Highest Stakes part 2

[light-the-sky76.livejournal.com]

Title: Highest Stakes 2/2
Author: light_the_sky76
Pairing: DM/BB
Rating: G
Summary: Was luck a lady?
A/N: I just realised that I haven't posted this yet. It's the second part to Highest Stakes - a AU Guys 'n' Dolls-esque crack fic that I posted a little while ago. It had an evil cliffhanger, and I like a nice bit of resolution, so here it is...



Dominic looked at the clock again.

Time had been behaving strangely all evening. The hours had dragged – it felt like Dominic had been alone waiting for the sound of Billy's approach in the hall for days. Billy usually arrived home just after eight, exhausted but greeting Dominic warmly with the infinite cheer he was blessed with.

It was so late, the hands of the clock had moved through their cycle at a tenacious pace and their position told him it was almost one in the morning.

Dominic had been pacing, his steps echoing in the too empty room, but the pacing had quickly drained him and his breathing had become shallow then turned to wheezes. He'd had to stumble to the bed and focus all his attention on keeping air flowing in and out of his lungs, his heart pounded painfully and his eyes filled with tears of frustration as he counted one, two, with each inhale and exhale. When the wheezing and shaking had ended Dominic looked over at the clock; time carried on when you couldn't breathe it seemed, marching forward relentlessly not caring that the world stopped for him as his bodies failure denied him his place in it.

He hated being so ill and weak. He hated the constant tired ache of his body and the way his lungs fought to breathe. It was like slowly drowning every day and no matter how hard he fought the current kept pulling him under. He hated the worry that filled Billy's eyes when his breathing was at its worst. And he hated the way that worry had started to turn to despair.

Dominic wanted to be well for Billy, to laugh with him and to be able to stand strong and confident at his side but it felt like the things he wanted most were being pulled from his grasp.

The clock's hands marked another half hour's passing.

Dominic had nothing other to do to fill the minutes than try to keep warm and wait. The damp walls offered no distraction regardless of how hard he stared at them and the noise of feet and cars passing outside didn't include Billy's footfalls so were of no use to him. Time was as uncooperative as the flesh that was betraying him, it slipped from his grasp and the hour kept grew later without Billy's return. He wanted to stay awake to see Billy arrive home so he could hug then yell at him for being so late but his weakened body wouldn't allow it and he found himself slipping rapidly towards unconsciousness.



Dominic surfaced from the depths of sleep with a confused start. The apartment door closed with a sharp click and Dominic sat up to find Billy struggling to take off his jacket. His movements were clumsy and agitated and it took several swear words and several more tugs to pull coat off.

"Bill?"

Billy ignored Dominic and threw off his tie and shoes with the same jerky pulls.

"Billy?" Dominic stood and gritted his teeth against his bodies urge to sway. "Where have you been? I was worried, I…"

The smell of tobacco and liquor stuck Dominic as he moved closer to Billy. "Where have you been?" This time the question was laced with more anger than concern. Billy had been at a speakeasy? Gambling and drinking? They couldn't afford that – they didn't have enough money to pay the rent that was due.

"I was at the club on McClusky's Avenue." Billy turned to face Dominic at last. "I took the rent money, all of it."

Billy looked exhausted. His eyes were red and surrounded by shadows and Dominic saw his hands shake as he lifted them to push his fingers through his hair.

"All our money?" The room turned cold around Dominic.

"Every last penny." He giggled. Giggled! Dominic backed away until his calves bumped against the bed. "But how will we pay the landlord Bill? How will we eat?"

"Well that's gambling isn't it?" He looked hysterical now, wild. Nervous energy came off him in waves fuelling the growing feeling of dread that clawed at Dominic's spine. Billy was never this agitated, never. He was the one who was grounded and steady, who Dominic would hold to keep him rooted when he felt like he was spiralling without control. "You have to risk everything to win. And I had to risk it Dom, I had to." He reached Dom in two quick steps and gently too hold of Dom's face in his hands. The smell of smoke and sweat surrounded Dominic. "I can't stand seeing you like this. I couldn't stand to watch you d-, you understand?" His grip tightened as he willed Dom to understand, his eyes were filled with tears. "Please Dom, you do don't you?"

Dom couldn't look Billy in the eye; he pulled back from his grasp and sank down to sit on the bed. "The landlord will turn us out Billy. We'll have no home. We'll have nothing." He knew Billy's actions had been out of love and Dom couldn't hate him for that; but to have to sleep on the street and hunt for food in trashcans – Dominic knew he wouldn't survive that; the coming winter would destroy him.

Billy sat down next to him and took one of Dominic's hands. "They watched me, the people in the club, they thought I was entertaining." He traced patterns on Dominic's palm as he spoke, the nervous energy under Billy's skin made the touch uncomfortable and Dominic almost wanted to pull away. "They bought me drinks and gave me cigarettes, probably spent more on me than they pay me for a week's work. I had a pile of bills bet against one final roll. As the dice flew through the air everything went slow and strange, I knew that everything would change when the dice landed and all I could think about was you. You deserve better than this. You deserve so much more. I wanted to…"

"Bill." Dominic brought Billy's hand up to his lips and kissed the palm. "It's okay. We'll manage. It will be alright."

It was done now. In a way, he was relieved. At least there would be no more waiting and wondering when the axe would fall. He knew how long he would have before his body finally succumbed. He could spend his time making sure that he gave Billy everything he could while he was still able.

"It will."

Billy cupped Dominic's chin in his hand and leaned forward for a soft kiss.

"It will, Dommie."

Billy pulled his hand from Dominic's and reached inside his shirt pocket. "Everything will be alright." He held up his hand and opened it. It was filled with money. Crisp green dollars folded and curled over one another, there were too many to fit in Billy's small hand and some of them slid from Billy's grasp and fluttered to the floor. "I won, Dominic. I won it all." Disbelief filled his voice, and he gave another short, hysterical bark of laughter.

Dominic took a bill and rubbed it between his fingers. "This is yours?" Hope, unfamiliar and almost forsaken, began to swell inside him.

"It's ours. To do whatever we want. I'm going to buy us two tickets, two tickets to somewhere clean and good where you can be strong again and take deep breathes of pure air. We'll start a new life." The tears that had been filling Billy's eyes rolled down his cheek, Dominic found himself crying too; he kissed Billy and tasted the salt on his lips.

"We should go somewhere with trees and open spaces. Somewhere high with fresh air and warm summers. You could grow strong again and we could go walking and see mountains and eagles."

Dominic smiled at Billy and kissed him as best as he could. He could see it when he closed his eyes; the infinite blue of the sky, the green and browns of the earth, and Billy beside him with nothing but joy in his eyes.

"I can't wait to stand beside you at the top of a mountain with you Billy, with the world at out feet and eagles around us."

Billy reached into his pocket again. "They gave me these." He opened his palm and tipped the contents into Dominic's open hand. "They said I should keep them, they helped change our lives."

Dominic held up his hand and laughed. They were small, generic and unimposing, and he owed them so much. He rolled the dice in his palms.