I apologize for several things;
1) Taking the owners characters to such OOC levels
2) The relative shortness of this chapter
3) Almost kind of borrowing from the "Princess Bride" by S. Morgenstern.
4) Almost suffocating you guys with fluff
When Sara showed up at Nick's doorstep she was crying. Three seconds before he registered the fact that her brown eyes were full of sorrow, he wondered how she had found her way here. However, as the biggest real tear he had ever seen rolled down her cheek, Nick felt his heart break.
The humanitarian Texan always felt some sort of empathy for everyone he encountered, but the emotion he felt as Sara stood on his doorway, her frame looking frail, her arms wrapped around herself, made his heart drop to the soles of his feet. "Sar-" he began, praying that nothing had hurt her. She catapulted herself into Nick's arms, where her discreet, rolling tears turned into wracking sobs.
"Don't-don't you worry. I've got you."
Later that day, Nick awoke to a pain in his neck and a weight on his lap. Memory returning, he recalled that he had pulled Sara onto his couch, where she had wept into his chest, explaining brokenly that she had just received word informing her that her older brother and his family had been killed by a car bomb.
"God, Sara, I'm so, so, sorry." Nick felt like crying himself. The strong woman he fell in love with, reproachful, guarded, had been reduced to something so unlike her. He had grown up with six siblings, all of whom had spouses and at least one child, none of which he could imagine losing. "Nick…" Sara's voice was whispery and dejected, that of a person whom fate has chewed up and spit out. Her shaking hands clutched his gray t-shirt tightly, as if it was the only thing keeping her from flying into the atmosphere. He was suddenly aware of how cold she must be, the realization aided by the fact that her quickly cooling tears doused the entire front of his shirt.
Maneuvering himself slightly, as not to upset her limp body from where it lay across his lap, he grabbed a blanket off the back of his couch. Securing it around them both, but making sure she was mostly covered, he latched his arms around her protectively, whispering a promise over and over in her ear. "I've always got you, Sara, I love you, I love you." Soon, they had both drifted to sleep, dried tears staining both their faces.
Nick looked down with concern on Sara's sleeping face. Disentangling an arm from her shoulders, he stroked her face with her thumb. "You don't deserve a broken heart, Sara," he whispered slightly, the words not spoken by his brain but his heart. He swore to himself at that moment that he would die before he hurt her, and that he would love her for the rest of his life.
She stirred once, and brown eyes that Nick would have given anything to call "soulful" or "spirited," but instead were sad opened. She smiled at Nick, but it was the kind of smile mourners give when they reminisce about a deceased relative. "It really happened didn't it?" He only nodded, though he ached to lie, to tell her it had all been a dream. "Damn. Did you mean it, though?" She reached a pale hand up to tuck a strand of hair that stayed away from the rest of Nick's walnut crop.
His fight-or-flight, anti-commitment instinct kicked in at that moment, but he nodded again, knowing that she needed him more than she needed anything in the world at that moment. This was the one person he would willingly wake up next to every day for the next fifty years, and he was going to be honest. "Nick… Nicky… I love you. I love you so much. You're my best friend, and I can't think of anyone I'd rather be my guardian angel."
Propping Sara up a little with his arm, Nick buried his face in her hair. If she ever an idea of half how happy she had made Nick, she would have been blown away. "I'll be here as long as you need me, Sara. I never want you to be hurt again. I do love you."
She pulled away slightly, and he closed his eyes a moment to stem the mist collecting in his eyes. When he opened them, he was staring right into hers. Sara spoke softly, her voice still shaky from a long bout of crying. "Thank you." She wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him lightly, an almost chaste gesture that nonetheless carried every emotion she wanted to convey.
Nick nodded, and returned the kiss lovingly, for the first time in his life knowing that he was exactly where he needed to be. The pair spent the Sunday in each other's arms, trading stories, kisses, "I love yous," and meaningful promises. In each person's life, there is one "love-love." In each lifetime there is one "true love." In each century there is one "destined love." And in one millennia there is one "solar-system rocking, earth-shattering, all-out, meant-to-be, undeniable, smacking you in the face, talked-about-for-hundreds-of-generations-to-come-love." Sara and Nick's kind of love comes along once in an eternity.
Alright! So, you survived the corniness! How bout dropping me a reveiw? To hear more author babble, read on;
This COULD be the end! However, part of me wants to write more. Hmm?
Oh, this chapter is to everyone who's reviewed my fics!
Also, partially inspired by the lyrics to 'Bless this Broken Road' by Rascal Flatts, which I checked out after a review mentioned them.
(Finally, to anyone who's reading'Starting Backwards'- I'm having a LOT of trouble with the sex scene. Bear with me here)(Is that the right use of bear, or am I thinking of a homophone?)
RR! Reveiw and you may find a chapter dedicated to you!
