Connections
OOC: This takes place the night after the afternoon Luke was taken away in Season 1's "The Lost Boy."
There'd never been anything worse to you than women's tears. It probably makes you a chauvanistic prig, but you can't help it. You never could. Seeing Sarah Jane cry literally hurt your heart, especially since you've always had the feeling not much could make her cry. You wrapped your arm around her and to your surprise, she leaned into you, laying her head on your shoulder. Then you started thinking of Luke and his innocence, his eccentricities, his brilliance, and his wonderful charm and simple goodness, and an entirely different part of you started hurting. You realized how much you would miss that boy and it just hurt to think of it.
Once her tears were spent, she took her head from your shoulder, turning away. You didn't really mind too much. She had just lost her son and she loved him and you were just the daft dad living across the street who she really didn't know all that well. Once she had composed herself, she turned back to face you, her face immediately flooding with surprise. You didn't really have time to wonder about it before she said your name and touched the corner of your eye with her hand.
"You're crying." Sarah Jane said, touching your cheek next. You didn't even realize it was slick with tears until she touched you.
The words poured from your lips before your brain had a chance to shut them down. "I'm so sorry, Sarah Jane. I can't... I don't even want to imagine what you must be going through. If I lost Maria... and it's Luke... he's our Luke and it's just not fair. I'm so sorry."
"You're crying," she said again and you started feeling like a freak. "You're crying for me. How can you know how this feels?"
In a different way, you knew exactly how it felt. Your life was going one way and you were perfectly happy with it. You thought it'd go on that way forever, with your wife and your daughter, both of whom you adored. And then it was ripped away from you. You rededicated yourself to being the best father Maria could ask for, but you knew the loneliness, the aching loneliness. And it had to be worse for Sarah Jane, who'd lived alone before Luke came along and just as she was getting the hang of the motherhood thing, this had to go and happen. You wanted to be able to fix this for her, but there was nothing you could do. Not one bloody thing of any real use.
But if she wanted you there with her in the most difficult moments, you could just be there with her.
There'd never been anything worse to you than women's tears. It probably makes you a chauvanistic prig, but you can't help it. You never could. Seeing Sarah Jane cry literally hurt your heart, especially since you've always had the feeling not much could make her cry. You wrapped your arm around her and to your surprise, she leaned into you, laying her head on your shoulder. Then you started thinking of Luke and his innocence, his eccentricities, his brilliance, and his wonderful charm and simple goodness, and an entirely different part of you started hurting. You realized how much you would miss that boy and it just hurt to think of it.
Once her tears were spent, she took her head from your shoulder, turning away. You didn't really mind too much. She had just lost her son and she loved him and you were just the daft dad living across the street who she really didn't know all that well. Once she had composed herself, she turned back to face you, her face immediately flooding with surprise. You didn't really have time to wonder about it before she said your name and touched the corner of your eye with her hand.
"You're crying." Sarah Jane said, touching your cheek next. You didn't even realize it was slick with tears until she touched you.
The words poured from your lips before your brain had a chance to shut them down. "I'm so sorry, Sarah Jane. I can't... I don't even want to imagine what you must be going through. If I lost Maria... and it's Luke... he's our Luke and it's just not fair. I'm so sorry."
"You're crying," she said again and you started feeling like a freak. "You're crying for me. How can you know how this feels?"
In a different way, you knew exactly how it felt. Your life was going one way and you were perfectly happy with it. You thought it'd go on that way forever, with your wife and your daughter, both of whom you adored. And then it was ripped away from you. You rededicated yourself to being the best father Maria could ask for, but you knew the loneliness, the aching loneliness. And it had to be worse for Sarah Jane, who'd lived alone before Luke came along and just as she was getting the hang of the motherhood thing, this had to go and happen. You wanted to be able to fix this for her, but there was nothing you could do. Not one bloody thing of any real use.
But if she wanted you there with her in the most difficult moments, you could just be there with her.