Chapter 20 - Amber
I couldn't believe it, this could be it. He might be coming home, my love, my soul mate, the father of my child, he might be coming home.
I stood in the middle of the Mallrats in the entrance waiting, hoping. I hadn't slept, I hadn't been able to, one minute I thought he might come back and I was happy and hopeful but the next I thought he wasn't coming back, I was just kidding myself, setting myself up for disappointment.
But this was it; I could hear their footsteps in the mall entrance and shadows on the wall opposite, four shadows. My heart went into overdrive and then seemed to stop in disappointment as the first person appeared. It was Cloe. She looked terrible, underfed, dirty and tired, Salene immediately dashed forward with a joyful cry of
"Cloe!" and enfolded her in a motherly hug which, for once, Cloe seemed to appreciate. But I had no eyes for Cloe; instead I was drawn to the next two shadows appearing around the corner. If it was Bray who was he with? My heart seemed to stop. But it was Ellie and Jack, hands linked looking as bad, if not worse than Cloe.
I had been pushed forward in the general movement towards the returning friends but I could still only watch with baited breath as the last person walked around the corner. This was it, it could be Bray or not. Inside my heart was the eternal hope inside us all for us to get what we want and it was telling me it had to be Bray, it had to be, but my head was telling me it probably wouldn't be him, there were many Mallrats still missing, why should he be the one to return?
As the last person rounded the corner my eyes seemed to disconnect from my brain, I could see but not process what I was seeing.
It was him.
It was him, standing in front of me, him.
And then in an instant I started breathing and my heart restarted and I was in his arms, my arms around his neck and entwined in his hair, my face pressed him, against absorbing his presence and the scent that I had missed for so long. We stayed like that seemingly eternally until he pulled away so we could look at each other.
He stared at me and I stared back, his face was tired like Cloe's, Jack's and Ellie's but it was still Bray. Slowly I reached up and pushed a piece of stray hair behind his ear then slid my hand around his neck to pull him down to kiss me.
At first our lips only brushed each other, tasting and remembering but then the kiss got deeper, softly wiping the slate clean of the pain of separation and the long lonely nights.
I pulled away first whispering "I have someone to meet you" into his ear. His face formed a silent question and I felt a smile of pride and happiness spread across my lips.
"First sit down" I told him leading him to the fountain
"I'm fine," he protested but he sat down gratefully anyway.
I turned and called into the crowd of Mallrats "Patch?" Patch appeared carrying a bundle, he handed baby Bray to me then left us. I looked at his gorgeous baby face and then bent down to hand him to his father.
"Bray, meet your daddy" I whispered as I handed him over. Bray cradled him in his arms lovingly, entranced, and told me
"He's beautiful, just like his mother"
Suddenly Cloe screeching loudly interrupted our moment
"What do you mean he's integrated into a computer?" and then storming off
"Back to usual" I sighed sinking next to Bray on the fountain. We sat there for a few minutes in silence Bray watching little Bray while I watched the assembled Mallrats. Then Bray started to look around and ask me questions about the assembled Mallrats, who were the new faces? And what had been happening while he had been gone? I answered as best as I could, introducing him to all the new Mallrats and telling him about the older ones. He seemed to know quite a bit about the Technos, I presumed Cloe had told him quite a bit so luckily I didn't need to tell him much about Jay, I felt bad about what I had done to him and Ebony now and I just wanted to forget about it. When I had told him about everyone he sat back and looked around, then suddenly asked
"What happened to Ebony?" sounding concerned
"The usual load of back stabbing and bi!ching" I told him vindictively
"That did that to her!" he said sounding surprised
"Did what to her?" I asked, he looked at me something approaching concern in his face
"You don't see it?" he asked, I shook my head not seeing whatever he saw "look" he said, so I watched Ebony to see what he meant.
She was talking to Patch, straight backed and standing up tall so she didn't look as small as she really was. Her face and her words were sharp and cold and she was ready to take on the world. But then Patch went away and she seemed to relax in a strange way.
Her shoulders hunched so she looked as small as she really was and her confident stance became nervous, her hands never stopping moving nervously. I had noticed recently her clothes had begun to cover her entire body but I had never seen this, she was a frightened little girl trying to keep her tough image up to the world. As much as I disliked Ebony I felt sympathy for her and I wondered what had done that to her, surely Jay couldn't have done, she was too strong for that, but if not Jay then what?
But then little Bray gurgled and began to play with Bray's hand and we both forgot Ebony in our happiness at being a complete family once more.
I couldn't believe it, this could be it. He might be coming home, my love, my soul mate, the father of my child, he might be coming home.
I stood in the middle of the Mallrats in the entrance waiting, hoping. I hadn't slept, I hadn't been able to, one minute I thought he might come back and I was happy and hopeful but the next I thought he wasn't coming back, I was just kidding myself, setting myself up for disappointment.
But this was it; I could hear their footsteps in the mall entrance and shadows on the wall opposite, four shadows. My heart went into overdrive and then seemed to stop in disappointment as the first person appeared. It was Cloe. She looked terrible, underfed, dirty and tired, Salene immediately dashed forward with a joyful cry of
"Cloe!" and enfolded her in a motherly hug which, for once, Cloe seemed to appreciate. But I had no eyes for Cloe; instead I was drawn to the next two shadows appearing around the corner. If it was Bray who was he with? My heart seemed to stop. But it was Ellie and Jack, hands linked looking as bad, if not worse than Cloe.
I had been pushed forward in the general movement towards the returning friends but I could still only watch with baited breath as the last person walked around the corner. This was it, it could be Bray or not. Inside my heart was the eternal hope inside us all for us to get what we want and it was telling me it had to be Bray, it had to be, but my head was telling me it probably wouldn't be him, there were many Mallrats still missing, why should he be the one to return?
As the last person rounded the corner my eyes seemed to disconnect from my brain, I could see but not process what I was seeing.
It was him.
It was him, standing in front of me, him.
And then in an instant I started breathing and my heart restarted and I was in his arms, my arms around his neck and entwined in his hair, my face pressed him, against absorbing his presence and the scent that I had missed for so long. We stayed like that seemingly eternally until he pulled away so we could look at each other.
He stared at me and I stared back, his face was tired like Cloe's, Jack's and Ellie's but it was still Bray. Slowly I reached up and pushed a piece of stray hair behind his ear then slid my hand around his neck to pull him down to kiss me.
At first our lips only brushed each other, tasting and remembering but then the kiss got deeper, softly wiping the slate clean of the pain of separation and the long lonely nights.
I pulled away first whispering "I have someone to meet you" into his ear. His face formed a silent question and I felt a smile of pride and happiness spread across my lips.
"First sit down" I told him leading him to the fountain
"I'm fine," he protested but he sat down gratefully anyway.
I turned and called into the crowd of Mallrats "Patch?" Patch appeared carrying a bundle, he handed baby Bray to me then left us. I looked at his gorgeous baby face and then bent down to hand him to his father.
"Bray, meet your daddy" I whispered as I handed him over. Bray cradled him in his arms lovingly, entranced, and told me
"He's beautiful, just like his mother"
Suddenly Cloe screeching loudly interrupted our moment
"What do you mean he's integrated into a computer?" and then storming off
"Back to usual" I sighed sinking next to Bray on the fountain. We sat there for a few minutes in silence Bray watching little Bray while I watched the assembled Mallrats. Then Bray started to look around and ask me questions about the assembled Mallrats, who were the new faces? And what had been happening while he had been gone? I answered as best as I could, introducing him to all the new Mallrats and telling him about the older ones. He seemed to know quite a bit about the Technos, I presumed Cloe had told him quite a bit so luckily I didn't need to tell him much about Jay, I felt bad about what I had done to him and Ebony now and I just wanted to forget about it. When I had told him about everyone he sat back and looked around, then suddenly asked
"What happened to Ebony?" sounding concerned
"The usual load of back stabbing and bi!ching" I told him vindictively
"That did that to her!" he said sounding surprised
"Did what to her?" I asked, he looked at me something approaching concern in his face
"You don't see it?" he asked, I shook my head not seeing whatever he saw "look" he said, so I watched Ebony to see what he meant.
She was talking to Patch, straight backed and standing up tall so she didn't look as small as she really was. Her face and her words were sharp and cold and she was ready to take on the world. But then Patch went away and she seemed to relax in a strange way.
Her shoulders hunched so she looked as small as she really was and her confident stance became nervous, her hands never stopping moving nervously. I had noticed recently her clothes had begun to cover her entire body but I had never seen this, she was a frightened little girl trying to keep her tough image up to the world. As much as I disliked Ebony I felt sympathy for her and I wondered what had done that to her, surely Jay couldn't have done, she was too strong for that, but if not Jay then what?
But then little Bray gurgled and began to play with Bray's hand and we both forgot Ebony in our happiness at being a complete family once more.
