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If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save everyday
Til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you
Standing on a rooftop over London, Alex closes her eyes and breathes in the deep, familiar air of the city. Something inside of her stills, and when she opens her eyes, her gaze casts to the ground so far beneath her.
She wonders if Sam looked. If he looked down before he jumped, if he thought for a second, doubted for a minute, or felt any fear at all. She wonders if, during those fleeting moments before death, if he thought he had made a mistake. Or if he was sure, until that last impact, that his final decision in the real world would really bring him home.
It was his choice, one that is beyond Alex's grasp. That kind of desperation, or that kind of faith; both are alien to her. He wanted something back so fervently that he was willing to risk his very existence in the hopes of reclaiming it. Alex can never be as sure. The rules aren't the same for her, the choices not as clear cut. She wants to be where she belongs, but she doesn't know where, precisely, that is anymore.
Which is why she stands on the rooftop. Up above London, the cityscape below her, the wind around her ears and brushing against every nerve of her body, and she feels real. Up above London, it isn't 2008 or 1981. It just is. She can think about Molly, and she can think about Gene, and for a fleeting instant, she can have them both. During the moments she stands above London, she can forget when she is, and she can just enjoy the light that two completely different people have brought into her life. She can feel whole.
“Bolly, what the 'ell are you doin'?”
She smiles, reaching her hand out into the air, as if she is brushing her skin against the world. “Capturing time in a bottle,” she responds, quietly.
Gene walks up behind her, looking down with a twisted look of distaste spread over his face. “What?”
And with that, the moment is gone. It is 1981 again, and Alex Drake is in a coma, or back in time, or maybe just completely insane. She hops down from the ledge and offers a smile at Gene, brushing past him towards the stairwell. “Come on then,” she chirps, as if he has been the one holding her up.
“Sometimes, I wonder if there's a shred of sanity in that 'ead of yours, Drake.”
“You know, you'll miss me when I'm gone.”
“So you've said before. Yet, you keep me waitin'.”
“But, I do enjoy the time we have,” she says, as if he hadn't responded, and swings open the door before she heads down the stairs.
Gene shakes his head, almost affectionately, and follows her.
--------
Cut for spoilers for the end of Life on Mars
--------
Muse: Alex Drake, Ashes to Ashes
Prompt: for the song meme: "Time in a Bottle" by Roger Whittaker
Verse: Open and Canon Verses
Word Count: 473
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save everyday
Til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you
Standing on a rooftop over London, Alex closes her eyes and breathes in the deep, familiar air of the city. Something inside of her stills, and when she opens her eyes, her gaze casts to the ground so far beneath her.
She wonders if Sam looked. If he looked down before he jumped, if he thought for a second, doubted for a minute, or felt any fear at all. She wonders if, during those fleeting moments before death, if he thought he had made a mistake. Or if he was sure, until that last impact, that his final decision in the real world would really bring him home.
It was his choice, one that is beyond Alex's grasp. That kind of desperation, or that kind of faith; both are alien to her. He wanted something back so fervently that he was willing to risk his very existence in the hopes of reclaiming it. Alex can never be as sure. The rules aren't the same for her, the choices not as clear cut. She wants to be where she belongs, but she doesn't know where, precisely, that is anymore.
Which is why she stands on the rooftop. Up above London, the cityscape below her, the wind around her ears and brushing against every nerve of her body, and she feels real. Up above London, it isn't 2008 or 1981. It just is. She can think about Molly, and she can think about Gene, and for a fleeting instant, she can have them both. During the moments she stands above London, she can forget when she is, and she can just enjoy the light that two completely different people have brought into her life. She can feel whole.
“Bolly, what the 'ell are you doin'?”
She smiles, reaching her hand out into the air, as if she is brushing her skin against the world. “Capturing time in a bottle,” she responds, quietly.
Gene walks up behind her, looking down with a twisted look of distaste spread over his face. “What?”
And with that, the moment is gone. It is 1981 again, and Alex Drake is in a coma, or back in time, or maybe just completely insane. She hops down from the ledge and offers a smile at Gene, brushing past him towards the stairwell. “Come on then,” she chirps, as if he has been the one holding her up.
“Sometimes, I wonder if there's a shred of sanity in that 'ead of yours, Drake.”
“You know, you'll miss me when I'm gone.”
“So you've said before. Yet, you keep me waitin'.”
“But, I do enjoy the time we have,” she says, as if he hadn't responded, and swings open the door before she heads down the stairs.
Gene shakes his head, almost affectionately, and follows her.
--------
Cut for spoilers for the end of Life on Mars
--------
Muse: Alex Drake, Ashes to Ashes
Prompt: for the song meme: "Time in a Bottle" by Roger Whittaker
Verse: Open and Canon Verses
Word Count: 473
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