Falling At Your Feet

By Strutter

Fandom: Dead Like Me

Pairing: Rube/Mason

Rated: PG

Disclaimer: DEAD LIKE ME ain't mine, but Rube and Mason are just too yummy to resist

Feedback: G'head, g'head...struttersuperior@aol.com/elizabeth@mother-superior.com

Spoilers: Episode 5

Notes: In response to Peja's five minute "Broken" challenge...the scoop? Mason's feeling a bit thrown by the old lady he buried, as well as Betty's death and seeks comfort in the arms of a loved one...*grin*

Unbeta'd, so if it sucks? All my fault. LOL!

Falling At Your Feet
By Strutter
**********

He was shattered when he came to me...broken wide open, so vulnerable and needy that it hurt just to look at him.

"She was all alone, Rube." Mason whispered in my arms. "No one cared, not a damn bloody soul...and then as I buried her, just...tried to give her a little dignity...then Betty...I felt it..."

I smooth my hand over his forehead, kiss him softly, try to soothe away the pain that's left him in pieces. "Shhh...it's okay..."

"It's not, Rube. That lady...I died the same way, y'know. You remember how you found me, right?"

I nod, recalling how I first brought Mason into the group. He'd been left alone for days before anyone knew he was missing...and I know that he connected with this one soul on that level. It was one well-placed strike that left him in a broken heap at my doorstep.

"It's so bloody unfair, Rube...Betty wasn't supposed to go. A-and I'm going to miss her, y'know...and that bloody old woman...to die like that, all alone...unloved..."

"I love you." I whisper, holding him close against me as we lie there in my bed. "I always will."

"Always?"

"Always...even if you get promoted. Far be it from me to begrudge you a better-paying job, eh?"

And that makes him smile as he lays underneath me, a warm grin that lifts the pain away...both his and my own.

I lean in to kiss him, feeling it in the warm caress of lips and tongues...he knows, and that knowledge is the glue that holds him together.

Same as it does for me.

END