C is for Clean Slate
Title: C is for Clean Slate.
Characters: Sarah, Ryan, mention of Mary Tremayne (OC)
Pairings: Sarah/Ryan
Rating: PG
A/N: The Valley of Gwangi is a real movie, you can watch it on youtube! Thank you to the wonderful fredbassett and fififolle for being my amazing beta readers (if you spot any mistakes in the last two paragraphs they are mine as I re-wrote it just before I posted this fic) and thank you to rodlox for letting me borrow Mary.
Sarah was nervous; summoning her courage she knocked on the door. There was no response and she wondered if coming here without calling first was a mistake but before she had the chance to turn away she heard the door opening and saw Ryan standing there blinking away sleep.
“Sarah?”
“I’m sorry I should’ve called,” Sarah said, stepping back.
“Why are you here?” Ryan asked, coughing.
“Well, when Mary told me you’d been thrown out of the ARC I thought I’d come by and see how you were doing.” Mary was one of the soldiers who worked with Ryan.
“Technically I wasn’t thrown out. Lester forced me to leave because he didn’t want anyone else catching my cold.” Ryan turned away and sneezed.
“It’s not just a cold, Tom, you’ve got the flu,” Sarah said sympathetically. “You shouldn’t have come into work in the first place.”
Ryan sighed. “If you’ve come down here to lecture me, you could have done that over the phone, and saved yourself the trip.”
“Actually I thought you’d still be in denial about being ill so I brought some stuff over for when you finally accepted it. Can I come in?”
“Aren’t you worried about catching my cold?”
“I’ve had my flu jab,” she said smugly.
Stepping aside, Ryan let her in.
“So what did you bring?” he asked.
Sarah put her bag on the table. “I’ve got cough syrup, paracetamol, and sore throat sweets.”
“You didn’t have to do that, I’m really not that-” Ryan tried to protest before he started coughing.
“Cough syrup?” Sarah offered, picking up the bottle and Ryan gave her a look she couldn’t read. “What?”
“Nothing, I’ve ordered pizza if you want to stay.”
“Sounds good.”
*********************************
“I can’t believe you talked me into watching this movie,” Sarah said as she watched cowboys lasso an Allosaurus.
“Hey, you’re the one who introduced me to Harryhausen movies, making me watch Clash of the Titans,” Ryan said defensively.
“You can’t compare that to this. It mixes cowboys and dinosaurs, it’s historically inaccurate… and it’s just plain weird.”
“I happen to like The Valley of Gwangi, and considering what we do for a living, it could be based on a true story.”
Sarah threw her pizza crust back in the box. “Fair enough.”
Ryan turned down the volume on the T.V. “So are you going to tell me why you really came here?”
“I’m just being a friend.”
“That’s not the only reason,” Ryan watched as Sarah fidgeted uncomfortably.
“I wanted to apologise,” Sarah admitted.
“About what?”
“For the way I treated you after my ectopic pregnancy.”
Ryan shook his head. “Sarah, I was never angry with you for breaking up with me after it happened.”
“Still, I should have stayed instead of running away, you deserved better than that,” she sighed. “What I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
“I just don’t want our past to affect us working together.”
“It won’t.” Ryan reassured her.
“Clean slate?” Sarah asked.
“Of course,” he said taking her hand.
She frowned slightly and pressed the back of her hand against his forehead.
“Come on,” Sarah said, helping him off the couch.
“Where are we going?”
“To the bedroom.”
“I didn’t agree to being friends with benefits.”
“You’re such a comedian. I think you’re getting a fever.”
********************************************
Sarah put a glass of water on the cabinet next to Ryan’s bed.
“You don’t have to stay,” he said drowsily.
“My dad’s a doctor so it’s instinct for me to look after someone who’s ill, besides I want to finish watching The Valley of Gwango.”
“Gwangi,” he corrected.
“Right.” She touched his forehead again - she had given him a couple of paracetamol and it seemed to be working.
“If you need anything, I’ll be in the next room.”
As Sarah settled down to watch the rest of the movie she put her feet up on the table and accidentally knocked over a book and some magazines. She stretched and managed to pick them up without having to get to her feet. Sarah glanced at the titles as she put them back on the table and was surprised to see the book that had fallen was The Count of Monte Cristo. It was her favourite novel, and she had left a copy of it in Ryan’s old flat when they had been dating. ‘About four years ago,’ she recalled.
She took a closer look at the book and realised it was the same copy. Touched that Ryan had held on to it for such a long period, Sarah promised herself that she wasn’t going to do anything to mess up her relationship with him this time.