Title: a world outside every darkened door
Rating: PG
Word Count: 516
Characters/Pairings: Priya, Tony. Priya/Tony
Genre: romance, character study
Prompt: "highway; Priya/Tony"
Summary: "Tony longs to drive all the way to east, to New York, so he can show Priya his childhood home. Priya chuckles at every tacky motel room they stay in, insisting that she take a photograph, along the way." Tony and Priya roadtrip after their release from the Dollhouse.
It lasts exactly one month, their apartment in San Francisco after their release from the Dollhouse. One month until Priya, tired from lack of sleep due to the memories wedged into the brain, gets up restless from bed at four in the morning and begins packing.
Tony wakes an hour later from the rustling and the movement. Priya looks him dead in the eye and says, This place, it's too much like befo – it's suffocating! I need to get out. Tony turns on the lights and helps her pack before gathering his own things too.
Where do you want to go? he inquires of her, before even putting the key in the ignition.
I don't … anywhere else … everywhere.
Tony pulls out a map from the glove department, carefully unfolding it, and tells Priya to close her eyes and point.
She does.
Their life now consists of landscapes and skylines, of quaint side streets and ominous highways.
They see the Grand Canyon, the Rockies, and Niagara Falls. Each takes their breath away until dusk, where they exhale and smile at one another, before walking back to their car, hand in hand.
Tony longs to drive all the way to the east, to New York, so he can show Priya his childhood home. Priya chuckles at every tacky motel room they stay in, insisting that she take a photograph, along the way.
The occasional nightmare pops up again and when it does, their things are already together for an immediate escape from mundane imprisonment.
The make it a point to stay at various different kinds of motels and eat a plethora of different types of food.
Tony's gained weight from constant consumption of greasy diner food, fast food joints, and take-outs, but Priya's maintained her delicate figure and he, though enamored, can't help but be a little envious of this.
They both have a poor sense of direction; Priya, because she is a stranger to the country, and Tony, because he is a stranger to the territory. (He used to be able to maneuver about discreetly in foreign lands, but now it's as if he's illiterate, missing all the right exits, making the journey on the highway excruciatingly long.)
Tony does most of the driving and when Priya senses his frustration of their current misdirection, she places her left hand on his bare knee, making small circles with her pointer finger until she hears him breathe deeply, releasing tension.
For all his tension on the road, Priya is elated. The evening breeze running through her hair tickles. And the summer heat that makes Tony's skin glisten with perspiration drives Priya mad until she demands that Tony pull over to a secluded spot.
And although the driving more often than not angers him, Tony knows that it's well worth it, knowing Priya is in the passenger seat next to him.
It lasts exactly three months, their adventures on the bewildering highways of America, before Priya looks Tony dead in the eye, and announces, I'm pregnant.
Suddenly, they have a whole new adventure to face.
Second Dollhouse ficlet ever. Feedback is very much appreciated.
Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks!