lonetread | Fic: BH, "Thief in the Night"

My laptop is back up and running, but the BH fic I promised is still on its way (it needs a title and maybe a better ending). In lieu of that, here's an old double-drabble I wrote last year (2/4/09) for

writing_game, for a space that prompted us to write at least 100 words in exactly five sentences. There's plenty more where this came from that I'll probably post later rather than sooner, but this is one of my favorites, and I think the five-sentence limit turned out well here. But that's me, decide for yourself. (Set during 1x01, spoiler-free apart from that.)

Thief in the Night

He wonders where in the hell she is, sure beyond a doubt, something deeper than knowing, that something terrible has happened, just like something terrible always happens, and he’d bet it’s even his fault this time, too, on the wagon or not.

Then he’s outside, searching, frantic, and— oh, Jesus Christ, there she is, bleeding, and there’s so much blood, yet for once, somehow, that doesn’t even matter to him at all except that it’s her life spilling out of her so very quickly. His hand is on her neck in an instant, despite the fact that he knows full well how futile the gesture is, and he hardly knows what he’s saying and then – how did she get so close without him sensing her? – Lauren is there.

He screams at her – what did you do to her? – even though of course he knows the answer, of course he does, and even worse, he knows what it means, because it’s none too far from what he did to her. Which, followed to its logical conclusion, makes this his fault, again, of course, but he thinks (or maybe hopes) that this time he understands how to save a dying human being.