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 A short piece.
  
  Lifeline by Anne  

 Title: Lifeline

 Author: Anne 

 Pairing: BK

 Warnings: Spoilers for Season 5

 Summary: What's going through Keller's mind when he sees Toby for the
first time since he's been back in Oz.

 I hear Beecher call my name and I think it must be a dream. He says it
softly, almost like a whisper and it caresses my skin. I stop and realize
that I am really awake. So I turn and there he is, standing there like
some kind of vision. Only he's real. I think he is, anyway.

 He holds up something in his hand and gives me that sheepish grin of his.
He says ``You've got mail,'' and I hear his voice again and I know that he
really is there and I'm not dreaming. He rests his hand on the bars
between us and I grab for it like a lifeline. I cover it with mine and
feel it's warmth. I finally smile and let myself feel the first joy I've
known since I got back to Oz.

 Only Toby could turn the worst day of my life into one of the best. 

 In the weeks - or is it months - since I have returned to Oz, I have been
living from one fucking shithole day to another. No Toby. Too much Claire.
A beating that almost killed me. A lawyer who shit all over me and tried
to take away the one person who mattered to me in the whole world. Fucking
FBI with their eyewitness and their goddamned trial. And today; today I
ended up on death row. What could be worse than that? I never felt more
dead in my life than I did today; all my hope just gone. Yet all I have to
see is Toby's face looking at me like that - with so much love and
everything else melts away. All that matters is the feel of his hand under
mine and the way he's looking at me.

 I reach my free hand through the bars and wrap it around his neck and I
look in his eyes before I lean forward and then my lips are on his and I'm
tasting him and it's the best fucking thing ever. My mouth opens around
his and I feel this tongue against mine. I have this overwhelming desire
to take and suck everything I can from him. It's been too long and
this...this...thing between us is just too much. And I've been drowning
for so long and I need something to hang onto.

 But Toby yields under my assault; giving as good as he's getting. And
that's when I realize I don't need to take anything. Toby gives me
everything I could ever need. Just touching him and kissing him like this
gives me hope; something I didn't have even five minutes ago.

 His kiss is both gentle and passionate. It wipes away all the mistakes;
all the pain. It makes me realize that I don't have to do this thing alone
anymore. Toby is going to be with me always; even if he's not in the room
with me.

 I love this man more than I ever thought I could possibly love anyone.
And there's no doubt in my mind he feels the same for me. I see it in his
eyes. I feel it in his touch. And I taste it in his kiss.

 If I have to die, then so be it. But I'll be leaving Oz more whole and
more loved than when I came in. That's Toby's gift to me.

 --end--

  Please send feedback to Anne.