30 Quills: 'Till Death Do Us Part (#25 ~ Times changes everything . . . )
A/N: For Kaciart~♥
A long time ago, she inspired this fic, and expressed a desire for a happy ending
Here you go mi cielo~♥
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‘Till Death Do Us Part
An Epilogue for:
A Fate Worse Than Death ~ This must be read beforehand in order for this epilogue to make any sense.
30 Quills: #25~ Times changes everything …
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{Six hours …}
.
.
.
The world was a wash of incoherence, turning, tumbling, pulling, stroking, drowning him.
Void of color.
Bare washes of sound.
Stabs of pain.
And a single fleeting thought.
Teddy . . .
.
{48 hours … }
.
.
.
Quiet in a small secluded space.
The stillness of cold sterilized air.
Warmth from a scratchy standard issue blanket.
The far off sound of beeps and a familiar voice.
Broken, aching, pleading.
A soft caress through his hair, hitching breathes at his neck.
It was like a dream he could not quite place, traveling at him through thick mud.
Everything was muddled, out of reach, delayed, floundering him with confusion.
And a single thrumming thought.
Teddy . . .
.
{Five days … }
.
.
.
The soothing scent of his mother’s perfume would sometimes invade his dreams. The smell of the grass and sun and the dirt, like when the twins came home from baseball practice. His father’s aftershave wafting by soon after.
Melding, melting, merging, permeating the atmosphere, chasing away the sterility of his quiet environment.
Young voices carrying on about epic battles, making pictures float in the fog of his mixed memories.
Fighting, flying, falling, hurtling, crashing, screams and pain and darkness.
And a single bright thought.
Teddy . . .
.
{Three and a half weeks …}
.
.
.
Trapped.
Restless.
Anxious.
In this void.
From inaction.
In this limbo.
Goosebumps painted his skin regularly with the chill of sudden breezes, a restless presence, quick to leave, soon to return.
But one single constant, fretting, sobbing, warming, soothing, hovering presence.
And a single comforting thought.
Teddy . . .
.
{Seven months … }
.
.
.
The steady unending rhythm of ever running machines.
Dull, deafening, dreary.
The slow decay of his weakening body.
Small, slimming, softening.
The weary presence of an achingly familiar soul.
Relentless, resolute, resigned.
And a single yearning thought …
Teddy . . .
.
{Two years … }
.
.
.
Soft music floated about him, tickling his ears, firing off synapses in his brain.
A steady string of words, distorted, distant, as if through water, but still able to paint images long memorized from years of bedtime stories and obsessive research.
The voice paused, it always does, and the images fade away leaving him to the void of blank space that took over whenever he was truly alone.
He wanted to shiver.
That place made him feel cold, alone, abandoned.
He wanted to ask for more stories, to keep them going, to see something, to inspire images and memories, anything but this terrible nothingness.
A quiet purr, rumbling, reverberating against his body, softness tickling his skin, the cuddling warmth of a small body filled with precious undiscriminating affection.
He wanted to reach out, to touch and pet and soothe his hand down the rabbit-like fur. It disturbed him that he could not remember what that felt like. The desire to feel that once more burned hot within his chest.
And beyond that, a single anxious, aching thought …
Teddy . . .
The music changed from the ever classical lilt to something upbeat, cheerful, imploding his mind with keen images.
Him and Teddy at their wedding, matching white tuxedos, laughing and dancing and being generally ridiculous on the dance floor as their song blasted through the speakers. Their friends, their family, laughing with them, joining them on the floor.
It was so clear and sharp it felt like it was cutting into his skull, and through it all Teddy’s voice, sad and almost defeated echoed between the spaces of his mind.
Happy Anniversary, Billy.
Shit.
He forgot.
He forgot and Teddy was angry and suddenly they were called to battle by the harbor as some mutated sea creature tried to rip apart Ellis Island and tumble the Lady Liberty.
He forgot and there was no time for I’m sorry, or please forgive me, or I promise I won’t ever forget again.
There was only the harbor full the screaming tourists, the groan of oxidized copper, a giant sea monster, and the rolling waves of Teddy’s silent anger.
And then-
Nothing.
Nothingness that stretched on for an eternity with only the occasional comfort of familiar scent, or sound, or touch …
And now-
Light stabbed insistently at his closed eyes, bright and infuriating, because Teddy left the blinds open and Billy tells him every night to shut them so the damn sun doesn’t try to boil his face in the mornings, but Teddy always-
Soft hungry mewls, a cold wet nose against his cheek, cushy paws stepping lightly across his belly to settle in the small warm space between his and Teddy’s bodies. His husband hums at the intrusion, shifting closer, arm draping across his waist to run a soothing hand over his bony hip.
His brow twitched, then his fingers, and somehow- despite feeling like lead- Billy managed to move his arm and pet the little demon they called their cat until she purred loud enough to rival a car engine, twisting and mewing between them until her feet settled against Teddy’s side to knead like a champ.
“Wednesday, stop that,” Teddy mumbled tiredly, cheek mushed against his shoulder.
“Let her,” Billy croaked, barely above a whisper, “Means- arrhmm- she loves you.”
“She loves me more ‘n you,” Teddy’s snort was colored with amusement.
“Always has,” Billy confirmed, leaning his cheek on mussed blonde hair, “Teddy- mmn, thirsty.”
“Hmm, you wha-”
Teddy abruptly froze beside him; Billy could feel every muscle in the other’s body tense whipcord tight in under a second, the hand that had been moving over his hip gripped hard- painfully hard.
“Ow, mnng, Tee, that hurts-”
“Oh God-”
The bed sunk with Teddy’s weight as he shifted, making Wednesday shimmy out of the way with a yowled protest. His face was suddenly hovering above him, anxious and wet with tears, brimming with a devastating kind of hope.
“B-Bee?”
“What Teddy?”
Billy blinked, trying hard to process the heartbroken look on his husband’s face. He tried to reach for his face, but his arm couldn’t seem to hold up it’s own weight. He settled for dragging clumsy fingers over Teddy’s wrist.
“Teddy … what’s wrong?”
“Oh my God!”
Strong arms crushed him close to a chest heaving with disconsolate sobs. Teddy murmured frantic and unintelligible words into his hair between choked gasps for air. Billy tried his best to comfort him with limbs that had no desire to cooperate.
It felt like he’d been asleep forever …
“Teddy, Teddy-” He found his own voice choking at the despairing relief in his husband’s voice, “It’s okay, Tee. It’s okay, please, shhh, s’alright-”
Grunting as he forced leaden arms to wrap around broad shaking shoulders, “I’m sorry Tee- So sorry, I-”
Lips pressed firmly against his, chaste but urgent, “What? What are you talkin’ bout? Shh, doesn’t matter- God, Bee, Bee-”
“Mmf- No, it does, Teddy-” Billy gasped against for breath, nuzzling his nose along Teddy’s jaw until he could rest his cheek on his collar, feeling lightheaded and weak, “Mnn … m’the worst husband ever.”
“What, Billy? What even-”
“Who the hell forgets their first anniversary? Me that’s who … Teddy m’sorry, I-” Billy could feel Teddy shaking around him, and worried for a minute he’d just made things worse until suddenly Teddy’s strangled laughter filled the room, a strange mix between broken and light-hearted.
“Tee, what-”
Teddy kissed him silent once again, “Shh, just- I have to call the doc, wait a minute-”
Grabbing his cell from the nightstand, Teddy speed dialed someone and with a jolt Billy realizes he isn’t in some hospital, but home in their bed … That certainly wasn’t standard procedure. Perhaps, he wasn’t as badly hurt as he assumed when he’d lost consciousness. Yet, the pain had been of a kind that made a residual shudder pass through him. His IV line pricked his skin, bleary eyes dragged over it and the rest of the room curiously until they found the digital clock.
It marked the time, the date and year … Several years more than it should be and-
A brick would have had less impact, Billy paled dangerously, suddenly finding it hard to breathe as bewildered eyes sought Teddy’s.
“W-What- That can’t be right- Tee, shit- How long, oh my God- Teddy, tell me that’s wrong!”
Teddy was next to him in an instant, gathering him close to rub a callous hand across back of his neck in calming circles, “Billy, it’s okay, it’s … Some things have changed, but it’s gonna be okay-”
“Holy- Two years?! Teddy all this time?” His mind reeled, skyrocketed, and plummeted back down, “Oh my god, Teddy- two years- you’ve been … how? How could you-”
“For better or for worse, Billy,” Teddy’s voice was hoarse around his smile, fresh tears tracking down his face, “I swore that to you three years ago, and I goddamned meant it.”
“T-Teddy …”
Billy chewed his lip hard to keep it from trembling, overwhelmed by his emotions and his love for this man. Two years … Two years Teddy had waited as he drifted alone in his subconscious.
“God, Bee,” Teddy shuddered with a repressed sob, leaning into his forehead, carting fingers though his hair, “I thought- I’d lost you-”
No. Not alone.
Teddy had been there with him for those years. Everyday, with a word, a touch, his warmth, his scent, cocooning Billy in his devotion.
Slowly but surely, lowering a lifeline into the well of his unconsciousness, until Billy could grab onto it, and pull himself up; pull himself back- returning to the arms of the man who’s spent countless nights at his bedside, broken with steadfast hope.
“I swore too,” Billy whispered fiercely, shaking hands tightening on Teddy’s shoulders as he closed his eyes against blurring vision, “ ‘Till death do us part- That’s why I held on. I’m sorry, Teddy- I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you … And thank you- for still being here, even when …”
Even when it seemed hopeless, even when he was told to give up, even when two years of their lives had wasted away as Billy dreamed and Teddy fretted. He choked, breath hitching.
“Shhh,” Teddy pressed him closer as they shivered against the rising emotions, hand running down his back, lips brushing his forehead.
He sighed, swallowing back anymore tears, holding on as hard as he could. For a small eternity, they lay wrapped close in each other arms, until Teddy stirred finally, reaching for his phone.
“Shit, your mom and your dad, he’s been here everyday. And the others- I need to-”
Billy watched Teddy slowly work himself frantic, fumbling with the buttons on the phone to find the names of everyone they ever knew apparently. The smile that spread across his face was small and drowsy as he pulled at Teddy’s sleeve until he got his full attention.
“Happy Anniversary, Tee.”
Teddy blinked at him, shook his head with a huff and kissed his brow tenderly, “You’re late again … Three times in a row. That’s just inexcusable.”
“Better late … than never in this case, don’t you think?”
“Mnn,” Teddy’s thumb smoothed over his gaunt cheek, lips meeting his in a kiss that was slow and reverent, “Please don’t ever give me a coma as an anniversary gift again.”
Billy laughed against his lips, soft and sincere, “I promise I’ll try~”
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Fin
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