February 11, 1960
"Gill." I waved in his direction. "Ah don't feel so guid..."
He quickly stood up from reading his book. "Ronny, you okay?"
"Ah don't... Ah dunno." Suddenly my wooziness turned into me doubling over in pain, clutching my head.
Gill's eyes went big. "Ron!" He caught me in his arms and rocked me as streaks of sting shot through my skull.
"Ah... Ah remember.. something.. Ah think?" I sobbed in pain as flashes of Klaus and his silent conversations with Ben from that missing week that were still fuzzy in my mind.
—————
"Klaus."
"What?"
"Nothing, I just didn't want you to be alone." I walked over and hugged him.
"Thanks, but I'll be fine." I frowned.
I vacantly looked at him then dramatically sighed. "Will you at least sit with me for a bit? I don't like seeing you shaken like this."
"Sure, sure." I sat on the couch and patted the spot next to me. He laid his head on my lap and I combed his hair.
"Do you wanna tell me about it?" I asked in a calming voice.
"...His name was Dave." His words wavered as he said his name. "I was riding the bus present day and I opened the case, ended up on another bus headed for Vietnam. He, he let me sit by him and we'd stuck together since." His eyes glossed over. "Dave, he uh.. When he.. I didn't see a reason to stay so I opened the briefcase and came back."
"Things like that, they don't leave you. Not love. Not war. Especially not the little moments."
—————
"Mah brother wis in th' Vietnam war?" He looked at me with worry then suddenly my scar across my abdomen started burning and I clutched my head in agony.
"Ah know.. Ah know how Ah got th' scar." His eyebrows furrowed as he kissed my hair and gripped my shaking body to his chest.
—————
Like a bomb had went off, I was thrown out of the window. The wind was knocked out of me as I smacked hard against a tree... I landed on a tree branch... I was impaled by a tree branch...
I looked down at the red painted splintered wood protruding through my stomach. The metallic smell of blood was back. "Turn into Number Four." That's what the old man said. My consciousness was fading fast. I'm dying. What have I got to lose?... I looked up at the stars one last time and in one short burst of unimaginable pain, I turned into my brother...
—————
"Ah wis richt. Ah died." I bawled into his shirt.
"Shh... You're okay now." He stroked my back to try and soothe my writhing. It was almost like I was dying all over again with every memory. It felt like my consciousness was ripping apart to make room for what I lost.
—————
"Eighty?" Klaus squinted his glossy eyes. "I hate my power." He took another swig. "Why, why didn't you go into the light? Eternal peace and all that? Either that or I'm just really drunk." He looked at his now empty glass. "Probably the latter."
He looked down to pour himself another glass and I touched a hand to his arm to stop him. "I thought you were getting sober?"
"You're not dead!" He laughed then pulled me into a suffocating hug. "You're actually back!" He held me at arms length to get a better look at me. "You look different. Again."
"Well, death does that to you." I smirked.
"So it worked?!"
"Aye, it worked." I chuckled. "The old fart was right about somethin.'"
"Wait, wait, that means I'm immortal too then, right?"
"I suppose." I kept my big smile.
"So we're best friends forever, literally! Ha!" He ran his fingers through his hair "Yess!"
—————
Then I giggled slightly with tears still burning in my eyes.
—————
Klaus came running out of the mini mart with bags of chips and candy pouring from his arms.
"Hey! Stop right now!" A cop shouted after him.
"Hey, bitches!" Four yelled to us as he ran in front of the van. I couldn't stop my smile from spreading across my face this time.
"Now I'm starting to wonder if that was the wisest decision," a muffled figure stated then turned to me but instead saw me smiling at Klaus.
I glanced back at them. "Oh, yeah, probably not."
—————
Who wis there?
••••
April, 1961
"Yeah, no, I think you've had enough coffee." Gilligan took the pot from my hand.
"You can never have too much coffee!" I took the piping pot back and refilled my cup.
"Yes, yes you can, and you have." He chuckled. "A pot n' a half is way too much. What're you doin' today, studying the entire dictionary?" In the blink of an eye I stumbled to the floor in incredible torment again, spilling my scalding coffee over me. My mug clacked to the ground and shards flew in every which way as burns immediately appeared on my arm, but they were the least of my worries.
"Oh shit, Ron." Gill grabbed ahold of me before I hit my head. I screamed out in suffering. The blisters rapidly forming on my arm wasn't anything compared to the intense throbbing I was feeling from my brain.
"I-I-I.." Sobbing, I doubled over in pain and screeched. "Ah remember.. somethin' else."
—————
"It all makes sense now." Allison gasped. "When we were four, Dad told us you were sick. You had to be isolated. We were so young. None of us knew to question it. But then he asked me to do something I never understood... until now. I heard a rumor that... you think you're just ordinary. He made me an accomplice."
"Oh Allison..."
The next thing I remembered was that explosive feeling resulting in me getting thrown out of the window and Allison with her throat slit.
—————
"Allison.. she almost died that night tae." My countenance grew solemn but then a flicker of a smile graced my face. "She has a daughter." My husband clasped me to his chest and stroked my hair out of my face.
He gently held my arm to inspect the burn. "Guess who ain't usin' their power for a bit." Gilligan kissed my hair.
"You know what'll make me feel better?"
"What?" He grinned into my hair.
"Coffee." He rolled his eyes and we laughed.
••••
1962
Gill hooked the phone up and sighed. "I dunno if you heard but Lila called again."
"Uh oh." I wrapped him in my arms and nuzzled my head into the crook of his neck. "I miss her..."
"Me too." He hugged me back to him. "I hate lying to her. If we told her you were here though... It, uh, it's for the best.."
"If her mom found out I could very much well be dead... Or at least they'd try. Wonder if they're still looking for me? It's been thirty-eight years. Maybe they forgot?"
He sighed. "I wish. But they wouldn't forget somethin' like tryin' to stop an apocalypse." The man-child snickered and turned our sad hug into a slow waltz. "Plus, it's been thirty-eight amazing years our time but for them it could've only been a minute."
"Can't risk it, I know..."
"I adore you." He planted a kiss on my cheek to cheer me up.
"I adore you too." I snuggled into his chest while I looked out of the window at the bustle of people going to and fro. The same busy traffic. The same trek to work. Yet... everything was different. "Fish, when did it stop being the '20s?" I never noticed the day things changed. How the new gradually replaced the old right under my nose.
"January 1, 1930." He snickered but he looked at my solemn face then sighed and stroked my dark brown hair as we watched the street below together. "All kinda blurred together on us, didn't it?" That was the troublesome thing about memories. You can look back and see how you've grown from them. All of the things that have changed. So much has changed.
"Guess so—" I stopped my sentence short when I felt a familiar twinge in my head.
Gill creased his eyebrows and took my face in his hands. "Ronny, you okay?"
"Gill... Ah think it's happening again." I tightly shut my eyes and gritted down on my teeth to try and fight the immense pain that the flood of memories brought with it but that only achieved an aching jaw. He already knew by then to snugly hold me in his arms with my head against his shoulder.
"Shh... Shh..." he soothed as I poorly fought back a yelp. "Shit Ron, not again," my best friend spoke under his breath. I wrapped my arms around myself and tucked my aching head. "Who's it of this time?" He tried to take my mind off of the intrusive pang shooting through my head and making my whole body burn.
"Mah brother... Luther," I squeaked out.
"Ape-man?"
"Aye... That's th' one."
"What do you remember?" he softly cooed.
"...Ah remember that... he's th' reason... Ah lost mah memories," I growled in hurt, emotional and physical.
—————
"I'm here now. The past needs to stay in the past."
Luther turned to the real Vanya and pointed to me." She's a danger to us all. You've seen her power."
How can you be so sure you're talking to Eight?" Vanya slyly asked him.
"What're you doing!? He's after you, Vanya, not me, so if he-"
"I'm saving us both." She looked at me with a glimmer in her eyes.
"You're right. I can't," Luther stated. I looked at her with a mix of worry and aggravation.
"You're condemning us both."
Focused on our silent argument, we weren't paying attention when Luther thumped both of our heads together knocking us out. We fell limp into his arms.
—————
Why wis Vanya of all people a danger?
"Well, his lil' stunt is gonna make family gatherin's really awkward between us after I beat him to a pulp for causin' you this pain. That is if I don't kill him." Gill gently rocked me and smoothed my hair until the throbbing started to subside.
"As amusing as that would be tae see th' oaf knocked upside th' heid a few times... please don't?"
He saw me wince and duck my head as another spike struck me. "No promises," he lowly growled as he returned to stroking my hair then looked at my red face to wipe my tears.
••••
September 1, 1963
"Can you believe it'll be thirty-nine years since you came back to me this month. Eighteen since we've been married. It's like we've got all the time in the world yet none at all."
"Insane right?" We chortled. I snuggled my head onto his shoulder. "Ti amo."
"Ti amo." He rested his head on top of mine.
"Think we can make it through this drive-in this time?" I snickered.
"I dunno, that mini skirt with my sweatshirt is pretty hot." Gill swiftly pulled me onto his lap and ran a hand up my thigh. I gently kissed him then after a moment I pulled back a bit and exaggerated a grin as I smacked away his traveling hand. "What was that?" He laughed and pulled me close to him again. "You kiss me back then swat my hand away."
"'Cause your hand was traveling a lil' too far for my liking." I smirked.
Gill softly kissed me again. "What movie are we watching again?" I got off of his lap.
"Charade. Now let's pay attention this time?" I laughed as he placed butterfly kisses down my neck and collarbone.
"Nothing?"
"Zilch." I caustically exaggerated another grin.
"What if I fixed that?" He kissed my neck deeper then to my jaw. I caught his lips in mine and kissed him before I pushed him back in the seat and got off of him.
"Movie. Now."
"Good to know the spark's still there," Gilligan grumbled underneath his breath.
"Aww. Poor bairn." I leaned down to give him a peck on the cheek but he jerked me down into his arms into a passionate kiss that not even I could break.
"Ron?" I hummed into his gentle lips. "Now what movie are we watching?" he quizzed me with an eyebrow raised. I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't recall. My lover looked at my lost expression and chuckled then went back to making-out with me some more. "Back seat?" He tittered.
"No 'cause we're watching..." I gestured at the screen. "Something."
"Yeahh that's what I thought." He wiggled his eyebrows then lifted us up together and we clambered to the back. All of a sudden I clutched my head and cried out in torment.
—————
"Shizzle." I quickly dropped my now sparking briefcase. I reappeared in the living room in a flash of light to see everyone gawking in shock at me. "Bulletproof briefcases! What's so
difficult about that?" I thought to myself.
"Time travel must really be a bitch. That was his reaction too," Allison commented.
"It's about time you show up." Two smiled and uncrossed his arms then swooped me off of my feet in a hug like he did in 2006.
—————
My husband's blue eyes went big and he quickly got off of me. "Ron? I'm so sorry. Are you all right? What happened?" Gill looked at how I was clutching my head then gently pulled me close to him again. "It's another memory. Ain't it?"
"It's Diego..." I cried out. It was ten times worse than a migraine, all rushing back at once. Like I was being stabbed repeatedly but had nothing to show for it.
"The 'real man'?"
"Aye... Gah! It smarts," I whimpered.
He planted his lips on my hair then pulled my hair back away from my face and neck. "You wanna tell me 'bout it?" he asked as he slowly rocked me.
I winced. "He, uh, he found out aboot what we dae at th' Commission..." I gritted my teeth and Gill shifted with worry.
"What happened?"
"His friend, Patch, she got caught in th' crossfire of everything... Killed by Hazel 'n Cha-Cha."
"Uh oh... What'd he say?"
"He was mad of course but—" I screeched out again as another bout struck me. It was the moment Diego saw me after being dead. The glimmer in his eyes. The feel of his warm skin... But chunks of the memory were missing.
I smiled when the sting had subsided enough. "It was our hug. The day Ah came back from th' dead. Klaus wis there... Sae was Luther." Gill grimaced. "But someone else was tae. Ah juist cannae remember who."
"It's okay." I folded at the torture again. "Shh.. You're all right. You're okay." He went back to cradling me.
—————
"Spread out." Diego designated himself as leader, being Number Two. "Yell if you, uh... you know, you're in trouble." —Even if he wasn't the best at it.
"Ah, inspiring leadership."
"One of the greats."
—————
I laughed when the hurt permitted. "He wanted tae be a leader sae bad. Wasn't a guid one but he has th' heart."
—————
"They're here for me. Uh... They think I did something."
"What do they think you did?" Allison asked.
"Murder," he anxiously replied while glancing behind him every few seconds.
"You didn't. Did you?" I furrowed my eyebrows and looked behind us at the blue and red lights flashing behind us.
"No, no, no, of course not, okay? Why would you ask that about me, anyway?"
"I mean, you do carry knives with you everywhere." Allison retorted worriedly while frantically looking behind them.
"And no offense, but Eighty, you don't have much room to talk if I did, which of course I didn't." He shortly chuckled.
I shrugged and watched how Allison kept looking behind us. "Allison if you keep looking behind us suspiciously like that, you're either gonna draw them to us or break your neck." I sighed.
She turned and walked straight ahead. "Yeah, okay."
"We're gonna have to split, okay? I'm in charge. Remember?" I quietly scoffed. "Vanya needs us." I went sullen.
"Wait, I can, I can blip us away. You don't have to get caught—"
"No. You've still got some healing to do. This isn't the fight. I'll get caught but I'll be alright." He reassuringly smiled.
"That rhymes." I laughed sadly. My eyes and throat were still burning from earlier.
"I know. Now go." I sadly chuckled then looked at Allison and we bolted in different directions. Almost immediately after the sirens came closer and I watched from behind a building as Diego was put in handcuffs without a fight and shoved into a police car. I put the back of my hand over my mouth as I tried to hold back a cry. I'm not one to cry but so much has happened so fast.
—————
"Ah wis crying before. Why wis Ah crying before?" I worriedly asked myself.
"H-How many more family members do you have? How much more of this do you gotta go through?"
"Just Vanya and Five now Ah believe... Kinda scared... knowing it's gonna happen. They're the two people A'm most curious aboot though." I let out a shaky sigh.
"You'll get through this." Gill kissed my head. "Two more to go," he mumbled. "You know, this Diego is a real buzzkill." He chuckled.
"Even when he's not here." I winced as I chuckled back.
••••
October 12, 1963
"So hear me out—"
"No." Gill sipped his coffee.
"You didn't even hear what I have to say!"
"Figured it was probably the same thing you said last year around this time when we were decorating for fall/Halloween."
"How can you say no to free candy!"
"Like this. N—" I covered his mouth and huffed.
"Please?" He looked into my pleading brown eyes and reluctantly nodded his head.
"Yeah, yeah, all right, but take your hand off my mouth before I lick it."
I hastily pulled my hand away and squeezed my arms around him. "Thank you!" A smile peeked through his grimace.
"You know it's not until the thirty-first right?"
"Aye but like you said, we can still decorate." I smiled then kissed his cheek before he could say no. I stood up on a chair. "Can you hand me—"
"Huh?" His mouth parted slightly when he saw me fall back in my chair. Gill caught me in a real life trust fall as I covered my head with my arms and yowled in my affliction. "Oh, Cameron..." He sighed in that same worry once again. "You're okay... You're gonna be all right..." The more he said it the more it became more of a reassurance for himself than it was for me. Gilligan gently picked me up and carried my spasming body to the couch. "Is it Five or Vanya this time?"
"It's... it's.. Gah! It hurts!" I bawled.
"Hey... You don't have to say anythin' yet... Just.. just take it easy," he said in a soothing voice.
—————
"You knew the entire time!"
"No, no! I didn't really understand until I came today, until I saw it."
"Well, now it all makes sense. This is why you never wanted me around." Vanya threw her hands up.
"What? No!"
"You couldn't risk me threatening your place in the house—your-your dominance."
"That is not true."
"You couldn't handle the fact that Dad might find me special!" Vanya accused Allison.
"You are special, with or without powers," I told her as the animosity in the room suddenly grew.
"Don't—Don't say that!"
"We have a chance to start over," Allison pleaded.
"You destroyed my life!"
"Oh, please, Vanya." Allison scoffed.
"Everything is out in the open now. We can all move on, right? Please," I begged.
Seven pointed a finger at me. "You—You have no room to speak. You knew too, didn't you?"
"I—I found out when I first time traveled but I hadn't—"
"No. No 'buts.' You knew," she snarled. "I'm moving on. But not with you, with Leonard."
"With Harold, you mean," Allison corrected only making her more furious.
"With Leonard! The only person who has ever loved me for me."
"Vanya, I do—!" Vanya rattled the furniture around her with her powers.
"Look me in the eye and tell me you're not threatened now." Things clattered to the ground as the wind whistled.
"I don't wanna argue with you," Allison warned.
"Then go!"
"Vanya, please! Please listen. You have to understand," I desperately pleaded with her.
"We're only trying to help you," Allison exclaimed.
"I don't want your help!"
I tugged on Allison's sleeve. "Come on," I lowly muttered.
"Vanya, we love you!"
"Stop saying that!" Her powers picked up in a whirlwind.
"It's true.. We love you Vanya," I said in a calm voice. Things were getting out of hand. Where's Klaus when ye need him..
"Are you okay?" Allison asked again.
It's a lil' late fur tha' donnae ye think?
"I said go!" Seven shouted and glass popped.
"Allison, we should go." I grabbed her wrist to pull her out behind me, but she jerked it away.
"Please don't make me do this."
"Allison, let's go," I urged her again in a stern tone. I knew what she was planning and I couldn't let that happen. The tension was too high. This wasn't going to end well.
"I heard a rumor—"
"Allison, NO!" I demanded but it came too late. In one motion Vanya slit Allison's throat with her violin string and like a bomb had went off, I was thrown out of the window. The wind was knocked out of me as I smacked hard against a tree... landing on a tree branch... I was impaled by a tree branch...
—————
I sobbed. "She killed me, Gill... Van killed me."
"She what?" he lowly growled.
"She didn't mean it though... It wis an accident..."
Gill grumbled, "She killed you, Cameron."
"Hey... It wis an accident."
Gill sighed. "Okay," he grumbled then planted a kiss on my head. "As long as it was an accident... Still not happy 'bout it of course, but... I trust you." he smoothly said into my hair. "I adore you."
I tried to force a smile but it just came out as a pitiful wince. "I adore you too."
I collapsed in pain again. "Oh my God! It hurts!" I wailed.
"Shh... Relax... It's almost over..." Gilligan held me close to him letting his breathing lull my agony. "What's it this time?.."
I grunted, "It's—Harold... My blood brother... He-He died?" I gasped and immediately regretted it.
—————
I unrolled the letter and my hand instantly shot up to cover my mouth.
Reassignment: Protect Harold Jenkins
"No, no, no, no, no... Har... Ah haven't seen him since Ah wis thirteen a-a-and noo... This has tae be some sorta demented joke."
—————
"He helped... trigger the apocalypse..." I grizzled in disbelief.
"Ron... I'm so sorry."
—————
"Guys, you need to see this," Allison called.
We jogged in there to find his childhood figurines of the Umbrella Academy destroyed, along with the eyes scratched out on their pictures. I gasped.
"All of our faces are burnt off."
"Well, that's not creepy. This guy's got some serious issues. No offense, Eighty."
I paused as I saw a newer figurine of me, melted to the ground, and a picture of myself with not just my eyes scratched out, but my entire face. With my mouth parted slightly. I lifted up the paper to find it scratched into the wood.
—————
"It wis all mah fault... He needed me... n' Ah left him in that house... In his last moments he hated me... He loathed me. The most out of any of 'em.. It's all mah fault," I shakily breathed out.
"It wasn't your fault. You were the one who went back to try 'n save the world." I wept. "Shh... Just one more I think, all right? Oh n' 'til then I don't think Imma let you stand on chairs anymore." He quietly chuckled.
I shrugged then smirked. "Then you'll be the one to decorate the place." I sniffled.
Gill inhaled. "Yeahh I dunno 'bout that either." We softly snickered.
••••
November 15, 1963
I curled up in bed next to Gill. He pulled me tightly into his arms and pecked my cheek. "Ti amo."
"Ti amo." I lovingly smiled at him. My eyes flicked to his lips then back to his eyes. I put soft butterfly kisses on his neck then his jaw and lastly moved my lips to his making him hum.
"You sure you wanna play that game?"
"Jeez can Ah not just kiss my hubby?"
"Not like that you can't." We grinned then I snuggled my head into his neck.
"Ti amo." A honeyed smile glimpsed my face. I looked up at him who was staring vacantly at the wall of our bedroom. "What's on your mind?"
He blinked a few times. "Oh... I'm just... Those lil' spells of rememberin' things like that have been happenin' a lot more recently 'n I just worry I guess. Like how last time you fell out of a chair. If I hadn't been there to catch you—"
"But you were there. And I've only got one more person to remember I think. Then it's all over."
"I wish it'd hurry up so that we could go on with our lives worry free," he grumbled. "I wish they'd never happen at all. Not like that."
I tossed my legs onto his lap and curled up closer to his warm body. "One more to go. Then I'll have the complete story."
"Things have been so perfect though. I hate the thought of anythin' comin' between that."
I creased my eyebrows. "Whit do you mean? Nothings gonna come in between us." I watched as my husband lightly chewed on his lip in thought. I brushed his cheek drawing his attention back to me. "What is it?"
"Well... when you got here you said that you 'n Five were an item for a bit 'n, I dunno..."
I chuckled. "Gill, we're married. I'm pretty sure whatever we had died thirty-eight years ago when I first kissed you." I held his hand in mine.
Gilligan sighed. "Guid point." He stupidly grinned as he played with my fingers.
I scoffed and looked up at him. "Was that supposed to be my accent?"
"Well you're all the time using mine so." I bosied my head into his neck and thought of that old married couple I saw on the plane all those years ago. How my hand fell into his without thought and how snuggly I fit into his arms ...Then suddenly I froze.
Gill lightly shook me. "Hey Ron— Ronny? Are you—? Shoot it's another memory ain't it?" Hot tears suddenly rolled down my face. "Damn... I jinxed us, didn't I?" I squirmed in a shattering shriek as memories shot through me like lightning. "Shoot.. this is a bad one ain't it?"
I couldn't even answer. Couldn't process what he was saying long enough to even understand it anyway. Memories of me and Five's relationship shot like poisonous bullets through my mind and I cried out in pain and grief. "How could Ah do this to him?" was the only thought I could grasp. Ah don't regret my life with Gill one bit but... Whit am Ah gonna say to him when Ah see him next?
"Oh my God, Gill it really hurts!! GAH!"
—————
"Here. Let me see your arm." He turned and I unraveled some rough bandage wrap and slowly wrapped it around his arm.
"Now let me." He took it and did the same. I noted his sudden stiff change in demeanor. "I've been meaning to ask you... What are we? We hold hands and you let me kiss your head which I love. Not to mention how crazy hot it was when you whispered in my ear like that." He stupidly grinned with at the memory. "And I don't know if you remember this or not, I may have dreamed it myself, but at Vanya's you told me that you loved me too, but I know that you are upset with me about Delores, a-a-and I just have to know because..."
"Do you love her?" I looked intently into his green eyes.
"She'll always be a part of me, she got me through over forty-five years of hell without you, but I've finally got you back now." He smiled. "I never stopped loving you. I love you so much more than you know. You're the one that I want, you've always been and I have to have you, Bonnie. I need to kiss you, really kiss you, to tell you I love you, and to hold your hand. I need to fall asleep and wake up with you in my arms every night and day and to call you my girlfriend and someday my wife because you are my tomorrow and I love you too much not to—"
I put my arms around him and hastily pressed my lips to his in an increasingly vehement kiss. Five tightened his grip on my waist and we pulled each other as close as physically possible. I kissed him like I haven't seen him in ages because in a way, we haven't. Kissed him like the world was ending, because it was. Kissed him like I wish to kiss him every single day for the rest of our lives.
We pulled back long enough to take a breath. "Ah loue ye."
"Ah loue ye too."
—————
"Gilligan!! Ah can't take it! It BURNS!!" My throat was raw with how much I'd been crying and shouting.
"You're gonna be okay! All right? Just a lil' bit longer. I hate this for you... I'm so so sorry—" Then everything started to blur together.
—————
"I can't age unless I choose to, remember? Ultimately... I can't die... and I dunno how I feel about that," I said with a shaky breath and a shrug. "When you die, my heart will die with you." I fiddled with his hands.
He kissed my knuckles. "The same with me. I'm not losing you, okay?"
"Okay." I smiled and leaned against him. The bus made a squeaky hush sound as it halted a block away from the Umbrella Academy. "Let's go home."
—————
"AH! It hurts! It hurts so much," I choked out as my husband held me tightly to him.
"It's gonna be—"
—————
"Let me drink in peace," Five pleaded in slurs. "That's what you do when your world goes bye bye..." he quoted his love. No matter how much he drank he couldn't get me out of his head and now he's hearing me for real.
"You ain't gonna spiral again like last time you lost her. You have terrible coping techniques and you're gonna end up killing yourself. I'm not letting that happen."
"Doesn't seem so bad to me." Luther glowered and tightened his grip. "Fine, fine, I'll take care of myself. So let go. Please." One nodded and hesitantly let go. "Sike." Five spatial jumped but collided into the wall. "A-ha-ow!" He fell backwards and put a hand to his aching forehead.
"Ha! That's what happens when you don't listen."
I chuckled inside his head. "Save some for me, all right?"
—————
Five walked out of Hargreeves's office with a bottle in hand and stopped. The Boy furrowed his eyebrows. "Klaus, am I dead?"
"Fraid not jo," Klaus replied in a singsong voice.
"I guess you of all people wouldn't know." Five quirked an eyebrow which I copied. "Bonnie?"
"Jo." I chuckled.
"Bonnie!" He tried to run to me from across the room but he was too drunk and instead stumbled. Before he fell I caught him halfway.
"I'm here, jo, I'm here." I cupped his cheek and my eyes watered. "I said I'd be back."
"I can feel you... You're-You're real? You're really alive!" He kissed my hair.
I made a show of looking at my hands. "I mean I feel pretty not deceased." I giggled.
"Oh my God, you're back!" He laughed with a joy he couldn't muster in even his wildest dreams. "Bonnie, I love you, so much," he told me in between kisses on my head. "I've missed you more than you can possibly imagine. I-I-I didn't know what to do. I thought I was going crazy." He fully smiled as he stroked my hair. "Bonnie, I love you. I didn't say it enough."
His smile was the biggest I'd ever seen grace his face. His sharp features were gone for the first time in forty-five years.
"I'm here, jo." I mirrored his outstanding joy. "I'm really here. I love you so so so much." I muffled my cry into his shoulder. "So much."
—————
"Fish! Ah can't dae it anymore!! A'm done!"
"Ron, don't say that. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna make it."
"Weel maybe Ah don't want tae!!" I weaved my fingers into my hair and grabbed my head tighter. The thought of just scratching my skin grew more and more alluring... That's all I had to do was draw a little blood then it'd be over.
"Cameron. Don't say that." He held my clasped hands to his lips. "Ti amo.. You're gonna be all right this is almost—"
—————
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by They Might Be Giants played over the speakers at Griddy's.
Five laid relaxed on his side on a table. "Hey assholes." They directed their shots at him and he blipped away.
"Where'd he go?"
"I don't know but she is right behind you," I whispered in the gunman's ear.
So if you've a date in Constantinople
She'll be waiting in Istanbul
Even old New York was once New Amsterdam
Why they changed it I can't say
People just liked it better that wayy
"Care to join me?" He lowered his arm to help me up on the table. Instead I turned into him and spatial jumped from where I stood. He pulled me close so that our faces were centimeters apart.
"She could've been my wife right now if I'd have done this right. I could be the one she whispers to like that... And damn it was hot," he thought plain as day to me as he dipped me.
So take me back to Constantinople
No you can't go back to Constantinople
You know that I can read your mind when I'm in your form right? He went pale. I laughed and changed back. I spun him away and he slightly scrunched his face at the awkward gesture. I turned back into him and teleported off of the table to push the gunman's rifle up causing him to shoot the ceiling instead. I took it from his hands then fired it at him.
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
I spatial jumped behind Five as he looked for where I reappeared. I turned back into Cameron and lightly brushed my lips against his ear as I whispered. "Happy?" Then smirked at his startled expression.
Thrilled.
That's nobody's business but the Turks
Istanbul
—————
"Nae! Ah can't! Ah cannae take this any longer!" I wildly sobbed.
Fish clutched my hands so that I didn't try to scratch myself. "Damn you, Luther..."
—————
"No, Five, Eight... Wait." We stopped before we opened the door. "I haven't seen you in a long time, and I don't want to lose you again. That's all. And you know what, it's getting late, and I have lessons early, and I need to sleep, and I'm sure you do, too." She grabbed a blanket and made a bed on the couch. "Here. We'll talk in the morning again. Okay? I promise." She sighed. "Night."
"G'night." He took the eye out of his pocket. "What do you wanna do?" I asked. "We're already behind schedule but she was richt. We could both use some sleep."
"Quick nap? I haven't got a good sleep in a long time." He smiled and pulled me to his side. He spent so long without my touch. He needed me by him.
I stepped out of his grasp to the couch then smiled as I wadded up the blanket and tossed it to him. "Fine. Just for a little bit."
He enveloped the blanket around us both and wrapped his arms tightly around me as if I was going to slip through his grasp. I snuggled into his chest and caressed his hand. He laid his head on top of mine. Neither of us could seem to be close enough. His face was against mine and he had his arms wound snuggly around me. He could feel my body heat and my chest rise and fall with my every breath but he still felt like if he closed his eyes I'd disappear and that this was all just a dream. Maybe he had gone crazy without me there to keep him sane. He was lulled asleep almost instantly to the steady rhythm of my heart beat.
"Ah loue ye," he cooed in his sleep.
I took a sharp breath then relaxed back into his warm touch. "Ah loue ye too," I softly whispered. I couldn't see the smile that spread across his face.
—————
Then I finally passed out...