Familiar Strangers
A.N.: Gah, must stop listening to angst-y music. This time blame it on "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" by Stars. Extremely angsty futurefic, my sincere apologies...
It's a brush of the fingers around an exchanged business card. She's someone else unfamiliar. So are you, after this many years. You smile, and you nod, and you make the appropriate noises. Yes, so familiar, of course, you know her.
You do.
Startled blue eyes meet yours and it's a shock, it's a shock all over again. They flit around your face, taking in all the details she's missed. It's like a caress, or a prayer, or maybe it's an apology.
"It's been forever," she whispers, and the voice is still the same, even if the hair is a dark blond, almost brown, and the hand is on his arm, not yours. The fact her voice is low and rough means the same thing it always has – you're under her skin.
You smile, and it's genuine. "It has."
All hell breaks loose at that moment, as if this situation couldn't be more of a mess. You duck for cover together, and it feels like the years slip away. It's you, and it's her, and the world is going to end, and you want to kiss her so badly your mouth waters with it. You watch her gaze drop to your lips for the briefest moment, and when your gaze meets hers it's a promise.
So when the last of the CIA and NSA transports pull off, the agents you'd both been after secured, you reach your hand for hers, natural as breathing.
The cab pulls over and you pause for a moment, but you know her, you know how this plays. You give him your address and she quirks an eyebrow.
"Nice neighborhood," she comments.
You only smile. "Figured a nice bachelor pad is the least my boss can do." Just like that, you've put two cards on the table – you're single, and this place you're taking her to is not home.
What she doesn't ask, and you don't volunteer, is that when she walked away, she took the last chance you had at 'home' with her.
There's no loving reunion, no heartfelt whispers of apology when the lock turns behind you both. She turns to you with a sigh, and whatever was going to come after is smothered by your lips on hers. "Don't tell me goodbye again," you whisper into her mouth. "Just let me have this." She moans and any resistance is gone, her arms twine around your neck like twin snakes and you're undone.
Clothes are carelessly discarded, along with the years in between. "Chuck," she whispers into the darkness, that apology in her voice again. "Sarah," you answer. And it's forgiveness, and it's a warning, and it's a plea most of all. Don't leave me again hangs in the air unsaid, and you wish you could take back your earlier request to just have this, because you only asked for once when really you want forever. But when you look down at her, at her eyes shining in the darkness, you know this for goodbye.
In the wee hours of the morning, as the sunlight starts to stream in through the window, you feel her start to stir. It's a moment there, a turning point. Do you let her steal out the door like a thief in the night? Or do you force her to make the choice? You feel the mattress lift as she leaves it, hear the telltale rustle of her dress, the soft click clack of her heels. You lift your head from the mattress to see her frozen at the door.
Goodbye, Sarah, your heart mourns, and out loud you absolve her. "I didn't catch your name last night," you say, voice rough with sleep and tears.
"It's Annalise, Annalise Thorton." Her voice is quiet, but she doesn't move from the spot.
The flash is painless, but you fill in the missing pieces. This cover had her married off to someone. Deep cover. And all that comes with it.
"Ah," you acknowledge quietly. "You'll have to wish him a happy anniversary in jail then," you quip half-heartedly. You look up at her then, knowing that this is her turning point now. Her mission just ended, her 'husband' in jail. If ever there was a moment it was now.
Her hand reaches out, touches the doorknob. "It's all I know, Chuck," she whispers brokenly.
"I could have taught you something else," you offer. "I still could," you continue.
The sound of the door closing behind her doesn't surprise you a bit.
"Your Ex-Lover Is Dead" - Stars
God that was strange to see you again
Introduced by a friend of a friend
Smiled and said 'yes I think we've met before'
In that instant it started to pour,
Captured a taxi despite all the rain
We drove in silence across Pont Champlain
And all of the time you thought I was sad
I was trying to remember your name...
This scar is a fleck on my porcelain skin
Tried to reach deep but you couldn't get in
Now you're outside me
You see all the beauty
Repent all your sin
It's nothing but time and a face that you lose
I chose to feel it and you couldn't choose
I'll write you a postcard
I'll send you the news
From a house down the road from real love...
Live through this, and you won't look back...
Live through this, and you won't look back...
Live through this, and you won't look back...
There's one thing I want to say, so I'll be brave
You were what I wanted
I gave what I gave
I'm not sorry I met you
I'm not sorry it's over
I'm not sorry there's nothing to save
I'm not sorry there's nothing to save...