Disclaimer: Middleman does not belong to me.
Author's Note: This is a companion piece to "Sleep"
The End of All Things
She never thought it would end like this. Blood trickled out the corner of her mouth as she lay on the ground, staring up at the sky. Hot tears slid down her cold cheeks and she drew in a struggling breath. Blood gurgled in her lungs and she knew it wouldn't be long now.
She had always thought she'd go in her sleep; quite and peaceful, very much the opposite of her life. Even after she took this job, she had clung to that thought. Even though she knew it was a crock. No, this death was more fitting, though it was too soon…
It was way too soon…
She felt angry as regret played heavily through her mind. Saving the world did have its draw backs. Death just happened to be one of them. But there was no world to save any more. Despite all her work, all her efforts, the end was here. The end was now.
Acknowledging that was more bitter than the taste of blood in her mouth. But…despite it all, despite the early end, she could never regret meeting him. He made her life worth something. He had helped her believe in his cause and through that, showing her that there were things worth fighting for in this world.
A thought dawned on her as blackness edged on her vision. She had fought beside him for two years, shared his bed for one of them, trusted him with her life, loved him, and still did not know his name. Wendy Watson gurgled out a slight laugh, blood bubbling in her throat.
She closed her eyes and let everything wash away. Her body grew heavy as she felt herself slipping away. A small smile touched her lips. At least, in the end, she would be with him again…
Wendy Watson jolted awake from a sound sleep, gasping for air. She sat up and inhaled deeply. In…out…in…out. She stared into the darkness of her room and raked her hand through her thick hair. What the fuck was that about? She wondered. The dream was slipping away now, fragments lingering here and there.
Images flashed in short bursts. Worlds end. Her death. Feelings of love for her Boss. The corner of her mouth twitched at that and she sighed. Not the weirdest dream she'd ever had, but definitely one that left an impression. She hated those dreams; they made her feel slightly ill.
She swung around in her bed, draping her legs over the edge, and planting her feet on the floor. There, attached to the real world again. Feeling the cold floor against her feet chased away the lingering images and feelings. All better.
Wendy lay back down; eyes wide open now, staring up at her ceiling. Exasperated, she tossed and turned for a couple minutes and closed her eyes, attempting to will herself back to sleep. It didn't work. Growling slightly, she looked at her alarm clock and guessed that the fuzzy, glowing red numbers were something in the really early morning.
Sighing, she reached over and patted around the top of her nightstand for her glasses. When she finally found them, hoping that she didn't just break them, she slipped them on and saw that her suspicions were right. It was a little after five in the morning. She hated getting up this early. It was impractical; too early to function, too late to try to get back to sleep.
Wendy dragged herself out of bed and decided a nice sit in the shower sounded good. Then a cup of coffee…or three. She crept downstairs, mentally thanking Sensei Ping for training her the ways of light feet. She found Lacey curled up in her makeshift pullout bed, absolutely dead to the world. But she wasn't alone.
Wendy tripped over the head of Lacey's yellow teddy costume and fell noisily to the floor. Mouthing a forceful "Ow!" she sat up and saw that Lacey was still sleeping, as was Noser, who slept beside her, his arm slung over her side. Wendy was thankful that they were both heavy sleepers and that they finally got together. It only took them five years.
Wendy rubbed her leg and contemplated her plan from her seat on the hard wood floor. If they could sleep through her falling down, they could probably sleep through the shower. Did she want to tempt fate by attempting to take a shower?
Her resounding answer was nope. Now what? Sighing, she clamored to her feet and weighed her options. It was after five in the morning. Nothing was open yet and she couldn't shower. What was left? Then it hit her. She did have a place she could go…and shower…and get a cup of coffee! Feeling almost perky, she used her light feet to creep out of the apartment and head downstairs to her Middle-mobile.
Wendy used her key to enter the Middleman Headquarters. After letting herself in, she shut and relocked the door behind her. She inhaled deeply, breathing in the comforting scent of fresh laundry and lemons. She navigated through the halls and headed to the locker room. Wendy sat down heavily on the wooden bench and bent down to untie her shoes. Her right calf was covered with a huge bruise. Swell. She thought sarcastically, mentally rolling her eyes as she worked her laces.
"You look like you've been through a battle there, Dubbie."
She looked up at her Boss, who was already dressed in uniform and looking lively and smiled broadly. "Lacey's yellow teddy costume head…it won."
"Apparently," He smiled back at her, and then grew serious, "Couldn't sleep?"
"How'd ya guess?" Wendy drawled, slipping off her shoes.
"Well, for starters, the dark circles give you away and--"
"It was rhetorical…" She said lightly, attempting to smile.
He chuckled slightly, inclining his head somewhat. "Bad dreams?"
"Yeah."
He nodded. "That happens a lot in our line of work."
"Tell me about it." A smile found her lips, "I miss my dreams about airplanes."
He laughed softly, then got serious again. "If you ever need to talk about anything, Dubbie, I'm always here."
Wendy nodded. "I know."
He crossed the room and touched her face with the barest of touches. She leaned into his hand and brushed her lips against his palm. Their eyes met and he leaned in swiftly and stole a kiss from her full lips.
"See what happens when I don't spend the night." She murmured.
"We'll have to remedy that post hast." He responded.
She laughed and reluctantly parted from him. Wendy headed toward the shower room, grabbing a white towel from a stack by the door as she passed.
"You're coffee will be ready when you're done." The Middleman called after her.
"You spoil me so." She teased slightly.
He just chuckled and left the locker room. Wendy stripped and tossed her clothes; an old pair of loose board shorts and a black tank top into the wooden hamper that was beside the bench.
Her shower was long. She lounged for a bit, relaxing under the warm water. After the shower, she dressed in her uniform and walked through the winding halls to the heart of the complex. The Middleman was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, a large mug of coffee in his hand. She gladly accepted it and took a long sip.
The warm liquid rushed down her throat and filled her body with warmth. She sighed an internal happy sigh at the feeling. The Middleman smiled at her and they moved to the plush chairs that they brought into the room for those long days where Ida received tons of hits. It was a definite improvement from the hard wood stairs.
They drank in comfortable silence. Wendy sipped her coffee, while The Middleman sipped his glass of milk. Wendy found herself remembering parts of that dream. It felt far away from her, just out of reach in that back corner of her mind. It was like she was swimming in slush trying to get to it.
"What's wrong, Dubbie?" The Middleman asked, his brows furrowed with concern at her focused expression.
"Huh?" Wendy snapped out of her thoughts, "It's nothing…trying to remember what I was dreaming about."
"Are you able to recall anything? The slightest detail might help you sort things out."
She shifted in her seat. What did she remember? Mostly feelings and a few images, nothing concrete though.
"I was dying." She said softly, reflecting on the lingering images and feelings, piecing them together like a puzzle, "The world was ending. There was nothing I could do to stop it. You were already…" she couldn't bring herself to say the word, dead, their mortality reminded her of their ultimate weakness, but she continued on, avoiding that part altogether, "I was upset that I had failed but I didn't regret that I had made this choice."
"That's deep, Dubbie." He said softly, "And yet…eerily familiar."
They were silent, both reflecting on her words.
"What if we fail…in the end I mean?" Wendy asked after a while.
"Hopefully, someone will be there to finish what we started." He said simply, "And hopefully they'll be able to succeed where we didn't."
The Middleman stood, his glass of milk empty in his hand. "But I can tell you this, Dubbie. We can't fail. As long as we have each other, we can not fail."
"I know." She said softly, seriously, and then grinned, "Plus, there no way in BLEEP we'd go down without a fight."
He laughed, showing slight dimples. "That's my girl."
Their moment was ruined by Ida, who, for the record never cared when they were having a moment.
"Get your rears in gear!" She barked, "There's a were-sheep on the loose and you know how vicious they can get!"
Wendy stood and looked at her Boss. "Is she kidding?"
"Unfortunately, no, Dubbie," He confirmed Ida's words, "There's a big old world out there that needs our saving."
She smiled. Yes, they would save the world today. But it was far from ending. And at the end of the day, after their mission was complete, Wendy relaxed in her seat in the Middle-mobile and knew that whenever the world would end, she would be ready, as long as he was beside her.