<USS Avalon> "Saying Good-bye" by Ensign Cate

"Saying Good-bye" 
Written by Ensign Lyryn Cate
 
 
 
The silence lasted until the door closed behind them.  Lyryn then turned to 
look at James.
 
"So, you're staying," she said simply.
 
"So, you're going," he replied.
 
Neither one of them knew what else to say.  They both willed themselves not to 
cry.  Neither wanted to be the first one to say the things that needed to be 
said.
 
The stood staring at each other for what seemed to be ages.  The ticking of the 
old fashioned clock was the only sound in the room, save for the shallow 
breaths of each other.
 
It was Lyryn who finally broke.  She flung herself into James' eager arms.
 
"Oh James!  It wasn't supposed to be this way," she sniffed into his shirt.  "I 
need you.  I want you to come with me."
 
He sighed.  "No, you don't need me.  You're just holding onto me because you're 
scared.  You're unfamiliar with being scared and you're clinging to the one 
thing that is familiar.  Me." He paused to let her digest his words.  "You will 
acclimate to the Avalon really quickly and then I will fade once again into a 
casual aquaintance.  I just don't want to live like that, Lyryn.  I can't let 
my heart be broken like that," he explained.
 
Lyryn flinched with each of his words.  They stung with the pain of truth.  She 
was ashamed anew.  She couldn't believe how selfish her actions had been and 
the consequences thereof.  And what was worse, come tomorrow, she wouldn't even 
remember them.
 
"I am so very, very sorry James.  You are right.  I don't know how and if you 
could ever forgive me.  I am ashamed by what I've done, by how I've treated 
you.  And it makes me so sick to think that you'll live with that knowledge and 
tomorrow I won't even remember knowing you."
 
He wrapped his arms around her even tighter while she cried into his chest.  
Once her tears were spent, she looked into his eyes with her tear-stained face, 
searching for that element of forgiveness that she craved.
 
She found it and more.
 
"Love never changes," he began.  "You choose who you love, Lyryn, and then it 
becomes an emotion.  I chose to love you.  And that doesn't change.  They say 
that love covers the multitude of sins.  Yours and mine.  I love you.  And even 
if you don't know it - that won't change."
 
He finished his words by leaning down to press his lips lightly to hers.  She 
returned his kiss.  It was sweet and chaste and sincere.
 
They spent their last night curled up near the artificial fire taking turns 
reading from an O'Brian novel they found on the bookshelves.  They talked and 
laughed.  They shared a few more kisses.  
 
And they fell asleep in each other's arms.
 
 




                
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