still in bed seems something of a miracle… not for the same reasons as it would have in past years, when to lie in bed long after the sun was up ( even if no more than metaphorically ) was a rare luxury. no, the miracle is rather that he is here, in soft bed, with blankets and a pillow beneath his head. ❛ funny, how over a week without a bed can change your perspective on things. I might just lie here forever. ❜ for all his efforts to be lighthearted, to joke about something far too grim for words, john knows he falls far short of the mark.
he does not mean it, not truly, though his body feels heavy, his motions lethargic, requiring far more energy than he wishes to expend. he fights through his body’s resistance, however, enough to prop himself up, to take the glass of water from her, fingers lingering for a moment upon hers before taking their place. ❛ how long have I been asleep? ❜ it is all too sore a subject, the passage of time. the lies and manipulations of his interrogator leave all too raw a wound, but he trusts the answer from her.
the water is cold and clear when he takes a sip, and in a rare moment since his freeing, he fears neither brackish taste nor surreptitious poison. ❛ I guess the world hasn’t ended, yet? ❜ except it had, it had, and all would remain topsy-turvy. he is unsure that earth can ever be the same.
the brief touch is not nearly enough to placate the longing which she has felt in the past few weeks; in the span of a year, she has twice had to adjust to the possibility that she will never see john sheridan alive again in this lifetime, and her heart nearly stopped beating the first time. there was no possibility of stopping this time. she fought each day, readying the white star fleet for the final battle according to his plans, trying to work herself into a state where thoughts of him would stop haunting her, but it was no use.
sitting down on the bed next to him, fingers clasped on her lap, she gives the contraption a thoughtful look. “ while i am still not sure if i approve of these... human beds, i would not be opposed to such a plan. ” she had once told him he would get himself killed, and there would be no more dinners, a tactful way of reminding him of his mortality, and expressing her desire, even before she had worn his ring on her finger, to share such precious moments with him.
“ it has not. there are still matters to discuss, and alliances to be finalized, and earth will need time to heal, but it will heal. ”