FanFic100: #042 Triangle
“Treffpunkt für den Abmarsch ist in 15 Minuten am Abgeordneteneingang.” The group of high ranking Luftwaffe, Heer and Marine officers in front of him nods and starts breaking up in smaller groups. One by one they all seek refuge from the biting cold in the enormous expense of the dome atop the Reichstag. He, however, stays outside. He’s seen the dome and the view about a thousand times, and he never had a problem with the freezing weather Berlin can throw at you in late autumn - his mother likes to tell him it’s the last offshoot of the dry freezing winter climate of the Russian plains and he fully believes that.
So he wanders over to the side of the Reichstag roof looking out over the Tiergarten, hunching his shoulders against the wind and reaching up to keep his beret in place. He leans down on the railing, looking idly left and right… and something catches his attention. Or rather someone. A couple a few meters away from him. She’s standing at the railing and he’s standing behind her, encircling her waist and giving her a kiss on her hair. She turns her head back to him and smiles at him, lighting up the whole cold and grey autumn’s day.
It’s something he gets to see constantly here and in the city, but this couple is special… because he knows them and he never would have thought he’d see either of them again. If it hadn’t been for Laura Cadman’s red hair flowing in the wind, he may have never recognized them because they appear so different now than from a year ago. A year ago… for a few days it had looked like he might be in the place of the guy standing behind her, a man he has a few difficulties remembering the name of… oh, right, Major… something Lorne.
But obviously there had been more to them and anyway… how could he ever think a meager German Heer officer without any off-world experience could ever compete with a hardened USAF Special Forces officer with thousands of flying hours under his belt? And, much worse, probably a history of hundreds of missions and all the stuff that bonds you to each other in a way much tighter than just a shared hobby could ever do with the woman in question.
He’d thought about walking over to them and saying hi, but the thoughts and feelings that just welled up inside of him tell him he really should do himself and them a favor and just look the other way. Unfortunately… she has already spotted him. “Christian? Is that really you?”
Suppressing a sigh, he turns around again, putting on a mildly surprised face and a grin. “Well, what does it look like?”
They both come to stand in front of him, very close to each other but not quite touching. Lorne gives him a tight little smile, but he’s surprised to see that the Major seems to have lost a bit of his very distanced and closed-off behavior. Laura… well Laura is still her charming, open self. “Anyway…” He tries looking friendly again. “What are you doing here?” Standing on top of a building and enjoying the view, du Vollpfosten, he tells himself, and did he just imagine it or was something like that crossing the Major’s face for a very short moment?
Laura, though, seems to have either ignored it or not noticed it, because she says smiling a little smugly, “You’ll never guess.” Well… she’s right. He’s really absolutely clueless what anyone not born and raised here or forced to be here would want in Berlin in early November when everything is just bleak and cold. However, it’s the Major who gives him the final clue as he just flashes his left hand with a slightly smug raise of his eyebrows.
Heilige… it’s their honeymoon? Whoa. He wants to say something, but Laura seems to have noticed Lorne’s very short gesture and lightly hits him on the arm, rolling her eyes and sighing, “Showoff.” All the Major does is flash a grin that’s almost boyish. Huh. That’s clearly not the intimidating, glaring, brooding man he remembers from a year ago.
He clears his throat. “Anyway… you aren’t honestly telling me this is your honeymoon, right?” Laura is about to answer, but Lorne beats her to it.
“As a matter of fact, yes, it is.” He can see that the Major has to put up an effort to appear civil, but it seems to come much easier to him than at their first encounter in this place. Like… he knows there’s no real competition for him. And he’s a little surprised to discover that there isn't, at least from himself. He still thinks Laura is attractive and he’d love to flirt with her a little, but a year of almost no contact has cooled off all actual serious intentions he had had.
But still… he is jealous. Not of Lorne, but of what they seem to have together. There had been something between them the day he’d seen their group off in Tegel but now he can see so much more. It’s in the way the Major’s gaze softens whenever Laura smiles or in the way Laura stands as close to Lorne as she can. Or how she seems to be able to pick up the Major’s train of thought almost effortlessly, just like now, as she adds, “I know what you’re thinking. This…” she makes a general gesture towards the grey sky, “isn't really standard honeymoon weather and maybe not even a standard honeymoon location. But hey… we’ve got a… um… connection to this city.”
A connection. Uh-huh. She’s coloring slightly which might be a result of the cold, but he’s got this feeling that it has more to do with the “connection” she mentioned. For some reason… it makes him oddly proud of his city that something here was strong enough to make them return to probably the most unpleasant time of year you could visit and be… happy here. “Anyway,” she waves her hand dismissively, “I think I need something to warm me up. Anyone else want a coffee?” Both he and Lorne shake their heads. “They do have coffee to go over there, right?” She points to the Käfer restaurant on the other side and he just shrugs.
Funny enough, he has no idea. He’s been up here on maybe every possible occasion, but he never even once ventured inside that place, somehow always conscious of the fact that he just isn't a Käfer person. Rolling her eyes, she says, “Okay, okay, I’ll go and have a look. Behave yourselves, guys.” With that, she gives Lorne a small smile and is off to the restaurant.
It takes him a second or two to realize that suddenly he’s alone with the Major. Dammit. Uncomfortable silence of doom. Until Lorne clears his throat, that is. No doubt for some small-talk nonsense. Suddenly the cold is starting to bite through the Pferdedecke… the Dress Greys’ coat he’s wearing and he can’t help throwing a look at his watch to see how much time the brass still has until they are supposed to continue their Bundestag tour. “I know you aren’t, but I’m actually glad we met.” He looks up again, startled. This is about the last thing he expected Lorne to say.
“Äh, wie bi… beg your pardon?” The Major smirks, so something must have been funny.
“I’d wanted to thank you, ever since that conference. If it hadn’t been for you… maybe I wouldn’t have realized that I made a pretty big mistake.” Yeah, well, whatever that is supposed to mean. How do you answer to something like that? Most of all if it’s not in mocking? Really, there was only honest gratefulness in Lorne’s tone. At least that confirms the theory he had had about the two of them. Lots of history… and lots of baggage, obviously.
A little embarrassed, he throws a look around and finally replies, “Yeah, well, that’s us Army officers. Always helpful to you fighter jocks.” Oops. Maybe that was a bit over the top, as the dark cloud that passes over Lorne’s face tells him. Way to go, Herr Hauptmann, he thinks. Alte Großfresse.
But instead of giving him the same treatment Lorne gave him a year ago, he just rolls his eyes and says, “I’ll overlook that because I’m on leave. But, seriously, Dühring… that city… is the best thing that ever happened to me. Be proud of it.”
He finds himself grinning. “Oh, I certainly am.” And then he remembers how US officers like their answers. “Sir.” He was really this close to say “Herr Major” instead of the correct answer. Good thing that sometimes he does think before talking. The Major gives him another tight smile. Before he can answer, though, Laura is back, without any coffee.
“You know, Christian, you really could have warned me about how snobbish that place is.” She jerks her thumb back at the Käfer building and makes a mildly disgusted face. He shrugs apologetically.
“I could have told you I’ve never been inside, but I guess you wouldn’t have believed me anyway.” His gaze falls on the security gate that’s the representatives’ entrance to the Reichstag building and he’s a little shocked when he realizes that the majority of the group of officers he is responsible for has already gathered there. Trying his best to look still relaxed, he adds, “Okay, uh… it was really nice to meet you two and everything, but I’ve still got a job to do. Wouldn’t want to keep the old boys with the oak leaves waiting.” Yep, and another time he put his foot in his mouth. If he remembers it correctly… the guy in front of him also wears oak leaves on his shoulders when he’s on duty.
And yes, there’s clouds again on Lorne’s face, but Laura just has to laugh a little and touches his arm - such a casual and brief gesture, but he can see very well that it does have an effect on the Major - and his mood changes to forgiving. Then she turns back to him. “Well, then… we better not hold you off from taking care of the old boys. We need to get going anyway, since I could convince this Major here to walk along the Tiergarten a little.” With that, they take their leave and he finally walks over to where his group is standing.
As he waits for all the officers to walk through the narrow security lock, he throws a look into the direction of the visitors exit and again he feels this strange jealousy from before coming up. There the newlywed Lornes are standing on the platform, all alone. Laura is tracing her finger along her Major’s cheek and saying something. Even from his distance he can see a smile lighting up the Major’s face that is open and warm. It’s followed by a quick kiss and then they also turn to leave the roof.
Feeling a little like a voyeur he finally tears his gaze away from the couple and turns around to follow his group. As he nods to the desk officer of the security gate and enters the building, he finds himself smiling because he just realized that as awkward as the encounter had been, it had given him something. One day, he thinks, one day he will get to this side of the fence, too, when even people with as much baggage as those two can do it.