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Sep. 23rd, 2004 10:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helsinkibabyI hate Hector Ó hEochagáin with a passion, and yet I am looking at Hanging With Hector and waiting for Six Feet Under on E4+1...why? Because he's hanging with the Meath football team and the legendary manager, (shortly to head into his 23rd year in charge of the team) the great Sean Boylan. Hector, for those of you who don't know, is an Irish-spouting lunatic from County Meath, who thinks he's way funnier than he is... but he's being introduced to the team and genuflecting in front of Trevor Giles... as we all should. And this means nothing to anyone on my friends list, becauses you don't know anything about GAA (Gaelic football) so I'm shutting up now.
Fic! Jake 2.0, Kyle/Diane for the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
writers_choice home challenge.
Title: Taking You Home
Pairing: Kyle/Diane
Rating: PG
Word Count: 998
Summary: “Will you take me home?”
When he and Jake first walk into the lab, Kyle doesn’t know that anything is wrong. He’s too busy looking around for Diane, to beg her for paracetamol, vital after an eight hour stakeout with Jake. Only when he sees Fran’s worried expression, no Diane in sight, do the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. “Where is she?” he asks, and Fran looks over her shoulder, at the closed door that leads into the other room.
“She got a phone call from her dad,” she says, and that’s all that she can say before the door opens, and Diane walks out.
Fran bites her lip, and Jake gasps, but Kyle can’t do anything but stare, blood turning to ice in his veins, because he can’t imagine what has made her look like that. Or rather, he can; he just doesn’t want to. Her eyes are wide, rimmed in red, the way they get when she’s battling back tears. Her hair is wilder than usual, and when she reaches up to push a lock of it back, her hand is shaking. Kyle is frozen, speechless, and for once, he’s grateful to hear Jake’s voice.
“Diane, what’s happened?”
The younger man takes a step towards her, arm outstretched, and Diane backs away, as if she doesn’t want to be touched, which Kyle knows is a bad sign. Jake doesn’t though, his face registering hurt, then dismay as Diane speaks. “That was my dad… it’s my mom… she’s had a heart attack…”
Her voice trails off then, her gaze dropping to the floor, and Fran asks timidly, “Is she…”
Diane looks up, swallows hard, shaking her head rapidly as tears pool in her eyes. “She’s dead.”
Stunned silence follows, with no-one sure of what to say, and characteristically, Jake is the first to break it. “Diane, I’m so sorry,” he says, and she nods, pressing a hand to her nose and lips. Kyle has never seen her look so lost, and it’s that more than anything that makes him step forward, speaking to her for the first time.
“What can we do?” he asks simply, and he’s unprepared for her reaction, for the way her head snaps up, her eyes locking on to his. For a moment, she is stock-still, save for the single tear that makes its way down her cheek. An instant later, she is in his arms, face buried in his suit jacket, her shoulders heaving with sobs. Kyle’s surprised, but he does the only thing he can, holds her tightly, whispers platitudes neither of them will ever remember into her hair. He does this in the full heat of Jake’s shocked glance, because the younger man has never seen them like this before, know nothing of their previous relationship. Fran, on the other hand, is remarkably sanguine, studiously avoiding looking at them.
Kyle has no idea how long it is before Diane straightens up, and when she does, the look in her eyes breaks his heart. “Kyle…” is all she can whisper before the tears start again, and his hands knead her shoulders, his eyes never leaving hers.
“What can I do?” he asks, and her response surprises him.
“Will you take me home?”
He nods, thinking abstractedly that Lou will understand. “Of course,” he says, slipping an arm around her waist, turning her to the exit. “Come on, I’ll drive you…”
“No,” she says, and he stops, tilts his head curiously. “Not to my apartment…” She draws in a shuddering breath, one ice-cold hand finding his. “Will you take me home?”
The penny finally drops, and Kyle doesn’t even have to think, just nods slowly once, his free hand caressing her cheek. “Of course,” is all he says before leading her out of the lab to his car.
They go to her apartment first, where he books their flights, calls Lou to let her know what’s going on. A quick stop-off at his place to pack a bag, and they’re on their way to the airport. She grips his hand tightly as the plane takes off, and she holds it throughout the whole flight, the pressure never lessening, not even when her head rests on his shoulder and he tells her that she should sleep.
If her family find it odd that he is there with her – after all, it’s over a year since they split up – then no-one comments on it. Nor does Kyle comment when they automatically assume that he and Diane will be sharing her room – after all, they always did in the past. And he certainly doesn’t say anything when Diane curls up beside him, just as she always used to, and falls into a fitful sleep at his side.
It’s a long time since he’s been in Bar Harbour, so he spends his time there re-familiarising himself with the place, helping out the family in any way he can, being a safety valve for Diane when she needs to get away, to vent. They walk for miles, her hand in his, and at the funeral, when she reads the psalm, it is his arms into which she walks when she returns to her seat. He stands beside her at the graveside, watches the red rose shake in her hand, wonders if she notices the tremor in his as his handful of earth splatters against the coffin.
The house afterwards is stifling, and he knows Diane needs to escape, and they do, ending up on the beach, sitting quietly together on the sand. Despite the August sun, she is shivering, so he drapes his jacket over her shoulders, rolls up his sleeves and puts his arm around her waist. Her head drops to his shoulder, and she whispers, “Thank you for coming home with me… I know you didn’t have to…”
“Yes I did,” he says simply, and leaves it at that, because he genuinely wouldn’t be anywhere else.
Because as long as he’s with her, he’s home too.
>*<*>*<
Title: Feels Like Home
Pairing: Kyle/Diane
Rating: PG
Word Count: 995
Summary: For the first time, Diane feels like she’s home.
Every time Diane comes back to Bar Harbour, she’s struck by the timeless nature of the place, feels as if things haven’t changed a bit since the last time she’s been back there. The streets, the storefronts, all look the same, with the same faces, albeit a little older, smiling in greeting at her. She knows this place like the back of her hand, and no matter how far she’s had to travel for work, no matter how insane her life gets, every time she comes back here, she feels safe, and happy, and loved.
That’s how she knows she’s home.
It’s been a long time since she’s been home, too long she knows, but this time, everything has changed. Not on the surface; Bar Harbour is as timeless as ever.
But she’s not.
This is the first time she’s come home that her mother hasn’t greeted her at the door with a smile and a hug, hasn’t dragged her into a kitchen filled with home cooked smells, pouring out a cup of coffee, muttering something about feeding her up, because she’s far too thin. This is the first time that she ever remembers the house being so quiet, full of whispers and choked sobs, the first time that she feels like a stranger in her own life.
It’s home, but it doesn’t feel like home any more.
It feels like nothing makes sense, like the only piece of sanity in her life is sitting right here on the beach beside her. Kyle’s arm is around her, her head resting on his shoulder, and she doesn’t know what she’d do without him.
Despite the August sun, the blue sky, she’s cold, hasn’t been warm since she got the call that turned her life upside down, and she finds herself pressing closer against his warmth. He draws her closer, sliding his other arm around her, even as he pulls back slightly, looking down at her. “You ok?” he asks, and she doesn’t know how to answer that.
“I keep expecting to see her,” she says quietly, because how many times and she and her mother walked this very beach, talking about anything and everything, and, on more than one occasion, about Kyle specifically. “Even at the church today… I kept thinking that someone was going to come in and say it had all been a mistake…” He doesn’t say anything, just waits for her to continue, and she sighs, looking down. A memory of a long-ago dream comes to her, and she smiles softly. “She used to tease me about you… about how I should bring you here in fall, when the leaves turn… she used to tell me that it was a lovely time of the year to get married…”
Her mother had teased, but Diane had dreamed of that day, of the old-fashioned stone church, the fall foliage, walking down the aisle on her father’s arm to a waiting Kyle. That daydream had got her through who knows how many hours of Dr Gage’s grunt work, and even after they’d split up, it had taken her a long time to get over it.
And until recently, and especially since she got a phone call that turned her life upside down, she really thought she had.
Then she begged Kyle to come home with her, and her sister put them in the same room, and he hasn’t left her side since, and she doesn’t know where they stand anymore.
“I know.” Kyle’s words bring her back to reality, and her jaw drops. “Oh yeah…” he says, the corners of his lips twitching. “She said it to me too.”
Diane’s cheeks burn, but she’s laughing, because it would be so like her mother to do something like that. Besides, she’d always loved Kyle. “I’ve never seen her as disappointed as she was when we broke up,” she tells him now. “She always thought we’d get back together someday.”
He tilts his head, his gaze curious, and a shiver runs the length of Diane’s spine; one, she knows, that has nothing to do with temperature. The feel of his fingers, so gentle, on her cheek is good for another shiver, as is the low tone of his voice when he whispers, “Can I tell you something?” He pauses to allow her to nod, then continues in the same tone, “I always thought that too.”
Her heart rises into her throat, pushing tears up into her eyes, and she takes a deep breath, fighting for control. He must take the gesture as something else though, because he drops his hand, and though he doesn’t move physically, she can feel him withdrawing emotionally. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I shouldn’t have…”
“No!” The word comes out a touch more hysterical than she might have liked, and she makes a conscious effort to pull herself together, closing her eyes and taking another deep breath. “It’s not that… it’s just… it’s too much right now Kyle… and I can’t… I can’t…”
Tears have never been far from the surface these past few days, and they flow again now as he gathers her into his arms, his palms reaching underneath his jacket, splaying against her back. He holds her until the worst of her sobs subside, and then he shifts so that he can look into her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere,” he promises, cupping her face in his hands before pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I want you to know that.”
Diane’s heart is too full to allow her speak, so she simply nods, closing her eyes and burying her head in his shoulder. One of his hands makes slow circles on her back while the other plays with her hair, and she allows herself to relax, finally feeling warmth spreading through her.
For the first time in a long while, she feels safe, and happy, and loved.
For the first time in a long while, she feels like she’s home.
>*<*>*<
And in other news, I finally caved today and bought myself a decent printer! It's pretty and shiny and fast (considering my old one was older than Methuselah and would have to work up to being a piece of s***, I'm all asquee!)
Fic! Jake 2.0, Kyle/Diane for the
writers_choice home challenge. Title: Taking You Home
Pairing: Kyle/Diane
Rating: PG
Word Count: 998
Summary: “Will you take me home?”
When he and Jake first walk into the lab, Kyle doesn’t know that anything is wrong. He’s too busy looking around for Diane, to beg her for paracetamol, vital after an eight hour stakeout with Jake. Only when he sees Fran’s worried expression, no Diane in sight, do the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. “Where is she?” he asks, and Fran looks over her shoulder, at the closed door that leads into the other room.
“She got a phone call from her dad,” she says, and that’s all that she can say before the door opens, and Diane walks out.
Fran bites her lip, and Jake gasps, but Kyle can’t do anything but stare, blood turning to ice in his veins, because he can’t imagine what has made her look like that. Or rather, he can; he just doesn’t want to. Her eyes are wide, rimmed in red, the way they get when she’s battling back tears. Her hair is wilder than usual, and when she reaches up to push a lock of it back, her hand is shaking. Kyle is frozen, speechless, and for once, he’s grateful to hear Jake’s voice.
“Diane, what’s happened?”
The younger man takes a step towards her, arm outstretched, and Diane backs away, as if she doesn’t want to be touched, which Kyle knows is a bad sign. Jake doesn’t though, his face registering hurt, then dismay as Diane speaks. “That was my dad… it’s my mom… she’s had a heart attack…”
Her voice trails off then, her gaze dropping to the floor, and Fran asks timidly, “Is she…”
Diane looks up, swallows hard, shaking her head rapidly as tears pool in her eyes. “She’s dead.”
Stunned silence follows, with no-one sure of what to say, and characteristically, Jake is the first to break it. “Diane, I’m so sorry,” he says, and she nods, pressing a hand to her nose and lips. Kyle has never seen her look so lost, and it’s that more than anything that makes him step forward, speaking to her for the first time.
“What can we do?” he asks simply, and he’s unprepared for her reaction, for the way her head snaps up, her eyes locking on to his. For a moment, she is stock-still, save for the single tear that makes its way down her cheek. An instant later, she is in his arms, face buried in his suit jacket, her shoulders heaving with sobs. Kyle’s surprised, but he does the only thing he can, holds her tightly, whispers platitudes neither of them will ever remember into her hair. He does this in the full heat of Jake’s shocked glance, because the younger man has never seen them like this before, know nothing of their previous relationship. Fran, on the other hand, is remarkably sanguine, studiously avoiding looking at them.
Kyle has no idea how long it is before Diane straightens up, and when she does, the look in her eyes breaks his heart. “Kyle…” is all she can whisper before the tears start again, and his hands knead her shoulders, his eyes never leaving hers.
“What can I do?” he asks, and her response surprises him.
“Will you take me home?”
He nods, thinking abstractedly that Lou will understand. “Of course,” he says, slipping an arm around her waist, turning her to the exit. “Come on, I’ll drive you…”
“No,” she says, and he stops, tilts his head curiously. “Not to my apartment…” She draws in a shuddering breath, one ice-cold hand finding his. “Will you take me home?”
The penny finally drops, and Kyle doesn’t even have to think, just nods slowly once, his free hand caressing her cheek. “Of course,” is all he says before leading her out of the lab to his car.
They go to her apartment first, where he books their flights, calls Lou to let her know what’s going on. A quick stop-off at his place to pack a bag, and they’re on their way to the airport. She grips his hand tightly as the plane takes off, and she holds it throughout the whole flight, the pressure never lessening, not even when her head rests on his shoulder and he tells her that she should sleep.
If her family find it odd that he is there with her – after all, it’s over a year since they split up – then no-one comments on it. Nor does Kyle comment when they automatically assume that he and Diane will be sharing her room – after all, they always did in the past. And he certainly doesn’t say anything when Diane curls up beside him, just as she always used to, and falls into a fitful sleep at his side.
It’s a long time since he’s been in Bar Harbour, so he spends his time there re-familiarising himself with the place, helping out the family in any way he can, being a safety valve for Diane when she needs to get away, to vent. They walk for miles, her hand in his, and at the funeral, when she reads the psalm, it is his arms into which she walks when she returns to her seat. He stands beside her at the graveside, watches the red rose shake in her hand, wonders if she notices the tremor in his as his handful of earth splatters against the coffin.
The house afterwards is stifling, and he knows Diane needs to escape, and they do, ending up on the beach, sitting quietly together on the sand. Despite the August sun, she is shivering, so he drapes his jacket over her shoulders, rolls up his sleeves and puts his arm around her waist. Her head drops to his shoulder, and she whispers, “Thank you for coming home with me… I know you didn’t have to…”
“Yes I did,” he says simply, and leaves it at that, because he genuinely wouldn’t be anywhere else.
Because as long as he’s with her, he’s home too.
>*<*>*<
Title: Feels Like Home
Pairing: Kyle/Diane
Rating: PG
Word Count: 995
Summary: For the first time, Diane feels like she’s home.
Every time Diane comes back to Bar Harbour, she’s struck by the timeless nature of the place, feels as if things haven’t changed a bit since the last time she’s been back there. The streets, the storefronts, all look the same, with the same faces, albeit a little older, smiling in greeting at her. She knows this place like the back of her hand, and no matter how far she’s had to travel for work, no matter how insane her life gets, every time she comes back here, she feels safe, and happy, and loved.
That’s how she knows she’s home.
It’s been a long time since she’s been home, too long she knows, but this time, everything has changed. Not on the surface; Bar Harbour is as timeless as ever.
But she’s not.
This is the first time she’s come home that her mother hasn’t greeted her at the door with a smile and a hug, hasn’t dragged her into a kitchen filled with home cooked smells, pouring out a cup of coffee, muttering something about feeding her up, because she’s far too thin. This is the first time that she ever remembers the house being so quiet, full of whispers and choked sobs, the first time that she feels like a stranger in her own life.
It’s home, but it doesn’t feel like home any more.
It feels like nothing makes sense, like the only piece of sanity in her life is sitting right here on the beach beside her. Kyle’s arm is around her, her head resting on his shoulder, and she doesn’t know what she’d do without him.
Despite the August sun, the blue sky, she’s cold, hasn’t been warm since she got the call that turned her life upside down, and she finds herself pressing closer against his warmth. He draws her closer, sliding his other arm around her, even as he pulls back slightly, looking down at her. “You ok?” he asks, and she doesn’t know how to answer that.
“I keep expecting to see her,” she says quietly, because how many times and she and her mother walked this very beach, talking about anything and everything, and, on more than one occasion, about Kyle specifically. “Even at the church today… I kept thinking that someone was going to come in and say it had all been a mistake…” He doesn’t say anything, just waits for her to continue, and she sighs, looking down. A memory of a long-ago dream comes to her, and she smiles softly. “She used to tease me about you… about how I should bring you here in fall, when the leaves turn… she used to tell me that it was a lovely time of the year to get married…”
Her mother had teased, but Diane had dreamed of that day, of the old-fashioned stone church, the fall foliage, walking down the aisle on her father’s arm to a waiting Kyle. That daydream had got her through who knows how many hours of Dr Gage’s grunt work, and even after they’d split up, it had taken her a long time to get over it.
And until recently, and especially since she got a phone call that turned her life upside down, she really thought she had.
Then she begged Kyle to come home with her, and her sister put them in the same room, and he hasn’t left her side since, and she doesn’t know where they stand anymore.
“I know.” Kyle’s words bring her back to reality, and her jaw drops. “Oh yeah…” he says, the corners of his lips twitching. “She said it to me too.”
Diane’s cheeks burn, but she’s laughing, because it would be so like her mother to do something like that. Besides, she’d always loved Kyle. “I’ve never seen her as disappointed as she was when we broke up,” she tells him now. “She always thought we’d get back together someday.”
He tilts his head, his gaze curious, and a shiver runs the length of Diane’s spine; one, she knows, that has nothing to do with temperature. The feel of his fingers, so gentle, on her cheek is good for another shiver, as is the low tone of his voice when he whispers, “Can I tell you something?” He pauses to allow her to nod, then continues in the same tone, “I always thought that too.”
Her heart rises into her throat, pushing tears up into her eyes, and she takes a deep breath, fighting for control. He must take the gesture as something else though, because he drops his hand, and though he doesn’t move physically, she can feel him withdrawing emotionally. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I shouldn’t have…”
“No!” The word comes out a touch more hysterical than she might have liked, and she makes a conscious effort to pull herself together, closing her eyes and taking another deep breath. “It’s not that… it’s just… it’s too much right now Kyle… and I can’t… I can’t…”
Tears have never been far from the surface these past few days, and they flow again now as he gathers her into his arms, his palms reaching underneath his jacket, splaying against her back. He holds her until the worst of her sobs subside, and then he shifts so that he can look into her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere,” he promises, cupping her face in his hands before pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I want you to know that.”
Diane’s heart is too full to allow her speak, so she simply nods, closing her eyes and burying her head in his shoulder. One of his hands makes slow circles on her back while the other plays with her hair, and she allows herself to relax, finally feeling warmth spreading through her.
For the first time in a long while, she feels safe, and happy, and loved.
For the first time in a long while, she feels like she’s home.
>*<*>*<
And in other news, I finally caved today and bought myself a decent printer! It's pretty and shiny and fast (considering my old one was older than Methuselah and would have to work up to being a piece of s***, I'm all asquee!)
