DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sky High or any of its characters. Feel free to comment or flame me or anything, really. I love attention, good and bad.
"Warren!" Pelefina called in a surprisingly cheerful voice. She stumbled down the hallway leading to the entrance to the hospital ward she was staying in. She was dizzy from the electro convulsive treatment she had been given that morning. A nurse rushed to keep her from falling, but Pelefina pushed her away.
"Oh, it's so nice to see you, sweetheart." Her eyes welled up with tears as she hugged her son tightly. He returned the embrace, determined not to cry himself. "I've missed you a great deal." She pulled away, smiling brightly. Still, she wasn't the same person she had been when she was first hospitalized. Her aura of confidence had dimmed and so had the life in her eyes. It broke Warren's heart, but he kept smiling if only for her sake.
"I, um…" He lifted the six long-stemmed red roses so the blossoms grazed the tip of her nose. "Happy Valentine's Day, mom." She smiled, taking the flowers and sniffing their aroma.
"Is it Valentine's day already? Being here has made me forget even the days of the week let alone the holidays…" She shook her head, laughing softly even though it was a sad sort of thing to say. The days all blurred together inside the hospital walls. Time went so slowly and yet, before one knew it, the day was over. It didn't help that her memory was toyed with by the seizures electro convulsive therapy caused, either.
"Well, then, happy Valentine's Day to you, too, Warren." She turned, gesturing for him to follow her to her room. "I'm afraid I won't be able to put these in water. The day shift nurses are so ridiculous about that sort of thing. They did let me keep Layla's gardenia, though, which surprised me." She laid the six roses on her bedside table, pulling out a chair for her son to sit on while she took a seat on her bed.
"Meds." Called out a lethargic nurse in a monotone voice.
"Ah, that's my cue. Wait here." Pelefina hopped to her feet, walking to her doorway to meet the nurse who'd called for her and the other patients. She took a cup labeled 'P. Peace' and a small paper cup of water to down her pills with. She opened her mouth so the nurse could see that she had actually taken her medicine and made her way back over to her son.
"Sorry about that." She sighed, smiling faintly.
"How are they treating you?" Warren leaned closer to her, his elbows propped up on his knees.
"Well, some of the staff treat me with kid gloves. That drives me crazy, pardon my wording." She laughed softly once more but Warren was stone-faced. He wouldn't settle for anything less than perfection with the hospital staff. It all came from a good place, though. Warren was protective of the women in his life, even when said woman was his mother.
"Are they taking good care of you?" He looked concerned asking the question.
"Oh, yes. They won't let me shower enough for my taste, though." She wrinkled her nose in distaste. "See," Pelefina rolled up her shirt sleeve to show her son the IV they had started in a vein located on the inside of her elbow. He winced slightly, having hated needles all his life. "They don't like to start a new IV for every single ECT treatment to inject the anesthetic into, so they just sort of tape the existing one down and keep it that way for a week. I can't get it wet so… No shower." She frowned. "I don't look like a hobo, do I?"
Both she and Warren laughed a bit. He reached over to his mother, brushing her dark disheveled hair from her face.
"You look beautiful." There was a heavy silence between the two. Pelefina missed her son so much but didn't want to let on how empty her life was without him. Warren was silent for fear that if he was to say something it would only bring his mother down to a new low. The last thing she needed was sadness. He just wished that he knew how to bring her happiness.
"How's Layla?" She tilted her head, looking at her son curiously. Her memories were few and scattered but she did remember what she'd asked of Layla. To love Warren in her absence… She knew that he would need love after all he'd gone through even if he would never admit it. Pelefina knew her son. He thought that solitude equaled strength. She knew better.
"She's… She's good, I guess. Still by my side." His mother smiled at that. Her baby boy was safe in the arms of that sweet girl. At least she hoped that he was safe…
"Warren, dear," Pelefina blinked her eyelids slowly as if they were made of lead. "My medicine is making me sleepy. Would you mind letting me rest now?" Warren nodded, slightly disappointed.
"Sure." He pulled her blankets back so she could get under the covers. She curled up with her head on the pillow.
"I feel so bad for cutting our visit short…" Her voice was soft with fatigue.
"No… I'll always be here. I'll come again soon." He smiled, brushing his mother's hair from her sleepy eyes. It hurt him to leave her which made him feel like less of a man. After all, how manly could one be while still wishing that his mother was by his side nurturing him like a child? He pushed that question out of his mind, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.
Layla nearly jumped at the sound of her doorbell. She walked slowly, taking her time because, for once, she was wearing high heels. Layla had never really been a high heels sort of girl. If anything, she'd been a comfy Birkenstocks kind of girl. Tonight, though, she was dressed to the nines. As always, her get-up was green, but tonight her dress was the kind of thing curvaceous bombshells dress up in. Layla didn't really have curves - she was slender all over - but the dress still looked nice on her.
Warren's face greeted her the moment she opened the door. He wasn't quite as dressed-up as she was in his shirt and slacks, but Layla didn't mind at all.
"Happy Valentine's Day." He smiled softly, his heart still heavy from his visit with his mother.
"Happy Valentine's Day!" Layla chirped enthusiastically, throwing her arms around him in a hug. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open just a bit, slightly caught off-guard by Layla's sudden embrace. "How'd things go with your mom?" She pulled back slightly to catch his response.
"Good, she's um… She was lucid for the whole visit so that's something positive." He forced a small smile onto his face. Layla returned the smile, relieved that his visit had gone well. It amazed her how Warren could be so strong in the face of despair.
"Good! That's great." Layla nodded cheerily.
"Well… Shall we…?" Warren gestured towards his motorcycle, parked in the driveway. Layla nodded once more, walking out the door and over to the vehicle awkwardly in her heels. Warren was secretly amused with her stumbling on her high heeled shoes. He took his seat on the motorcycle and he felt Layla get on after him, tucking her dress underneath her so she wouldn't flash her underwear to passing traffic.
It had been awhile since Layla was last on his motorcycle and she'd forgotten how much she enjoyed it that first time when he took her to the Maxville Arboretum. She remembered their first kiss in the display garden so vividly. It had been the first time emotions triggered her powers into action, causing flowers to bloom around them from the ecstatic feeling she'd experienced.
Before she knew it, Warren had parked by the curb of the Paper Lantern. He hopped off of the motorcycle, offering his hand to Layla so she wouldn't fall over in an attempt to step off of the motorcycle. She took it, careful not to fall on her face because of her choice in footwear, and smiled sweetly up to him.
"Does anyone else at school know that Warren Peace is a closet gentleman?" She smirked playfully.
"Only those who deserve to be treated with chivalry, so, to answer your question, no." He returned the smirk, then moving to hold open the front entrance of the Paper Lantern so Layla could pass through. It wasn't the quickest way to his apartment, but there was something about making Layla crawl up a fire escape that really sort of ruined the romantic mood. Then again, passing through a steamy kitchen while those inside cursed at each other in Mandarin wasn't exactly romantic, either.
Once upstairs, Warren led her into the apartment. Layla had had unrealistic fantasies about how Warren would handle Valentine's Day. These fantasies involved candles and rose petals and some twilight serenading - All of them very unrealistic and cheesy to boot. She was pleased, though, to see that his dining table was covered in a white table cloth and that there were a few unlit candles decorating it. It was just enough to be romantic without the cheese. Truthfully, if he had sprinkled rose petals all over his living space Layla would have questioned his sanity and his motives.
Warren walked over to the table, lighting the candles on it with an ignited fingertip, and then made his way over to the kitchen. He pulled a glass casserole dish from the refrigerator and held his hand over it, heating the contents until they were a tolerable temperature. Warren reached for two dinner plates, dishing out the food he had just heated onto each plate.
He looked up at Layla, who was standing a few feet away, and smiled a little. "You can sit down, if you'd like. I'm almost ready." She responded with a smile and a nod, sliding one of the dining room chairs out from the table so that she could take a seat. She sniffed the air, trying to figure out what Warren had fixed them.
"Alright," He carried the two plates over and set one down in front of his chair and the other in front of Layla. "A vegetarian lo mein platter for two." He smiled a little. "I didn't exactly slave over the kitchen all day, but I always see you ordering it downstairs. I figured…" He sighed before continuing.
"It looks delicious!" Layla spoke up, smiling brightly. Warren poured two glasses of lemonade, Layla's favorite beverage made from lemons freshly squeezed by a friend and co-worker at the Paper Lantern. He dropped a few ice cubes in each glass and carried both of them over to the table.
"Thanks, Warren." He nodded, sliding a pair of chopsticks in her direction. She smiled in thanks, taking the wooden utensils into her hands and digging into her lo mein.
"Mm." She nodded. "It is delicious." A tiny giggle slipped past her lips and she sipped at her lemonade.
"This was really nice of you." She smiled appreciatively at her boyfriend. "No one's ever done anything like this for me on Valentine's Day."
"It's no big deal," He insisted, taking a bite of his food.
The two of them ate in almost complete silence. Every once in awhile, one of them would look up at the other only to look away the moment their eyes met. They'd been together for months so it seemed strange for them to be behaving so awkwardly. In truth, though, both of them were just nervous about how the evening would end. It was going so well which was a shock because Pelefina Peace's condition had seemed to freeze her son's heart. When he was with Layla, though, it melted. That was one of the things about her that both thrilled and scared him. She was a little afraid, too, because she didn't want her heart broken.
"That was good." Layla murmured to herself, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin and looking up to smile at Warren, surprised that he had finished his dinner before her and had been sitting quietly.
"What?" She laughed nervously only speaking to fill the awkward silence.
"Nothing. Well, not nothing." He pushed his plate away a little bit. "I'm just glad that you're here."
Layla smiled softly, a bit on guard as Warren stood up, sliding his chair away. He walked over to her side of the table, bending down slightly so he could kiss her more easily. Layla returned the kiss, reveling at the magic of the moment they were sharing. She stood and the two of them made their way over to a more comfortable location.
They didn't even break their kiss as they sat down on Warren's living room sofa. In that moment they seemed to melt together, caressing and kissing each other with such heat and passion yet still possessing a tender sort of feeling. There was no doubt that this was the best Valentine's Day either of them had experienced in a while.