flamesburned | The Apartment Above the Photo Hut

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The Apartment Above the Photo Hut - Friday Morning

The last twenty four hours had been such a whirlwind - an amazing, wonderful whirlwind and Liz was still afraid that this was a dream, that she would wake up back in her room at Dr. Lecter’s and Prompto would be gone, still unaware that he was going to be a father.

After a while they found that they couldn’t stay awake and as nice as it was on the couch, the bed was much more comfortable and so they retreated to the bedroom with Prompto stopping to have a shower on the way before they both ended up in the bed. Liz had thought that she would never get to experience anything like this with Prompto again, she didn’t want to get her hopes up in case this was all just a very cruel dream.

For a long while they had just stayed there, not willing to let the other go or fall asleep but eventually Liz found herself falling asleep. She knew that it wasn’t realistic or healthy for her to stay awake, especially after the last few weeks of not sleeping properly but she was so afraid that she was dreaming this, that she wanted it so badly that she had started to dream that Prompto had returned to Fandom.

When Liz woke the next morning, she was expecting to wake up alone but then she felt Prompto move beside her, snuggled up against her and she had to stop herself from crying.

Everything was real.

She was with Prompto again.

[for Prompto who is modded with permission!]

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“I would have been with you though,” Liz said softly as her head found its way to Prompto’s chest and she rested it there while she snuggled in, “I - I missed you and all I wanted was for you to be with me and that - that’s so selfish of me when you’ve been through so much,”

She closed her eyes and a sob escaped, “I - I …”her thoughts were too jumbled up and a few tears began to roll down her cheeks again.

"Hey," Prompto said, softly, squeezing Liz reassuringly before his hand rubbed her shoulders, rubbed her back, trying to soothe out any more sobs. "It's okay, it alright. You're fine. It's not selfish. If only I'd just..."

Just what, though? Known that his best friend's wedding would turn into a nightmare where the entire fate of the world was hanging in the balance?

"...it's okay. I'm...I'm here now. I'm....sorry it couldn't have been sooner."

It was kind of a miracle it was even a thing at all...

A few more sobs and a couple of hiccups escaped before Liz did finally calm down, her breathing slowing down as Prompto’s gentle rubbing helped soothe her.

Liz moved in even closer, even though she was finding that she was beginning to run out of room as she tried to get in as close to Prompto as she was able to.

“I … I …you’re here, you’re with me … “ Liz took several deep breaths, “this is real,”

It still felt real, that she was curled up with Prompto but maybe it was still a dream … that her dream was still continuing and she was asleep back at Dr. Lecters, “I …it … “ she took another breath.

“I’m scared of losing you again,” it came out in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

Liz could be absorbed into Prompto entirely, and it still wouldn't be close enough.

And as his arms tightened around her again, he closed his eyes and leaned his head in toward hers, trying not to let the sound of her sobs seep into him enough that he'd start crying again, too. In a way, he meant it, when he joked earlier, about how they'd really be in for it if they were both crying.

But what did he say to thay? He wanted to promise that he wasn't going anywhere, but he couldn't promise that. He didn't even know how he got here now, or why, or if it was just a fluke, or....

"If anything," he tried, quietly, after a long, long moment of just letting her cry and ribbing her back, "they owe me at least ten years. You know, to balance it all out."

But the joke definitely feel even nearly enough, and he added, softer, more reflective, "I'm not going anywhere, Liz. Not if I can help it."

The problem was that it looked like he couldn't help it...

Liz did try to laugh at the joke but a few more hiccups escaped instead and she fell silent as she lay there, her head resting on his chest.

“I’m not going anywhere either,” Liz said softly, clinging as tightly as she could to Prompto, “I … I just want to stay here with you,”

She did remember that eventually she would have things like work, that she would have to let everyone know that she was okay and that all of her things were still at Dr. Lecter’s but she would focus on that later … she just wanted that reassurance and comfort from Prompto being here with her.

That he had come back to her and they were going to have a family.

She took several more deep breaths. “I love you,” she said again.

Edited 2022-09-17 02:23 (UTC)

And, much more immediate than all of that, they would eventually have to get up when the food got there.

But not for a while, so, for now, just the clinging, the gentle rubs, the lips pressed into her hair.

"I love you, too," he said, the words cracking in his throat a little, and his hold on tightened. "Gods, Liz, I missed you so much. I was...really starting to think I would never even see you again."

Edited 2022-09-17 02:32 (UTC)

Liz had not even factored in that they would have to get up for the food when it arrived.

“I missed you so much as well, I still … I still can’t believe it, that you’re here …that I’m here with you,” she said softly, as she tried to look up at him from where she still clinging to him.

“After all this time …I … was afraid that we would never be together again, especially after the reunion weekend … when your alternate self was here and than you were gone again,”

Another thought dawned on her and that was what if Fandom was playing a trick on her and it was like the reunion weekend all over again, she clung even more tightly to Prompto, if that was possible.

That poor NPC delivery person was going to be waiting at that door for so. long.

And it was a pretty long time before Prompto mustered up a response, the silence in between just filled with soaking in her hold on him and holding her back.

"Then I guess," he ventured quietly, "we have to make sure to make the most of it while we can."

Not very reassuring, maybe, but if this was temporary, he'd rather just focus on what time they would have.

"Just in case."

At the least it was going to be a good tip for waiting for so long?

Liz trembled but nodded, after the last few months she knew she couldn’t take for granted anytime that she was able to have with Prompto and this was her Prompto in the present… she wasn’t an alternate future Liz with her alternate future Prompto.

“Next Tuesday is my four month check up at the clinic,” she told him softly, “I - I … I would you like to come with me? If you’re still here?”

It all felt so long away but she desperately hoped that Prompto would still be here on Tuesday.

Prompto really couldn't help the dry snort at that last part; he'd thought the exact same thing, but was glad he wasn't the one to say it.

"If you want me there," he said, also thinking that she might have a hard time getting rid of him regardless. "I'd love to come."

And, boy. If something like a four-month check-up wasn't enough to really drive home the whole going to be a father side of all this, which was...

...a lot.

Everything right now was kind of a lot.

“I want you there,” Liz nodded, assuring him, “Dr. Halstead said we’ll be able to get our first look at our daughter, can get a photograph and everything,”

It still felt surreal to think that Prompto would be at her next check up after these last couple of months when she wasn’t even sure if he would ever know that he was going to be a father.

Prompto laughed, softly and lightly at that. "Well, then," he said, "I'll have to go, if that's the case..."

And of the appointment itself coulen't drive the fact that this was all real, he was really here and Liz was really going to be having their baby, an ultrasound was pretty damn convincing, too. And he'd have questions, too, for the doctor. He had a few months (and thank god it wasn't more than that!) to make up for...

Liz looked up at him with a wide smile, “I still can’t believe that you’ll actually be with me,” she told him, desperately hoping that he would still be here for the appointment, there was another pause and then, “we’re going to have a baby,”

She had never thought she’d be able to talk or make plans with Prompto about their future family and now that Prompto was back, she really didn’t want to let go, she was scared to.

“We’re going to have a daughter,” she said softly.

"We're going to have a daughter," Prompto echoed the words, mystified by them, shaking his head a little. It still just seemed so wild, so impossible, it had to be just some weird Fandom thing, right? But looking down at Liz, in his arms, looking back up at him, and seeing that face, and that smile...

Well. There goes more clinging. And more tears, stinging his eyes. He didn't really know what else to say, and maybe he didn't need to, just clinging seemed pretty good right about now, but as he nuzzled in, he murmured into her hair. "I love you. I'm so sorry. I promise, I'm going to make it up to you."

Liz did not have any problems with more clinging, it had been so long since she had felt this happy and content and she wanted to stay safe in Prompto’s embrace.

“I love you too,” she told him, she was quiet for a few moments as she gazed up at Prompto, tears building in her own eyes again but for once they weren’t falling, “you don’t have anything to apologise for,” she assured him, “none of this was your fault,” there was another pause, “there’s nothing to make up for,”

And Prompto knew, deep down, that Liz was right about that. He couldn't have known that things would happen the way they did, and he'd done everything he could in light of that. But it hadn't been enough, and no amount of logic or reasoning could assuage that kind of guilt, which was now starting to form a small offshoot of feeling like he didn't deserve any of this.

But he tried to make it light; he tried to laugh a little as he squeezed Liz and said, "Too bad. I'm going to do it anyway."

“You being here is more than enough,” Liz told him softly, as she clung to him, hoping that she was being reassuring, “just knowing that you’re here with me … “

The tears did start to fall now, as they rolled down her cheeks, she tried to blink them back before she started sobbing again, “I - I was scared of doing this alone, I - I’ve had great support from my friends but all I wanted was you to be here and now you are … “

She took a deep breath, smiling up at him through those tears, “it’s … “ she couldn’t form the words to describe how she was feeling and she was silent for a few moments, “we’re together again,”

Just when Prompto didn't think that gaping chasm of guilt in his chest could get any deeper. He barely managed to stuff the pained whimper at her words down into it, trying to be stronger that that, so Liz didn't end up feeling bad about any of it, too.

"We're together," he assured her firmly. "You're not alone. And I don't plan on going anywhere."

Liz let out another sob as she heard those words and she rested her head back on his chest, comforted in Prompto’s assurance that he wasn’t going anywhere, she was still clinging as tight as she could to Prompto … she wasn’t sure if she was clinging to tight now.

“I … “ she started to say and then was silent, still unsure how to process her thoughts as she lay there against his chest. “I …”

She closed her eyes, trying to remember to breathe and took several deep breaths.

“I love you,” she said again, she was going to keep saying it, as many times as she could, “I …I’m so happy that you’re back, that you’re here … “

She fell silent again, those tears now falling onto Prompto’s chest as she lay there.

It was still so weird to be crying tears of joy and happiness after all this time.

"Me, too, Liz," Prompto said quietly, feeling like all he could really do, all he hopefully needed to do, in that moment, was just hold her and do the one thing he hadn't been able to do for these past few months/ten years, and that was just... be there. Something he apparently wasn't very great at, but, right then? He felt he was doing pretty well with it. "Me, too...

"I love you, too..."

It really couldn't be overstated, could it?

It really couldn’t.

Liz lay there quietly, feeling comforted just being in Prompto’s embrace again, she had imagined this moment for so long … had hardly dared to hope that she would ever get to experience it again and now that she was here with Prompto in their bedroom…

She let out another sob.

“I never thought that we would be back in this apartment again,” she said softly and then another thought came to her, “oh … I never told Dr. Lecter where I was yesterday,” she realised, “I missed dinner … all my stuff is over there still…”

Well it was a couple of thoughts.

A couple of thoughts that reminded Prompto that, while it hadn't been nearly as long for her, it had still been a few months, and that Liz had a whole...thing going on now, that didn't include him, and here he was, just showing up out of nowhere to throw everything...off. Granted, by now, it definitely seemed like that thing was definitely Plan B, and him being here (a thought that came with a complicated knot in his chest tightening) was preferred. But still...

"Do you think he'll be worried?" Prompto asked, quietly, eventually.

“I …” Liz took a deep breath as she looked up at Prompto, “I don’t know,” she admitted.

“I … I’ve always let him know when I’ve had other arrangements,” she paused, not that she’d had that many other arrangements to make in the last few months but one of his rules had been that she turn up to dinner every night.

“I mean, I’m - I’m sure he’ll understand,” she said quietly

"You could always tell him it wasn't your fault," Prompto offered, grinning faintly despite himself. "That I totally kidnapped you, you didn't have a choice."

He was pretty sure Dr. Lecter would understand (and would be seriously questioning the man's logic if he didn't), but this was funnier.

Liz did manage to giggle at that and she gave a small smile, “well I think that can be my alternative response when I try to explain everything,” she considered, “I mean, it wouldn’t hurt to have a back up response right?”

Not that she thought she’d need it but she felt it didn’t hurt to be prepared.

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