Graham Ross is a (hauntedsoul) wrote in rooms, @ 2015-02-23 10:21:00 |
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Entry tags: | !marvel comics, *narrative, graham ross |
narrative: graham gets his wife back.
Who: Graham Ross (& Lorelei~)
What: A wish is granted... sort of.
Where: Marvel, Tuxedo Park.
When: Nowish. (After Jake gets Lore.)
Warnings/Rating: Nah. Nothing for now.
Graham was waiting.
Only a matter of time, he figured. Lore was gonna come. He'd wished it, and Clem had seen her; he just had to wait. He didn't know about Jake's wish, didn't know about the conflict. The house was real quiet with Shane off in zombies, and he wasn't sure where Evie was half the time because he stayed holed up in his room waiting, waiting, only venturing out to feed the baby, to eat, to use the bathroom upstairs. Maybe he should've gone off to get Clem, too, maybe, but he couldn't leave Joy and he had to be here when Lore showed up. He had to. He had to. He wasn't afraid, he didn't think she'd show up wrong or like the dead things in the zombie door. There was no fear at all.
Late, late night. He'd dozed off waiting, in a chair by the crib where Joy slept like the good baby she was, and he couldn't be sure what woke up. Maybe there was noise. Maybe it was just a feeling, somebody occupying space that'd been empty before. Whatever it was caused him to jerk awake, blinking the blurry out of his vision and he saw, first thing, a figure leaning over the crib. Shadow in the moonlight, long hair, and for a second his heart was in his throat because he could only think about the baby, keeping the baby safe, and he half-rose out of his chair with the intention of getting the figure away from the crib before he paused. The figure turned, and he could see its face. No, her. Her face. She smiled, soft and familiar, and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear.
"She's beautiful, Graham. Looks just like you when you sleep, all peaceful like."
He sobbed. He sobbed because he knew that voice, and he knew that face. And this, this wasn't like the hallucinations. He'd imagined her warmth and her solidness but it was just that, imagining, nothing real; part of him always knew that. And now? Now, Lore had a tangible presence. She took up actual physical space, just like him. Sweet Jesus, she was real. Real and there and he pushed away from the chair, moved forward, reached out with trembling fingers to touch her cheek and he could feel her.
"Lore," he breathed. "Oh, baby, you're here. It's really you." His fingers slid down, searching for a pulse and there it was, there it was. He'd never felt a pulse before. She watched him quietly, like it didn't bother her one bit that he was acting like she'd just come back from the dead (which she had). "Yeah, it's me," Lore assured him, a watery smile and her hands cupping his cheeks tenderly. Her palms, her fingers, she was warm, tangible, real, and he leaned into her touch with a choked sound caught in his throat. It'd been so, so long, too long, and he hugged her without thinking, arms tight and clinging like she was the only thing keeping him upright.
He sobbed into her shoulder, and her voice was a soothing whisper in his ear, her fingers on his cheeks, in his hair, as she told him to hush, now, everything was fine, it was gonna be just fine. And for the first time Graham felt like it might be. He had her back, his Lorelei; that was a damn good start.
It felt like a real long time that they stood there in the dark, and he never, ever wanted to let go. He forgot about Shane. He forgot about Clem. His love for them, his loyalty, was strong and he felt that tug, tug, to come back but it just couldn't compare to this. He thought about Jake, thought about bringing him home so they could be a family again. Yeah, the boy was angry now, but his momma was back and he'd come around eventually. He had to. Graham felt sure of that. He pulled back, just a little, so he could look at her face and drink her in like he hadn't had the chance to in years and years and years. "I missed you," he told her, all ache and loss, and her expression turned sad. "I know. And I missed you too," her voice was soft, and she reached up to brush back some hair from his head. "My poor darling. It's been hard for you, hasn't it? So hard."
Graham nodded. "But it's okay now," he whispered. "You're here. Ain't got to be hard anymore."
Lore smiled, but her gaze was clouded, troubled, and she looked down for a moment. "Baby... I love you, you know I do, but I can't stay."
His heart stopped. His throat closed up. No, no, he couldn't have her back just to lose her again, and maybe she saw the panic in his eyes because her fingers were against his lips, and she stretched up on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Didn't mean it like that. I won't leave 'till you're ready," she reassured him. "But I can't stay for good. You understand?"
Exhale. His heart started up again. Oh, sure, that was fine. Graham would never be ready, not until they grew old together and took their last breaths and finally, finally, it would be right, they'd die together like it was supposed to be. He smiled. "I understand."
She looked at him like she used to when she didn't believe him, when he said things just to placate her, but after a long, long stretch of silence Lore smiled too. And he kissed her, then, like he'd been wanting to for years and years, arms around her waist and the intensity of it made her laugh. Nothing could be wrong in the world when she laughed like that, he decided. She kissed him back, like she'd missed him just as much, and that made him happier than he could ever put into words.
And it didn't register, didn't matter, that she didn't ask about Clem or Jake. She didn't even seem curious about the baby, like she already knew. Later, though, they could talk about all that later. They had time. All the time in the damn world.
He tugged her toward the bed, and she gave him a look that made him smile. "Behave," she admonished in a mock whisper. "Don't wanna wake Joy, do you?" Graham didn't ask how she knew her name, he didn't care. He thought this would last. He didn't know that the longer she stayed, the worse it'd get, that she wouldn't be all smiles and teasing forever. For once, he wanted to hope that good could come without a heavy price.
"I'll be real quiet, I promise." He silenced her protests with another kiss, and she melted into his arms like she belonged there. There were things he wanted to say, a lot of things, but all that could wait. Well, except one thing. "I love you," was whispered against her ear, just that, before she told him to hush and pulled him closer.