Fic: Waiting for that Day - pt. 2 [Eli Stone]
Chapter 2
"Breathe deep. Forget all worry," Dr. Chen commanded in a heavy accent.
The middle-aged woman on the examining bed exhaled shakily, flinching before he even placed the first needle. When Eli burst into the room she yelped and clutched her chest.
"I need to talk to you," Eli blurted out, already pacing the room.
"Dr. Chen busy," he snapped, glowering at Eli over his prone client. "Come back one hour."
"It can't wait, Frank," Eli said, lowering his voice.
"Frank?" asked the woman as got up and gathered her handbag.
He made a dismissing gesture with his hand. "This man crazy. He need Dr. Chen help."
"It's fine, I'll wait," the woman stammered, making a bee-line for the door and giving Eli as wide a berth as possible.
"What the hell, man?" demanded Chen after she left, his phony accent gone. "How many times have I told you that you can't just barge in here whenever you..."
He stopped mid sentence. Eli hadn't been to see him for weeks, except to catch up for a beer when he was bored one afternoon during his recuperation. They'd had a pleasant conversation then, mainly about the fact they'd have to find something else to talk about now that Eli was convinced the visions were gone.
"Wait, it happened again, didn't it?" Chen felt a bubble of excitement when Eli just looked at him, defeated. "I knew it! I told you!"
"Great, Frank. That's just what I need, an 'I told you so'."
"I'm sorry, Eli." He tried to smother his smile. "But I said the visions weren't caused by the aneurysm, didn't I?"
Eli sighed as he lay down on the examining table, as much from exhaustion as anything. He squeezed his eyes shut.
"What happened this time? You need help interpreting it?"
"No, interpretation isn't exactly my problem with this one." Eli looked up at the ceiling. "This wasn't supposed to happen. I had the operation."
"It was only going to make a difference if the aneurysm was behind this."
"Great, so I almost died fixing something that didn't change anything at all."
"Well, I told you..." Chen bit his tongue and smiled as he ducked his head.
Eli threw him an appreciative glance that he'd managed to curtail the comment. He sighed again and scratched at his shorn head with both hands.
"I was so sure I was done with them. I didn't have a single vision the whole time I was away from the office. Then - boom - day one and I'm screwed."
"You're looking at this like it's a bad thing, Eli," said Chen. "But think about all the people you've helped. You've clearly got more work to do."
"I don't know about this one," Eli replied quietly. "I don't see what good I can do. I only see how I can hurt people. People who don't deserve to be hurt."
"Are you gonna tell me what you saw?"
Eli thought about it for a moment. He hadn't told Chen everything he'd seen in the previous vision when he'd first seen David Mosley. He had omitted the appearance of Maggie in that future, and the baby. He didn't know why he hadn't mentioned it. He didn't know what to think himself, and it had been easier to just pretend it hadn't happened... especially when Maggie had just gotten engaged. He still struggled with the suspicion that the vision was just a projection of his own confused feelings, however deep he kept them buried.
"Eli? You wanna ride the needle?" Chen prompted when he had not responded.
"Maybe not. Not right now anyway." Eli wasn't quite ready to return to this new development. He suspected it would just confuse matters more.
Chen raised his eyebrows in surprise. When Eli had a vision he came to him so he could see more. For whatever reason, and even Chen couldn't explain it, acupuncture always worked. Eli had never refused it before.
"Okay..." He glanced around his office. "You want some herb tea instead?"
"No thanks." Eli made no move to get up. "I just need a minute, then I'll go."
"Alright, dude."
Eli breathed slowly and deeply, and tried to forget about slim legs disappearing into paisley boxer shorts.
* * *
He went three days without seeing her again. Not in a vision anyway - Eli couldn't avoid seeing Maggie at the office when they were working on a case together. He was determined to treat her exactly the same. Whatever confusion he felt over what he'd seen would just have to stay unaddressed for now.
Then, just when he was starting to hope it had only been a stupid daydream, it happened again.
He woke early before his alarm went off and rolled over, still half asleep. Instead of finding cool linen he nestled against a warm body. Without even thinking about it he snuggled closer. Her skin was soft and fragrant. Their bodies fit together easily. It felt right. Natural. He didn't even have to open his eyes to recognize her.
Eli felt the low purr of her throat as she stretched her legs languidly. He smiled faintly to himself.
"We should get up," she murmured.
"Mmm."
"The alarm'll go off soon."
He made another indistinguishable noise to voice his disapproval.
"Time to wake up, sleepy."
Eli reluctantly half-opened his eyes, allowing only a slit of grey light in. It was still early. He hugged her a little tighter.
In the recesses of his aneurysm-free brain, Eli knew it wasn't real. But it was a hard fantasy to voluntarily give up. Here there was no fiancé, no reason for them not to be together. The alarm would go off soon. Until then, he just wanted to savor the moment. For a few more minutes he did just that, then he felt her move. She kissed his eyelids softly, then his cheek. When she placed a final kiss on the tip of his nose he blinked his eyes open. Maggie smiled down at him - the beautiful smile that he knew by heart.
The garish buzz of the alarm started as Eli lay on his back, wide awake and staring at the ceiling. After a few seconds he rolled over and switched it off, then flopped back into the middle of his cold, empty bed.
* * *