Can't Buy Off the Lightning by DrWorm (PG)

[versaphile.livejournal.com]

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny Smith/Roger Chatsworth
Author on LJ: drworm
Author Website: They Call Me DrWorm...
Why this must be read:

This fic is actually based on the novel, but the season 1 episode "Destiny" involves the Chatsworth family and the fire at Cathy's as well. It's a tender piece, dealing with the aftermath of an only partially-averted disaster. The grim inevitability of what could not be saved, and the sweetness of what was saved.

Johnny smiled, but the effort was so great that he was sure it looked grotesque. “Didn’t know the dance was over.”

“It isn’t,” Roger shrugged, “But it looks like we’ve about done our part…” He hesitated and ducked his head in a curiously childish gesture, not wanting to meet Johnny’s eyes. “And I think Shelley will kill me if you drop off again here in the hospital instead of in your own bed.”

Johnny opened his mouth, ready to tell Roger that he hadn’t fallen asleep, he’d only been coming to terms with eighty or ninety deaths he felt partially responsible for. But when he looked up, he realized that the explanation would be pointless; Roger already knew. Perhaps he was struggling with the same realty, the same feelings. Johnny had no real way of knowing; he’d found that his employer had a tighter lock on his emotions, and his face was stripped of all thought besides concern for the well-being of his son’s tutor. Pet psychic, now, Johnny thought as he began to stand up, surprising himself with his second flash of bitterness. His leg ached from being folded and constricted in such a cramped sitting position for so long, and when he put his weight on it, he stumbled. Roger caught him, kept him from sprawling face first to the floor as he had several times before. But now it was different because Roger was waiting with grim certainty for Johnny to prophesize his death after that instant of touch, just as he had his son’s. In that moment, Roger Chatsworth—with his skepticism and pragmatism and easy, soothing voice that had denied the truth of Johnny’s prediction and turned hoarse when he’d yelled at Patty Strachan to shut up after her Carrie comparison—suddenly seemed more human to Johnny than he ever had before.

Can't Buy Off the Lightning