The End of Nowhere
(Elyssa's Residence)
July 13, 2008, 12:18 p.m.
Not so long ago, Will was of the belief that next to
nothing could surprise him. He liked to
think that he had a calm mind, and that nothing could ruffle that.
It's funny how, in three short weeks, one's life can be so
dramatically altered.
Since Elyssa dropped that bombshell on him three days ago,
the two of them had not talked to each other.
He was trying to come to grips with this new reality, and had basically
put his Legacy title match against Draco on the back burner. For her part, she was waiting for him to
speak to her; she knew what she wanted but would base her decision off of what
Will said to her.
In addition, there was the unspoken shadow that hovered
over both of them, stemming from that cave near Will's cabin. It had been a little over three weeks since
their beliefs had been turned inside-out, thanks to one person and a stone that
looked like a skull. Legacy title on the
line or not, Will had more than enough on his plate to worry about.
However, first things first. What was he going to do with Elyssa? He knew what he wanted to do, but wasn't sure
if she was ready to go through with that so soon. As far as he knew, there was still a case
pending in California for that particular
issue. That still didn't mean he wasn't
interested in pursuing the matter, though.
He already knew what he wanted to get her; had gone back
to look at it several times, actually.
It was a matter of timing with him, of wanting to wait until the perfect
moment to ask. However, given everything
that had transpired recently, his manner of thinking had gone from that to
"is there going to be a better moment than now?"
The more he sat and thought about it, the more he came to
think that it was the right and proper thing to do. Deep within himself, he thought that Elyssa
would be waiting for him to ask her. And
after the shock of the last couple of weeks, this could be the one thing that
brought reality back into their grasp, and made both of them feel like their lives
were once again theirs to live.
In the end, it was that thought that decided him. With Elyssa at work, having to lead her task
force, Will found himself free to take a brief trip. He was back within an hour; having done what
he felt was needed. He spent most of the
rest of the afternoon straightening things up, and preparing dinner for the two
of them. Will might not be a good cook,
but even he couldn't find a way to mess up his family's long-time spaghetti
recipe.
There were a few others things he did as well, and he had
everything ready to go by four, when he heard Elyssa pull up to the house. He smiled slightly as he walked to the
door. As Elyssa walked in, her eyes
widened at the sight before her.
Set out on the dining room table were place settings for
two, with small oil lamps providing a little ambient light. The bowl of spaghetti was sitting to one
side, and two loaves of bread--one with garlic and one without--sat on the
opposite side of the table. Sitting in
an ice bucket were a pair of two-liter bottles of Sprite, as neither Will nor
Elyssa drank alcohol.
Elyssa stood transfixed for a few moments before Will
cleared his throat behind her. "If
the lady will allow me to escort her, dinner is ready. Or if you like, a bath has been prepared for
you as well in your bathroom."
She looked at Will, trying to figure out who this guy was
and what happened to the Will she knew.
"I don't understand…what is going on here?"
"Am I not allowed to fix the lady of the house a meal
on occasion?"
"…What's the catch, Will?"
"None. I just
felt bad for not having talked to you in a few days and thought I should make
it up to you." He winced mentally
at the little white lie, but felt that it was justified so as to make the
surprise later that much better.
"Okay…you talked me into it. Mind if I take the bath first?"
"By all means.
The food will stay warm."
Elyssa gave him a small smile and headed into the
bathroom. The low whistle that met his
ears caused him to smile. He had put
jasmine-scented bath oil into the water, knowing that she was partial to that
scent. He turned to the dining room
table, and put the food into the warmer in the kitchen, to ensure it would
remain warm.
It took Elyssa about a half an hour to emerge from the
bathroom, looking positively aglow and at peace. Will had already moved everything back onto
the table, and stood waiting for her to reach the table. As she did, he held out the chair for her to
sit down on, and gently pushed it to the table before seating himself.
"OK, Will, something has to be going on. You're never like this, and you've said
before that you don't have a romantic bone in your body after what happened to
you in the past. Seriously, what gives?"
Will sighed.
"You've looked stressed over the last few days, what with work issues,
the goings-on around here, and everything else.
I wanted to try to put your mind at ease, even if only for one night, in
addition to the reason I gave earlier."
She stared at him shrewdly for a moment. "There's something else, isn't
there?"
"Come again?"
"There's another reason you're going through all of
this. Am I right?" At his sheepish nod, she continued. "Lemme guess, you were going to try to
talk me into an abortion. Well I am not
going to do that! I would rather raise
the child alone--"
"Elyssa…"
"--than have it killed before it has the chance to
live! What sort of a person do you take
me for, Will?"
"…Can I speak now?"
"Why should I?"
"Because you're wrong. I want the baby to be born. I want it to have two loving parents that
will teach him or her the proper morals that seem to be slipping from the grasp
of humanity. And most of all, I want our
child to know that there is nothing that I wouldn't do for him or her…."
At this, Will stood up, only to take a step forward and
drop to one knee, fishing out a box from his left hip pocket.
"…or for the woman I want to spend the rest of my
life with, who opened my heart when I thought it would be forever closed. Elyssa Marie Anderson…will you marry
me?"
The look on her face spoke volumes. This was the last thing she expected, and as
she gazed at the engagement ring, with a dolphin outlined in small diamonds,
she broke down into tears for the first time in Will's presence.
"Oh, God…yes, Will.
Yes, yes, yes!"
As he slid the ring onto her finger, he hoped that a sense
of normality would be soon in following….
The End of Nowhere
(Will's Cabin)
July 14, 2008, 7:45 a.m.
There are things in this world that are beyond my
comprehension. I'm not the first to say
that, I'm certain.
But given the last three weeks…with Aph, the skull, the
quake, and the bombs she dropped on me afterwards, I must say that my horizons
have been expanded through events nearly outside of my control.
But still, I am a simple man, who prefers to deal with
the realities one encounters that can be related to. All of this stuff with vampires, spirits and
the like I will deal with as the time comes.
I might be on their radar now, according to Aph, but I still believe
that live-and-let-live remains the best policy.
Only time will tell as to how that turns out.
These last four days, however, have totally changed the
way I think of the word "legacy."
I once thought that one's professional legacy--the career one has inside
the squared circle--was the most telling part of one's life.
Funny how one word can change all of that. Now I'm more worried about the personal
legacy I have--of being there for friends when they needed me...of being the
one guy that could be relied on for just about anything...of being the pillar
of support in times of grief and sorrow.
I might not be the one to hand that legacy down to my
child. There are any number of things
that can happen that can take that away from me. I can only hope that if something happens,
those who knew me best can pass that on, so my child knows what I stood for,
what my legacy was.
Yet no matter what my views on the word
"legacy" now mean, I am bit a bit riled up as it relates to my
opponent in Toronto. Yes, Draco, I'm
talking about you now. I know you're
busy being a submissive little pussy for the Alternative Life, so I doubt you
will be able to hear the words coming out of my mouth. Then again, why should I waste my
breath? Because it occurs to me that
between Aph, the FBI, and the Alternative Life, you seem to have this fetish
for shoving your cranium into exit-only holes.
...OK, I realize that might be too complicated to
figure out. So, allow me to translate
that into Draco-friendly terms.
Alas, I digress from the matter at hand. One cannot insult a person with no spine to
stand up for his own beliefs or the people he claims to have feelings for. (Well, they can, but it's not like the target
is going to be intelligent enough to comprehend it anyway.) I seem to forget that some people are as
shallow as a puddle even if they try to say otherwise.
One thing though...given the shirt you debuted in The
Complaint Department with my face on it, I see a contradiction of terms. If I--how'd you put it?--"give good head
under the desk," then why, oh WHY, would you claim via the shirt that I have
an uncontrollable gag reflex? Hmmm. Methinks I have you caught in a web of your
own lies.
Besides, are you trying to talk about yourself in the
third-person, Draco, but are instead using me as a stand-in? Come on, we all know that's one of the first
signs of paranoid schizophrenia. You
must really be worried if you've resorted to that tactic. Can't say that I blame you to be honest. After all, when you lose to me, you'll be
able to understand how us Ravens fans felt the week we lost to the pathetic Miami Dolphins last year.
For the record, you can ask Ice Man--he will tell you
that I beat him in the ring before you even "officially" disgraced
NLW with your presence. Uprising 3 in Chicago, to be precise.
You'd do well to watch that match, Draco, as that's the intensity you're
going to see from me this week. If
you're going to insult me by citing my record, at least have the decency to
make certain your facts are right.
And also, for the record, I went stag to the prom. I have no shame in facing life alone, though
by and large it has not been needed.
Just because they barred you from the building during your prom doesn't
mean you have to take your anger out on me.
Hell, you have a show on Uprising that would fit quite nicely. Go complain about it there. Maybe someone would actually give a damn for
once.
There, I spared you the money for the shrink. I would say you can thank me later, but that
would make me part of Society, and that's wrong. Just because Vincent Kane is too fucking
scared to face me doesn't mean that I should adopt his mannerisms.
In any event, Draco, our paths collide once again in
just six days. Once before, we met and
you got the better end of the deal. You
manage to do it again, and I'll tip my hat to you and call you the better man,
and not think twice about it despite all of the trash talk I've done.
But I promise you this:
no matter the outcome at Uprising, I will have given my all in the ring,
much like a few other people who have gone under-appreciated in the squared
circle (does the name "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson ring any
bells?). In the end, that is all we can
hope to do.
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