Consider this my (albeit angsty) apology for bein gone for so long. :(

$4$

If I told you I need you, would you still not agree to
Even offer me your hand?
If I said I was dying, would you still keep denyin'
My attempts to be your man?

- "If I Told You," by Plain White T's

Ding-dong.

She winced. She hated that damned doorbell. It was such an annoying ring. Sometimes she was sure she heard that noise in her sleep.

She opened the door, and her mouth fell open in surprise. "War-"

"Don't," he said in a low voice, holding up his hand. He was in a black trench coat, and looked a lot older. Not bad, just older. But it had only been, what, seven years? It went by so fast but so much had clearly changed.

His hair was short, and all black now, just like his eye color. The lines in his face were set, smooth skin shaped into a strong, sharp jaw and defined cheekbones. He was always handsome, but it was so much more noticeable now, which just made the purpley black left eye and yellowish-green mark right under his healing split lip all the more clear.

She went to step aside, let him into her home, but again, he held up his hand and she paused. "I just need to talk to you," he said, face emotionless.

"Lay?" That was Will, inside. She watched Warren's face blanch. "Who is it?"

She bit her lip, and quickly called back, "Oh, it's- it's nobody, Will. Just a salesman."

She stepped out into the cold, slowly and silently shutting the front door behind her. She chewed her bottom lip, staring at him with big fearful eyes. "What's going on here? No one knew you were coming back- especially with all those bruises," she whispered, wrapping her arms around her waist.

He was still standing on the sidewalk, staring up at her as she stood on the small rug-covered cement landing. "I didn't want anyone knowing I was coming back," he said, "I'm not staying long. I just wanted to say something to you before I left again."

Layla frowned. She knew this wasn't a good start to a welcome back.

He took a deep breath and looked down the street, and then began. "You're the only one I ever missed," he announced, staring her defiantly in the eye. She opened her mouth instinctively to argue, disagree, something- but he kept on going. "And don't tell me that I'm wrong because I know I'm not. I've been in love with you since you started rambling about lima beans when you were a freshman."

Her hand moved to grasp the railing, gripping the black iron bar like it was her lifeline. Her other hand was over the collar of her rounded-neck sweater, palm pressing against the necklace tucked underneath.

"I couldn't deal with it," he continued, never breaking eye contact with her. "So I left. And I haven't stopped working since then. It was easier than coming back here and dealing with everything- and facing everyone. Because, after seven years, I've never gotten over you."

Her breath caught in her throat, and she realized distantly that her hand was now clutching her sweater, gripping the thin silver necklace through the fabric. He was silent now, and that scared her more than anything else. "Is that it?" she whispered, voice catching. "Is that all you have to say?"

He finally broke eye contact, snorting a little. "Yeah," he said. "Pretty much." He shifted from one foot to the other, almost self-consciously, but that also could've had something to do with the fact that it was freezing out.

"And now what? You're gonna disappear for another seven years?" She didn't mean for her voice to take on such a manic edge, but it was difficult to keep everything in check when he appeared so suddenly and dropped such a huge bomb on her picture-perfect life.

Except…

Except it really wasn't so picture-perfect. But no one knew that. Even if it killed her sometimes.

He shrugged. He hadn't changed that much, even if the little speech was very, very new. "Pretty much," he said, "S.H.I.E.L.D. needs some help out in Bolivia, and the JLU wants me to meet up with a couple of the new recruits out in California right after. But when I knew I had to stop in Maxville, I knew I had to look you up, even if I didn't want to."

She laughed, but it was hollow. "So that's it," she said, voice rising but still pretty controlled. "You stop by, say hi, say that you loved me all these years, and then leave again. Great."

"What were you expecting? I had to tell you, I told you. Nothing can be done after that. End of story, now we can all move on."

She stepped down so she was on the sidewalk with him, no longer eye level but at least still on the same ground. "No, we cannot all move on!" she snapped, hand still in a vice grip around her sweater and necklace. "You just told me you were in love with me! How do you move on from that?"

He was laughing her laugh, that hollow, emotionless sounding one that hurt to hear come from someone else's throat. "Well, Layla, you find yourself a nice girlfriend, get to know her really well, and keep sleeping with her until you forget about the other woman. And if that doesn't work, well, there's always celibacy." He smiled for the first time, but it wasn't one of his real smiles, the smiles she used to love to see on his face.

She frowned, full lips pursing into a straight line, "Warren," she said, "You used to be Will's best friend." Her eyes were brimming with unshed tears. "You used to be mine, too."

He shook his head slowly, like he couldn't believe her, and replied, "Yeah, but I could never be near you or I'd ruin everything for my supposed best friend."

Layla let out a small sob and looked away, behind her, to her perfect little picket-fence-like house. It didn't seem so perfect anymore. Hands shaking, she reached behind her neck and unclasped the delicate chain, pulling it out of her sweater.

"If that's how you really feel and you're going to leave anyway, take this," she said, closing her fist around the necklace and holding it out to him. "I don't need it anymore if that's the case."

His eyebrows knitted together, and he cautiously took the piece of jewelry, letting it rest in his palm, until he focused and got a good look at the pendant.

Warren's eyes widened in surprise. "You- you kept it?" he asked, tearing his eyes way from the necklace long enough to search her face for some weakness, some sign that she might be screwing with him.

She laughed at his genuinely baffled expression and threw her hands up in the air. "Yes, I kept it!" she exclaimed, frustrated. "What the hell did you think I was going to do with it? Throw it away?!"

There was a heavy pause that passed between the two of them, weighed down with new revelations and startling facts.

"Mommy?"

Layla whipped around and stared at her daughter, peeking her tiny head around the front door, and had to resist crying. This was all too much for one woman to take.

"Why are you outside, Mommy?" she asked, nervously twisting her dark brown braid. She had wide brown eyes like Layla, which complimented her tan skin and already willowy frame for a 7-year-old.

"Alicia, don't worry about it, sweetie," she said quickly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Mommy will be back inside soon." She turned back to Warren, but the damage was already done.

He was staring at her daughter in shock, and she always knew he was never as clueless as Will. He used to notice things even she had overlooked when they were still at Sky High.

But for once, she really wished he was as blissfully oblivious as her husband.

When the door clicked shut, Warren locked his eyes with her, incredulity splashed across his face. "Why didn't you…?" he trailed off, gripping the necklace in his hand almost painfully tight.

She covered her hand over her mouth, trying to keep back the tears from trailing down her cheeks. "What did you expect?" she said, shrugging. "You left! No word, no nothing- I didn't know what to do! By the time I knew for sure, you'd been gone for a month and I had no way of contacting you, considering you left everything behind!"

Layla was chewing on her bottom lip, and ran her hands through her auburn bob. She had never discussed this with anyone, not even Magenta, and it was almost too much to deal with aloud, but he had mentioned minutes ago, she couldn't stop now.

"And then Will came back," she said, choking a little on her husband's name, "And it all sort of worked out. Sure, it wasn't perfect, and maybe we've never actually been in love, but Will was great. And despite any doubts or maybe even an actual belief, he's never once questioned the paternity, and he's always treated her as his daughter." She was starting to cry, salty tears making tracks down her face. "And what more could I ask from him?"

Maybe it was the tears blurring her vision, but she thought Warren was close to crying, too. "I would've come," he said, shaking his head. "I would've dropped everything if I knew. I-I wouldn't have left you behind if I…"

She shook her head, looking away. "It doesn't matter now," she whispered, suddenly tired. She couldn't deal with all of this. It was too much to take. She wasn't prepared to deal with Warren on her doorstep with no warning. "We did what we could with the hand we were dealt."

He stepped forward, cupping her face in his hand. "I'll stay," he said, black-brown eyes swimming with emotion and unshed tears. "If you want me to, I'll drop everything and stay in Maxville. Take care of you and Alicia. Or I'll leave and never come back. Just tell me what you want me to do."

Tears were still streaming down her face, but there was no use in stopping them now. "I don't want you to leave again," she said with another sob. He wiped some of her tears with the pad of his thumb, but that just made her cry harder. "I don't know what you want to do, I just don't want you leaving again. I can't deal with you leaving me again."

He leaned forward, and without thinking, kissed her. "Shh," he whispered, trying to stem her flow of tears. "I won't leave. I'll stay. I promise."

"You just need to keep this," he said, forcing the high school graduation ring into her hand, the ruby stone glinting duly against the thin silver chain. "I want you to keep wearing it- I need you to," he said, closing her fingers around the necklace. He kissed her again, and to his utter amazement she kissed back, leaning into him like the anchor she'd been missing this whole time.

"Hey, Mage?"

She pulled her violet hair back, tying it up in a quick bun and cradled the cordless phone in the crook of her neck. "What's up, hon?" she asked, glancing at herself in the mirror. Her all purple 'do suited her, she decided, and pinned a few stray flyaways back with a bobby pin.

"He's back."

She nearly dropped the phone. In the mirror, she could see that her eyes were exaggeratedly wide open, and there was a look of pure, unadulterated shock across her face. "He's back?" she repeated incredulously, tugging her three earrings on her left lobe. It was an old habit that she had never quite lost, even now as an adult. "What do you mean- I thought he wasn't going to? Didn't he have some agreement set up with the JLU or S.H.I.E.L.D. or something?"

"Actually, he has meetings set up with both," he said. "I never thought that he was going to stop in Maxville."

She sighed, turning around and staring out the window. Well. This made everything so much more insanely complicated. "Shit, hon," she whispered, rubbing her forehead. "What are you gonna do?"

There was a long pause. "It depends on what she wants me to do," he said, voice low. "I mean, I proposed to her for a reason, and that was so she wouldn't be left alone after he bolted. She was still my best friend."

"I know," she said, mind racing. "But you guys have never discussed this explicitly, right?" What was poor Layla going to do? Even if she never talked about it, she was still really torn up about Warren. And that wasn't even discussing Alicia's questionable paternity.

"No," he said quietly, clearly hesitating. "I never wanted to hurt her after him… so I never talked about it. I didn't want her to think that I wasn't in this 100-percent just because we weren't in love."

She sighed again, trying to figure out some easy way to end all of this without causing any more trouble but came up with nothing. "What's going on? Do you have any clue what he's saying to her?"

"She was crying before- she tried to give him back his graduation ring," he said. There was a heavy pause. "They're… kissing now. I stopped watching. I feel like I'm imposing. I think I'm gonna get a hotel room for a few weeks. I don't want to make this worse for Layla."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," she replied, pulling her hair out of the bun and running her fingers through it. "Let's not be too hasty, pardner. Talk to her before you make any rash decisions like moving out just because you don't want to upset the formerly happy couple. Let's not forget you got an adorable little daughter who'd get more than a little freaked out to see Daddy pack up and leave without any warning."

Now it was his turn to sigh tiredly. "You're right," he said, "I just don't want to make this harder on her. That was always the last thing I wanted to do."

"I get it, hon, you're trying to be the best damned white knight in shining armor to keep our fair maiden Layla from totally getting her heart trampled again by dark knight Warren," she said, waving her hand distractedly. "But for right now, just don't do anything at all, and that's the best thing for your little white knight complex to accomplish."

Will was silent, and she got the feeling he was probably nodding to himself, trying to figure everything out in his own terms. "She's in love with him," he said, so matter-of-fact it almost made her heart ache.

But even with the heartache in her chest, she knew for his sake they had to be realistic. "Yeah," she said. "She is."

'Cuz I'm the one that waits here for you
I'm the one who will always adore you
I'm the one who will catch you when you fall.

$4$

This took a really long time to finally come together in a solid ending, but I think this worked out pretty well. I know it was really angsty, but I seem to be gravitating towards that a lot in my fiction. :/ Hope you guys don't mind it's not the usual cotton-candy fluff you've come to expect from me.