whisted: ([a] ship of the line)
h. hornblower ([personal profile] whisted) wrote in [personal profile] thecutdiamond 2017-01-22 11:38 pm (UTC)

♥♣♦♠

The entire moment is a credit to her.

The fact that Horatio's features stay perfectly calm, that his fingers don't shake in the slightest as he reaches for the sugar bowl, is a credit to the Diamond she's built in him. It's not an easy conversation to maintain poise in, but there's something almost graceful to the way he measures out another spoonful of sugar into his cup.

The fact that Horatio leans just a hair forward, that his silence isn't static but entirely painstakingly active, is a credit to the human being she's nurtured beneath his armour.

He needs to take a moment, sipping carefully as if to check he's doctored the right levels. He needs to rake back over the last few years--over the little twitches at the corners of Archie's lips, the tiny furrows which had been smoothed so quickly, the careful exhales, the tight grips of joined hands.

"What does... proper time look like, then?"

Rachel isn't saying that it's actually too late. That's worth clinging to.

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