Title: Tired of Shadows
Author: MelWil
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own them. I make no money.
Archive: Just let me know where.
Feedback: Is kalos - lina_wilson@hotmail.com
Summary: "She was nothing but a bundle of shadows."
Author's note: So I get this CD from Christine, and I owe her a number of stories. This story belongs to track 3, "Higher than the Sun" by Primal Scream.

~*~

Toby was able to see straight into her office.

She was sitting at her desk, a pen clasped in her hand, a note pad lying in front of her. The blinds were drawn, her only light coming from the lamp on her desk and the silent television on the wall.

She was nothing but a bundle of shadows.

He watched her adjusting her glasses and knew about the dark shadows lurking under her eyes. He watched as she moved her head and her hair fell across her face, providing her with somewhere to hide.

The flickering light of the TV sent a ghostly sheen across the room.

A month ago he would have walk in, carrying cups of coffee to share. They would debate which issues the press corp were likely to pursue. They may have laughed.

A year ago he would have charged in, yelling about something that probably should have been done yesterday. She would roll her eyes at him, call him an ass and set him on a better path for the rest of the day.

Now, he just stood still. Just watching her. Just watching the way light played with her face, with her features. Just watching her work.

They were all experts at working through pain. It was as if there wasn't anything that really mattered, nothing that was more important than the job they needed to do. Major injury, major pain - they could all work through that. Love lost, love denied, death . . . it all rang a ghostly tune they were beginning to know by heart.

She put a hand over her eyes, as if shielding them from the pain would make things better.

It was a familiar movement and he was tired of seeing it. He was tired of watching her, come to think of it, tired of watching the way she moved in and out of his reach. He was tired of worrying.

She would be angry if she knew he was worrying about her.

But then, she might come to him, be held by him, cry into his shoulder. She might tell him that she was scared, that she needed him.

So he continued to watch.