Hope : A ruby redfort (LBaker) fanfic

Coffee Shop II (Wednesday)

LB was good, very good, at hiding her emotions, and never had it been more evident than it was now as she stared into the face of this man who she had loved more than any other living soul, this man who she had thought dead at her own hand... And spoke to him calmly, her voice as blank and smooth as the walls of her office.
But those words, seeing the forgiveness she had been denied for eleven years written in his face, was enough to bring it all crashing down.
Pain.
Pain and guilt and grief so raw and harsh it was hard to look at her, and impossible to look away.
And the look seared itself onto Bradley's brain. How had she lived, how had she functioned at all when the pain was all there was, how had she held her people together for over a decade when the grief was slowly tearing her apart from the inside... where had she found that strength?

Those walks had crumbled now and he watched as the first few glistening tears stepped tentatively down her face. Like the first few stars unveiled by the setting sun.

Then his instincts did something his brain did not yet understand. He grabbed her hands with his own.

It took some time for LB to recognise the significance of this. Perhaps because in all the years she'd known him that was how he'd comforted her. Perhaps because that is what he did when he saw her in tears. Perhaps because in his steadfast manner it was what she'd come to know, to expect.

But the man who's touch she felt was not in that moment the man who knew her. And when she realised this her head shot up, and her deep brown eyes focused on him.

'I'm .... s...sorry' he stammered, retracting his grasp. His own hands were beginning to shake. Mo Loveday was not a person for physical contact. In fact it was indeed a rare occurrence for him to experience human touch of any kind, let alone willingly.

But as he looked into LB's eyes something stirred deep inside of him, something that had long lay dormant.

In this small reflex movement Bradley suddenly saw the start of what LB must have meant to him. He saw that he trusted her without question.

...

And as she looked at him she saw hope. And true hope was something that LB had not seen in a long time.

LB: How?

(Deep Breath)
LB: How did you know to do that?

Bradley: I didn't. I mean I didn't not do it of course but I mean I didn't think. I guess I just saw you crying and it was kinda a reflex.

LB: Do you know why it was?

Bradley: I don't know, I mean
probably I must have done it before, back before you know ... have I?

LB: Yes, you have.

Bradley: I guess you must have meant
a lot to me then.
LB: ...
LB: What did Ruby tell you about me?

Bradley: Well she said that you were my boss and 'my most trusted ally' and that was about it.

LB: So you don't know anything else?

Bradley: No, well nothing else explicitly, however from her tone and your reaction and ....

LB: What?

Bradley: It doesn't matter, forget I said anything.

LB: No tell me, what?

Bradley; really it's fine

LB: Bradley, please, what?

Bradley: Its not just your reaction, or Ruby's tone -although it is that as well. It's that when I look at you I have this gut feeling that I can't shake. And LB I don't know who you are and that scares me. That my mind doesn't know you yet my hands reach out to you like it's second nature. It means something- I don't know what. But it's a pretty big something. And you know it all

Bradley looked at her, he still felt very much like Mo. However as she sat across from him he knew with earnest that he would do anything to remember. To become Bradley again. LB made him feel something inside of himself, and not nothing he could turn back from. His mind didn't know her and yet his heart and soul understood what he didn't. They knew that she was the one he loved more than anything else in the world. He was meant to be with her above anything else. And Bradley's soul knew how much she needed him.

They continued their conversation on the long bus ride back to little mountain side. LB was adamant on accompanying him there. When it at last came for her to say goodbye at the entrance to his house she couldn't. As Bradley looked at this small woman who stood wrapped in white against the backdrop of the mountains and the snow and the midnight sky , he saw that she couldn't bring herself to leave. He invited her in instead and she sat in front of the open fire as he fixed them both a hot chocolate. He came back and sat down beside her, causing her to stop shivering and turn to him and smile. She thanked him for the drink and curled up against the cosy arm of the couch. She talked of Spectrum and of what it was, what they did. Nothing too personal to him just general facts and information. He listened eagerly, something about the way she spoke enthralled him, she held the key to who he was and what's more he had a growing feeling she held the key to who he would become. The evening drew late and the flames retreated to softly glowing embers.

LB's words insisted that she would be fine to make it back home, but her eyes said something quite different. Besides she didn't have the energy to put up much of a fight: it would be hard to after seeing your whole mindset transformed in the space of a few hours.

He fetched some warm blankets and brought them to her, so she could make a bed by the fire. LB thanked him and before she turned to lie down she  brought her smooth hand to his cheek and gently brushed her thumb against his beard.

'I'm sorry I just, I can't believe you're alive. I had to make sure you were real' she said with a soft smile, and with that she succumbed to serene sleep.

That night as Bradley lay he thought of the possibilities: who he could have been, what he could have done, where he might have travelled.

But above all he thought of LB. The woman with the deep chocolate eyes that looked at him and saw right through him- knowing every single last thing about him.

And he dreamt of a life with her.

So... how's it going??
What do you think so far, I'm trying to stick as close to cannon as I can but obviously it's not completely possible. Hopefully you guys are enjoying it and I'm not butchering LB and Bradley too much 😂
Comments make the world a better place (just so you know:)))

Laters

Katherine :)