Homecoming
Alex/Elle
He comes home to find music blasting, some CD I'd grabbed at random. It's full of stupid songs that don't make any sense, but I don't care. I'd picked it up at without really looking at it, just to have something to listen to-I can't stand the silence anymore …maybe it's better that the songs don't make any sense.
The door opening and the sound of his footsteps are masked by the music-it's only when he turns it down that I realize he's home.
I don't move-I stay curled up on the couch, arms wrapped around myself, head on my knees-I track his movements by the sound of his footsteps. They're quiet, but sure, and then they stop as he reaches the couch and then sits beside me.
"The neighbors will complain." he tells me softly, as his arm goes around me. I turn, just so I can see his face-I've always loved his eyes- we smile at each other, wryly.
It's bittersweet, this whole thing. We made it out but everyone else- a list of names run through my head sometimes, and I wonder why I'm here- what it was that made my mother chose me to live, while Nora-
I move, shifting, moving closer to Alex.
That's the past. I can't change it. If I had a time machine-maybe then we could make things right, defeat the bad guys, save everyone- but life doesn't work like that. You can't change what's already happened, no matter how badly you want to.
Alex's other arm moves around me, and I sink into him, just breathing, just together, just breathing together.
Later, we eat together. He makes it, and I help, teasing him that cooking is an unmanly skill, and he teases him back, saying that my cooking looks like some sort of alien experiment gone wrong.
I'm so glad he's here. It's overwhelming sometimes, the memories of that town of nightmares that used to be home- if Alex weren't here, I-
"You still have nightmares?"
It's the middle of the night, and I don't know how he knows I'm awake. Maybe it's the way I breathe-maybe he just knows me that well.
"Yes." I admit after a moment of silence. "You too?" I already know the answer, even before he wraps his arms around me.
"Yeah." the word is whispered in my ear, followed by "Thanks for sticking with me."
"Where else would I be?" and in the darkness, I kiss him and we smile at each other.
Oddly enough, it's not out in the world, with all its noise and busyness that sometimes manages to make me forget for a short time, it's not the world that makes me feel safe. It's here in Alex's arms that I feel safe. Not so much that I feel that nothing can touch me- I know now that isn't true. It's more like, if anything happens, together, we can face it, and eventually overcome it.
That's why I know, after everything, no matter what, we'll be okay.