| Believe - A New Year's Eve | ||
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Pausing to catch her breath, Aeris raised her gaze towards the heavens. Bright pinpoints of light glittered against a backdrop of black velvet, like droplets of diamond tears, and she sighed, watching the breath mist and blur the lights. It wasn't, she thought as she started walking along once again, it wasn't that she disliked winter. In fact, she loved nature in all her guises, only... She blew on her hands even though it was a useless gesture, considering that she had gloves on, but still, it was something to try to keep herself warm. Obviously it wasn't much use trying to distract herself by watching and admiring the cold beautiful sky. Only in winter could you see the stars in such crystalline sharpness, but she could see the stars from the comforts of her home as well, not out walking so late. She should have taken the car. Her boots snicked on the flat snow and she glanced at the road. Packed snow, just as it had been since this afternoon. It had begun to snow late last night, according to the weather report, and she had woken up this morning to a winter storm in full force, covering the city in the white powder. It had been lovely to watch the unrestrained force of nature at work, the snow flakes dancing by madly... Lovely, that was, until she remembered that she had to go out today of all days to deliver some flowers. If it had been any other customer on any other day, she would have called them and told them that delivery was not possible, not in this weather, but hearing the weather report, she knew she had to at least make the attempt. Just as the weatherman had predicted, the storm abated late in the morning and cleared by two o'clock in the afternoon. The snow plowers had been hard at work since the morning, but not as diligently as they might have been because today was a sunday, and most people could stay home and should. So the road conditions were not as good as they could have been, let alone the side streets that she had to get through today. As a result, she had opted to walk instead of taking the car. After all, her comfy old car wasn't a four wheeler that could take the snow covered and packed roads. She had discovered that last winter when she had tried to negotiate some tricky roads and hills making holiday flower deliveries. Usually, she did not make it her habit to deliver flowers, but she did allow exceptions for people she cared for. Besides, she liked delivering flowers personally and seeing the warmth suffuse people's faces as they received the lovely gifts. However much she loved personal deliveries though, she had refrained from taking too many orders this winter, learning from her experiences last year.
She could only pray that she helped a little to stay the child on this side, but more than flowers from the father, the child needed his presence itself! But she was being unfair. She knew and understood that he loved the child as much as, or more than any other father, only that his business held a stranglehold over his own life so that he could not make it even for this holiday... He had promised though. Swore that even though he couldn't make it for Christmas, that he would come home for the New Year's eve and stay for at least three weeks, that he would come on the New Year's eve to celebrate it with his daughter. The flowers had been for that occasion. Only when she finally reached the hospital at three o'clock, the nurse had told her that a call had come in from the father to say that he might not make it back until a few days later and please tell his child that he was sincerely sorry and that he loved her. A few days later! Didn't he know, understand, that one day was too long for a child? That a few hours, minutes, even seconds dragged on even for someone who had waited so long? Stomping angrily, Aeris nearly lost her footing beneath her as she turned a corner and started up a steep hill. And why wasn't this hill plowed better? She glared at the fluffy snow stretching up ahead of her, knowing that she was being unreasonable, but she couldn't help it. Just the fact that the child had put up such a brave front threatened to drown her with her own tears. If she had been in a like situation, she might as well have thrown a tantrum! But no, the sweet child, after hiding that instant of sadness that even she couldn't quite conceal, had smiled watery up at her and thanked her for the flowers... "Miss Gainsborough?" A questioning call caught her midstride, and slipping to an uncertain halt, Aeris realized that an SUV had purred to a stop near her and that she was just about to stride by when the driver of the vehicle stopped her. Hmph! An SUV! Feeling irrationally irritated, she turned her attention to the person who had called to her. For a moment, her mind blanked out, staring into deep maroon eyes. . . . Blood... A gaping emptiness that slowly filled with crimson... . . .
"Dr. Valentine!" she had to drag the name from her memory even though recognition of the face itself had struck her the instant she saw him. It was difficult to associate "Valentine" with this quiet seeming man... "Just Vincent will do, Miss Gainsborough," he replied with a faint smile that never seemed to reach the depth of his unreadable maroon eyes. "May I give you a lift?" "Well..." hesitating, Aeris forebore to reply immediately. It wasn't that she distrusted the man, but he was so inscrutable, even to her, and having lived among mortals for so long, she did not meet many who were so unreadable to her. At the same time, she wasn't in the best of moods to spend time in a company... She needed some time alone to cool her head off, didn't she? A faint light that could have been amusement lit up the inscrutable eyes as the lips twitched into a slanted smile. "I don't bite, Miss Gainsborough," he said, then paused reflectively. "At least, not when I just had dinner." Stung, she lifted her chin a little, although aware that heat had crept into her cheeks and hoping that in the dark the man wouldn't notice. "I was merely concerned that my place might be out of your way." "Not at all," he replied gallantly, and although he no longer smiled, the glow remained in his gaze. "Then I'm gladly taking up on your offer," she grinned up at him. "It is a bit cold tonight." Skipping around to the passenger side, Aeris happily snuggled herself into the warm car. In her anger, she had forgotten about the cold, but now she realized how chilled her body had become out in the snow covered landscape. "Thank you very much!" Feeling gratified all over, she turned her face and met his silent gaze as he regarded her. Flushing a little, she drew back a little, puzzled. "Um...Dr... I mean, Vincent...?" He did not reply for a second before turning back to the wheel. She had an image of him shaking himself from some reverie although he had not moved. "Your seatbelt, Miss Gainsborough," was all he said, and she blushingly buckled up, fumbling a little. "You don't have to keep on calling me Miss Gainsborough," Aeris chattered raplidly to cover her confusion as the car started climbing the snow packed hill. "Makes me sound like an old aunt. Everyone calls me Aeris." "Do they?" She saw the eyebrow rise a hair width while something seemed to stretch a corner of his lips, and she flushed, wondering what on earth was coming over her. "Tell me, Miss... Aeris," he spared a glance towards her, and she snapped her gaze away, realizing that she had been staring at his handsome profile. "What were you doing out so late and walking all alone?" At the question, Aeris felt the anger return again. Anger and sorrow for the child who had smiled so tremulously at her today... "I was visiting someone at the hospital," she replied shortly although she didn't mean to be snappish. "Ah, I see..." A curious glance. "You were visiting the hospital in November too, if I recall correctly," he continued neutrally, "I hope no one is seriously ill?" "No," she exhaled her answer and reclaimed it again, "Yes, actually, she is." "Hmmm... Do you happen to deliver flowers?" he asked inconsequentially, and she stared at him even though his eyes were trained on the road. "Well...yes, but is there some occasion that you want to send flowers for?" Her question seemed to startle him, and he quickly glanced at her to see her staring at him. "Do I seem such an unlikely person to send flowers?" "Oh, n-no, I didn't mean it that way," she hastily denied although on later reflection she thought she might have said yes, he didn't look the type to send flowers much unless... Well, no matter. "It's just that the question seemed to come out from nowhere..." Turning down a road, he switched the light to high beam. Automatically noting his actions, Aeris came to a startled realization that she hadn't given him directions yet he was driving as if he knew the way already... "Is there a backway to your home, or do you go in from the front?" he asked, confirming her suspicion that he knew exactly where her place was. "How do you know my place?" she demanded in dawning suspicion, but he shrugged slightly, ignoring the doubt in her voice. "I try to remember anywhere that I've been to once," he explained in a matter of fact tone, and perhaps it was, to him, although she could not imagine how anyone could do that since she herself tended to get lost while driving. Walking was a different matter, and she could retrace her steps usually... "So do I just pull up in front of your shop?" Puzzling over the idea, Aeris nodded distractedly before realizing that he probably couldn't see the action. "Yes, the front'll be fine. There's a small driveway by the side of the shop that leads to my house." He seemed to reflect for a moment, then nodded as if he found the driveway in some corner of his mind. "So where did the flower delivery question come from?" she prompted when the man seemed to fall into a natural reverie. As if swimming out of his thoughts, it took him a moment to answer. "Oh, that?" He hmmmmed, a quirk tugging at his lips. "What is it?" she demanded, a sense of merriment rubbing off on her although she had no idea how she knew that it was amusement that glinted in his eyes. "I have always wondered who this 'flower lady' was." The headlight crossed over her flower shop as the SUV turned into the driveway that she had just cleared this afternoon. Her eyes followed the light and automatically noted the powdery snow that rested on the hedges. " ' Flower lady ' ...?" she repeated slowly, dragging her eyes from the light into the darkness where the maroon eyes seemed to glow at her. "A pale pink rose and lily of the valley, I think?" "What..." she breathed, the image of the bouquet still clear in her mind as the child took it in her small hands... "I think you'll be happy to know that the father did make it tonight, and that she was still awake when he came running in despite the nurses trying to tell him not to disturb the other patients," he went on, his eyes full of warmth as he watched incredulous happiness slowly brighten her own eyes. "I've given him permission to take her home next sunday." He had parked the car and she could see his face in the faint glow from the headlight reflected back from the garage door. "You've what...?" "She seemed to have recovered from the last dregs of her disease the moment she saw him," he concluded with a huge grin as Aeris stared at him and tears gathered in the lumious eyes. "Do you need a handker-" About to offer his ever neatly folded handkerchief, he broke off with a woof! as she threw her arms around him in a tight, tight hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she sobbed over and over, unable to contain the elation and the relief as she clung to him. Even though he could not know, even though no human could know how hard it was to see so many people fade away and die, always meeting people and fearing to care for them because she knew she would inevitably lose them, she still cared and loved the frail mortal creatures, and to know that this little one lived and would live out at least her full lifespan! The little ones faded away so much more easily without love, and she had feared so much for the child although she never gave up or lost her faith. To know that the little one's faith was rewarded! "You have only human tenacity to live, to thank for," Vincent whispered softly with amusement and amazement in his voice. The human capacity to love, to care enough to love, it always amazed him and that love made him stay among human beings aside from the need to feed. Even this warm armful now, who, in an overflow of emotion, embraced him, made him glad that he found her tonight. The overflow of love and affection that radiated from her bathed him in a human warmth that he had not felt for centuries, and he gently held her until she calmed down enough. Feeling the spasmodic shuddering in the slender frame fade away, Vincent regretfully started to pull back only to hold still as she hugged him more tightly. "She wouldn't have made it without you, Vincent," she spoke fiercely, her voice husky from crying. "I know she was afraid of the operation that cured her, but you talked her into it and watched over her from the beginning. She always talked about the doctor who came at night and chased away all the bad things, her fears, the nightmares," she paused and chuckled, "even the monster under her bed." Not denying the fact, he rested his head against hers, listening to the sound of her blood running in her veins. He could hear and feel the steady heartbeat through the soft warmth resting against him, even through all the clothing, and he closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the life of the woman in his arms. "I don't know why, but I've always cared for the girl ever since I met her," she continued softly, "and I always prayed that she would live through each day, each week, each year of her life, and I couldn't stand watching her always hovering between life and death, between her father and her mother..." She sighed, and he felt and followed the sigh relax her still tense body. "She's well and come over the threshold to this side for now," he told her, hating himself for the added "for now" but unable to prevent himself. How many mortals had he seen pass away and was himself the cause of their deaths? Abruptly, the young woman pulled away and stared into his eyes. He had no idea what she saw there, but whatever it was, it made her smile, an astonishingly lovely smile like an unexpected blossoming of a flower in winter. "It's enough, for now," she returned, repeating his words but not in irony, but because it was enough, just, for now. Something seemed to illuminate his mind, but only for a fleeting moment and it faded away as she completely pulled back, her eyes widening in surprise and chagrin as she looked at the time. Embarrassment crept into her milk white complexion as she gave him a slanted glance. "I hope you weren't on your way someplace..." Turning his eyes to the clock on the dashboard even though he could tell roughly what time it was without it, Vincent shook his head. "Don't worry about the time. I haven't planned anything tonight even though it's my day..." he chuckled at his own expression, "I mean, my night off. You never know when they might need another doctor, especially when most of them are probably away celebrating." "Celebrating...?" parotting the word, she gave a gasp, looking at the time again. "It's already next year! I mean...I mean..." "Yes, I know what you mean," he put in with a teasing laugh as she floundered for words. "Happy new year, Aeris," he offered with a smile. How long had it been since he had smiled so naturally without inhibition, so continually that he thought his face might break if he smiled longer? How was it that this woman...no, more like a girl, made him so warm all over as if she knew exactly how to make him forget what he was, and just be for the moment? "Happy new year to you too, Vincent," she replied laughingly, hugging him again. "I know it's going to be a great year!" |