Let Me In

Tom was holding Skye’s hand as they walked down the damp sidewalk together, bundled up in heavy winter jackets to hold in their body warmth from the wicked cold. Skye’s cheeks were already red roses and her teeth were beginning to chatter. Tom looped his arm tighter with hers to bring her closer to him, not for his own selfish wishes, but to help keep her warm.

“Do yeh want me scarf?” He asked her, his breath pluming in wispy cloud in front of them. She shook her head no, fixing her dark sunglasses on her face.

“Are we almost there?” She asked quietly, wiping at the involuntary wetness from her nose. Tom looked down the street, reading the signs above the streetlights.

“We’ll be there in five minutes,” Tom guessed. Skye nodded, nuzzling her face into the front of her jacket. Tom swallowed heavily and kept his focus on the slick pavement in front of him.

Due to Tom’s car meeting a cruel snow bank, his car was currently not available for Skye’s doctor’s appointments. They asked Jonson if he could give her a ride, but he was in London for the weekend at his cousins wedding. Thus the cold, bitter walk to the complex that was a ten minute drive from Skye’s flat, making it about a thirty-five minute walk.

“Did they give yeh the cortisone shot the last time yeh came ‘ere?” Tom asked her, curious as to what this appointment would hold in store for them.

“No,” She replied, “But we stopped doing those like six months ago, she’s just been doing saline treatments lately.”

“Just saline treatments?” Tom questioned, wondering why they hadn’t been trying to do more for Skye’s vision.

“Yeah, Dr. Thurman said that it’s cheaper to just do the saline treatments and they do just as much as the other more expensive treatments,” Skye said with a shrug, hastily fixing her sunglasses again.

“Oh, okay,” Tom mumbled, shifting his arms and pushing his one hand deeper into his pocket. He looked at the grim and freezing world around them, it seemed so empty and unyielding to the point where he didn’t like it. Tom was never a winter kind of guy, but yet again the weather in Sheffield wasn’t exactly ideal at any time during the year.

Tom guided Skye down the sidewalk, turning at the next corner and then continuing forward. He could see the doctor’s office now and his anxiety grew a little bit. He hadn’t forgotten Jonson’s request and he planned on asking Skye about it after the doctor’s appointment; that is, if all went well. Skye shivered a little bit and Tom looked over at her. She really was beautiful, especially with rosy cheeks and her hair naturally wavy and flying about in the wind. He had to look away because the tantalizing acrobatics in his stomach made the urge to kiss her way too strong.

“Is it snowing?” Skye asked suddenly and rather abruptly. Tom looked back at her for a moment, then to the cloudy sky.

“No?” He said curiously, not spotting a single fleck of snow in the air. “Why?”

Skye stilled for a moment, causing Tom to stop walking. She took a deep breath of the winter air then started to slowly walk again.

“I swear I could smell it,” She murmured lowly. Tom looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Smell wha’?” He asked, lifting the arm that wasn’t holding on to Skye to see if he could catch a whiff of himself.

“The snow,” Skye said as if it was obvious. Tom looked at her like she was crazy before taking in a strong sniff of the air. All he was able to smell was the aroma from the pancake house a block over and the wet pavement.

“Wha’ does snow exactly smell like?” Tom asked curiously as they approached the building. Skye smelled the air again, taking a deep breath then slowly letting it out.

“Almost like the smell of the world after rain, but a deeper and earthier kind of smell. It’s more raw and cold, something that you can feel an hour or two even after it’s gone,” Skye said. Tom just stared at her. He didn’t love her because of her outward looks; he loved her for the endlessly complex and infinitely abysmal mind that she kept locked away in her skull and behind her lips.

“I love yeh,” He said, unable to keep the words from tumbling out of his mouth. Instantly his muscles went rigid and he felt more frozen than the entire city of Sheffield as he waited for Skye’s reaction. A smile broke out on her face and she brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes.

“I love you too,” She said quietly. Tom let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding and looked down as they walked to the front door of the doctor’s office. His stomach was doing backflips and his heart was thumping against his ribcage. Tom was glad it was so cold or else the scarlet blush on his cheeks would’ve been hard to explain. He opened the door and led Skye into the warm building, taking off his scarf in the process.

The front desk attendant smiled at him and Skye as they walked to the desk, a few other patients in the room registering that the door had opened and someone had walked in, but their blind eyes didn’t follow Tom and Skye as they moved about the room. The attendant handed Tom a clipboard with a few papers attached to it and a pen. He silently smiled back at her and took Skye’s hand leading them over to a set of chairs and sat down.

“I’m nervous,” Skye admitted quietly in his ear as he filled out the necessary paperwork. His brows furrowed and he glanced over at her, the pen in his hand flying across the clipboard.

“Why?” He whispered back, trying not to attract too much attention to them.

“I don’t know,” She said uneasily with a gentle shrug, “That’s what makes me even more nervous.”

Tom let go of the clipboard, but continued writing with the other hand as he took Skye’s hand in his and squeezed it lightly.

“Don’t worry about anyfing, I’m gonna be right there wif yeh,” He said softly. This was the first time in a very long time that he’d had to console Skye at a doctor’s appointment. Usually she didn’t mind coming here at all and the fact that she suddenly had changed how she felt about coming here made Tom more than a little worried.

“Right, right,” She breathed, shifting a little closer to him before lying her head onto his shoulder. “Stay close.”

**

Skye had nothing to worry about. As they walked out of the doctor’s office and into the cold world again, she took a deep sigh of relief before going still again. She took another deep breath and then smiled.

“Wha’? Wha’ is it?” Tom asked, his hand still clasped with hers. She smiled towards where his voice came from and squeezed his hand hard.

“It’s snowing!” She nearly shouted.

Tom looked up at the sky and sure enough, little white flakes were falling towards the earth. He shook his head and started the walk towards Skye’s apartment.

“Did yeh smell it?” He asked with a joking tone in his voice. Skye nudged him playfully with her shoulder, but nodded.

“I think it’s a blind thing,” She said, “Only blind people can smell snow.”

“Wha’ about deaf people? Are you just gonna exclude ‘em from all the super powers?” He asked jokingly. Skye nudged him again and let out a soft laugh.

“I’ve heard that deaf people have amazing vision and that they can shoot lasers from their eyes,” Skye said a smile definite smile on her face. Tom looked over at her beautiful face, his stomach clenching and his heart racing as laughter of his own erupted from his chest. Skye started giggling and soon enough both of them were laughing like goons.

Once their laughter died down Tom wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she wrapped hers around his waist. They were both smiling and Tom wished someone would take a picture of the moment so he could remember it clearly. They walked further without saying a word, both having smiles on their faces until Tom remembered that he had to ask Skye about Jonson’s proposition. He looked down at her, his heart thumping in his chest again and he swallowed heavily.

“Skye,” He murmured softly, afraid to shatter the peaceful silence.

“Mhm,” She hummed back, nuzzling into the warmth of his body as they walked. He tried again to swallow around the lump in his throat.

“How badly do yeh want yer vision back?” He asked quietly. Skye shifted uncomfortably for only a second.

“I want to see you. I want to see the world. I want to see Jonson,” Tom cringed and closed his eyes briefly, “But I don’t want to see what I’ve become.”

Tom opened his eyes at that and looked down at her again. “Wha’ do yeh mean by that?” He asked, slightly worried by her response.

“I went blind in high school, a lot has changed since then,” She said simply. Tom looked down at her in disbelief. Skye had never been very concerned about her looks before and imagining her being afraid of being ugly was completely barbaric to him.

“Skye…” Tom said softly, “Yer so beautiful.”

"I'm not beautiful," She said, her voice firm, "I can't even see myself to prove that statement wrong."

Tom let out a defeated sigh and brought her closer to him. He wanted her to love herself, but for some reason that seemed to be one of the biggest hurdles Skye had yet to clear.

“Skye, there is a doctor in LA who can help wit yer vision,” He said slowly, “It’s still in the testing period, but they’ve been able to get people’s vision back who’ve lost it like yeh have.”

“I know,” Skye said softly, “I’ve read about it.”

“Well… Jonson knows the doctor. He wants ta take yeh out ta Los Angeles if yer up fer it,” Tom explained gently. Skye turned her head towards him.

“How do you know that?” She asked quickly.

“Jonson asked meh ta tell yeh about it because he realleh wants yeh ta try it and he figured tha’ yeh would react better if I told yeh,” Tom said. Skye shook her head.

“Why couldn’t he have told me? Am I that scary?” She asked sharply. Tom shook his head, sensing the direction this conversation was going and tried to reverse it.

“No! No, he just wanted yeh to warm up to it and he knew that yeh trusted meh more than him!” Tom said. Skye was taking deep breaths and she bit her bottom lip, her nails scratching at the inside of her wrist.

“Well he was right about one thing,” She said softly, Tom’s ego swelling at that fact.

“So are yeh gonna think about it?” Tom asked gently. Skye was silent for a moment as they kept walking. She nodded slowly and let out a plume of air.

“I’ve already been thinking about it, but I guess now I’ve gotta think a little harder,” She said with a shrug. Tom nodded, knowing she couldn’t see it and leant over to kiss the top of her head carefully.

The walked all the way back to her flat in a thoughtful silence. He aided her up the stairs and into her flat. They took off their heavy coats and scarves; Jillian was humming softly as she cooked in the kitchen and Tom led Skye to her room. They walked in a Skye let go of Tom’s hand, walking slowly in the direction of her bed, feeling the frame first with her legs before crawling onto it cautiously. Tom grabbed his bag off of the desk in her room, fishing around in it for his camera. Once he found it he turned it on, bringing it to his eye and taking a few pictures of Skye has she lie on the bed gently. He looked back at the pictures through the view finder and smiled softly. The picture hadn’t done her justice, but this was the girl who had stolen his heart.