We were all seated around the television, waiting for the movie to begin.

"Popcorn, Ella?" Max, my half-sister asked me, reaching around Fang to pass me a bowl. I leaned over and took it from her, not really wanting any but anxious for something to focus on other than him.

He sat across the room from me, curled up in an armchair much the same way I was. His unseeing blue eyes turned unerringly towards me as I studied him for the millionth time. I quickly lowered my gaze to the bowl of popcorn, thankful for the excuse. I knew Iggy couldn't really see me, but sometimes it felt as if he knew I was watching, knew what I was thinking, how I was feeling.

That's why I loved him.

That's why I knew he didn't love me back.

I had never told him how I felt directly, but he knew me so well, was so perceptive, I was certain that he realized it. He however, had never acted on it either, had never given me any indication that he felt anything more for me than that of a sister, and so it sat unspoken between us slowly tearing my heart a little more each time I thought about it.

I briefly wondered what would happen when it finally ripped apart.

My mind came back to the room when I heard Max laugh quietly. I looked up at the large screen and was startled to see that the movie was already well underway and that I had missed a great deal of it, lost in my thoughts.

Max laughed softly again and as I turned to look at her I realized she wasn't laughing at the movie but at Fang who was whispering in her ear.

My heart twisted. Max was my sister and I loved her, but I couldn't help but be slightly jealous as I watched her and Fang. They were so at ease with each other. They fit together as if they were two pieces of the same puzzle, perfectly connecting.

I raised my eyes to look at Iggy again, knowing we could never be like Max and Fang. We could never have an easy relationship like they did. With a sharp pang I realized that we would never have a relationship at all.

At that moment, Max laughed again and it became too much. I stood up suddenly, tipping the bowl of uneaten popcorn onto the carpet, and fled the room, still infuriatingly aware of a set of icy blue eyes following my path.

I slowed slightly going down the hall and into the kitchen, not wanting to be stopped and questioned if I met anyone. I thankfully made it out the front door without seeing anybody, not that I could see much through my rapidly blurring vision.

Once outside, I began running again. I sprinted across the yard and into the forest, running through the trees that I had known since early childhood. I ran attempting to keep pace with the staccato beating of my shattering heart. Several times, I tripped in low branches, unable to see my path, blind through my tears. Only when I was deeply hidden inside the dense woods did I finally stop and allow myself to lean back against an enormous oak tree and slowly slide down it's trunk until I was sitting on the forest floor, the tree at my back.

My chest was still heaving from the exertion of running, but to my surprise, I was no longer crying. I wiped the remaining few tears off of my face with my hands and rubbed them gently on my jeans.

I sat against the tree, slowly catching my breath, trying to organize my thoughts into something coherent. The few patches of sky I could see through the thick foliage grew steadily darker. When I could make out the first bright star above me I heard him.

"Ella?"

I turned towards his voice, the cadence and pitch that were forever committed to my memory, and saw Iggy walking towards me, his strawberry blond hair throwing off a beautiful copper tone in the moonlight.

"How did you find me?" My voice was raspy, my throat thick from my tears. I didn't really need to ask, I knew he could easily follow my clumsy thundering through the forest even without his extremely sensitive hearing.

He ignored my question.

"What's wrong?" he asked me quietly, his tone coaxing me to answer.

I couldn't bear it any longer. Words poured from my mouth, I couldn't have stopped them if I had wanted to, but I didn't. It felt… right, to finally address the chasm between us.

"Iggy, I love you. More than I love Nudge, and Fang, and Angel… I'm IN love with you. And, even if you don't feel the same way, I had to tell you. If you want, I swear I'll leave you alone. I'll go to a boarding school or something, if that's what you want."

Just saying these words made my chest tighten. I knew that it would very nearly kill me if he told me that he wanted to be left alone, but I felt like I was dying already, being in such close proximity to him but truly having him so far out of my reach. I also knew that if it was what he wanted, that I would do it for him.

"Seeing you and knowing I can't be with you feels like I'm being slowly ripped to shreds. I love you, Iggy, but I need to know if there is a future for us, or if I should move on."

Even as I said this, I knew that I wouldn't be able to. Iggy would always be my one and only, of that I was certain.

For the first time since he had entered the clearing, I looked up at him. I had been afraid that to do so while I was speaking would have caused me to lose my nerve. I studied his face in the agonizing wait, my heart sinking with every second that passed in silence. Finally, he spoke.

"I have always loved you, Ella, but you deserve someone whole, not a blind mutant."

I stared at him, uncomprehending.

"You could never have a normal life with me. I can't see. I'm being hunted down by governments and criminals. I have wings for God's sake!" He continued.

I slowly stood up and walked towards him.

"You," I told him, my voice no longer unsteady but clear and calm, "are the most whole person I know."

And I kissed him under the stars.

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