Sometimes

by slnkingboat

The four times Ben Blue said I love you (and the one time Tory Brennan said it back). Post-Terminal

A/N: Hi! It's been a while since I wrote any fanfic, but I just finished Terminal for the first time a couple days ago, and I couldn't just not do anything. I hope this turned out ok.

Disclaimer: The first scene is one from Terminal, only from Ben's point of view, so clearly I don't own any of the dialogue in that section or the characters. However, the rest is all my own work. Enjoy!

I could barely process what was happening, let alone come up with some kind of plan to get us out of this situation.

Good news: that's what Tory was for.

I looked over at her. It was dark, but I could see her green eyes, panicked. Her face was covered in grime and small scratches from our dash through the trees, and strands of her bright red hair were stuck to her face by her sweat.

She was beautiful.

God, shut up, Ben, I thought to myself. This was the definition of "not the time". We were being chased.

Speaking of being chased, Tory seemed paralyzed.

"We have to keep moving," I hissed in her ear.

"Go! Back to the boat." She tried to hide it, but I could see her wince. She must be hurt. I had to help her, had to do something –

No. I had to run.

I felt the warmth of her hand in mine, had completely forgotten that our fingers were still intertwined. On impulse, I gave her hand a quick squeeze and took off through the woods again, pulling her behind me. Don't think about it, I thought. Just go.

Images flashed through my mind as we tore through endless trees and brambles. Shelton. Hi. Both lost somewhere in this godforsaken forest, both probably terrified. Chance Claybourne, also probably terrified.

I'd be lying if I said that last image didn't make me smile a little bit.

But this was also not the time.

Besides, we had come up with a plan before this mess had all unraveled: meet back at the boat, if possible, and if not, make for the temporary landing near Tern Point. It had been my idea, since I went fishing there so often. I knew the place like the back of my hand.

Something changed beneath my feet. The ground became more solid, more packed together. "The path," I whispered. "We're not far from the dock."

"Good job." My face burned slightly from her small compliment. "I just hope the others were as lucky."

I nodded. If everything went according to plan, then Hi and Shelton would be crouched in the bottom of my boat, waiting for me to jump in and take off. But when does anything ever go according to plan?

"Empty." Tory's voice sounded disappointed as we turned the corner, Sewee in view.

I just shrugged. "Better than loaded with MIBs," I joked.

"True. What should we do?"

I stopped to think. I knew that Tory wanted to make sure that Hi and Shelton, and Chance (blech), made it back so we could all sail off like one big, happy family. But I also knew that realistically, it wasn't an option. "I say we go ahead and move Sewee to Tern Point. When the others get here, they'll know what to do, even if the boat being gone scares them a bit. That way we don't stand around exposed. The chopper could circle back here at any time. We need to move Sewee somewhere they won't look."

I could feel pride welling up in me a little bit. For once, I was the one with a smart plan. It felt good to actually know what I was doing. Especially in front of Tory.

"Okay," she said after pondering for a quick moment. "But let's be careful – this would be an excellent spot for a trap."

"I know," I muttered, tucking a piece of thick hair behind my ear. "It's what I'd do."

I lead her down the slope as quiet as possible. Once we got to the boat, we leaped into action without saying a word. I fired up the engine and watched her quickly untie all the lines. I could tell she was staying mega alert. Without flares, we were exposed times two.

I slowly began to ease my boat from the shore. My eyes never moved from their fixed location on the horizon. No distractions. We needed to get out of here as fast as we could. I didn't want to think about what could have happened to the others, and I definitely didn't want to think about what would happen if the chopper found us. We'd be dead meat.

Once I knew that we were safely away from the dock and headed in the right direction, I spared a glance at Tory. Saw something I was not expecting to see.

She had both hands stuck in the air, middle fingers flying free.

I had to resist a snort. "What in the world are you doing?"

"Those red-eyed jerks were on the cliff," she spat. I could practically see the fire in her eyes spark, then wane. She shrank a little bit, muttering, "All I could think of."

I had to resist a laugh again. Tory truly was something else. Then, unable to help myself, I said, "Nice work, Victoria. That oughta do it!"

I couldn't help it anymore. I burst out laughing. Good god, I couldn't remember the last time I laughed this hard. It was difficult being Ben Blue, alright? There was a reason to be angry around every corner. With Chance and the Trinity and the chopper flying around somewhere, I just could not catch a break.

But here, sitting here with her and no one else, it was like all of that went away. I kept replaying what had just happened in my head, and the more I thought about how her first instinct was to flip the Trinity off, the more I laughed.

It wasn't long before she joined in, too. Her laugh came out low and gravelly, which just made me laugh harder. I clutched my sides, trying to breathe, while she wiped tears from her eyes. In the middle of all this insanity, we had managed to find a happy place.

Looking at her, the way the moonlight reflected off her face, the way her smile stretched from ear to ear, it made me want to bottle up this feeling and keep it forever. She was so beautiful.

I ran a hand through my long hair and calmed down enough to give a deep sigh and say, "I love it." I laughed and shook my head. "I love you, sometimes."

And then the atmosphere turned to ice. My body suddenly became rigid, fully aware of the monster that I had just unleashed. I didn't even know what it meant, or what made me say it, but I knew it was true. The feeling that had been burning inside me for months wasn't just some pack thing.

I wanted to slip out of that boat and drown myself. It would feel better than whatever this was.

All I could feel was panic. Cold, hard panic. I didn't know what to do, didn't know what to say. I started at the water, all traces of laughter gone. Why did I always ruin everything?

Needing to see her reaction, I gave myself one quick look at her face, then immediately focused on the water again. Nothing. I couldn't read her. I felt a red-hot blush creeping into my face. This was horrible. I would never be able to look her in the eyes again. It was out there, and there was no taking it back. What had I done?

I wanted to go back and pretend like this had never happened. My lips parted for a moment, searching for something, anything, that would make this better. Nothing came. There was absolutely nothing to say in a situation like this.

Maybe it was platonic? Maybe she thought that I was just referring to our closeness as a pack. After all, it was clear that the four of us shared some kind of love. How could we not, after everything they've been through?

But if that were the case, it wouldn't be this awkward.

What if being packmates isn't enough for me?

I winced as the thoughts of my own words came back to haunt me. Tory knew what I meant. Surely she had been expecting this, right? It had been five months since that confession, and nothing had changed.

I was stupid for not realizing it earlier. I loved her. God, I loved her. I could never bring myself to say the words before, not even in my head, but I knew they were true. There was no other logical explanation for what had been going on inside my mind.

I was even more stupid for not telling her. I was known for being a very reserved person, but I was never going to get a better opportunity than this. Oh, well. Here goes my suicide.

"I…I was just saying that…"

I smacked the steering wheel in frustration. Out with it, Blue! This wasn't going to get any easier.

After closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I turned to look Tory Brennan straight in the eyes. It was now or never.

"I meant it," I began. "I'm not going to act – "

And then Satan himself came down to damn my already bad luck. A light flashed somewhere nearby, killing whatever I was about to say. Instead of confessing everything, I snapped, "We've got company!" I quickly shut the boat off. The quieter we were, the better.

"Another boat? The helo?" Tory looked around, trying to find the source of the light.

"Boat." I knew a ship light when I saw one. "I hope it didn't see us."

Just as soon as the words escaped my mouth, something huge passed overhead. The helicopter made a beeline for a cluster of bright lights in the distance.

"Crap." We both knew what that meant. The boat and the helicopter were together.

And they were after us.

There was nothing we could do except sit there as still as possible. If I turned on the engine now, we would surely be spotted.

"The boat's getting closer," I whispered.

I was trying my hardest to map out a plan in my head. Think like Tory, I thought. My brain quickly scanned through all the options, trying to figure out the best possible thing to do.

All my plans vanished as a sharp beam of light suddenly shone directly above us.

"Down!" Tory hissed. She slid from her seat onto the deck, and I followed her. I tried to surpress my sharp intake of breath as I lay right next to her. Our shoulders were pressed together. I could hear her heartbeat. I could feel her shaking.

As the lights drew closer and closer, my breathing sped up and my muscles tensed. This was downright terrifying. Any moment now, we would be prey for whoever was trying so damn hard to track us down. And there was literally nothing we could do.

Then, by some miracle, the loud chug of the boat's engine began to fade away. Was it possible that we had gotten our way out of this mess?

I felt Tory let out a long exhale besides me. Everything was fine. We were fine.

I couldn't help it. I turned to look at her, my eyes taking in her small figure. She took a few deep breaths, eyes still closed, like she couldn't believe what had just happened.

Then she turned and our eyes met.

Time stopped. The gentle lapping of the waves at the side of my boat went away. There was nothing else, nothing but Victoria in all her beauty, her face mere inches from mine. I realized how tense I was, and I let myself relax.

This was where I was supposed to be.

I felt a hint of a smile dance across my face as I looked into her green eyes. She looked afraid, panicked, like she had no idea what to expect.

And then I let go of all doubt.

I kissed her.

It was easier than I thought it would be. She fit against me so well, and I felt something surge through me as I reached out to pull her closer. This was more than I had ever wanted, more than I had ever expected –

Then, as quickly as it had happened, she pulled away. I could see all the fear in her expression. She was nervous, confused.

But then I saw the hint of fire in her eyes, and I couldn't take it anymore. I kissed her again, harder, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her in. I stroked her face gently and kissed her with everything I had. Pure love ran through my veins. I felt stronger than I ever had while flaring. This was something more.

She pulled away again and sat up, panting slightly. I could feel the tension floating between us as I propped myself up across from her. There was nothing to hide.

"I'm not going to pretend anymore. One way or another, I'm going to say how I feel." I snorted. It sounded ridiculous, even to me. "Make my case."

She refused to meet my stare. "You don't have to make a case. It's just, things are - "

"YO!"

My head turned faster than I thought possible. Surely this couldn't be happening. We were so close to the truth, so close to finally solving whatever was going on between us. I just wanted to kiss her again. God, how I wanted to kiss her.

I scrambled to a crouching position and scanned the landscape, trying to find the source of the shout.

"What, are you guys paddling around the island? I don't have a boat license, but that seems dumb."

Of course. Hiram Stolowitski, everybody. Here to ruin the day.

"Shut up, Hi!" I shouted angrily. I turned and started the engine.

With one last attempt to save what we had, I turned around to look at Tory. There was so much I hadn't said.

She snapped her head down and suddenly became very interested in her shoelaces.

That conversation will have to wait, then. Another day.

Three weeks later

"Wait."

We both stopped. Tory turned to look at me. "What?"

"You're telling me you've never skipped a single rock before?"

She shook her head, a smile breaking across her face. "You got a problem with that, Blue?"

I just laughed.

That was something I was still getting used to. Laughing. In fact, I could count on one hand the number of times I had properly laughed before I started dating Tory. Now it happened almost every day.

Dating. Dating Tory. That was also something I was still getting used to.

"Of course I have a problem with that. You don't know what you're missing."

I grabbed her hand and pulled her off the path, making my way through the growth. This was my domain. I knew where to go.

It was a Saturday, and I was spending the weekend at my father's house (something I tried to do as much as possible). Somehow we had managed to shake the doofus twins and had spent most of the morning wandering Loggerhead.

I'd had a conversation with Shelton and Hi a few weeks ago, when everything had started. I made it clear that I didn't want anything to change between the four of us. They agreed that we would always be a pack, and that the pack comes first. Bros before hoes, as they say.

That being said, it was proving to be very difficult to find a kind way to say "We don't want to hang out with you guys today".

However, after bribing Hiram with some ice cream and a promise to play video games later, I had managed to get them out of our hair for the day. Hallelujah.

After spending so much time in Mount Pleasant, getting to see Tory again felt like a little taste of heaven. This past week had been hell. School had really piled on the homework, and I had been too busy to talk to anyone, let alone my girlfriend who lived an hour away. All Tory and I had gotten was a few quick text messages at night and a ten-minute phone call on Thursday night. It was torture.

Ever since Tory and I became "official" or whatever, all I wanted to do was spend time with her. I couldn't get enough of her. For once, I was allowed to stare. I was allowed to kiss her. I was allowed to tell her how I felt.

Well, kind of.

"Let me guess," said Tory. "We're going to the ocean."

We turned the corner and found ourselves standing on Turtle Beach.

"How did you guess?"

I gave her a light shove, being careful not to be too rough. (Though I knew she could take it.)

"Alright, Blue, show me how it's done."

She put her hands on her hips and stood there, watching me. Her red hair flew across her face in the breeze. It was all I could do not to kiss her.

Instead, I fought to keep the blush from my face and scoured the ground, looking for rocks. There. Twenty feet away, pebbles lined the space between the trees and the sand. I quickly took my socks and shoes off, feeling the grains of sand between my toes. It was pushing 95 degrees today, and the sand was scorching. Yet for some reason, I didn't mind at all.

It took mere seconds to find the perfect rock. As I stood up, I turned around to look at Tory. She was still in the exact same spot, eyebrow cocked ever so slightly.

"Like this." I wandered over to the open water. "Keep it level. Lean back. Throw."

I watched with satisfaction as the stone skipped over the waves three times before sinking below for good.

"See? Easy."

"I see what I was missing out on," said Tory. "That was exhilarating."

I could hear the sarcasm dripping in her voice. I saw her sly smile.

"Shut up. You try." I pointed at the rocks, then crossed my arms.

She gave me a signature I am Tory Brennan and I will do whatever you challenge me to do look. I couldn't help but smile. She spent ages sifting through the rocks, shouting back, "It's really all about selection! You have to choose very carefully, you know. Technique is key!"

"Are you mocking me, Victoria?"

She ignored me and walked over to the water. I just sat back and watched, a smirk creeping across my face.

"You have to get the angle just right! And then you lean back and – "

The pebble shot across the water. Skipped four times. Disappeared from sight.

Tory turned around, pretending to dust off her hands. "Not too shabby, huh?"

My smirk was gone. Replaced with a scowl. "You cheated."

She just laughed and pranced over to stand in front of me. "You're cute when you're angry."

Then, almost immediately, her face burned. She gave me a sheepish smile and I shook my head. "You never cease to amaze me, Tor."

"You going to try again?" Another sly grin. "Defend your honor?"

For the next fifteen minutes, we did nothing but skip rocks. Tory, as it was very evident, was a natural. After three more tries, I was able to get four skips like Tory had. Neither of us got it any further.

"This is the one." I stepped towards the ocean for the twentieth time. "Five skips, here I come."

I threw it. Didn't even get one.

Tory burst out laughing. I turned around, making sure she got a front row seat to my eye roll. Nevertheless, I could feel a blush creeping into my cheeks.

Then she picked up a stray piece off driftwood and shook off the sand. Holding it up to my face, she said, "Think I can get this one to go five?"

It was my turn to laugh. "Yeah, right. You can't skip a piece of wood."

Tory just raised her eyebrows at me and assumed the throwing position.

One, two, three, four, five skips.

"Yes!" She fist pumped into the warm summer air. Then she instantly whipped around to get a good look at my expression (which was neutral, as always).

"I skipped a piece of wood five times and poor Ben Blue can't even skip a rock once! How does it feel – eek!"

I scooped her up mid-sentence, running into the open waves with Tory flailing in my arms. She was light as a feather, easy to ambush. I grinned as I ran further into the surf.

"Put me down! This isn't fair!"

"Oh, really?" I smiled at her. "Well, I'm not letting you go until you apologize."

"Never."

I leaned down and dipped her into the water, getting another yelp from her. The water was cold and salty down here, but I felt great. Being in the water was like being home.

"Ben, stop!"

She was laughing. I was enjoying this too much.

I eventually stopped running and just stood in the ocean with my girlfriend in my arms. The water was past my waist and was lapping at my black t-shirt. I closed my eyes and sighed, enjoying the moment.

Then, out of nowhere, lips were on mine.

I breathed into the kiss, tasting salt water and sand and pure goodness. Tory had her arms wrapped around my neck, and I felt her grip tighten as I deepened the kiss. She felt so amazing; I had the sensation of fire shooting through my body. I wanted to pull her closer, wanted to hold her forever.

Control, I told myself. You'll crush her if you're not careful.

I broke away from the kiss, finally opening my eyes.

"Apologize."

She grinned, breathing hard. "Nope."

Without warning, I dropped her straight into the water.

In her defense, she only screamed for a second. It didn't take her very long to shoot back out of the water, push wet hair out of her face, and shove me in the chest.

I stumbled into the waves, taken aback by her quick reflexes. For a brief moment, I inhaled the H2O and started choking. Then my feet found the sandy ocean floor and I stood up. Tory had a wicked grin on her face, and when she saw me, she lost it.

"Your hair!" she snickered.

I felt my face burn red and frantically tried to push my long, black hair out of my eyes. I liked to think that when it was dry, it looked nice. Ruggedly handsome and all that. When it was wet, it just looked dumb.

"That's it," I said. "First you skip a piece of driftwood, and now you're insulting me? This cannot do."

"What, you gonna shove me in the water again?"

I grabbed her around the waist and scooped her up, spinning in a circle. We were both laughing and kicking at the water, trying to spray each other. Tory broke from my grip and reached down to splash me, but I beat her to it. With one swift kick, a wave of water crashed over her. She was drenched. Again.

Tory gasped. "I hate you!" Wiped water out of her eyes with a smile.

"I love you."

Crap crap crap.

Not again.

We both froze. Tory was shivering slightly from the cold water. She just kept her hands on her hair, looking at me. All traces of laughter were gone as her green eyes cautiously met my dark ones. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't.

It hadn't even been a month since we started dating. Those words hadn't left my lips since that fateful night on my boat when I almost confessed my love to Tory. Just like it had last time, it just slipped out. I couldn't help myself.

I couldn't think of anything else to say. "Sometimes," I added on lamely.

"Sometimes?" she repeated.

I ran a hand through my wet hair and finally broke her doubtful gaze to look at my feet. I knew it. Same reaction as last time. Awkward silence, nervous glances. Nothing had changed. I was still singing my sad tune of unrequited love.

I opened my mouth, trying to think of a way to brush this off, when I heard a bellow from the shore.

"YO!"

You have got to be kidding me.

"I know we promised to leave you lovebirds alone, but you're gonna want to see this!"

This time, Hi had saved me. I turned away from Tory and started bounding back to the beach. As I scooped up my socks and shoes and started putting them back on, I heard Tory say to Hi, "What could possibly be this important?"

Shelton emerged from behind Hi, a look of excitement gleaming in his eyes. "We think we found a new bunker!"

One month later

"Is that everything?" Tory stood in the doorway, hands on hips, looking around.

"Everything?" snorted Hi. "There's, like, three things in here."

"This is all we had left." Shelton gave him a slap in the arm.

I was leaning against the furthest wall, taking it all in. It was nothing like our old bunker. That place had been decked out with WiFi, solar panels, expensive computers, the whole nine yards. This run down hole in the ground looked like our bunker had two years ago: stark and sticky (from the humidity).

Still, it was better than nothing. Our hang-out place was finally somewhere other than Shelton's garage (or my basement, when it was available).

It had taken a whole month just to get the place ready for human dwelling. It was essentially a dirt cave in the ground, and we had to do tons of research to make sure that we could make it bigger without it caving in. Tory and I had brought in wooden support beams while Shelton and Hi moved whatever cheap furniture they could find.

Now the place was decked out with several wooden benches, a wobbly card table, and one dirty armchair.

Home sweet home.

Shelton relaxed into the armchair, letting out one huge, dramatic sigh. "Feels good to be home, yo."

Hi grinned. "Any chance of finding more pirate treasure around here? Was there another kick-ass lady pirate we don't know about? Maybe we can get our stuff back."

"No, Hiram, that's not an option," said Tory. She sat down on one of the wooden benches. Hi sat on the other. I stayed against the wall.

"Should we at least bring out some fold-up chairs to add to our fine dining area?" Hi gestured towards the unstable table in the corner. He snickered at his own sarcasm.

"I feel like we need to come up with some kind of dangerous mission now that we have a HQ again," said Shelton. "Any crimes we can fight? Any crimes we can commit?"

Tory smiled. "Nah, just somewhere to sit and chill."

Hi turned around to look at me. "Stop sulking, Benjamin. Luxury awaits!" He pointed at the stiff wooden benches. I rolled my eyes and socked him in the back of the head before taking a seat next to Tory.

"When will you stop doing that?"

"When you stop being an idiot."

As casually as possible, I slung an arm around the back of the bench to rest around Tory. We weren't much for PDA around the other guys, but this was nothing.

The next hour or so progressed just like that, with the four of us laughing and talking just like usual. Nothing had changed, except now we had our own space to talk. We didn't have to worry about someone else barging in.

Then there was a lull in the conversation, and for a moment, we were all still and quiet.

Tory broke the silence. "Should we invite the others down here?"

"The others?" I turned my head to look at her.

"Ella. Chance."

My blood boiled just hearing his name. "Ella, sure. Whatever. Not Chance."

She looked at me. "Come on. Haven't you gotten over it all?"

I just stared into her eyes. She was kidding, right?

My mind took me back to the conversation me and Claybourne had almost two months ago.

"Look, can we just sit down and talk like civilized people?"

I crossed my arms and stared at him, refusing to sit down or say a word.

Chance sighed and slumped down onto the couch. "I'm tired of fighting, man. It's getting old. Besides, none of this is up to us. It's Tory's decision. I just want us to be 100% honest with each other. Man to man."

I snorted. What a joke. If Chance Claybourne thought he was going to get me to tell him my whole life story, he was dead wrong. I stayed frozen in my spot.

Chance took a deep breath and started talking. "I'm in love with Tory."

I wanted to punch him in the face.

"You've probably figured that out by now, since I'm sure you feel the same way. How could anyone not love her, right? She's so smart, and resourceful, and determined, and…"

He trailed off, looking up at me. With an enormous amount of restraint, I stood still. He had no idea what he was talking about.

"Your friends seem to think I was stalking her, and you know what? Maybe I was. Maybe I took it too far. But I didn't have another option. I was tracking her because of this whole Virals business, and one thing lead to another, and then I was writing stuff down that had nothing to do with science. It just kind of happened."

I finally spoke. "Cut to the chase, Chance. I don't want to hear about your stupid romance."

"Then what do you want to hear?"

I was taken slightly aback. This was my one chance to get it all out of him, to teach him a real lesson about love. What was I expecting him to say?

"Did you kiss her?"

He buried his head in his hands and nodded. "Twice."

I felt my blood boiling, my anger building by the second. The thought of Tory kissing this man – a murderer – made me want to be sick. Why would she ever even consider it?

Because he's better looking than you, said a voice in my head. I scowled, knowing it was true. Chance was handsome and charming; he was everything that I would never be. I was just the stupid kid who drove a boat around and sulked in the corner.

"Did she kiss you back?" It hurt, but I had to know.

His dark eyes found mine. He nodded.

I sat down, unable to look at him. My worst nightmare come true. And I had told her. Told her that she couldn't do that. Not with him. Him, of all people. Why didn't she understand? I was by no means perfect, but at least I wasn't Chance. I hadn't manipulated her like that. At least, not on purpose.

"Ben."

I didn't look at him.

"She pulled away. Both times. Said she couldn't do it."

I looked up.

"I think it was because of you."

"Like hell it was." I returned to staring at the ground, unable to process everything. My emotions were changing too fast to keep up with it all.

Chance sighed. "Listen. She stayed the night at my place that night when she told Kit she was at Ella's. I had kissed her then, for the second time, and she told me she couldn't do it. I asked if it was because of you, but she wouldn't answer."

"Exactly."

"But she fell asleep on my couch, and you know whose name she just kept muttering in her sleep? Yours. Over and over again."

That was new. I sat there, stunned. Had Tory been dreaming about me?

"So believe what you want, but you want my opinion?" Chance heaved a dramatic sigh then said, "I don't think I ever stood a chance."

His words sparked something in me. Hope. A burning desire for a world where I finally got a happy ending. A hunger for something that was so close I could almost touch it. Something I always assumed was too good to be true. Something I surely didn't deserve.

"Ben? I'm sorry."

This time I looked at him solidly. Suddenly, with a new burst of confidence, I was able to meet his gaze. "Sorry for what?"

"For everything. For treating you like a jerk. For kissing her like that. For thinking I ever had a shot."

"If you're looking for forgiveness, you're not getting it." I didn't believe his apology for one second.

Chance shook his head. "I understand. But please, I just want to hear your side of the story."

I paused, thinking. Nobody was going to make me tell him anything. I felt more secure keeping everything private.

But that wasn't fair. Chance, no matter how big of a douchebag he was, had told me everything. Now I had to do the same.

"I'm in love with Tory, too." The words sounded foreign coming out of my mouth for the first time like that. "I've liked her ever since she moved here two years ago, and she was the entire reason I ruined the Game last year. She's the reason for everything." Suddenly, a fierce passion came over me. "She's amazing, and you'll never truly know the real her. You'll never be connected to her the way I am. You'll never fully understand."

"Have you kissed her?"

"Yes. Once, she kissed me first. The second time was all me."

He didn't ask when. Didn't ask if she had pulled away the same way she had with him. I was grateful I didn't have to answer those questions.

There was a silence between us that stretched on for what felt like days. No one spoke. We just sat and thought. The playing field was level. Neither of us had any advantage. And we were being stupid for fighting over her (but we would never admit it).

Finally, after what seemed to be ten solid years, Chance spoke. "She's not an object we can pull back and forth. She should choose for herself."

I nodded in agreement. It was time for this to end.

I stood up and moved myself to stand directly in front of Chance. He moved to do the same. I couldn't help but notice that he was barely an inch taller than me.

"You have to promise," I said. "If she chooses me, you leave her alone. You leave both of us alone."

I stuck out a hand so we could shake on it. Chance grabbed my hand. Didn't let go.

"You have to promise the same."

I gave him an incredulous look. "Tory's my best friend. That's not going to change."

"I understand. But no matter what, you have to ease up. Fighting with you is exhausting."

I shook his hand reluctantly.

Fat chance, Claybourne.

"Ben?"

I was shook from my thoughts. Brought back to reality.

"No. Not happening."

Hi gave me a nervous look. "Don't you think we've been through a lot together? Besides, Chance and Ella are, like, a package deal."

"No."

Tory gave an exasperated look towards the other two. "Sorry, guys. Can you give us a moment alone?"

They both scrambled out, mumbling things I didn't care to hear.

I stayed in the position I was in, refusing to look at her but twirling a stray lock of her red hair around my finger.

"Ben, please. I thought we had made progress by now."

I couldn't take this. "Oh, really? What made you think that? The way I see it, he's always going to be Prince Charming to you. When will you see through his lies? With his gorgeous hair and his beautiful eyes – "

"Ben."

" – and that warm smile, God, he's just the best, isn't he? Doesn't matter that he manipulated you to cover up a murder – "

"Ben."

" – or that he sent men with guns after us, or that he stalked you for a year, or that he devoted all of his efforts to uncovering our secret – "

"Ben!"

" – or that he was the ultimate reason we had to give up our powers! None of it matters! No, let's welcome him back with open arms and let him into the one place that belongs to us. Us, and no one else. No one."

Tory was quiet. Quiet for a long time. Then she said, "Don't you understand?"

I remained quiet. Fuming.

She laughed nervously and grabbed my hand, intertwining her fingers with mine. "It's always going to be you, Ben Blue."

My anger broke for a second. I was trying so hard to convey how upset the topic made me, but dammit, I couldn't help myself. I felt a smile creep across my face.

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What?"

And then I couldn't take it any longer. I let out a laugh, shaking my head and holding her tight.

"That rhymed."

She immediately blushed as she realized what she had said. Then, after a quick moment, she laughed, too. The argument completely vanished as we laughed together. The tension slowly eased away.

Without thinking, I buried my face in her hair and said, "I love you, sometimes."

Again.

How stupid could a guy be?

I felt her freeze in my grip. My smile was wiped from my face. God damn it, Ben, why can't you wait for her to say it first?

Because I was afraid it would never happen.

That's why.

Tory turned to look me in the eye. "Look, Ben, I – "

"No. Let me talk. I'm sorry I keep springing this on you, I just – "

"YO!"

This time I didn't even think. I sprang to my feet and rushed over to the door, arm raised, ready to hit Hi in the face.

He quickly scrambled back, hands going up in defense. "Whoa, man, I don't mean any harm. Just thought you should see – "

"See what?"

Shelton emerged from the doorway. "Sewee. Something scraped it; it's got a huge gash on the side."

As stupid as it was, all thoughts of Tory flooded from my mind when I heard those words. My boat meant almost as much to me as my girlfriend did, and even though this was the third time Hi had rudely interrupted my confession, my prized possession took precedence. Sorry, Tor.

"Ben, please," I heard her say. I could hear the despair in her voice. I felt the same kind of sadness, like this conversation was never meant to happen. However, it was getting old. I screw up, Tory says nothing in return.

"Not now." I hurried out of the makeshift bunker towards the docks, trying to clear my head.

Another day. Again.

Two months later

The moon hung high in the sky. The water was so still that it looked as though just one exhale would create a ripple across the crystalline liquid surface. It almost made me want to hold my breath.

The only sound was the low hum of the engine as Sewee cut through the water in all her glory. I felt the cold ocean breeze on my face as I slowly navigated the boat through the sea. It felt like coming home.

I wasn't sure how I had managed to survive for two months without this boat. A stray animal of some kind (we still weren't sure which one) had gotten angry and cut through the side of my pride and joy, causing more problems than I could pay for. So I had to save up my pocket money for a whole month, and then wait an additional 30 days before all the repairs could be finished. It was pure torture.

Somehow, I had managed to wait to take my first ride until I could take Tory with me. So here we were, riding across the bay in the dead of night.

"Where are we going?" she asked quietly. She was leaning back in the copilot's seat, her arms crossed behind her head.

I just smiled.

We passed Morris, then Loggerhead, then whatever other islands were floating around here. I just kept driving, heading straight for the horizon.

A comfortable kind of silence fell over the both of us while we watched the world slowly disappear. It was comforting to know that for once, no one could disturb us out here. It was me, the water, and one beautiful girl. Perfect.

Eventually I cut the engine and let the boat just sit. Tory turned around briefly to look at what we had left and let out a low whistle.

"Why so far?"

I turned around as well and had to contain my small gasp. I must have driven for over an hour, because Charleston looked like a tiny row of lights on the horizon. I couldn't even see Morris from where we were.

Tory's question just hung in the air. I turned back around and looked at the way the moon hung so beautifully in the sky. Its reflection on the water was completely undisturbed, and I could count every crater on the thing just from the image shining in the ocean.

Another ten minutes must have passed before either of us spoke again. I had no idea what time it was. Eleven, maybe. Midnight. Maybe later.

I didn't care.

Silence like this was never awkward with her. It was a comfortable, peaceful kind of quiet that I never normally got with Hi and Shelton. Tory understood me. She was perfectly fine with sitting still like this. Sometimes I felt as though we communicated a hundred sentences without ever saying a word.

At long last, I said, "Did we go too far?"

"What?"

"Should I turn around and head back a little bit?"

She let out a laugh. It rang through the air. "No, not at all. It's amazing out here."

She nudged me in the side with her elbow. "You know me, always looking for adventure."

I just shook my head. Tory was right; this was exactly the kind of thing she would want to do. It was like the stuff we used to do all the time, only without the danger. I liked it.

"So what did you bring me out here for, Blue?" She turned and propped her elbow on the seat so that we were sitting directly across from each other.

I just shrugged. "I wanted to get away, I guess."

"Well, we're definitely away."

It was quiet for a few more moments. Then I leaned over and placed my mouth on hers as gently as possible. She responded almost instantly, breathing into the kiss and placing her hands around my neck. I grabbed her waist and, as smoothly as possible, pulled her onto my lap.

Just like everything else, I lost track of how long we stayed like that. However long it was, it wasn't long enough. I wanted more. Needed more. Tory Brennan was everything.

Finally, after forever (and then some), she broke away, breathing hard. After one look in my eyes, a huge smile broke across her face. Her eyes twinkled brighter than all the stars in the sky.

(Later, I would kick myself for thinking all these cheesy things. In the moment, everything just felt like a dream.)

I thought about how it had been two months since my last slip-up. Lord knows I had to restrain myself. There were so many moments where I wanted nothing more than to kiss her and tell her a million times over how much I loved her. There was no denying it anymore. It was there, loud and clear. I'm sure even a stranger could feel how much I loved her.

And sitting right there, looking into her eyes, it reminded me of that fateful night. It was only, what, four months ago? It felt like an eternity. We had been sitting in this same boat, lying under the same stars and the same moon. But tonight was so different. Tonight there wasn't a hint of doubt in the atmosphere.

Tonight, Tory and Ben were unstoppable.

Looking into her eyes, seeing her shine like that, I felt a hundred different emotions. There was simply nothing else to say.

"I love you, sometimes." I was grinning, already amused at the thought of her reaction.

For the fourth time, like a chain reaction, she froze, her smile vanishing for a moment. Once again, the air turned a little cold. And once again, we were frozen in an invisible silence.

The sometimes part was a lie. I was just saying it for old time's sake. This time, my words were no accident. This time I had full intentions of saying how I feel.

Slowly but surely, Tory began to smile again.

"Listen," I began. "I'm tired of this. I just want you to know – "

She put her finger on my lips and I didn't utter another word.

"You know what, Ben Blue?"

I stayed perfectly still.

"I love you. All the time."