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Unhappenings #GG

Al knew he wasn't the one she'd really wanted, but he never brought it up. Not in the mornings, when the sun streamed in through windows thrown open to the summer breeze. And not in the evenings when they crawled into bed together, half-exhausted and always needy.

Maybe that was how it happened - him and Riza. They'd been the ones to survive, after all. They'd both lost a half of themselves. Quietly, at first, they'd started haunting the house that had been Roy's. The one they'd all stayed in more than once. Riza had taken Roy's room. Al had taken the guest room where he'd found Ed more than once, reading and working and oblivious to the time.

They haunted the house as ghosts for the longest time, barely talking except to confirm dinner and laundry and sometimes work. They went through the motions.

And it hadn't been the middle of the night, no-- it had been a bright sunny day nearly a year before. The windows had been thrown open to the warm summer breeze, curtains billowing and Al had been making their beds. He'd done laundry - Riza had gotten groceries. She came up to see if he was hungry. They'd just had lunch before she'd left, but...

Al had asked if she was tired.

And she laughed. They both laughed and finished making the bed and flopped on it together. It was terribly hard to be a ghost on a warm and sunny summer day and Al knew that. Instead, he'd just reached for her hand--

"It's going to be a warm one," Riza said as she stretched and combed out her hair with her fingers.

"Going to rain later," Al replied. He'd been able to tell ever since he got his body back. It was supposed to be a trick for the elderly, but there he was, and even more accurate.

"I'll take an umbrella."

"I'll make sure to run errands early."

They looked at each other for a long moment, but neither one of them said anything. Riza headed out to work. Al swept and read and made sure they had enough for dinner without a store run. He fixed toys for a couple of children and stopped himself from watering the flower that grew out along the walk in small terra cotta pots. Where they'd come from, he couldn't even remember. Al almost thought he'd been the one to get them, but it might have been Riza. They'd done so many silly things, back when they were mourning. No, when they'd been ghosts. They were still mourning. They might always be.

The rain held off til after Riza got home, umbrella clutched in her hand. She didn't explain at first, instead pulling Al into their bedroom and helping him out of his clothing before she shucked off her own in movements so swift that Al always sort of wanted to laugh.

The thunder started low in the distance as they fell onto the bed together, kissing and touching. Al wanted to ask but he didn't want to know. He'd had days that had been similar. Even bright days, sunny days-- Days with rain...

She was hot on top of him, demanding. He was sure she'd come twice by the time he finally let go and cried out.

The rain had already started-- Finally, Al got up to close the windows, feeling a bit like a ghost.

"Riza?" he asked.

"I'm okay," she replied. "I'm okay..."

Al nodded, though he didn't believe her. They'd been the ones to survive, after all.