I present to thee...chapter 49! Now I know I said this would be the last chapter...but I lied..I decided yesterday that there would be an epilogue..it won't be anything long..but there will be one more update after this:) also there is a long-ish note at the bottom that I would really appreciate if people would read:)
Daine jumped up as the phone rang, dashing across the living room floor and almost skidding clear past the phone when she hit the kitchen tile. Silently she chastised herself for getting so worked up when it probably wasn't even Numair. It had been almost two weeks since he had left and she hadn't heard a thing yet every time the phone rang she got all worked up like a little puppy. She would have called herself but she didn't have the number, he had said he wouldn't know it until he got there. She picked up the phone and bit her lip, trying to quell her hop so that she wouldn't be disappointed again.
"Hello?" She tried to say casually though she couldn't keep the breathy quality from her voice.
"Daine?" Came Numair's voice from the other end, it was tentative and she could hear a shake in it.
"Numair!" She practically yelled in relief, and joy. "I was so worried, I haven't heard from you in-" He cut her off, obviously sorry.
"I know, I'm sorry. Things have just been so busy here and it's hard enough to get phone time as it is."
"Right, of course." She said and there was an awkward silence for a moment, both of them wondering who would take the first move. Finally Daine stepped up. "Look, Numair, about what happened-" He cut her off once more, this time his voice clearly shaking.
"I'm sorry Daine, I should never have done that I-" He paused and she waited for him to continue "Please don't worry about me, you can just forget it ever happened." He said finally, taking a ragged breath.
"But what if I don't want to forget it?" She said in barely more than a whisper and there was a pause on the other end of the line. "Numair? Are you there?"
"Yes." She heard him take a deep breath and her fingers tightened around the phone. What if he wanted to forget it? What if he had just been caught up in the moment? She was broken out of her reverie when Numair spoke again. "What do you mean? You don't want to forget it?" There was a painful edge of hope in his voice and she smiled softly.
"No, I don't Numair." She laughed a bit, rolling her eyes. "If you hadn't run off so fast you could have known that a while ago."
"I didn't know what else to do, I thought you were angry or, I don't know. I've spent all this time trying to hide this from you and-" He trailed off. "I don't know what to say."
"The great professor Salmalin, speechless? I must have quite an affect on you." She teased and Numair replied softly.
"You have no idea." There was another pause before Daine spoke again, touched by his statement.
"How long?"
"A year, more or less." He said bluntly with an intake of breath and she hissed, closing her eyes.
"God Numair, why didn't you just say something?"
"I didn't think that you would ever- could ever- return anything. There was too much to lose. So you're sure? You have-" She cut him off, smiling to herself.
"Feelings for you, yes. I didn't know until, well, that's a lie. I think on some level I've known for a long time but I'm sure now." She rested back against the wall, wishing more than anything that he was there with her. After a moment he wpoke again, mirroring her thoughts.
"What do we do now then? I'm here and you" He paused and finished lamely. "Not" Daine sighed.
"I know, and we both need to be where we are. Life's ironic like that aint' it?" For once Numair let her speech slide.
"Maybe I don't need to be here Daine, I could come home and find a job somewhere else-" She cut him off, shaking her head even though he couldn't see her.
"No, you've given up too much already and you love you job. I will not be the reason that you lose that. You've already made the commitment to Jon anyway, you should stay there." She hated what she was saying but she knew it was true and he sighed once more.
"You're right. God, this sucks!" He half shouted, frustrated.
"Hush, it will be alright. Not that long right?" She tried to sound happy but her eyes were over bright and her voice cracked. "I'll be here when you get back, I'll wait for-" He cut her off again.
"No Daine, don't wait for me. As much as I want you for my own I don't want you putting your life on hold for me."
"But Numair-"
"No buts, promise me that you won't wait for me alright?" There was a pause before she sighed.
"Alright, but when you get back-"
"Yes, when I get back we'll, well, we'll see how things stand."
"So friends for now then?"
"Always friends." There was a silence for a moment, once more, before Numair spoke again. "I'm sorry Daine, I have to go. There's a line for the phone. I'll call again soon, alright?"
One Year Later
Numair sighed as he walked across the camp to the phone tent. He hadn't been able to get a hold of Daine for the last few days and he was getting rather irked. He entered the tend and sat down to dial the number. He usually talked to her at least once a week, they had a set calling time, and more if he managed to get a hold of her but they were always short conversations since the phone situation was far from convenient. She had sent a few letters, as had he, but the postal service was far from reliable and they had soon given up on that form of communication. He couldn't believe that it had been almost a full year since he had seen her. Only one more to go he thought miserably. He missed her so much it hurt and he prayed that she would answer. The phone continued to wring and he felt a sinking feeling in his chest. This was the worst form of punishment surely, all he wanted to do was get on the next flight home and be with her. Suddenly he heard the phone being picked up and he smiled broadly, that is until he heard the voice that answered.
"Hello?" He felt his heart constrict, he was almost positive that he knew that voice yet he dared to hope he was mistaken.
"Hello, who is this?" He asked slowly, knowing he would be right despite his hopes.
"Dan, and who's this?"
"Numair" He said shortly, gritting his teeth and trying to ignore the burning in his eyes.
"Oh, Hi Numair." There was an obvious stiffness in the younger mans speech. "Daine can't come to the phone right now, want me to give her a message?" Part of Numair wanted to ask Dan what he was doing there but only a very small part, the rest of him couldn't bare to sit there and hear the other mans voice any longer.
"No, that's alright. I'll call back later." He mumbled before quickly hanging up the phone and storming back to the tent. He flopped onto his cot and covered his face with his hands. Well, that's what he got for telling her not to wait. Could he really have expected her to wait for him for two years? It had been one already, that's a long time and she was young. She deserved to have someone, to be happy, but he couldn't deny that he only ever wanted that someone to be himself. She sighed loudly and removed his hands from his face. Numair stared miserably at his tent ceiling, knowing that no sleep would come that night.
Numair had spent the last few days moving around in what regularly changed from a stomping rage to a forlorn daze and back again. No matter what he couldn't stop thinking about what Daine and Dan, if she was happy, if she would stay with him, what they were doing. None of the things he imagined them doing were anything he wanted to think of in a million years. He felt a cool night evening through the flap of his tent as he lay across his cot and decided to go out for a walk. It was around dusk so there was still enough sunlight out but it wasn't as blistering hot as the day. As he exited his tend he squinted briefly against the brilliance of the sunset and then froze. Standing near the edge of the camp was Daine with a duffel bag slung over her shoulder looking around, obviously unsure of where to go.
"Daine" He stated, walking towards her quickly and stopping a few feet away, still stunned. Her head snapped up and she smiled at him but her eyes betrayed her uncertainty and her smile soon faltered. "What are you doing here?" His whole body was numb, unable to believe what he was seeing.
"I promised I wouldn't wait for you" She paused, taking in a breath. "So I didn't, I'm here." She spread out her arms, gesturing to herself.
"How?" He still couldn't fathom what was happening, it must be a dream.
"Well, pretty much emptied my savings." She laughed, nervously, and her eyes went to the floor. "On that note I might need an extension on that loan." She said quietly.
"But Dan, he was-" She cut him off, waving her hands.
"I know, but it wasn't what you think. He came by, he" She faltered, looking away. "He wanted to get back together, said he'd been thinking about me a lot lately." She trailed off, still not meeting his eyes.
"He said you couldn't answer the phone, why-" She interrupted him quickly, her words almost a jumble.
"He was just being an ass really, I think he's still jealous. Of course now he has an actual reason to be." She laughed again before continuing. "I couldn't answer because, well, I was kind of busy having a panic attack really." She bit her lip and rolled back on her heel as Numair's head snapped up.
"Panic attack?"
"Yeah, well, he asked me to marry him." She shrugged as Numair stood there, shocked. "And all I could think was 'my god, I have to go see Numair, I have to get out of here'. So, here I am." She looked down again, taking another deep breath, before looking him square in the eye. "I love you Numair."
He found himself unable to move, this time with sheer joy. She had come to him, him. Apparently that emotion did not translate into his expression however because she soon began to look uncomfortable. "Should I not have come?" She asked, worry clear in her eyes. He shook his head, laughing, and rushed towards her.
"No, no sweetling. Of course you should have. God, I'm so glad you're here." She dropped her bag and he picked her up, spinning her around and planting kisses all over her face. "I love you too sweetling, always." He set her down and captured her lips in a passionate kiss before pulling away and looking down at her. She smiled up at him and her eyes sparkled. They stood there for a moment, whispering sweet nothings into one another's ears when Numair realized that a few of the other residents of the camp had decided that they made a good show.
"My dear" He whispered to her. "I believe that we are making a scene." She looked up at him, a wicked smile on her face.
"Then maybe you should take me to your tent." She raised an eyebrow suggestively and he laughed and picked her back up off of the ground. Slinging an arm around her he led her in the direction of his tent.
Right....so...As a lot of you have noticed there is a kind of lack of D/N on ...I find other pairings and characters are much more represented....and I think a lot of people might be like me..they are more inspired to write when the fandom is alive and kicking...another things that is lacking on this site is a trong forum force which is very sad because a forum could be a great resource for a lot of authors to get together and bounce ideas off of one another as well as maybe suggest other fandoms to one another. Also while there are a lot of fandom dedicated to a certain pairing or as an RPG there really aren't many that are dedicated to the writing aspect of it (not in the fandom sections anyway..and none that are really alive) so I was considering starting a forum that was a bit of a D/N forum but focussing more on the writing and production of more fics and more ideas within the fandom. I am thinking of starting it as a D/N one but obviously the discussion of stories based on other pairings or fandoms wouldn't be prohibited...I just think it might be a good idea to start it focussing on a specific pairing because I find with a lot of forums (especially actual forums on the web,..the writing sections of those tend to be a bit..lacking) that there are so many people interested in so many different things that sometimes it's hard to find enough people interested in the same thing to get things going. I just think it would be really cool to get a bunch of the D/N fans together on one forum where we could bounce ideas off one another...talk about writing styles...people could get some more in depth critique on some of their stories if they wanted..some help if they are having writer's block...and there could be a section for requests or some such. Anyway, I am talking about this here because I wanted to see what the interest would be. There really is no point in starting yet another forum if no one knows about it...then people find it at all different times...so it's just dead because no one posts at the same time...so I thought if maybe if I could see what the interest was and who was interested (maybe in helping out as well) that if there was interest than I could proceed with those plans. I don't particularly like the forum set up since it's so simplistic but for a smaller group it would be fine...and by some miracle this proceeded it could always move to a forum hosting site..anyway, I'm getting way ahead of myself. If anyone is interested please let me know, PM me or whatever..and if you know anyone else who would be interested pass it on!
now...you know the drill...review!
