I'm back! No, I did not go away. In fact, I have been reading all of the reviews and I thank all of you so much. You give me the motivation and confidence to keep me writing when I'm convinced I suck. Now, let's get past the mushy stuff.

This is, unfortunately, not another chapter of this story. Instead, I have re-written what I've already published. Don't worry, I didn't get rid of anything, only made it better.

I had a few people say that I should make more chapters. I think that's a great idea, but here's the issue: I have no ideas. So if you have an idea of what should happen next, message me or something (I still don't really know how this site works yet) and I might write about it! Don't worry, I will give you credit for the idea. Once again, thanks for being such amazing readers!

Last Into the Still Blue Paragraphs:
She and Roar talked nonsense as they walked the trail, their conversation easy and light as always. As they approached the settlement, Aria heard the pound of hammers and voices calling back and forth. Though she'd grown accustomed to the din over the past weeks, it always filled her with hope. It meant homes being built.

Part of her work on the council was to develop long-term plans for the city of Cinder. Plans for paved roads, a hospital, a gathering hall. Those would all come eventually. For now, they needed shelter. A comfortable place to lay their heads at night.

"I don't see him," Roar said, eyes scanning as they arrived.

"I don't either." Around them was a symphony of people digging, lifting, erecting walls and roofs, while Flea trotted around like he was supervising. "He took Talon exploring after our swim this morning. I'm sure they'll be back soon." It was another part of Perry's day-time with Talon, hunting, hiking. Whatever they decided.

Aria sat on a half-wall, built with nails poured from the new forge, and with lumber cut from higher elevation and floated downriver. Eventually, the wall would rise to become one side of a house.

This particular house would have a loft with a minor flaw. A crack in the roof that showed just a sliver of the blue sky above. Aria had made plans in secret with Marron. It was going to be a surprise.

Roar sat beside her. "So you want to just wait for them here?"

"Sure." She bumped his shoulder with her own and smiled. "It's a good place to wait. This is home."

She and Roar sat for a little while more, watching the work happening around them. Aria was tempted to help, but her muscles were still sore from the morning's swim lesson. Perry had tried teaching her different strokes today, but the entire time she was too distracted by him. She was admiring the strong outlines of his bare chest and his muscular arms as they swooped through the air and into the water. Aria noticed a surprising difference in him when he was where he belonged, with the waves crashing against him and his blonde hair slicked back and dripping with the salty water of the ocean.

And she liked it. A lot.

She wasn't sure how much more time she had spent longing for Perry before he actually appeared. He sat himself in front of her with his legs crossed and leaned his arms on her bent knees without a single word. They stayed that way for a bit, looking into each other's eyes. Perry's slight smirk and the glint in his vivid green irises gave Aria the impression that they were thinking the same thing.

Her gaze traveled lower to his mouth. She was surprised by the strength of their pull and how her heartbeat instantly shot up. Pictures rushed to her mind of him this morning: topless, pushing himself through the water with experienced strokes, holding her arms and moving them the correct way, letting out a beautiful chorus of laughter and smiling that smile she just couldn't stand when she was splashed by a gush of salty ocean water and complained about its taste.

Roar said something to them and walked away with Talon, pulling her slightly back to the present. But his words went in one ear and out the other as soon as her gaze moved back up to Perry's.

His eyes were intense as they reached deep into hers. Passion and desire burned his night-seeing gaze, but it was stronger then usual. He wasn't just wanting a kiss or admiring her; he was wanting her. The air around them had seemed to shift, and suddenly Aria understood. Perry had scented her. Since the moment he sat himself across from her, he could feel what she was feeling. While Aria was remembering moments from this morning and was wanting him more and more, his need was growing, too.

What Aria once thought of as an invasion of her mind's privacy was now something she was beyond grateful for.

The few inches of empty space between them suddenly seemed like miles. Aria couldn't stand being even a few feet away from Perry for too long, and now the two hours Perry went out exploring with Talon seemed like days and weeks and months.

So she ran to him.

Aria claimed Perry's mouth. Her hands wove their way through the thick pale ropes of his hair and pulled him even closer to her. He grunted in desire and cupped her face with his rough, callused hands. Aria's legs, still bent, were crushed between their needing bodies as they clung to each other.

Over the sound of their rapid breathing, Aria heard a catcall. She pulled back and was suddenly very aware of the many faces turned their way and the population of the area around them.

"Ignore them," Perry muttered against her lips. His voice was husky and flooding with desire. Aria struggled against the longing she felt to hearken to his suggestion. Luckily, Perry sighed warm air onto Aria's face and reluctantly stood, offering her a hand. The coolness that quickly covered her body without Perry's touch had her grabbing onto it with incredible speed. They barely took time to steady themselves before they hurried off into the privacy of the woods.

It was cooler under the huge oaks. Their large branches were weighted with bright summer leaves that fluttered against each other, filling the surrounding area with a unique song of its own. Aria's keen ears made the sound even more detailed and beautiful.

But Aria couldn't fully appreciate nature's music while her mind was going over the next hour or so's possibilities.

Thinking about it only made her desire strengthen. As soon as her well-trained ears told her they were far enough away, her arms were locked behind Perry's neck and her mouth had begun where it left of. After a few seconds of frozen surprise Perry responded, holding her hips in his large hands and deepening the kiss. Aria molded her body against his, still surprised at how well they fit together. She enjoyed the warmth and firmness of his built chest and stomach against hers. Her hands loosened from around his neck as his lips tenderly made their way to her cheek, her jaw, and finally to her (in more than one way) sensitive ears.

Despite the fact that they were pressed into each other, Aria still wanted more. She wanted to feel his warm, rough skin against hers. She wanted them to be completely connected without any barriers; which meant the clothes had to go.

Her hands made their way to the hem of his shirt and began lifting it. They roamed around his abs and rested over his pounding heartbeat. Perry stepped back to lift the annoying fabric from his body. But just after he pulled it over his head, he froze.

"Perry, what's wrong?" Aria asked. The former Tides Blood Lord was looking at her with an expression she couldn't read, but it definitely wasn't happy. He seemed almost wary, and Aria could tell that he was fighting an internal battle in the way his eyebrows scrunched up. She was about to prompt him again before he pulled his shirt back over his head and let out a frustrated sigh, sinking down onto the forest floor. He leaned against an oak trunk and hung his head, hiding his face behind a blonde curtain of hair. Then he mumbled something that Aria couldn't make out.

"What did you say?"

"I said that there was no point in running out here tonight." Perry raised his head but still refused to look at Aria. He looked both upset and frustrated, but not angry.

"Why not?" she asked, coming to sit down beside him. He gathered her up in his arms and kissed the top of her head, ridding Aria of the voices in her head that told her he didn't want to do this with her. She assumed now that he wanted to, but something was holding him back. "Is something wrong?"

"No. Well, kind of. But not really."

Aria lifted her head to look at Perry and was surprised to see the redness covering his face. He was nervous! She only realized she was smiling when Perry finally met her gaze.

"Why do you have to be so beautiful when you smile? You're really not helping me. Do you know how hard it is to resist you?"

His words sent Aria's heartbeat skyrocketing again. "First of all, telling me that I'm beautiful isn't going to make me want to help you in rejecting me." Perry flinched at the word "rejecting," making her want to instantly take her words back. It was already hard for him, obviously, and he didn't want to resist her, so why did she have to make it worse? She then realized that her next "It's a lot easier just to not resist me," comment would probably have not been very wise, either. There most likely was a major reason why this wasn't going to happen, or else Perry wouldn't have tried so hard to stop it. She tried thinking of a way to fill the silence while Perry waited for a "second of all," but he interrupted her before she could say anything.

"You have the scent." His sudden outburst caused Aria to jump. "Sorry," he mumbled, holding her tighter but going back to avoiding her gaze.

"What scent?" Aria asked, refusing to look away.

"Do you remember that night in the treehouse?" he asked after a long pause.

"Of course I do. I'll never forget that night."

"Well, do you remember asking me about..." he trailed off and looked up, apparently fascinated in the trees above them. "-about the possibility of you getting pregnant?"

"Yeah, you-" That's when Aria finally figured it out. Perry, being a Scire, could use his nose for a fascinating amount of things; one of them was being able to smell if a woman was ovulating. He could tell that Aria wasn't on that night in the treehouse, so there wasn't a chance of her getting pregnant. But tonight, she had the scent. She could get pregnant.

"Yeah," Perry muttered. "It's pretty strong today, which means that you have an even higher chance. I could smell it earlier. I shouldn't have started this only to push you away. I'm sorry."

But Aria was staring aimlessly into the woods, not hearing a word of what he was saying, when the word accidentally erupted from her mouth. "So?"

Both of them stiffened in surprise. Aria was too embarrassed to look at Perry, but she could imagine his wide-eyed stare. Why had she said that? She had just suggested that they have a baby. Her cheeks reddened and she wanted nothing more than to be somewhere else.

"Hey, Aria, look at me," Perry said after a few moments. His voice was low and kind as he gently lifted her chin to meet his gaze. He tucked the hair that was purposefully blocking her face behind her ear and gave her a warm smile. "Why are you hiding?"

"Because I'm an idiot," Aria said, her eyes roaming everywhere but Perry. Her next words came out in a rush. "We can't have a baby. We just got here, and we don't even have a house! Not only that, but we have different Markings. There's so much wrong with it, it just can't happen." She squirmed her way from Perry's hold on her chin and fell against his chest. Tears were gathering in her eyes. She fought them as hard as she could. Why was she crying? Perry stroked her hair, helping to soothe her racing heartbeat. She waited for him to agree with her.

"Yes it can."

Aria was sitting upright on his torso and staring at him an instant. Had he really just said that? Why didn't he agree with her? He didn't think she had lost her mind? Maybe he had lost his mind.

"I am in love with you, Aria, and I am not going to fall in love anybody else any time soon," Perry said, smiling passionately as he cupped her face. "We will be spending our entire lives together. There is not a day I won't want you by my side. So why not add to the love? Why not become closer as we take care of an adorable little child?"

Aria's heart was beating and she was leaning closer to Perry. His words were so tempting, so loving. She wanted to give in and kiss him and tell him how wonderful that all sounded to her. But her mind was still thinking rationally.

"Perry, there's so much going on-"

"I don't care." The desire in his voice sent shivers through Aria's spine. His hands made their way down to her hips as he continued. "I don't care about a silly tribe legend. I don't care about our lack of a home. We'll raise our child in between a pair of walls if we have to, and I'll probably be too happy to even notice.

"Think about it. We'll see our child take their first steps and say their first word. You'll sing to him or her every night and I'll watch, falling in love with you even more. We'll play dollies and tag and watch them grow up. He or she will be so beautiful, with your gorgeous gray eyes, or your silky black hair, or-"

Aria cut Perry off with an urgent kiss. She was imagining a little child with Perry's perfectly imperfect nose and his lopsided smile, clinging to her legs and giggling up at her. She saw him or her chasing after Talon or Flea and learning the alphabet. It was such a beautiful thought that there was nothing Aria wanted more than to have a child with the man she would always love.

Her kiss was fierce and demanding. She wanted to show him just how much she wanted this through her touch. Everything she felt at that moment needed to be told, and words weren't good enough to describe her emotions.

Perry let out a startled breath before tightening his grip on her hips. Aria molded her body into his, very aware of the fact that she was sitting on his lap with her legs resting on either side of him. She wound her fingers through his hair and tugged lightly as she claimed his mouth. He groaned, releasing his grip and letting his hands roam her body. Trails of heat followed his fingers as he raked them over the bare skin of her back. She gasped against his mouth and began desperately tugging at his shirt.

He pulled back from the kiss with a grunt and impatiently yanked his shirt over his head. Aria was breathing heavily as her eyes scanned over his muscular body and she was hit with the realization of what was going on. Her eyes locked onto Perry's, which were heavy with hunger and passion. Before she knew it she was copying him. The forest breeze tickled her bare chest and stomach and her top was crumpled on the ground. She continued to stare at Perry even as his gaze took in her half-naked form. Then, in one swift movement, Perry had pinned Aria down onto a layering of leaves and was leaving sweet little kisses down her neck. Aria's fingernails dug into his broad shoulders and her legs clasped around his back, both of them working together to pull his body closer to hers. She pressed her heaving chest against his just as he pulled away.

Gone was the hunger in Perry's eyes, as if it had never existed, and replacing it was concern as he looked down at Aria. Her breathing was so loud that she barely heard what he said.

"Are you sure about this? I told you, there's a very large chance that you could get pregnant."

It was unthinkably amazing to Aria that this deep into what they were doing, Perry was still concerned about her more than anything. What was even more unimaginable was that he thought she may not be sure about what was happening.

"You're such an idiot," Aria murmured breathlessly, suddenly overcome with the desire to prove to Perry just how sure she was.