l is for the way you look at me - [quinn]

[elijah]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,background-color: #d3d1d1; background:url(http://i53.tinypic.com/sutzmh.jpg); width: 330px; height: 400px; -moz-border-radius: 2em; border-radius: 2em; -webkit-border-radius: 2em; border: #d3d1d1 3px solid;] i'll be your everything , Elijah was nervous. More nervous than he'd been about something in a long time if he were to be completely honest with himself. It wasn't just that he was going on a date, it was that he was going on a date with Quinn. She wasn't just some girl, she was so much more. She was someone that had known him before he'd left to go over seas. She was the girl that he'd once upon a time imagined marrying, but when he'd first come back all he could think was that there was no way that he would be good enough for her. She deserved someone who could at least tell her that he loved her. Somehow, though, over the time that he had been back home he'd gained some sort of confidence, he supposed, some sort of holding his head high again. Asking the girl that he'd once upon a time told that he loved out on a date was not the easiest thing. They'd gotten into the habit of communicating by post-its when they were around each other. And text when they weren't. He supposed that the chocolates and balloons brought to her door was a bit cheesy, given that it was Valentine's day, and he could've been a lot less stereotypical, but he couldn't help it. Sure, Eli was an artist, and sure, he was creative, but the old cheesy ways of showing affection on V-day, well, they were the kind that he liked, the kind that he'd always done. When he'd read the text from her accepting his invitation to go on a date a wide smile set on his lips. Part of him couldn't believe that this was happening. Getting back into the life that he'd lived before, it wasn't simple. Eli knew that he probably would never be the same, how could he be, after what he'd seen? But this, going on a date, being cheesy, just being given the chance to open back up to the world and try to just move on, it was nice. And he couldn't be happier than to do it with Quinn. Before he left, she had been quite possibly one of the most important people in the world to him. His ray of light of sorts in a life where no one expected much of him. No one thought much of him. She'd always seen something about him that no one else did. It really wasn't all that much of a wonder that he'd fallen for her. And what was even less of a wonder was that all these years later, he still felt the same. There was still nothing that he wanted more than to be able to be with her. To wake up next to her in the morning, and fall asleep by her at night. There was one catch to the last one though, given that he still had nightmares, and he really didn't want to subject her to that. Elijah shook his head pushing the thoughts of nightmares and the darkness in his world out of his mind. This wasn't the time for that. What he had to do now, was somehow figure out how to get the lab puppy that had been running all around his apartment into a basket. A feat that was much easier said than done, he came to realized very quickly. Step one, catch the puppy. And after about fifteen minutes of chasing him around his apartment he'd finally caught him. Step two, get the puppy in the basket. And he'd thought that catching the puppy was hard. He wasn't sure how long that step had taken him, but when he'd finally gotten the puppy into the basket, his jacket on, and shoes well and placed on his feet, he was sure that he was going to be late. He drove to Quinn's apartment with a stupid sort of smile on his face. He couldn't believe that this was happening. He let out a sigh before looking over at the wiggling basket. He could do this. He could go on a date with Quinn and everything would be fine. The man took a moment to write 'Open me' on a post-it and sticking it to the basket, then it was out of his car, up the stairs, and right up to her door. That same smile he'd been wearing the whole night sat on his lips as he knocked on the door. Now all that he had to do was wait. credit to hay shay ! at caution 2.0

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[adelaide mae ackerman]

quinn couldn't remember the last time she'd gone on a date. or more, the last time that she'd scheduled time in for a date. really, in her life, she just didn't have much time for it. she was always setting things up on her blog or honing other skills, or hanging around with some pretty important people because they noticed her blog and wanted some decent advertising. which sounded like she really did nothing but if she was telling the truth, her life was really really busy between the queues and practices and tickets and events that it made her head spin. but that was okay. that was the way she honestly preferred things to be because when she was busy, she didn't have time to be anything but herself. she didn't have time to be sad or worried or stressed because she was too busy actually doing things and making sure that she ran on time and followed her schedule. there was little to no unhappiness in quinn ackerman's life; that was the way it had always been and it was the way she liked to keep things. she scheduled everything accordingly. and one thing she just never found it in her to make time for in her time table was a date - it just seemed like something that was far too petty and people often didn't like being told that she was free a week from that day between a certain time period. it just for some reason did not fly with them.

but this was different. this was far more different than anything else quinn could have thrown at her. because this wasn't a stranger or some random guy hitting on her in the middle of starbucks or anyone that she met at an event for work. this was elijah beckham. eli. someone who, other than olivia and her actual sister adelaide, was probably the most important person in her life. and that was no understatement. she'd gotten to know him years before and he had been someone she let herself get very, very close to. she felt safe with him - safe emotionally and safe physically which wasn't something she could say often, since she was the kind of girl who shied away from strangers who told her she was pretty. and most people seemed to think that was what she wanted to hear. he was just so...different from anyone else she had ever met before in her life. very kind. so sweet. so thoughtful. so creative. you didn't find many people like elijah beckham in the world and yet somehow, she had. and she had been lucky enough to have him tell her he loved her.

of course that was ages ago. years. before he was sent overseas to iraq and before things changed between them. because things did change. she didn't quite understand all of it. elijah didn't talk about it....well, obviously. elijah didn't say anything. hadn't spoken a single word to her since he told her he loved her those years ago. but it was more than that. he used to write her from iraq. used to talk about little things and ask about her and they were in contact. but toward the end of his service, that stopped. she no longer got letters. she didn't hear anything from him or about him. nobody was able to tell her anything and she feared every day that one day she'd hear from somebody that he had been injured or killed or worse. she checked every day for a letter and when none came, she was crushed. and then...then he'd shown up out of nowhere, safe as could be, but different. he didn't talk. he didn't make a single sound. it was like being over there robbed his voice from him, and she was scared to know what he had seen. what he had witnessed to make him this way.

but she wasn't going to let it change anything - why would she? just because she didn't get to hear him speak didn't mean they couldn't communicate and there was something charming about the way he wrote everything down, used sticky notes to get his messages across. she liked the subtle changes in his expressions and the shifts in his movements, his silent laughter and the gentle curve of his mouth when he smiled. without his voice, it made her appreciate all the other things about him that she loved so much. the small things that he did in comparison to the large ones. she didn't need words. she had enough of those. she had enough to last her a lifetime. she didn't need anything from elijah but for him to just be him and there was nothing in this world that he could give her that would be any better than that and that was a guarantee. she regretted never getting the words 'i love you too' out to him before he left but she was younger then. naive. didn't understand that there was only one thing she was missing in her life and it was love. then she thought that she'd nearly lost him and that - well that made all the difference, didn't it?

so she had accepted his invitation for a date. how could she not, with the adorable way he asked? chocolates and balloons - a cliche but even quinn ackerman could settle for a cliche every now and then. she'd been a lot less cute in her reply; just an excited text message and promise for a date as soon as she was able to clear her schedule which, for eli, took her about ten seconds to find an opening. she was just excited. ecstatic. she had never felt for anyone what she felt for him and she was happy to be getting back into the groove of things...sort of. she was making adjustments and though she missed the sound of his voice she was being contented with the little things. besides, like she said before - the sticky notes he wrote on were a little charming and she liked that she now had to look a little more closely to communicate with him. she felt there was something intimate in that, something beyond words. something she'd been looking for her entire life.

so she made an effort. for elijah she made an effort to just...dress herself up and forget about her work and for a few hours just enjoy eli's presence. of course it was nothing too fancy - she didn't know where they were going. just some cute flats, some jeans, a nice flowy shirt. a jacket in case they left the house. nothing major. no ridiculous heels or short dresses and skirts per her usual style but she figured comfort was a factor that had to come into play when it come to elijah. she never knew what she was going to do with him and didn't much ask - she didn't want to bother him with writing down a lot of details and didn't want to be pushy. it was was difficult to keep up adorable banter, after all, when half of the people involved were just writing things down. she was soon distracted from fixing up her makeup in the mirror, though, by a knock at the door, and she grinned widely at her reflection and blew herself a kiss before making her way out to her front door and opening it. honestly the site of him was enough to take her breath away, and her wide grin didn't falter for a second as she let out a giggly sort of, "hey, you." her eyes quickly fell to the basket and she raised her eyebrows. "picnic?" she guessed. "or did you skip over the river and through the woods to get here and just need appropriate attire?" which was a stupid joke, but she got that way with people she liked. not nearly as witty. she stepped back, though, to allow room for him to come in if he wanted it though not far enough to ward him off if he wanted her to leave with him. like she said - with elijah, she was never really sure what was happening.

she loved it.

[elijah]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style,background-color: #d3d1d1; background:url(http://i53.tinypic.com/sutzmh.jpg); width: 330px; height: 400px; -moz-border-radius: 2em; border-radius: 2em; -webkit-border-radius: 2em; border: #d3d1d1 3px solid;] i'll be your everything , for some people the thought of a man who no longer used his vocal chords going on a date with quinn might be some kind of set up for a bad joke. he had always known her to be one of the most talkative people that he'd ever met in his life. and he loved her for it. hell, even before he had left for his tour he hadn't been the most talkative of men. and really, when it came to quinn it seemed more often than not that she as the one that was carrying most of the conversation. he didn't mind it, he never had, hers being one of those voices that he could listen to for hours. she had always been this personality that he never had known quite what to do with but tried none the less. because, there was just so much about her that he loved. so many little things about her that most didn't take the time to even notice or appreciate. because quinn, was so many kinds of wonderful wrapped into one. which was why he had fallen in love with her. there was no one quite like her. no one that could make his heart skip a beat, or the smile on his face grow if only a bit wider. because quinn, was the one girl who had always mattered to him more than most. it wasn't easy coming back into her life, back into anyone's life as it were. adjusting back into the day to day of citizen life, it wasn't a walk in the park. he walked around waiting for something to explode, just waiting for danger to come running at him ready to take his life. he had to remind himself more than once a day that he was safe. that he was home. nothing like what he had seen was going to happen to him. he was allowed to go back into living a simple life. one that didn't involve him having to wear armor and carry a firearm. he was back state side. back with his friends who didn't really understand him any longer. friends who just couldn't get used to the way that he never spoke. then there was quinn. who had always been the sort of girl to just go with the punches and it made him all the happier for the fact. made him realize just how lucky he was to have come back and she hadn't found herself a boyfriend or something to that effect. which, really was a shock to eli. because quinn was everything wonderful he'd ever known to be in a woman. he could hear her footsteps heading towards the door and the smile on his face widened even more. he knew that just having quinn back in his life would've been enough to make him happy, but the fact that she was willing to date him. that she was willing to date this broken man, a man who she couldn't just carry on conversation with. he felt lucky, luckier than he had been in a long time. because there was one thing that hadn't changed over the years where so much of the rest of him had changed. he still loved her, just as much as he had the day that he'd told her before he went overseas. he loved her deeply, and in a way that even the terrors of war couldn't take away from him. she was perfection walking on two legs, but it wasn't just her appearance, it was everything about her. he had never met someone who was so focused and dedicated to what they did. he had seen her schedule first hand, and had known that being penciled in was a big deal. a silent chuckle came at her joke and he greeted her with a small hug before pressing lips to her cheek for a brief moment. not remembering how to speak made things a little more difficult. figuring out how to show affection, figuring out how to express himself sometimes without having to actually say something. so much was expressed vocally that it was a shift. elijah found more often than not that he was making more deaf friends than anything else. at least then, he didn't have to worry about seeming strange. they could speak in sign language and have a good time. but as stated before, quinn was a different breed of person. someone who seemed to appreciate the way that he was now, even if he knew that part of her missed his voice. the man shook his head slightly and looked down at the basket that was wiggling slightly and he pointed to the note that said "open me". he might've gone a little overboard getting her a puppy, but hell if he cared. she deserved something sweet and cute. and he was more than willing to give it to her. just like he was willing to give her everything else that he had even if he was more than a little sure that there wasn't a lot that he was able to give. except, for a lopsided smile, and a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. credit to hay shay ! at caution 2.0

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