Gio/Ivan Glen Haven

[icywind]

Glen Haven Colorado
Aug 13, 2002
Giovanni/Ivan


They'd been there since the 9th. Four days had passed, though it had felt more like four years, which would make today the 13th. Giovanni sighed softly as he looked out the window of his room. Perhaps today would be the day Ivan came to his senses. Perhaps today would be the day he'd leave anyway he thought, glancing at the folded up post-it note he'd made the day before.

Last resort, he reminded himself as he rose and dressed for the day. He'd only drug Ivan as a last resort. He knew his husband had meant well, had 'done it for his own good' but he was still upset. He also wasn't ready to take away Ivan's choice the way his had been taken away.

But he was getting there.

"Are we speaking to me today?" Ivan asked from his spot at the table in the dining room of the inn when Giovanni had descended the stairs.

"That depends," Giovanni said, glancing up as he began placing out the items to prepare coffee for them both onto the counter. "Are we returning to Boulder today?"

"Giovanni, love, you know that is not something I can answer right now," Ivan replied with a sigh of his own. "As soon as it is safe, then we will return."

"You cannot possibly think Kurt is still in the city - you know it was swept, you know he was not found."

"All the more reason to lie low until he is."

"Whatever happened to strength in numbers?" Giovanni bit out. "There is no shortage of people in Boulder who want him dead and gone. Who would help keep me, keep us, safe. Demetrius-"

"Demetrius ran off half-cocked on a suicidal revenge mission!" Ivan spat. "We do not even know if he made it back to Boulder." And there was a note of worry in his voice that Giovanni was glad to hear. It had to be hard for Ivan that Demetrius had gone the way he had and that he didn't know if he was safe.

"And if we had not left we would know," Giovanni gently reminded him.

"Giovanni..." Ivan sighed.

Giovanni sighed himself and took a glance back to see if Ivan was watching him. When he saw him turn away he reached into his pocket and pulled out the little post-it note packet. He'd found the drugs Ivan had used to get him out of Boulder yesterday when going through Ivan's stuff - ostensibly to gather laundry. He was pretty sure Ivan wasn't paranoid enough to count the pills so he'd pocketed several of them and took them up to his own room where he carefully crushed them and poured the powder into a little packet he'd made from a post-it note and tape.

Now, today, he'd finally had it. He couldn't overpower his husband and he didn't want to hurt him either so this was the only way. Hopefully this would give him a long enough head start that even if Ivan caught up with him he could convince him to continue on to Boulder rather than returning here.

With an immense feeling of guilt he poured the powder into Ivan's coffee and added a little creamer and sugar to help mask the flavor. Keeping a carefully neutral expression he carried the little tray over to the table Ivan was at and handed over the tainted coffee. Before he could step over to the other side to sit and sip at his own Ivan grabbed his wrist. He slid his fingers to grab Giovanni's and brought his hand to his lips to press a soft kiss to them.

"I'm sorry and I love you." Ivan said softly and Giovanni didn't doubt the love, he never would, and despite the last few days he also didn't doubt that Ivan was sincerely apologetic. Turmoil swirled in his gut but he simply offered a smile as Ivan let go of his hand and took up position on the other side of the small table.

Ivan always drank his first cup of coffee quickly, something Giovanni knew was to his advantage. Now he only had to wait for the drugs to take affect. He didn't want to watch, honestly didn't think he could watch really, so he got up to do the dishes from breakfast. It happened faster than he was anticipating, when he heard the thump of Ivan's body hitting the floor behind him, before he'd even finished their plates. Drying his hands Giovanni quickly went to Ivan and checked his pulse. Thready but there, he'd given him enough to put a mortal into a coma after all, and he took a moment to carefully lift Ivan up and bring him over to a couch in the lounge area of the Inn. He pulled the note he'd written the night before from his back pocket and tucked it in between the buttons of Ivan's shirt before pressing a kiss to his forehead.

"Please forgive me love, I had no other choice," he whispered before dashing upstairs to grab his backpack and sword. He paused again when he got back downstairs but only for a second before he opened the door and ducked outside.

The sun was bright and the day beautiful and Giovanni took a deep breath to steady himself before sprinting up the road towards a large building proclaiming itself to be the Glen Haven General Store. Well, that confirmed that he was in Glen Haven - wherever the hell that was. Luckily inside the store there were maps just near the door and he grabbed one, quickly ascertaining he wasn't really all that far from Boulder itself from the look of things. About fifty miles or so. He grabbed a few bottles of water and some granola bars then jogged back outside and reassessed the situation. He didn't want to take the car Ivan had used and leave him without a way to get back to Boulder, but there weren't many options in this tiny town. And then he caught sight of something back towards the south. A bicycle was leaning up against the the side of the firehouse building. The tires looked and felt good and Giovanni offered a little prayer of thanks as he got on.

It felt a little weird with his sword sticking up from his back, but he would get used to it soon enough he knew. Besides, he couldn't guarantee he wouldn't run into someone on his way back, as short as that seemed. Although truthfully if he sensed another Immortal he was going to go for the gun he'd taken from Ivan before he was going to go for his sword.

Thus, feeling both heavier and lighter than he had in days, Giovanni headed south on highway 43 towards Estes Park.


He felt the quickening before Cass could answer. The other man began to slow the car as Victor squinted at the bike rider on the horizon. “I know him,” he confessed.

There was no more time to get their story straight. Most of it was the truth anyway, but he did recall Cass’ suggestions - they were to refrain from mentioning their relationship and he was to avoid giving the details of his leaving Vegas with Kurt.

It struck him as odd... Giovanni out here all alone given that fact the younger man probably assumed Kurt was also out here as well. It was, in a word, madness. Unless Boulder hasn’t realized Kurt was a gay hating Nazi? Or Giovanni went away and with news of Kurt’s death, he was returning?

“Stop the car. That’s Giovanni. He’s part of the couple I mentioned who were wed. There must be an explanation for him being outside the city alone... but it leads me to believe something is quite wrong.”

With a sigh, Victor made a decision and quickly removed his scabbard. The sword would remain in the car. He didn’t think Giovanni would attack him without a proper challenge. And he would talk his way out of any challenge by explaining his current position. He didn’t wish to kill another citizen of Boulder any time soon. But, from what he’d observed Giovanni during his time in Boulder, the man didn’t seem the type to enter a pointless fight. Or a fight which (Victor assumed, perhaps arrogantly) Giovanni could not win.

He got out of the car, leaving his blade where it had been - between the center console and the passenger seat. He left the door open, however. He was certain he was right in his assessment but he was not a total fool. Paranoia died hard.

Still, he stepped forward to the front of the car. He didn’t need to call out: if they felt Giovanni, Giovanni felt them as well.

And he had. The younger immortal turned to see them.

Putting his hands up to show he was unarmed, Victor offered a small wave.

“What on earth are you doing out here all alone?” he called.

Then it occurred to him. Ivan... had Ivan been killed and Giovanni saw no reason to stay?

“Where’s Ivan?” he asked, not wanting to know the answer.


Giovanni had been making good time so far that morning, riding a bike was the easiest way to go really, weaving in and out of traffic was a cinch though he had to admit going downhill rather than uphill was also helping matters. He was on the road for about an hour and a half or so he guesstimated. He'd switched highways even and though it wasn't the half-way point (really he was about a third of the way into his journey) he considered it a small victory in his mind to have made it this far already.

He was half expecting Ivan to catch up to him at some point - though he hadn't left any instructions on which route he had taken, Ivan would have awoken by this point and very well could be on the road - so at first he didn't think anything when he heard the car and felt the Quickening coming from behind him.

And then the Quickening separated into two and he realized neither felt at all like his husband.

Had he spooked someone when he'd been passing through the city? Or were they just travelers on their way to Boulder? Or was it something worse? If he had he been paying better attention he could hide along the verge, but that wasn't an option - they would already have spotted him on this relatively straight section of highway.

He kept his back to them though he did pull off to the side of the road and the car eventually followed suit. He turned finally, though only his upper body, when he heard the car doors open. He blinked then blinked again as Victor Huntingdon of all people waved hello and asked him what he was doing out here alone. He didn't know the man all that well, he'd met him mostly in passing, though he'd meant to ask after his musical talents at some point. It still irked him some, the implication that he was defenseless, and he turned fully when Victor inquired as to where Ivan was so that he could see Giovanni did have a gun on him in addition to the sword awkwardly sticking out of the top of his backpack.

"Victor?" he asked, receiving a nod in reply. Victor had come into town with Kurt, though so had Mike and Olivia which was why Giovanni wasn't going to hold that against him. He had disappeared the night of the bombings however and that was curious. The two most prevalent rumors that had developed were that Victor was either in on the plot and escaped with Kurt or that he had been killed by Kurt after finding out about it. Did a third option exist wherein Victor had left the city separate from Kurt? Or was this some elaborate plot to capture him and bring him to Kurt? The man with Victor definitely wasn't Kurt, was a great deal older than he'd been in fact, but that didn't mean anything either way. Maybe he was in on the plot.

Maybe Giovanni had spent a little too much time with Demetrius that he would be so paranoid. Then again, wasn't a little paranoia a safe thing when you were a gay Jewish man and a literal fucking Nazi was out to get you?

"We thought you were dead," he said simply, unsure how much he meant it. He wanted to mean it though, and in his heart he knew if Victor told him he hadn't been with Kurt he'd probably believe him. But Victor had just asked him about himself, he also asked him about Ivan...and the expression on his face was one of genuine concern.

Sure Victor could be acting, but Giovanni was an excellent judge of character. He'd never actually met Kurt, but he had a feeling that he would've known something about him was off if he had. Maybe it was wishful thinking but he didn't think so. Once you encountered someone that vile you formed a radar for it. There was a reason Kurt never had come near him openly and he was pretty sure that was it. Still, he wasn't sure what had happened to Victor that night and he had no idea who his friend was or what their intentions really were so his inner Demetrius, and Ivan for that matter, both urged him to still be cautious.

"Ivan and I left Boulder two days after the explosion, he did not feel comfortable staying where Kurt knew how to find us," Giovanni began, eyes darting between Victor and the other man. "We had a bit of an argument this morning and I decided to start out before him." Also true, albeit also a lie of omission. They'd had an argument but Ivan had not willingly let Giovanni leave as he was implying. "I doubt he pouted for a very long time, I am sure he will catch up before too long." There, plant the seed of the idea that Ivan could come upon them. It might make them less likely to try anything with him.

"What happened to you? And who is your friend here?" He kept some of his attention on Victor but turned more of it on the older Immortal.