ORP: Not Gonna Get Over You

2125
Arlington, Virgina

Having someone in her home was one thing Ayden was sure she had done everything possible to prevent. Apart from the Nanny, no one had access to her home, so when Diesel went into alarm mode, so did Ayden. As she crept through the house, she watched the dog run down the hall to the nursery, something Ayden was more than happy about. As she stepped into another room she was caught off-guard - something that rarely, if ever, happened - and she grunted, her back slamming against the intruder and she was more than ready to slam her foot into his shin but when the all too familiar scent and voice of the man reached her ears, Ayden froze. Alavair. Her Alavair. She breathed out softly and quickly pulled her thoughts together before slamming her foot against his shin and throwing her arm up and back to slam into his nose. Once she was free she scrambled for her gun and quickly picked it up and turned to face the man. The weapon remained trained on his face and she gritted her teeth together.

"Put your hands up where I can see them, or so help me God, I will shoot you." Her senses were deceiving her, they had to be. Alavair was dead. He never made it home alive and even though what she wanted more than anything was for him to be alive, it wasn't possible, Was it? Her body circled around him, never taking her gaze off of the man in front of her. "Who are you?" She growled, she wasn't going to be caught off-guard again. His hair, his eyes, his touch, his smell - it was all Alavair's but she knew there was no way.

Unless...

No. She wouldn't think like that. With her jaw set, her eyes grew colder and she tensed slightly, relying on all of her training to keep her thoughts straight. He was an impersonator - it wasn't unheard of in her line of work. There were so many questions to ask, but she would handle this one moment at a time. She had to.  "Empty your pockets." She spoke, her face stoic as she motioned with her gun to the kitchen counter. "Put your things there. No sudden movements. I will not hesitate to shoot." She reiterated.

< Tag: Alavair >

2125
Arlington, Virgina

When she had swung her arm up, Ayden didn't go with full force. If for some reason he was her husband, the last thing she wanted to do was break his nose. His reaction was a typical Alavair response and if this were any other occasion a year ago, she'd probably chuckle along with him, brush it off and move on. He often teased her for how cautious she was when it came to a lot of things and it didn't bother her, but after all she had endured over the past year, she wasn't going to take any chances. 

"Try ten months - that's a lot more than a few." She replied, her gaze never leaving his. As she walked around him, she instinctively moved so that her back was facing the hallway, a mother's unconscious effort to protect her child. Right down that hallway slept the only living reminder of her husband, her beautiful baby boy, and although she wasn't the mother she wanted to be, at least she could hold her child now - which was more than she could say for when he was first born. When Alavair had left, Ayden was two months pregnant, now, if this man truly was the love of her life, her - their - child was nearly four months seeing how Isaac, as she called him, unable to use his first name, was born a month too soon. 

She was half-tempted to call General Landry at the SGC to confirm Alavair's story but she was momentarily distracted by the ring he wore on his finger. Although to some it was nothing more than a piece of metal, it was much more than that to Ayden. She had picked out the perfect ring for him and had even had "I will always be yours" etched onto the part of the band that touched his flesh. When the thought came to mind her gaze once again flickered to the band.

"Go ahead and while you're at it, remove your wedding band." She replied, the edge that had been in her voice moments earlier vanishing. Alavair would understand what she wanted to see, if it really was him. It was the little things that counted in Ayden's book. The more she stared at the man in front of her, the more she believed him, but she refused to get her hopes up completely, only to have them come crashing down on her once again. She had often dreamed of him visiting her, coming back from the dead, and perhaps she did fall asleep on the chair on the patio and that's all that this was.

< Tag: Alavair >

Arlington, Virgina

Every word that came from his mouth reminded Ayden of her love, and it was getting harder to keep her face stoic and her eyes cold. She was already slipping and she knew that he had noticed. His words caused the corner of her mouth to twitch up for a brief moment but it quickly vanished when she reached out to catch the ring, the gun lowering slightly now that her other hand was off of it. Ayden quickly lifted it back up though, and trained it on the man in front of her as her crystal blue gaze flicked from him to the ring. It was tarnished, something you would expect to see after months of it not being properly cleaned and as she turned it around between her fingers she could tell that it was the ring she had given him over a year previously. When she finally saw the inscription there was no denying the truth any longer.

Ayden's thumb lifted to flick the safety back on her weapon and she placed it on the counter, her body no longer tense with caution, and instead she let the emotion she had been holding back take over. Her knees went weak as her hand closed over the ring and with her free hand she reached out to grab the island to hold herself up. She wanted to speak but her words remained stuck in her throat and she fell to her knees on the ground. Ayden's defenses crumbled once she was on the floor, her shoulders began to shake with the quiet sobs leaving her body and she held the ring against her chest as her eyes flooded with tears. A single tear escaped her eyes and fell down her cheek and she closed her eyes as her sobs grew louder and more frequent, causing her to gasp for air because of the emotions that were overwhelming her.

He was alive. Her husband was alive and he was here right in front of her. She had been strong for so long. She had held herself together for the sake of her son and for the sake of her job but she couldn't do it any longer. He was home with her and that was the greatest gift any man could ever give his wife. Ayden's dark hair fell into her face as she bowed her head forward and rested her empty hand on the cool tile floor to prevent herself from falling face first to the ground. "A-Al..." She choked out between her tears, unable to utter another word just yet.

< Tag: Alavair >

Arlington, Virgina

Alavair's touch resonated through Ayden's body the moment that his arms were wrapped around her. She clung to him, her arms curling around his that wrapped across his chest and her face turned to bury itself in his shirt as she continued to cry. She had spent many nights dreaming of this day, of him walking back into her life, holding her and kissing her, and as perfect as those dreams were, this was so much better. Her fingers dug into his forearm as she pressed herself closer to him, unable to deal with any space between them. She curled herself up against her husband and through her soft cries his words reached her ears and a quick nod was all the reaction he got.

With shaky hands Ayden let him go, only to grab his left hand and she trembled, slipping not once but twice in the process of trying to push the ring onto his finger but finally it slid onto his finger, over his knuckle and back to its' proper place on his hand. Ayden wiped her smeared mascara from her face and lifted her gaze to his as she reached her hands out to grasp his face. Her thumbs brushed over the light stubble on his cheeks and her lips parted, the sobs that had been leaving her moments earlier subsiding as she got a hold of herself.

Ayden was never one for many words or much emotion but there was no holding back tonight. They were finally together once more, after a year of being apart. "You're alive." She breathed, as if saying those words would make this moment realer than it already was. "You're home and you're alive." She repeated as she blinked her eyes to push the tears away. It was already hard to see straight because of the crying. Ayden's hands dropped from his face and she looped her arms around his neck as she leaned forward to press her face against his neck. She inhaled his scent as she curled up on his lap and tightened her arms around him. "Please tell me this is real and I'm not dreaming."

< Tag: Alavair >