"Caleb, is something the matter?"

He pouts discernibly and continues to sharpen his sword, eye on the horizon. Of course, the waning sun skimming the earth only makes him think of… "Course not. Why?"

Julian recognises the telltale signs in his son and, with a fond smile, sits next to him on the patch of grass. "You just seem a little...distracted recently, is all." Caleb merely shrugs in response. "It's the girl, isn't it?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He is barely stubborn enough to hide the smile threatening on his lips.

"You know, I was your age I when I met your mother—"

"Father, I really don't want to hear this…" A beat, and Caleb realises he is fooling no one, least of all himself. "I'm leading a rebellion! I'm not supposed to fall in love."

Julian wrings his hands together. "Love is seldom convenient, my son. I know that as well as anyone."

"You miss her," Caleb says. He wonders what it would be like for her to leave him to raise their only child, and shakes the thought away before it can evolve.

"Every day," Julian sighs. "She may be gone, but we still made something beautiful with that love, something that lasted long after she left." Caleb raises a brow. "We made you, son."

He has heeded the warnings before, been told not to look at the sun lest he go blind, but Caleb's eyes are drawn to the rays once more as they colour the earth with light, warm and golden and everlasting.


a/n: really hope i didnt botch julian's character here, but the series gave him about as much characterisation as a moist towelette. writers gotsta improvise, yo. psst: bloc party have a lovely little acoustic called 'this modern love' that i listened to when writing this.

did i mention i like reviews?

love,

A xxxx