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areyougameTitle: Five Happy Endings Mia and Diego Never Had
Author:lythdan
Rating: T
Warnings: Character death, although I suppose that's a given!
Word count: 1464
Summary:
Isn't it strange how Fate can lead you down twisted paths which all lead to the same place?
There were so many points in Mia and Diego's relationship that could have changed their future forever. Here are some of those stories.
A/N I probably have an odd definition of 'happy ending'
1. Diego's sleight-of-hand is not well-practiced; his fingers tremble as he switches the cups of coffee on the table. The red-haired devil's attention is only diverted for a moment but he hopes that it will be enough. She turns back to him with a smile stretched too sweetly, tightening the corners of her eyes with suspicion she cannot disguise. "Your hands are shaking," she adominishes before leaning in to pat his forearm. He can smell her perfume; floral and saccharine.
His stomach churns. "This'll be today's seventeeth cup."
There's a dangerous pause but then she accepts the lie. Diego can feel the relief roll off him in waves even before his success is assured. Doing his best to prevent his shoulders to slump in victory he instead waits with bated breath as Dahlia's pride allows her to take the first sip.
Oh, he is going to Hell but it is worth it: he will remember that glare of pure indignant fury until the day he dies.
She didn't think he would play dirty.
She was wrong.
In all the chaos that unfolds afterwards, Diego kisses Mia Fey deeply, soundly, for the very first time, blood roaring with the rush of being alive. When she breaks away but holds him close and asks What have you done, Diego kisses her again.
He cannot, will not, answer her.
2. For the first two weeks Mia barely leaves Diego's side and all the days are blurred together. Eventually, her friends and coworkers pry her away from her deathbed vigil in order to reacquaint her with her life. "You can still grieve," they sooth, but she hears the words loud and clear in what has been left unsaid. The world keeps on turning.
Mia doesn't like the word 'grieve', doesn't like the way they speak about him as though he's already dead. She sees Diego every evening after work for a while, but then everyone else is right: life gets in the way. Daily visits become thrice a week, thrice a week becomes every Sunday. She might be busy, but Sunday was always the time they had carved away for just the two of them, and she sees no reason to change that just because he's ill.
Because he's dying.
Because he might never, ever get better.
People are fond of telling her that time heals all wounds, but Mia's take on that particular platitude has shifted these last few months. Time does nothing but teach you how to swallow bitter truths.
It is the Sunday of the twenty-eighth week and Mia is telling Diego a story about her search for her mother, which she could never ever confide in anyone else. She holds his cool, pale hand in her own, because it is what they did, what they do. When she entertwines their fingers she can almost, almost pretend everything is normal, that Diego is only sleeping.
Mia finishes her tale, head bowed as emotion threatens to overwhelm her. Her throat swells with withheld tears as her fingers clench around Diego's hand. "I want to give up."
When Diego's fingers dig into her skin she assumes she is imaginging things. Then the machines go haywire and her lover's eyes peel open. He is weak and fragile but determined. No illness or injury could erase the passion in Diego's gaze. His voice is raw but clear. "Don't."
The only word Mia gets out before the doctors and nurses push past her is "never".
It is enough.
3. Mia Fey is still alive when he awakens from him coma, but she, and the world, have moved on without him. The nurses told him that she used to come by every day, but that over time, the visits had tapered off.
This year, she hadn't visited him at all.
It shouldn't hurt him to hear but it does, and his heart burns with directionless rage. He hates that bitch, Dahlia Hawthorne, for putting him in this position. He hates the legal system, for allowing the likes of her to get away with things for far too long.
But mostly, he hates himself.
It's a curious mix of feelings, the self-loathing and the selfishness. Wanting the best for himself but not believing he deserves it. Perhaps if he'd been a better man he wouldn't find himself at the doorstep of the Fey & Co law offices this evening, hand poised on the handle as though he has any fucking idea what he's going to say. He almost leaves, because she is better off unburdened with his problems.
That's when he hears the scream.
His body reacts automatically, door flying open and he doesn't really remember what happens next, but there's yelling and thumping and the intruder's weight pinned underneath him on the floor. "Call the police," Diego growls, nudging his phone out of his pocket across the floor where Mia sits still in ashy-faced shock. "Now!"
Her fingers fumble 911 and Diego wonders who had been the bigger surprise tonight: the attempted murderer or the boyfriend, back from the dead. He finds that he doesn't really want an answer to that question.
Mia seems to take the situation in for a few more moments, some color returning to her skin. She still looks at him as though she can't believe her eyes, but finally, she speaks. "Lucky I forgot to lock the door," she mumbles and then it doesn't matter that the cops haven't arrived yet, or that he still has no clue what to tell her, but he can feel himself shed his armor of pent-up rage.
Coming here was worth it if only to hear her voice again.
4. Ever since her death, Mia has grown accustomed to being pulled into the living world whenever her nearest and dearest are in trouble. This channelling is different. Oh, she's still in Maya's body but she's in one of the last places she expected her little sister to return to. Although, given everything that's happened, maybe it's not so strange after all.
The man sitting on the floor across from her, knees pulled into his chest, is also one of the last people she'd anticipated seeing in Kurain's Chanelling Chamber.
Yet here they are.
"Diego," Mia murmurs, the corner of her mouth curling upwards into an amused smile. "What are you doing here?"
He doesn't look up at her before he answers. "Mia, I failed."
With those three little words the situation becomes all the more clear. Maya likes to help and Diego needs closure. Mia kneels across from him, wanting to touch, but refraining. "You didn't."
Diego jerks his head insistently. "I did. I wasn't there for you when you needed me most."
Years and a literal lifetime might separate them, but at the heart of matters Diego has hardly changed. For a fleeting moment Mia's heart seizes with guilt but then she remembers she only owes him his freedom. "You didn't," she repeats again, and this time she reaches out, placing a hand on his forearm. "You have to understand. I did not need you." She raises a hand as Diego opens his mouth to interrupt. "I wanted you. I still do."
She watches Diego's face as a sob catches in his throat. "I miss you," he chokes, fingers clenching around nothing.
Mia's response is simple. "I know."
5. Before he'd met Mia, Diego hadn't believed in life after death. What a fool he'd been. Luckily, he'd never expressed his views aloud for if he had he was sure he would now be wearing an egg on his face.
Insofar as Heaven has breakfast foods, anyway.
Something that was never in short supply around these parts were coffee. Here, Diego had been reunited with all of his special blends, and he'd even made a new one, a final one. This one did not have an assigned number, but instead, a name: Mia.
He can see her across the room, which looks a lot like the cafe in which they had their first proper date. He's startled to see that she looks close to crying. With a steaming hot brew in each hand he makes his way to the table, setting down a cup in front of Mia where she sits. "Kitten, don't," he soothes, and in response, she smiles up at him blearily.
"Remember what you told me the day of my first trial?"
How could he forget? But he holds his tongue and instead waits for Mia to continue.
"A lawyer never cries until it's all over." Her smile widens and her tears start to slip down her cheeks. "And it's finally, finally, over." She grasps one of Diego's hand in her own and rises, and Diego follows suit.
Though Fate had lead them on a twisted path, they would finally have their happy ending.
Author:
lythdanRating: T
Warnings: Character death, although I suppose that's a given!
Word count: 1464
Summary:
Isn't it strange how Fate can lead you down twisted paths which all lead to the same place?
There were so many points in Mia and Diego's relationship that could have changed their future forever. Here are some of those stories.
A/N I probably have an odd definition of 'happy ending'
1. Diego's sleight-of-hand is not well-practiced; his fingers tremble as he switches the cups of coffee on the table. The red-haired devil's attention is only diverted for a moment but he hopes that it will be enough. She turns back to him with a smile stretched too sweetly, tightening the corners of her eyes with suspicion she cannot disguise. "Your hands are shaking," she adominishes before leaning in to pat his forearm. He can smell her perfume; floral and saccharine.
His stomach churns. "This'll be today's seventeeth cup."
There's a dangerous pause but then she accepts the lie. Diego can feel the relief roll off him in waves even before his success is assured. Doing his best to prevent his shoulders to slump in victory he instead waits with bated breath as Dahlia's pride allows her to take the first sip.
Oh, he is going to Hell but it is worth it: he will remember that glare of pure indignant fury until the day he dies.
She didn't think he would play dirty.
She was wrong.
In all the chaos that unfolds afterwards, Diego kisses Mia Fey deeply, soundly, for the very first time, blood roaring with the rush of being alive. When she breaks away but holds him close and asks What have you done, Diego kisses her again.
He cannot, will not, answer her.
2. For the first two weeks Mia barely leaves Diego's side and all the days are blurred together. Eventually, her friends and coworkers pry her away from her deathbed vigil in order to reacquaint her with her life. "You can still grieve," they sooth, but she hears the words loud and clear in what has been left unsaid. The world keeps on turning.
Mia doesn't like the word 'grieve', doesn't like the way they speak about him as though he's already dead. She sees Diego every evening after work for a while, but then everyone else is right: life gets in the way. Daily visits become thrice a week, thrice a week becomes every Sunday. She might be busy, but Sunday was always the time they had carved away for just the two of them, and she sees no reason to change that just because he's ill.
Because he's dying.
Because he might never, ever get better.
People are fond of telling her that time heals all wounds, but Mia's take on that particular platitude has shifted these last few months. Time does nothing but teach you how to swallow bitter truths.
It is the Sunday of the twenty-eighth week and Mia is telling Diego a story about her search for her mother, which she could never ever confide in anyone else. She holds his cool, pale hand in her own, because it is what they did, what they do. When she entertwines their fingers she can almost, almost pretend everything is normal, that Diego is only sleeping.
Mia finishes her tale, head bowed as emotion threatens to overwhelm her. Her throat swells with withheld tears as her fingers clench around Diego's hand. "I want to give up."
When Diego's fingers dig into her skin she assumes she is imaginging things. Then the machines go haywire and her lover's eyes peel open. He is weak and fragile but determined. No illness or injury could erase the passion in Diego's gaze. His voice is raw but clear. "Don't."
The only word Mia gets out before the doctors and nurses push past her is "never".
It is enough.
3. Mia Fey is still alive when he awakens from him coma, but she, and the world, have moved on without him. The nurses told him that she used to come by every day, but that over time, the visits had tapered off.
This year, she hadn't visited him at all.
It shouldn't hurt him to hear but it does, and his heart burns with directionless rage. He hates that bitch, Dahlia Hawthorne, for putting him in this position. He hates the legal system, for allowing the likes of her to get away with things for far too long.
But mostly, he hates himself.
It's a curious mix of feelings, the self-loathing and the selfishness. Wanting the best for himself but not believing he deserves it. Perhaps if he'd been a better man he wouldn't find himself at the doorstep of the Fey & Co law offices this evening, hand poised on the handle as though he has any fucking idea what he's going to say. He almost leaves, because she is better off unburdened with his problems.
That's when he hears the scream.
His body reacts automatically, door flying open and he doesn't really remember what happens next, but there's yelling and thumping and the intruder's weight pinned underneath him on the floor. "Call the police," Diego growls, nudging his phone out of his pocket across the floor where Mia sits still in ashy-faced shock. "Now!"
Her fingers fumble 911 and Diego wonders who had been the bigger surprise tonight: the attempted murderer or the boyfriend, back from the dead. He finds that he doesn't really want an answer to that question.
Mia seems to take the situation in for a few more moments, some color returning to her skin. She still looks at him as though she can't believe her eyes, but finally, she speaks. "Lucky I forgot to lock the door," she mumbles and then it doesn't matter that the cops haven't arrived yet, or that he still has no clue what to tell her, but he can feel himself shed his armor of pent-up rage.
Coming here was worth it if only to hear her voice again.
4. Ever since her death, Mia has grown accustomed to being pulled into the living world whenever her nearest and dearest are in trouble. This channelling is different. Oh, she's still in Maya's body but she's in one of the last places she expected her little sister to return to. Although, given everything that's happened, maybe it's not so strange after all.
The man sitting on the floor across from her, knees pulled into his chest, is also one of the last people she'd anticipated seeing in Kurain's Chanelling Chamber.
Yet here they are.
"Diego," Mia murmurs, the corner of her mouth curling upwards into an amused smile. "What are you doing here?"
He doesn't look up at her before he answers. "Mia, I failed."
With those three little words the situation becomes all the more clear. Maya likes to help and Diego needs closure. Mia kneels across from him, wanting to touch, but refraining. "You didn't."
Diego jerks his head insistently. "I did. I wasn't there for you when you needed me most."
Years and a literal lifetime might separate them, but at the heart of matters Diego has hardly changed. For a fleeting moment Mia's heart seizes with guilt but then she remembers she only owes him his freedom. "You didn't," she repeats again, and this time she reaches out, placing a hand on his forearm. "You have to understand. I did not need you." She raises a hand as Diego opens his mouth to interrupt. "I wanted you. I still do."
She watches Diego's face as a sob catches in his throat. "I miss you," he chokes, fingers clenching around nothing.
Mia's response is simple. "I know."
5. Before he'd met Mia, Diego hadn't believed in life after death. What a fool he'd been. Luckily, he'd never expressed his views aloud for if he had he was sure he would now be wearing an egg on his face.
Insofar as Heaven has breakfast foods, anyway.
Something that was never in short supply around these parts were coffee. Here, Diego had been reunited with all of his special blends, and he'd even made a new one, a final one. This one did not have an assigned number, but instead, a name: Mia.
He can see her across the room, which looks a lot like the cafe in which they had their first proper date. He's startled to see that she looks close to crying. With a steaming hot brew in each hand he makes his way to the table, setting down a cup in front of Mia where she sits. "Kitten, don't," he soothes, and in response, she smiles up at him blearily.
"Remember what you told me the day of my first trial?"
How could he forget? But he holds his tongue and instead waits for Mia to continue.
"A lawyer never cries until it's all over." Her smile widens and her tears start to slip down her cheeks. "And it's finally, finally, over." She grasps one of Diego's hand in her own and rises, and Diego follows suit.
Though Fate had lead them on a twisted path, they would finally have their happy ending.
no subject
on 2016-03-23 03:42 pm (UTC)THANKS FOR FILLING MY PROMPT. :D
no subject
on 2016-03-23 05:14 pm (UTC)