All Change
Fandom: CSI/Highlander(ish)
Pairing: Sara/OMC
Rating: PG
Notes: For the LiveJournal writer’s choice picture challenge.
It made Sam sad, walking through the woods near to where he grew up, remembering how they looked all those years ago. “This used to be forest,” he told the woman at his side, shaking his head. “Trees for miles around… they used to say that a squirrel could travel over a hundred miles without ever touching the ground…”
Sara’s hand squeezed his tightly, and when he looked down at her, he saw a teasing grin on her face. “And how long ago was this again?” she asked, and he tilted his head, chuckling slightly.
“Point taken,” he acknowledged. “I just can’t believe how things have changed.”
“You’ve lived in
Sam shrugged acceptance, knowing that it was
true. Five hundred years of life, three centuries of which was spent in the
It was only when he saw Sara’s face slam
shut that he realised what he’d said, and he could have happily bitten off his
tongue. Opening his mouth, he was ready to apologise, but she cut him off,
looking around them pointedly. “You know, this place reminds me of home.” To
hear her mention
He blinked, and it was as if time fell away, transporting him ten years into the past, from England to California, when he and another Immortal by the name of Jack Gordon had come to swords. The woods had rung to the sound of metal against metal, and Gordon’s Quickening had lit up the sky, throwing Sam flat on his back, and when he finally pulled himself up off the ground, he’d found himself looking into the wide, incredulous eyes of fifteen-year-old Sara Sidle.
She’d stared at him, too shocked to speak, too stunned to even move, and when he’d walked over to her, he did something that he’d never done in five hundred odd years.
He told her the whole truth, about everything.
Much to his surprise, she’d accepted it all without question, keeping his secret from the rest of the small community for the next two years until they went their separate ways, she to Harvard, he to another Californian town. They’d kept in touch, and somewhere between then and here, another miracle had happened.
He’d fallen in love with her, and she loved him back.
So he smiled as he brought her hand to his lips. “Yes,” he told her. “I remember.” Her fingers tightened in his grasp, and she grinned, looking all around her again.
“I like it here,” she decided, pointing off to the side with her free hand. “Look at those steps over there…”
The word “steps,” made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and he knew what he was going to see before he turned around. He couldn’t stop himself from turning though, and then suddenly he was moving, heedless of having dropped Sara’s hand, not stopping until he was standing at the base of the steps, turning three hundred and sixty degrees, making sure of what he already knew.
“Sam?” Sara’s voice was very quiet, her hand on his arm equally as tentative. “What’s wrong?”
He looked down at her, into her concerned gaze, struck once again by her beauty, and how very, very young she was. How could explain this to her, he wondered? How would she react?
Finally, he reached down, took both her hands in his, and looked around one more time. “This is where I died,” he said simply.
“What?” She looked blank for a second, and then, light dawned. “Oh.”
Shock flitted across her face, so too did worry, the second emotion settling there, there and in the tightness of her hands in his. And he found himself telling what had never been told before; about the robbery, the knife, the pain lacing through his chest, knowing that he was dying. About waking up who-knew-how-long later, seeing the blood on his shirt, on the ground, too much blood for one to lose and live he knew, knowing that he’d been dead, but that he was now very much alive. Meeting Harold, the Immortal who had told him what he was, shown him how to wield a sword, how to survive.
“I never thought I’d be back here again,” he finished, in some amazement. “It hasn’t changed a bit.”
“Unlike everywhere else?” It was meant to be teasing, he knew, but he also knew that her smile didn’t reach her eyes, or anywhere near it, and she looked down, cheeks colouring, and not from the chill of the air around them.
And then it hit him, and he smiled.
“You know what though?” he asked, bringing
one hand to her chin, lifting her face to his gaze. “Five hundred years… these
woods and the ones in
Sara’s smile was further testament to that, as was how she stepped closer to him, slipping her arms around her waist, bringing her lips to his. And as she kissed him, Sam realised something else.
This might be the place that he’d died, but right now, he’d never felt more alive.