The Union by Rainbow Unicorn

Disclaimer:The characters in this story belong to Marvel and I'm not making any profit. This story comes after Heart of Frost, so I recommend you read it. Also O:ZT happened, in Gen-X continuity this story is placed right after Emma punches Sean, nothing after that scene happens in my little story universe. Rating of Pg-13 to be on the safe side.

Notes: *telepathic speech*, ~thoughts~, "normal speech"

Personal disclaimer: I had released this story before only at ACFF, after long deliberations I came to the conclusion that I really screwed things up if I allowed the original end to stand. I had showed something in Heart of Frost and in this story I ignored it. I decided to redo the end and hopefully leave me an opening to give this semi-arc a ending it deserves. I hope that you like and that you send me feedback at yoda@coqui.net Send me anything, comments, compliments, criticism, anything, please no flames.Just let me know that you read the story and what you thought of it.

On with the story. ______________________________________________________________________________

It was a beautiful, silent night. A gorgeous full moon decorated the skies acompanied by the stars. There were no clouds and everything was bathed in a magical glow. There were a few puddles around, the result of all the day's rain. The air smelled of cleanliness and earth, no smoke nor other smells to harm our noses. Everything perfect.

It was mostly this that had made Sean Cassidy go for a walk. Of course who wouldn't? A perfect night, the air was slightly chilled but not too much. But that wasn't the reason. Why? Normally he would have been in bed by this hour but tonight he just couldn't sleep, so he decided to do something that always helped him to go to sleep, a late night walk. He had been walking for the last hour and sleep was still as far as when he started walking, perhaps even farther away from him. Just when he was deciding to go back to his bungalow, he saw some movement ahead. As he got nearer he realized it was Emma. ~Now I'm heading back. I do not have any desire to talk to the woman after she punched me like that. ~As he was turning back he heard some soft sobs and he realized that they came from Emma. ~Never let it be said that I turned away from a damsel in distress. Of course Emma would kill me if she ever found out that I even thought of her as a damsel in distress.~

"Emma, what's wrong?"

"Sean. What a surprise. Your royal highness still talking to this lowly servant?"

"Don't be sarcastic Em. I was walking past, when I saw you here and heard you sobbing and I wondered what was wrong."

"Oh my, you are actually worried about this traitor."

"Em, please, give me a chance."

"Please what? Give you a chance? You want me to forget your attitude and let you come here and ask forgiveness? For God's sake Sean, what world do you live in? Not only do you shove your holier-than-thou attitude down my throat, you told me to never come back to my school.My what a God-like complex we have."

"Em, I'm sorry about that. How was I to know that you were tricking Emplate?"

"BY TRUSTING ME. That was how you were supposed to know. Do you really think that I would sacrifice one of my students. I lost the Hellions for incompetence, I was not about to sacrifice one of my students."

"That wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was my fault Sean, yes it was. We both know it was my fault, so HOW DID YOU EVEN TOUGHT I WAS EVEN CONSIDERING SACRIFICING ONE OF MY STUDENTS YOU MORONIC IRISHMAN? TELL ME! SO I CAN KNOW WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR LITTLE MIND TO MAKE YOU THINK I'LL DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO A CHILD THAT CAN'T DEFEND HERSELF AGAINST EMPLATE."

"YOU DON'T NEED TO SHOUT ."

"THEN WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING?"

"SO I CAN BE HEARD ABOVE YOUR HELLISH SCREACHING."

"Good night, Sean. I am not going to let you get under my skin. See you in the morning unless you decide to do another unannounced visit to Moira."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh please Sean. You are so paranoid. That is not good for your health. Sweet dreams."

Sean knew that if he didn't say something, the steps they had taken forward together would forever be no more. It was hard for Emma to trust someone and he had betrayed the trust she had placed in him when he had assumed the worst about her in Miami and then left for Muir Island without telling her. ~ Guess it's time for me to admit I'm wrong, before something worse happens to our friendship.~

"Em, I'm sorry."

"That is not enough Sean."

"What else can I say?"

"I don't know. I don't think that you can say anything at all.Can I ask you something?"

"Anything?"

"What happened?"

"What 'what' happened?"

"What happened to the man that wrote on my diary that he loved me? What happened to the man who hugged me so tenderly on the plane when we weren't sure if the rest of the children were alive? What happened to that man Sean?"

"He got scared. He wasn't sure what was going on. To many things were happening. He hid because he couldn't handle what was happening."

"Tell him to come out, I am not going to bite."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Anything else that was going to be said was lost since their kiss occupied their breath for sometime. After they finished kissing they left the arbor and went to Emma's bungalow. What happened there was long and beautiful and sweet and...

...RRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGG...

With a gasp Emma woke up, and trew the alarm clock to the other end of the room. This was the second time this week that she had had the same dream. She was rather sure that Sean would love to know that she dreamed of him almost every night. ~It might make his ego bigger. Which I think is imposible. Well, looks like another wonderful day. Matches my emotions perfectly.~

And outside a thunder raged on.

              The End.