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Mar. 22nd, 2007 10:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyfirestarterMarch 7, 2007
12:45pm
When they get back to the hotel, room 1108 is empty.
It's Bev who finds the note they left for Sera telling her where they've gone, and the quick scribbled addendum at the bottom -- still exhausted. can't think straight yet. heading home. see you back at Milliways. The second half of that rather proves the first half, as Fire evidently forgot they can't get back to Milliways from here without her.
Bev's disappointed, and a little angry -- and a little scared, about whether the time-holding-still that happens at Milliways will still work here. And about what she'll tell her parents if it doesn't.
But there's nothing for it, since Fire doesn't answer Charlie's attempt to summon her this time. And it's not as though they're trapped here, really.
It's just going to take longer to get to the door.
* * *
The limousine arrives about four hours later to take them to the airport. Waiting for them on one of the sleek leather seats is a folder containing two first-class tickets: one for Charlene Roberta McGee, and one for Andie McGee (Child). Tet comes through after all, is her thought on seeing that. And it does, of course; that's what the word means.
By the time they take off, the sun is setting. And it continues to set for hours, as the plane chases the sunset westward; losing, falling behind, but still following the receding day.
Bev takes the window seat, and spends most of the flight looking down through the thin scrim of clouds, coral-colored and lemon and rose. It's impossible to make out clearly what kind of land is below them, at this height, in this light.
* * *
Eric's waiting for them at the airport, to drive them back. Charlie deflects his questions about Bev: no, she's not staying, I'm just bringing her here in order to get her home.
They leave Eric parking the car, and head for Main and the second-floor corridor, both tired enough to stumble. Just a little further, Charlie's murmuring, as much to herself as to Bev. Just a little further.
It's automatic by this time to feel for the banister before stepping up, to keep her eyes on the far wall. This time, though, Charlie stops at the top of the switchback stairs ... and deliberately looks down.
Nothing. The vertigo, the feel of the floor tipping beneath her feet: gone.
The smile hurts her face, a joyous exhausted ache. "We did good, Bevvie," she whispers. "The three of us. We did good."
The door's only a few yards away.
12:45pm
When they get back to the hotel, room 1108 is empty.
It's Bev who finds the note they left for Sera telling her where they've gone, and the quick scribbled addendum at the bottom -- still exhausted. can't think straight yet. heading home. see you back at Milliways. The second half of that rather proves the first half, as Fire evidently forgot they can't get back to Milliways from here without her.
Bev's disappointed, and a little angry -- and a little scared, about whether the time-holding-still that happens at Milliways will still work here. And about what she'll tell her parents if it doesn't.
But there's nothing for it, since Fire doesn't answer Charlie's attempt to summon her this time. And it's not as though they're trapped here, really.
It's just going to take longer to get to the door.
The limousine arrives about four hours later to take them to the airport. Waiting for them on one of the sleek leather seats is a folder containing two first-class tickets: one for Charlene Roberta McGee, and one for Andie McGee (Child). Tet comes through after all, is her thought on seeing that. And it does, of course; that's what the word means.
By the time they take off, the sun is setting. And it continues to set for hours, as the plane chases the sunset westward; losing, falling behind, but still following the receding day.
Bev takes the window seat, and spends most of the flight looking down through the thin scrim of clouds, coral-colored and lemon and rose. It's impossible to make out clearly what kind of land is below them, at this height, in this light.
Eric's waiting for them at the airport, to drive them back. Charlie deflects his questions about Bev: no, she's not staying, I'm just bringing her here in order to get her home.
They leave Eric parking the car, and head for Main and the second-floor corridor, both tired enough to stumble. Just a little further, Charlie's murmuring, as much to herself as to Bev. Just a little further.
It's automatic by this time to feel for the banister before stepping up, to keep her eyes on the far wall. This time, though, Charlie stops at the top of the switchback stairs ... and deliberately looks down.
Nothing. The vertigo, the feel of the floor tipping beneath her feet: gone.
The smile hurts her face, a joyous exhausted ache. "We did good, Bevvie," she whispers. "The three of us. We did good."
The door's only a few yards away.
