Open Arms part 5
The last part! Yay! All the usual disclaimers apply as I still don't own the characters…sigh…just read it, okay? In my opinion it's the best part =)
The night was clear and the stars seemed
to shine brighter than usual. The air was still, but there was a bite to it
that made Caitie shiver. She crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed them in
hopes of getting warmer and sat on the concrete bench by the doorway of the
hospital. Despite the buzz of activity in the building, it was quiet outside
until the door whisked open. She heard the familiar footsteps of Jaime,
although that night she swore they fell much heavier than they did every day.
"I'm sorry." He whispered hoarsely.
She kept her back to him and looked
up at the sky, her chin resting hard on her hands, and didn't say anything. She
heard Jaime sigh lightly and the boom of his footsteps got louder as he came
and sat down on the frigid concrete next to her. She felt the heat of his body
next to her and her first impulse was to turn around and fall into his arms and
sob. But she just stayed in the same position.
Seeing that Caitie was looking up at
the stars, Jaime slowly lifted his head and admired the expanse of universe that
guarded them. "Do you believe in heaven?"
Surprised at the question, she didn't
answer with words, but shrugged, then turned to him for the first time that
day. Her eyes were sore and red, still wet from crying for the last hour—she'd
only worked up the courage to come to the hospital long after she had found out
about Brianne. It was an unbearable weight on her that she had tried
desperately to shrug off but she couldn't for the life of her. "I don't know. I
guess." Caitie sniffed.
Jaime nodded and put his hand
lightly on her arm, the heat of his touch making her shiver. "Cold?"
She nodded and leaned back, turning
her body so that she sat next to him as opposed to in front of him.
"Here." He took off his heavy, black
EMT jacket and handed it to her. Gratefully, she draped it over her shoulders.
"Thanks." Her voice was airy and light,
although heavy with sadness at the same time. Caitie turned her head to look at
him, not even trying to stop the tears from dripping down her cheeks and onto
her black skirt. "It's not fair. You know, it's just not fair."
Jaime looked at the ground for a
second and shifted his feet, gazed at the dark recesses of the bushes for
another moment and then responded to her words. "I know. But you know what
else?"
"What?" She wiped away some of the
water on her face but it only returned the next second with more tears.
"We did all we could and she still
didn't do anything to stop."
"And what does that have to do with
anything, Jaime Waite?" She cried, louder than she had expected, and looked up
at the sky again.
"I was always taught that things
happen for a reason—everything happens for a reason. Maybe it was meant
to be…I mean, we tried as hard as we could and it never got better."
Caitie was angered at this statement.
How could he say that? How could he say that Brianne was meant to die when she
was sixteen? It wasn't fair. She turned farther away from him, gazing at a
bright star that seemed to stand out.
He didn't appear fazed by her
ignoring him. "Another thing I was taught was that death happens to bring you
closer to someone else."
She turned back to him, again
surprised by what he had said. His words aroused a memory inside of her—of before
they had started fighting the other day when she had seen him and wanted him
more than anything else in the world, to hold forever, to love, and to be loved
back. "How so?" She shifted her position closer to him and faced him.
"Well, if this hadn't happened we
wouldn't be sitting here, now—if she hadn't even started drugs, we never would
have realized…" He stopped, and let the sounds of the night envelop them.
Caitie stared at his eyes and became
absorbed in the orbs that glowed with a passion so fierce they seemed to pull
her closer to him. He opened his arm and she leaned on him and watched the sky
again. Her eyes became drawn to that one star again and again.
"You would never have realized that
there was someone down here who loved you very much and always has open arms
for you to fall into." He rubbed her arm with his and when she looked up at
him, his lips met hers in a delicate kiss that seethed with fire but was as
gentle as the petals of a flower against her skin.
When their lips parted, she asked. "Then
why was her life not spared? Why did her life have to end?"
Jaime pondered the question for a
moment. "There are some people that are placed on this earth to make us feel
happy, sad, or whatever, but they're here. Like Val and Tyler and Hank…and even
Brooke…and they all live their lives and at least enjoy one part of it. And we
were privileged to be a part of their lives, however short or long they are…and…am
I making any sense?"
Her mouth pulled to a wry smile. "No,
but go on."
"What I mean is, we all live our
lives and affect other people's lives in turn, it's just that some of us don't
live quite as long as others. And when they leave us, they go on to do better
things for others."
Caitie peered up at the star she'd
been looking at, but in a split second, it shot out of its position in the sky
and blazed across the sky until it disappeared. It must have taken less than a
second or two, at the most, but to Caitie it seemed like hours. "You know. I
think you're right. However warped the idea is, you're definitely right."
The
end! Hope you liked it…it was my first J/C fic and I had fun with it, although
I will probably be returning to mostly V/T fics. J