Title: Sleeping
Copyright: 2001
Author: emmastark
Rated: PG
Disclaimer: All
original TAT characters belong to Stephen J. Cannell and Universal.
Warning: Light
Slash
Comments: Please
Summary: Where does Face go when he sleeps? Murdock wonders.
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Sleeping
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They drove miles.
Murdock sat in the back seat with Face’s head in his lap. He had one hand on Face’s shoulder and the
other over Face’s eyes. The back of the
van was dark, but the headlights of passing cars flashed crazily across the
gray upholstery. Face’s still form.
Face breathed evenly and slow.
He’d been sleeping for a long time.
Sometimes Face escaped into sleep. Dove down in it, like water, and just didn’t come up.
It scared him, when Face did that. Slept so unrelentingly hard.
Would not move. Would not wake.
Murdock kept his hands on Face. Let his fingers trace shoulder and bare skin of arm. Pulled the rough blanket closer around
Face’s shoulders.
What was he escaping from this time? The job?
The constant running? The
past? Them? Him?
BA looked back at them from the passenger seat. “Eatin’,” he
said. “Twelve miles.”
Murdock stroked Face’s hair back. Shook him gently. “Wake
up, Face,” he said softly. “Wakey,
wakey, rise and shine.”
Face’s eyes opened, but it was another moment before there
was any recognition in them. As if he
were coming back from far away.
How far did he come?
Did he want to come back when Murdock called him?
Murdock helped him sit up.
Left his arm over Face’s shoulders.
Face rubbed his hands over his eyes.
“Fourteen hours,” Murdock said.
“I was tired.”
Murdock pulled Face closer.
Face’s cheek was very rough.
He threw his other arm around Face and held Face tight against
him.
Face leaned back out of Murdock’s arms a little. “You okay?”
Murdock frowned and didn’t answer. Pulled Face close again.
Face let him.
Allowed himself to be held.
Sometimes you don’t ask questions, because there just aren’t any answers. Sometimes holding (and being held) is all there
is.
They stayed that way until they reached the diner, then they
went inside and ate.
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~fin~