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 Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 7:11 pm
She didn't want to wake up.
For one thing, she didn't want to know what had happened after the beam of light had begun to strike the shield. She didn't want to know where she was, afraid she might still be in the ruins of Barren Pines--although the bed was too soft, whatever was under her head too warm--and to open her eyes would be to acknowledge whatever was wrong. After a few minutes of trying to fall back asleep, she opened one eye a crack. She got an eyeful of white ceiling, white everywhere.
So, not Barren Pines, then.
Elke rolled over to one side and squeaked, expecting pain that didn't come; she poked at the healed-over scar where scabs had been the day before. The day before? How long had she been out?
She swung her legs over the side of the bed, looked around. There was the Princess-as-Serenade, sleeping peacefully. And Giselle. And then, there, at the bed next to hers, were Dad and Pop and Grayson. For a long moment, she felt choked up, like her heart decided to hop up in her throat and take permanent lodgings there. Everyone was there except Maman, Papa, and Voirrey, but they were coming. Of course they were! But there was something important to be doing.
She checked for an IV; finding none, she slid out of the bed. Argh. It was cold. But then she was off the floor, clinging to Grayson the second her hands could reach, and then she was crying. It was soaking the shoulder of Grayson's hospital-issue gown, fully making her look completely Elke despite the randomly blue hair: She was saying his name over and over and over, clinging.
Not like there was anything better to do. She was legally fifteen. She couldn't leave until her family came to get her.
Finally, Elke calmed down enough to open her eyes and smile at Grayson, and then his parents. "Sorry," she said, still sniffling. "I missed him lots."
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Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 7:54 pm
Grayson had been awake for a while.
It was surreal, and if he'd thought about it, he would have expected to be asleep much longer than the others. After all, he was a man who enjoyed his rest; it only made sense, didn't it? But his dreams had been disjointed, confusing. Haunted. Pieces of the past that he almost feared he would forget fluttered through his tired mind, and he woke with sweat on his palms and brow.
And they had been there. His parents, Tristan. Worry on their faces, fatigue under their eyes. Love so bright and powerful that it hurt had swelled inside of him, and he'd been the first one to burst into tears.
God, he'd sobbed. I missed you.
It had been a mess, with everyone speaking in tightly constrained voices, not daring to go above a whisper lest they begin to shout. He wasn't injured - god, they were so glad - he was still whole - how, with the organ smuggling ring? - as soon as he was ready, they were taking him home.
Home.
The only thing he'd ever prayed for.
But he hadn't wanted to leave just then. He'd wanted to wait for Elke, his sister of the heart even if she wasn't one of the flesh. He didn't want her to wake up alone. He didn't want her to be alone, after everything, even if she would be surrounded by all the others in the room, who were family just as much as he was.
He wanted to be there for Elke.
So when she woke, he was waiting for her, and when she came to cry on him, he just held her there.
And, because it was Grayson, and because it was Elke, he kissed the side of her head, whispered, "I missed you, too, sis."
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Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 8:23 pm
It's over, Elke wanted to say, It is, isn't it? But she didn't, not wanting to address whatever the story was they were telling, lips tightly sealed as she pressed her face into Grayson's shoulder. She looked around again, hoping to see Avery or Sebastien--they weren't there, but then, all of the beds were occupied. Maybe they were somewhere else. Somewhere else, and probably still asleep, and then--
"ELKE," someone shouted. A boy, awkwardly gawky with a shock of red hair, was bounding through the door; behind him was a composed woman of Arabic descent and a man with military bearing. Edmund Arma stopped for a moment to nod in a Manly way at Arthur and Van before regarding Grayson with a Look. This Look clearly said that's my baby girl and it is my turn to hug her, thank you young man.
If Elke noticed this look, she was blissfully unaware. Her younger brother had attacked her with a hug, and she was still holding on to Grayson, one arm looped through his as she stared, wide-eyed, up at the group of adults she called her parents--Aysel was firing off questions at a nurse in her French accent, Edmund was quietly shedding a manly tear and trying not too look too jetlagged, Dad and Pop right there and she wiggled her arm free of Voirrey's long enough to grab Pop's shoulder and hug him. It wasn't that she didn't love Dad too, it was that he was too far away to reach if she didn't want to let go of Grayson. Which she didn't.
Voirrey was attempting to interest Tristan in a wrestling match. Elke took this as an open invitation to go back to talking to Grayson while everyone was distracted. There were things she had to say, a lot of things, things she wanted to get out of the way now before things got even crazier. She didn't know where the Arma family would go after she was discharged, they might not go with Grayson's family, so she had to say it now.
"Sorry I forgot you," she said below the chaos, pulling on Grayson's longer lock of hair so she could whisper, "I didn't mean to. And I'm sorry I broke your nose when you were a zombie. You're not mad, right? Please don't be mad."
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 5:34 pm
"I couldn't be mad," he whispered back, wanting to keep the worst it from their parents. For as long as he could, anyway. He knew there would be questions, and there would be worry, and there would be everything that could be expected from people who thought their children had died a year ago. It was wonderful, and it was overwhelming... and he somehow didn't want to begin.
But there was no going back, not now.
So, he gently pushed Elke, urging her toward her parents, brother. His own were there as well, and though they'd already had time to come to grips, every once in a while, a look passed over Arthur's face that said he still didn't believe it, there was a shadow in Van's eyes that promised hell for what had happened. Though Barren Pines was in the past, it was far from over; he would be haunted by it for months, perhaps years to come.
So, he sat up, and smiled at Elke's parents. "Hello, sir, ma'am. It's good to see you."
Then, he looked at Tristan, who was fidgeting, and had been, since they'd arrived. He was looking carefully anywhere but at Grayson, and he figured it was about time that stopped. He opened his arms, and said quietly, "Tristan."
His brother glanced over, eyes such a similar shade to his own, and there was a battle over his face. Reluctantly, he stepped over, and a flush crossed his cheeks. Even though this was his brother, he was still embarrassed.
The hug was tight and fast, or that was the idea - but when Tristan tried to pull away, Gray wouldn't let him. He simply hung on, feeling his world slowly begin to balance again, now that he had his brother back.
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 7:38 pm
She didn't want to let go of Grayson. All that time, years and years and years it seemed, and she'd forgotten that she loved her brother. She'd never forgotten Aysel or Edmund or Voirrey. Everyone else, though, out of her head. Gone forever, miraculously restored, and--
"We gotta talk later," she said, then she turned around to be engulfed by her father's tree-trunk arms and swung around. A nurse was trying to ask him to put her down. He was ignoring her. The two hulking suits--never in evidence when it was just the Arma and Graves families together, but always in evidence when Edmund was going to throw around his diplomatic status--helped in this, forming a wall.
They got the point.
Aysel smiled at Grayson. She had always been fond of the Graves family from the moment she was introduced to them, while Edmund had been a little more... difficult to convince. (Voirrey adored Tristan. More than Tristan, he adored the video games he couldn't play at Eton.) Edmund managed to stop messing up his daughter's hair long enough to give Grayson a nod and a "Glad you're back, son," which was not so much familial endearment as what Edmund called every male in his vicinity who had never fired a gun.
Clearly he did not know about how Grayson had died a second time.
"Van, Arthur," said Aysel--Elke, by extention Edmund, was fully getting climbed on by her brother now. "Thank you for calling us. We were planning to have Elke removed from this place..." She sniffed, casting her dark eyes around the ward. "Might we convene elsewhere?"
The green-eyed teenager was staring at Grayson again. She'd forgotten her own brother. How sick was that? Then she looked down at Voirrey, who was demanding her attention loudly.
One of the nurses looked like she had a headache.
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 6:34 pm
Having finally released Tristan, Grayson simply sat and enjoyed the pleasure of having all the people he cared about most assembled around him. At his right, he saw his parents discussing the arrangements with Elke's - they would secure a hotel for themselves, join the Graves for dinner, it was clearly the only option - and to his left, Tristan was shuffling awkwardly and admitting in a low voice that he was glad Elke was back, as well.
Things might not have been exactly perfect, but they were much closer to getting there than they had been before.
He smiled at Elke's parents, rested his hands lightly on his lap as he simply listened. It was nice to have the chatter of family around him, even though the nurses looked like they wanted nothing more than the lot of them to clear out. They would be getting their wishes soon enough, Grayson thought, and he was glad to have the moment, as it were.
He had the feeling that, all things considered, pleasant moments with his whole family would be few and far between in the near future.
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:32 pm
When she could, Elke escaped to sit next to Grayson again. Aysel and Voirrey had gone out to the car to get her clothes; Edmund was signing papers, and she was quite pleased to curl up next to her brother again. "Missed you, too, Tristan," she said with a yawn.
"Let's go home," she said, lightly rapping her temple on Grayson's shoulder.
So they did.
[FIN. ):<]
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