fudge ripple and guava with malt and chopped nuts
Story: Timeless { backstory | index }
Title: No Need To Say Goodbye
Rating: PG (mild cursing)
Challenge: Fudge Ripple #26: anguish, Guava #27: don’t you cry for me
Toppings/Extras: malt, chopped nuts
Wordcount: 433
Summary: Prowse must return to his own time. Miss Merritt finds herself uncharacteristically saddened.
Notes: 1306’s lovely malt prompt: “I’ll come back when you call me/ No need to say goodbye,” The Call, Regina Spektor. This is AU, but was the original ending.
“Why go back at all?” Adele asked bitterly. “There’s no point. The timestream is utterly screwed up beyond repair. You might as well stay here while the universe explodes into fiery chaos.”
Prowse smiled. It was not a sentence that merited much smiling, but Adele had that sort of effect on him nevertheless. Besides, they both knew that there would be no warping inferno of death coming for them-the timestream was strong, far stronger than all of the scientists could have anticipated. It didn’t care if a few atoms here and there hopped into the wrong place: it marched onwards, ceaseless and everlasting.
The two of them were stood in a small room close to the heart of Newson Labs. It was windowless but not dark-in fact, it had been lit to death by the glaring halogen lights that screamed their lurid white at the walls and tiles. He would miss how well-lit the future was. And the cleanness. But of course, he would miss Adele Merritt so much more.
“It’s the right thing to do,” he said gently.
“Have I ever given a shit about the right thing?” Adele snorted. Her tone softened. “Don’t you want to stay here?” Voiceless, two more words attached themselves to her sentence: With me? Prowse sighed. This was always going to be difficult, but he’d never realised how much. It was like tearing a corkscrew out of himself.
“We could still see each other,” he said, his smile fortifying at the look on her face.
“Yeah, it’s only a one-thousand-five-hundred year difference,” Adele replied shortly. “Perfect conditions for a, a...”
Nothing was said for a few moments.
“A...?” Prowse prompted.
“Shut up,” Adele snapped, turning pinkish. She twisted her head away from him. “Doesn’t matter. It’s stupid anyway. I just thought...”
Her words died when he leaned forwards and kissed her on the brow, one hand rising to barely touch the soft skin just under her ear.
“This isn’t goodbye,” he said, his voice quiet but firm. They looked at each other long and hard for a moment, snatching tiny details into deep freeze so that they could remember, always. Or for as long as they needed to. When he said it in that even voice, Adele felt somewhat reassured.
He spun in a whirl of his floor-length cloak and began sweeping towards the door.
“Isaac!” Adele called out, stringent panic tightening her voice. He paused in the door, turning his head fractionally towards her. She bit her lip to still her trembling chin. “Aren’t you going to give me a better kiss than that?”