i'll just take my sweet time [Lost Luau. Esau, Jacob, Richard, Ensemble. Post-Series Finale]
Title: i'll just take my sweet time
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Esau, Jacob, Richard, ? (Esau/Jacob, Richard/Miles, Richard/Isabella)
Rating: PG
A/N: Posted for hitlikehammers at the 2010 lostsquee Luau for her prompt, "Greatest Hits."
Summary: [Canon-compliant AU, post-"The End."] Jacob and Esau meet people in the afterlife.
Richard had found the brothers, in their own replica of one of the Island's beaches--surprising for Esau, but not for Jacob.
Both were bent over some game, and Richard found it a mix of terribly poetic and ironic, and all too familiar--he wondered if they would always somehow stay the same.
Esau kept his eyes on the game, but Jacob looked up to Richard, nodding. His blue eyes glanced to the people in the distance, waiting for his former servant--he recognized Miles and Isabella, quietly speaking with each other.
"I'm sorry--"
"You're not coming," interrupted Richard knowingly; he had half expected that.
Jacob shook his head; "It's not just that…I'm sorry…sorry for everything."
This time, it was Richard that solidly grasped Jacob's shoulder. Yet the younger man struggled to find the best response; all he could settle on was, "It's all right."
Richard leaned forward in Jacob's ear, asked more quietly, "Will you come eventually?"
"Of course, can't stay here forever." Jacob glanced at Esau, doing his best to focus only on the next move. "Just not yet."
Richard nodded, gave one final, gentle squeeze on Jacob's shoulder, then turned back to Miles and Isabella--but paused when Jacob abruptly caught his wrist.
"Ricardus…Ricardo," he said, and the younger man blinked (Jacob had never called him Ricardo before). "Thank you…thank you for everything."
And then Jacob let him go and turned back to the game with his brother, and Richard walked away from those who had changed his life so drastically, returning to the company of the those he treasured.
They saw their mothers only in the shadows of the replicated jungle, not daring to touch the brothers.
Jacob and Esau didn't know what to do either, what to think of them--so they settled on nothing and just continued their childhood game.
Although Esau noticed with an odd twinge of guilt how Jacob watched their blood mother with interest, recalling that he'd never seen her before, and perhaps for the first time really appreciating how Jacob could never do that. Considered that his brother never really had much alternative, how he truly had known only one mother always.
One day she quietly came up to them, told them her name was Claudia. She kissed both on the forehead--Esau's eyes were calmly shut, but Jacob's were wide and wondering as she did that. Claudia gave them one last smile, sad and hopeful, then left, and they never saw her again.
But that was not what Esau had waited for--he was waiting for something, someone that utterly baffled him, something that felt foreign, some feeling or sensation both within and apart from him--he just…just had no idea.
Esau just knew he could not leave without it.
After Jacob realized his brother was specifically waiting for someone, he always wondered who it could be.
But he knew this was it when Esau finally stood up from their game, the first time since death that he had ever completely removed himself from it; whoever Esau had waited for was here.
Jacob watched with interest as his brother began walking slowly toward the edge of the shore line, where a dark haired, dark eyed woman stood, with a Shar Pei dog at her feet.
"They left without me, didn't they?" She said very casually.
Jacob watched his brother shake his head, and speak as if through a cloud (through smoke), "I don't know."
"You mean you don't care," accusedd the woman, and when the dog panted and wagged his tail furiously, she bent down and petted it between the ears. "Then again, here you are. Why?"
"I don't know." And Esau sounded genuinely confused, something Jacob hadn't heard in a long, long time.
"Is that all you have for me? After I came all this way? I would've stayed away, I wanted to stay away, I never wanted to see you, but I just knew you were waiting. And don't ask me how I knew, I just--"
Jacob quietly intervened, "This place…this place has a way of connecting people." His eyes flickered from his brother to the woman. "Those that need connecting."
Her eyes fell on him. "I suppose you're Jacob."
The blonde nodded.
Esau spoke to Jacob, though his eyes remained on the woman; "You recognize her, don't you?"
She shook her head, eyes flashing back to Esau; "He's not responsible--not as much as you, anyway."
The woman bent down to her dog, hugging it, and it happily curved into her neck.
"If you have nothing to say to me, I'm leaving." But finally her voice softened, and she said, "It's not really necessary though--I get it, now." She stood up, turned away for a moment, waving to the distance, and it was then Jacob and Esau realized she had people waiting for her too, a small crowd who waved and smiled back to her.
She began walking toward them, the Shar Pei trotting after her. She called over her shoulder, "In the next life, remember me--so you won't make the same mistake twice."
Esau closed his eyes and bowed his head, as Ji Yeon Kwon left.
For the brothers, it was not a church--but that cave, that damnable cave.
"Are you all right with this--?"
"Don't tell me you're scared, Jacob."
Despite all their time playing their childhood game, it was only then that both felt like boys again.
"A little," conceded the blonde. "I did not expect the entrance to take on this shape…but if you're all right with it, I've no right to be bothered."
Esau shook his head, and said ruefully, "You're not the only one with barely a leg to stand on."
The brothers sighed; there was nothing more to say.
They entered the cave, the light, side by side--
"It's a boy!"
"And…and the other one?" The mother panted, but the doctor just said it was on its way.
She screamed again, and after an agonizing couple of minutes, the doctor said, "You've another boy!"
The new mother laughed weakly and cried as she got to hold them and name them (of course she had to have the names prepared in advance, but something had made Claudia determined about that, especially when she learned she was carrying more than one child).
The newborn twins slept, the memory of an Island on their minds, not entirely forgotten.
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Esau, Jacob, Richard, ? (Esau/Jacob, Richard/Miles, Richard/Isabella)
Rating: PG
A/N: Posted for hitlikehammers at the 2010 lostsquee Luau for her prompt, "Greatest Hits."
Summary: [Canon-compliant AU, post-"The End."] Jacob and Esau meet people in the afterlife.
Richard had found the brothers, in their own replica of one of the Island's beaches--surprising for Esau, but not for Jacob.
Both were bent over some game, and Richard found it a mix of terribly poetic and ironic, and all too familiar--he wondered if they would always somehow stay the same.
Esau kept his eyes on the game, but Jacob looked up to Richard, nodding. His blue eyes glanced to the people in the distance, waiting for his former servant--he recognized Miles and Isabella, quietly speaking with each other.
"I'm sorry--"
"You're not coming," interrupted Richard knowingly; he had half expected that.
Jacob shook his head; "It's not just that…I'm sorry…sorry for everything."
This time, it was Richard that solidly grasped Jacob's shoulder. Yet the younger man struggled to find the best response; all he could settle on was, "It's all right."
Richard leaned forward in Jacob's ear, asked more quietly, "Will you come eventually?"
"Of course, can't stay here forever." Jacob glanced at Esau, doing his best to focus only on the next move. "Just not yet."
Richard nodded, gave one final, gentle squeeze on Jacob's shoulder, then turned back to Miles and Isabella--but paused when Jacob abruptly caught his wrist.
"Ricardus…Ricardo," he said, and the younger man blinked (Jacob had never called him Ricardo before). "Thank you…thank you for everything."
And then Jacob let him go and turned back to the game with his brother, and Richard walked away from those who had changed his life so drastically, returning to the company of the those he treasured.
They saw their mothers only in the shadows of the replicated jungle, not daring to touch the brothers.
Jacob and Esau didn't know what to do either, what to think of them--so they settled on nothing and just continued their childhood game.
Although Esau noticed with an odd twinge of guilt how Jacob watched their blood mother with interest, recalling that he'd never seen her before, and perhaps for the first time really appreciating how Jacob could never do that. Considered that his brother never really had much alternative, how he truly had known only one mother always.
One day she quietly came up to them, told them her name was Claudia. She kissed both on the forehead--Esau's eyes were calmly shut, but Jacob's were wide and wondering as she did that. Claudia gave them one last smile, sad and hopeful, then left, and they never saw her again.
But that was not what Esau had waited for--he was waiting for something, someone that utterly baffled him, something that felt foreign, some feeling or sensation both within and apart from him--he just…just had no idea.
Esau just knew he could not leave without it.
After Jacob realized his brother was specifically waiting for someone, he always wondered who it could be.
But he knew this was it when Esau finally stood up from their game, the first time since death that he had ever completely removed himself from it; whoever Esau had waited for was here.
Jacob watched with interest as his brother began walking slowly toward the edge of the shore line, where a dark haired, dark eyed woman stood, with a Shar Pei dog at her feet.
"They left without me, didn't they?" She said very casually.
Jacob watched his brother shake his head, and speak as if through a cloud (through smoke), "I don't know."
"You mean you don't care," accusedd the woman, and when the dog panted and wagged his tail furiously, she bent down and petted it between the ears. "Then again, here you are. Why?"
"I don't know." And Esau sounded genuinely confused, something Jacob hadn't heard in a long, long time.
"Is that all you have for me? After I came all this way? I would've stayed away, I wanted to stay away, I never wanted to see you, but I just knew you were waiting. And don't ask me how I knew, I just--"
Jacob quietly intervened, "This place…this place has a way of connecting people." His eyes flickered from his brother to the woman. "Those that need connecting."
Her eyes fell on him. "I suppose you're Jacob."
The blonde nodded.
Esau spoke to Jacob, though his eyes remained on the woman; "You recognize her, don't you?"
She shook her head, eyes flashing back to Esau; "He's not responsible--not as much as you, anyway."
The woman bent down to her dog, hugging it, and it happily curved into her neck.
"If you have nothing to say to me, I'm leaving." But finally her voice softened, and she said, "It's not really necessary though--I get it, now." She stood up, turned away for a moment, waving to the distance, and it was then Jacob and Esau realized she had people waiting for her too, a small crowd who waved and smiled back to her.
She began walking toward them, the Shar Pei trotting after her. She called over her shoulder, "In the next life, remember me--so you won't make the same mistake twice."
Esau closed his eyes and bowed his head, as Ji Yeon Kwon left.
For the brothers, it was not a church--but that cave, that damnable cave.
"Are you all right with this--?"
"Don't tell me you're scared, Jacob."
Despite all their time playing their childhood game, it was only then that both felt like boys again.
"A little," conceded the blonde. "I did not expect the entrance to take on this shape…but if you're all right with it, I've no right to be bothered."
Esau shook his head, and said ruefully, "You're not the only one with barely a leg to stand on."
The brothers sighed; there was nothing more to say.
They entered the cave, the light, side by side--
"It's a boy!"
"And…and the other one?" The mother panted, but the doctor just said it was on its way.
She screamed again, and after an agonizing couple of minutes, the doctor said, "You've another boy!"
The new mother laughed weakly and cried as she got to hold them and name them (of course she had to have the names prepared in advance, but something had made Claudia determined about that, especially when she learned she was carrying more than one child).
The newborn twins slept, the memory of an Island on their minds, not entirely forgotten.