Waiting for Our Lives to Start Their Ending, by kay_obsessive (pg-13)

[irony-rocks.livejournal.com]

Fandom Category: Dollhouse
Pairing: Claire Saunders/Topher Brink
Fic Title: Waiting for Our Lives to Start Their Ending
Author: kay_obsessive
Link: http://community.livejournal.com/museandblabber/16679.html
Rating/Warning(s): PG-13, spoilers between The Hollow Men and Epitah One.
Genre: Angst, future fic,
WIP?: no

Why This Must Be Read: Wow. I mean, seriously, wow. I don't even really ship this pairing, beyond an idle curiosity to the levels and layers between these two characters. One of the most stunning scenes of Dollhouse had to be the scene where Claire confronts Topher in Vows, which marked a rather fascinating level of screwed up push and pull between the two characters. This story does that dynamic justice better than any words I could use. Wonderful prose, achingly beautiful characterization, and it all ties in deftly with the Dollhouse plot. It fills in the blank between The Hollow Men and Epitah One, and really, I claim this as my personal canon for the story between these two characters.

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Eventually, they all begin to scatter. Echo and Paul in one direction, Tony and Priya in another. Even Adelle spends less and less time in the Dollhouse until finally leaving it behind altogether. There is a sense of urgency to it, like they all know, somehow, this cannot last and they must take advantage of the current calm.

Claire has nowhere to flee to. There is blood on her hands and there are holes in her memory, and she isn’t sure of anything anymore. The one man she thought she could trust used her worse than anyone, and the one man she felt safe in hating has been the most honest with her. Every time she thinks she understands (alpha is dead, i know who i am, you design someone to hate you to convince them to love you, are you scared? not anymore) her world is turned upside-down.

When Topher finally, reluctantly leaves, she follows.

What else can she do?