Work Text:
A##=~ told eirself that R[~ would be back. E would return, e would return safely, e would return with the solution to the Astrophage problem, and it would all be alright.
It would take Iλλ.+ years for the journey to Tau Ceti. Iλλ.+ years to come back. Factoring in time spent figuring out why Astrophage was stable around Tau Ceti, that meant maybe… maybe e would be back in λVℓ years. That was a long time to wait, but they would both still be in their middle years. They could pick up exactly where they left off. They’d have thousands of years left together.
Before R[~ had set off, e had told A##=~: “I understand if you find another mate. I’ll be away for a long time, even if we find a solution straight away.”
A##=~ had told em that of course e wouldn’t. They had been going steady for a long while now, things were great between them, e wasn’t going to start listening around for a new mate just because R[~ was worlds away, being very brave and selfless.
And so, A##=~ waited.
And waited.
λVℓ years. A long time, but a person could wait that long. R[~ would be back. R[~ would come back to em.
Then it had been λVℓ years. But maybe the solution took longer to find. Maybe the solution took much longer to find.
Then R[~ had been gone +ℓℓ years. A##=~ started to worry. Even accounting for time to find a solution to Astrophage, even accounting for accidents and difficulties, even accounting for all of that, the ship should have been back by now, R[~ should have been back by now.
+ℓℓ years in an empty house, having to ask eir sibling to come over to watch em sleep.
When the ship had been gone +ℓV years, eir sibling started dropping hints about A##=~ finding someone new. Eir sibling knew that A##=~ liked intelligence, liked someone with a sense of humour, and so e started dropping hints about people e could introduce A##=~ too. People who were highly respected participants in thrums, but also really great when you talked to em one-on-one too, and ey have great taste in jewellery, and anyway, A##=~, you haven’t been letting yourself relax properly. You need to have some fun.
A##=~ knew what eir sibling was trying to do. E was just too tired to explain to em that A##=~ didn’t want someone else. E wanted R[~. E didn’t want a new mate, e already had a mate, e just needed eir mate to come back.
The house felt so horribly empty. R[~’s home workroom sounded too empty.
They should have had kids. They’d talked about it, a little bit, but they’d both thought they had plenty of time, and children only took a year to hatch, so they could decide to have children whenever they liked. But the two of them had never got around to it, and… They should have had kids. That way, there would be something left of R[~ on Erid, something more than the empty workroom.
And A##=~ would have something to do, might get a measure of solace out of raising their children, but no, e had been stupid, e had thought they had all the time in the world, and now e just had an empty house.
(A##=~ thought, selfishly, that if they’d had children, maybe R[~ would have stayed. Maybe Erid’s second-most-brilliant engineer would have gone in eir stead, but no, they hadn’t, and A##=~, a grown adult, was grown-up enough not to tell R[~ to stay.)
And then R[~ had been gone for Iℓℓℓ years, and a work friend was approaching A##=~ after a work event, and e was clearly romantically interested, and A##=~ had to say it, had to actually say it, had to say, out loud, “I’m sorry. I’m flattered. But I’m waiting for R[~.”
And A##=~ didn’t need to hear the response, didn’t need to hear it to sense the sheer horrible magnitude of pity, the inherent believe that A##=~ was waiting for something that would never happen.
And A##=~ went home to eir empty house.
Vℓℓℓ years. VIℓℓ years. VVℓℓ years.
Then it had been VVV∀ years and there was a signal.
It was all over the news, everyone was talking about it, there was a signal from an alien vessel, but it was an Eridian signal.
More information filtered through. The vessel had docked at the space lift, there was only one Eridian on the alien vessel, the sole survivor of the original ship’s crew.
A##=~ knew there was a λ+ out of λ∀ chance that R[~ was dead. R[~ was probably dead, and that was it. A##=~ was a widow.
A##=~ kept listening out for news anyway.
Then a name came through for the survivor.
R[~.
It was R[~, it was R[~, it was R[~.
E wasn’t going to come down to Erid’s surface yet. Something about the alien aboard the alien ship being sick, something about R[~ staying up there to ensure that a medical team could understand the alien’s needs to help em recover before R[~ would come back down, but it was R[~, it was R[~, it was R[~.
R[~ would be back. R[~ was nearly home.
*
Once the alien was stable – not well, but stable – both R[~ and the alien came down to the surface.
The alien, Graceful, was going to stay in eir biodome as ey recovered from eir illness.
R[~, meanwhile…
A##=~ was going to be there to meet R[~. E would make sure of it.
E checked the time and date, and then e went to the facility where they were keeping Graceful.
A##=~ stopped dead on the pavement outside when e sensed R[~ within the building. E could tell that R[~ had sensed em too, because R[~ bolted for the nearest door.
Then R[~ was outside, the two of them standing opposite each other, R[~ in eir battered engineer’s uniform and A##=~ in a new jacket and old jewellery, and R[~ wasn’t getting any closer. Why wasn’t e getting any closer?
Then, awkwardly, R[~ said, “A##=~, you sound… great. Did you come here alone?”
“Your parents were on holiday when you came back. They’re heading here to meet you, but it’ll take a few more days for them to arrive.”
“Okay. Good. I meant, I mean, I wasn’t sure if you’d have another mate by now.”
“Of course I don’t!”
“You don’t? You don’t? You waited? All that time? But I was gone for so long!”
“Of course I waited!”
Now R[~ got closer. E scrambled over to A##=~ and then they were holding each other, holding each other as tightly as they could.
“You waited,” R[~ was saying, fast, “I didn’t know if you would wait. I wasn’t sure if I was worth waiting for. I love you, I love you, I love you.”
A##=~ held em back. “I missed you.” Eir voice was quiet. “I missed you so very much.”
It took a long time before they were willing to let go of each other, and even then, they kept holding hands.
“Come inside,” said R[~. “I want you to meet Graceful. E saved my life. E helped me save Erid. I want em to get to know you.”