"I hate this," growled Garfield catching the mauve-coloured sweater that his purple-haired girlfriend had thrown at him. Grasping the garment in his hands, the changeling glared at it in disgust.
"Oh, stop being a baby, Gar," admonished the young lady as she proceeded to pack the small bag containing the young man's many different types of medication prescribed by STAR Labs. If Garfield looked closely, he would have noticed her cringing with every bottle she touched.
"But Rae, it itches," whined the changeling as he looked at her pleadingly.
"It's a balmy 55 degrees outside. Put the sweater on," said Rachel. This time her voice had shifted to her classic monotone which Garfield knew better then to disobey.
Pouting, the young man gave a sigh.
"I still think it itches," he muttered as he began to put on the sweater.
"So, what are we gonna do today, Rae?"
The empath looked thoughtfully at her boyfriend before resuming her attention on the packing.
"I think other then replenishing the meds, Dr Sherry will be discussing about your diet."
"Um…hmm…," came the muffled reply.
"It's just checking whether you've been eating healthily but with the vegetarian food you eat, i guess it shouldn't take too long. Unless something important comes up; like a new type of medication, updates on Sakutia, hopefully a cure…," rambled Rachel. Her tone of voice became noticeably softer as she said the last few words but it was not lost to the changeling's acute sense of hearing.
Pausing to face Rachel despite the sweater comically still covering his entire head, Garfield tried to cheer his girlfriend up.
"Don't fret, Rae. I'm sure it won't be long now," said the young man kindly before resuming his endeavour with a fresh round of grunts.
The empath smiled at his spirit as she turned her attention towards the mirror on her dresser. Smoothing her shoulder-length hair, Rachel briefly considered a small makeover to surprise Garfield. Maybe at a bit more makeup or stuff like that. Immediately she mentally laughed at herself for even contemplating a notion so uncharacteristic of her. The things she did for her love. It was downright preposterous at times.
"Gar?"
"Mhmm…?"
"I love you."
"Ditto, baby."
Rolling her eyes, Rachel conjured a bit of black magic to smack her boyfriend at the back of his head. The light blow managed to disorient the young man as he stumbled about with his head still covered by the sweater.
"Ow! Rae…?" whined the changeling childishly.
"It's either Raven, Rachel or Rae, Gar," said the sorceress stoically. "Not 'baby' or 'babe' and most definitely not 'Honey-buns' for that matter."
She heard her Garfield sigh. Smirking to herself, Rachel could imagine him pouting beneath the sweater. As she was putting yet another bottle of medicine into the bag, she heard the rustling of cloth right beside her ear.
"Aw, you know you like it, Rae…," whispered the mauve-coloured sweater huskily.
Great, I'm being hit on by a talking sweater.
"Not working, Gar," said the empath as she continued with her task. Not looking at her boyfriend.
There was slight rustle as the sweater rethought another strategy. Then a sound of a throat clearing itself and another husky voice beside her ear.
"Rae...this sweater's making me so hot but it ain't nothing compared to what you're making feel right now…"
The empath had to roll her eyes at that.
"Nice try but…nope."
Still, a smile began to appear on her lips.
"Um, okay uh; I'm seeing all purple now, baby. Is it me or have I just finally gotten lost in your beautiful eyes?"
Rachel tried to hold back her laughter but a squeak managed to escape causing the blinds on the windows to fall noisily onto the floor. A brief silence followed until the sweater-covered changeling chuckled.
"Well, not the reaction I was hoping for but hey, I ain't complaining."
Twisting her body around to face her boyfriend, Rachel caressed his face affectionately.
"You're perfect just the way you are, Garfield. Leave the one-liners to Dick, okay? That's the only thing he has to flirt with Kori with," said Rachel giggling.
The young man smirked at that. Then the two became silent before Rachel spoke again.
"I love you, Garfield."
"I love you too, Rae."
The moment would have been more romantic if the sweater was not still covering Garfield's head.
"Are you finally going to finish putting on that sweater?"
"Heh, not ever if I could sweet-talk you forever like this."
SMACK!
"Ow!"
"Not funny, Gar."
"Fine, fine…," complained the young man before resuming his struggle.
As Rachel watched her boyfriend's obvious attempt at humour, a lingering feeling of sorrow permeated through her heart. The inescapable fact remained that until a cure is found, every second that passed by was a second closer to Garfield's demise. If that happened...she could not even imagine what would become of her to suddenly live life without the green changeling by her side.
"Well, Dr Sherry was showing an unusual amount of emotion when she talked through the phone this morning," said Rachel absent-mindedly eager to distract herself.
"Could it mean…"
"I dare not be too optimistic, Gar," cut in the empath. "Of course I'd want nothing more then to hear that but…we have to be prepared for anything."
"I understand, Rae."
"Thank you, Gar."
"You know Dr Sherry, she's probably happy to see you."
"Yeah, because I'm such a ray of sunshine."
Oh Azar, putting on that sweater can't be that hard can it?
"You know it, sweetie."
"What did I say about nick names?"
"You didn't say about this one…sweetie-buns!" said Garfield before delivering a playful smack on his girlfriend's bottom.
Rachel squeaked in barely surpressed shock and outrage causing as the mirror in the bathroom cracked down the middle. Rubbing her rear, she gave her boyfriend the coldest glre she could muster at the moment.
"Gar, if I didn't love you so much I'd kill you for touching my ass."
"Sorry, Rae. I just got carried away. I won't do it again."
The young man was clearly remorseful and the empath detected a tinge of regret emanating from her beau. Rachel began to feel bad. It was not as if he had meant any ill-will towards her or anything. Besides, the display of mischief was becoming a rarity in light of Garfield's forced serious demeanour brought on by his illness and any chance there was to retrieve the old changeling that she fell in love with was not going to be wasted.
"Why not?"
"Huh?"
"Why won't you, uh, do it again?" asked Rachel hesitantly. Her boyfriend was surprised by the question. Garfield wondered if this was some sort of test.
"Uh, cuz you'd kill me?"
"I never meant any of it, Gar, you should know that," soothed Rachel as she smiled. Turning away from him, she whispered to herself, "Besides, uh, I never said I, um, didn't, uh, like it a bit…"
"What did you say?" asked Garfield with wide eyes and an even wider grin which grew impossibly bigger upon seeing the blush appearing on his girlfriend's cheek.
Damn, Gar and his hearing!
"N-nothing, okay? Just drop it!" insisted Rachel, her face reddening further. At times like these, she cursed her pale complexion which made the blush all the more noticeable. Unfortunately, her boyfriend was persistent.
"Nah-uh! I believe you were confessing something, weren't you."
"No I wasn't."
"Yes, you were."
"Was not."
"Was to."
"Gar."
"Rae."
"I. Was. Not."
"You. So. Were."
"No."
"Yes."
"I said…NO!"
"I'm so sticking with 'yes'."
"ARRRGH, STOP IT WILL YOU?!"
"Nope, not until you admit it again."
"OKAY, IT TURNED ME ON, ALRIGHT? YOU HAPPY NOW?"
There was a shocked silence at the admission. Rachel was mortified by it while her boyfriend was absolutely ecstatic.
"You've just made me the happiest guy in the world, Rachel," said Garfield with grin.
"Well, I'm glad you're happy because I'm not."
"Huh? Why not?"
Rachel sat on the bed with a forlorn look on her face.
"Gar, because of my powers I have to be ready for all possibilities. All of them."
"Even the bad ones?"
"Especially the bad ones. What if there is no cure? What if you…go? I can't even imagine what destruction my powers can cause even when if can rein them. And that's a big 'if', Gar."
Garfield got his head out of the neck of the sweater and looked sadly at Rachel. If the girl noticed it, she did not take heed. Looking blankly at the wall, Rachel had tears in her eyes.
"I love you, Gar. I love you so much and I'm so thankful for everything you have done for me. I cannot even imagine life without you by my side. All these years…since we were kids. You were there. Always there by my side. You know I hate myself for treating you like shit for most of it. Don't give me that look, you know what I said is true. If I could go back in time and kick my own ass, I'd do it," said the girl. Her lips curled into a tiny smile as she said the last statement.
The young man was touched at his girlfriend's sincere and heartfelt words. He wanted to say something. Anything to comfort her. To tell her he loved her and that everything will turn out alright in the end. Finding no words to describe his emotions, Garfield approached his beloved and clasping his hands over hers gently pulled the girl to her feet and enveloped her in a warm embrace.
"When you touched me...there, Gar. I felt something. Something I never thought I was capable of feeling. Something which I'd never feel again if you go. I love that feeling. The feeling of wanting you. To have you. To touch you. To know that you're still here."
Though her voice was muffled against the wool of the sweater, Garfield heard every word.
"But each time I do that, I keep thinking about Sakutia, Gar. How that fucking disease could take you away from me. How helpless me and everyone else is to stop it. I don't even know what Dr Sherry wanted to see us for but it kills me to go, you know that? To be filled with hope for something that might not even be there. Just like all the other times..."
He heard her sniff and felt the warm wetness of her tears passing through the sweater as he held her. From his eyes, his own tears cascaded down his green cheeks as his own emotion overcame him.
It was not sadness.
It was not grief.
It was love. Love at its truest form. And tears were the least that the frail physical body could even comprehend to manifest. Garfield was not the sharpest tool in the shed but he knew just what to do at the moment. Right now, words were not needed.
Finally looking up to see her love, the purple-haired girl had to suppress the giggle fighting to escape her lips. Her face looked so angelic with the smile on her face and unshed tears still brimming in her eyes. Garfield could not help but smile too.
"What's so funny?" asked the changeling.
Rachel did not immediately reply. Instead, she placed her arms around his neck and gently pulled his head towards her and kissed him gently. Separating for just a moment, Rachel whispered in her own husky voice.
"You've got it the sweater on backwards, baby."
Chapter 5!! I just wanted to do something different with the atmosphere of the story. angst is all good but i swear if it goes on, id have to kill everyone off cuz theyd be so depressed theyd just kill themselves:) nonetheless i hope the flow of the story fits in this chapter. pls give me plenty of feedback and constructive criticism so ill do better in the following chapters.
all in all thank you so much for reading this:D
-spartan585