Always Come Home
Title: Always Come Home
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairing: Parrish/Lorne
Orientation: Slash
Word Count: 1,268
Rating: PG
Notes: I don’t do poetry-type stuff often, but this was pounding to get out, so I inflict it upon you, along with the fic it inspired. This is a remix of S is for Sealed
Prompt: Ancient City Bingo: “Sealed with a Kiss”
~*~
When I left, I was unfair;
I begged you to wait.
I should not have done; it was cruel, what I asked.
More cruelty; I promised I would return;
You promised to wait.
It was not my promise to make; it is no man’s promise to make.
When everyone else had given me up as lost;
You waited.
As I asked; as I should not have asked.
They told you I was gone, told you not to hope;
You hoped and waited.
In the face of impossibility when all others stopped.
The memory of you sustained me;
Kept me alive in the face of hopeless odds.
Abandoned and alone, all I had was your memory.
Because of you, I lived.
Because of you,I survived.
Because of you,I returned.
And you waited.
Promises kept, despite all.
~*~
The chime on the door rang, David ignored it. People came and went, the chime rang again and again, but Atlantis respected David’s request for privacy and would not allow anyone to enter the room. Evan’s room. It was odd, how after all this time, David, like Evan, had come to think of the city almost as a person. If Atlantis was indeed a person, then wasn’t she too grieving for Evan?
Grieving or not, when the favored son demanded entrance, Atlantis rolled over and allowed it. Eventually Sheppard came to the door overrode the lock and came in.
“Parrish… David. It’s been a few days. You have to come out, you have to eat. Beckett wants to toss you in the infirmary.”
David shrugged and stared at the unfinished painting on the easel looking out over the balcony. The spires of the city that were in view from the balcony were only partially filled in on the canvas. Evan had loved this view of their home, and had chosen these quarters because of it.
Sheppard came up behind him and awkwardly patted his back and squeezed his shoulder. “Look, I know. I understand how hard this is. I know what Evan was to you.”
“Everything,” David whispered.
“He’s gone. I’m sorry. I’m so damned sorry. But he wouldn’t want you wasting away like this. Come to the mess hall with me, eat something.”
“He’ll be back. He promised. Evan keeps his promises.”
Sheppard looked at him very sadly, but he did not try to dissuade him. Not that day, anyway. Later he did, as did Beckett and Heightmeyer.
But David knew what he knew. Evan had promised he would be back, and had sealed the oath with a kiss.
He went through the motions, dragged through life over the next few weeks by Sheppard, tenacious as a bulldog, refusing to let David wallow alone and wait. The city sided with Sheppard, not allowing David to hide any longer.
He stayed in the city when they tried to make him leave. Atlantis helped him then. She hid him, masked his life signs when the Daedalus came. He stood on the West Pier and watched the ship leave, not the slightest bit sorry for his deception. He had to be here when Evan came back. He had promised. He had sworn to wait where Evan could find him. A promise he had sealed with a solemn kiss.
~*~
Sold, like a piece of garden equipment. He had been grabbed and taken from his team, thrown in chains, whisked through the Stargate and away from everyone he knew. The worst part; he had been taken away from David.
Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, all under the lash, at the mercy of his captors. He was brought down by a cut on his foot, of all things, a stupid injury from a scythe wielded by an idiot. Untreated by more than a rinse in cold creek water, the wound quickly turned septic. His foot swelled and he could not walk, soon, he could no longer stand. His ration was cut; a useless slave was not fed.
Growing weaker, he tried, he tried to hold on. He had promised David that he would come back. A stupid thing to do, he knew better. Impulsive and romantic. But still, unwise.
His captors, superstitious, proclaimed him possessed by evil spirits when he began to shout out for David in his delirium.
Evan’s foot was afire, he was in pain. Tight and red, it was swollen and oozed puss. He begged them to cut it off, but they feared him now, thought him a vessel for evil. Very few would go near him, fewer would touch him. They dragged him on a tarpaulin to the Ring of the Gods and left him there, sweating and shivering, drenched in sweat, surrounded with offerings of burning incense.
He stared up at the blazing sun and cried out for David. He remembered David’s touch, the way he felt in Evan’s arms, the way he smiled, the way he always waited. Had promised to always wait.
It was agony, but he rolled to his stomach and pushed up to his knees. He had a promise to keep. He dragged himself up onto the DHD and awkwardly brought his hand down on each crystal to dial home. The Gate flared to life. But death waited, he couldn’t go through. They had taken his GDO when they sold him. He couldn’t signal the city. He shut the gate down. Then he dialed it again. Repeated the process. Three short, three long, two short before he collapsed.
~*~
He heard words over his head, bits of conversation. Little by little, he was able to concentrate enough to make out the meaning. “… septicemia. He’s in critical condition.”
“Will he live, Doc?” That was Sheppard’s drawl. He was home? They’d found him. They had brought him home to Atlantis. He felt the presence of Atlantis, the tingle of the connection his gene gave him to the Ancient place.
The doctor didn’t sound quite so positive. “If he fights.”
“He’ll fight. He made it this far, he’ll make it,” David’s voice was insistent, a little frantic. “Don’t you dare give up on him!”
“Promised.” Evan whispered, flailing limply for David, knowing he would be within arm’s reach. His hand was caught, held, caressed.
Cool lips touched his forehead. “Yeah, exactly. You promised. Now you fight. A little longer, a little more. You came back, but not all the way. Come all the way back to me, Evan.” David’s fingers, long and cool and gentle, stroked the long hair back from Evan’s forehead.
A little more. He was almost there, almost safe. He was safe, he was home.
~*~
David fussed.
A lot.
He cosseted Evan throughout his recovery, spitting in the eye of convention and completely outing them to the senior and medical staffs. Sheppard didn’t care; he was too happy having Lorne back to enforce regs he didn’t believe in or follow completely to the letter himself. Beckett wanted to throttle the botanist by the time he signed off on Evan’s discharge.
When Evan was allowed to return to his quarters, he found he now had a permanent roommate, they were no longer keeping separate quarters. He didn’t mind. At all.
He had fought his way back to this, for this. How could he complain?
He kissed David’s lips sweetly as they stood on the balcony, breathing in fresh air. “I’ve resigned from the Gate Team, I’m strictly administrative now. I’m not leaving the city again unless it is absolutely necessary. I intend to keep the promise I made to you.”
David sighed and leaned against him. “Me too, I’ll be right here.”
The EndOriginally posted at http://rinkafic.dreamwidth.org/
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairing: Parrish/Lorne
Orientation: Slash
Word Count: 1,268
Rating: PG
Notes: I don’t do poetry-type stuff often, but this was pounding to get out, so I inflict it upon you, along with the fic it inspired. This is a remix of S is for Sealed
Prompt: Ancient City Bingo: “Sealed with a Kiss”
~*~
When I left, I was unfair;
I begged you to wait.
I should not have done; it was cruel, what I asked.
More cruelty; I promised I would return;
You promised to wait.
It was not my promise to make; it is no man’s promise to make.
When everyone else had given me up as lost;
You waited.
As I asked; as I should not have asked.
They told you I was gone, told you not to hope;
You hoped and waited.
In the face of impossibility when all others stopped.
The memory of you sustained me;
Kept me alive in the face of hopeless odds.
Abandoned and alone, all I had was your memory.
Because of you, I lived.
Because of you,I survived.
Because of you,I returned.
And you waited.
Promises kept, despite all.
~*~
The chime on the door rang, David ignored it. People came and went, the chime rang again and again, but Atlantis respected David’s request for privacy and would not allow anyone to enter the room. Evan’s room. It was odd, how after all this time, David, like Evan, had come to think of the city almost as a person. If Atlantis was indeed a person, then wasn’t she too grieving for Evan?
Grieving or not, when the favored son demanded entrance, Atlantis rolled over and allowed it. Eventually Sheppard came to the door overrode the lock and came in.
“Parrish… David. It’s been a few days. You have to come out, you have to eat. Beckett wants to toss you in the infirmary.”
David shrugged and stared at the unfinished painting on the easel looking out over the balcony. The spires of the city that were in view from the balcony were only partially filled in on the canvas. Evan had loved this view of their home, and had chosen these quarters because of it.
Sheppard came up behind him and awkwardly patted his back and squeezed his shoulder. “Look, I know. I understand how hard this is. I know what Evan was to you.”
“Everything,” David whispered.
“He’s gone. I’m sorry. I’m so damned sorry. But he wouldn’t want you wasting away like this. Come to the mess hall with me, eat something.”
“He’ll be back. He promised. Evan keeps his promises.”
Sheppard looked at him very sadly, but he did not try to dissuade him. Not that day, anyway. Later he did, as did Beckett and Heightmeyer.
But David knew what he knew. Evan had promised he would be back, and had sealed the oath with a kiss.
He went through the motions, dragged through life over the next few weeks by Sheppard, tenacious as a bulldog, refusing to let David wallow alone and wait. The city sided with Sheppard, not allowing David to hide any longer.
He stayed in the city when they tried to make him leave. Atlantis helped him then. She hid him, masked his life signs when the Daedalus came. He stood on the West Pier and watched the ship leave, not the slightest bit sorry for his deception. He had to be here when Evan came back. He had promised. He had sworn to wait where Evan could find him. A promise he had sealed with a solemn kiss.
~*~
Sold, like a piece of garden equipment. He had been grabbed and taken from his team, thrown in chains, whisked through the Stargate and away from everyone he knew. The worst part; he had been taken away from David.
Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, all under the lash, at the mercy of his captors. He was brought down by a cut on his foot, of all things, a stupid injury from a scythe wielded by an idiot. Untreated by more than a rinse in cold creek water, the wound quickly turned septic. His foot swelled and he could not walk, soon, he could no longer stand. His ration was cut; a useless slave was not fed.
Growing weaker, he tried, he tried to hold on. He had promised David that he would come back. A stupid thing to do, he knew better. Impulsive and romantic. But still, unwise.
His captors, superstitious, proclaimed him possessed by evil spirits when he began to shout out for David in his delirium.
Evan’s foot was afire, he was in pain. Tight and red, it was swollen and oozed puss. He begged them to cut it off, but they feared him now, thought him a vessel for evil. Very few would go near him, fewer would touch him. They dragged him on a tarpaulin to the Ring of the Gods and left him there, sweating and shivering, drenched in sweat, surrounded with offerings of burning incense.
He stared up at the blazing sun and cried out for David. He remembered David’s touch, the way he felt in Evan’s arms, the way he smiled, the way he always waited. Had promised to always wait.
It was agony, but he rolled to his stomach and pushed up to his knees. He had a promise to keep. He dragged himself up onto the DHD and awkwardly brought his hand down on each crystal to dial home. The Gate flared to life. But death waited, he couldn’t go through. They had taken his GDO when they sold him. He couldn’t signal the city. He shut the gate down. Then he dialed it again. Repeated the process. Three short, three long, two short before he collapsed.
~*~
He heard words over his head, bits of conversation. Little by little, he was able to concentrate enough to make out the meaning. “… septicemia. He’s in critical condition.”
“Will he live, Doc?” That was Sheppard’s drawl. He was home? They’d found him. They had brought him home to Atlantis. He felt the presence of Atlantis, the tingle of the connection his gene gave him to the Ancient place.
The doctor didn’t sound quite so positive. “If he fights.”
“He’ll fight. He made it this far, he’ll make it,” David’s voice was insistent, a little frantic. “Don’t you dare give up on him!”
“Promised.” Evan whispered, flailing limply for David, knowing he would be within arm’s reach. His hand was caught, held, caressed.
Cool lips touched his forehead. “Yeah, exactly. You promised. Now you fight. A little longer, a little more. You came back, but not all the way. Come all the way back to me, Evan.” David’s fingers, long and cool and gentle, stroked the long hair back from Evan’s forehead.
A little more. He was almost there, almost safe. He was safe, he was home.
~*~
David fussed.
A lot.
He cosseted Evan throughout his recovery, spitting in the eye of convention and completely outing them to the senior and medical staffs. Sheppard didn’t care; he was too happy having Lorne back to enforce regs he didn’t believe in or follow completely to the letter himself. Beckett wanted to throttle the botanist by the time he signed off on Evan’s discharge.
When Evan was allowed to return to his quarters, he found he now had a permanent roommate, they were no longer keeping separate quarters. He didn’t mind. At all.
He had fought his way back to this, for this. How could he complain?
He kissed David’s lips sweetly as they stood on the balcony, breathing in fresh air. “I’ve resigned from the Gate Team, I’m strictly administrative now. I’m not leaving the city again unless it is absolutely necessary. I intend to keep the promise I made to you.”
David sighed and leaned against him. “Me too, I’ll be right here.”
The EndOriginally posted at http://rinkafic.dreamwidth.org/