This will be my first story that will have more than one chapter! Yay! The end of the last chapter made me terribly depressed, and I figured, "What the Hell?" and went on and did it.
Thank you jenio1 for getting me going! I probably wouldn't have written this if it weren't for you.
Song: Imaginary
Artist: Evanescence
Album: Fallen
I linger in the doorway
Of alarm clock screaming monsters calling my name
Let me stay where the wind will whisper to me
Where the raindrops as they're falling tell a story.
(Steph's POV)
And I fell from the window, my eyes never once leaving his face.
I jolted awake, quickly sitting up. Tears were streaming down my face and I hastily wiped them away. Someone pushed me back down on the bed; it was a smooth mocha-colored arm.
"Babe," he said. "Go back to sleep."
I couldn't believe what was in front of me...
Ranger.
I lunged up and hugged him to me. "Ranger," I murmured. It had been weeks since I had last spoken, and then it was to Morelli to get out. Ranger hugged me back cautiously.
In my field of paper flowers
And candy clouds of lullaby
(Paper flowers)
I lie inside myself for hours
And watch my purple sky fly over me
(Paper flowers)
"Babe, you were screaming," he told me, brushing back my limp hair, dampened by sweat. What a fucking nightmare. "What were you dreaming?" I hesitated, but then realized that I didn't have to; this was Ranger.
"I dreamed that you appeared in my apartment after my family's death a few weeks later and I said I loved you then I jumped from the window." He looked somewhere between throwing up and passing out. Holy cow, Batman never looked sick.
"Um, Babe, that...that wasn't a dream. It was real."
I just stared at him.
Don`t say I`m out of touch
With this rampant chaos, your reality
I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge
The nightmare I built my own world to escape.
No way. I knew my family died, I remembered the funeral. I remembered Diesel, and meeting Lizzy, and Lula trying to coax me with Tasty Pastry doughnuts.
But I thought that my suicide was a dream.
"Babe, it was a nightmare."
"How did you stop it?" I asked.
"Hal saw you jump, and he was under your fire escape, just in case you tried to sneak out. He broke your fall enough that you didn't die," he replied. "You had me frozen on the spot. I didn't want to make you move, you'd fall out the window. You were watching me." He pulled me close to him and looked me in the eyes.
In my field of paper flowers
And candy clouds of lullaby
(Paper flowers)
I lie inside myself for hours
And watch my purple sky fly over me
(Paper flowers)
Ranger wrapped his arms around me as he explained what happen from his side of the story.
"Tank called me one day and told me that your family was killed in a firebombing, and that I should go to you. I ran instead." He looked ashamed. "I was a fucking coward and I should have been there for you." He kissed my forehead gently.
"Tank called me again a few weeks later saying that you looked terrible and I needed to come back and talk some sense into you. He told me that you were talking about killing yourself. I came back as soon as I could."
Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming
Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights
Oh, how I long for the deep sleep dreaming
The Goddess of Imaginary light.
"Then you scared me by saying "I missed you. I love you. And I'm sorry." Then you jumped."
I lie there, listening to the deep sound of Ranger's heart beating next to mine, trying to imagine what it would be like for him if I had died. There would be no one to sleep next to on the cold, lonely nights. There would be no one to save, no heart to make sure is still beating.
The world wouldn't be right if Stephanie Plum died. Ranger would be destroyed, Lula would be mopey, and Morelli...hell, I couldn't really care less.
In my field of paper flowers
And candy clouds of lullaby
(Paper flowers)
I lie inside myself for hours
And watch my purple sky fly over me
(Paper flowers)
He shook his head slightly, as if to clear the fog. "But you're alive, and you're here in my arms. You're safe."
Yeah, safe in my own little world. Protected by Ranger, protected by his love and his heart.
Paper flowers
Paper flowers
Okay, I know it hardly makes sense, but at least Stephanie is alive, right?
I wish I could have found a better song for this scene, but I searched through my music five times.
Please review for me!
-Melissa
Disclaimer: All characters belong to JE, song belongs to Evanescence!