FanFic100: #003 Ends
He knows they were right and it’s probably a stupid idea… maybe even one of the most stupid ideas of his entire life, but he just has to do this. He has to walk along this road and he has to walk up to that particular house, even though he knows that there’s every chance she has remarried, lives another life now. Kids, a house, a dog… everything without him. He also knows that he could have let the SGC do this for him - inform Laura Cadman-Lorne of the fact that the husband she thought dead didn’t die at all - but for some reason he felt like the one telling her that should be himself.
Maybe… maybe it was just a feeble attempt at stalling. Delay the moment he sees that life went on without him and her new life comes crashing down on him as long as possible. He even went as far as forbidding everyone in his family to tell Laura about this or to tell him anything about Laura. So far, he has only talked to his parents and his sister on the phone. They all told him they understood that the first person he wants to see is his wife, but there always had been this strange… undertone. As if there was something awaiting him which might disturb him.
They also asked him if he was sure he was ready for this, and deep inside he had severe doubts about that. After all he just came back from three years of slave labor on an alien planet and had to learn that here on Earth everyone thought him dead. At least they didn’t go as far and show him his own headstone at Arlington to prove it to him. That really would have been a bit too morbid, most of all for someone who’d never been able to give up hope that one day one of his escape attempts would actually work.
They never did, but the SGC managed to stumble over the penal colony and one of the soldiers from the respective team accidentally spotted him and recognized him, even though there wasn’t much to recognize back then. They negotiated his release, shipped him back, gave him enough time to shave and have a proper shower for the first time after three long years and then didn’t waste any time telling him that life had gone on without him.
All he’d allowed them to tell him about Laura was that she quit the SGC only two weeks after his presumed death and moved to the other side of the country. He guessed - hoped - it was because she couldn’t bear being reminded of him and them constantly and needed to make a cut if she ever wanted to get over it all. Laura always was like that… never doing things by half, always go the full distance.
It was one of the few things they had in common, and it’s why he’s now standing in front of a small house in Norfolk, Virginia, forcing himself not to look at the names on the mail box. It’s a beautiful summer’s day - almost too beautiful for what could very well be revealed if he ever gets up his courage to set a foot on the small path up to the house’s door - with the neighborhood lazily lounging around in the shade, kids playing with the garden hose and barbecue grills being heated up.
To him, who hadn’t seen real sunlight for three years and whose daily routine had been nothing like that of the lawyers and doctors and bank clerks living here, it seems almost surreal. He feels a little out of place, still not really having arrived back on Earth. He may look more like himself again, but inside… he hasn’t really escaped the prison yet.
Yeah, this was a stupid idea and he is not ready for this, but he didn’t come all the way from Colorado to Virginia to chicken out in the last possible moment. Squaring his shoulders, he finally sets out on the path… but doesn’t get very far. From behind the house, there can be some squealing heard and then female laughter… Laura’s laughter. Oh God, he never forgot about that one. He forgot about a million things, but he could always remember her laugh, as clearly as if she’d been standing beside him.
There it is again, and before he knows it, he has made his way around the house. He expected - feared - a million things… a new husband, a horde of kids… but instead there’s just Laura. Laura chasing a little boy directly up to him and both abruptly stopping when they see him. The boy looks up at him with eyes as blue as his own, a mixture of surprise and curiosity in them and Laura… well, Laura looks like she just saw a ghost.
He wants to say something, but all the words have left him. So he just stands there, unable to move or speak, just looks at Laura and the boy, not quite ready to understand all of this. The spell is broken, though, when Laura gets over the initial shock and tears fill her eyes and she covers her mouth with her hand, still disbelieving, but at least not fully paralyzed anymore.
It shakes him up enough that he manages to take a step or two in her direction. Slowly, she gets up, the boy on her hip. Still no one has said a word and he isn't quite sure if he will be able to in the next few hours. Suddenly… he’s so close to her again and very slowly, he raises his hand, to touch her cheek… see if she’s real or if this is one of those dreams where he always woke up to the torturous routine of slave labor just moments before he could finally reach her.
But no, she doesn’t vanish, just stands there and leans in to his touch ever so lightly. It occurs to him that he isn't the only one wondering when this will turn out to be yet another fantasy… no, it feels so real and as he finally softly touches her lips with his, he also feels a little hand ruffling his hair. Something strange happens… and only after a few more seconds he realizes he’s laughing quietly. He leans in a little more, feeling moistness on his cheeks, not exactly sure if it’s his tears or Laura’s, but he doesn’t care anyway, because… God, he’s home.
~*~
TBC in Somewhere to Start.