Immortal

Your presence still lingers here

Notes:

This is my first fic, so be kind. Cassie, thank you so much for your comments and advice. I really intend to continue this, I have a lot written already, so you can expect a weekly update.
Some of this was borrowed from the script of another TV series called ALIAS. I decided to create an AU mixing my favorite TV shows. The story will continue since I've written some chapters already. It's T rated but will probably shift to M. I own nothing but a very weird brain. If you could leave a star along the way... :)

~

He opened the door, looking at the floor. He was not prepared to see her. Even though they had told him she was there, he could not believe it was actually true. The last time he had seen her was when he said "You know I love you, Donna" and fled, leaving her looking at him completely baffled. If he had known what would come after that, he would have stayed. He would have held her as if for dear life. He would have kissed her, touched her, and told her she was everything. Because she is everything. But no. Not anymore. He could not think like that.

As soon as their eyes met, she stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck. He did not have the chance to look at her properly, but he saw tears in her eyes when he dared to look up. He was just frowning. It was too much. Too much to bear. Her scent was intoxicating, and he had to keep his distance. She kept pulling him closer into her embrace. She was slightly thinner than he remembered, but stronger. He could feel her arms as he unwrapped her from him and guided her to sit on the chair of the small moldy room.

He wouldn't meet her eyes. Still frowning, he felt sweat run down his spine and a panic attack. He swallowed the bile that was threatening to rise and kept looking at his shoes. He could feel her gaze on him. Reading him like she used to do. A few moments had passed and he couldn't hold it anymore.

"Don..."

But she cut him off.

"Why are you wearing that ring?"

His heart skipped a beat. The conversation was not supposed to go this way. So he started with the second most difficult thing he would have to tell her.

"Since that night..." he took a deep breath, getting the courage to say what had to be said, "...you've been missing for almost two years."

"What?" She said in barely a whisper.

"Two years ago I went to your apartment... to talk..." he gasped. It was difficult to relive his experience. And on top of it, he was a coward who couldn't deliver all the news that would break the woman he used to love. He was a coward who couldn't look her in the eyes. He wasn't brave enough.

"...but in the morning..." he took the breath he didn't know he was holding. "... in the morning I got a call from the FBI saying there was a terrorist attack at the bar we met." She was looking at him bewildered. Without blinking and without breathing. Her jaw was clenched while she heard a story that did not belong to her and yet was part of her life. "They said you were there and did not survive." As soon as he finished, he dared to look at her and got up fast, in time to catch her collapse on the ground.

And if you have to leave

I wish that you would just leave

'Cause your presence still lingers here

And it won't leave me alone

(My Immortal - Evanescence)

After that, all she remembered was blurry. She remembered an ambulance, but not the ride to the hospital. She remembered seeing her father and mother, Rachel, and Mike, even Louis, and Jessica, but not what they said to her. He wasn't there. He didn't visit her, like the coward he was. Yet he was her everything. What changed to make him give up on her like that was what kept her awake at night. She would only sleep if the doctors gave her the heavy stuff. They would try to make her talk, but it was futile. She couldn't understand what they were saying, but she could bet what it was. Everybody wanted to know what happened in the last two years; the hospital, the cops, her friends, her family, and herself. Aside from him, not knowing what had happened to herself was also what kept her awake at night. She couldn't remember a single thing.