Author's note. Anything in "quotes" means one or both of the stars of the fic are singing in the scene ^_^ Here is a link to the song. It is the Cyndi Lauper version sung by two people. (song)
Time After Time
by *~Universe~*
Deidre's eyes are visible in a sliver of light coming through a closed door. She seems to be standing and waiting for something.
Flash suddenly to her lying in bed, unable to sleep. The sheets are wrinkled and the pillows strewn about. Her face seems slightly perturbed, as if she were worried about someone.
Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick,
And think of you
She reaches up and runs both hands through her hair, debating with herself on whether or not to get up.
"Caught up in circles
Confusion is nothing new�"
After looking at the clock for what has to be the millionth time, she gets out of bed, revealing the black floor-length spaghetti-strap nightgown she's wearing, and walks to the dresser where her mirror sits propped against the wall.
The first thing you see is just Deidre's reflection. Then her image blurs into the foreground and a reflection of her and Jeice asleep in the same bed comes into focus.
Flashback; warm nights
Almost left behind
Suitcases of memories,
Time after -
An image of Jeice wearing little more than a pair of black jockeys appears in the
mirror with Deidre's reflection. He is only visible from the waist up as if the mirror
were a window. His lips are parted and his voice cuts in�
"Sometimes you picture me
I'm walking too far ahead"
�the shot pans completely around, gets lost in darkness and reappears behind Jeice as he stands by his own mirror. Along with his own reflection, he 'sees' Deidre in the same manner she 'sees' him. He is frowning a little in thought or feigned confusion.
"You're calling to me, I can't hear
What you've said"
Deidre moves away from the mirror and leans her back against the wall with her head inclined. Jeice does the same in his own room. The wall disappears, their images superimpose, rotate and move back-to-back. Both take in a deep breath and begin to sing.
"Then you say go slow
I fall behind
The second hand unwinds�"
In blackness, a round mirror crashes to the ground and shatters in slow motion to send
glistening shards straight up.
The darkness gives way just enough to reveal Jeice and Deidre moving in orbit around
the shattered mirror. Jeice is moving clockwise and Deidre, who is closer to the shattered
mirror, is moving counterclockwise. Every now and then they seem to hop over something
unseen. Their backs are to each other while they continue their tune.
"If you're lost you can look
And you will find me"
Jeice and Deidre twirl around to face each other and smile. The rest of the blackness lifts to show they are standing on the hands of a giant clock that has gone 'haywire'.
"Time after time�"
The face of the clock drops away to become outer space and the whole contraption spins
out of control. Jeice and Deidre are left clinging to the moving hands to keep from being
sucked away, and their hair is blown wildly by the vacuum.
"If you fall I will catch you
I'll be waiting�"
As suddenly as it began, the clock stops spinning and the suction ceases. The relieved-looking couple relaxes their hold and move to stand back up, facing each other. The hands on the clock begin to move again, once again putting them in orbit around the center.
"Time after time"
Deidre is on the shorter hand, therefore she orbits the center slower than Jeice. He
passes her once, then again, and again, and each time he comes close she extends her arms
to him. Jeice pirouettes and holds both hands out to her when he passes, but they always
miss each other by a mere inch.
Back in the room, Deidre moves away from the wall and faces her mirror. She stares at
Jeice's image with a mysterious sadness on her face and in her eyes, as if she were
plagued by doubts about herself.
After my picture fades and darkness has
Turned to gray
Watching through windows
You're wondering
If I'm okay
Slowly, Deidre brings her hand up and presses her palm to the mirror. Jeice's image
does the same thing simultaneously. They seem to see each other for a brief moment.
Then Deidre jerks her hand away from the mirror and it fogs up to shroud her lover from view.
On the other side of the "wall", Jeice lowers his head and slides his hand
down the mirror's smooth surface. His bare chest heaves, his breath fogging the glass.
Secrets stolen from deep inside
The drum beats out of time
The giant clock's hands shimmer in the blackness and leave trails as they spin in
opposite directions. The hand Deidre is on seems to have risen higher than Jeice's, and
they're both sitting down with their arms wrapped around their drawn-up knees, their faces
skyward.
"If you're lost you can look
And you will find me�"
Jeice looks up at Deidre. Deidre looks down at Jeice. Both smile.
"Time after time"
Both reach down and grab onto their clock hands hard as they speed up to centrifuge
speed. Once again their hair is blown wildly around their bodies, yet they continue their
tune.
"If you fall I will catch you
I'll be waiting�"
The hand Deidre is sitting on jerks to a stop and starts to move in the opposite direction at a slower pace. She looks down at Jeice and brushes his outstretched hand with hers when she passes over his head.
"Time after time"
Back in the room, Deidre faces Jeice's image in the suddenly clear mirror and lays her hand on the cool glass. The mirror ripples and Jeice's fingers come through to interlock with hers. She puts her other hand against the glass and the same thing happens again.
Flash to Deidre sitting up against the wall again. On the other side, Jeice is doing the same thing. Their images superimpose against one another.
"Then you say go slow,
I fall behind�"
Suddenly, Deidre's dresser disappears and she appears standing with her back to the floor-length mirror. Jeice is in the same position on the other side. They turn to face their mirror and press their palms to the glass. The paper-thin "wall" between them ripples like a pond after having a pebble tossed in.
"The second hand unwinds..."
Jeice and Deidre are standing on the edges of the broken mirror in the middle of the giant clock. They have ahold of each other by the wrists while they whirl around one another.
"If you're lost you can look
And you will find me�"
Deidre and Jeice twirl to bring themselves back-to-back. They turn their faces towards the sky and the backs of their heads touch.
"Time after time"
The vacuum picks up again and makes their hair ripple. Strangely enough it doesn't affect them while they stand touching each other. They merely stand there, smiling and singing while their hair sways and mixes without tangling.
"If you fall I will catch you
I'll be waiting�"
Their fingers interlock, their eyes sparkling as they lower their gaze to straight ahead.
"Time after time"
Jeice ventures out onto his longer clock-hand with both arms outstretched as if balancing. He looks over his shoulder and up to see Deidre smiling down at him. The outer-space backdrop reappears in place of the clock's face, rippling as if underwater.
"If you're lost you can look
And you will find me�"
The clock suddenly stops, frozen in time and space.
"Time after time"
The hand Jeice is walking on cracks and falls away to send him plummeting. Deidre is seen diving off the hand she's standing on right as it crumbles and breaks away.
Switch back to Jeice falling. Deidre swoops into view and catches him. She smiles and sings softly to him while brushing her index finger down the center of his calm face.
"If you fall I will catch you
I'll be waiting�"
Both fall into a pool of water so reflective you can't tell it was there until you see the splash and residual ripples. Rose petals that blended in with the nebulous background shift in protest to the disturbance. Deidre and Jeice surface chest-to-chest, face to face, their hair slicked down from the water. She reaches up and gently trails her fingers through his pale locks.
Flash to the shattered mirror lying in the blackness. Time goes into reverse, the broken pieces are sucked back into place, the mirror goes flying upwards and rotates to show the image of Jeice and Deidre floating in the clear pool.
"Time after time"
The repaired mirror rises through the blackness, flips around to show its other side and reveals a reflection of Deidre in her room. Jeice's face and the rest of his body emerges from her floor-length mirror, causing it to ripple more violently.
Flash to Deidre standing in front of the mirror with Jeice pressing himself gently against her back. She turns her head, raises an arm to entangle her fingers in his hair and arches her back when he trails a hand down her arm. He wraps an arm around her waist and leans over her shoulder to cover her mouth with his.
Time stops, freezing them in place�
Time after time�
�the mirror flips around and shows the frozen image of Jeice and Deidre floating in the reflective pool�
Time after time�
�and again to show a still shot of them kissing in Deidre's room.
Time after time�
The mirror continues to rotate like a spinning coin, showing the two images on its opposite sides. It seems to be shrinking, but it is really moving away. The blackness becomes complete as strange magic mirror spins off into the distance until it becomes a twinkling speck in the dark.
Time after time�
The shot pulls back slowly, revealing a smooth black stud embedded in a gold band. Then Deidre's hand comes into view, cupping Jeice's face gently as she stands with her lips pressed to his. Finally the white of her veil and the black of his suit come into view.
Then the door swings shut and all goes dark.