Title: Delicate Beauty
Fandom: Soundgarden
Characters: Chris & Alyssa
Word Count: 2307
Rating: PG-13, language
Warnings/Spoilers/Summary: Hibiscus flowers traditionally symbolize delicate beauty, which characterizes Chris & Alyssa's love in February 1997....



Drumming her sparkly pink pen on her desk, Alyssa’s hazel eyes kept darting up to the clock. She watched every minute tick closer to the bell that would indicate school was over. Unlike many of the other girls in her classes, she was not overly excited for the Valentines dance that evening. It wasn’t because she hadn’t been asked to the dance, because she had. David had repeatedly asked her until she told him to ask one of her friends instead. She had other plans for the night and they did not involve her dressing up in a frilly dress and getting pawed by high school boys. In fact she was fairly certain flowers and hearts were not a part of her plans, except of course the valentine she made for him during third period.

She should have hated him, had plenty of reason to. But the moment his plane returned to Seattle, well maybe not the moment, he had called her. Luckily she had been by the phone and able to answer it before Judith had, but the big thing was that he called her.

And they had plans to meet up that afternoon. Part of her wondered if he even knew it was Valentine’s Day, but the greater part of her didn’t care. Chris was back in Seattle and he wanted to see her.

The bell rang loudly announcing the end of the day. Everyone quickly slammed their notebooks closed and shoved their things into their backpacks. Despite sitting on the opposite side of the room from the door, Alyssa was the first to reach it. As per normal, she met David in the hallway and he tugged on her braids. Rolling her eyes and calling him a child, she skirted through the crowds of students to her locker, not really caring if he kept up or not. But as she closed her locker, there he was.

“Why are you in such a hurry?” he asked, leaning against the locker beside hers.

“Because,” she shrugged her backpack on, “I need to get home and change and get across town within the hour.”

“So this means I don’t get a ride home?” David fell instep with her.

“Oh shit,” Alyssa muttered. “No, of course you do. I can be a little bit late. But let’s hurry.”

Quickly ensconced in after school traffic, Alyssa tapped her steering wheel impatiently. David reached and turned on the stereo, not the least bit surprised to find she had Sound garden's CD ready to play. Smirking, he ejected the disk and quickly shoved another one in. Twirling the removed disk around his pointer finger, he counted the seconds before she realized her favorite music was not playing.

“If you’re horny, lets do it
Ride it, my pony
My saddles waitin’
Come and jump on it
If you’re horny, let’s do it
Ride it, my pony
My saddles waitin’
Come and jump on”

Suddenly catching the lyrics, Alyssa’s eyes left the road and looked directly to David, “Why did you change the music?”

“Go to the dance with me.”

“David, I already told you no a million times. You’re supposed to be taking Meagan.”

“Until she got a boyfriend this week. Where were you?” he retorted.

“Distracted, I guess,” she reached for the volume and turned it down before turning a corner. “I’m not going to the dance with you. And I’m certainly not about to ride you if this is your idea of a not-so-subtle come on.”

David laughed, “Come on, baby. You know you want to.”

Alyssa’s eyes went back to his, “Uh, no. Really.”

He pouted, “Not even when I do this?”

“No.”

“Dammit, Alyssa. What is it going to take for you to go out with me?”

“A miracle.”

“Why?”

“I’m with someone else.”

He paused for a minute, “You’re not back with that asshole who knocked you up and left you, are you?”

She quickly flicked her blinker on and turned into the first parking lot. Finding an empty space Alyssa parked and slammed her car into parking. Turning in her seat, she faced David as fully as possible. Her eyes quickly searched his, that were oddly about the same color as Chris’s.

“He didn’t knock me up and leave me.”

“Sure he didn’t.”

Her being pregnant had been a secret she only shared with David. In accordance with such, he was the only friend who was by her side after she lost the baby. He knew more about her and Chris than anyone else did – except the big detail that Chris was who he was. All David knew was that Chris did not attend their school, was older than them, and how Alyssa felt for him. He didn’t know that Chris fronted the band whose CD he held in his fingers at the moment. He didn’t know that Chris was much older and married. He didn’t know much about Chris at all. But he had known about her being pregnant. And to be honest, David had been the most supportive person in her life during those few scary months and the very painful weeks after losing the baby. He had even promised to help her take care of the baby if Chris had not stepped up to do so. As she looked into his ocean-colored eyes, Alyssa could clearly see his affection for her. It was very much similar to what she saw in Chris’s eyes when he looked at her. They were very best friends and maybe if Chris was not in her life, they could have been the perfect couple.

But she was head-over-heels in love with Chris.

“Chris didn’t knock me up and leave me, David. He would have taken care of me, had he been able to. He wasn’t even in the city when I ... when my mother.. he just wasn’t here,” she explained softly. 

“Where the fuck was he? If he really loves you half as much as I do, he should have been the one by your side in the hospital. He should have been—”

“I know, David. But he couldn’t be. I can’t tell you any more than that.”

David glowered, “Dammit, Alyssa, if you’re going to choose him over me, the one who has been here by your side all the time, you have to give me more than that.”

“I can’t.”

“Alyssa, I lo—”

Her hand quickly went to his mouth, silencing the words, “Don’t say that. Please don’t say that.”

“But it’s true,” he muttered against her hand. “It’s Valentine’s Day. Spend it with the one who loves you.”

“David, we’re just friends.”

He pulled her hand from his mouth and quickly leaned across the gear shift to kiss her, “Tell me you don’t feel anything when I kiss you.”

“I don’t feel anything when you kiss me,” she instantly responded.

David sighed and leaned back, turning to look out the window so she could not read the emotions in his eyes, “Take me home then. So you can hurry up and get to your Chris.”



Wearing a pale pink baby doll dress and her favorite pair of Doc Martens, Alyssa headed up to Chris’s front door. Stopping before the wooden portal, David’s doubts and words rushed back into her mind. What was she doing? So many of the things David had said were true, made sense. She shouldn’t have been wasting her time on Chris. He was a rock star. He was much older. And he was going to have to leave on tour again, leaving her behind. She should turn around and head back to her car, rush home, call David, go to the dance with him. He was there. He was always there for her. And she really hadfelt something when he kissed her. Yes, she should leave. She should not go back to Chris. He had disappeared in mid-January without even a word. And then swooped back into town and thought they could pick right back up where they had been? Ha. So much had changed in those few weeks. She would leave.

Turning from the door, Alyssa only managed a couple of steps before the door opened, “Lyssie?”

Stopping in her tracks, she turned slowly to face him. She said absolutely nothing, but felt her heart leap into her throat the moment she met his eyes. As much as she wanted to, Alyssa could not deny their connection, could not deny the affection in his eyes. But oh how she should leave.

“You weren’t going to come in? I thought we were going to—”

“I left your valentine in the car,” she quickly explained.

Chris smiled crookedly, “I don’t need a valentine, baby. You’re more than enough for me.”

Glancing at her car briefly, she nodded and followed him into the house. With Chris being home, the dogs rushed up to greet her, none of them kenneled or out in the backyard. Squatting she greeting every last one, aware Chris was looking at her. Slowly standing upright, her eyes locked with his. With little hesitation, only a mere glance at the curtains to ascertain that they were in fact closed, Chris stepped forward, shooed the dogs away, slipped his arms around Alyssa, and kissed her gently. She resisted his kiss, her palms remaining on his chest, her lips not parting to accept his tongue.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked, tucking her loose, wavy hair behind her ears.

“Chris... a lot has changed since you... left me.”

Seeing the seriousness in her eyes, Chris quickly guided her over to the couch. Before Alyssa could say anything, his hand reached to press against her abdomen, expecting it to be firm with child. Her baby doll dress had deceived his eyes, making him see the curve of a baby when there was none. His gaze quickly snapped to hers, speaking the questions he seemed unable to mutter.

Her eyes instantly welled up with tears and she turned away. Without thought his arms circled around her, pulling her close. Within moments, Alyssa was crying as if she had not spent the past three weeks healing. All of her pain returned in a quick glance from the man she loved. And he had no idea.

“Lyssie... Lyssie, what happened?” he asked softly, his lips near her ear.

“I... I... she....” she muttered, burying her face in his shoulder. “You.... gone....”

He kissed her temple, “I’m so sorry for not being here when you needed me, baby. I’m so very sorry. I wish I could go back in time and fight the world to be at your side, taking care of you through whatever happened. I’m never going to—”

“She killed our baby,” she blurted out.

“What? Who did?” Chris’s eyes snapped to hers.

“My mother.”

He didn’t need to know details. It was enough hearing the acid in her voice to understand. He knew it wasn’t Marilyn, who had seemingly been a wonderful mother to her stepdaughter. His fists clenched, rage boiled in his blood. While he did not doubt that Alyssa’s father surely took care of things, Chris wanted nothing more than to track down her mother and teach her exactly how it felt to have her soul ripped out. But perhaps she did not even have a soul.

“Alyssa,” he turned her tear-streaked face towards him, “I love you. Please, please forgive me for not fighting the world to be by your side. It will never, ever happen again. I promise you.”

“But you said that before. And you left me. And...”

“I know, baby,” he quickly kissed her frown. “It will never happen again. That is my most solemn vow to you, Alyssa. I... wait right here.”

Kissing her quickly again, Chris jumped up and hurried from the room. He returned back to her a minute later, scooting one of the dogs off the couch in order to sit back down. Holding out a slender box, his eyes went to hers, his free hand reaching up to wipe her tears.

“It’s your valentines present,” he declared. “And I hope a decent proclamation of my vow to you.”

Accepting the small box, Alyssa quickly removed the lid. Inside the small box was a pendant and accompanying ring. Both made out of rose gold, the metal had been fashioned into the shape of a hibiscus flower. The necklace sparkled with a diamond and gold stamen. Though devoid of the diamond stamen, the ring blended yellow and rose gold. It was unique and had to be something he bought while on tour. Alyssa knew without a doubt forgiveness was easily his. He had thought of her while gone, even if he hadn’t called or even said good-bye.

Plucking the ring out of the box first, Chris lifted her left hand and slipped the ring onto her middle finger, figuring it was a bit too large for any other finger. Wordlessly he removed the necklace as well, before tossing the box aside, something the dogs instantly though was an offering to them and chased. Kissing her lips, he looped the necklace about her throat, fastening it carefully under her long hair.

“I love you, my delicate beauty,” he muttered. “Nothing is going to happen to you again. I promise you.”

In that very moment, Alyssa believed Chris wholeheartedly. And had completely forgotten about her conflicted feelings in regards to David. Chris was the one she belonged with. He would be with her forever.