Work Text:
It starts with a text at the airport, just before their flight back to São Paulo. Arthur is with them, his presence demanded by Veríssimo. Liz watches over the three men as he tries to make Joui and Cesar laugh, her watchful gaze over the entire room. She sits, tense, in her chair, the absence beside her haunting in how obvious it is.
It is that absence which has her reaching for her phone. Quickly she opens a new text, and selects Thiago from her contacts.
'About to leave for São Paulo. All three boys with me.' she writes, sending it before she can thing better of it.
A text is just a text, however; it is when they land that it truly begins. Liz takes out her phone and calls him instead.
It dials - it must be on charge, wherever Thiago's phone has ended up - but predictably goes to answering machine.
"Hey Thiago," is the message she begins, then pauses as the boys look at her. "The boys and I have landed in São Paulo."
And then, unsure what else she can even say, Liz hangs up the phone.
The second time she rings him is after their debriefing. She is furious still, seething with everything that has happened, with every way they have been hurt - all of the death, too - and then for Veríssimo to dare..
She is in more than half a mind to hand in her resignation from the Order - it's a volunteer agency anyway - but if she does... If she leaves...
Liz grabs the phone anyway.
Once again she calls Thiago's number.
Once again it puts her through to voicemail.
"So Sr. Veríssimo has gone back and recruited Agatha," she says, venom in her voice and hatred in her heart. "He didn't even give a shit you were injured, and he goes and recruits Agatha. And he expects me to work with that bitch! After everything she did, after everything we saw her do..."
She knows she is being unfair, but spite fuels her very soul. Liz does not care if she is unfair about a girl more than ten years her junior, what she cares about is that her friend is not here. Veríssimo offered some platitudes, for sure, but the rest...
"I walked out of the meeting," she confesses. "It was that or punch him, and I'm sure he can afford a better lawyer than me. I don't know how the boys managed to sit through that drivel, but then Joui always did have more patience than me."
She snorts.
"And oh, Christ, have I told you about what the phone operator said when we landed? I know she's also a steel hearted bitch, but let me tell you..."
And so she continues, long into the morning.
A few days later, and her holiday ends. It's exactly two cases until she's presented with a burnt corpse - not a death by fire, thankfully, but the murderer having torched the body in an attempt to conceal the evidence.
It's an extra crime for his records, and so Liz makes a note of it.
Dealing with the body is fine. People think it's dramatic and terrifying, but it's just a corpse. Liz has dealt with them her entire working life, having gone straight from a medical degree into the coroner's office. There's a joke the cops make about how she prefers the company of the dead to the living.
Sometimes, she thinks they might be right.
She works on the body, and submits an interim report. A few tests she needs to wait on the results of, but the police want an immediate update on the case. She'll have a full one in a few days but now, with no more urgent cases, she can leave at a reasonable time.
Go home, walk Bolinho, make dinner, not answer Joui's calls, stare at the wall, go to sleep, wake up screaming at two am.
It's been a long time since a body caused her to wake up at two am.
But the features had warped and the burns grown more severe and in the realm of nightmares the corpse was replaced by her Thiago Fritz.
Dead, on her work bench.
She wants to be sick.
She calls his phone instead.
"Thiago," she sobs a little. "Thiago."
Like that she continues for a little while, until eventually she manages to eek out "I miss you."
The answering machine cuts her off before she has run out of tears.
But of course, life goes on, and so does the endless slog of forensic analysis. It is early on a Tuesday when a mass homicide is reported.
It is early on a Wednesday when Liz gets out of work, not because her duties are complete, but because she is too exhausted to function.
Finally done with the day's work, Liz walks across the clean room. Her colleagues would likely call her progression 'marching' or even 'storming', but she does not; she is walking, and that is final.
Her lab coat has already been tossed in the laundry basket, and so it is merely a case of retrieving her belongings. The locker door sticks slightly, and she has to wrench the damned thing to get it open. She snatches her bag, swings it onto her shoulder, and begins burrowing for her phone.
One colleague makes the mistake of calling "see you tomorrow, Elizabeth!"
Liz only barely refrains from snarling at them, and only because she checks her phone.
The missed call is a private number, but it left a voicemail. She unlocks the phone and types in the number, pressing it to her ear and waiting.
"You have one new message, and no saved messages" the synthesised voice monotones. "Playing new message."
She pushes open the door into the building as the robot clicks off, and distorted background noise takes over. Where-ever she was called from was clearly busy, and at first dhe thinks it may be a mistake.
Then, after a long few minutes, a vaguely familiar - but really not - woman's voice speaks.
"Hello. This is Marianna, one of the nurses from Carpazinha Hospital. I am calling to speak to Sra. Webber on behalf of our patient, Sr. Fritz. This is not an emergency, but we would appreciate you returning our call as soon as possible. Our number is-"
Liz hangs up the call, the number already committed to heart. With shaking hands she manages to get herself into her car, then collapses to the driver's seat. She does not bother turning it on, instead slamming shut the door and typing the number into her phone.
It is an agonising wait before somebody picks up - one in which she puts her phone on speaker, and quickly texts the base the words 'tickets to Carpazinha' and then follows up with a 'now'.
And then, finally, somebody picks up.
"Carpazinha Hospital, intensive care, Theodora speaking, how may I help you?"
"Hi Theodora," Liz does her best to sound less violent than she has since returning to São Paulo, but what ends up happening is that she squeaks. "This is Elizabeth Webber, emergency contact for Thiago Fritz. Marianna rang me a few hours ago, and asked me to return her call?"
"Oh!" The nurse's tone picks up a little. "Yes, of course. He regained coherent consciousness earlier today, and was asking for you. And someone named Joui...?"
"Joui is fine," Liz assures. "I'll contact him-" she is about to say next, only to see her clock flick across to '00:01'- "... in the morning. And Cesar. And Arthur, of course; he should be back in Carpazinha, so he might come visit, if I can't make it quickly"
"Of course," Theodora agrees. "I was a little surprised by your call, but Thiago did mention that you work shifts. He's asleep now, but I can ask someone to ring you next time he's awake?"
"Please," Liz does her very best not to sound too desperate. "I'm trying to get plane tickets booked and time off work. Let him know for me? If I miss the call?"
"I'll make a note," there's a brief pause, then "is that all? I'm sorry to be brief, but we're short staffed tonight."
"Go," Liz tells her. "I'll be fine."
And then, without waiting for a reply, Liz hangs up the phone and laughs.