FIC: Eternity Now [CSI: Miami; Speed/Calleigh]
TITLE: Eternity Now
WORD COUNT: 642
WARNING: Implied character death.
NOTES: My CSI: Miami secret: While I love Eric/Calleigh on the show, if I had the opportunity for Speed/Calleigh to be canon, I'd drop E/C. And...I guess this is the only way they can be canon in the current state of the show.
He isn’t sure how long he has been standing there - it could be a week or a year. There is no way for him to really tell, so he had long ago given up trying. Every day, as new faces pass by him, he examines each one closely. Once in a while, he sees a face he recognizes, a face from the life he had before. Slowly, the faces he recognizes begin to age.
It’s quite some time before he realizes that she’s not coming any time soon. She’s probably found a new life by now, he tells himself, maybe one with Delko. But, steadfast and true, he continues to stand there, searching out among a sea of faces for the one person he’s waiting for.
One day, he shifts position slightly, and out of the corner of his eye, catches a flash of long blonde hair. It’s not the first time he’s seen something similar. After all, quite a few women in the world have long blonde hair, and he distinctly remembers one time when he approached a woman who from a distance could have passed as her twin - but it turned out to be a tall Swedish woman with her even taller Swedish boyfriend. Not a lesson he tends to forget.
He dares not to hope.
It’s when the new blonde woman breaks from the pack and walks over to him, her pace quickening with each step, that he realizes that this time, it’s his blonde woman. “Calleigh?” he says, her name foreign to his lips anymore.
“Tim? What are you doing here?” she asks, smiling a smile that although is unmistakably her trademark smile, it’s missing some element, some sparkle.
“I told you, remember?”
“Oh,” she says, the memory of the long-ago day they lay out on the grass in her backyard and gazed at the clouds passing by in the sky bubbling to the surface. “I remember now.”
The sky is the perfect shade of light blue, and the sun casts shadows through the trees. He turns over to face her. “Cal?” he asks, brushing her hair back from her face, allowing his fingers to linger over her cheek for just a second longer than was absolutely necessary. “You awake?”
“Yeah,” she says, staring up at the sky. “Thinking.”
“’Bout what?”
“About how this moment is so perfect, I don’t want to lose it. You and me, together, alone, without the pressures of work.”
“Forget work,” he replies, pressing a kiss to her collarbone, “Let’s just enjoy this while it lasts.”
“If you die tomorrow, will you wait for me?” she asks a short time later, her eyes earnestly repeating the question.
“What makes you ask a thing like that?” he replies. “Of course I will.”
“I don’t want to get to heaven and not know anyone there.”
“We’ll have each other, Calleigh.”
“Good,” she says, the first signs of fatigue creeping into her voice. She adjusts her position as to curl up next to him. “Because I’d wait for you too.” She closes her eyes and falls asleep, and he pulls her closer to him, allowing her to seek comfort from his embrace. There are no guarantees in this life or any other, he knew that, but he fully intended to keep this promise, for her sake.
“So you did keep your promise,” she continues, “I didn’t know if you would, or if you’d find a rocking party up here that took you away.”
He shakes his head. “Not for a moment.”
“Well, Timothy Speedle, it looks like the afterlife has been good to you,” she says with a coy smile. “C’mon. No need to wait here any longer.” She wraps her arm around his waist, enjoying the feel of him next to her, once again, the way it should have been. “We have an eternity now.”
-fini-
WORD COUNT: 642
WARNING: Implied character death.
NOTES: My CSI: Miami secret: While I love Eric/Calleigh on the show, if I had the opportunity for Speed/Calleigh to be canon, I'd drop E/C. And...I guess this is the only way they can be canon in the current state of the show.
He isn’t sure how long he has been standing there - it could be a week or a year. There is no way for him to really tell, so he had long ago given up trying. Every day, as new faces pass by him, he examines each one closely. Once in a while, he sees a face he recognizes, a face from the life he had before. Slowly, the faces he recognizes begin to age.
It’s quite some time before he realizes that she’s not coming any time soon. She’s probably found a new life by now, he tells himself, maybe one with Delko. But, steadfast and true, he continues to stand there, searching out among a sea of faces for the one person he’s waiting for.
One day, he shifts position slightly, and out of the corner of his eye, catches a flash of long blonde hair. It’s not the first time he’s seen something similar. After all, quite a few women in the world have long blonde hair, and he distinctly remembers one time when he approached a woman who from a distance could have passed as her twin - but it turned out to be a tall Swedish woman with her even taller Swedish boyfriend. Not a lesson he tends to forget.
He dares not to hope.
It’s when the new blonde woman breaks from the pack and walks over to him, her pace quickening with each step, that he realizes that this time, it’s his blonde woman. “Calleigh?” he says, her name foreign to his lips anymore.
“Tim? What are you doing here?” she asks, smiling a smile that although is unmistakably her trademark smile, it’s missing some element, some sparkle.
“I told you, remember?”
“Oh,” she says, the memory of the long-ago day they lay out on the grass in her backyard and gazed at the clouds passing by in the sky bubbling to the surface. “I remember now.”
The sky is the perfect shade of light blue, and the sun casts shadows through the trees. He turns over to face her. “Cal?” he asks, brushing her hair back from her face, allowing his fingers to linger over her cheek for just a second longer than was absolutely necessary. “You awake?”
“Yeah,” she says, staring up at the sky. “Thinking.”
“’Bout what?”
“About how this moment is so perfect, I don’t want to lose it. You and me, together, alone, without the pressures of work.”
“Forget work,” he replies, pressing a kiss to her collarbone, “Let’s just enjoy this while it lasts.”
“If you die tomorrow, will you wait for me?” she asks a short time later, her eyes earnestly repeating the question.
“What makes you ask a thing like that?” he replies. “Of course I will.”
“I don’t want to get to heaven and not know anyone there.”
“We’ll have each other, Calleigh.”
“Good,” she says, the first signs of fatigue creeping into her voice. She adjusts her position as to curl up next to him. “Because I’d wait for you too.” She closes her eyes and falls asleep, and he pulls her closer to him, allowing her to seek comfort from his embrace. There are no guarantees in this life or any other, he knew that, but he fully intended to keep this promise, for her sake.
“So you did keep your promise,” she continues, “I didn’t know if you would, or if you’d find a rocking party up here that took you away.”
He shakes his head. “Not for a moment.”
“Well, Timothy Speedle, it looks like the afterlife has been good to you,” she says with a coy smile. “C’mon. No need to wait here any longer.” She wraps her arm around his waist, enjoying the feel of him next to her, once again, the way it should have been. “We have an eternity now.”
-fini-