If I Lay Here
"Please, darling, open the door and tell me what's wrong?" Even though they had been married for almost forty-five years, in two months, and he still calls her his usual petnames.
"No. I don't want to talk right now." He heard her say through the door. He knew if anything was going to get done, he'd have to just go away and wait it out.
Just about an hour and a half later he heard a soft click at their bedroom door. He got his now early-seventies body up from their couch and walked to the back of the house to the bedroom they share. He found her standing at the window looking down on their kids and grand kids blissfully unaware of what was going on. He walked up behind her, placing his hands at her shoulders. She shrugged away and went to lay on their bed. He sat on the edge and continued to just look at her.
"Love, if we're going to get anywhere you have got to tell me what going on." He asked
"I'm dying Eames." Ariadne turned her head to look at her husband through cloudy, swollen, eyes. He pushed a few strands of her wiry white hair from her face and took her hand, letting a few stray tears fall from his eyes. "The doctor told me today that I have a tumor in my brain and it's cancerous. He's estimating I have about a year to live." Her frail frame was shaking as she started crying again.
"It's okay my love, we'll get through this alright." He went around the edge of the bed and climbed in next to her and held her shaking body.
Two months later, Ariadne was going through chemotherapy, and was very weak but managed to get up from her bed and join everyone at the dinner table for their forty-fifth anniversary. Everyone came out including their children and grandchildren, Cobb and his two now grown kids, Arthur, and Yusuf.
It was just after dinner and Eames lifted himself from his chair holding his champagne glass.
"Ari, even after all of our senseless mistakes, petty fights, naive choices, drunken nights, embarrassing dates, laughs, cries, birthday se-"
"Eames, I think we get it."
"Yes, well, darling my point is, even after all this time I'm still in love with you as if I met you yesterday." All of the girls aww'd at his statement. He even thought he saw tears threatening to spill over his wife's eyes.
"Eames, will you come lay with me?" Ari asked after everyone had left, she was laying on their bed while Eames read by the window. Eames walked stiffly over to the bed and wrapped his arms around his wife. "Tell me about our one year dating anniversary."
"You know what happened, love."
"I like it better when you tell it."
"Well, I had taken you to a very expensive restaurant, much to your dismay. We hadn't even finished the meal and you put your hand on my thigh and said to me "You know, I have even better things we can do than sit here and eat." My eyes widened slightly at your new found forwardness and turned around in my seat to yell check! And I seem to remember you insisted we go my place even though you refused to go there since my heater broke and it was the middle of January. Let's just say when we were finished the apartment wasn't cold and I understood why you wanted to go there. The next day I asked you to marry me and here we are."
"Eames, I don't...I don't feel well."
"I know darling." He kissed her forehead
"I just want you to know, I love you."
"And I love you."
The next day Eames woke up, and didn't hear his wife's breathing and looked over to find her with a smile on her face. He took her already cold hand in his and cried. At least the last thing he got to tell her was that he loved her.
If I lay here,
If I just lay here,
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world?
- Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol