(Thanks for the great reviews. I'm glad you think I'm doing a good job with Susan, although I was actually trying to be nice to her and make her appear more compassionate…guess there is still a lot of subconscious anti-Season-8-Susan-feeling floating around in my head that I haven't totally gotten rid of yet! And for those of you who wanted to know why Luka didn't tell her where to get off, you'll have to keep your eyes open for the third part in this series which will be told from his point of view. For now, here's the final part of this fic. Hopefully you'll enjoy it, but even if you don't please feel free to review or email me to tell me where I could make it better next time.)
Part 3
Walking along the river front Susan found her hand slipping easily into Michael's, her fingers interlacing with his as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She looked down at their joined hands and smiled, then looked up at his face to see that he was also smiling down at her. They didn't break eye-contact for a number of steps until Susan suddenly stopped to lean against the railings. She stared out over the river to see the city reflected in it's depths, and at the moon that cast a silver sheen on their surroundings. After a minute she felt Michael come up beside her and lean his arms on the balustrade, joining her in looking at the silver sheen cast over everything by the moonlight. They were silent for a long time although neither of them particularly noticed; eventually Susan turned around and pushed herself away from the balustrade, holding out her hand for Michael to take as they resumed their walk home.
"I hope you don't mind me asking this," Susan started to say after a while. "I mean, I know I have this awful tendency to be a little nosy so you can tell me to mind my own business if you want…"
"Susan!" he laughed, stopping her by placing his hands on her shoulders and standing in front of her. "You're not making any sense…in fact you're sort of worrying me…what's wrong?"
"It's just…I'm a little curious I guess. You talk about your daughter all the time but you never really talk about your wife. How did she die?" His features suddenly fell and Susan realised how blunt she had sounded. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have just blurted it out like that. You don't have to answer that question."
"No no," he said quickly, shaking himself out of his little reverie, "I don't mind telling you. I was just a little shocked…it normally takes months before people feel comfortable enough to ask me that." He gave her a tight smile before taking a breath. "I'm not quite sure how it happened. One minute I was kissing her goodbye to go to work, the next she was passed out on the bathroom floor." His voice caught in his throat at the painful memory, but he felt he had to continue. "They said it was a blood clot in her brain, that it had been building for years and it could have happened at any minute…Jess found her."
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry. How old was she?"
"Just turned two. Milly had been running the bath and when Jess went looking for her she was just lying there. I got back about an hour later to find Jess just sitting there beside the body, smiling up at me as if nothing had happened and she'd just finished playing…I know she's probably forgotten all about it, but sometimes I think I see something in her eyes, like she's remembering something sad that she doesn't want to tell me about."
"I saw it too…" Susan said slowly, wondering if their burgeoning friendship was strong enough for her revelation.
"You did?" he said, turning to her quickly.
"This morning at the hospital. It reminded me a little of my niece Susie. Like you said, it's the eyes…the look of somebody who's had to grow up too fast." Seeing his face fall she was quick to reach out and reassure him. "Not that you're a bad father…you're everything to her, I can see that. But a girl still misses her mother," she finished softly.
"You said Jess reminded you of your niece," he said, pulling himself together. "I'm sorry for your loss. Was she your brother or your sister's child?"
"My sister, but she's not dead. Chloe just…checked out a long time ago. It's not really the same thing at all, but I know Susie would give anything to have her mother around, be something more than just a name to her."
"I guess I'm luckier than most," he said thoughtfully. "At least we had those few years together, some people don't even get that. Plus I have a beautiful daughter to show for it so some good has to have come from this…and I know that Milly loved Jess more than anything else in the world so she knows her mummy loved her."
Susan looked at him for a moment and she felt her eyes mist over. Impulsively she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.
"What was that for?" he asked, raising his hand to his cheek. Susan shrugged.
"For being such a great father."
"If you want to see what kind of father I am you should come around for dinner one night when Jess is in one of her moods, then you'll change your opinion!"
"I may just take you up on that," she smiled, taking his hand again as they resumed their walk. After the seriousness of their previous conversation their talk this time drifted from topic to topic, from their favourite television programmes to the best holiday they had ever been on. No subject seemed to be out of bounds as they tried to learn as much as possible about each other! At one point the conversation came around to how they met in the hospital and why Susan had become a doctor, and it occurred to her that she had no idea what he did for a living.
"Well, it's nothing as exciting and glamorous as your job," he said in reply to her question. "I'm a teacher. High School English."
"Really?"
"Yep…don't think anybody would lie about that would they?" he said, turning his head to give her a smile.
"No, probably not" she laughed. "It must be so rewarding to be able to shape young minds like that," she mused.
"It can be when you find the right student. If you can reach through to just one of them then it all seems worth it…but what am I talking about? You save lives on a daily basis, that's got to be far more rewarding than what I do!"
"Sometimes I wonder," she murmured, before lightening her tone and continuing. "I used to love English when I was at school. I had this really great teacher who pushed me and made me believe I could do anything if I put my mind to it. I honestly believe if it weren't for her I wouldn't be a doctor…I'd probably be stuck at home with my parents fighting over who was going to get the last bag of Cheetos!"
"So you're one of the success stories then? Must say it gives me some hope for when I go in to face those hellions on Monday!" he smirked.
"They can't be all that bad," she reasoned. "You just said that there were occasionally some promising students."
"True…but you have to be able to catch them with the right lesson. Some will respond to Shakespeare whilst others will just run screaming. You have to find a happy medium that everybody will like, and that's no mean feat."
"Okay then Mr Harris," she joked, swinging their joined hands backwards and forwards, "what's on the lesson plan for Monday."
"Well it's definitely going to be poetry, I can tell you that much!" He laughed slightly at his own uncertainty, drawing a little laugh from her at the same time. "I was originally going to go with Whitman, see if I could freak the kids out with the homoerotic sub-text, but I think that after tonight I may change it to "The Highwayman" after tonight in honour of you."
"After me?" She blushed a bright shade of red and gave him a puzzled smile, pleased at the compliment but confused at his choice of poem at the same time. "Why?"
" 'Look for me by moonlight; Watch for me by moonlight; I'll come to thee by moonlight…' "
" 'Though hell should bar the way,'" she finished for him.
"You know it then?" he asked, pleased that she recognised the poem.
"It sounds a little familiar…I think I heard it on Anne of Green Gables or something," she said modestly. "But why that poem in honour of me?"
"I don't know…it just reminds me of you. When I found you sitting outside the bar tonight you said you were watching the moon, that you were waiting for something or someone…it just seems appropriate."
"Are you saying I've found what I was looking for?" she said coyly.
"Maybe…"
"And would you perhaps care to enlighten me what that was?" He was about to answer her when they arrived at the steps of her apartment building, effectively bringing their conversation to an end.
"Well, this is me," she announced. "Thanks for walking me home."
"It was my pleasure." He made a move as if he were going to leave, but he was reluctant to end the evening just yet. "I had a good time tonight."
"Me too," she blushed. "So…do you want to come up for a cup of coffee or something?" She mentally chastised herself for saying this. What was she, twenty? More embarrassed than she could remember being in a while she looked down at her feet as he replied.
"No, thank you," he said softly. "I should probably be getting back for Jess. It's late," he explained.
"Oh, of course. I understand," she said quickly, blushing furiously at his delicate rejection of her.
"Listen, it's been a long time since I've done this…the last person I went out with on a date was my wife in High School, so this is probably going to sound a little juvenile…but can I kiss you?"
Susan bit her lower lip and looked back down at her feet, nodding slightly. He put a finger under her chin to raise her gaze to his and then slowly lowered his face to hers. She closed her eyes as she felt their lips meet in a kiss so gentle she hardly felt it. It wasn't the most passionate kiss she had ever experienced, but this wasn't about that. This kiss was a seal, a promise that this could be something special if they let it...and Susan was pretty sure that she wanted to let it!
"So can I see you again?" he asked, pulling away from her and watching her nervously.
"I'd like that," she said, smiling widely when she saw the look of intense relief on his face.
"Great!…When?" he asked eagerly.
"I don't know…tomorrow night?"
"Tomorrow night it is. What time shall I pick you up?"
"I get off at 7 so…some time around 8, 8.30 would be good," she said, thinking aloud.
"Eight thirty then," Michael said, leaning in for one final kiss before leaving, holding on to her hand for as long as possible and letting her fingertips drop when he was too far away. He walked backwards down the street so that he could keep her in his sight as long as possible, tripping over a neighbour's trashcan and reducing Susan to laughter. He picked himself up and grinned at her, calling out before he disappeared around the corner. "You can watch for me by moonlight!"
-------------------------------
THE END?
-------------------------------
(Now that was definitely longer than I originally intended it to be! Should I go back to the day job and write Carby fluff, or do you think this whole "writing something different" is a good little sideline? Well, even it is terrible (and I know the last line definitely was!) I've already started work on the third instalment of this series which will be coming to a fanfic site near you as soon as I've settled in my house at uni. There won't be any updates for at least a week as I haven't got a phone line in my room yet. Anyway, thanks as always to Joycelyn Solo for her ideas and suggestions, and to Viki, aka Starbright, for her words of support. Run, don't walk, to read their fics! Em)
Part 3
Walking along the river front Susan found her hand slipping easily into Michael's, her fingers interlacing with his as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She looked down at their joined hands and smiled, then looked up at his face to see that he was also smiling down at her. They didn't break eye-contact for a number of steps until Susan suddenly stopped to lean against the railings. She stared out over the river to see the city reflected in it's depths, and at the moon that cast a silver sheen on their surroundings. After a minute she felt Michael come up beside her and lean his arms on the balustrade, joining her in looking at the silver sheen cast over everything by the moonlight. They were silent for a long time although neither of them particularly noticed; eventually Susan turned around and pushed herself away from the balustrade, holding out her hand for Michael to take as they resumed their walk home.
"I hope you don't mind me asking this," Susan started to say after a while. "I mean, I know I have this awful tendency to be a little nosy so you can tell me to mind my own business if you want…"
"Susan!" he laughed, stopping her by placing his hands on her shoulders and standing in front of her. "You're not making any sense…in fact you're sort of worrying me…what's wrong?"
"It's just…I'm a little curious I guess. You talk about your daughter all the time but you never really talk about your wife. How did she die?" His features suddenly fell and Susan realised how blunt she had sounded. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have just blurted it out like that. You don't have to answer that question."
"No no," he said quickly, shaking himself out of his little reverie, "I don't mind telling you. I was just a little shocked…it normally takes months before people feel comfortable enough to ask me that." He gave her a tight smile before taking a breath. "I'm not quite sure how it happened. One minute I was kissing her goodbye to go to work, the next she was passed out on the bathroom floor." His voice caught in his throat at the painful memory, but he felt he had to continue. "They said it was a blood clot in her brain, that it had been building for years and it could have happened at any minute…Jess found her."
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry. How old was she?"
"Just turned two. Milly had been running the bath and when Jess went looking for her she was just lying there. I got back about an hour later to find Jess just sitting there beside the body, smiling up at me as if nothing had happened and she'd just finished playing…I know she's probably forgotten all about it, but sometimes I think I see something in her eyes, like she's remembering something sad that she doesn't want to tell me about."
"I saw it too…" Susan said slowly, wondering if their burgeoning friendship was strong enough for her revelation.
"You did?" he said, turning to her quickly.
"This morning at the hospital. It reminded me a little of my niece Susie. Like you said, it's the eyes…the look of somebody who's had to grow up too fast." Seeing his face fall she was quick to reach out and reassure him. "Not that you're a bad father…you're everything to her, I can see that. But a girl still misses her mother," she finished softly.
"You said Jess reminded you of your niece," he said, pulling himself together. "I'm sorry for your loss. Was she your brother or your sister's child?"
"My sister, but she's not dead. Chloe just…checked out a long time ago. It's not really the same thing at all, but I know Susie would give anything to have her mother around, be something more than just a name to her."
"I guess I'm luckier than most," he said thoughtfully. "At least we had those few years together, some people don't even get that. Plus I have a beautiful daughter to show for it so some good has to have come from this…and I know that Milly loved Jess more than anything else in the world so she knows her mummy loved her."
Susan looked at him for a moment and she felt her eyes mist over. Impulsively she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.
"What was that for?" he asked, raising his hand to his cheek. Susan shrugged.
"For being such a great father."
"If you want to see what kind of father I am you should come around for dinner one night when Jess is in one of her moods, then you'll change your opinion!"
"I may just take you up on that," she smiled, taking his hand again as they resumed their walk. After the seriousness of their previous conversation their talk this time drifted from topic to topic, from their favourite television programmes to the best holiday they had ever been on. No subject seemed to be out of bounds as they tried to learn as much as possible about each other! At one point the conversation came around to how they met in the hospital and why Susan had become a doctor, and it occurred to her that she had no idea what he did for a living.
"Well, it's nothing as exciting and glamorous as your job," he said in reply to her question. "I'm a teacher. High School English."
"Really?"
"Yep…don't think anybody would lie about that would they?" he said, turning his head to give her a smile.
"No, probably not" she laughed. "It must be so rewarding to be able to shape young minds like that," she mused.
"It can be when you find the right student. If you can reach through to just one of them then it all seems worth it…but what am I talking about? You save lives on a daily basis, that's got to be far more rewarding than what I do!"
"Sometimes I wonder," she murmured, before lightening her tone and continuing. "I used to love English when I was at school. I had this really great teacher who pushed me and made me believe I could do anything if I put my mind to it. I honestly believe if it weren't for her I wouldn't be a doctor…I'd probably be stuck at home with my parents fighting over who was going to get the last bag of Cheetos!"
"So you're one of the success stories then? Must say it gives me some hope for when I go in to face those hellions on Monday!" he smirked.
"They can't be all that bad," she reasoned. "You just said that there were occasionally some promising students."
"True…but you have to be able to catch them with the right lesson. Some will respond to Shakespeare whilst others will just run screaming. You have to find a happy medium that everybody will like, and that's no mean feat."
"Okay then Mr Harris," she joked, swinging their joined hands backwards and forwards, "what's on the lesson plan for Monday."
"Well it's definitely going to be poetry, I can tell you that much!" He laughed slightly at his own uncertainty, drawing a little laugh from her at the same time. "I was originally going to go with Whitman, see if I could freak the kids out with the homoerotic sub-text, but I think that after tonight I may change it to "The Highwayman" after tonight in honour of you."
"After me?" She blushed a bright shade of red and gave him a puzzled smile, pleased at the compliment but confused at his choice of poem at the same time. "Why?"
" 'Look for me by moonlight; Watch for me by moonlight; I'll come to thee by moonlight…' "
" 'Though hell should bar the way,'" she finished for him.
"You know it then?" he asked, pleased that she recognised the poem.
"It sounds a little familiar…I think I heard it on Anne of Green Gables or something," she said modestly. "But why that poem in honour of me?"
"I don't know…it just reminds me of you. When I found you sitting outside the bar tonight you said you were watching the moon, that you were waiting for something or someone…it just seems appropriate."
"Are you saying I've found what I was looking for?" she said coyly.
"Maybe…"
"And would you perhaps care to enlighten me what that was?" He was about to answer her when they arrived at the steps of her apartment building, effectively bringing their conversation to an end.
"Well, this is me," she announced. "Thanks for walking me home."
"It was my pleasure." He made a move as if he were going to leave, but he was reluctant to end the evening just yet. "I had a good time tonight."
"Me too," she blushed. "So…do you want to come up for a cup of coffee or something?" She mentally chastised herself for saying this. What was she, twenty? More embarrassed than she could remember being in a while she looked down at her feet as he replied.
"No, thank you," he said softly. "I should probably be getting back for Jess. It's late," he explained.
"Oh, of course. I understand," she said quickly, blushing furiously at his delicate rejection of her.
"Listen, it's been a long time since I've done this…the last person I went out with on a date was my wife in High School, so this is probably going to sound a little juvenile…but can I kiss you?"
Susan bit her lower lip and looked back down at her feet, nodding slightly. He put a finger under her chin to raise her gaze to his and then slowly lowered his face to hers. She closed her eyes as she felt their lips meet in a kiss so gentle she hardly felt it. It wasn't the most passionate kiss she had ever experienced, but this wasn't about that. This kiss was a seal, a promise that this could be something special if they let it...and Susan was pretty sure that she wanted to let it!
"So can I see you again?" he asked, pulling away from her and watching her nervously.
"I'd like that," she said, smiling widely when she saw the look of intense relief on his face.
"Great!…When?" he asked eagerly.
"I don't know…tomorrow night?"
"Tomorrow night it is. What time shall I pick you up?"
"I get off at 7 so…some time around 8, 8.30 would be good," she said, thinking aloud.
"Eight thirty then," Michael said, leaning in for one final kiss before leaving, holding on to her hand for as long as possible and letting her fingertips drop when he was too far away. He walked backwards down the street so that he could keep her in his sight as long as possible, tripping over a neighbour's trashcan and reducing Susan to laughter. He picked himself up and grinned at her, calling out before he disappeared around the corner. "You can watch for me by moonlight!"
-------------------------------
THE END?
-------------------------------
(Now that was definitely longer than I originally intended it to be! Should I go back to the day job and write Carby fluff, or do you think this whole "writing something different" is a good little sideline? Well, even it is terrible (and I know the last line definitely was!) I've already started work on the third instalment of this series which will be coming to a fanfic site near you as soon as I've settled in my house at uni. There won't be any updates for at least a week as I haven't got a phone line in my room yet. Anyway, thanks as always to Joycelyn Solo for her ideas and suggestions, and to Viki, aka Starbright, for her words of support. Run, don't walk, to read their fics! Em)