[Liam/Bailey] Wait So Long

[dean]

Complete silence filtered over him as he struggled to get to his knees before falling back against the rubble. With each breath he took in it was coated with sand,sweat, the all too familiar rusty taste of blood. He looked around to gather his surroundings, willing himself to be able to hear anything but the explosion had been too close. When he lifted his hand to feel the side of his ear, the warmth of the blood trickled against his fingertips. Another eardrum blown. There wasn’t a single man standing, or attempting to move. Though this was his platoon, there was one soldier in particular he was looking for. Standing on his own legs felt so foreign ; it was crazy what damage to your ears could do to your entire body. He screamed out his name, barely hearing it himself before he shook his head , tugging on his ears to get them to work. “ Liam!” he yelled out again, this time catching the sound of his voice a bit easier. Dean turned his head to the side slightly as he heard his radio going off on his shoulder. “ Private Morris, where’s your location” it called out numerous times as Dean took in deep breaths. He could still hear firing, but he needed to know. That was his brother. Dean scanned over the entire group of people; doing his best to not associate who each person was. He didn’t have time to think about the fellow soldiers he had lost, he needed to know that Liam was safe. But as he spotted him he felt his heart stop in his chest. Instantaneously his feet pressed against the rubble, chasing his way towards the only person he’d called family since he had taken this journey. “ Liam!” he screamed out again before reaching down and starting to tear apart part of Liam’s clothing so he could see where he was bleeding from. There was definitely an injury to his head, which was the last thing that Dean wanted to think about. Those were the most fatal; he couldn’t bandage that to recovery. “ God damnit, private” he said , ignoring the blood on his own fingers as he worked meticulously to try and help Liam. There wasn’t time to think about how he was the only one in his platoon moving. There wasn’t time to accept that everyone else had died. He and Liam had promised to get each other out alive, that was his only mission right now. When he caught the movement in the corner of his eye, Dean moved instantly, locking his right arm in place as he aimed at the enemy in sight and started to unload his gun, emptying his bullets into any body he saw that could have taken his best friend from him. As they drew closer, his own stash was becoming obsolete and he clenched his jaw, taking the bullets from Liam’s dressing as he used what remained.

The army hadn’t prepared him for this. Aim to kill, defend your country. There hadn’t been anything about your brother dying beneath you. Or the fact that as the enemy soldiers surrounded him he had come to a conclusion – he was the last one living, for a reason. They easily outnumbered him, and could shoot him where he stood right now. But he was alive and it had finally dawned on him why – they needed a soldier to put in front of a camera and tear into the minds of the American people as they tortured him. Dean took in quick rapid breaths before taking his dog tag off, and placing it on Liam’s chest. Quickly he pointed his gun towards himself, gearing to shoot himself, place the bullet in his own body so that they couldn’t use him for their own sick devices towards the American people. But the shot from them was too quick, shooting him in the shoulder and causing him to drop the gun. A piercing pain shot down through the rest of his arm before Dean could look down, tearing at the fabric of his uniform to find the source of the blood that was cascading over his arm. “ Fucking.. Christ,” he said, doing his best to not focus on the pain. He wasn’t going to try and stop the bleeding. Fine, he couldn’t shoot himself. But he wasn’t going to try and save his own life just so that they could tear him down again for the sake of their sick games. He realized as his eyeline fell a few feet that he had knocked himself to his knees. As he looked down at the fact of his best friend, he could feel himself slipping away. He could feel it both consciously as he line of vision started to tunnel, and physically as enemy hands took hold of him, pulling him aggressively away from the only person in his entire life he’s ever called a brother. With that he heard the crack; he heard it before he felt it, before he could realize that one of them had hit him in the back of the head with their guns. And that’s when the darkness swallowed him whole.

Since then he had woken up six times. Did that mean it had been six days or was he just sleeping on and off. He couldn’t see out of the small cave imprisonment in which he’d been placed. But this, this feeling he’d gotten used to. Dean struggled not to scream at the top of his lungs as they placed the towel back over his face; pouring the never ending stream of water over it. It clung to his face, it cut off his oxygen. It was downright drowning on land. The fire sparked in his lungs as the burning filtered through his chest. Just when he felt like he couldn’t take it anymore and that he might actually pass out, they lifted him up. Always lifting him up. He wanted death, he craved it at this point. But though that mentally might be what he want; the body always fought to save itself. Which is why as soon as he was able to he gasped in for air, shaking his head side to side to get the water out of his eyes. Another crack. But this time he felt it throughout his entire body. He looked down at his legs, forcing against the chair he was tied in as he saw that his bone was sticking out from the force of their beatings. He opened his mouth, screaming at the pain but was quickly silenced by them shoving the wet towel in his mouth. It wasn’t enough that he was bleeding across his face and down his body. They wanted him to feel like he was less than human. His screams weren’t worth hearing. He tried to steady his breathing, hoping it would keep the pain from his leg from escalating. There was foreign yelling all around him before he felt the barrel of the gun pressed against his forehead. “ Tell America to save you, pull out their forces,” he said in a broken sounding English. It was then that Dean noticed the video camera in the corner. So that was their game plan. Video tape his torture and send it to the states? People had a bad stomach for that. Dean winced, still feeling dizzy from his leg, which was bleeding pretty quickly at this point. He knew what happened to the last famous tape of a soldier overseas who had been captured. He’d been decapitated. But Liam didn’t lose his life just so Dean could take the pussy way out. He took in a few quick breaths before clenching his jaw and looking up, “ Fuck you,” he said, doing his best to keep his head up, bracing himself for the punch that surely followed.

It had been just over a year and a half. Daily beatings, minimal food, endless number of tapes. And the constant question… why had they kept him alive? But there was only one reasoning that Dean could think of. For some reason using him as a play thing gave them power, it gave them power to say to America we can torture your soldiers as long as we like. There was a beeping in his left ear, steady, constant. He flinched, feeling something in his nose. What was this now. His eyes opened slowly, taking all of it in. Needles in his arms. Something pumping some type of gas into his nose. Monitors, he was hooked up to monitors. But the sheets. The sheets were white. There were sheets at all.. He wasn’t sleeping in the corner on some floor. He was in a bed. He lift his head up, though it was too quickly because he cringed. “ Fuck,” he said, wincing as he lift his hand up to pull the obstruction out of his nose. Everything was so bright,that alone was hurting his eyes. But slowly his vision was starting to work through the blur, bringing things to a more sharp view. “ Liam..” he said quietly, beneath his breath. The dry, cracked and bloodstain on his lips were a hard contrast to the instantaneous tears that came to his eyes, filtering over his sunken in cheeks. “ Thank God,” he said, closing his eyes as he started to take in more steady breaths. He’d died. He’d finally died. What other explanation was there? He’d kneeled over Liam. He’d seen him dead. And now? This had to be him coming to heaven. This had to mean that all of his pain and suffering was done. It was an overwhelming sense of relief washing over him. He didn’t have to face torture this time he opened his eyes. “ Help me up, man” he said, waiting as Liam came over. He reached his hand up, gripping the back of Liam’s neck tightly. He felt so real. Just as real as when they were overseas together. “ I never thought I’d see you..” he said while shaking his head, “ I didn’t think it would take this long to die. I wish it hadn’t” he said, looking over and realizing there was a blonde standing a few feet behind Liam, holding some type of cup. “ Could you come over here?” he questioned, watching as she made a confused expression to Liam before bringing herself over, causing Dean to adjust against the pillows he was sitting up against now. “ You are the first girl I’ve seen since I can remember,” he said before placing his cut up hands against the sides of her face and kissing her, even against the surprised , yet slightly sedated shriek that came from her.

[Liam Edward Bradford]

It had been a tumultuous 18 or so months. A lot of ups and downs, really shitty downs at that. Liam remembered waking up in the hospital stateside, overcome with exhaustion and grief. Thinking every man he had gone into this ordeal with was dead, including Dean. There had been so many surgeries, so much recovery. Liam had basically lived in the hospital for a month or so. He hadn't known how long he'd been in there already when he woke up finally stable. A while he had learned. For a few months his life was just physical recovery, physical therapy, regular therapy. And then they needed his help. To try and find Dean and get him home. Liam had to constantly relive what had happened for them, suffering mentally from what he could remember, cursing himself for not remembering the other parts. Thinking if he could just remember, maybe they would find Dean. What if he didn't remember in time, and Dean didn't make it? What if he never remembered...? Physically, he had healed. He was young and agile, he'd bounced back. Mentally he was rough on himself. For a while he thought it was his fault they couldn't find Dean. Then the mental stress of it all had pounded him relentlessly. Depression plagued him. He had some sleepless nights. Some days he wished he had died over there. Wished they both had. Occasionally he had just wanted to die altogether, and then it had been back to the hospital for him for depression and whatever else. But Dean was sticking it out. That was what they knew. He was hanging in there like the soldier he was. And Liam knew that when Dean made it home, Liam was going to be there waiting. If Dean could get through this, then Liam was going to get better.

He eventually did. Things were looking up. He felt more positive. He started a work out regimen to keep himself busy. He saw his family on a regular basis. He bought himself a nice place. Every morning he bought coffee from the place across the street and read the paper. He created a routine for himself. He was trying to create a life that was somewhat like a normal civilian, aside from his help he did to try to find Dean. But for those days he had scotch and his therapist, and he got through it. Eventually he felt enough like himself to try to get back to his acting career. Due to his fame from everything that had happened, he managed to land a role. And he started working. Liam was great at putting on a face that said he was okay. But he was just going through the motions. Had things been different maybe he would have gotten off on the right foot with Bailey. But she had a bit of a reputation and Liam wasn't mentally prepared to tango with that. His first defense was to distance himself from her. He came off like a douchebag. But he wasn't capable of being emotionally attached to anyone at the time. Maybe he was just protecting himself. He had been attached to Dean and that hadn't turned out in his favor. He had a task to focus on, bring Dean home. And then he had his movie role to escape from the life that he was getting through with a grin and bearing it.

It didn't change the fact that a year had passed since then. Time had helped him. He felt better. He felt more willing to open up to people, maybe. But what he did know was that that movie set became another daily routine for him, his sense of normalcy. That movie became part of his comfort zone, like his apartment and the coffee shop. Bailey was in that comfort zone. And then he found he was able to go places with no anxiety, expand that comfort zone, if he was with her. He wouldn't normally stray too far from set to go to eat at a restaurant. Crowds made his antsy for a while. But he had gone with Bailey and other cast people, and it was alright. Although he had been distant from her and she had in turn not gained any fondness of him, he found by the end of the whole movie process that she was a stable part of his life whether she wanted to be or not. And in order to keep that stability he needed her in it. The movie may have ended, but Liam was trying to keep he around. At first it had been promotional interviews, and premieres. Pretending to like each other and even though he argued with her, he needed her around. She was the comfort zone.

It occurred to him eventually that them pretending to like each other was exhausting and he had to admit to himself that he had grown fond of her. And once he figured that out he realized Bailey wasn't being real with him either. There were times on set when he really felt they had connected. It was chalked up to good acting. But Liam felt his walls crumble down, and he thought hers had too. Every time she brushed him off he couldn't help but think that she was just lying to herself. Maybe they had a rough start, but maybe they also actually liked each other. And how nice would that be, for the person he needed around to get along with him. It was difficult explaining it to her. She was angry about his first impressions of her. He had told her he was wrong and wanted to start over. Helping her understand was hard because understand what state of mind he was in a year ago was a dangerous place for him to go back to. But after the movie premiere he felt he had sort of convinced her.

At some point Liam had told himself his perception of Bailey had changed. He needed her around, felt comfortable around her. He felt he could talk to her about things he didn't normally talk to people about. And he realized eventually, he trusted her. She'd somehow wrapped him around her finger in ways, and if there was any point Liam felt he was really getting better it was when he realized he wanted to maybe go back to dating, because the idea of dating before was an absolute no, but now he felt like he was ready for that part of normal people life. Which meant letting someone in. And the only person he liked letting in was Bailey so obviously his heart was telling him she was who he wanted to date. It had just crept up on him. She'd sort of crept up on him. If he hadn't been this way when he met her, things would have been different. But Liam liked to think that the things that had happened had happened for a reason. he had gone to war. He had been through an ordeal. he had lost his mind a bit but he was back. And it had brought Bailey in his life in a non threatening way, and he needed her. He believed this was for a reason. He couldn't pass it up if it was meant to be something important in his life.

Being with him wasn't easy he could imagine. He still had days. And waking up at 2 in the morning to find him obsessed with the Dean stuff, watching videos, going through files, probably didn't make him very approachable. But he tried really hard to be normal for her. He took her out a lot at first. He was so out of practice with dating he almost had no idea how to date someone. So he went for old fashioned. Pick her up at 7, bring her flowers, open the door for her, pull her chair out for her. But Bailey balanced him out. Coming back home to his place at night. Staying later all the time until eventually she just stayed the night. It was a toss up. They were actually progressing in a relationship, not arguing, getting to know each other all over again, the real way this time. But the more he let her in, the more she saw. He wondered at first if it would scare her away. Like his bad episodes, when he would regress back for a while. Obsessing completely over things for hours at a time. A few times Bailey had coaxed him back to bed. Sometimes she just let him be. Sometimes after that she would be a little distant with him. He understood. Eventually she began to understand just how involved he was with knowing Dean's whereabouts, and how involved he was in the search. Therapy was helping him with what he'd blocked out or lost. He was having more break throughs and memories were coming back in small fragments. Things had been hell because he was able to share some information that ultimately found Dean. Waiting for information or a confirmation had been driving Liam crazy all week and he knew he was probably driving Bailey nuts with his crazed pacing and anxiety.

Liam had practically jumped up and grabbed his phone as if he hadn't been asleep at all when they called to tell him Dean was in safe hands and coming home. They couldn't tell him a lot but that they thought he was going to make it. All they could tell him was that he was home and at the hospital. That was all Liam needed to know. He'd been out of bed so fast like someone had set his ass on fire. Bailey had dressed quickly, Liam was glad because he was hoping she would come with him, he needed her to go with him. It had taken him a while to realize walking through the hospital halls that he'd been holding onto her hand for a while now and hadn't relinquished it for anything. Bailey had put up with his obsession with wanting Dean to have a hot cheeseburger and a cold shake when he woke up. They just didn't know when he was gonna wake up so there were a lot of cold burgers and melted shakes. Liam sat on the couch in Dean's room with a rifleman magazine and Bailey resting on his shoulder. he was glad she was somewhat able to doze off because he couldn't sleep. Liam looked up where he heard a noise, a small curse and sat up, Bailey waking up from his sudden movement and moved over to the bed. Liam had never been so relieved in his life. He felt like he might cry. Almost. Dean had said to help him up, Liam helping him up and wrapped his arms around him, hugging him, "Man, it's so good to see you." Liam watched him, the feelings he had washing over him unreal. He'd been waiting so long for this. Dean said he didn't know it would take this long to die and Liam shook his head, eyebrows furrowed when Bailey was summoned over and Dean kissed her, much to her dismay. Liam stopped, thinking, Dean was allowed that one kiss. But not anymore. None for Gretchen Weiners. Bailey seemed at least to tolerate it and Liam touched Dean's arm, "Dean, look at me. You're alive. I'm alive. You're home. You get that right?"

[Bailey Grace Prestley]

Bailey was vaguely aware of the phone ringing on Liam’s nightstand. It was so early in the morning. Why were people functioning? It was strange that she felt just as comfortable in his bed as she did her own. Or more comfortable maybe… or maybe it was just being able to curl up to him. The sound of his heart against his chest had become natural to her. Not that it had been entirely easy forming a relationship with him. He wanted to take things at a slower pace – which first struck her as him trying to be a gentleman. And maybe he was. But then she realized it had more to do with his comfort level. Though this wasn’t new to him.. it surely must have felt like it was. His experiences had changed him, he was almost a new person. He was. So between the flowers, and pulling out her seats, always dropping her off at her place.. to somehow seeing him wake up in the middle of the night to dig through newspaper clippings and articles, searching for anything in himself that might have an answer to where his friend was. Those were pieces of him that she didn’t get to see when he dropped her off fifties decade style. It was scary and unprecedented. She hadn’t exactly found herself in this position before. Sometimes she knew it would be okay to wrap her arms around him and try to coax him back to bed. Sometimes she worried someone touching him from behind would trigger some sort of stress from his PTSD and hurt him more than help him. He wasn’t entirely himself when he was in that obsessive frame of mind. Or maybe it was himself, and the rest was just him being able to put on a braver face. She hoped that he found some sort of peace when he was with her; but she also had come to terms with the fact that it might not be true. The ringing of the phone didn’t wake Bailey up, but the movement in the bed beside her sure did the trick. She couldn’t gather everything but from this end of the conversation it sounded like Dean was home. But she wasn’t sure about his condition. Bailey tiredly sat up in bed, looking down and realizing she had no idea where her clothes were. Perfect. So instead she grabbed one of Liam’s button up shirts and rolled up the sleeves before grabbing a belt and wrapping it around herself. Whatever. She pushed her disheveled hair from her face as she walked to the front door and stepped in her high heels. Maybe the hospital had mcmuffins. Not for herself. Liam was in such a frenzy, and she knew that if Dean survived this then it was going to take a huge weight off of his shoulders. His healing would surely be easier, wouldn’t it? But he would be so worried about looking over Dean, that he would forget to take care of himself. Bailey reached out and took his hand as he headed towards the elevator. He had long enough legs already, combined with the fact that he was anxious to get to the hospital, Bailey found herself almost jogging to try and keep up with him.



Part of her was trying to think of what she should say to him. ‘ Be prepared that he might not look the greatest’. No shit. Plus, Liam was already watching him get beat to death nearly every time they sent a video over. He knew what he looked like. He knew what to expect far more than Bailey did. Which was the entire truth. She held tightly to Liam’s hand, unsure of who was depending on who more here. Bailey leaned into his side, holding the inside of his arm with her free hand as they walked. She was sure they both looked like hell. But once they stepped foot into the hospital room. She herself hadn’t seen the videos, so when she saw him laying in the bed a small gasp escaped her lips as she brought her hand to her mouth. The entire room was silent, aside from the monitor beeping. She figured that was better than the alternative as she clung tightly to Liam. Very quickly she realized that no matter what time of day it was, Liam wanted Dean to wake up to a hot hamburger and a cold shake. Even if it was 7 am. Thankfully they lived in a city where requests like that were the least crazy thing people experienced throughout the day. For being so concerned about what Dean was going to eat, Bailey knew Liam was ignoring his own needs. She hadn’t pushed breakfast on him, but once lunch rolled around she’d taken out her phone to order him something to eat. She’d ordered a turkey club sandwich with fries and a coke for him, while ordering a turkey avocado on ciabatta for herself with fruit and water. Liam was more attentive to Dean than his own nurses were. Any time there was any kind of draft, there were blankets on him. Was he too hot? Take them off. It was the same sequence of events which followed into the evening. Which meant forcing him to have another meal. His phone was going off, all day long. Various news outlets wanted to be the first to get an interview with Liam, but could they not see how insensitive it was right now? She knew going home to sleep wasn’t an option, not when Liam was lurking over Dean like a watchdog. She was sure that she got more sleep than Liam did, but the following morning she wanted as much of his routine to be normal as possible. Which meant calling his favorite coffee shop and asking them to deliver a coffee with his morning muffin. She went downstairs to meet them at the entrance. Security on Dean’s room was pretty tight before she quickly made her way back up, offering them to Liam quietly before she sat back down. She yawned tiredly, waiting for him to finish eating up before she rest against his side, quickly being able to doze off against his body. The sleep was short lived though seeing as how Liam was jumping up and going over to the bed, causing Bailey to sit up and try to hold onto the hospital blanket that had been draped over her body. She had expected for Liam to have a sense of relief, she even questioned herself on how it would effect their relationship, how it would effect his growth and development with his own issues from the war. Surely it could only be positive. But to actually see the expression on Liam’s face, to know the weight was actually lifted, was a relief to her as well. She couldn’t imagine the emotions he was going through, but all she wanted to do was hug him. At the appropriate time. But she made a face of confusion as she was being beckoned over. “ Oh,” she said, stepping forward slightly to step in front of Liam before she felt Dean pull her face towards his and plant his lips on her own. Bailey lift her eyebrows in surprise and felt the stiffened shriek come from her lips which were too pressed together to actually form very much of an audible sound. When he pulled away she stood up straight quickly, her mouth opened and a look of surprise over her face before she blinked, trying to process what had just happened. And now Liam was explaining that they weren’t all dead. This entire thing was confusing. Bailey finally took a breath, reaching her hand out to take Liam’s before she blinked back at Dean. Apparently they were going to ignore what just happened. She rest her cheek against the side of Liam’s arm, just trying to help support him incase he needed her.

[dean]

Dean winced as he adjusted his body again. All of the torture he’d endured over the past 18 months, and what was pissing him off the most was the needle in his arm. He smirked slightly as the girl shrieked at the moment he kissed her. But it didn’t take long for him to figure out why. He watched as she clung back tightly to Liam, holding onto his hand.Oh… Woops. Dean looked up at Liam as he started to speak, muttering off nonsense about them not being dead. He watched him, doubtedly for a moment before he looked around the room at his surroundings. Okay, that sort of made sense. Why would he need an IV in heaven. Plus he was pretty sure there was no need for newspapers. “ You mean.. I’m.. I’m home?” he questioned before he closed his eyes, trying to take it all in. “ You were.. you were dead, I saw you. What happened to you?” he said before doing his best to reach up and hug Liam. He’d be the one soldier he would’ve given his life for without any sort of hesitation, and wished every day for the past 18 months that by some miracle of a chance he had made it out. But he also knew in his heart it hadn’t been true. He’d seen him dead. That was the one certainty he knew. That, and the fact that he knew in his heart he would die a prisoner. “You look..great” he said with a choked up laugh, doing his best to not start crying again. It really was a lot to process. Being home, being able to eat, not having to face some tedious torture. But how had they saved him? Had Liam been a part of the mission? He didn’t look weathered. He actually looked really well. Not to mention the little blonde clinging to him like some ho on a rapper. But if Liam had made it, maybe some others had too. “ Did anyone else make it?” he asked carefully as he looked back up at Liam. It was slowly occurring to him that he might be ‘home’ physically. But would he really return emotionally? “ I’m sorry, this is rude of me,” he said as he looked over at Bailey. “ I’m Dean Morris.. and you apparently are dating my best friend,” he said as he tried to offer a weak smile. “ I’m actually his mistress. And I’m pregnant. With triplets. He’s married to the President’s daughter Scarlet Harris,” she said dryly as she blinked at him. Dean watched her carefully before he looked at Liam. He was a pretty special ranking soldier, not to mention once he got home he was probably recognized. It was probably possible he had met the President’s daughter. But married her? That didn’t sound like Liam. “ Is she kidding?” he asked quietly as he watched over the both of them, coming to the quick realization. “ I’m starving,” he said with a slight laugh. “ OH!” Bailey said in excitement before thrusting a shake in his face. " Wait a minute..." he said, pointing to Bailey as he looked at Liam. There wasn't a lot that he could remember about being on base. But the women there loved watching Dancing With The Stars. " Are you fucking the dancing girl?" he asked bluntly as he looked Liam in the eye.