AN: This is a short one shot from Darien's perspective. Hope you like it! (Standard disclaimers apply)
Rain
by Aashka
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It was her eyes that had drawn me to her in the first place. Those big, azure blue eyes that could tell me of the bitter anguish she held inside, the anguish she hid from the world. The anguish she tried to hide from me. Try as she might, she could never hide anything from me. That was probably what scared her the most. She was my soul mate, I knew her inside out. And she knew it. It didn't take long for me to figure it out.
I remember the first time I met her. I was walking the trail in the rose gardens of the park and I saw her. She was sitting on an engraved stone bench among the roses. It would've been the perfect picture if it wasn't raining and if she hadn't looked like her best friend had just died, which, in a way, was close to what had happened. She was numb to the world outside of her own mind, sitting quietly in the rain, staring at her hands.
That was the first time I had ever felt the strange pulling sensation in my chest, as though she was pulling at my heart strings. It wasn't the last time either. I walked over to her at once and sat next to her, somehow silently conveying that I cared and that I wanted to offer her solace from whatever internal demons she was fighting. All of a sudden, she started talking. The words gushed out of her lips as though the dam holding them back had cracked and crumbled. She told me everything. She spoke of her childhood, her friends, her parents, whom, I found out, had just passed away, the same way mine had so long ago. She spoke of just coming from their funeral and being unable to face the empty house that she had called home all throughout her childhood, the house in which she had lived so happily with her parents. Finally, she fell into silence and I looked into her crystal eyes that were starting once again to fill with tears. I couldn't help myself. I took her into my arms and held her until her bitter tears ceased their torment on her soul.
I remember that day clearly, now as I approach the same path I had taken that day when my life had changed forever. Same as that day, it is raining, but just a drizzle, not quite as hard as it was then. The roses look so beautiful with the last remnants of rain clinging to their delicate petals.
Finally, I approach the bend right before the stone bench and I pause to brace myself for the disappointment I know I will find, just like the disappointment I have found every time I have turned this bend since then. Trying the quell the foolish hope that I will see her there again, like the first time.
Gathering up my courage, I walk around the bend and look up, straight into crystal blue eyes. She had finally come back. Sitting on the same bench. I feel my heart skip a beat and my pulse start to race. Strange how just seeing her again can have such an affect on me. I stand there in the drizzle, trying to understand the best move to make. Should I approach her slowly and sit next to her? Should I quietly wait for her to say something? Or should I take the few steps that would bring me up to her and gather her in my arms as I so want to do? Give in to impulse or try not to scare her away?
She takes the decision out of my hands. She gets up from the bench and approaches me, standing barely inches away. Looking directly into my eyes, she reaches up and sweeps a rain soaked lock of hair off my forehead. I grab her hand by instinct when she goes to pull away, pulling her even closer to my body so I can feel the heat radiating off of hers. It is then that she looks away.
I quell the urge to touch her face, hold her chin and direct her gaze back to mine, and instead let go of her hand. We stand here, in the drizzle, for what seems like hours but must only be minutes, not saying a word. Finally she breaks the silence.
"Hi," she says. As if we are just strangers passing each other on our daily stroll through the garden. That single word tears at my heart.
"Hi," I reply, not knowing what else to say. "So you're back after all this time. What made you decide to finally come and face me?"
"I didn't realize you would be here. I just came to admire the roses. I love roses." She loves roses. She says it as if I didn't already know she loved roses. As if I didn't know anything about her. I stare at her incredulously. I know everything about her.
I finally give in and ask the questions that have been running through my mind for so long. "Where did you run off to? Why did you leave? What could have made you turn your back on everything you know and love?"
She looks at me guiltily. Then her look changes. She starts to become angry. Her shoulders tense and her eyes scrunch a little, that cute little dip between her eyebrows appearing. "Who are you to question my actions?" she whispers. Her voice raises a little, "I can do whatever I please."
"Who am I?" I ask, "I am your husband! That's who I am! I think that gives me the right to know where you are, what you're doing. Did you ever think, just once, that I might be worried about you? I spent countless sleepless nights trying to go over what went wrong, why you left me. I walk through this park everyday just hoping to get a glimpse of you. I love you! I have every right to ask you these questions!" I lost my temper a bit. I know I did. I'm trying not to scare her away and instead I'm just yelling at her. And under my anger, I can still feel that impulse. The impulse to pull her into my arms and never let go. To keep her where she belongs.
She looks shocked at my outburst. She turns away from me, making my heart ache just that much more. She looks back and whispers, "I'm sorry." I can't take it anymore. I pull her into my arms, her head resting against my shoulder. She was always the perfect height for me, tall enough that I didn't have to bend over but short enough for me to rest my chin on her shoulder. I want to hold her forever. Protect her from the cruelties of the world. My own piece of heaven, the one thing that keeps me sane in this endless world. I feel her tears re-dampen my already moist shirt.
"Things were just moving so f-fast," she hiccups through her tears, "I couldn't keep up. I had to get away for a while. I needed to figure out what I wanted and what was going on. You never did anything wrong. You didn't chase me away…" I start to feel a sense of relief. I hadn't chased her away. And then there is hope as she stays in my arms, not once trying to pull away.
"I love you," she whispers in the silence, faint enough to almost have been the wind. I hear her and feel my heart move up into my throat. Had it been really that long since I've heard her utter those three words?
I pull away slightly, still unwilling to completely let her go. "What happens now?" I ask, dread once again filling my heart. I wait anxiously for her answer.
"We go home, Darien." And then, her voice much stronger, "I love you…with all my heart. Please don't ever let me go again."
I kiss her then and whisper against her lips, "Never. I will love you forever, my darling. Let me take you home, where you belong."
We walk along the trail, away from the bench that has seen us through almost every aspect of our relationship. Our first meeting, our first date, the day I proposed, the day we said I do. I stop for a moment, going back to the bench. I pick two roses from the bush next to it and lay one on the bench in silent tribute. The other I give to my wife, my heart, my love for all eternity. She takes it with a smile and we turn to walk once again towards our home, and our destiny.