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Editor's note: The initial bits of communication are via text based communication from the terminal in Clara's office to the terminal in Riley's, and vice versa. Think ICQ, only snazzier. This log rates high on the angst and sap-o-meter, though, so if either isn't your cup of tea, turn back now.
Once again, graceful scripted font scrolls across the bottom of the monitor. "Still there abouts, sailor?" (to Riley)
Letter return, simple, blocky, and blue. "Yeah, getting nothing much done, still at your disposal."
In the same script, "Yeah, I'm about tapped out, too, although I'd rather not dispose of you. I'd rather steal you away for awhile. Anything you'd like to do? (to Riley)
"Anything you'd like to do, love." The letters return. "As long as you're there, I'll be noticing little else."
More script, "Have jeans and flannel in your office, by any chance? I'm thinking I'd like to be outside." (to Riley)
"Uh, yeah, I can manage that. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll be set."
"I'll be waiting for you in the lobby, second floor." (to Riley)
"On my way, love."
[travel to elevator lobby snipped]
Clara is leaning against the wall by the elevator, a penguin hugged to her chest in crossed arms, hair pulled back in a clip above her jacket.
Riley steps from security, hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans. Seeing you he offers something of a smile by way of greeting, pulling a hand from one pocket to offer it.
Clara wordlessly pushes away from the wall and unfolds her arms, transferring the penguin to one hand and taking the offered hand with the other, then taps at the call button with her elbow, returning the smile vaguely.
[more travel spam snipped]
You walk towards the Outside Copper Hill.
Outside Copper Hill
The quaint air of the Java Quarter can be found even here, outside the Steading. The road leading to outlying Steadings is wide and well-paved. Trees grow along the sides of the road, growing more profuse the farther the distance from the Steading. Occasionally, smaller, less-tended paths leave the main road.
Clara pauses upon making it into the open area, then abruptly starts to laugh, peering upwards at the rain, a sound of tension slipping away slightly to fall to the ground with each raindrop. "Of course...of course..."
Riley chuckles softly, reaching down to take your hand. "Come on, we can find a dry spot. There's an overhang near the lake, or we could go up to the roof and watch the rain one."
"No...I want to be outside. Even if it means getting drenched," Clara explains, squeezing your hand as she hides the penguin safely from the rain in her coat pocket. "Lead on, my love. I'll follow."
Riley heads to the east side of the lake, towards an outcropping of rocks, ducking low he dips into a low cave of sorts.
Clara follows along, free hand held out to catch at the rain before she ducks into the cave as well, pushing a mass of wet curls from her face. "Hi, there. Come here often, sailor?"
Riley shifts to lean against the back of the cave. It's relatively shallow, but there's still a decent amount of room. Which considering you're having to share with a sleeping duck, that's a good thing. He shifts back his own sopping curls. "Not often anymore. I did when I first came here."
Clara comes forward, carefully avoiding the duck to not disturb it, and kneels down in front of you, tugging the penguin from her pocket and holding it out with a wistful smile. "One of the settlers decided to emigrate home again." She glances overhead while pulling off her jacket. "A good place to think."
Riley grins ruefully at the penguin. Reaching into the other pocket he pulls out a small box of ironwood. The top has been carefully carved with a knot pattern. "Trade you?"
The box receives a slightly puzzled smile, but Clara nods agreeably and accepts it carefully while handing over the penguin. "What's this?" she asks, pushing back her hair again so as not to drip on said box.
Riley takes the penguin with a sheepish grin. "I'm going about it all wrong, mind. But well, the timing...and I didn't want you to leave without that. It's something of a tradition... Uh, it's easier to explain if you open it."
Clara looks even more puzzled, but nods gamely, settling down to sit tailor fashion before pulling open the box, glancing up before seeing its contents. "The box all by itself is utterly lovely," she offers quietly.
Inside the ironwood box is a carefully made ring. Sterling silver and gold bands intertwine in a series of wire thin knots, each daintily dizzying pattern eventually joining together to provide a seat for a single stone. The stone is a deep burgundy in hue, smooth faced, with mirrored depths reflecting the pattern of the knots. It is well polished, but there is something that implies age to the piece. Riley nods slightly, "My father...umm, the one that's Edreeni and is Cori's and not -really- mine at all made the box to hold the ring for Honalee. See, lifemating's not all that common. Honalee and my great-grandfather were, although she's been married since. I was asking for advice on a gift for you, and she sent me that. If I ever got up the guts to ask you to be my lifemate, I was to use it as my gifting. It's supposed to be later, but, well... I thought now was best."
Finally looking down at the box's contents, Clara's breath catches audibly, jaw falling slightly open in stunned reaction. "Oh..." seems to be all that comes out at first as she simply stares at the box in her hands, seemingly unable to move. "It's...beautiful doesn't describe it," she decides breathlessly, then snaps her eyes up to you intently. "Later?"
Riley nods a bit sheepishly, "I'm -supposed- to go ask your mother, see. And then... But uh, well... The timing seemed to be lacking. Honalee won't mind any though, she'll just be pleased one of the lot of us finally made good."
In the sky, The storm trickles off to a light drizzle, making rainbows and puddles everywhere.
"M-mother?" Laughter bubbles up, half ragged as tears join the rainwater still dripping from her hair. "Greg, darling...Mother's on Earth. I can try to hunt up my father?" she offers teasingly, finally extending one hand to rest on your knee. "No one else in your family's lifemated?"
Riley shakes his head, ignoring his own dripping curls. "Has to be your mother in your case." He chuckles, "I was figuring on comming, but well, this doesn't seem the time." He shifts, offering an arm for warmth and all. Kind of silly since he's shivering and hence isn't likely much of a source of it, but the thought's there. "There are some folks, but not anybody close to Honalee."
Clara shift around carefully to sit beside you, leaning in and resuming staring at the ring inside the box with utter wonder. "Mother would approve," she says softly. "Mother doesn't understand being with just one man...but she approves that we've reached an understanding." She glances up at you, worry flashing through her face. "You're cold? We can go back..."
Riley simply shifts around, slipping between you and the rock to provide a backrest. "A little, not too much. I don't want to go back, I want to stay out here with you, the penguin, and the duck."
Clara obligingly leans in against you, slipping one arm down and around the outside of your leg in a sort of hug as she goes back to watching the ring and shaking her head slowly. "It's the most beautiful ring I've ever seen. I...thank you, love. Thank you."
"I am glad you like it." Riley murmurs quietly, sounding rather relieved in fact. "You can take it with you, a little piece of here to go there."
Clara cranes her neck back to peer up at you seriously, the back of her head balanced at your shoulder. "I would take a piece of here with me, anyway. I have part of you to take with me...for the rest of my life." She shift slightly to one side, resuming looking at the box. "Is it to stay in the box or be worn? I'm afraid I don't know your customs for this..."
"It's up to you, a gifting isn't always a ring, not by any means. It's anything with some special meaning." Riley says softly, curling in still closer for warmth. "You can wear it, wear it on a chain, leave it in the box, tape it to a picture frame with electrical tape if you like. It's yours to do as you will."
"Well, there's always duct tape," Clara muses softly, then leans up with a faint smile to kiss your cheek before she slips the ring from the box and onto one finger. "If research is to be called for, I want it where I can see it while I'm working...and close," she adds, half turning in to attempt a hug. "Oh, Greg..."
Riley shifts his arms to facilitate the hug, squeezing you close. "Close, yes, even when we're that far apart."
Clara rests her face against your shirt for a long moment, motionless and quiet against you. Finally, the pattering remaining drizzle brings from her softly, "The rain's stopping. Do you think the clouds might clear?"
"They might soon enough." Riley speculates quietly, one hand pressed to your back. "It would be a good thing if they did."
"To see the stars through an atmosphere..." The words are so quiet as to not be heard by even as far away as the duck, arms tightening about you slightly, the box still in one of Clara's hands.
"If we wait here long enough...the clouds will clear up. Before you have to go, that much I'd lay odds on." Riley nuzzles your damp hair. "They'd better."
Clara pulls away enough to peer up at you, searching your face as if memorizing each detail. "It wouldn't matter if they didn't. What are the stars compared to seeing the man that holds my heart? I could live in clouds if I had you," she decides quietly.
Riley is having more and more trouble holding onto his composure as time passes. He has to pause to hang onto it. "Clara... I know it goes without saying, but...I will miss you. Terribly much so."
Clara starts to lift one hand, then smiles faintly upon realizing the box is in it, and takes a moment to slip it into her pocket before raising the hand to your face. "I'll miss you too," she agrees solemnly. "This is going to hurt, I think."
"Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable." Riley quotes softly. "Still, it's worth it to have you. I can wait forever if I must."
Clara lets her hand fall lightly to rest against your chest, just where the scar of surgery would be. "No broken hearts," she assures gently. "You have me, and you always will. There can only be one way to separate us now, and we won't think of that. I just wish...I wish dawn would never break."
Riley squeezes you very close indeed. He takes a long ragged breath. "No, we won't." He nods in a lost fashion, "To stay here and now forever."
Clara leans in again, shivering slightly as she stares blankly at the rock face not far away. "We have memories," she begins somewhat brokenly, her own composure showing faint fault lines.
Riley tries to offer heat, but he's in decided lack of it to offer. "And three years is not so long in the grand scheme..." His tone is unconvincing.
"Of course not," Clara agrees with a rather weak laugh. "You'll just barely be forty. That's just a kid with your genetics." The shivering increases slightly. "I just don't understand." The tone is that almost of a lost child, except without the childish innocence.
Riley tucks himself fully around you, trying to stave off the shivers. "I don't either love, I don't profess to even begin to. But I do understand that I love you."
Clara stops shivering, but only because she's finally lost that final tenuous hold on composure, tears mingling with the dampness of your shirt from the rain. "And I love you, so much...I never knew this was possible," she tries to explain helplessly.
Now that you've lost it, Riley is having more trouble holding onto his own. But somehow he's managing, although he's the one shivering now with the effort. "I love you too, more than I have words for in any language." He brushes at your hair with his hand. "So much..."
Well beyond words for several moments, Clara simply clings to you, fingers locking at the back of your shirt. For some time, the only sound is that of the rain until she manages, "No words. None. Like describing hyper...or sunshine...I -don't- want to go."
Riley rocks back and forth gently, murmuring soft endearments in a consoling fashion as he holds you. "I do not wish for you to leave either. Having found my heart's keeper, to see her leave so soon?"
Clara starts to regain that lost grip on tenuous composure, inhaling slow and uneven gasps as she dashes at her face with one hand. "I'm coming back," she decides with quiet finality. "I'll resign if I have to. I'm coming back."
"You're coming back, yes." And there's a decided tone of desperation in Riley's words. "Everything will be right again."
Clara snuggles closer, arms tightening about you almost protectively. "Will you go to the spaceport with me tomorrow? Or would you rather not...?"
"I would only stay away if you told me to do so, and then I would cheat and watch on the monitors." Riley says quietly, "They may steal you away from me, but I would fain have every minute with you I am allowed."
"I want you there," Clara supplies softly. "You will take care of yourself when I'm gone? Remember to eat? Spend time with Anya...Niko...everyone?"
"It will be as you wish it. Although I will not vouch for time spent with others during Lexington's term. The less they are seen with me, the better. But afterwards...and eating, yes." Riley is quiet a moment, "You will behave likewise?"
"Eating? In space?" Clara attempts a soft laugh, but doesn't release you a bit. "I might be able to start eating in about three days after the shuttle ride. Maybe if I pack a whole bunch of gyros..."
Riley sighs softly, trying to quell his shivers and stroke your hair at the same time. "Still, to try is a goodness. I wish you to come back to me after all..."
"I will come back to you," Clara promises emphatically, rubbing at your back lightly. "I swear by all that I hold holy, I will come back to you. And then I will never leave you again."
The problem with shivering, is it's not helped by the deepening chill of the evening. Still Riley manages to get it at least tamed. "Everything will be all right. There will be a happy ending. It just takes time is all."
Clara stretches up slightly to attempt a kiss, a measure of desperation in the gesture. "Take me home, knight in shining armor? It's getting cold, and I don't want you to get sick."
Riley just nods agreement, not bothering to vocalize his agreement, he clambers from the mouth of the cave and into the drizzle, offering you a hand up.
Clara accepts the hand up after pulling her coat on. She pulls in close for a moment, just looking up at you for a long moment, then laces her fingers through yours, content to let you lead.
Riley tucks the penguin under his other arm, tilting his head down and slogging
[travel snipped]
Riley pads up to the elevator, oblivious to the puddles he's causing.
Clara follows along, not paying much attention to her own rather damp clothing dripping on the floor either.
[more travel to 3rd floor]
Riley seems somewhat at a loss having reached this point, and glances to you for direction.
Clara shakes her head, somewhat equally at a loss. She glances down one hallway, then the other, then pulls you towards the I hallway. "Home," she murmurs seriously.
Riley unlocks the door to room I16 and goes inside.
You unlock the door and go into room I16.
Riley can't quite help a vague smile at the declaration of home, but rummages in the closet, offering you dry clothes.
Clara accepts the clothing, staring at it somewhat vaguely as if uncertain what she's looking at for a moment, then peers back up, holding out her free hand wordlessly to your face.
Riley attempts to explain, "Figured you'd want to get warm and dry. Cold and all."
Clara simply nods and turns away to head into the necessary for a few moments, finally coming back out in the t-shirt that hangs nearly to her knees, toweling her hair dry. "You went and nudged laundry into action?"
Riley has used the opportunity of your absence to change into a t-shirt and shorts, setting aside his own dripping gear. He tugs back the blankets in offering. "Yeah, although they've been good about t-shirts. Just not the shorts and jeans and stuff."
Clara hooks the towel on the back of the chair before coming over to join you, standing at the side of the bed a moment and resting her hands on your shoulders. "T-shirts are a good thing to have. Mine are all that lovely shade of khaki," she explains, mind obviously not in her words.
Riley clambers beneath the blankets, making space for you. "Come get warm? Curl up for once last night?"
Clara glances up somberly, calling the light off quietly before slipping into the bed beside you, lying on her back. Her head tilts to one side to regard you in the faint light. "You have the most amazing eyes in the dark," she notes softly.
Riley shifts in close around you, dragging blankets up in an attempt to garner heat. "The better to see you with my dear?"
Clara can't help but laugh quietly, helping to pull the blankets up as she smiles up at you. "I won't make any comments about teeth, then. That'd just give way to far more puns that even I couldn't manage." She sobers, swallowing heavily as she lifts a hand to your face. "I can't believe this is our last night."
Riley curls altogether around you, taking a long shuddering breath. "Even touched by the bitterness of impending separation, any time spent with you is terribly wonderful. Especially curled up with you like this, when I had thought this was never to be to begin with."
Clara slips her arms about your waist, pulling in closer and closing her eyes tightly in denial. "Every day is sweeter because I know it ends like this, here in your arms. Waking up with you, knowing your office is down the hall in Security. When I loved you, and we couldn't admit it..."
"It will be okay, everything is okay in the end. Has to be." Riley settles around you, hands gently rubbing at your back. "Rest now? A long flight and all..."
A quiet laugh sounds at your shoulder, followed by the ghost of a kiss at your jaw. "I'll be resting on the flight. I already have the sedative packed." Her voice breaks slightly on the last word. "Did you remember to sign my orders?"
Okay, -that- does it. Riley is quiet a moment, trying desperately to hang onto what little control he has left. He just nods at first. "I ... the hardest thing I've ever done."
"I'm so sorry," Clara ventures, voice pained in profound apology. "If there'd been anyone else..." she begins, then simply tightens her arms.
"Not your fault." Riley curls in close, "Not your fault. My wonderful Clare, not her fault."
"Only you and the dog rank me, and he didn't want to sign," Clara murmurs against your hair in saddened humor. "I'll comm you when I get to my quarters at the station," she promises.
Riley mmhmms softly. His hand still gently rubs at your back. The shock has really set in and hard, especially combined with the drenching and he's sounding less than coherent. "Thank you, knowing is good, knowing is better..."
"Riley," Clara starts quietly. "I...I have to know that you'll be all right. Promise me you're going to...you'll..." She exhales a mournful sigh, at a loss for words as she gives up on them and instead kisses you emphatically.
Riley returns the kiss, relieved at not having to come up with an answer for that. It's returned with quiet desperation, careful but thorough.
Clara is rather breathless at the conclusion, expression and voice both lost in the dark. "I've never depended on anyone before," she murmurs. "And now I can't remember being alone."
"Not alone, even far apart, not alone." Riley murmurs softly if less than coherently. "Any time you're lonely, ping me, comm me, something. No matter what time it is..."
Clara tangles her hand in your hair, setting the damp curls to disarray before smoothing it again. "Same goes for you sailor. Anytime, night or day. That's relative station-side anyway." Several moments of silence pass as she continues to work through your hair. "You should sleep, darling."
"Not just yet," Riley murmurs, "I can sleep when you're gone. For now I want to know what s'like t'hold you. So I don' f'rget."
"You won't forget," Clara replies with quiet intensity, pulling in as closely as possible. "Close your eyes at night, concentrate, and this will return...this warmth, this comfort. And if you need to find it elsewhere," she interrupts this with another light kiss, "please do. I'll understand."
Riley shakes his head at that, "Clara, th'only other person that's ever been in this bed s'Pen. Now while I won't say I won't let him in while y'gone, can guarantee he's the only one. He's not m'type either...He hasta' sleep at th'bottom."
"Dogs are good company," Clara agrees, unable to stifle the smile that's plainly audible in her voice. "Sleep, darling. I'm here tonight. We'll fight dawn together, the both of us." She rest her forehead against yours. "I love you, Greg."
"Love you too a'trezla mine," And Riley does at last sleep, although he'll hate himself for it later. Too many sleepless nights, shock, and rain are combing. Plus a sense of safety in your presence. It's a strong mix.
Clara shifts slightly to rest her face in your hair, sleep far from capturing her as well, as she stares blankly, never letting go for an instant. "My a'trez," she murmurs after a time, then falls silent to wait for dawn.