape at the worn edges, sat against one wall while it's pristine white counterpart faced it with what might be the furniture equivalent of disgust.
A simple wrought iron table sat between them, glass top not daring to lean toward one fashion statement or the other.

The rest of the place was equally at odds, the very personalities of Holly and Dawn Granger seemed to seep from the walls. Red and white and pale blue splashed here and there. A lovely Zen garden sat on a shelf next to it a raggedy turn table bearing an old Ramones record and a signed photo of Johnny Rotten.

All of this and the tussled red haired form of one Holly Granger greeted Don. A hand one her hip, black wife beater tucked into gray sweats, and oddly out of place bunny slippers on her feet. Eyes fixed on him from her lean in the doorway, not yet letting him fully enter. But the feeling, the sensation of calm that came over her in the presence of her sister was apparent with this guy.

"So...you're the old guy. Old Dove I mean." You can't hide that sort of effect on another person.

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[opposite-forces.livejournal.com]

"That's me," Don nods. "And you're the new Hawk." He offers his hand in greeting. "You can call me Don."

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His had was taken, shaken and held just a moment before released. "Don, right. Holly."

Talk about awkward, his brother had been dating..well..yeah just leave it at that, her sister. Before the whole time mix up thing happened. Now it was like none of it ever happen, and in some ways that was a literal truth.

"So come on in." She lead the way, dropping into the red leather chair and throwing her legs up over the arm of it. "Dawny's out, she needed some air, apparently she has alot on 'er mind these days."

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Don sits in the opposite chair, sitting more traditionally. "That's... actually what I was hoping to talk to you about, if you don't mind. I was hoping you could tell me how Dawn is handling all... this."

[hawk-and-dove.livejournal.com]

Direct and to the point, she could respect that. "She's a l'il devastated. Not only with the whole baby thing but now what she thought ain't exactly what was real. Even fer 'er that's a hard thing ta deal with."

Holly propped her head in her hand and looked at Don. "Tell ya what though. Yer brother's a lucky bloke, if it'd been me you'd be hosing one of us down off the pavement about now."

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Don nods. "I think if she talked to Hank, it could help. What do you think?"

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"S'what I told 'er too. I kinda got the impression that she might wind up accidentally heading to that part of town an droppin' in on him."

Holly stretched out and grinned a bit. "So, wanna watch a movie an have some popcorn while th' love birds talk?"

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Don smiles. "That sounds like a plan. Give them some space. Normally, I'd be worried about leaving Hank to talk alone, but Dawn seems to have a good effect on Hank."

[hawk-and-dove.livejournal.com]

She'd been going over and over it in her head. It was perplexing to say the least, disturbing to be utterly honest. Hank, well not Hank but a pseudo version of Hank had tried to kill her. The man she'd been in love with tried to end her life, beyond that he was Hell bent on destroying, well, everything.

But it wasn't Hank, hadn't been him. Could she just completely set those feelings aside. Intellectually she knew she had no real reason to be angry or afraid of him, but her intellect was battling with her guy and they were pretty well tied.

Holly, of all people the hot headed sister had encouraged her to speak with Hank. Dawn would never have guessed the voice of cool reason would come from either Hawk, but perhaps there was still so much more to learn about the depths of their powers and just how much insight they could offer.

Dawns wanderings had brought her to a side of town she had half known, half dreaded she would end up. Hawks and Doves always gravitated to each other, and now she was doing the same. With a deep steeling breath Dawn knocked on the door, unsure just what awaited her on the other side but this limbo was worse than anything she had see or could hear. She had to know.

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"Did you forget your keys?" she hears Hank's gruff voice on the other side of the door. "It's open anyway..."

Hank doesn't like locking his front door. If someone tried to break in, he'd be happy for the opportunity to prove how well he could defend his home, even if it was just a cheap apartment until he got back on his feet.

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Well..if it was open. Dawn walked in, a little hesitantly.

"No, I..uh..haven't had keys to your place in a while." Joke, please laugh..or something.

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He freezes, and looks up at her, like a deer caught in headlights.

...no, no laugh.

"...uh.... come in," he says nervously, getting to his feet and gesturing to a chair.

[hawk-and-dove.livejournal.com]

Ok no laugh..he looks like she just killed his dog. Oh god! Abort abort!

"Oh, this was a bad idea. A mistake. I shouldn't have...I'm sorry I should have called first but I didn't think and then I was here and... I should go."

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"No, no," Hank insists. "It's okay. Come in. Sit down. Can I get you something?" He turns towards the kitchen, forgetting about the chair he just stood up from... and immediately tripping over it, falling to the ground in a less-than-graceful heap.

[hawk-and-dove.livejournal.com]

Still standing there with her thumb hooked toward the door indicating she should leave, Dawn stopped. Hank seemed so anxious to have her stay that she couldn't walk away. Then the trip and fall, she was at his side in a moment, gently, gingerly using her arm to help him up.

Now, at least over this she could laugh, not at him but at the absurdity of it all. "No, I'm fine, but I think you may want to sit down."

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About the same time she starts to laugh, he's doing the same, chuckling at how ridiculous everything is.

He lets her help him up, but he focuses instead on her face.

"It's good to see you," he admits.