A/N: As much as I have enjoyed writing fluff in AHoT, angst is my thing after all. Things get heavy, so no fluff in this one. Seriously. Some adult material was written, but nothing too graphic. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Lily, I'm so grateful for your help and suggestions. Thank you. Mistakes are so mine.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Magnolia Falling

Part I

Cerulean and contentment lingers in her body. She smiles, her lips buzzing against his neck, and slides her arms around his neck. Her fingers dance on his nape, and she moves them to rest on his shoulder blades. He breathes and shudders, and she purrs. Her fingers move with a slow cadence, and lazy circles are drawn on his skin.

-----

I remember the day when I realized that I loved you. It was a cold spring day, as the remnants of winter still lingered in the air, and we walked along the streets toward our favorite coffee shop near the park. I bought you the coffee although you insisted on buying it yourself. It was coffee with milk and two sugars, and I bought a cup of black coffee for myself. You leaned against the counter and nudged gently my shoulder, thanking me.

"Anytime." I offered a smile. "Anytime."

The chill wind stole an audible gasp from you when it swirled around us and played with your caramel curls, as we walked in the park trying to find a bench where we could sit. We weren't the only ones who wanted to enjoy the beaming of the sun despite the coldness. The sun warmed through the barely blooming trees, but not in the way I felt your warmth as our hands accidentally touched, both reaching for the coffee cups between us on the bench. We smiled, shared a moment that brought a blush over your cheeks and made my heart skip a beat pleasantly.

"We should do this more often." You suggested.

"I would like that." I agreed, and we watched the city and its travelers, how the world moved around us, and we, of course, within it with our own cadence.

You sniffed and wiped your nose with a kleenex, complaining about the cold spring days; you waited so badly for the summer days to arrive. You took a sip of the steaming coffee and wrapped your arms around you tighter, shuddering a bit. You were cold, I noticed and wanted to wrap my arms around you protecting you from the coldness. But as shy as I was at that moment, I never did it. I asked if you had any plans for your vacation that you had decided to take later on the summer. You were quiet for a moment, watching the jogging couple bypassing our place, and told me hesitatingly that you had decided to go back to Greece, not knowing if the four week vacation would be enough to explore your mother's country. No other plans were made, you added.

"Huh." I mumbled falling into my thoughts. You noticed right away my absence and turned to look at me. You always noticed if I wasn't present. You always knew if something bothered me. Your smile was small as you said that I didn't need to worry about you.

"I'll always worry about you." I admitted quietly.

Your smile got smaller and smaller before vanishing completely off from your lips, and you breathed in the spring like air, exhaled then, your hand finding mine.

"I guess we do that."

Your hand rested on mine, and my skin hummed beneath your warmth. Eventually, you laced your fingers with mine reassuringly and silently, and I watched the sun beaming on your face, your face tilted toward the cerulean sky. That was how we were, holding each other far away from the prying eyes.

"I'll come back, Mac." You said, and I followed your gaze. Closing my eyes, accepting the decision you had made, already missing you, and feeling my heart beating its own requiem I realized on the cold spring day that I loved you.

---

People pass me by as I walk down the street. I am on my way to meet you. It is a spring again, and the trees haven't reached the birth of blossoming yet as they hadn't a year ago either.

I visited Danny's family a day ago. I dropped my present for Lucy a little earlier this year, but I guess she doesn't mind playing with her new toy. She will be two soon, you know. I remember when we all celebrated Lucy's first birthday. You held her in your arms while Lindsay cut the cake. Danny chuckled something about us spoiling the child with our presents, but was, of course, grateful for the dedicated attention their firstborn got. Lucy's tiny giggling was joyful as she played with your curls, wrapping her small fingers around them. We all laughed and teased you about it. You just smiled and let the child memorize her godmother, before giving the child into her mother's arms. I sat opposite you, and you looked at me underneath your dark eyelashes. Everything changed then. The pressure in my chest tightened as I witnessed your eyes glimmering, and God, I shared your solitude.

We left the Messer's apartment and walked along the streets, the magnolia trees blossoming and their scent lingering around us, as the late spring day's sunset colored our path. We ended up by the river. The weather was warm, because I remember you wearing a sleeveless, shimmery dress. The mild wind played with the chiffon of it, the air gracing your legs as we strolled along. The summer was on its way. You looked so beautiful when the sunset's colors overthrew you. I glanced up at the sky admiring the colors changing from the blue hue into the different shades of red of the sunset before noticing that you had stopped walking. I turned to look at you and saw the rays sparkling in your eyes.

"What are you thinking about?" You captured my gaze.

"Nothing…" I replied too quickly.

You got all serious then, I could tell. Disappointed, you frowned and opened your mouth, but closed it, sucking your lower lip. I wanted to know what bothered you, but all I could do was to memorize your beauty, the rest of the world fading away. We stared at each other for a long moment. From where I absorbed the courage, I couldn't know, but with the unseen strength I stepped toward you.

"Well actually, Stell, I was thinking about you." I cleared my throat, finding those words sparkling on the tip of my tongue, my heart hammering in my chest.

"Oh." You breathed, knowing, blushing. Still you wanted a proof, so you asked. "Why?"

My gaze swept across your face from your lips to eyes. "This is why." And I simply leaned closer, sealing our proximity, and your eyes fluttered close. Cerulean, you whispered against my lips. What, I thought to ask, but the moment you deepened our kiss, your lips and tongue tantalizing, your hands around my neck, I forgot everything about in the living life.

"How long?" I rasped against your lips, my heart shattering in million pieces because I had no idea, I had no goddamn idea how long you would be gone in Greece.

"I don't know." Your breath swept across my cheek, and you turned to witness the deep flow of the water, your chest heaving, your eyes watering. "There is so much for me to see, Mac. I… I just have to go. My mother lived there. Maybe… Maybe there is more for me."

"How long?" I begged to know.

"I don't know." You sighed at me and gave your best smile your voice too strangled. "But I'll come back."

I follow the journey we walked, and it's a late afternoon. The heavy clouds stand, the air doesn't move and the water flows with its own force as the life itself without any reasons. The world looks so different in the shades of grey.

---

There are restaurants down by the river, and I walk past them. Moussaka, I smell. The smell of that delicious food was one of the scents that floated in your apartment when you welcomed me in, wearing another dress, a glint in your eyes dancing in anticipation. "Hey."

"Hey." I kissed you inside your apartment before handing the bottle of wine to you. You kissed me back as a thank you, but your kiss was a prelude as well. I felt it, the feverish and lingering touch of longing. During the spring and early summer months our relationship changed from friendship into the intimate relationship, but as coy as we were we wanted to conceal us being involved with each other from the world. Being hidden lovers suited us. You guided me further into your apartment and handed me a glass of wine, telling me about the Greek dinner you had prepared. We toasted to your upcoming journey, but I wouldn't have done it if I had known what was going to happen.

You spoke about everything during the dinner, laughing at some warm memories what brought tears of affection in your eyes, and my lips curled into a comforting smile every time an unspoken memory weighed down you. When you brought me the dessert, feeling more delighted, I got the scent of the dazzling fragrance of sweet, spicy scent mixed with a touch of citrus floating around you.

"Magnolia." You stood beside me and placed gently your hand on my shoulder. You were so close that I felt your radiating warmth. "The flower." You explained, nodding toward the living room drawer, and on it stood the vase full of white magnolias. "You can smell them, don't you?"

"Oh, I thought it was your new perfume…" I snaked my arm around your waist, pulling you closer, and breathed in.

Your laugh bubbled deep in your chest, your eyes sparkling like two diamonds, and you leaned to whisper into ear your voice hoarse. "No, Mac. I have nothing on me…"

"God, woman…" I groaned, feeling myself suddenly heated as I couldn't stop the images of you.

"What?" You purred, your curls falling along your bare shoulders. "You thought that I couldn't flirt, Mac?"

I never questioned your skills to draw a man on his knees in front of you, because I was fallen already.

We continued our easy and comfortable evening in the living room. You sipped your wine, your legs curled underneath you, as we sat on the sofa. Your right arm rested on the arm rest, your fingers grazing my nape and the ends of my hair. "Cerulean." You leaned further into me. "It's my favorite color."

I eyed your apartment, the shades of white from magnolia to seashell fallen in the perfect rest with each other. "Huh, I thought it was white." I mumbled, turning my gaze back to you.

You shook your head, placed your wine glass beside mine on the living room table and slid your free hand over the sapphire material of your dress, chuckling lightly. "I prefer blue."

"Well, it looks good on you." I commented, making you blush. You never were good at having compliments.

You cast your gaze down momentarily before looking into my eyes again, continuing. "Cerulean, it's the color of the sky…"

"And?" I guessed there was more to come, and there was.

"And it's the color of your eyes when you aren't troubled." You added shyly. I didn't know what specific happenings you referred to, but I was honest with you saying: "I'm not troubled now. Stell." I looked at you and leaned to caress the side of you face. All my troubles and worries were always forgotten in the solace of your closeness. "You know that right?"

"I know." You murmured before kissing me, and the wine glasses were forgotten.

We stumbled toward the bedroom, and I could smell the dazzling scent of magnolias all over you. You pressed yourself against me in your bedroom, the flash in your eyes anything but regret, and after you finished unbuttoning my shirt your hands fumbled with the belt of my pants. I tasted the wine from your lips every time they touched and felt you trembling as I undressed you, the sapphire dress falling off you. You looked so beautiful when the room bathed in the reddening of sunset through the open window, your skin glowing, as the light graced your skin. The bed dipped beneath our weight as we settled on it.

"I love you." You whispered against my shoulder, and the deep moan left your throat when I slowly sank into you. Your body was amazing, the way you felt around me.

"I love you, too." I groaned those words against your temple, moving my hips with care. Sated as we both were moving together with our cadence, every touch and thrust became frantic, desperate pleas of contentment. You squeezed your legs tightly around my waist, enveloping me. I died momentarily in your arms, and God, above all the layers of the atmosphere I was in the blue halo, in heaven, when your body arched beneath mine. I buried my face in the crook of your neck, breathing in magnolia falling, my lips stalling on your skin. You cried into oblivion when you came, and I was right behind you, following you. I collapsed on top of you, and you wrapped your arms around my neck.

That's how we were, staying, and holding each other.

I can still feel them; the patterns you drew on my back with your fingers, lazy circles between my shoulder blades, as we listened to our breathings and felt the humming of skins, resting as the world was moving around us. I held you, and you let me, during the sunsets and dawns till the last day of July hit us. And when it did, the magnolia scent floated in the air slowly before drifting away.

TBC

Any thoughts? Please? Thanks for reading! I'll post the second part soon.