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[b][i]A [@BrutalBx] & [@Venus] Collaboration[/i]
[color=red]TW:[/color] Death of a Partner | Mentions/Ideations of Death/Suicide[/b]

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[color=gray][indent][indent][center][i][color=BFA65C]"I don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, baby
And I don't wanna miss a thing
'Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream would never do
I'd still miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing."[/color][/i][/center]

The tune of Aerosmith's most popular hit began to coax the sleeping figure of Caitlin Cleary back into a wakeful state. Although it was a song she had refused to listen to for the last five years, there was something different about the version currently filling the empty spaces of her bedroom that Halloween morning. There was no music to hum along to, or any instruments to carry a tune. In its place, a familiar deep voice was intoning the famous rock ballad in a murmured lullaby that took Caitlin back to flannel shirt days, lakeside nights, clandestine encounters and a whole lot of love.

Cece slowly began to open her eyes, giving them time to adjust to the faint rays of sunlight peeking into her bedroom. She could feel the energy and warm presence of another figure laying next to her; its gentle hand running their fingers through her silky red mane. At first, she half-smiled, assuming it was her boyfriend Niles Sinclair serenading her this morning. But then she remembered that Niles hadn't spent the night with her, that his voice wasn't this deep, and that he knew I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing was a banned song. Frowning with both curiosity and dread, the young woman carefully turned around to confront this stranger in her bed, ignoring the way her heart was hammering inside her chest with that fight or flight instinct going off. But when her eyes fell on the figure now in front of her, she nearly gasped in shock. Right there, laying in bed beside her, was her first love... 

David O'Hara.

[color=BFA65C]“Hey there, pretty lady.”[/color]

David’s curly brown tresses framed his handsome face perfectly. He was dressed exactly as he was that fateful night: in jeans, boots, a flannel button-down shirt, and his signature Levi denim jacket. He wasn’t soaking wet and frozen solid like he was when they found his corpse; no, he was as warm and as full of light as he was the rest of the time. 

If Francis Callahan was the king of the school, David O’Hara was the Duke. His father was the most beloved member of Edenridge High staff that wasn’t named Beau. It was a lot to overcome and in hindsight; David never really accomplished that feat. He had lived in his fathers large looming shadow from the day he and his twin sister Jamie were born. He had considered making an appearance to her on this unprecedented eve but Jamie was….fragile and seeing her long dead brother might just be a little much for her. 

Whoever said being royalty was easy? 

While her peers had wasted time battling and getting over questions, hesitations and uncertainty about what was happening, Caitlin did the complete opposite. She didn't know how or why this was happening, but she'd be damned if she didn't take advantage of every second she had with the person she'd missed most in the entire universe. So as soon as she realized she could physically interact with the figure in front of her, the redheaded girl had burrowed her face into David's chest and began to sob quietly. 

[color=C81935]"I'm sorry!"[/color] Cece desperately apologized to her former lover as she pulled away, matching rivers of tears continuing to stream down her heartbroken, freckled face. [color=C81935]"I'm so sorry about everything, Dave. It was all my fault! Where they found you, [i]how[/i] they found you-- I know you were coming to see me! I never, ever, [i]ever[/i], wanted anything like that to happen to you! I am so, so sorry… I'll never forgive myself for being the reason you're not here with me today."[/color]

[color=BFA65C]“Caitlin, it’s okay.”[/color]

David held his girl close into his chest as she wept and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. [color=BFA65C]“You weren’t at fault for anything. Shit just happens and what happened to me, it was what it was.”[/color] He had spent a lot of time on the other side, thinking back to the events that led him to his death. David, when he was alive, had little care about the world around him, about what went on in other people’s lives and the moments that made the world turn. Yet when something happens like what happened to him, it makes you think something fierce. 

[color=BFA65C]“Look at it this way, CeCe: with me gone, you’ll find something better, someone better. Everything happens for a reason, kid."[/color]

Cece vehemently shook her head. [color=C81935]"But they won’t be you,"[/color] she whispered, cupping David's face with both hands and locking her eyes with his. [color=C81935]"They won’t be you, David! They won’t be the guy I had a crush on since I was a girl. They won’t be the guy I fell head over heels in love with when I was fourteen. They won’t be the guy who was my first kiss, my first date, my first time-- my first everything! They won’t be the guy I'd sneak around for just to spend some time with, or the one who'd talked to me for hours, or the one who had me melting every time he smiled at me. We were going to get married and live in the cottage next to your parents' house. We were going to have a house full of kids that had my hair and your eyes. [i]You[/i] were the one I was supposed to spend my life with, Dave! It wasn't supposed to be like this."[/color] Cece knew lamenting what could've been wasn't going to change what had already happened; but David needed to know that her heart would always belong to him.

[color=BFA65C]“I was pretty amazing wasn’t I?”[/color] David had always had that cheeky edge and even in death, humour was still his best friend. 

Caitlin let out a shaky chuckle and nodded. [color=C81935]"You really were."[/color]

David pressed his lips to the girl's forehead and, deciding to finally break their embrace, got up off the bed.

The curly haired boy wandered the room he had spent many a night in so many years ago; it hadn’t really changed, it even smelled the same. [color=BFA65C]“I see you kept hold of my vinyls… Nice.”[/color]

[color=C81935]"That's not the only thing I still have,"[/color] she told him with a sad smile, taking up a seating position in the middle of the bed. [color=C81935]"If you want a real trip down memory lane, pull out the brown box under the bed and bring it over here."[/color]

David brushed his chin with his palm after he had pulled out and opened the box under Caitlin’s bed. [color=BFA65C]“Wow."[/color] It was filled with mementos from their clandestine relationship over five years ago. The redhead had kept pretty much everything from their time together: photos, letters, postcards, flowers and even his letterman jacket. It was amazing to David that even so many years on from his death that she held on to all this memorabilia from their time together. As happy as it made him that he was still on CeCe’s mind; it did make him feel somewhat uncomfortable. He had been gone for a long time now-- she shouldn’t be still pining after him.

[color=BFA65C]“You really are hung up on me, aren’t you, kid?”[/color]

[color=C81935]"I'm not sure I ever won't be."[/color]

David glanced out of the nearby window where you could see the shimmering waters of Lake Eden. Had he not crossed the water that night, things would’ve been different: things would’ve been as Caitlin wanted them to be. That just wasn’t the case. He may be back from the dead for however long, but he couldn’t turn back time-- he wasn’t Cher.

[color=BFA65C]“CeCe, you’re allowed to feel as you do. But remember: you can’t change the past. There’s no use dwelling on it. I’m gone. So look to the future-- look to [i]your[/i] future.”[/color] He took a seat back into the bed, holding onto his old letterman jacket. [color=BFA65C]“Listen, I’ve been gone for years and I’ll be gone for the rest of them too. I’ll always be with you, kid. Always watching over you. But you have to let me go and get on with your life. This place, this town, it’ll eat you alive if you let it. [i]Don’t[/i] let it. Be better than this place. Like the song says: ‘Carry on, my wayward son’….I mean…daughter…you get what I’m trying to say.”[/color]

[color=C81935]“[i]But I’m scared…[/i]”[/color] Caitlin croaked, lower lip wobbling with the premise of tears as she settled next to David on the bed again. [color=C81935]“I’m scared of so many things, Dave… I’m scared I’ll never find someone that’ll make me feel the way you did. I’m scared of feeling like betraying you and what we had just by contemplating the idea of someone else. I’m scared that, if I ever [i]do[/i] find someone else, that I’ll eventually forget you. And I’m freaking terrified that I’ll fall in love with someone this deeply again and lose them like I did you. I never want to go through this heartbreak in my life ever again.”[/color]

In retrospect, Cece hadn’t been this raw, real or vulnerable with anyone in years. Even as a child, the redhead masked her feelings with her sweet and cheerful disposition to prevent her loved ones from worrying about her. But David? David had known her better than anyone. He used to read her like a book. If there had been anyone in the world that she trusted with her mind, heart, feelings and emotion’s workings more than Danny or her older sister, it had been David

[color=BFA65C]“Heartbreak is a part of life, Caitlin,”[/color] David wrapped his hand around hers and held it in his lap. [color=BFA65C]“It hurts like hell and it can take forever and day to get over but once you get beyond that pain, it gets better. That pain in your heart, the voice in your head telling you that it’s not worth it, it’s wrong. It gets better and life will always find a way to give you what you’ve earned. You’re gonna struggle, but it’s what makes life worthwhile.”[/color]

Caitlin shifted her eyes away from David to stare at the floor. She took a deep breath, and before she knew it, was spilling her darkest secret to her beloved. [color=C81935]"I used to have those really dark days, you know? I would wake up sobbing [i]really[/i] really hard after having a nightmare about you, have a split-second relief of thinking it was all a dream, only to break apart all over again when I realized it wasn't: that you were truly, actually, really gone. I couldn't sleep for weeks. At one point, I thought about putting on my best dress, walking over to the lake and tying bricks or cement blocks to my feet so I couldn't come back up when I jumped in after you…"[/color] she admitted while wiping away a few stray tears, her voice breaking as she made the confession she hadn't voiced out loud to anyone else before. [color=C81935]"But I didn't do it, because there was a voice in my head that told me it was all going to get better someday. Sometimes I'll be blindsided by a memory of you, and before I know it I'm a crying mess in the middle of my bedroom again. But sometimes everything feels like it's okay. The good days slowly started to be more than the bad. And yet, there are some days that I can't help but wonder… Did I ever do anything to deserve any of this?"[/color]

[color=BFA65C]“You didn’t do anything, kid,”[/color] David stroked her gorgeous red hair. [color=BFA65C]“But that voice in your head was right. Things did get better; Niles? My boy Mika? I’ve been whispering in your ear this whole time, baby girl.”[/color] He grinned at her goofily, proud of himself for some stupid reason that he would never admit to. [color=BFA65C]“I don’t know what the great plan is but what I do know is that as soon as I figured out that I could influence your world from where I was, I did. I started letting you know that the sadness wasn’t forever. You moved on and I’m glad you did.”[/color]

As soon as Mika and Niles were mentioned, Cece whipped her head to look back at David with wide, shocked eyes. [color=C81935]"You know about them?"[/color] she asked, her lower lip wobbling with the guilt painted all over her face. Their names sounded strange coming from his lips, like a child enunciating a curse word. Even after his admission that he'd been the one to influence their presence in Caitlin’s life, it still made her feel as if she's been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to.

[color=BFA65C]“Of course I do.”[/color]

David leaned back on the bed with a smug sort of grin across his face, while Cece followed suit and rested her head on the crook of his shoulder. [color=BFA65C]“Who do you think sent them to you? Mika is my cousin, so I had a bit more influence on him than I did Niles.”[/color] He glanced out of the crack in the curtains at the world he once knew and sighed. It seemed in some ways that the light had gone out. [color=BFA65C]“That said, him breaking your heart was never part of the plan. I can influence but I can’t control. I do think that you’ve always been loved, though, by everyone. There’s just grander designs, I guess.”[/color]

'Loved by everyone'... [i]That[/i] was an interesting choice of words from David. Was this a subtle way of him confirming that Mika had indeed reciprocated Cece's feelings during the time of their involvement? The damage was already one and done, of course-- nothing would change the heartache he'd caused her. However, it did bring the girl some relief to know her intuition hadn't been mistaken, and that she hadn't been betraying David's memory in any way by trying to move on.

[color=C81935]"As true as that might be, I still have a [i]very[/i] big question for you, Dave. Was I ever loved by you?"[/color] she asked him, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips while she looked up at him. The answer was obvious, but she still wanted to hear confirmation from her eternal lover. 

The young man smiled at her and kissed her lips. [color=BFA65C]"With all of my heart.”[/color]

As the redhead brightly smiled back at him and hugged him tight, David couldn't help his deep sigh. He didn’t know how much time he had left with Cece before the world returned to normal and whatever was happening stopped. For all he knew, he could be back on the other side the next time she opened her eyes. He could tell the pain was still raw, but hopefully after this she could finally find a way to move past what they were and start focusing on who she is.

As for Caitlin, the encounter marked the arrival of a new dawn to the rest of her life. His love for her, like hers for him, would always live on forever. But with David's blessing, and the undeniable confirmation that she was not to blame for his passing, the young woman would now be able to find the unwavering strength within herself to truly move on forward. She was free to love and live life to the fullest, heart at peace knowing that David would always be taking care of her.[/indent][/indent][/color]