"All ready?" William asked. He was smiling his laid back grin, but there was anxiety in his eyes. Nova felt it too.

"Of course not. William, why can't you come with me?" she asked, taking his hand into hers. It was clammy and slightly shaking. She wasn't sure if it was from the chill in the air or the fear they shared between them.

William squeezed her hand hard. He could feel her joints shift under the pressure.

"Because. It has to be one at a time. We can't both disappear at the same time or else they will think we had something to do with it," he said, dragging her down to sit in the wet grass with him.

"But we do."

William laughed. He was so nonchalant and could see the humor in everything. Nova envied that.

"Well yeah. But if we are together, it will be easier to be spotted and caught. And if we are caught, everything is ruined. We don't want them to separate us because they think we left to be together!"

Nova was the one to laugh this time.

"Yeah, they already think we are in love. So gross! If only they knew who we were, they'd be so embarrassed!" she whispered back.

They laid on the ground laughing, looking up at the night stars. It took a moment, but eventually all they could hear were the crickets in the thicket of woods so close to them. Nova turned to William.

"What happens if I don't make it? What happens if I don't find them? What happens if I die out there? What happens if-"

"Nova, you've got to stop," William interrupted the girl.

"What?" she asked, her blue eyes brightened with frustration.

"The 'What If's. A lot of things could happen, but I know they won't. And you know that too," he said. His voice felt like a warm blanket to the girl.

She nodded knowing he was right. They looked back up at the night sky.

"I also know she won't believe me on who I am," she sighed. Her chest hurt at the thought.

"Yeah she won't. But that's why we won't tell anyone until we are together again."

"William, what makes you think she'll believe you? She hasn't see you in FOURTEEN YEARS. You aren't exactly the same big eyed baby she held back then."

William sighed. Nova could be hard to convince.

"You sound a lot like her," he said.

"So you're still having the dreams too then?" she asked. He nodded and turned to her. They had both had them since they could remember.

"They've gotten more common. Almost every night I hear her complaining about messy rooms and how proud she is about grades and awards," William said, almost in a daze.

"Me too."

They both laid there, a weight in their chest that visited them both nightly. It seemed like an eternity before Nova stood and brushed off her clothes. William followed.

They stood in front of one another before Nova hugged the boy, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Don't worry Nova. In just a little bit of time, we will be together. We will do what we need to do and then we will get to spend time with the people who we had to be torn from. We will be together. Just you wait," he whispered in her ear.

Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes and dripped onto William's night shirt. It was a few minutes before she pulled away. She was crying full on now, but she smiled and nodded anyway.

He kissed her cheek and she kissed his. Just as Nova was about to turn to walk away, William dug out a rock from his pocket. She knew what it was immediately.

"Is this the fossil rock I brought you after you had your tonsils removed?" she asked.

"Yeah. I remember you spent all day trying to find an arrowhead and couldn't find one but when you came back you were covered in dirt and cut but you had to get it for me. Reminds me that you are willing to do so much for me, just like I am for you."

Nova smiled and clenched the rock tightly.

"It will be a reminder that I will come back to you to get it, because it's still mine!" he demanded jokingly. Nova laughed and shoved his shoulder before embracing again.

Nova kept the fossil grasped in her palm as she made it to the edge of the forest where her route to Maryland would start. She looked back and saw the redheaded boy still standing there, waving.

"I love you William," she shouted to him. She waited.

"I love you Nova. Don't worry!"

Nova turned and stepped into the brush. Easy for him to say. He wasn't the alien-kid hunting two federal agents.