Happy birthday bas_math_girl! (new mini fic in your honour!)
Title: Silver Lining
Characters/pairing: A woman, her husband, DT, CT
Genre: Drama/Action
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I don't know and have never met the (by all accounts) wonderful and gracious David and Catherine (but I hope to one day) and what happens in this piece is NOT RL.
Summary: An unfortunate accident, a disappointment and a surprise.....
Author's note: It was the delightful bas_math_girl 's birthday on the weekend, and in honour of the occasion and her abiding loveliness, I wrote this little ficlet for her.
Silver lining
She started tapping her foot impatiently, and checked her watch for possibly the fifth - or was it the sixth? - time. He was late. Why did he have to be late at this, of all times? Her head was throbbing, and even when she closed her eyes, each pounding prompted uncomfortable, bright flashes deep in her sockets.
She opened her eyes to glance across the road, finally spotting her husband and was about to call out to him when she noticed out of the corner of her eye - much, MUCH too late - a tall, thin man barrelling towards her, a red-haired woman close on his heels, hands raised, yelling for something she couldn’t make out.
Less than a second later, she felt the wind knocked out of her as the man collided with her, sending her sprawling across the path. It was no gentle landing; she instantly felt blood oozing and the throbbing immediately intensified, this time in other parts of her head as well. She realised with a start that her tooth was broken as she gingerly ran her tongue over the newly-rough edge.
She vaguely felt the sensation of being sat up, a hand at her back, one more on her upper arm, yet another smoothing her face and her hair and murmuring soothing noises as it drew her into embrace. Still seeing stars, but recognising the voice of her husband, she collapsed into his shoulder and sobbed.
She heard a different man’s voice then, issuing profuse apologies in a charming and oddly familiar brogue and without looking up, she weakly lifted her hand to dismiss his babbled mortification at having caused the collision, mumbling that it wasn’t his fault. She felt long fingers squeeze her hand, another last apology and then a women’s voice say something she couldn’t catch before she heard a door slam and a car roar away.
Her husband kissed her softly on the cheek and gently helped her up. “Let’s get you home” he whispered in her ear.
It had been a week since her collision with the stranger and his companion, and she was fortunately feeling a lot better, at least physically. The tests had revealed nothing untoward, the dentist had worked his magic, and the bruise, although colourful now, would soon fade away to nothing.
“Not the best of birthdays” she thought ruefully as she sat in bed reading the morning news and trying to stifle the twinge of disappointed at having missed the final performance of Much Ado About Nothing, tickets for which had been a birthday treat, months in the planning. She tried to console herself with the knowledge that she already seen the production, more than once, but it wasn’t working; she had been at the opening night, and was supposed to have been at the final night, a beautiful symmetry, a ‘best birthday ever’. She suppressed a sniffle - no use crying over spilt milk, or cracked teeth, or missed plays - but she just couldn’t help the sadness that came with an opportunity gone by the wayside.
She heard the doorbell ring, and her husband calling out to her that he would get it. A few minutes later, he appeared in the doorway with the most enormous, beautiful bouquet she had ever seen.
“They’re for you”, he said, peering at the small gift card attached, and walked over to her, sitting down on the bed and handing her the flowers as she hurriedly put her paper aside.
She opened the envelope and pulled out a hand-written card and started to read:
We just wanted to say again that we are so, so sorry about what happened last week. The hospital assured us you were alright and that you would make a complete recovery.
But we still feel dreadful, even more so when we found out that the accident had caused you to forgo a special outing for your birthday.
So we wanted to try to make it up to you by holding our own little birthday bash for you at our favourite local restaurant. Once you’re feeling up to it, let us know (contact details below).
All our best wishes for a speedy recovery
She paused, and then let out a breath she didn’t realise she’d been holding, before squeezing rather, embarrassingly, loud.
David Tennant
Catherine Tate