genre: wee!ficlet,episode tag, angst pairing: Kara/Anders Spoilers: Exodus part 2 Length: er... 350 words? I said it was wee.
If you Were the Only Boy in the World and I Were the Only Girl.
by ALC Punk!
He's only gone for a minute--Jean grabbing him, looking so relieved that he just has to hug her. And by the time he looks back, things have changed. The kid is gone, the Chief is gone, and Kara is just standing there. She looks worse than after the farm--there, she had anger. Here, he's not so sure what she has.
Four months.
Those bastards had his wife for four months, and he couldn't do a damned thing about it.
For a moment, the guilt twists as deep as the knife she used on the cylon. Then he bottles it, like he bottled the worry, bottled the rage that made him want to run through the city and kill cylons indiscriminantly. People needed him then, Kara needs him now.
Sam moves towards her, ignoring the crowds and cheers. Just before he gets to her, she looks up.
"Hey." He stops, awkward and worried that the frantic kiss so full of glee in that dark hallway was just reaction. Adrenaline.
"Hey."
Carefully, he reaches out and brushes a thumb over her cheek. Her eyes close a moment, and then they're both moving. Less than a second, and they're pressed against each other. Sam's pretty sure he's not the only one shaking, but he's not going to say a damned thing about it. He's just going to hold his wife, bury his face in the side of her neck and be glad she's alive.
"Um..."
And he's not going to push. He watched Helo with her, and a year of being married to her has given him more than enough insight. "Hey." His lips brush her skin, "You don't have to explain, ok? I'm just glad you're alive."
"Sam."
He pulls back until he can look her in the eye, "I love you."
"Yeah." Her eyes dart to the side, and she leans into him again.
This time, the kiss is anything but frantic and gleeful. It's real and full of things neither wants to have to say.
Sam imprints it in his memory, uses it as a shield against the pain and anguish of four months without knowing. He doesn't know what the next minute will bring, but he knows he still loves the woman in his arms.
-f