Disclaimer: I do not own Dance Academy.

A/N: Hello! This is my alternative ending to season 2. Set from the scene where Christian visits Tara in her dressing room before her performance of The Red Shoes. More info in the author's note at the end!

"But with you…," Tara's sentence faded off. She knew Christian would be able to finish it for her.

And he did. "…We have history…?" He sounded unsure; uncertain.

He was looking at her with sad, hurting eyes and a very slight frown on his forehead as he stood there in her dressing room. His eyes were searching her face, trying to break past the tentative and slightly guarded wall she seemed to be hiding behind. Yes, she was being semi-honest, but this wasn't Tara. She wasn't usually this hesitant with telling him how she felt. This time, she was holding back, and Christian could tell.

She didn't reply. A tiny, uncertain smile appeared on the corners of her lips. She was looking him in the eyes now, and Christian's forehead wrinkled further. He wanted so badly to reach out to her. He just wanted to be good enough for her; or at least feel like he was. But there was just this wall of insecurity and doubt and heartache and fear of getting hurt that was stopping him from being completely honest with her.

Looking back, Christian realised that he'd always been like that with Tara. Except, the difference this time, it wasn't just himself he was scared of hurting. It was Tara, too. He didn't want her to be totally honest with him and lay her heart on the line, just for him to get scared, walk away and break it again. That wasn't who he wanted to be. Not to Tara. He wanted to be brave now.

And he knew that she was being hesitant for the exact same reason; she was scared. Scared he would walk out and hurt her again after all she did was be honest.

Tara finally spoke again. "Plus, he's so Ben, you know?" Christian had forgotten they were talking about Ben until he heard his name again. She continued, "he's gone through a lot of stuff but he always remains untouched, and…uncomplicated. Happy."

Christian shrugged, letting his eyes fall away for a moment. "They sound like good things."

Tara laughed a little. "They are," and then she looked down, her smile falling. Her eyes came up to meet his again. "But I don't match that anymore."

The room fell in to silence for what felt like much more than a moment, even though that's all it was. Their eyes were locked on to each other's, Christian's still clouded over with conflict and sadness and Tara's much more…troubled than the last time Christian had looked in to them.

He hadn't spent nearly enough time looking in to her eyes this year. Months ago, when he still had the right to call her his, looking in to those calm, undisturbed eyes brought him a lot of peace. But now when he watched them dart around his own face, searching his features, he realised that those familiar orbs had changed. They'd changed a lot.

She'd cried too many tears since then. She'd been through so much since those times.

So much so that, now, it hurt Christian to look in to them.

Guilt over this whole year flooded him in an instant. He tried to speak, but it didn't come out properly.

"I…," he stammered, eyes flickering over her whole face. Her features lit up very briefly when he started to talk, almost curious to see what he had to say.

But he didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything.

Instead, he reached forward for her and wrapped her in his arms, holding her tighter than he ever recalled doing before.

It took Tara a moment to respond. At first, he was the only one doing the hugging. He was hesitant to bury his head in to her neck just in case that was a move too far.

But after a minute, Tara's arms began to move underneath him, and then her arms were around him, too. She held on tighter than he expected, and they stayed like that for a long time.

"I'm sorry," Christian said, his mouth close to her ear.

She didn't say anything. She just pulled him closer; held him tighter.

Just as Christian was about to speak again, the door to the dressing room opened again, and the pair broke apart; quickly, but reluctantly.

"Okay, you've had more than your agreed 30 seconds. Evaporate." Abigail said, exasperatedly waving a hand in Christian's direction, not even caring to look at him.

Christian's eyes fell on Tara's one more time before he walked out. He found her smiling, a little wider this time, and his lips even let out a tiny smile in return.

Christian had no idea how he didn't cry during Tara's performance. It was like he could see Sammy up there with her; Christian just knew she was dancing with him, even if it was only in her heart. It was breathtaking and, although she was in pain and crying up there, Christian found his heart swelling with way too much love that he counted as healthy. She was so talented. So amazing. So strong.

Of course, he felt guilty about not being there for her all year, but the hard truth was…in the end, she didn't need him.

But the difference was, he needed her.

And when she came in to the audience before Ben's performance and took a seat next to him, Christian couldn't take his eyes off her.

They shared a small smile before she sat down properly.

Before he could even think about it, he reached his hand out towards hers and linked their fingers together.

"You were amazing," he whispered in her ear. When he leaned back, she looked down at their hands and then up at him, a new light behind her eyes that hadn't been there before she'd danced. She looked…slightly more free. Less troubled and at war with herself.

"Thank you," she whispered, a smile now on her lips.

He gave her hand a squeeze. She squeezed it back.

And he just couldn't help himself when he lifted up their hands and kissed her knuckles, his eyes on hers as he did so.

Man, he wanted to kiss her. Properly; on the lips. Those familiar lips. He wanted to kiss her so bad, but he wasn't really sure that this was the right moment. Or even if she wanted him to. Maybe she'd be scared. Maybe he was scared.…

Somehow, they found themselves walking home together. Christian had considered walking out halfway through Ben's dance, all out of fear; fear of being hurt; fear of not being good enough for Tara.

But something that comforted him now was knowing that Tara had been through some darker stuff now, too. Just like him. Before, Christian was troubled and confused and scared of a lot of things; but Tara was always upbeat, happy and free (apart from the whole fake-tan freak out at the beginning of the year, of course).

But now, she understood what it was like to feel at the lowest of lows. To be at rock bottom and somehow keep getting lower and lower.

So instead of running away like he always did, once they'd both gathered their things and everyone was heading back to the academy, Christian walked over to Tara and gently took her hand. Without saying anything, he pulled on it, and she followed.

He took her out the back door and they walked by themselves in silence through a deserted park for a while. They were still holding hands. Walking slowly; as if they didn't want to get back to the academy and face everyone and everything.

"So…," Christian started, looking down at the floor ahead of him. "I'm sorry."

"You've said that already." Tara reminded him softly. She was looking at him, but he wasn't reciprocating.

"I know, but I didn't get to finish. My thirty seconds ran out," he said, smirking just a little. "I guess I chose the wrong time to come and see you…"

"You do pick your moments, that's for sure."

A smile tugged on Christian's lips. "I'm sorry for that, too."

"It's fine."

"I just…," his sentence faded off. He didn't know what to say. Well, no, it was more like he didn't know how to say everything that was going through his head.

"What?" Tara stopped walking and turned to face him, curiosity written all over her still-hesitant face.

Christian's eyes flickered all over, looking at all her features, taking them in, and lastly letting his eyes settle on her lips.

He didn't say anything; no words were coming out, no matter how hard he tried. He didn't have any words for how he felt in that moment; how he felt for Tara.

It was all he could do to kiss her.

He strode towards her and cupped her jaw line with his hands, crashing his lips against hers.
Her top lip caught between both of his, he felt her kiss him back and wrap her arms around his neck, pulling him even closer.

At first, he hadn't known if this was the right thing to do. But now that she was kissing him back with even more urgency, he knew that it was.

Their kissing was fast and desperate, but it wasn't rushed. They were savoring it. Making the most of their lips leaving and then coming back together again, just wanting more. They were making up for lost time; making up for all those times when they should've kissed more and when they should've stopped wasting those moments being apart and spent them together instead.

Christian loved this girl. He loved her more than he ever realised possible. And sometimes, that terrified him. It made him want to run and run and run, never looking back, because that seemed like the safest option; to avoid letting her break his heart.
But then he'd begun to realise that every time he did shut her out and run, it broke his heart anyway.

And it broke hers, too.

Eventually, they pulled away from each other, but Christian's hands remained on her face and hers around his neck. She pushed her hands in to his hair, both of them feeling weirdly teary.

They were both out of breath. Their eyes were closed. They felt like the only people in the darkening park

"I love you," Christian said quietly, his lips still just centimetres away from hers. "I still love you, Tara."

Tara didn't say anything, which was unlike her. Christian waited for her to say something, but he didn't. Instead, he heard her sniff and his eyes opened immediately to find tears rolling down her face even though her eyes were still closed. Her brow was brought together; her bottom lip trembling.

"Hey," Christian whispered, wiping her tears away with his thumbs. He was frowning now, too. "What's wrong?"

But he knew that, right now in their lives, everything was wrong.

"Nothing, it's just…," Tara started. She was about to wipe her eyes, but Christian did it for her, trying to catch her gaze. "I love you too, Christian. I'm just crying because…I…" She didn't finish her sentence. But she didn't need to.

As if it were instinct, Christian leaned forward and kissed her forehead, softly and slowly. She made a sobbing noise. Christian's forehead wrinkled further.

Trying to stop the tears, to stop the pain, he began kissing all over her face. Her cheeks, her temple, her nose, her closed eyelids. And lastly, the corner of her lips. His own lips lingered there, and he felt her inhale a sharp breath.

"I know nothing is okay right now," Christian started, and Tara felt his voice on her lips. It made her knees go weak and her heart thump in her chest. "Nothing is okay. And, you know…nothing's been okay for me for a long time…"

"I know…"

"But the thing is, Tara…you've been the one I wanted around whenever things got tough. Sometimes you're the only one. For ages I've been trying to convince myself that I don't want to be with you; that you're not the one I love anymore. But…"

"…But…"

"That's not true. It never Was.… And I…I'm sorry for pushing you away."

A small, bittersweet smile broke out on her face through the tears. She brought her hand away from his hair and brushed it down his cheek softly, caressing his face.

"I'm just so sorry." He said, his voice almost a whisper, tears sitting on the edges of his eyes.

"I know," Tara whispered in return. She rested her forehead on his, closing her eyes again. "I'm sorry too. We were both stupid. Young and stupid."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

And then they kissed again, and this time it was slower. Christian's hands found their way in to her hair, his fingers settling just at the bottom of her neck.

This time it just kept getting better and better.

"You know we need to talk things through, right?" Tara asked from her position against Christian's chest. They were sitting on the sofa in the common room. It was past midnight; everyone in the dorms was asleep except them. Only one light was on in the room. Everything was quiet and dim but it was perfect; just the two of them, Tara's ear against Christian's chest where she could hear his heartbeat and his arm fit just right around her body.

Tara continued, "we can't just be all couple-y again and act like nothing ever went wrong.…"

Christian was silent for a moment. She had been expecting him to tense up or let her go or try and avoid the subject, but instead he lifted his hand to twirl some of her hair around his finger. He didn't even flinch.

"I know." He said, his voice quiet but certain.

"The thing is…I don't even know where we went wrong," Tara brought her arm over his stomach and shuffled even closer. Almost as if, the closer she was, the less likely he was to run away.

He held her tighter in return, silently letting her know that he was staying.

"…I can't put my finger on it…," Tara finished.

"Neither can I," Christian admitted, letting his eyes fall. They were both talking quietly, so as to not wake up any of their housemates. "I…," he stammered, but he stopped his sentence halfway through.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's-it's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Christian," Tara pushed gently, looking up at him for a moment. He looked at her, pulled his lips together and then sighed.

"I was just going to say that I…I feel like we don't tell each other enough. We don't communicate things. We're not open, you know?" Tara nodded, letting him continue. "I mean, I know I'm not exactly the best at telling people how I feel, but…I could try and be better. Maybe.…"

She smiled softly. "I could try, too."

Christian smiled in return and threaded the fingers of his spare hand through the fingers of her hand on his stomach.

"And maybe we could not use the word 'pause' again." Christian joked. That joke was definitely a gamble but, luckily, Tara laughed.

"Definitely. And you need to tell me when I do something that freaks you out. I'm crap at realising it, as you might have guessed.…"

He smirked. That famous, infuriating, irresistible smirk. It'd been too long since he'd smirked like that to Tara.

"Deal."

"And…one more thing?"

"Hit me."

"No more running away. For either of us."

Christian was silent for a moment, but then he nodded seriously. "Absolutely."

"No matter how much you want to…,"

"I won't."

"Neither will I."

There was a small beat of silence. "I'm sorry we were idiots," Tara said a few minutes later when her face was buried in to his chest again. He smelled so familiar; just like he always did. It was warm. Comforting. Home.

Christian chuckled, and Tara heard it in his chest. "We really were idiots, weren't we?"

"We were."

"I'm sorry about that, too. From now on…we should work together instead of against each other. Okay?"

"Okay."

Tara smiled.

Christian smiled.

And then he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. His lips lingered there for a moment as Tara's eyes closed.

Soon his lips were trailing all down her face, and he realised that this might be his new favourite thing to do; to kiss her features all over and as much as he could; to reassure himself that she was here and she was his and he really, really didn't want to let her go again. At all. Ever.

Soon his lips reached hers and he was kissing her, their lips moving together and their eyes fluttering closed. Tara sat up a little more so she could reach his lips easier, and as she did so Christian laid her back on the sofa. One of his hands firmly on her waist and the other holding himself up over her, he smiled. She ran her hands through his hair.

"Tara," Christian whispered against her lips before moving in to kiss her again.

"Mm," she mumbled in return.

They kissed like this for a while until Christian pulled away, in desperate need of some continued air. He rested his forehead against hers and brought his hand up to touch her face.

"It's been too long since we did this," He said, his eyes still closed.

Tara blushed a little and smiled shyly, slowly bringing her hands out from his hair. "We've never kissed quite like this before…"

Christian smirked, nuzzling her cheek with his nose. "Back at the farm, sometimes…" he kissed the skin in the hollow under her cheekbone.

"…I guess."

"Is this, you know…okay? I just…I'm struggling to hold myself back right now."

"I can tell," Tara grinned, kissing his nose. "And yes. It's fine. Perfect, actually."

Christian smiled. Now that they both had their breath back, he leaned back in and kissed her again.

For now, at least, everything felt how it should.

"You know the offer of the farm is still there, right?" Tara asked, swinging their joined hands in between them as they walked through the sunny park. It was 2pm, the day after the Prix De Fonteyn. Everything was hectic back at the academy, what with packing for the Christmas holidays. They had decided to take a break from it all.

Tara looked up at Christian. A tiny smile was on his face, the sun hitting his face at just the right angle. His eyes were sparkling. It was the most peaceful she had seen him in a really long time.

"I hadn't really thought about the holidays," Christian admitted sincerely. "Not since you mentioned it before, anyway."

Tara's eyes were on the ground again. "I know Barcelona is a pretty awesome option, and I know your dad is doing that trip thing, but…"

"…The farm's special, like I said."

She smiled up at him. "So…which are you gonna go for?"

"Well, seeing as this is happening," he waved their joined hands in the air in front of them, making Tara giggle a little, "I don't really want to spend a long summer without you."

Tara had to stop herself from grinning like a little kid on Christmas morning. "So…you're coming? To the farm?"

Christian looked down at her and grinned when he saw the excited look on her face. He nodded, laughing a little. "I'm coming."

"Yay!" Tara practically bounced up and down as they walked. Christian laughed, squeezed her hand and then wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He pulled her closer and kissed the side of her head.

"Will your parents mind?" He asked.

"Are you kidding? Of course they won't. They love you. Even dad; and that's saying a lot. You should've seen him with Ethan."

Christian laughed. "Really? They love me?"

"Of course. What's not to love?"

"Do you want an essay about that?"

Tara rolled her eyes. "Shut up. You're wonderful."

Scrunching his nose up, Christian tried to act playful, but Tara sensed there was a seriousness behind his next words. "Not really."

Tara stopped walking and looked up at him, a tiny frown on her face. Her arm was still around his waist even though she had half turned to face him.

Christian moved his eyes down to her. "What?" He asked innocently. "I was joking."

"It didn't sound like you were joking."

He looked away. "Okay…maybe I wasn't. Not entirely. But why does it matter? Let's not let it…ruin right now, yeah?"

Tara hesitated, taking a short breath in. And then she tightened her grip around him and nodded softly. "Okay. But I love you. You know that."

"I know. I love you too."

"And this summer is going to be great."

Christian's face screwed up again, but he didn't speak.

"What's that face for?"

"It's just…I don't do well with expectations. Can we just…I don't know…take each day as it comes?" He scratched the back of his head nervously. "That sounds so cheesy, but…"

"I like it," Tara stopped him, smiling softly up at him. She looked away for a moment in mock-thought, her mouth still in a curve. "It's…new. Maybe it'll work better for us."

Christian smiled too. One of those smiles he only saved for Tara.

They kept walking.

A/N: Helloooo! So, I am a massive Tristian mess at the moment, and this idea came to me when I was watching the episode ("The Red Shoes")! I really wish they'd been endgame in this season (in any season, actually) so I felt like it'd make me feel better to write them an alternative ending :') This is most likely going to be a two-shot - we'll see them at the farm in the next chapter - and depending how long my Tristian streak lasts, it might go on for longer!

I hope you enjoyed it; do let me know what you think in a review. Don't forget to follow so you know when I update! :)

Love :* xxx