Posted by James Sinclair in Bittersweet Beginnings

(snip)
“You can have 800 more dates.” She turned and beckoned to the guitar player who came over, more than curious and she spoke to him and he nodded and spoke to the drum player. She turned back to him, “This counts as date number 2. I never sing to a public crowd, not willingly anyway, but I will for you. It’s not much of surprise since you’ve already heard it.” Revna had no idea he’d not read the letter she’d sent with the bourbon. “You like old country music right, Mike?” She placed her hands on the keys of the piano and began to play. She’d learned for him. “Sing with me this time?” It was a duet. She took several deep breaths as she began to play, and then her voice joined the piano, and it was hauntingly beautiful and resonant…moving the audience to feel the sadness in the first words as she sang to him.

I can’t imagine, any greater fear
Then waken up, with out you here
And though the sun, will still shine on
My whole world, would all be gone
But not for long

The guitar and drums added to the richness of the melody. She smiled at him and when he began to sing, her voice changed subtly to match the pitch and tone of his.

If I had to run
If I had to crawl
If I had to swim a hundred rivers
Just to climb a thousand walls
Always know that I would find a way
To get to where you are
There’s no place that far

Mike, ever the showman and consumate performer, looked at her crowd with a shocked expression. “Did you know? I didn’t know! I think I’ve been set up,” and he clapped softly and the crowd joined to encourage the beautiful voice to continue.

She smiled, slightly rueful because the next words all too accurate, but she meant every one of them. She sang to him, ignoring everyone else there. Her eyes only leaving his to glance at the keys briefly and then returning.

It wouldn’t matter, why we’re apart
The lonely miles, or two stubborn hearts
And nothing short, of God above
Could turn me away, from your love
I need you that much

If I had to run
If I had to crawl
If I had to swim a hundred rivers
Just to climb a thousand walls
Always know that I would find a way
To get to where you are
There’s no place that far

She continued to play the melody on the piano. She smiled at him, her voice never breaking, straining, or failing her as she sang.

Mike set his hands on the lower keys and began to softly play a harmony with hers, their fingers moving in unison and grinned at her.

Oh if I had to run
(If I had to run)
If I had to crawl
(If I had to crawl)
If I had to swim a hundred rivers
Just to climb a thousand walls
Always know that I would find a way
To get to where you are
There’s no place that far

Baby there’s no place that far

Revna was not as skilled as Mike with the piano, and so she glanced away as she finished the last measures of piece. The last notes faded away and Revna’s gaze returned to his, one hand reaching for his.

Revna (with Special thanks to Sarah Evans and Vince Gill)

He took her hand kissed her as the crowd applauded and stood up for a standing ovation. Mike looked at the band and gestured to the front of the stage. They moved forward and bowed. As they did, Mike said “Let’s get outta here. We stand, bow, and go out the back, okay?” and he grinned wickedly at her.

As they moved to the front of the stage, Mike waved and then gestured to Revna and clapped. The crowd, small though it was, stood and cheered louder and vids were rolling all-over. Just as she went to bow, the split second before; Mike leaned over, back to the audience and whispered in her ear.

“I love you, Rev. And someday I’m gonna marry you.”

Revna was an expert at expressing only what she wanted others to see, and usually she was an open book. But right then in that moment the only person she wanted to know what she was thinking was Mike. Her expression didn’t change, but he’d see it in her eyes. She was absolutely giddy, and totally in love with him.

He turned back to crowd as if nothing had happened and clapped. “Give it up, people! Wasnt she great?! Yeah! Show her some love!” and he waved at the crowd and smiled. It may have only been forty or fifty people, but he treated them like a stadium full.

Big Mike

She took his hand, the whole crowd would think he’d simply offered it to her, in a very gentlemanly gesture, and she executed a beautiful curtsey. She straightened, both hands gesturing towards him. She was no showman, but she had her own set of skills and crowd control. Her voice carried out above the crowd, which would be in such contrast to the quiet he’d always heard from her before. “Ladies and Gentlemen, Mike McKenzie!” Her body language and the turn in her tone had them all looking at him, and she quietly slipped off the stage, grabbing both the glasses as she went.

Mike waved at the crowd and smild broadly. “Thanks, everybody! Thank you so much! Have a great night! Take care of your servers and bartenders! Good night”! and he turned and shook hands with the band. “You guys killed it. Get thjose tracka laid down and I’ll start the engineering, okay? Let’s get it done. Ok boys, I’m out.” and he stepped off the stage.

She leaned up against a wall in the shadows at the side of the stage and waited for him. She handed him his glass when he got to her and she stretched up to kiss him on the cheek, and whispered, “Guess that means you decided you can handle me, huh?” She laughed softly. “I love you, Mike. Now where’s this back exit?”
Revna

“Oh, I knew I could. I just needed you to know it, too.” and he smiled and kissed her very deeply. “And you better. ‘Cause you ain’t gettin’ rid of me… not now, not ever. Come on… follow me. Do you have a room?” and he took her hand and led her down a small side passage that was more than likely a maintenance access.

Big Mike

The kiss took her breath away, in a good way. “Never, you’re mine now, Mike, and I’m yours.” She laced her fingers with his and turned walking backwards, facing him and laughed, “Nope, of course not I left all my things sitting on the promenade.” Her eyes danced, “1410.” She spun back around to walk beside him. She stopped suddenly and tugged his hand. “One condition, though.” She moved into his arms, “If I’m going to be with the most famous singer around, you’re going to sing to me every day.” She kissed him, just a quick peck, but she was incredibly happy.
Revna

Mike laughed and said “Well, I’m not the most famous singer around, so I guess I’m off the hook for that.” and he stopped her as they came to a door. He looked at her and said “But I’ll want to sing for you every day, how about that?” and he put his arms under her and picked her up off the floor and pushed her against the wall. He pressed himself against her, using his body to hold her up as he reached down and grabbed her leg and threw it around him. He grinned at her and then kissed her… the intensity and desire… and love… more than apparent as the kisses continued down the side of her neck and across her throat before coming back up to taste her lips again.

Mike

“That’s perfect.” She could not stop smiling, and when he picked her up she wrapped her arms around him and combed her fingers through his hair. The breath rushed out of her lungs as he pushed her against the wall. She kissed him along his jaw, his neck, and then sighed softly. Her love and passion conveyed to him as she kissed him. She pulled herself closer, eventually pulling back to rest her forehead against his shoulder, breathing heavily. She tightened her arms around him, “I really really missed you.”
Revna

“I really really missed you too, Rev. Not talking to you was like… death. And I don’t wanna do that again. C’mon.” and he lowered her to the floor and then opened the door cautiously. “I havent had to sneak out of a venue in years.” he whispered and looked back at her and grinned.

She chuckled softly. “Oh come on you big chicken. I’ll protect you.” She glanced out the door looking around seeing no one she followed him, stifling laughter the whole way.

He took her hand and led her through a side of the reception lobby and straight to the lifts. Soon, they were outside her door. He looked down at her and said “You know, I hear their room service is the best anywhere. Feel like ordering some… after a while?”

Mike

“That sounds like a very good idea.” She palmed the control and the door opened, and holding onto his hand she led him inside and shut the door and locked it. “There, all safe and sound, and not one person accosted you, except maybe me.” The black velvet bag sat on the table next to two empty glasses. She squeezed his hand before letting go and taking the bottle out of the bag, the note still attached to it, and poured a good measure into both glasses and handed one to him. She looked him in the eye, “We’re never not talking again, right?”
Revna

Mike took a drink and visibly steeled himself. “Listen, Rev. Being without you… not talking… not hearing your voice… not even seeing you through a screen… it was hell. So no, we are never not talking again. Because I love you, Rev. And I meant what I said… I am going to marry you someday. I don’t care that you are gonna be a diplomat on a ship in the Delta Quadrant. I don’t care if you decide that you want to sail a solar-sailed ship all the way across the damn galaxy by yourself… I’ll wait. Or I’ll marry you first and then you can go. I don’t care. But I am going to be yours, now and forever. So there… I warned you.”

Mike

Revna set the glass down while he talked. The man was fierce, in all the ways that mattered to her. Warn her indeed. She grinned, but there was a fierce seriousness about her. She walked over to one of the trunks stacked in the room. It was old, hand carved, made to last the ages. She turned the latch and lifted the lid. She began to speak, and she translated it as she spoke to him, eyes finding his gaze and holding it. “Jeg ble ikke forelsket i deg. (I didn’t fall in love with you) Jeg ble forelsket i deg, med øynene åpne, og valgte å ta hvert skritt underveis. (I walked into love with you, with my eyes wide open, choosing to take every step along the way.)” She lifted a short sword out of the trunk. Incased in a well oiled leather scabbard, it was typical of what was seen historically wielded by Norse warriors. Only the hilt and cross piece would identify it as unique.

“Jeg tror på skjebne og skjebne, men jeg tror også at vi bare er skjebnesvangre for å gjøre de tingene vi ville velge uansett. (I do believe in fate and destiny, but I also believe we are only fated to do the things that we’d choose anyway.) Og jeg vil velge deg; i hundre livstider, i hundre verdener, i hvilken som helst versjon av virkeligheten. (And I’d choose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality.) Jeg vil finne deg, og jeg vil velge deg, Michael McKenzie. (I’d find you and I’d choose you, Michael McKenzie).”

She flipped it blade along her forearm and thrust the hilt (though she wouldn’t hurt him) against his chest, the point down. On the pommel he would recognize the Edman crest from the mead bottles and the Freya symbol from the bead she’d given him. Here name was written in runes across it along with another inscription. It was her way, their, her family’s, way, to exchange rings but also blades. It was an ancient tradition, but it mattered to her. “And I am yours.”
Revna

Mike’s hand encircled hers on the grip and he looked her straight in the eyes. He understood the gravity of the moment, and his eyes reflected that. His other hand reached up and under his shirt and he pulled out a necklace made of fine links of metal… on which hung the bead she had given him. “This has never left me since you did. It has stayed with me, on my skin, every second of every day that we have been apart. And when we didn’t speak, I held this in my hand every night and I dreamed about you. I don’t know why… or how… or who or what brought us together, Rev. But I am eternally grateful for it. I want you in my life, now and always. I want you to want to be with me when I am there with you, and I want you to miss me so much you ache when you are gone. You are the center of my galaxy… no matter what part of the real one you may be in. And there will never be another. I am yours and yours alone. Always.” and he smiled at her.

Mike

Revna smiled, her grip loosened on the grip and slipped out from under his and pressed her hand over his and around the grip. “It’s yours now.” Her finger tapped the inscription on the cross guard, written in runes, “For he who is my other half.” She glanced up at him. “My uncle made one for me and one for Runa for our 21st.” It was significant what she was telling him, Shauwn died when she was 16, this was never meant for him. This was meant for Mike and only for Mike. She twisted her fingers around the chain so the bead rested in her palm, and she stared into his eyes. “I never left your life and I’ll always be there. I…” she glances at the velvet bag and the still closed note and looks back at him. “You never read it…Mike I can’t breath without you, that’s why I sent it back. You said to drink it and know my lungs worked, but they don’t, not without you. I don’t know why or how it happened, but it did. You are my universe and everything stops when you aren’t here.”
Revna