The Chain - Bleighton RPS [3/5]
Title: The Chain
Fandom: RPF
Pairing: Blake/Leighton
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: They’re not mine. They just hang out in my head and make out. Also - all of this are made up. Like, it’s completely AU. So don’t sue me for anything that is not true because I warned you.
Summary: It started with a door and a chain.
A/N: This was largely inspired by Ingrid Michaelson’s song, The Chain, on which the title of the story is based off. Also, the collaboration piece of Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson, Winter Song, played a role in constructing this story.
A?N: I've been writing this story, on and off, since winter break. I would've finished it sooner, but then I ws held captive by a distraction-fic that I wrote earlier this month.
A/N: This is unbeta-ed, though I have tried my best to look over my own errors. If there are any glaring ones that take away from the story, do let me know. Constructive criticisms are good times. Thanks for reading.
--
Leighton’s mother passed away. She knew that it was time to get out of there.
After the last two and a half decades of her life had been spent nursing a toxic relationship she had with her mother, she was finally able to taste some form of independence. Her mother, she would admit, was not an inherently bad woman. She had her faults, but all women did, even Leighton knew that.
Her mother just wasn’t good at being, well, a mother. And that’s where she had failed Leighton. Instead of being taken care of, she did the caring; instead of learning from example, she learned by herself from what little outside influences were available to her. All Leighton knew was who her mother was - a woman that had been misguided in her youth and made the mistake of carrying a child she couldn’t love and cherish as all mothers were supposed to do.
But there was no point in blaming the deceased woman now.
She was about two decades late, but Leighton would start over again and teach herself to be exactly what she missed on growing up. She’d rebuild herself to the person that her mother never was. She’d be a good woman, you see. And somewhere down the line if and when the situation arises, she’d be a damn good mother, too. One that would let her children play with the neighbors so her little girl or little boy would find their own best friends. Yeah, she’d be better.
For now, though, things just felt wrong and out of place. She needed to get it back in order if she had any real chance of finding herself. No matter how many people passed her in her life, they were all just blurred nameless faces that didn’t really hold any position in her life. Leighton was alone. She didn’t want to admit it because even when she was young, she at least had her mother, but now, now that her mother was gone, she was alone.
She needed to heal.
So Leighton had packed all her things and left it in storage somewhere downtown. She’d go back to it, eventually. When she came back. She didn’t know when that was, but she’d figure it out. Perhaps when her feet walked her back to where she started. The Earth, after all, is round.
Having just picked up the last box left on the living room floor, there was a knock at the door. She sighed, placed the box back down and opened the door. Chain still intact, she found the one person she had always wanted to see by this doorway. Blake.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
“Can I come in?”
“Yeah.”
So Leighton closed the door again and unhinged the chain from off the door. She slowly opened the door to make room for Blake’s entry. The taller woman’s eyes never looked away.
“I’m sorry about your mother, Leighton.” Blake lunged forward and engulfed the brunette in a comforting hug. Leighton closed her eyes and savored the warm body that embraced her. They stayed that way for a little while longer before the taller woman pulled herself back just enough to look at those expressive brown eyes. In the meantime, Leighton continued to revel in the comforting touch and feel of the other woman.
She’d always used Blake’s voice as some sign that she wasn’t alone. She’d used it when she was younger and this time, it was no different. However, it was in the taller woman’s touch did she truly realize that even as she braved through her mother’s failing health, her mother’s dying day, and her mother’s small, quiet funeral, Leighton wasn’t alone.
“Thanks.” The brunette kept her eyes low as they stepped apart from one another.
“And I’m sorry I wasn’t there at the funeral. I…didn’t hear about it until after.” Blake’s hands glided from Leighton’s back forward to her arms. The shorter woman fought the urge to shiver under the other woman’s hands. They had never been physical, see, and Leighton was basing it off of what happened to her mother.
“It’s okay. I didn’t tell very many people.”
“But I thought…I thought maybe you’d at least tell me.” Blake didn’t have the right to sound hurt, as if it was her right to know the things that happened to Leighton. But she was hurt. Because she’d always kept Leighton anything but a distant memory. She thought, perhaps, Leighton would show her the same courtesy.
“I…I wanted to, but I just couldn’t.” The tall blonde couldn’t blame Leighton. In the brunette’s expressive eyes showed fear and loss. It didn’t dawn on Blake until that moment that the woman standing before her, though 24 years old, was now an orphan. She flashed back to her parents who finally decided to take a permanent pit stop in a small town in North Carolina, of all places. But she knew where her parents were. She knew that they were enjoying the Carolinian weather and drinking sweet tea. But for Leighton, well, that was just a different story altogether.
“I understand.”
Blake finally had a chance to look around and saw how completely bare the apartment was. Her blue eyes traveled all over the apartment before landing back on her old neighbor’s sullen face. “…Wow, your apartment is...empty,” she said lamely, not really knowing how else to react.
“Yeah…I was actually about to head out. Help me with that box as I lock up?” Leighton asked as she carried a small bag on her shoulders.
“Sure, yeah.” The young blonde was too surprised to say anything else. They rode the elevator silently together with Blake holding onto the small box that she was asked to carry as Leighton carried the slung bag over her shoulder. They reached the first floor and the elevator doors opened. The small brunette began walking out of the car when she heard her old neighbor’s voice echo in the lobby.
“You’re leaving,” Blake said as she stood just a step out of the elevator. Leighton turned around.
“I am.”
“Where are you going?” The tall blonde finally walked up to where her best friend had stopped.
“Wherever my feet take me, I guess.” After Leighton had said it, she began walking and continued her way towards the parked car outside the lobby doors. Blake hadn’t much of a choice but to follow.
“What about your stuff?” As she asked this, Leighton opened the passenger side door, threw the slung bag onto the seat then took the box from Blake’s hold and into the backseat. The tall blonde only watched from her rooted spot.
“It’s taken care of,” she said as she paused by the door.
“Will you be coming back?” It was the question Blake never really thought she would ever ask. But there she was, at age 24, asking about her old neighbor’s return when she had been the one that had done all the leaving. So far.
“Of course. When I’m tired and all I want to do is sit. I’ll come then,” Leighton said seriously.
Though they were both adults, Blake found it hard to fully understand the woman in front of her. Even when they were nine year old neighbors, there were those times when Blake would only take Leighton for her word because she didn’t understand. She was too young and she just didn’t know. Leighton on the other hand, would seem to always be the grown up. So even when they’re well into their young adulthood, it was hard for the blonde to fully comprehend her old best friend. When Blake grasped something, it would feel as if Leighton was already onto something else.
“But will you be coming back here?”
Honestly, Blake didn’t even know where ‘here’ was. All she knew was that wherever ‘here’ was located, she was going to be there. All she wanted to know was if Leighton would eventually be there, too.
“Maybe.” Leighton stepped out of the way and closed the door and walked back up to where Blake was.
“How will I know?”
The young brunette looked at Blake’s face and she saw in those cobalt eyes what must have been the emotions she had expressed in her eyes six years ago, nine. She didn’t show it, but inwardly, she smiled. They may still be in different parts of their lives and their paths were just still crossing so much as colliding to form as one, but they were getting closer. They were getting closer to get to each other and that’s all that mattered. It would take some time, but they would get to the ‘here’ that Blake had asked about.
Leighton stepped closer to the young blonde and smiled that dimpled smile that Blake never got tired of.
“Because the earth is round, Blake.” The taller woman returned the smile and seemed content with what she had just been told. “I promise, I’ll come back. Don’t worry.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Don’t promise. Just do.”
“Okay, I don’t promise. I just will.”
They kept silent as they had been prone to do for each of their reunions. Blake cleared her throat and fixed her eyes on the brunette in front of her.
“It’s good to see you again, you know,” Leighton said.
And Blake did know. How could she not when it was the young brunette that had taken permanent residence in the forefront of the blonde’s mind. She’d driven herself into insanity and out again just thinking about the orphan that stood close to her.
“You, too.”
Blake took the glove off her right hand and held it out for Leighton to take. The brunette smiled kindly and took the proffered hand holding it close, their eyes never leaving the each other’s face.
The brunette’s ungloved hand felt cold as it touched Blake’s. It didn’t take long, however, until it warmed to the touch. Without breaking their eye contact, Leighton leaned forward, hands still holding each other, and wrapped her free arm around the taller woman. Blake quickly returned the hug. Sliding her arm out of the embrace, Leighton pulled away slightly, though their hands were still intact. She then swiftly placed a kiss on the other woman’s cheeks. Blake instantly closed her eyes.
Leighton stepped away and she slowly, regretfully, let go of the other woman’s hand. Those ocean blue eyes remained close even as the heat that emanated from Leighton’s body beside hers had disappeared.
She walked to the driver’s side of the car and waited until Blake opened her eyes again. When she did so, Leighton offered a shy smile and a small wave before opening the door.
“I’ll see you,” Blake said as her naked hand slowly rose to the air as it offered a lame wave.
Leighton only nodded before stepping inside and finally driving off leaving her old neighbor in front of their old apartment building some fifteen years ago.
Part Four