Miracle
Dedicated to Aricraze, who is, like, obsessed with this song. *grins* Hope you like it, Ari.
 
Miracle

It's taken much too long
To get it right
Would it be so wrong
To maybe find someone
A miracle

         Tyler Connell rolled over in bed and thought for the two hundred and seventy-second time that morning that he was an absolutely, positively hopelessly incomplete idiot.

         There were two reasons for this insightful revelation: one was that he hadn't had a steady girlfriend since tenth grade…and the other was that he still had a crush on Val Lanier, even though they were twenty-six, eight years out of high school, and she was sleeping in the same house as him.

         Yes, the same house. They had gone to the same college, and it was only inevitable that, since they both needed roommates to split the rent with, they would end up sharing a small, narrow, two-story house at 1009 West Elm Street in Los Angeles. Well, it was quite un-inevitable, but it was what had happened.

         Tyler rolled over again and caught sight of his calendar.

         "No," he groaned. June seventh. June seventh was not a good day. In fact, it was a downright horrible day. Horrible with a capital H. Because June seventh was the day Val left for England.

         Today. Today she was going to disappear from his life, or at least his sight, for two years. Two damned years.

         A crush on her? Tyler asked himself. In your dreams, Connell. You've fallen in love with her.

         Because he had, and it was so utterly impossible, so entirely fruitless, and that meant that he should fall out of love with her.

         Except life didn't seem to want him to be able to fall out of love with her.

         Tyler groaned and buried his face in his pillow.

And all you really need
Is everything you could never be
And so you'd give it all
For a miracle

         "So you're catching the noon flight?" Tyler asked Val as he came down the stairs into the kitchen. Of course, he knew that she was catching the noon flight, but there was no need to have a lack of conversation.

         "Yeah." She nodded and poured him a cup of coffee. Black, one sugar. She knew exactly how he drank his, and he knew exactly how she drank hers—cream, no sugar.

         "I'm going to miss you," he informed her. Her lips formed a smile.

         "I'll miss you, too."

         "I'll especially miss your clothes thrown on the chairs, and your habit of not washing the dishes, and your terrible cooking," he continued. "Actually, come to think of it, I might not miss you much at all." He took on a mockingly thoughtful air. Val rolled her eyes.

         "You know you need me," she purred jokingly. Tyler grinned.

         "Yes, darling, I need you so badly," he said in a Humphrey Bogart voice. "Run away with me, won't you?"

         "I'm beginning to see why you never have any dates," Val told him. "You're absolutely insane."

         "It's only because I'm head over heels for you, darling."

         "Of course," laughed Val. "But I still think you need a miracle to get a date."

         "You don't date much, either," he reminded her. She smiled.

         "I need a miracle as well, then, don't I?"

Is there a trace
Inside her face
Of a lonely miracle
And so you wait
And lie awake
For a lonely miracle

         "It's pouring," Val moaned as she opened the door to the bleary, raining day. Tyler grabbed an umbrella and handed it to her.

         "After you, darling." The joking manner had been there for so long, had become even more common after they had started rooming together, but there was underlying truth in it. They pretended they'd die for each other, and they would, but the other one didn't know it, just like they had never known in high school that the opposite liked them.

         "If you insist," Val sighed, fluttering her eyelashes prettily. Tyler grinned at her mimic of a flirtatious dumb blonde.

         "I do."

         He grabbed the remaining one of her suitcases and another umbrella and headed out after her, closing the door firmly behind him.

         It was five minutes later they were safe inside the car, but those five minutes had gotten them soaked to the bone.

         "I hope the plane can take off in this weather," Val said worriedly. Tyler shrugged.

         "There's no thunder or lightening."

         "True."

         Val turned on the heat full-blast to dry them off as Tyler started the car.

         "Say goodbye to the house," he prompted. He wasn't looking forward to having to find a new roommate, but with any luck he could find a gorgeous girl that would be willing to and then he could fall head over heels for her and he could forget about impossible-to-reach Val.

         "Bye, house," she agreed, and leaned back in her seat.

         "You looking forward to England?" he asked as he pulled out of the driveway.

         "Yeah, I guess."

         "You guess?"

         "Well, I know I'm going to love it there, but I'm going to miss yo—people," she corrected weakly.

         "People?" he inquired teasingly. "Not any particular people? Like me?"

         "Flatter yourself, why don't you?" she joked. "Yeah, I'll miss you."

         "Well, I'll miss you, too. So no worries." He flashed her a smile and turned on the slick street.

         "You sound like an Australian. 'No worries, mate.' Crocodile Connell, huh?" Val said as she poked him in the ribs.

         "That was a funny movie. The fifth one, I mean. Did you see it?"

         "I went with you, remember?" Val rolled her eyes and Tyler grinned. Of course he remembered that she had gone with him. He had spent the entire time wishing they could be making out.

         "Kidding."

         Val laughed as he hit the brakes at an intersection.

You never really know
What it is
Not until it goes
And if it comes again
It's a miracle

         It was a miracle that they got all the way to the airport without a crash. Tyler was just expecting a truck to come barreling down the road with cut brakes and crash into them, but no, they managed to get there safely.

         "Those roads are slick," Tyler commented as he dragged Val's suitcase out of the trunk.

         "Yeah. It was lucky we didn't crash," agreed Val. Tyler smiled.

         "Exactly what I was thinking."

         They were standing unbelievably close. Painfully close. It wasn't that they had never been close before, it was just that this was minutes before Val's plane took off and so it hurt more to be close when soon they would be so far.

         "You'd better go check in," Tyler said uneasily, looking away from her.

         "Right."

         Tyler followed her through the rain into the airport. She was unattainable. That was said and done, fact instead of fiction, and the only thing that could get her to love him was a miracle.

But what you miss is love
In everything below and up above
And could she bring it all
A miracle

Is there a trace
Inside her face
Of a lonely miracle
And so you wait
And lie awake
For a lonely miracle

         "Last call for first-class passengers boarding Flight 342," the attendant said in a bored tone that was trying to be perky but not succeeding. Val stood slowly. She was in business class, so she would be boarding soon.

         Tyler followed her movements, standing up.

         "I'm going to fly to England and murder you if you don't call or write," he told her simply. Val laughed.

         "Thank you. I'm assuming that means you're going to miss me."

         "More than you can imagine," he agreed, hugging her tightly.

         "I've said it before… but I'll miss you, too," she said as the embrace opened and they let go of each other.

         "Business class now boarding Flight 342," said the attendant. Val bit her lip, looking as if she was trying not to break down into tears.

         "That's me."

         "Goodbye," she said, sadness winding its way through her voice.

         "Goodbye," Tyler echoed. Val hugged him quickly once more and smiled.

         "See you."

         And she walked away. Tyler swallowed. This was so painful, so damn painful.

         Why are there miracles if you can't use them for the things that really matter? Like bringing Val back. That would honestly be a miracle. Honestly.

         He turned away.

All you wanted was a
All you needed was a miracle
A miracle...
And all you wanted was a
All you needed was a miracle
A miracle...

         He had just barely turned around, away from the plane and the passengers boarding, when someone's arms went around his neck.

         "I love you," Val whispered. "I had to tell you that before I left." She let go of him as he turned around.

         "If you love me, why are you leaving?" Tyler asked.

         "Nothing's convinced me to stay here," she told him. "Nobody's convinced me." She turned to leave, but Tyler grabbed her arm.

         "Can I convince you?" he inquired desperately as she spun around again in surprise. "Can I just try to convince you to stay?"

         "What do you—"

         But Val was interrupted by Tyler's mouth pulling her into a rough but sensual kiss, interrupted by her arms wrapping themselves around her tightly, interrupted by the words murmured from his lips against hers:

         "I love you, too."

         Her ticket fluttered, unforgotten, to the floor as she deepened the kiss.

         "So, are you staying?" he questioned, pulling away just slightly. Val smiled.

         "Do I get more kisses?"

         "Of course."

         "Then…of course," she said, meeting his lips again.

It's taken so long to get it right
Could it be so wrong
To maybe find someone
A miracle...

         The truck was spinning out of control. The lights were fierce. The horn was blaring warning. But the slick roads provided no traction for the brakes on the car, no traction that would stop it soon enough, and the semi smashed into it, mangling the metal and twisting it.

         And minutes later, their eyes opened slowly, but the only thing that could save them from the harsh pain was a miracle…

Is there a trace
Inside her face
Of a lonely miracle
And so you wait
And lie awake
For a lonely miracle

Is there a trace
Inside her face
Of a lonely miracle
And so you wait
And lie awake
For a lonely miracle

Wouldn't you all like to know if they died? WOULDN'T YOU? Well, I'm not telling. There could POSSIBLY be a sequel. POSSIBLY. If I ever decide if they're going to die or not. 'Cause I'm not sure. I'm not too great at writing sob stories, so we'll see. Anyways, please review…

DISCLAIMER: Song is "Miracle" by Vertical Horizon, and it belongs to them. Characters belong to Alliance Atlantis and Disney. Plot belongs to ME. YAY.

---IVY LEAVES