Rainbows
Rainbows
by DebC
Summary: the rainbow was a promise that was made after the storm had come and gone: that there would never be a storm so devastating as to destroy all of creation.
April 2005
Shelly sat in thee upstairs salon, watching the rain fall onto the balcony from the safety of the window seat. It had been raining all week; Alfred said that the rain would be good nourishment for the spring flowers.
Shelly had found the rain depressing, especially after all the sunny days which had preceded them.
This wasn’t a gentle spring rain, though. It was a harsh storm, with heavy rains, strong wind and the occasional clap of thunder.
When she was a girl, Shelly used to like thunderstorms. The lightning had seemed pretty to her as it lit the sky in brilliant flashes. Then one night… the storm aged outside as another raged inside the house. Her father was yelling at her mother and worse. Shelly couldn’t even remember now what the yelling, screaming and hitting had been about, just his voice drowning out the thunder and sound of harsh blows echoing the crack of the lightning.
Now when storms came, she cried rather welcome them.
“Miss Shelly…”
The familiar voice caused her to turn away form the window. Birch stood in the doorway, watching her.
“Hi,” she said softly. She risked a smile.
Birch smiled back as he came further into the room. Shelly thought his were the sweetest smiles in the world, because he always seemed to smiling only for her. Of course, that thought made her feel fluttery inside. Nervous and unsure.
“Mr. Pennyworth sent me to check on you,” he said, the expression on his face softening. The storm was picking up and Alfred had seen that National Weather Service was calling for severe weather in their area.
“Is something the matter?” she asked softly.
Birch shook his head. “The weather man says the storm might get worse,” he explained. Alfred had wanted to make sure everyone was okay. Mr. Wayne and Ms. O’Neil had been on a lunch date in the city when the storm kicked in. They were weathering it at the penthouse suite of the WI building. Shelly’s mother had been with her daughter-in-law, so she also was gone.
It had been Joey who’d mentioned through a mouthful of Cook’s brownies that his sister didn’t handle strong storms well, and Alfred had raised an eyebrow. Birch, naturally, had been halfway out the door before the suggestion that someone check on her had even been made.
“Oh.” She started to stand up when a particularly large — and loud — bolt of lightning split the sky right behind her. She jumped much like a startled cat and all but crumbled to the floor at Birch’s feet.
He was kneeling at her side in seconds. “Are you all right, Miss Shelly?” he asked. She thought she heard more in his voice than just the question.
“I… I…” Her shaky answer was cut off when another ::crack:: pierced their ears, accompanied by a bright flash and the lights went out.
She shrieked.
It was, perhaps, the loudest noise Birch had ever heard come from her mouth. He reacted by gathering her into his arms and holding her to him. Her heart raced, beating like that of a frightened bird against both of their chests.
It would be a few minutes before the Manor’s back up generators kicked in.
“Shhhhh…” he whispered, giving in to a strong urge and stroking her hair. “It’s okay. The lights will come back soon.”
She didn’t so much answer but whimper into his shirt. He understood the sentiment, really he did.
“When I was a kid… ” he said quietly, still stroking her hair in gentle motions. “I used to be terrified of storms. Even the small ones. The water… the noise… it scared me so much.” The whimpering became more subdued as Shelly began to focus on his voice.
“Did you get over it?” she asked at last, softly.
“Eventually, yeah. Mom would gather us kids together… all wrapped up in a blanket on her bed and she told us a story I’ll never forget… about a man named Noah and how he spent forty days and forty nights out in a storm .. just like this one… only he wasn’t safe inside a house. He was in a boat, and he didn’t know where he was going, only that he’d get there when storm had passed.”
His mother had been very religious and had always believed in the Truth of the Bible.
“Noah’s arc,” whispered Shelly.
“Yeah.” Birch’s hand stopped moving, resting now, lightly on her shoulder. “I always felt like she was telling the story just for me, because he and I had the same name,” he shared honestly.
“Noah…”
Hearing her say his name like that… made Birch smile. In the darkened room, he could feel her smiling back at him. There was more to the story, about doves and rainbows. Noah remembered that the rainbow was a promise that was made after the storm had come and gone: that there would never be a storm so devastating as to destroy all of creation.
When the generators kicked on and the lights returned, Birch sat with her in the salon, talking about the weather, and watching the lightning light the sky. For the first time she she was a young girl, Shelly was no longer afraid of the warring elements. Before long, she’d even forgotten the storm was going on, as their conversation moved on to other things and she listened to Noah’s animated voice as he talked about growing u with four sisters.
“Look!” she said suddenly, pointing to the balcony window where the storm had subsided and sunshine split the gray clouds. “A rainbow!”
Birch smiled and took her hand, and they both walked out to the balcony together. There was indeed a rainbow, and not a faint one, either, but one with strong, vivid colors which stood out against the blueish-gray backdrop. Another storm had passed and the promise remade. And Noah Birch knew in his heart that no storm would destroy this woman’s world ever again.
