( Patients and their families always asked him for more time, as if he had it in his power to weave more hours from the ether with a hypospray, a laser scalpel, some cutting edge procedure he devised on the spot.
It was Time that he agonized over after his father's passing. His father hadn't asked for more time when he was the one in perpetual torment; he wanted to be done with it, to pass peacefully on his own terms, and trusted his son to see it done. When the cure was announced and his comm lit up with friends, colleagues, the second wave of sympathy choked him: I'm sorry; if only he hadn't passed so soon; if only you had more time.
He wove out time for Jim because of his father; demanded it from the universe when Jim was dead and all the light in his life threatened to wink out with him, because somewhere in the cosmos the scales were unbalanced and Leonard finally, finally had it in his power to correct them.
The Ximilia, too, has been time spun from nothing, something they never could have dreamed of, and all the heartache and stress and near-misses were surmountable because they were together.
Could Leonard really beg for more time, when he knows that Jim would have to watch him die? )
No.
( His hands are soft in Sam's, belied by their strength, by the indomitable will behind them, as Leonard is calm and resolute. )
If what we've had is all that we were meant to have, then I'm grateful for it. I've asked for enough.
cw for terminal illness, death, assisted suicide
It was Time that he agonized over after his father's passing. His father hadn't asked for more time when he was the one in perpetual torment; he wanted to be done with it, to pass peacefully on his own terms, and trusted his son to see it done. When the cure was announced and his comm lit up with friends, colleagues, the second wave of sympathy choked him: I'm sorry; if only he hadn't passed so soon; if only you had more time.
He wove out time for Jim because of his father; demanded it from the universe when Jim was dead and all the light in his life threatened to wink out with him, because somewhere in the cosmos the scales were unbalanced and Leonard finally, finally had it in his power to correct them.
The Ximilia, too, has been time spun from nothing, something they never could have dreamed of, and all the heartache and stress and near-misses were surmountable because they were together.
Could Leonard really beg for more time, when he knows that Jim would have to watch him die? )
No.
( His hands are soft in Sam's, belied by their strength, by the indomitable will behind them, as Leonard is calm and resolute. )
If what we've had is all that we were meant to have, then I'm grateful for it. I've asked for enough.