Author's Notes & Disclaimer
Last one. Give praise and thanks to whatever deity you worship. This wraps up the "Nothing Gold Can Stay" serial. Hallelujah. Blessed be. You get the picture. It's been at least three years waiting (again, check out the byline on this one), but here it is.
Disclaimer: Guess what? Nothing's changed. The characters still do not belong to me. Adam Newman and Ami Jackson are the property of Roger Damon Price and Thames Television, Tetra Television, ITV and Nickelodeon. Used here without permission, but not for profit.
The first silvers of morning light crested the horizon, flickering and reflecting off the blue of the ocean water as the waves lapped softly up onto the beach. Dawn crept on slow, quiet feet, a brilliant silver and gold that broke across the nighttime sky bringing the first paintings of color to the black, gray and blue world of night.
"It's beautiful," Ami whispered, hugging her knees to her chest. She spoke softly, her whisper barely audible over the washing of the waves; as though she was afraid that speaking might destroy the moment.
Adam watched her for a moment. He watched the light in her eyes as she watched the sunrise. He watched the muted pinks and oranges of dawn caress her face, and he nodded. "Yes, it is. Very beautiful."
He wondered if she even realized that it wasn't the sunrise to which he referred. He wondered if Ami had the slightest hint of the thoughts and feelings that possessed him in that instance.
Adam wondered if she knew that he loved her.
He supposed that in his heart he had always known it. The knowledge had been lurking there in his subconscious for quite some time. There was a reason that hearing her voice made him smile; there was a reason that he looked anxiously forward to spending any amount of time with her.
It wasn't possible for him to pin down the precise moment that he had first seen her as more than Ami, as more than a fellow Tomorrow Person or a good friend. He imagined that it had happened sometime between saying good-bye to her at the train station and the night that she appeared at the ship in tears. Maybe it had been that night, when he had first noticed how good it felt to hold her. Adam didn't know; and it really didn't matter.
His own feelings had crept upon him with the same stealth the morning sun used. First, only hints of silver and pink, the faintest skipping of his heart when she smiled at him, or held his gaze for perhaps a moment longer than necessary. A blend of purple and orange-gold, when she laughed and he found himself mesmerized by the sound.
It was odd that he had never noticed her two years ago. Certainly, he had teased Megabyte after his American friend made the mistake of commenting on Ami's attractiveness. He trusted Ami's intuition and relied on her as a fellow Tomorrow Person as much as he relied on Megabyte and Jade. But he had never noticed her as the beautiful young woman that she was. He'd never noticed how easily he could lose himself in her dark eyes, or how her laughter rang out like music.
"Sometimes we just don't notice things," Ami muttered softly. The words surprised Adam. She was echoing his thoughts, but her gaze remained focused across the ocean on the far horizon.
"No, we don't," Adam agreed. "Sometimes we don't even notice what's right under our noses."
For a long moment, Ami said nothing. Adam was beginning to think that she hadn't heard him at all when he felt her hand slide into his, a cacophony of emotion washing over him. He glanced at her, surprised to see those dark eyes focused on him completely.
There was an unfamiliar light in her eyes, a bright eagerness that the red gold of the rising sun highlighted. The rapture in her eyes caught froze his heart in his chest, his breath catching in his throat. Something about the caress of the sunrise on her face, the half-smile that he saw there made the world come to a crashing halt.
She spoke, her words carrying softly to his ears as she gave his hand a squeeze. "Sometimes, Adam, we do."
He saw himself in her eyes, felt his own feelings reflected there. Adam didn't think that he could look away from her, even if he had wanted to. He wanted to say something; he had to say something. "Ami, I--"
"I know. Me too."
There were one million other things to be said, one million things that he could not put into words but wanted so earnestly to say. Yet, somehow, Adam knew that he didn't need them. The touch of Ami's hand and her light kiss told him more than words could ever convey.
Side by side, swaddled in the comfort of quiet camaraderie and affection, they watched the sun herald the dawning of a new day.
And the promise of new beginnings.
End
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Right then. Back to work on "Worlds Away."
******** Michele B. Author, Archivist & Webmistress a l t e r n a t e REALITIES Fan Fiction Archive http://www.alternate-realities.net ********