Title: Salvation
Summary: Mitchell still remembers the first time he met George
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Toby Whitehouse and any other respective owners. This story is produced without profit.
Characters: Mitchell/George with mentions of Annie.
Genre: Angst/Hurt/Family
Rating: Older teen- Adult
Warnings: Er, blood addiction. Misery
Status: One shot/ Complete.
Archiving: Please PM me
Inspirations/Dedications: Season Three :'(
Salvation
Mitchell still remembers the first time he met George.
He can't remember what he was wearing or where George was working. It might have been raining or forecast snow. He thinks it could have been outside Bernie's Caf' or maybe Ipswich Maccies but by then he had eaten in so many grease ridden hell holes that it really could have been anywhere.
All he can remember is the important stuff.
All he can remember is George, and that feeling of not being alone anymore.
…
His first instinct is to be paternal, a product of his years. He complains about George's music collection (which isn't any less old fashioned than his own by today's standards), he makes him a bacon butty the morning after a transformation, and when the curse becomes too heavy to bear, Mitchell is the one who drags him out of bed and demands that he face the world.
That relationship doesn't last long.
One day, on a bad day, Mitchell meets a woman and before he knows it, he is knee deep in sex, booze and blood. (He knows his fucking triggers, he just doesn't know how to keep himself from giving in to them.)
"Just one sip," he tells himself. "As long as nobody gets hurt it doesn't matter."
Except somebody always gets hurt.
Three days and four victims later, all Mitchell wants is to go home. It's a new feeling (he hasn't had a home for 117 years) and he can't quite put his finger on exactly where this place is that something deep in his gut tells him he needs to be.
He is still wearing the same bloodstained clothes when George opens the front door.
"I want to get clean," is the first thing he says. He really does and he has to hope that will make things even a little bit okay.
George is shocked and horrified but he steps to one side. "I'll run you a bath."
Mitchell knows that it will take a lot more to wash the blood off his hands but it's a start.
…
Nobody can know how many times George has pulled him back from the brink. He doubts that even George himself knows how much Mitchell needs him.
Every month, as he watches George become stronger and more at peace with what he is, Mitchell faces the possibility that one day George might not need him back.
One night, after being particularly stressed and moody, George slumps down onto the couch and turns Mitchell's world around in that simple, unintentional way that he has a habit of doing.
"It's my birthday," he says. "My mum would have made a cake and everything. Let's go out and get drunk. Can we do that?"
It's almost disconcerting for a moment, having somebody turn to him for genuine human connection. "Sure, there's this new bar in the town centre."
"You're my best friend," he slurs, after twelve glasses of whisky. "You keep me going."
George falls off his seat and accidentally grabs the barmaid's tit. She starts shrieking which kicks off a massive brawl that leaves George with a bloody nose and Mitchell with bruised knuckles but on the walk home, George suddenly stops, cocks his head and says. "Same."
Mitchell doesn't even care that he follows it up by spewing all over his shoes. It is the best night of his life.
…
"You have been the love of my long life," Mitchell tells Annie and he means it, (he's fallen for that girl hard), but it has to be George. The only life he has ever had worth living began with George. George is his life. Mitchell was stone cold dead before they met. He can't imagine it ending any other way.
He knows George will do it, even if George doesn't even know it yet. For all Mitchell's power and abilities and experience, George has always been his greatest strength.
Mitchell knows that there will never be anything that he does that George won't forgive him for. There will never be enough blood spilt that would stop George from still being his friend.
"I'm doing this because I love you."
From the start, George was his salvation.
...