A/N: Please remember to review! Enjoy.
Part 3 - Moving In, Moving On
Blink.
It hurts to open your eyes, so you let them flutter closed again. But suddenly, you feel someone take your hand and squeeze gently. You know who it is, and you want to see him, so you struggle to open your eyes again. His cool hand gently brushes hair from your forehead and he whispers softly in your ear to take your time. You’re too tired to continue trying to squint against the too bright lights, so you take his advice and drift back to sleep.
Blink.
You wake again with less pain in your head this time. You turn to where you remember Vaughn’s touch coming from, and you see him dozing in his chair. You smile slightly and then reach out for his hand. He rouses suddenly, acting as if he hadn’t meant to fall asleep as you stroke his hand. He looks at you, and you apologize for waking him. He doesn’t care; he’s just glad that you’re awake.
He’s reluctant to leave you, but he knows that he should get a nurse to come check on you, so he excuses himself. You settle back on the pillows and breathe out deeply. You made it out alive again. But what about your friends? You admit to yourself that Francie is most likely dead, but you don’t want to really think about that, so you move on to other questions. Where was Will? Did he make it out okay? You sit up suddenly, wanting answers, but pain and dizziness flash through your head, so you lie back down.
Vaughn returns with a nurse and holds your hand throughout her examination of you. She informs you of your injuries – nothing is broken, but you have quite a few cuts and abrasions, and you have a concussion. She says that the doctors want to keep you under observation for a few days. She leaves, and then you immediately ask Vaughn about Will. He says that he made it out of surgery and you’ll have to wait for further information.
You find out that he will be alright. With some intensive physical therapy, he’ll be as good as new with time. You’re restless during your stay at the hospital. You have so many things you want to be doing right now other than driving the nurses crazy; being in Santa Barbra with Vaughn the most important one. He stays with you for hours each day, and he promises you that he’ll find a way to reschedule the trip.
When you’re discharged, Vaughn takes you to his place, since there’s not much left of your home to return to. He informs you that you’ve been given a week off to recover, and you immediately think that you’ll be able to get to Santa Barbra sooner than you thought. But, you realize that having headaches and feeling dizzy throughout the trip would make for a lousy vacation, so it will have to remain postponed.
Despite your physical injuries, the week you spend with Vaughn is like heaven, one that you’re reluctant to leave, but you know that you should start looking for another place of your own. But when he sees you with the apartment listings, his immediacy in offering a different solution makes you think that he has been thinking of asking you this for a lot longer than this week. He wants you to live with him.
You lower the paper and look up at him endearingly, but a little shocked. Were you really ready for this? In a way, you were; after two and a half years of slowly laying the foundation of your relationship, little brick by little brick, it was time to set up home. His next three words seal the deal.
He loves you.
It’s something that you have known in your heart, but to actually hear it has added more power behind the feeling. The look in his eyes drives the point home. He really has been considering this for quite some time, and he waited until the perfect time to ask you, when there was no chance of you saying no. You always did think that he was a genius.
You accept and return the sentiment of love, and his grin brightens the room. You throw down the paper, wrap your arms around him, and kiss him until you are drugged with passion. It’s going to be another night of fun for the two of you…
Blink.
You awaken next to him again, this time in his bed, and you see him looking at you with that same smile on his face. You love that you’ll be waking up this way every day from now on. You wish that you could just lie here with him until night falls again, but there are so many things to be done.
He takes you to your former home and helps you salvage what you can from the mess. Clothes, books, pictures, picture frames are all transported back to his apartment to be arranged later, making his home yours.
Tired of being cooped up in the apartment on your last day of recovery time, you and Vaughn take Donovan on a walk around his neighborhood, and he introduces you to some people that you see about. You smile and shake hands with them, happy to meet people who have insight to the side of Vaughn that you are still learning about. So when you run into old Mrs. Pearson, Vaughn’s landlady, you giggle as she pats his cheek and commends him on finally having a serious relationship with a woman; she was afraid that he would become an old, cranky bachelor. You blush when she compliments your beauty and proclaims that you are definitely a keeper. She then goes about her own business, leaving you and Vaughn grinning at each other. But when you turn to go home, a serious, but heartwarming thought pops into your head.
Your time has really come at last. You have the freedom to learn everything about Vaughn that you’ve wanted to know, even the littlest, seemingly trivial details that will only come from living together; things like how he likes his eggs, what books he is currently interested in (and whether he reads at all for pleasure), what other sports teams he is a fan of. It was all something you were really looking forward to, and you had the ability to take your time or speed things up as you wanted. But, the way in which you were so deeply in tune with this man was the result of taking things slow. (Maybe the existence of the Alliance had really been a blessing in disguise.) You didn’t want to rush everything now just for the sake of it. You both would know when the time was right to take the next step. Together you would decide, and together you would stay.
Blink.
You’re back at work, having returned to the unceasing grind of your life. There’s such a long list of things you want to accomplish that you almost don’t know where to begin. Unearthing a way to get back on your mother’s trail, finding out what else she knew about this “prophecy,” locating Sloane and the device that he built – these were only a few. But you wanted one question answered now. So, you went to the only resource at your current disposal.
Sark.
You marched down to his cell, the familiarity of it sending chills up your spine. But you had to have your poker face on for this round in the game, so you let the thoughts of your mother slip away for now.
The immediacy of your question doesn’t seem to faze Sark. He merely stands up from his metal cot and faces you with his arms crossed, a smirk not quite daring to appear on his face, but you can see the beginnings of it in his eyes. When he answers your question with the nonchalance as if he had been asked how the weather was, you can barely contain the compulsion to enter his cell and throttle him.
Francie was dead.
In your head, you had known that this was true ever since you discovered that Francie’s double was just who she was. But your heart tore at you, pleading with you to find a way to make it untrue. That’s why you stormed in here and confronted her possible murderer. But with his dreaded response, your heart could fool itself no longer. You bite back tears that threatened to fall; you wouldn’t cry in front of this snake, you wouldn’t give him the pleasure of seeing you in your weakness. So you leave him abruptly, and you felt ready to break down completely all over again. But you had to deliver the tragic news to someone else, so you try to remain strong.
You take a deep breath as you enter Medical Services, knowing that this will be just as hard, if not harder for Will as it is for you. You see him sitting slightly elevated in the bed reading a magazine. You greet him with a small smile, which he returns, and you ask how he is doing. He is happy to report that he’ll be able to leave in a few days, and he’ll be staying with his sister again. You nod, then take his hand, looking down at it in yours, wanting to get what you have to say over with.
When you tell him, he nods slightly and turns his head away. It was what he had figured as soon as he found the Provacillium in the bathroom. He asks you what happened to Francie’s double, and you can see that his fears are alleviated when you tell him that you killed her. He thanks you with a simple, “Good,” and a squeeze of your hand. He turns his head away again, and then looks back at you sadly. There are tears in his eyes as he opens up. He wasn’t sure how long, or even if he ever was, with the real Francie. He had been falling in love, and it was tearing him up inside that Allison had been the recipient of that sentiment. He sighs, and some tears fall. You kiss him gently on the cheek and swear to him that the other people responsible for Francie’s death will pay. You will be sure of it.
You sigh as you go back to the main office. The death toll is so high against you now, and you wonder if it will ever stop growing. You’re determined to get yourself and the people you love away from this deathly life as soon as possible. But justice needs to be served, and your catalogue of questions answered. There’s never any rest for the weary.
TBC