(no subject)

[sai_delgado]

She comes back to her room from the bar, but she's not yet tired enough-- nor is her mind quiet enough, say true-- to sleep.

Susan feeds a few peanuts to Joanie, and then watches in amusement as the tinyphant returns to playing with her plastic dinosaurs. She sits down at her desk, then, and begins to make note of the day's records in the stable accounts.

Comments

[key-youth-bert.livejournal.com]

Cuthbert finds it harder to reach for that hope, but he nods, and manages a small smile.

"Mayhap. Even if we never see him again here...well, there are other worlds than these."

And as settled as their lives here are, there's always been the sense that Milliways is only a waystation, for them. One more stop along the path, before they reach the clearing.

[sai_delgado]

"Thee says true, 'Bert."

Silence between them, for a little, as they sit together with hands linked, each thinking similar thoughts.

(there is a place that waits for all of us in the end)

[key-youth-bert.livejournal.com]

Cuthbert sits in silence for a long moment.

He wishes he could leave it there, wishes he didn't have to tell her what else is on his mind. But to not tell her would be far worse, and he knows it.

And so, finally, he speaks again, quietly.

"Does thee know Andrew, Sue?"

[sai_delgado]

She looks up at him, thinking-- and after a moment, shaking her head.

"Nay-- I don't think I've met any --"

"-- but I think I've heard the name; Meg's close to him, aye?"

[key-youth-bert.livejournal.com]

"Aye. And--he's the one from Faith's world, who tried to go after her that night."

He studies Susan carefully, waiting to see how she reacts to the mention of Faith.

[sai_delgado]

A shadow crosses her face, but she nods.

"The one who opened-- who opened the door, then."

[key-youth-bert.livejournal.com]

Cuthbert nods, and presses on.

"He--and Tim, and others, I think--are trying to find another way of going after her. And if they can...if they find a way..."

He hesitates again, then looks at her steadily.

"I've offered to go with them, and give what help I can."

[sai_delgado]

"Aye-- Ace told me that Tim had tried, and she were here, for a second, and that the Dream-lord was furious at what..."

She trails off there, staring at him, as all the color drains from her face.

"Thee-- thee what?"

[key-youth-bert.livejournal.com]

Cuthbert winces slightly at her reaction, but doesn't take his eyes from hers.

"She'd do the same, if it was anyone here she cared about. I know it'll be dangerous, but..."

[sai_delgado]

(if he hurt you? I'd grind him into powder with a song in my heart)

She nods, as her hold on his hand tightens, helplessly.

"She would, aye-- and she's a Slayer -- she'd--"

And Cuthbert Allgood is a gunslinger of Gilead. Susan understands, oh very well indeed, even as she is shaking her head.

"But -- 'Bert, how can thee hope to--" A breath. "How can thee leave, and come back?

[key-youth-bert.livejournal.com]

"I've heard that those who are dead can leave to go to the worlds of others, and be able to return."

He frees one hand to touch her cheek, still gripping her other had tightly.

"I'd not leave thee if I thought I wouldn't be able to come back, Sue. Not even for Faith."

But he can't bring himself to say not for anything, for he knows, deep down, that there are things he would leave her for, if they weren't out of his reach.

(I chose the Tower...)

[sai_delgado]

She looks up at him as he caresses her cheek, gray eyes dark and troubled, and then Susan moves suddenly, wrapping her arms around him and holding tightly as she puts her head against his chest, listening to the beat of his heart.

Her words are low and fierce, and her voice is shaking.

"Promise me. Promise me that thee will come back, somehow."

[key-youth-bert.livejournal.com]

For a moment, he freezes, startled by the sudden motion. Then, he wraps his arms around her, burying his face in her hair.

He knows that if he goes after Faith, it'll be dangerous. He's seen some of what they'll face, and likely not the worst of it.

But it's one thing to face that risk on his own, and another to ask her to face it.

So he whispers fiercely, "I promise, Sue. I'll come back."

[sai_delgado]

This fear, this worry-- it is all too familar, in the worst of ways. She feels sick, thinking about it. And there will be little she can do now, she knows, save as Ace had said -- to sit. To hope. To wait.

Again.

(everything the Way of the Eld is not)

Somewhere deep within her, a resolution is born, although she sets it aside for the present as she tilts her head back to look up at him.

"And I'll believe thee. Only come back to me."

[key-youth-bert.livejournal.com]

He nods, face still pressed against her hair, then pulls back and kisses her.

When the kiss finally breaks, he leans his forehead against hers again, his eyes closed.

"I love thee, Susan."

[sai_delgado]

"Oh, Cuthbert." She brings one hand up to rest at the nape of his neck, and continues softly, but with utter certainty,

"And I love thee."

She tilts her head slightly in order to kiss him once more.

[key-youth-bert.livejournal.com]

He deepens the kiss and lets the moment draw out, his hands coming up to bury themselves in her hair.

He knows that giving a promise like that, and meaning it with all his heart, isn't always the way it works. He knows that if ka chooses to seperate him from Susan, there'll be precious little he can do to stop it.

And he knows that knowing that won't prevent him from fighting ka every step of the way, and with every ounce of strength he has, to stay with her.