Title: Original Sin
Author: Gypsy
Comments: Sure. Flames and Kisses are welcome all the same.
Spoilers: None.
Archive: Please ask first.
Summary:
Disclaimers: The characters (Donovan, Jake, Alex, Cody and Monica) involved the property of NBC Entertainment, a division of the National Broadcasting Company. No copyright infringement is intended. Original characters, however, are the property of the author.
****
Northern California, March 1995
The cold spring tide waves crashed on the rocks below the cliff's edge. High above them, a gathering of family and friends sat and watched with the handsome couple in front of them with misty eyes. More than once tears of happiness spilled down ladies' cheeks to be dabbed at with lace handkerchiefs. It was a small gathering, intimate, family and close friends only. No one seemed to mind the brisk Pacific winds coming off of the water to blow hair, sea spray and flowers around. All eyes were for the Bride and Groom standing beneath the arbor in front of them.
She was a lithe woman, almost as tall as he was. Her dress was a simple silk gown that fitted tightly as a corset would in the bodice, then hung in a straight skirt to the ground. Her white silk gloves stretched from fingertip to mid-upper arm and kept her bare arms warm. Keeping her shoulders and upper back warm was a white velvet wrap that draped languidly over her shoulders. Her glossy black hair was swept up, the ringlets piled on top of her head and crowned with a pearl and diamond tiara. She wore no veil to cover her face from her lover and future partner. Every second of the ceremony, from the moment she'd stepped onto the aisle, her gray eyes were only for him.
He was a tall man, his body of hard muscle carried with a casual grace and elegance that seemed to escape most of the male population. His dark brown hair was a little longer than most business men's styles, but it was closer cropped than when they'd met. His chocolate brown eyes sparkled in the gray light outside as they watched her. His black tuxedo was classic, elegant in its lines. A single breasted coat with a single red rose boutonniere on the lapel to match her simple bouquet of 12 red roses. His eyes held to hers, as they had been the moment she stepped onto the aisle. He couldn't believe that he was actually going to marry this woman. Such a short time ago he didn't even know her... now he was joining his life to hers forever more.
Both of them vaguely heard the words the minister was speaking to them, repeating the vows as if on automatic. They weren't thinking about the ceremony as much as they were focused on each other. Even the family and friends gathered were at the back of their minds. All they could see was the other and the love that was held in each other's eyes.
--
Washington D.C., June 1997
It'd been a horrible week for him. He'd had to go out of town for a few weeks with work and couldn't tell his wife where he was going or for how long. As he turned the ignition off and exited the car, he thought back on the fight that they'd had when he told her that he was going away on business for a few weeks. The two dozen roses he pulled out were just a pacifier so that he could explain things. In the two years that they'd been married, he'd kept his work life far removed from her and her from it. He did so not because he felt she couldn't handle it, but because of who and what she was. However, above and beyond all that, she was his wife, and that was that. What he was and what she was clashed at times, but more than anything he had wanted to protect her as best as he could. There were times when she accused him of being over protective of her.
'I'm not a goddamned porcelain doll to be treated with velvet gloves!!' she'd scream at him.
'I know you aren't but can I help it if I rather like seeing you in one piece and NOT being arrested?!' he'd shout back.
'I am not your fucking job! For once just trust me and believe that it's over!'
His mother and father had both told him that when the honeymoon was over, the real marriage would begin and then would come the 'getting to REALLY know you' phase of their lives. He didn't realize that it would be two years full of fights and tears. He was so tired of fighting with her, so tired of seeing her cry, of shedding his own tears over their fights. More than once he'd thought long and hard on whether the marriage was the right thing. Every time he ended that train of thought with a 'yes'.
It was after midnight, she'd be well asleep when he crept into the bedroom. So, he silently closed the front door and locked it, then toed off his shoes and tiptoed down the hallway with the roses in hand. His plan was to wake her up with a single rose bud and then present her with the rest of them. Hopefully she'd be so thrilled with the roses that she would listen to him as he explained everything. He didn't realize that it was entirely too quiet in the house.
Carefully he opened the bedroom door on the darkened room. There was very little light coming in from the window, so he couldn't see her sleeping. But as he carefully felt his way around, he became aware that there was total and dead silence in the room. Only the sound of his breathing echoed in there. Dreading the worst, he dropped the roses and reached for his gun at the same time he reached for the light switch. What greeted him were a freshly made bed, a half-empty closet and a red rose on his pillow.
She was gone.
****
Author: Gypsy
Comments: Sure. Flames and Kisses are welcome all the same.
Spoilers: None.
Archive: Please ask first.
Summary:
Disclaimers: The characters (Donovan, Jake, Alex, Cody and Monica) involved the property of NBC Entertainment, a division of the National Broadcasting Company. No copyright infringement is intended. Original characters, however, are the property of the author.
****
Northern California, March 1995
The cold spring tide waves crashed on the rocks below the cliff's edge. High above them, a gathering of family and friends sat and watched with the handsome couple in front of them with misty eyes. More than once tears of happiness spilled down ladies' cheeks to be dabbed at with lace handkerchiefs. It was a small gathering, intimate, family and close friends only. No one seemed to mind the brisk Pacific winds coming off of the water to blow hair, sea spray and flowers around. All eyes were for the Bride and Groom standing beneath the arbor in front of them.
She was a lithe woman, almost as tall as he was. Her dress was a simple silk gown that fitted tightly as a corset would in the bodice, then hung in a straight skirt to the ground. Her white silk gloves stretched from fingertip to mid-upper arm and kept her bare arms warm. Keeping her shoulders and upper back warm was a white velvet wrap that draped languidly over her shoulders. Her glossy black hair was swept up, the ringlets piled on top of her head and crowned with a pearl and diamond tiara. She wore no veil to cover her face from her lover and future partner. Every second of the ceremony, from the moment she'd stepped onto the aisle, her gray eyes were only for him.
He was a tall man, his body of hard muscle carried with a casual grace and elegance that seemed to escape most of the male population. His dark brown hair was a little longer than most business men's styles, but it was closer cropped than when they'd met. His chocolate brown eyes sparkled in the gray light outside as they watched her. His black tuxedo was classic, elegant in its lines. A single breasted coat with a single red rose boutonniere on the lapel to match her simple bouquet of 12 red roses. His eyes held to hers, as they had been the moment she stepped onto the aisle. He couldn't believe that he was actually going to marry this woman. Such a short time ago he didn't even know her... now he was joining his life to hers forever more.
Both of them vaguely heard the words the minister was speaking to them, repeating the vows as if on automatic. They weren't thinking about the ceremony as much as they were focused on each other. Even the family and friends gathered were at the back of their minds. All they could see was the other and the love that was held in each other's eyes.
--
Washington D.C., June 1997
It'd been a horrible week for him. He'd had to go out of town for a few weeks with work and couldn't tell his wife where he was going or for how long. As he turned the ignition off and exited the car, he thought back on the fight that they'd had when he told her that he was going away on business for a few weeks. The two dozen roses he pulled out were just a pacifier so that he could explain things. In the two years that they'd been married, he'd kept his work life far removed from her and her from it. He did so not because he felt she couldn't handle it, but because of who and what she was. However, above and beyond all that, she was his wife, and that was that. What he was and what she was clashed at times, but more than anything he had wanted to protect her as best as he could. There were times when she accused him of being over protective of her.
'I'm not a goddamned porcelain doll to be treated with velvet gloves!!' she'd scream at him.
'I know you aren't but can I help it if I rather like seeing you in one piece and NOT being arrested?!' he'd shout back.
'I am not your fucking job! For once just trust me and believe that it's over!'
His mother and father had both told him that when the honeymoon was over, the real marriage would begin and then would come the 'getting to REALLY know you' phase of their lives. He didn't realize that it would be two years full of fights and tears. He was so tired of fighting with her, so tired of seeing her cry, of shedding his own tears over their fights. More than once he'd thought long and hard on whether the marriage was the right thing. Every time he ended that train of thought with a 'yes'.
It was after midnight, she'd be well asleep when he crept into the bedroom. So, he silently closed the front door and locked it, then toed off his shoes and tiptoed down the hallway with the roses in hand. His plan was to wake her up with a single rose bud and then present her with the rest of them. Hopefully she'd be so thrilled with the roses that she would listen to him as he explained everything. He didn't realize that it was entirely too quiet in the house.
Carefully he opened the bedroom door on the darkened room. There was very little light coming in from the window, so he couldn't see her sleeping. But as he carefully felt his way around, he became aware that there was total and dead silence in the room. Only the sound of his breathing echoed in there. Dreading the worst, he dropped the roses and reached for his gun at the same time he reached for the light switch. What greeted him were a freshly made bed, a half-empty closet and a red rose on his pillow.
She was gone.
****