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 Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2016 11:49 am
"Yeah," Toby said, his voice gone a bit breathy, "Yeah, I think we all did."
'Hard to kill' didn't mean much of anything any more. He'd have survived an explosion himself, but might have lost a limb or two. Why had Dari thought it so important to protect him, or the fort? It wasn't like Michael could be any more dead.
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Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2016 12:10 pm
"I love you," Maia sniffed. She almost wished she'd gone; if only to be there for Toby. She didn't know how to comfort him over the phone. "Do you want me to call Lori?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2016 12:14 pm
"Uh...no. No, he knows," Toby said. "If you want someone around you can always call Luca. I'm going to try to get Cody to come home with me. He shouldn't be alone."
Michael left for a moment, then came back and rested an invisible hand on Toby's shoulder, even though he was sitting back against the seat. Toby reached out to pat it, but of course his own hand went right through to his own shoulder.
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Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2016 12:36 pm
"Oh, good," Maia nodded. She'd been hoping Toby wouldn't have to relive that... "I think Luca's out putting resumes in..." She wouldn't call him.
"Sounds good." She swallowed. "I'll see you when you get home, love." ...It wouldn't really feel like home without their alien, would it?
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Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2016 12:43 pm
"Alright. I'll see you later. Call me if you need me." He hung up and tucked his phone into his pocket.
He arrived at Cody's apartment building an hour and forty-three minutes later. He was still dressed for the field, but had removed his jacket and tie. Lacking a key, he could only wait for Cody to come to the door. He was frowning, and his eyes clearly showed his exhaustion.
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Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2016 3:53 pm
It took a bit for Cody to open the door. His eyes were red and his nose was running; his face red and blotchy from crying. He wiped his eyes and nose with a tissue and opened it, staring out for a moment. He wrapped his arms around Toby.
He couldn't think of anything to say. There wasn't anything to say. They'd both just lost one of the most important people in their lives.
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 1:52 pm
Toby had no words. He simply opened his arms and let Cody fall into them. All he could think of was losing Maia, and it tore at his soul. He had to be strong for Cody, though. At least relatively. He had had more time to process than poor Cody.
"I'm sorry," he said softly, "I'm so sorry." He pulled away just a bit so he and Cody could head inside and grieve in private.
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 3:35 pm
It took a moment for Cody to register that they were still in the hallway when Toby pulled away. He headed inside, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. He didn't care how it looked. Nothing mattered anymore.
Dari had been his whole world. Heaven or paradise or wherever dead people went wouldn't have been paradise without him. He hadn't been able to imagine it. Now he was living without him! For who knew how many years. Until he got shot with a silver bullet, probably. He sniffed. "I don't know how I'm going to live without him."
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 3:43 pm
"It's gonna be okay," Toby reassured him. "It won't feel like it, not for a long time, but you'll be okay." It seemed ignorant to even be saying, but he had lost a fiancee once too. He'd gotten over it... something like 40 years later. He was just trying to be comforting.
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 3:52 pm
Cody stared at him for a long moment. "No," he said, "I won't." He buried his face in his hands. "It's not." Toby understood, maybe. He'd lost someone too; but it wasn't the same. It couldn't be the same.
The fiancée Toby had lost hadn't been Dari.
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 3:56 pm
"You will," he said. "When I was in my twenties, I watched my sire kill my fiancee. I know this hurt. It's the worst think you'll ever feel." Short, maybe, of losing a child.
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 4:03 pm
"And you only recovered last year," Cody frowned. "And then you sent Maia away. Dari told me the story." He wiped his eyes. "Where do I buy silver bullets? Do I have them custom made?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 4:06 pm
"I'm not going to let you kill yourself," Toby said seriously. "Dari wouldn't have wanted you to die." It was a bit of a cheap trick, but true nonetheless.
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 4:08 pm
"I want to be with him! That was the whole point of all of this!" He gestured at himself. "I need to be with him, Toby." He buried his face in his hands and gave a sob. "I can't do this without him."
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 4:11 pm
"Cody, we don't know where he is right now." Michael couldn't find him, he wanted to say. Nobody had died in the way that humans died. Cody's death might do nothing to bring them together. Instead, he pulled Cody into his arms and held him close.
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