Sunnydale AU: careful of the curse

[americas_son]

Tina is finally asleep. Richard has been and gone, leaving a mild sedative so she can sleep between transformations. Cal closes the guestroom door quietly behind him, trying to think through his own physical and emotional exhaustion (and low blood sugar, and nicotine withdrawal) to decide exactly where Sherlock will be.

Comments

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal sits back with a sigh.

"Yeah."

That's that taken care of. The only other thing left to do, physically, is sleep, and he's not - he doesn't think he could do that right now.

[if_inconvenient]

He takes a seat at the table.

"Good. Jarvis, how is Tony doing?"

[poeticterms]

"Scribbling on whiteboards and muttering about structural integrity," he reports. "He says he ought to have an acceptable temporary housing by tomorrow if necessary and something more permanent by next month. For now, I am afraid we will have to sacrifice a guest room."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal takes a slow breath, forcing his thoughts to the matter at hand.

"Will that be strong enough?"

[if_inconvenient]

"Yes, of course," he says absently.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"Okay."

He supposes that should be obvious; the windows are impenetrable, and the doors are heavy even though they move easily on their hinges.

Still. He just needed to check.

"I know which room you can use," he suggests, a bit dryly.

[poeticterms]

"You can move out any of the furniture you would not like Miss McCoy to feel responsible for destroying," Jarvis suggests.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal nods. He hadn't thought of that, but it's definitely one more thing Tina doesn't need on her list of things to be upset about.

"That's a good idea."

[if_inconvenient]

"I'd be happy to." He looks at Cal. "Would you like to help?"

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"Of course," Cal says immediately.

He gets up and takes his dish to the sink.

[if_inconvenient]

"Then let us go and move some furniture."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like a plan."

And a lot better than sitting around doing nothing except waiting for Tina to wake up.

[if_inconvenient]

He puts the empty pot in the sink and steps out into the hall.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal follows him upstairs.

He doesn't feel as tired as before. The sugar and caffeine from the soda are helping. He'll crash hard later, but that's later. Right now, he's fine.

[if_inconvenient]

When they arrive, Sherlock surveys the room.

He knows which one it was, of course, but he has not actually been here in some time. This and that have conspired to keep him away. Dust is starting to collect on the desk, which never happens in this house.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Behind him, Cal inhales, thinking of the last time he was in this room. There's no lingering smell of cologne this time, of course; just slightly stale air.

The chair at the desk is still askew from when Tony pushed it back to follow Cal out of the room. He must have just come back to get the paperwork later, to deal with it somewhere else.

"Is it just me, or has this year kinda sucked?"

[if_inconvenient]

"It is not," he murmurs gently, "just you."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"Not all bad," Cal says, "but - a lot of it."

He walks over to the desk, tracing his fingers through the dust.

("Or we could get drunk.")

"I miss my dad," he says abruptly.

[if_inconvenient]

Sherlock puts a hand on Cal's shoulder.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"There isn't that much to miss," Cal mutters, looking at the desk. "We didn't even talk that much after - we stopped smoking up together. But I miss him being around."

Reed Chandler had been the liveliest member of the family. The liveliest, and easily the happiest. He could fill up a room with his personality, especially in a quiet, empty place like the Chandler compound. With Grahame gone to LA, and Mother spending so much time in Sacramento being the new Senator Chandler, Cal is beginning to realize just how empty it is.

[if_inconvenient]

Really, the only thing Sherlock can do here is... keep being here.

So he does.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal rubs his hand over his face, leaving a small smear of dust on his forehead.

"I thought - I just kept thinking this morning, 'I can't do this again.' What if -"

[if_inconvenient]

He squeezes Cal's shoulder.

"What if what?"

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

When he answers, it's a whisper.

"I had to kill my dad."

Most of the time, reminding himself that Reed Chandler was long gone from that body helps.

Sometimes, when he's tired or it's been a rough day or something has his mind chasing itself in circles, it doesn't.

[if_inconvenient]

Oh.

Oh, Cal.

Sherlock hugs him again.

"It is not at all the same," he murmurs.