Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to use these characters. No copyright infringement intended. Summary: A love is blossoming before our eyes. Note: This is going to be an ongoing series of songfics, but all are standalones.
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LIKE A PRAYER
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Life is a mystery
Everyone must stand alone
I hear you call my name
And it feels like home
He cradles my life in his hands, and I feel the warmth of his love enfold around me. Tragedy has struck us close, more so for him, and yet he is the one providing comfort for me. Never had a man been so careful with my emotions, and still experience the angst right along with me. Today our lives ended, and then began again. Only this time, with careful precision and hearts.
His mother died today.
The death a devastating blow to his life, and to mine, and yet we had known it was inevitable. She had an inoperable brain tumor, which, with deaths cold grip, extracted someone so near and dear to us from our lives.
"Sheridan," he whispers softly, and I cuddle closer into his embrace. Up until this point in our relationship, he and I had "hated" each other. This situation, and the circumstances surrounding it, proves otherwise. I've never known such solace, and here I am supposed to be mourning someone who has been like a mother to me since childhood.
"Luis," I whisper back. "Let me comfort you." I say the words as though pleading to him. He loosens his angst-bestowed grip, and allows me to turn in his embrace. I hold his head to my chest as I situate us in better positions. His grip returns, and I feel a saddening hitch in his breath.
When you call my name it's like a little prayer
I'm down on my knees
I want to take you there
In the midnight hour I can feel your power
Just like a prayer you know I'll take you there
It's so late, must be close to midnight, and we've been holding each other since the funeral just after five this afternoon. It's bizarre, we can barely stand the presence of each other, but we've been holding each other for several hours.
Relinquishing my grasp on his shirt, I kneel down onto my knees from my spot on my pink couch, and hug his knees as if they've been neglected during this whole exchange of emotions. He looks down at me, and a smile plays across his lips for a blissful moment. By the time I gather the strength to return the smile, he's stood and has moved to the kitchen.
I'm still kneeling here on the floor, and then I hear an angel's voice call me to follow behind him, and I thank his sender that he hasn't distanced himself from me, and from this moment. I need this, as does he, and I need him to share it with me.
His voice lifts me to my feet, and I follow obediently, and when I find him there, he is gripping the counter near the sink with a death grip not unlike the one that held us the final moments of Pilar's life. I hear the splash of heavy tears falling against the steel of my sink, and I rush over there quickly to hug him from behind. My hands encircle his solid chest, and his hands loosen and one reaches up to hold my hands to his flesh.
I cry with him, and as my tears soak his t-shirt, his tears drip down my hands to gather at the tips of my fingertips before falling on the hard countertop. My eyes close, and his hands caress my hands and I swear if I hadn't had him to anchor me, I would have fallen right there.
Too late.
I've fallen so hard in love it's impossible to convince my heart otherwise. God, promise me that he loves me too, promise me that this moment won't end, and that I won't wake up and this was all a dream.
I hear your voice, it's like an angel sighing
I have no choice, I hear your voice
Feels like flying
I close my eyes, Oh God I think I'm falling
Out of the sky, I close my eyes
Heaven help me
He turns in my embrace, and his hands slip to cup my fingers in his, and I look up into his eyes, virtually expressing everything I'm feeling, have felt, and will feel in the next few moments. Our lives are combined, and as long as I live, I will help him through this, help his whole family. I love him, from this moment on, he is mine, and I am his. I hope.
His fingers climb the terrace of my flesh to hold my chin in his hand. I gasp, I wasn't expecting this but it certainly is not unwelcome. I hope that he doesn't pull away; I wouldn't be able to handle the future if that happened. I don't understand him, but I long to.
Like a child you whisper softly to me
You're in control just like a child
Now I'm dancing
It's like a dream, no end and no beginning
You're here with me it's like a dream
Let the choir sing
"Sheridan," his soft voice calls to me from behind his well-manicured mask of emotions. "Sheridan… I love you."
I think I've just died and gone to heaven. I've never felt such a swelling of emotion. I've read about it in those romance novels most claim they never read, but like the Grinch who stole Christmas, my heart has just swelled three times it's normal size.
"Baby…" I reply softly. Baby? How eleventh grade is that? But at this moment, that is what he is, a small infant in need of my love. And I would be stupid to deny someone so precious that. "I love you too."
Just like a prayer, your voice can take me there
Just like a muse to me, you are a mystery
Just like a dream, you are not what you seem
Just like a prayer, no choice your voice can take me
there
He looks up at me as if I'm some unfathomable creature. Obviously a welcome one, because he is grinning despite the fact that shortly before arriving at my cottage, we had been attending the burial of his mother. I've made exceptional progress, and I'm so proud of him. He doesn't get me, and I realize this, but he wishes he understood. It doesn't matter, he knows I love him now.
Just like a prayer, I'll take you there
It's like a dream to me
END
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