Chapter Text
When she opened her eyes she felt groggy, like she needed a dozen cups of coffee just to get out of bed. It was disorienting. The white blinding lights, the faint voices in the background somewhere and the monotonous beeping that seemed to drown out any other sounds. She closed her eyes again trying to ease the onset of a headache. The beeping continued, ringing in her ears and irritating her. What a terrible alarm clock she thought. A moment later she realized she could barely move. Seconds after that she noticed the high ceilings were not that of her mid-century modern bedroom. She carefully turned her head and found the source of the beeping on the monitor and the strong smell of alcohol filled in the pieces she was missing. She was in the hospital.
Panic and adrenaline flooded her veins and she shot up in bed as far as the wires and tubes connected to her would allow her to sit up at least. The plane, the accident. Lan. Was he alive? A loud clank sounded through her room. She whipped her head around and saw a nurse looking right back at her, except the woman in scrubs looked more surprised to see her. The nurse had dropped the tray of surgical instruments and before she could kneel to the ground to pick them up, she continued to stare at Moiraine wide eyed and then screamed, “She’s awake.”
One Week Later
He didn’t know why but he always dreamed of her in the mornings. Her dark hair whipping in the wind, her soft voice teasing him and her electric touching trailing tiny little fires wherever she touched him. Even in his dreams he knew it was too good to be true. She was always somewhere he couldn’t reach. Close enough to see the lines on her face but never close enough to touch and hold.
This time she was in front of a glass window that overlooked the Eiffel towel. He called her name, ‘Moiraine,’ she turned to him with a smile. She reached out her hand for him to take and when he reached for her, the glass behind her disappeared and she dove headfirst. He lurched awake, cold sweat covered his forehead and chest. In the haziness of sleep and the comforting darkness of four a.m he fell back onto his pillow. It was only a dream. She was already lost to him. How many years had to pass till he was free from this hell? He was on year seven and there wasn’t an end in sight. He closed his eyes trying to self soothe, a trick he’d taught to his son to keep the nightmares at bay. But just like his son, he had a hard time until took him again.
He stirred awake hours later from a sudden weight on his leg. “Let your father sleep,” he heard his wife’s voice. Before she could lift the toddler off of him, Lan opened his eyes and smiled at the three-year-old boy on his chest. “Daddy, daddy.”
“You’re full of energy aren’t you, little one.” he said.
When he sat up in bed and rubbed the remainder of sleep from his eyes, Nynaeve was packing away laundry. “It’s your first day off in what, two months, you can sleep in you know.” she said.
He grunted, “I don’t think I even remember how.”
“Daddy, park.” Joseph demanded on top of him.
He looked at Nynaeve for her approval and she consented with a small smile.
“Guess we’re having breakfast at the park.” he said. He didn’t get to do it nearly as often so he got Joseph ready that morning, giving Nynaeve a break as mornings were usually her domain.
He wasn’t sure about it but they had finally worked out a rhythm that suited them. Nynaeve worked the late shift at the hospital and when she got home in the morning, she usually got Joseph ready for daycare. Lan would take over in the evening, picking him up from daycare and spending the evenings and nights with him. But today was different, he had taken a day off, he barely saw his wife and Joseph together and had missed the sense of family he felt when Joseph was younger.
Ten minutes later they were all dressed and heading down in the elevator. Joseph was perched on his father’s shoulders but he could not contain his excitement at seeing both his parents at the same time and was soon reaching out for Nynaeve’s arms. He handed the boy over to his mother and ruffled the dark hair on his head.
When the doors opened to the lobby he heard the commotion before he rounded the corner. Their building had great security; it’s why he chose it. He worked at lot and felt better knowing his family was safe when he wasn’t around. Someone was trying to get into an apartment or something, but the security guard wasn’t having it.
The woman was speaking so softly he couldn’t make out what she was saying. When he finally turned the corner and the security guard heard their footsteps behind him, he turned to Lan intending to open door the for them. The woman stepped from behind the security guard, Lan would have passed straight if not for the familiarity of the curve of her head.
When they saw each other it was obvious they knew each other. She saw him and was overcome with relief, and he saw her and had never been more confused in his life. The air in his lungs completely dissipated and the sound that came out of his mouth was somewhere between a shriek and a gasp. Her own eyes softened as they connected with his. She was almost trembling, and he didn’t even realize he had never stopped walking and was making a beeline for her.
“Moiraine.” His entire body went limp. He fell at his feet in front of her and dropped his head against her abdomen. He couldn’t be dreaming. Because he was touching her. She was palpable. She was under his finger tips. She was alive.
“I thought you were dead.” he said. His breathing was choppy at best and he couldn’t seem to make sense of the situation. He had so many questions but he couldn’t bother to ask because she was alive.
“You’re a sight for sore eyes.” she said in a small, shaky voice. Her small hand stroked his head. It was only them two. And the world around them would have melted away if not for the voice of the toddler behind them. Moiraine finally looked up and locked eyes with the woman holding the child in her arms.
His eyes were on Lan still kneeling in front of her and she knew what it looked like but she couldn’t seem to reconcile what the facts were showing her until the boy said, “Mommy what’s daddy doing?”