Hiya :) This is my first published story so please give me some help. I'm sure almost nobody will read this, but if you do, PLEASE leave some feedback, you don't even have to log in! I just want to know how my writing is. Don't be afraid to criticize me :]. I'm thinking about writing some other stories but this is my test story so please enjoy ^_^

JUNE

I gasp in pain as another spasm from my wound puts white spots in my vision. Day comes over, momentarily leaving the boiling stew.

"Shhh," he says softly, "I know it hurts its ok."

He laid down next to me and intertwined out blankets together. I get tears in my eyes as another wave of pain erupts form my side. Day notices and he wraps his arms around my waist, careful to avoid the healing wounds from our last get-away.

He starts slowly singing the song we danced to the day before, word by word, into my ear. The pain doesn't stop, but I soon find myself completely intoxicated in his voice and his breath on my cheek. He isn't exactly a professional like Lincoln, but he hits every note, he knows every word, and I relax in his presence and in his embrace. I can sometimes feel the brush of his lips on my ear; his breath is warm, like a summer's breeze. I recall back to the night we danced to this song, before the accident, when we were alone, above an orchestra of soft tunes.

We had planned everything we could, without knowing exactly what we are going to face. There was a bank a couple of streets down, heavily guarded, but we needed the money. Badly. We had watched the bank for days, figuring out the guard's schedules, finding out the best possible time to break in. We waited across the street, in a saloon, with music playing from the radio and people foolishly dancing. We had a balcony we could look out of to the floor below, and we watched the poor saps who danced around with their sweethearts, without a care in the world. They were ignorant about the Republic's evil, what they did... But I couldn't focus on the people below; I had to focus my anger on getting that money. If they were ever going to make it to see Tess, and then onto Eden, alive, they needed provisions.

Day stands beside me, his blue eyes scanning the crowd. We have an alarm back in the room, set to go off when we need to get ready, and a view of the bank from a window, thoughtfully put right above the grand entrance to the saloon, on the second floor.

I sneak a look at Day, and again find myself wondering how the Republic's most wanted criminal could be... such an asshole. Recently, on any missions, sense I rescued him and convinced him to let me help finding Tess, he's been... well, an ass. He's always acting protective, wondering if I might mess up this or that. I don't understand why, we both have the same mind. We both got a 1500 on the Trials, so why am I so untrusted and deemed unworthy to do anything right? I sigh and look back down at the silly little girls in their dresses, flirting with boys, without having a clue.

DAY

As I try my best to comfort June in her suffering, my mind goes back to the song I am singing, and what had led up to it. So much. That's what. I remember standing on a balcony above a dancing crowd, with a view of the bank June and I were about to rob. We had about an hour or more until our alarm went off, so we watched the people below. I caught June glancing at me and tried to decipher what she was thinking. It was no use. Her expression was dead locked.

When I look at her I feel like my heart is being torn into two. This girl has given up her fabulous, rich life; to help a scum bag like me get out of my death sentence, then drag her around dangerous enemy territory, with all her previous friends and class mates hunting her down. I had to protect her. I had to.

"Those stupid girls" June says suddenly. She's looking down at a group of girls being flirted with by a not-so-smooth boy. But the girls were eating it up. It was sad, I had figured out those moves by 14, but apparently the girls thought it was charming. He leaned down on the girls' table and flirtatiously wiggled his eyebrows. Psh, I thought. I looked to my side and found a stand with a bowl of fruit. I grabbed one of the exotic assortments and poked a hole in the top. It was very juicy, but didn't give off the best fragrance. I got an idea.

"Hey," I said to June. She looked over at me raising an eyebrow, "Wanna see something funny?"

"Sure?" she said in a very unsure way.

I smiled and picking the right target, turned the fruit upside down. The juicy poured down in a steady stream... right on the flirtatious guy's pants. He squealed in a very unmanly way and turned around, exposing his now very moist and reeking bottom to the girls. They squealed almost as girly as the guy did, and ran away, complaining. June and I burst into laughing. We didn't stop for about five minutes.

"Ok," she admitted, "That was sort of funny" she looked at me and our eyes met. Her smile dissolved, and I could feel mine doing the same. A slow song had just started playing, and girls were hurrying to find their sweethearts and drag them to the dance floor. I gave a small grin and held out my hand dramatically,

"Would you care to dance, Ms. Iparis?" I asked graciously.

She smiled slowly and took my hand. I pulled her close and put one hand on her waste, the other outstretched. She rests her hand on my shoulder and we started slowly dancing in circles. We danced to the music for a while, and I soon found our bodies closer together. I looked into June's dark eyes and suddenly felt the urge to be back in the ally, the night we first kissed, when I called her Girl and thought her pretty. How naive. She isn't 'pretty', she was beautiful and perfect... and she gave up everything to be with me and help me.

I leaned down and kissed her. The kiss continued, until I couldn't hold my breath and broke apart, only to find myself with fresh lungs, kissing her again. She was now against the wall, my mind a blank. How funny, I thought to myself, how similar this is to the night we first kissed. My body worked on its own account, only one thing in focus: June. When the kiss finally stopped, we stood there, her back to the wall, I'm pressed against her, both of us out of breathe, and tried to calculate how long we have been out of it. It was a different song now, but how many had passed? Could the alarm have already gone off, and we missed our chance? But right before I gave into panic I realized my eyes were locked with June's. She is so beautiful, I thought for the millionth time, and strong. And suddenly a new feeling swept over me.

All this time I've been trying to protect her, because I thought I owed her and I wanted to show her how I wouldn't let anything happen to her. But now my world has been flipped. Wow... I've been such an ass, I thought to myself. For the past weeks, I've shot down her plans, her ideas, always thinking that my way would keep her safer. Just last week, she had a plan to steal food from a local market, but I said it wouldn't work and talked her into using my plan. She got hurt. I could feel the bandages brushed against my wrists as I held her waist. A flood of guilt drowned me and I wanted nothing more but to go back and fix it. I tuned her out. After all she's done for me, I ignored her ingenious and skill, thinking it was best, but it was probably the worst insult in the world to her.

How could she stand here, kissing me after all that I've done to her? Because she's amazing, I thought again. I would of gave anything at that moment to take it back, to reverse what I'd done but I knew that just saying 'I'm sorry' wouldn't cut it. I had to show her. Show her that she isn't an item that needs to be protected, no matter how I fell about her, that she is beautiful and strong and smart, and could figure out problems just as good as, if not better than, me.

I knew where to start, at least. I raised my hand up to her cheek, gently brushing her dark hair out of her eyes and put my hand on her smooth skin. I leaned in and kissed her once again, but gently. It took a lot of me to hold back, but I managed to break free after only a few seconds, and looked into her eyes. She seemed to understand the transformation that just took place in my mind by merely reading my pupils. I took one of her hands and placed it around my neck, then locked my arms around her waist, and soon we were dancing like the men and woman on the dance floor. But our dance was much different. We danced through the whole song, the song I'm singing now, staring deep into each other's eyes. We continued to dance through the next song, and the next, until I gave up trying to keep track. Too soon, our alarm went off. We continued dancing a while longer, neither of us wanting to stop, but soon someone would notice. June sighed and I knew our moment was over. I unlocked my arms from her waist and she put her hands by her side. We continued gazing at each other for one more second then both broke the gaze and started preparing for the bank robbery that will almost kill my partner.

JUNE

When the song is over, I find myself despairing at the loss of his voice.

I turn to him and ignore the protest of my wounds. "How do you know that song?" I asked. He looks down at me, and even in the dark, I can make out his perfect light blond hair. His blue eyes washed in warm feelings, hypnotizing me to look deeper into their depths.

"From when we danced," he said, like it was obvious.

"You've never heard it before?"

"No..."

"And you memorized every word?"

"Well, yeah."

I smile a little at that and say, "Liar."

He opens his mouth in mock offense. "I most certainly am not" he says playfully. I laugh weakly, but stop as soon as my side explodes in pain. I groan and Day takes my arm and lays me back down gently, but he doesn't get up, instead he wraps his arm around me tighter and rests his head lightly against mine. I can feel his breath on my cheek, feel his hair on my neck, and right now, no matter how damp it is outside, or how many wounds I have, I wouldn't rather be anywhere else. I feel a great joy in finding that Day remembers the song we danced to, so much to memorize it. I understand how he could remember the melody and the chorus, he has the same intellectual ability as me, but I didn't understand how he knew every single word, and every single pause, and every single note. I decided to ask him.

When I did, he leaned closer to her ear and whispered, "Because whenever I'm with you, I focus more. Not on the usual things though, like the room or a particular landscape, just you. Your face, how beautiful you are. I remember every detail of you, what you're doing, how graceful you are doing it. At the time you were dancing to the song, with me. It was what was important to you so it was what's important to me. I memorized every line of that song without realizing it, and you're the reason why."

I didn't respond. I sat there with a small smile on my face with my eyes closed contently, while on the inside, my heart was about to burst. I open my eyes and turn slightly to see Day's eyes burning into mine. I smile at him and he returns the gesture.

I give him a mischievous glance and say, "You know what? I think I'm getting some of my strength back"

Day raises his eyebrow at this, and I smile wider.

"You know... it is just enough energy... to do this."

I lean forward and, placing my good hand on his cheek, kiss him softly. He kisses me back, gently, as if afraid to break me, and we sit there in the darkness of the broken motel, while the rain fills the streets, and the moon shines a harsh white on the landscape, enjoying each other's love and warmth.