Orlijah fic rec

[layne67]

cloudlessclimes wrote another exquisite sequel to Deeper Than All Roses. This is the second sequel. The first one is here.

Title : From One Who Stays
Author : cloudlessclimes
Pairing : Orlando/Elijah

How empty seems the town now you are gone!
A wilderness of sad streets, where gaunt walls
Hide nothing to desire; sunshine falls
Eery, distorted, as it long had shone
On white, dead faces tombed in halls of stone.
The whir of motors, stricken through with calls
Of playing boys, floats up at intervals;
But all these noises blur to one long moan.
What quest is worth pursuing? And how strange
That other men still go accustomed ways!
I hate their interest in the things they do.
A spectre-horde repeating without change
An old routine. Alone I know the days
Are still-born, and the world stopped, lacking you.
Amy Lowell


She looks up from carefully scratching the hop scotch square onto the side walk, the last of the coveted pink sidewalk chalk curled safe in her palm. He’s there, like always at dusk. Sitting on the concrete steps of the brownstone next door, body braced and waiting. Biting her lip and scratching at the place where her knee sock has bunched against her calf, she nods to herself. A decision made, she shoves the the chalk into her hoodie pocket and skips across the distance from her house to his.


“Hi,” she tilts her chin up, squinting into Orlando’s blank stare.


“Hello,” he replies softly, politely.


“My Mommy died when I was 4.” She says, jumping up a step and then down to the side walk as she talks, looking down at the scuffed leather of her sandal and not at Orlando.


A small smile twists the corners of Orlando’s mouth upwards and he says, “How old are you now?”


“Seven.” She says, an exhalation of breath mid jump.


Orlando leans forward, encircling his knees in the curve of his arms. “I’m thirty,” he adds conversationally.


The girl hops up the steps, flopping down beside Orlando, but not before shooting him a surprised, wow, you’re old kind of look. She sighs heavily and says “It’s sad.”


“Yes,” Orlando replies earnestly, "it is". Trust a small girl to cut through the bullshit and deal straight with the matter at hand.


“Hurts too,” She picks at a cut just above her knee, then remembers Maria yelling at her it'll leave a scar! and stops, guilty.


Orlando leans his elbows back onto the step behind him, stretching his long body across the sun warmed concrete. “It does.” He nods in affirmation.


He startles as, without warning, the girl climbs onto his lap. She arranges herself sideways, feet kicking a nonsensical rhythm against Orlando’s long legs. She tucks her head under his chin, cheek pressed tight over his heart. She curls her small fingers around his open palm and doesn’t say another word.


They sit there for a long time. Just sit there, just the two of them. Orlando swallows the lump in his throat and instead of speaking, stares over her head into the street. He thinks just maybe he can feel the stark sadness of the days After Elijah loosening its chokehold. The early summer sun turns everything golden as it sinks low, and Orlando can almost believe tomorrow will be better.


Vivi!


The small girl sits upright in Orlando’s lap, dropping his hand. “My sister,” she says simply, wrinkling her nose in distaste.


He laughs at the universal expression of sibling exasperation, and before he can help himself presses a small kiss to the top of her head, the smooth dark hair warm beneath his lips.


“I gotta go do my chores!” She hops up from his lap and leaps the 4 steps to the sidewalk. “Bye!” She turns and waves. Then, runs back up the steps, kisses his cheek and runs homeward again.


“Good night,” he calls softly after her.


She stops suddenly and turns back to him. Ferreting around in her pockets, she produces a small stuffed bunny. “This is my rabbit.” She says while thrusting the clearly much loved animal inches from Orlando’s blinking face.


Vivi! The voice is more insistent, verging on angry, and the girl winces, but doesn’t move from her position, perched on her toes one step down from where Orlando is sitting.


“Nice to meet you,” Orlando extends his hand and shakes the bunny’s paw between his thumb and forefinger. “What’s his name?” Orlando lifts his eyes to the girl’s.


She rolls her eyes in exasperation, the girl says “Rabbit!” and the duh is evident, though not spoken. “He’s a good listener.” She adds, scuffing the toe of one sandal against the step’s edge.


“Of course he is! Look at those ears!”


The girl shoots him a look from under her thick bangs that says he is clearly the world’s biggest idiot, but manages to smother her giggle behind the hand not clutching the stuffed rabbit. “You could, you know, borrow him, if you want—‘til you feel better.” She lets go of the doll, leaving Orlando no choice but to grasp the small toy in his hand or let it tumble to the ground.


He cocks his head and smiles, his first warm, genuine smile in longer than he cares to remember. “Thank you.” He covers his heart with his hand, palm flat.


Vivi! A blonde girl sticks her head out the window above the store and shouts down at her sister.


“I gotta go!” The little girl jumps down the steps and trots towards home.


Orlando, his head bent to the stuffed animal, whispers secrets no one else will ever hear.

~Fin

Comments

[talesinbloom.livejournal.com]

*rips out heart and hands it to you*

Oh, that hurts in the sweetest way. I'm gonna go bawl for a bit now.

*loves*

[montmorency.livejournal.com]

This whole series makes me very nearly too sad to comment. Seriously! But it's beautifully written and even though my heart is aching, I read it and thought a bit of sunshine might be making its way back into Orlando's heart.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

a bit of sunshine might be making its way back into Orlando's heart.

Perversely, this part will be where I'll be hurting the most, and I'll die when he finds a new person to love. Whether in movies or fics, I'd usually dislike the new person with all my heart.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

And I don't want him to ever find anyone else again.

*bawls with you*

[cloudlessclimes.livejournal.com]

I'm so relieved you like this. And you're so sweet to post it over here.

[cloudlessclimes.livejournal.com]

errr...sorry...*pets your pretty heart and hands it back to you along with kleenex*

you're the best!

[cloudlessclimes.livejournal.com]

*looks around to see if anyone's listening* you know, I don't think he ever will. he seems like a one man kind of guy

[cloudlessclimes.livejournal.com]

eventually he'll get to a place where his memories will make him happy, not sad. thanks for reading, even though it made you sad!

[layne67.livejournal.com]

But of course, I totally love this Orlando, and I adore you for writing this!

♥