chasingmyers

[chasingmyers]

jxlian·:

He didn’t need to ask why, in fact, it was pretty obvious even to him exactly why his friend was trying to deter him from entering Skating Haven on that lovely evening. However, he did not care. He found his lips were upturned into a challenging smirk, like a child he had once been, a boy with a bad attitude who had yet to develop the dangerous taste he had for alcoholism, “Are you afraid that I’ll out skate you even pissed?”

It was almost like nothing had happened at all, the slight mania in his eyes hidden behind those lovely blue spotlights that now shone out heaving with excitement. He was itching. He was going to skate. He shouldered Chase playfully out of the way, heading into the building and swinging his bag as he went, skates rattling heavily inside. He held the door open, his back now against it, the sounds of the few skaters left in the last hour ringing out, “Come on. You wouldn’t deprive me of the only thing I have left, would you?” He tilted his head to the side, a mock sad expression on his face, bottom lip out, “I think it’d be rude to say no.”

There were plenty of things for him to be afraid of, but being out skated by his old best friend, especially given his current state, was not one of them. No, Chase was far more concerned with other things, like Julian’s deteriorating sanity, misguided intentions, and ideas that threatened their-- but especially her, existence. 

It would’ve been fair to say yes, he absolutely would deprive Julian of the only thing he had left. He was trying to destroy the one miracle life had accidentally given them, so hey. It was only fair. Jaw and fists clenched, Chase opted to step through the doorway, back into the skating rink that had housed so many memories it may has well been a home. But the building was just a building-- it was the people he had been with that made it what it was. This was goodbye to them both. “Fine.”

[chasingmyers]

jxlian·:

He was frustrated, so lost and so angry about how the world had treated him. He no longer saw his friends pain. Maybe he had seen Faye’s a little in the passing days but now she was just another part of his life that had turned sour, leaving an even more bitter taste in his mouth. He wanted to shake Chase by the shoulders to get his message across, he wanted for him to tear open his own brain and for all his thoughts to spill out because nobody seemed to see what he was trying to say. Nobody wanted to. “But you got something,” he told the other man in a tone that was strangled and anguished, desperate for understanding, “And I… Got. Nothing.”

Desperation, his fingers sparked, it felt like electricity was sparking inside of him and he turned, grabbing Chase by the shoulders of his shirt and shoving him against the wall of Skating Haven. They were sharing oxygen, his face incredibly close to the other, his grip incredibly sturdy. Electric blue eyes, like those of the French that came before him, stared at Chase. “I want a different ending,” his breath was hot, “I want my ending. I want it to be happy. I want you to give it to me,” the corners of his lips turned up into a disappearing smile, “And if you won’t give it to me…”

The thought was unfinished, he released, stepping back. It may have looked like guilt but there was complete apathy written across his face. The electric stopped, his mind cleared and he looked around, tucking his hands into his pockets as if nothing had happened. Maybe it had happened to someone else in his mind. “Well,” he spoke, a completely normal even tone, a tone that was as if they were the same as they always had been, “Shall we go in or are we just going to stand here all day not skating?”

Chase felt the impact of his back being pushed against the wall before he could register what was happening. Maybe in another version, he made a quip about how the grip on his shoulders showed that Julian had been hitting the gym too, followed by a laugh. Good for you. But in this version, Chase was too busy frantically searching the eyes in front of him for any remnants of the Julian he once knew. “Then we’ll figure it out. We’ll make it happen...” he insisted, raising his hands as if to surrender. They had spent years following the rules of a game that screwed them over, again and again. Maybe in this life, they could find a way to fuck the rules right back. “--But it’s not going to happen like that.".

Because what Julian wanted to do would not work. They would lose. They always seemed to lose. At least in this version, there’s one thing that went right, and Chase wasn’t about to let Julian destroy her so that he could have a chance to play a game where no one wins. 

There were a million reasons going in was a bad idea. Julian was dangerous, deranged, and drunk-- which he’s pretty sure is a violation of Skating Haven’s rules of conduct. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea, man.” He wasn’t just the referring to skating while intoxicated. The whole ‘restart everything so I can magically find a happy ending that doesn’t exist’ plan was also a bad idea.

[chasingmyers]

jxlian·:

“I need to speak to you,” he told Chase. This, at least, being the truth. Sure, he knew somewhere deep down that Faye had spoken to him first, or maybe even Millie. That they had put the rose tinted glasses on Chase and now he would be unable to understand or accept what Julian wanted and intended fully to do. “You look great.”

They had reached the entrance and there Julian halted, his blue wanting eyes absorbing the look of the person in front of him. So familiar and yet so different, he felt like just being here was putting his own persona on edge. Sometimes he was torn in a million different directions and it was impossible to discern which one was correct. In one life he had been absolutely obsessed with the man in front of him, in another he had loathed him and in this one… he just wanted him to understand why he was so ripped apart. Whisky breath and messy hair, a shadow as Faye had told him he was so many times before. “How is this fair?”

He was smiling but there was no happiness, some strange apathy hidden in his features. They were at their happy place but it was anything but, he was revelling in emptiness but still in pain. He was angry, frustrated, maybe even jealous. He knew that didn’t make sense to them. They had got it all, they had got to make all the tough calls and decisions and shut him out, “Why is it that you get to be happy and I never do? Why is it that your life gets to come together but mine only gets to be undone?” And now there was something else in his smile and he laughed, strange and distorted, “What did you do more than I did to deserve to have it work out?”

It was a yeah-- no shit moment, with ‘I need to speak to you’ being the understatement of the century. As unpleasant as this was, Chase knew it had to happen. It was inevitable, much like the rest of their lives. “Yeah, I’ve been going to the gym,” he joked, falling into the old habit of using sarcasm to deflect from the reality of a situation. Anyone who knew Chase would know that ‘gym’ wasn’t in his vocabulary. But maybe that was the problem-- Julian didn’t know Chase. And Chase didn’t know Julian. He barely recognized this version of his friend, frazzled and torn and searching for an answer that did not exist. 

“What are you talking about?” His voice was filled with hurt at the accusation that is a life he would have chosen. Of course he wouldn’t. In a dream version of reality, they were all together-- they were all happy. Julian thinking Chase would be selfish enough to find happiness in a world where his friends were suffering just proved how far the distance between them had stretched. There was the problem. He didn’t know Chase at all. “This isn’t all worked out. I’m doing what I can with what I’ve got, but this isn’t exactly happily ever after.” 

[chasingmyers]

jxlian·:

6 o’clock @ skating haven. @chasingmyers

It was their meeting place. 

That’s where he wanted to meet. 

It was odd that so much of him was gone but he still clung onto those seamless details, those reminders of a boy, or a man, or someone in between who had existed in this world and the next. He stepped out from the uber he had ordered, clearly already drunk. The taste of alcohol on his breath was a given these days, only last night had he argued with Faye and watched her leave. He had left Millie. He had lost Faye. Chase was all he had left and maybe recklessly, he believed that maybe he would understand what he was trying to do, what he was trying to fix. Chase had been on his side once before.

“Chase,” he raised a hand to wave at the other who was waiting for him outside of their old meeting place, “Hey.”

It was weird to be back at the place that once held so much importance in his heart. That version of Chase Myers was dead, lost somewhere between the realities and timelines, maybe even long before that. The Julian Chase knew had fallen between the cracks of their choices and consequences at some point, too. That Julian was far from the man that now walked towards him now. 

Even from his vantage point outside the skating haven, Chase could sense the alcohol flowing through his friend’s veins. Faye’s warning from before rang loudly in his ears as Julian got closer. Maybe this would have been easier if he was sober. But then again, he wasn’t sure there was any version of this where it was easy. 

“Hey,” Chase nodded casually, as if this were a casual thing, as if they were alternate versions of themselves where maybe meet ups at a place like this were still a thing and didn’t carry such heavy repercussions. “What’s up?”

[chasingmyers]

[text]: chase, i need you.

[text] where are you? 

[chasingmyers]

When the gusts came around to blow me down

Held on as tightly as you held onto me

Held on as tightly as you held onto me……

[chasingmyers]

faybiandavis·:

“Nothing, yet,” she knew that wasn’t what he was asking but it was all she could say because truth be told, even Faye wasn’t sure what was ahead. Their twisted rocky road had led so many places and she was about to go from outcast to fugitive in coming years, which was why she knew she had to plan. She had to make sure she could get away with whatever she did, that nobody truly knew the details. 

She let out a gentle shush, her hand on his cheek, she leaned in and gently pressed her lips to his. A meaningful kiss. She never knew when it would be the last but if nothing else, it reassured her, they were all still here. They still had each other. She pulled away, “I have a lot to figure out, but maybe for a little while, just for the interlude, maybe I can stay.”

His own hands came to rest on her waist. Maybe his grasp would be strong enough to keep them grounded in this moment, this kiss hidden in the calm before the storm. When she pulled back, his grip only tightened, pulling her frame closer to his. Maybe a different Chase-- a younger, lighter, version of himself--would have cracked a joke. He would have deflected and distracted and prayed to God that she couldn’t see the emotions swimming in his eyes. But this version simply agreed, “You could.” 

She didn’t have to disappear again. It wasn’t solely Faye’s responsibility to face the consequences of their collective choices. He could help lift the weight of the next series of decisions, if only she’d let him. “We could figure it out.” 

[chasingmyers]

faybiandavis·:

“Don’t,” she spoke, raising her free hand to press against his lips before he could finish a sentence that already knew had no written ending. They looked at each other, her hand untangling from his to reach forwards and grab the material of his shirt around his waist, “You know I would of thought of it already.”

She looked down, her forehead almost rested against her chest, her words quieter than before, “I gave it time to see, I visited him a lot, but every time it’s just worse, he can’t see clearly,” she explained, fighting away images of the other boy she had so loved, all blue eyes and sarcasm, now nothing but a pathetic fallacy of things that came before. “I’ll wait for a while, if you want to say good bye. But there’s not much to say good bye to.”

She may have been able to stop him from speaking, but she wasn’t able to stop him from thinking. He couldn’t just sit back and accept their fate without at least trying. But maybe if he wasn’t too afraid to be honest with himself, he could admit what he already knew. Faye and Julian always were so close-- and if Faye couldn’t get through to him, there really was no hope. No amount of begging could undo what needed to be done. 

Chase let out a noise, somewhere between a laugh and a broken sob. How else is someone supposed to react to something like this? The answer is they’re not supposed to react in any particular way because something like this isn’t supposed to exist. “What are you going to do?” he asked. He wasn’t so much asking for the gruesome details, more so wondering what came after. Where was she planning on going? Was this a goodbye for one or two? 

[chasingmyers]

faybiandavis·:

“Turn back time.” She let the words fall out unfollowed by everything else, a taste of irony left behind in her mouth because, didn’t they all? It was twisted that it was that very thing that had gotten them into such a big mess.

“We all want that but it doesn’t work like that and if we get thrown through one more time loop, relive Charles’ dinner one more time, watch different friends die, all we’ll do is end back here wanting to change things again,” she told Chase, her voice quiet but sure. “He won’t stop, he can’t stop, it’s in his blood,” she told him bitterly, reflecting on the fact that perhaps it was true that every French was born to go absolutely bonkers in the end, whether she liked to admit it or not. 

She moved forwards and she looked into Chase’s eyes, resting the palm of her hand on his cheek, “He wants what we stole from him, the chance to live his life for himself,” she tilted her head to the side, knowing now that he would finally begin to understand what she meant, “For it to be undecided, open, for him and Millie to have everything they wanted. And for you and me to have that too, but there’s just one thing that time gave and never took away,” she dropped her hand, “And he won’t take her either.”

“He can’t,” Chase shook his head. “He has to know he can’t. We’ve tried. All he’s going to do is--” His eyes scanned the crayon drawings on his fridge as the reality of the situation crashed over him. They had already lost so much. They couldn’t lose her. There was no guarantee that his plan would work. It was safer to bet it wouldn’t. All it would do is lead to different versions of the same outcome. In all variations of their lives, they lose. Olivia’s the one thing they got right.

“Let me talk to him,” he tried, grabbing her hand as it fell and squeezing it in his own. “Maybe I could get through to him, you know? Give him a chance to change his mind before you have to...” The words caught in his throat. Just moments before he had called her out for asking questions she already knew the answer to. Now here he was, making suggestions he already knew wouldn’t work. The irony. 

[chasingmyers]

faybiandavis·:

She almost flinched. Maybe she should of seen it coming. At some points in their lives, he had been the one that was holding her up. He was her foundation, when there was nothing else left to stand on, and it was unfair but it was how things were. She had accepted long ago that life was nothing but an unfair series of events but she had never allowed herself to believe that her acceptance of this had just made everyone around her suffer even more. She was a cold girl but her heart wasn’t black or icy, it was still beating inside her chest with a rhythm that said his name. 

“I’m here because you’re the only thing I have,” she told him, this time she was honest although it sounded weak, "You’re the only one that ever made my pain stop, you’re the only person who I know understands me.”

Her dark eyes met his, the closest thing to a hint of a tear sparking inside of her. A confession long overdue, “I lost my job three months ago,” she told him, although she knew that everybody already knew, that it had been the talk of the town. “But it wasn’t because of an accident, it wasn’t a misfire like they said on the news. I pulled the trigger and I intended to kill someone because I thought if they were gone, the world would be a better place. If they were gone, I thought it would protect us all. They told me not to take the shot, my partner pleaded with me, but I did it anyway,” she told him, and there was little remorse in her tone, almost feeling sad that she didn’t feel guilty at all, “But I missed. I missed because I doubted myself, because I couldn’t stop thinking about how badly it would hurt you and Millie and everyone we used to know. I missed because that person was Julian and a part of me still believed that there was some good left inside of him but there wasn’t.”

She let silence fall, standing there, looking away, looking anywhere but at him. If she were to become a monster then it was in the name of defeating another worse one. She loved Chase and it would break her heart if he was disappointed but it wouldn’t change anything. Nothing would. “So I’m talking, I’m telling you the horrible, terrible truth. I’m telling you that next time I’m going to take my shot. I’ve thought it through, I’ve thought about every realm of possibility and I am not going to be another person in all these timelines who lets the whole world burn down because they can’t face the fact that one person they love, has to go.”

He listened as she spoke, following along as she retraced her steps over the course of the past few months. His heart yearned for the life they never managed to find-- the one where things were simple and fair and good. In that life he wouldn’t be standing here, listening to Faye talk about ending this Julian’s life so candidly. Maybe in that timeline, he’d feel surprised. He’d say that she couldn’t do it-- that this was Julian they were talking about. That she was right and that the consequences of this decision would haunt them for the rest of their lives. Maybe then he could insist that there had to be some other way. 

But as she spoke, he could tell she already made the mistake of believing that once. If there was any other way, Faye would have found it. 

“What is it he’s wanting to do?” he asked, but there was another question lying beneath the surface. What could Julian possibly do that was so bad, so unforgivable, that Faye felt that this was the only way to stop it? 

[chasingmyers]

faybiandavis·:

“I have to ask,” she said, although she knew she didn’t. He couldn’t possibly know whether he would forgive her for things she hadn’t done yet, things she didn’t know if she would ever forgive herself for. She wanted to tell him everything, she wanted to pour her heart out and spill all the secrets of the past six months and the six before that but she couldn’t. Something held her back every time. When she left, she wanted his life to be the same. “Although you can’t answer because you don’t know what I’ll do. And one day I think you won’t want to look at me anymore.” 

Her expression grew sad, or as sad as it could grow without letting on how dire things were truly going to get. They were so close but she felt like always they were being torn completely apart, “You know, you deserve something better than this. You deserve someone easier to love,” she told him, a pause between these words and the next, “I hate the thought that you’ll spend the rest of your life in love with me and I’ll never be here. I won’t be standing here to welcome you home, I won’t be at the end of any aisle. I won’t be here to say good night or good morning. I won’t be here to hold your hand. All I’ll ever be is a ghost. And I don’t want to be a ghost. But if I could be anyone’s, I guess at least I’d be yours.”

“I’ll always want to look at you,” he assured her. But wasn’t that part of the problem? His heart grew heavier with each word she spoke, knowing it could only be a matter of time before there was none and she’d be gone again. “Then be there,” Chase argued, but the desperation in his voice made it sound like begging. Pleading. “Be here. Talk to me, Faye. Let me in. Tell me-- tell why you’re really here. God! Give me something! You want to talk about what I deserve... don’t I deserve that?”

His breath hitched, and he had to take a second to catch himself. He wasn’t about to start talking about what they deserved. The sky was blue. They all deserved better than the cards they’d been dealt. There was no use crying over the facts of this life. 

[chasingmyers]

faybiandavis·:

“Just the normal kind,” she said as if it was explaining everything, her eyes sure. She wished that he wouldn’t read them, she wished that he wouldn’t have to understand what Julian’s new normal was but in her heart she knew he would. Despite everything, she stood here and tried to protect him when a very long time ago she had given up ever protecting herself again. She wanted to bare the burdens, she wanted to carry it all on her shoulders, she wanted to be the one to take it all away and she would be. “He has a lot of ideas and none of them are very good, that’s all you need to know.”

She rounded the kitchen island, mug in hand and took one long drink from the edge, all the while, watching him. She stopped, her gaze easily on his face. It sometimes felt that no time had passed, that all these years and all these timelines and had never really happened but she knew from the many scars they all bared both physically and mentally that they had, “Do you think you could ever hate me, Chase? That I could ever do something, so bad, that you couldn’t ever stand to talk to me again?”

It should have been infuriating to have Faye break into his house to pee and tell him not to check his messages. It really should have. “You know, I really hate it when you do that,” he said, leaning his weight against the countertop. In every version of themselves, it always seemed that Faye carried the weight of the world-- holding secrets, making decisions. Maybe she felt she was shielding him from something when all she was really doing was shutting him out. That was infuriating.

He kept his eyes on hers, despite his emotions telling him to be angry, to be sad, to be confused, to be hurt, to be relieved, to be happy... he could process all of those later, but for now he watched, scared that if he looked away for even a second, she’d be gone again. “Why are you wasting our time asking questions you already know the answer to?” 

[chasingmyers]

faybiandavis·:

Tired, as if she had anticipated his question and answered it a thousand times over, she shrugged her shoulders, “Picked the lock while you were out. I needed to pee.” Lie. She had picked the lock while he was out because she was sure that one day if he was in he would finally grow sick of her reappearing once more as if nothing had happened at all. This time, though, it was nothing to do with dares. This time it was to do with the fabric of everything they now stood upon.

“You should really get a burglar alarm, it took like two seconds,” she leaned back against the countertop, her body angled towards him. “You have some voicemails, by the way, or emails, or texts,” she informed Chase, not really giving him a chance to establish why she was telling him this, “From Julian. So delete them. Don’t even bother looking, it’s just gibberish.”

“This city’s full of perfectly good restrooms, you know,” Chase pointed out, unable to fight back the chuckle at her ridiculous attempt at a cover story. He stared down at the second mug set aside for him, filled with hot chocolate-- which was unfair, really. For her to show up, unannounced, uninvited, but somehow expect it to be okay. But she was Faye, so of course it was okay. It was so much easier to pretend he was fine with all this because Chase was just a sucker for good hot cocoa. Damn it.

“Oh?” It explained why his phone had been buzzing so much recently. He just hadn’t gotten around to checking them. He tried to keep busy. It helped when his mind started to wander. It was easier to focus on day to day tasks then to think about the trauma that stretched over the lifetimes they had lived.. “What kind of gibberish?”

[chasingmyers]

faybiandavis·:

six months no calls. chase & faye.

She stood in the lounge of a house that was not hers, although maybe it could of been if she had just stayed, if she had chosen just once to remain in one place and embrace a life that she was sure was not made for her. She had been carved out of wood and had turned into many things but none of them had ever became a person that was able to stay put, to live beside him and be anything more than a passing reminder of the love they would always hold. She wanted it to make her sad but it didn’t, because she hoped that he too knew, there was always a reason, that she felt it was beyond her control.

He wasn’t home. He would be soon. That she knew, she had broke in through the back door, a skill that many would of frowned upon. Standing at the kitchen island, she held a mug of coffee that she had made herself. Brown hair was messy and loose, her clothes were shaggy and badly fitting. She listened for the door to unlock and when he walked through, she didn’t even budge from her leaning position, lowering her mug only, “Welcome home, lover,” she spoke lowly, ignoring the fact it had been over three months since she had spoken to him last and she had not asked for an invitation to show back up, “I made you a hot chocolate.”

He fumbled with his keys for just a minute, moving past the one for his car, the one for the shop, the one for an ex fiancée’s home-- he’s pretty sure she doesn’t live there anymore. (She wouldn’t want him there even if she did.) Chase made a note to get rid of the key at some point before finding the right one to unlock his front door. 

He didn’t put too much thought into walking into his kitchen. He was already mentally upstairs, having salvaged dinner from his fridge and trying to decide which one of his shows he’s already seen a hundred times he wants to watch once more. He probably should have been more focused on the present. 

“Jesus!” Chase hissed, jumping slightly as Faye made her presence known. He was startled, but not surprised. Should he have been? Maybe. She was back! But this routine, much like his evenings spent with reruns and leftovers, was nothing new. She was back-- for now. Soon enough, she’d be gone. “How did you even get in?”

[chasingmyers]

[voicemail]: Hey, I know I've been off the grid for a while, but I just wanted to check in and say... I love you. Talk soon.

[chasingmyers]

faybiandavis‌:

He was still engaged to somebody else. She didn’t forget that. Although, deep down they had both always probably known that in their lives they would be drawn back together, this time had felt close. So long had passed but every part of him still felt familiar and Faye’s loyalty remained unwavering in a way that would of terrified most people. She was fierce, she was determined and she had always belonged one hundred percent to him but that didn’t mean that she always told the truth. Somehow this had been one of her easiest betrayals. 

She took a step back and the small smile on her lips was still real, “That and, you know, distance makes the heart grow fonder,” she pointed out prodding gently with her humour at the time they spent apart, “I forgot how you sounded when you opened your mouth.” 

She picked up her bag from where it had been flung in her feverish entrance to tell him how his marriage was completely wrong for him, a pleasant spot right beside the front door. The same way she entered she was about to leave and like he had once kept secrets from her, now it was her turn. Was it wrong for her to admit that she didn’t really feel any way about the tragedy that had taken place at the carnival? She had tasted enough tragedy close up for a lifetime, “I have to go, early morning assignment kicking ass. And by ass, I mean my partners and then the criminals in that order because my whole life has always revolved around challenging annoying men. You’re actually one of the better ones,” she complimented. It may not have sounded all that kind, but for Faye it was. Sometimes she struggled to remember who she had once been at all, that gentle heart had been shattered only once and that one time had been too many.

She led her own hand to the front door handle and opened it, cold air welcome against her skin, and for once, a happy feeling that was almost light. She turned to smile once more over her shoulder and as her bag slung over her shoulder, she didn’t feel the folded up piece of paper fall out of her pocket to the ground like a lost love note. Left to be seen by anyone that picked it up, for better or worse. Ironically.

I dare you to try and stop the wedding. 

Something in the air shifted and Chase knew that this moment was nearing its end. The smile on his face faltered as he gulped back the panic bubbling up. It felt a lot like a roller coaster. This was the chain lift. These were the final seconds before the drop. He didn’t want the drop. He didn’t want her to leave. He wanted the sanctuary of this moment to be the reality of this life. But to beg her to stay was futile, because this seemed to be their life. The things he wanted were hardly ever considered. Fate dealt him cards and all he could do was his best.

He walked with her to the door and wished he could follow. There was a version where he held her hand and they walked out that door and into a world that was simple and kind. His heart yearned for a life that easy.

“Thank you.” His response wasn’t just for the compliment. It was for this point in the timeline, a moment that would soon be a memory. His head leaned against the doorframe as he watched her go, eyes going where his feet couldn’t until she was a speck on the horizon.

Backing up to close the door, his gaze fell to the ground and landed on a paper. The paper. He wished it was trash-- a dropped receipt or misplaced grocery list. He silently begged the universe to let it be something, anything but what he feared it was. But when he read the dare scribbled onto the forgotten folded up slip of paper, he could almost hear the universe laughing. It mocked him for wishing this moment could last. It laughed, because he actually believed the moment had been real.

But when Chase looked up to try and find Faye again, she was gone.

[chasingmyers]

millie-hastings‌:

Olivia noticed the minute her father pulled up across the street, an excited shriek escaping her lips as she hurried to the door. Her shoes were already on her feet, having been put on as she impatiently waited for her father to arrive, despite the fact that he was perfectly on time. “Olivia, you need to wait for me before you can cross the street,” Millie hurriedly called as she slipped her ballet flats on, closing the door firmly behind her so as to keep any of the younger children from following them. When she reached the bottom step, Olivia was all but bouncing on her feet at the bottom, reaching out quickly to grab her mother’s hand and begin pulling her across the street. It was only once they were safely on the opposite sidewalk that Millie allowed herself to look away from the road and the little girl. Brown eyes lifting to find the face of a man who, despite the time apart, was still so familiar.

His voice caused her to grin, the sight of their daughter in his arms something that she had only been able to truly appreciate once. Even then, with the fire roaring behind them, TJ King bleeding only feet away, and heartbreak on the horizon, it had been such a short-lived joy. Now she couldn’t stop her eyes from taking in the moment, her smile tight as her eyes began to water. “Chase,” she spoke his name like a prayer, adoration and longing clear in her tone. “It’s been  It’s been much too long.” 

The brunette’s hands were clasped together, fidgeting for just a moment before she gave in, reaching out and hugging the man and their daughter. It wasn’t nearly as tight as their hugs had been before, in the more recent years due to sheer relief that the other was alive and somewhat whole, but the gentleness was somehow even more reassuring. It was what had been taken from them in an agreement that had proven futile, and in any other moment Millie would have been able to identify a feeling of anger and regret for agreeing to a life where the three of them couldn’t be together. However, in this moment, all she felt was joy.

Chase wrapped his arm around Millie’s frame, pulling her closer into the hug. She always had been like family, and in this moment they were. This moment would end. They had all seen too much to be dumb enough to think it would last. But for a moment he was able to pretend to be naive and innocent, holding Millie and Olivia in his arms, and finally letting out a breath he hadn’t even noticed he was holding. 

Eventually he pulled back, despite how badly he wanted to hold onto that exact moment, because the child in his arms started to wriggle around. He chuckled as he realized they were probably suffocating her. “Sorry, Liv.” He bounced the girl from one hip to the next, but his eyes remained locked on Millie. Throughout all of this, losing contact with her, with Julian, with Faye-- had been the worst part. Because maybe, as awful as his story had been, it would have been salvageable with them by his side. But stupid decisions led to stupider decisions, and talking to his friends-- the one thing Chase really wanted in this world, was forbidden. But that had all gone to shit now, so he finally got the chance. He couldn’t figure out where to begin.

“Man. Allergies suck,” he joked, sniffling and wiping the tears that had built up in his eyes.