FICTION : But Never to Be Returned : Lane/Dave
But Never to Be Returned
Characters/Pairings: Dave, Lane (Zach, Brian); Lane/Dave (Lane/Zach)
Summary: Four times forever turned out to be shorter than everyone had planned and one time where it really does last forever.
Rating: PG / Word Count: 1055
Notes: This is the sequel to Lost and Found, an AU Lane/Dave fic that I wrote last year. You should probably read it first. I've been working on this one since finishing that one and it's went through many different formats so feedback is appreciated.
Come morning she doesn’t remember a thing and come afternoon she still promises his best friend forever.
I
Forever turned out to be infinitely shorter than everyone had planned.
Six months after you stood to the side and watched them exchange their promises of a life together, Zach’s killed in a car accident and you’re the last one to know.
You show up at their new place for band practice to find Lane bawling in Rory’s arms on the couch, her face red and streaked with tears. There’s snot smeared across the bottom half of her face and the front of Rory’s shirt. Lorelai’s sitting on the other side of her with one hand gripping a box of Kleenex and the other rubbing circles meant to be comforting on the Korean girl’s back. None of it seems to be working.
You stand their awkwardly for a full minute, having no idea how to interrupt what seems to be going on to ask exactly what it is that’s going on. Then Brian looks up from his tennis shoes and notices you. Before you can put together the words you‘d need to ask your questions, you realize Zach’s not the one comforting Lane. In fact, he’s nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, you’re on the floor without knowing how you got there and Brian’s standing over you, his awkward stance beating your previous one by a mile.
An hour later, you and Brian are sitting on the couch were Lane was because Mama Kim has taken her away and Rory and Lorelai are piddling around the house doing stuff that probably makes them way more helpful than the two of you. You haven’t gotten the details yet because nobody wanted to repeat them in front of Lane and now no one knows how to say it period but you’ve picked up the gist.
Your best friend is dead and there’s nothing you can do to bring him back.
II
Their divorce becomes final a year and a half after their wedding.
Both Lane and Zach spend the months before and after being miserable but while you comfort Lane, you tell Zach to fuck off because it‘s all his fault. (Zach is the one that got drunk and cheated, Zach is the one that got drunk and told her, Zach is the one who has spent the last six months getting drunk to try and forget.)
So you're used to snotty tears and harsh barks of words coming out of her mouth, what’s unexpected is the confession that falls from her lips one day not long after.
You thought it’d be like all of the other crying jags on her front porch, complete with her sobbing and you trying (and failing) to be comforting, but this time is different. Her face is dry but her voice is eerily calm and the way she’s not shaking kind of scares you.
You can hardly believe it when the words leave her mouth but when she turns to look you straight in the eye after just a brief pause, you know you heard right.
She knew all along.
She admits it because she thinks it means she deserved what she got, the fact that in a drunken moment of weakness she slept with his best friend the night before her wedding and never bothered to come clean to her husband will damn her to hell for all eternity. It’s such a Lane point of view that you're momentarily distracted enough to place a hand on her back and assure her that she’s not.
When she turns to look at you, her eyes are filled with such a deadness that it makes you pull you arm back to your lap. She walks away without looking back at you and it merely makes the pit in your stomach grow larger.
You hate Zach for doing what he did to her, and you hate yourself for letting what happened happen, but mostly you just miss the girl you fell in love with.
III
You’re on vacation with your family in New York when it happens.
You get the call that Lane is going into labor so you leave your family in the middle of dinner at an upscale restaurant and drive back to Stars Hollow as fast as you can.
By the time you get there, she’s went from being alive and well to cold and lifeless and you never get to say goodbye.
IV
Six months after you watched them exchange their wedding vows, you show up to band practice to find Lane and Zach on opposite sides of the room. It’s not entirely out of the ordinary for how they’ve been acting lately so you don’t mention it, even when they don’t say a word to each other the entire practice.
It isn’t until practice is over and you and Brian go to leave that you realize Lane is packing up her stuff as well. You and Brian exchange looks but neither of you say anything as you follow her out the door. Behind her back, the two of you rock-paper-scissors and you lose because in the set of rules of clarified by the band just last week, paper does indeed cover rock. (Even though you maintain that rock should smash paper but whatever, you’re always outvoted these days, it’s nothing new.)
‘Umm… Lane?’ You ask timidly after Brian’s pointy elbow stabs you in the ribs.
‘What?’ The word comes out more like a bark than anything else and you know that voice, the one that so clearly warns you to stop what you're doing and backtrack immediately.
‘Well, um, are you okay?’ You've never really had a sense of self-preservation.
She stops her stomping but doesn’t turn around. You and Brian exchange looks.
‘No.’
She keeps walking and you don't ask again.
V
Lane’s twins end up with curly brown hair and someone finally mentions it a couple months after their birth. In response, Lane rolls her eyes and Zach makes bad jokes about his jeans. No one questions it because it is Lane they’re talking about and, besides, everything having to do with Lane and Zach is just weird on principle.
So you laugh politely along with Brian during the joke and, when Lane and Zach ask you to be the boys’ godfather a week later, you try to make your smile genuine when you say of course.
Characters/Pairings: Dave, Lane (Zach, Brian); Lane/Dave (Lane/Zach)
Summary: Four times forever turned out to be shorter than everyone had planned and one time where it really does last forever.
Rating: PG / Word Count: 1055
Notes: This is the sequel to Lost and Found, an AU Lane/Dave fic that I wrote last year. You should probably read it first. I've been working on this one since finishing that one and it's went through many different formats so feedback is appreciated.
Come morning she doesn’t remember a thing and come afternoon she still promises his best friend forever.
I
Forever turned out to be infinitely shorter than everyone had planned.
Six months after you stood to the side and watched them exchange their promises of a life together, Zach’s killed in a car accident and you’re the last one to know.
You show up at their new place for band practice to find Lane bawling in Rory’s arms on the couch, her face red and streaked with tears. There’s snot smeared across the bottom half of her face and the front of Rory’s shirt. Lorelai’s sitting on the other side of her with one hand gripping a box of Kleenex and the other rubbing circles meant to be comforting on the Korean girl’s back. None of it seems to be working.
You stand their awkwardly for a full minute, having no idea how to interrupt what seems to be going on to ask exactly what it is that’s going on. Then Brian looks up from his tennis shoes and notices you. Before you can put together the words you‘d need to ask your questions, you realize Zach’s not the one comforting Lane. In fact, he’s nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, you’re on the floor without knowing how you got there and Brian’s standing over you, his awkward stance beating your previous one by a mile.
An hour later, you and Brian are sitting on the couch were Lane was because Mama Kim has taken her away and Rory and Lorelai are piddling around the house doing stuff that probably makes them way more helpful than the two of you. You haven’t gotten the details yet because nobody wanted to repeat them in front of Lane and now no one knows how to say it period but you’ve picked up the gist.
Your best friend is dead and there’s nothing you can do to bring him back.
II
Their divorce becomes final a year and a half after their wedding.
Both Lane and Zach spend the months before and after being miserable but while you comfort Lane, you tell Zach to fuck off because it‘s all his fault. (Zach is the one that got drunk and cheated, Zach is the one that got drunk and told her, Zach is the one who has spent the last six months getting drunk to try and forget.)
So you're used to snotty tears and harsh barks of words coming out of her mouth, what’s unexpected is the confession that falls from her lips one day not long after.
You thought it’d be like all of the other crying jags on her front porch, complete with her sobbing and you trying (and failing) to be comforting, but this time is different. Her face is dry but her voice is eerily calm and the way she’s not shaking kind of scares you.
You can hardly believe it when the words leave her mouth but when she turns to look you straight in the eye after just a brief pause, you know you heard right.
She knew all along.
She admits it because she thinks it means she deserved what she got, the fact that in a drunken moment of weakness she slept with his best friend the night before her wedding and never bothered to come clean to her husband will damn her to hell for all eternity. It’s such a Lane point of view that you're momentarily distracted enough to place a hand on her back and assure her that she’s not.
When she turns to look at you, her eyes are filled with such a deadness that it makes you pull you arm back to your lap. She walks away without looking back at you and it merely makes the pit in your stomach grow larger.
You hate Zach for doing what he did to her, and you hate yourself for letting what happened happen, but mostly you just miss the girl you fell in love with.
III
You’re on vacation with your family in New York when it happens.
You get the call that Lane is going into labor so you leave your family in the middle of dinner at an upscale restaurant and drive back to Stars Hollow as fast as you can.
By the time you get there, she’s went from being alive and well to cold and lifeless and you never get to say goodbye.
IV
Six months after you watched them exchange their wedding vows, you show up to band practice to find Lane and Zach on opposite sides of the room. It’s not entirely out of the ordinary for how they’ve been acting lately so you don’t mention it, even when they don’t say a word to each other the entire practice.
It isn’t until practice is over and you and Brian go to leave that you realize Lane is packing up her stuff as well. You and Brian exchange looks but neither of you say anything as you follow her out the door. Behind her back, the two of you rock-paper-scissors and you lose because in the set of rules of clarified by the band just last week, paper does indeed cover rock. (Even though you maintain that rock should smash paper but whatever, you’re always outvoted these days, it’s nothing new.)
‘Umm… Lane?’ You ask timidly after Brian’s pointy elbow stabs you in the ribs.
‘What?’ The word comes out more like a bark than anything else and you know that voice, the one that so clearly warns you to stop what you're doing and backtrack immediately.
‘Well, um, are you okay?’ You've never really had a sense of self-preservation.
She stops her stomping but doesn’t turn around. You and Brian exchange looks.
‘No.’
She keeps walking and you don't ask again.
V
Lane’s twins end up with curly brown hair and someone finally mentions it a couple months after their birth. In response, Lane rolls her eyes and Zach makes bad jokes about his jeans. No one questions it because it is Lane they’re talking about and, besides, everything having to do with Lane and Zach is just weird on principle.
So you laugh politely along with Brian during the joke and, when Lane and Zach ask you to be the boys’ godfather a week later, you try to make your smile genuine when you say of course.