Fic: Sleeping Beauty
She’s sitting there at the end of the bed, she’s killing time, slaughtering it, she’s tweeting - and he looks at her, her mess of auburn hair, her thick rimmed glasses, such pale skin, he looks at her and he’s taken by how beautiful she is. How alive she is, how dull she makes the people around her seem.
“Vesper?”
“Hello, Sleeping Beauty.” And she smiles for him, for him, a smile is a beautiful thing but it becomes a heart warming one when it’s meant for you.
”You’ve been asleep for days.”
The IV in his arm, the artificial smell, the excessive floral arrangement - orange flowers with a huge white bow - he tries to remember -
“You collapsed.” She says. “Do you remember?”
“I think so…”
“Harry wanted to cancel but I told him he should go ahead. Why spoil his fun? Though he seemed so worried, I think his fun was spoiled already - ”
“Cancel?”
She stares at him for a moment and her expression is the one he can least stand: Concern.
“The boys bonding weekend, you all get together, ski and fuck in the hot tub, Bruce?” Her hand is on his leg, she squeezes it, there’s an intimacy in it, in the way she leaves her hand there, in her right to leave it there. “Switzerland. You were all supposed to go to Switzerland and you were supposed to not aggravate Tony Stark while you’re there. The guy has nukes - you need to stop pissing him off, baby.”
“You can’t aggravate a person.” He tells her. “Aggravate means to make a bad situation worse. It comes from the Latin to “make heavier”. It doesn’t mean to irritate a person.”
“I’d say that’s exactly what you do to Tony Stark. You make a bad situation worse. Right now you’re a pedant that’s irritating me, however.”
Vesper leans forward, she kisses him. It’s so gentle, it’s so familiar. She lies down beside him on the narrow hospital bed and lets her arm wrap around him.
“I’m glad you’re here.” He says.
“You’re lucky I am. I don’t know why I put up with you.”
“I don’t know why either.”
They lie there together and it feels so right, he feels so right. He can feel her breathing, her chest rising up and down, her breath against his neck. He can feel the life in her.
“I want to remember you like this forever.” He tells her. “I don’t want to forget this. I don’t want to forget this is who you are.”
“Oh, Bruce.” She says to him. She sounds so sad, but not for herself, not for all the days she’ll miss, not for all the life she lost. She sounds so sad for him. “Oh, Bruce. It’s your memory. You can remember me anyway you like.”
“Don’t go, Vesper.” He’s holding her tightly now. “Please, don’t go.”
She doesn’t answer.
“Please just stay here with me.”
She can’t answer.
“We can just stay here.”
But they can’t.
And he feels her body against his and he smells her hair and he hopes, a childlike hope, that if he just holds her tight enough then the memory won’t fade. But her body is cold and it is wet and she has nothing left to say and suddenly they’re there in that alley, it’s always that alley, decades later, always that alley and he can’t feel her breath against his neck and he can’t feel her chest move against his and she can’t feel anything at all.
“I’m sorry.” He says.
She doesn’t reply.
“Vesper?”
“Hello, Sleeping Beauty.” And she smiles for him, for him, a smile is a beautiful thing but it becomes a heart warming one when it’s meant for you.
”You’ve been asleep for days.”
The IV in his arm, the artificial smell, the excessive floral arrangement - orange flowers with a huge white bow - he tries to remember -
“You collapsed.” She says. “Do you remember?”
“I think so…”
“Harry wanted to cancel but I told him he should go ahead. Why spoil his fun? Though he seemed so worried, I think his fun was spoiled already - ”
“Cancel?”
She stares at him for a moment and her expression is the one he can least stand: Concern.
“The boys bonding weekend, you all get together, ski and fuck in the hot tub, Bruce?” Her hand is on his leg, she squeezes it, there’s an intimacy in it, in the way she leaves her hand there, in her right to leave it there. “Switzerland. You were all supposed to go to Switzerland and you were supposed to not aggravate Tony Stark while you’re there. The guy has nukes - you need to stop pissing him off, baby.”
“You can’t aggravate a person.” He tells her. “Aggravate means to make a bad situation worse. It comes from the Latin to “make heavier”. It doesn’t mean to irritate a person.”
“I’d say that’s exactly what you do to Tony Stark. You make a bad situation worse. Right now you’re a pedant that’s irritating me, however.”
Vesper leans forward, she kisses him. It’s so gentle, it’s so familiar. She lies down beside him on the narrow hospital bed and lets her arm wrap around him.
“I’m glad you’re here.” He says.
“You’re lucky I am. I don’t know why I put up with you.”
“I don’t know why either.”
They lie there together and it feels so right, he feels so right. He can feel her breathing, her chest rising up and down, her breath against his neck. He can feel the life in her.
“I want to remember you like this forever.” He tells her. “I don’t want to forget this. I don’t want to forget this is who you are.”
“Oh, Bruce.” She says to him. She sounds so sad, but not for herself, not for all the days she’ll miss, not for all the life she lost. She sounds so sad for him. “Oh, Bruce. It’s your memory. You can remember me anyway you like.”
“Don’t go, Vesper.” He’s holding her tightly now. “Please, don’t go.”
She doesn’t answer.
“Please just stay here with me.”
She can’t answer.
“We can just stay here.”
But they can’t.
And he feels her body against his and he smells her hair and he hopes, a childlike hope, that if he just holds her tight enough then the memory won’t fade. But her body is cold and it is wet and she has nothing left to say and suddenly they’re there in that alley, it’s always that alley, decades later, always that alley and he can’t feel her breath against his neck and he can’t feel her chest move against his and she can’t feel anything at all.
“I’m sorry.” He says.
She doesn’t reply.