When I'm Old, I Wanna Know I've Sung [Dane]

[Moriel Sarid]

The hospice people brought Ida just after lunch. Moriel had been busy getting things ready for her all week. She now had a room on the first floor with a hospital bed and all of the necessary equipment to keep her comfortable. He was more anxious about this than he had expected to be. It had been quite a while since he'd sat over a deathbed. His son Thomas had died in 2010, but his wife and children were there for him. In fact, the last time he had done this, it had been with his lover William. But where William had been young and unprepared for death, Ida had lived a full and happy life. She was ready.

Dane was another consideration entirely. Mori still got the feeling that this would be a shock for him, realizing just how much baggage five hundred years of life gave him. He had generations of descendants. It was only a matter of time before the real freak-out began.

He bumped into his boyfriend on the way to putting a final touch on Ida's room. "I found this in the old family records," he told Dane, and showed him an old framed photograph of his great-granddaughter. "She had this portrait taken on her wedding day. I'm going to put it by her bed." The angel gazed down at the youthful, bright face in the picture, and his heart sank a little in knowing the worn, ill one that he would be welcoming very soon.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Moriel straightened up and walked to open it, revealing two nurses and Ida. He ushered them inside and crouched down in front of her wheelchair. "Ida, it's Dede. It's so nice to have you here. You'll be staying with me now. I'm going to take care of you." The old woman worked her mouth, only managing a garbled sort of acknowledgement. She was able to place a shaking hand on Mori's. He smiled.

[dane brock evans]

Dane was trying to act cool about this whole thing. Mori's grand child was going to be staying here... because she was close to dying. Because she was old. Dane didn't know if he was fully wrapping his head around that because he didn't understand it fully. Yet he did. Mori had been around for a long time and had a lot of relatives that were going to die while he never grew older. Dane had dreams about him being old and Mori looking perfect like he was right now. He didn't tell Mori about the dreams... and they weren't nightmares so he didn't tip off Mori when he slept. They were just dreams of the two of them laying in bed. Dane an old man. Mori not.

When he bumped into Mori, he looked at the old photograph with a smile. He had to admit that the way Mori treated any member of his family was rather sweet and adorable. It didn't matter how distant to him... he still loved them none the less. It was adorable and sweet. The girl in the photo was gorgeous. Dane knew that wouldn't be what he was looking at when the doorbell rang.

Dane went to the door like Mori had, but stood aside so to not get in the way. Dane could tell that it was the girl from the photograph, but only barely. She looked a lot different, of course. But Dane could still see it. He smiled when Mori talked to her. He wasn't sure he should be intruding on such a moment. The fact that any moment could soon be her last wasn't something Dane wanted to think of... but he knew it was true. Dane thought that maybe he should stay out of it, but didn't think Mori would agree.

[Moriel Sarid]

Moriel squeezed her hand and leaned forward to press a kiss to the top of her head. "I spoke to your son Sidney on the phone. His wife is ill again, he doesn't think they'll be able to make it, but he sends his love. He's going to call tomorrow. Angela even said she could set it up on the computer so you can see one another." Whether or not Ida understood any of that was unclear. Her eyes were faded and unfocused.

He glanced up at the nurse behind her wheelchair. "She must be tired from all the excitement. The room is just down the hall there. Everything you need should be ready." The angel stood and watched as they wheeled his granddaughter away toward her room and he gave a weak smile, the corners of his eyes creased in unspoken pain. Blindly, he groped for Dane's hand and caught it in his own tightly. His eyes slid shut for a moment and he sighed. He knew she had lived a full life. He knew this was part of life, part of the cycle. But seeing her like this when she had been so vivacious - to him, not so long ago at all - it was a painful reminder that he would always linger while the ones he loved moved past him

Moriel didn't know what to say to Dane to express all of this. Instead, he simply murmured, "She's in so much pain."

[dane brock evans]

When Mori came over to him, Dane gripped onto his hand as hard as he could. This had to be hard. No matter what Mori said... it was hard for him. Fuck. It was even hard for Dane and he didn't know the poor lady. He wanted the young and fun looking girl in the picture to be back because the old lady didn't seem fun. When Mori said she was in pain... yeah. Dane could kind of guess that. He gripped onto his hand tighter and molded into Mori's side slightly.

Dane wrapped his free arm around Mori's waist to show that he was there for him and would always be here... Dane had an idea that if he stuck around Mori for any length of time that he was going to see a lot of Mori's family deaths. He should get used to consoling him like this... maybe the deaths would be different... but they would be deaths none the less. Dane didn't really remember much from before the war... not having his parents was something he was used to. He'd never been around a family death really... he'd seen death, sure. But it wasn't the same.