"What are you reading that's so interesting?" she asked him as she curled up on the couch next to him to get a better look at the IPad that he was looking at.

"Well apparently we are quite the controversy with some people."

"Do tell," she buried her face in his shoulder slightly and enjoyed the comforting scent that was naturally his, before actually looking at what he was reading.

"There are websites and stories dedicated to us."

She focused on the screen and actually read some of what was there before looking at him to make sure that this wasn't some elaborate joke that he was playing on her.

"I guess that work that you did struck a chord with people." He scrolled down as they read together. "There are some really interesting things in here and some very opinionated views on why things happened the way that they did."

"Hey! I was never a stripper!"

"Well, you could start now, just for me of course," he teased, amused by the fire in her eyes.

"How could anyone with a lick of sense get stripper from that caricature from a billion years ago?"

"I don't know…..maybe you should go dig out the old outfit and let me see how it fits." He gave a suggestive wiggle of his brows that furrowed when she elbowed him.

"You are a pervert," she joked.

"But you love this pervert, so what does that make you?" He kissed her playfully.

"I don't know a candidate for Sick, Sad, World?"

"Nah….. just Mrs. Pervert, but really cute." He scrolled over to another story.

"It was a cartoon for young adults." She had taken the tablet from him and looked at another story.

"Your writing inspired others. They took the characters that you put out there and made them their own.

She remained reflectively silent.

"Isn't that what good writing does, inspire?" His fingers absently stroked her arm.

"Yeah, but in some of these, they have me with the most unlikely people. I don't care how drunk I was-"she spewed angrily.

"Hey, they put the characters on different paths than what really happened, but isn't that a part of writing? You told me that you allow your characters to speak to you as it pertains to them and then you let it unfold for the readers."

She sat up and looked at him with a slightly surprised expression. "You actually listened to me about that?"
He shrugged and pulled her back into his arms.

"The thing is, these are stories that you inspired from your stories. They don't have to follow our lives, because they don't know us. Of course I don't mind if you wanted to act out some of these. There is a really interesting one about you and a leather corset….."

"What's wrong with the one that I have?" she quipped.

"Nothing, but in that story you have a riding crop."

"You're kind of hopeless," she said in between kissing him.

"I've been called worse."

"Were you, upset by how you were portrayed?"

"I did not like that I looked completely oblivious. I wasn't you know."

"I know, but I had to change some things. Everything couldn't be the way that it really was. I had to water down things." She shifted so that she lay atop him and they were looking each other in the eye. "You know that I had to make compromises for the show. It wasn't about us; it was just about teens making it through high school and the crap that they deal with."

"I know and I get it….."

"Then what?" she could see that something was bothering him.

"The 'Fire' episode….. that conversation was nothing like the real one…..but I guess it made sense for that situation."

She saw the way that his mouth twitched in the corner and knew that even after all of this time, it still bothered him. That conversation- no that argument between them had exploded into a series of events that had cost everyone involved a multitude of pain. She remembered how he had blindsided her with the confrontation and all of the accusations that were leveled at her. She'd given as well as she got though and had spewed anything hurtful that she could think of at him. It had hurt when he'd insinuated that she was interested in her best friends' guy and that she would be lying if she denied it, so she accused him of being afraid that he might have to grow up and take some real responsibility for once if he wasn't busy pushing his sister off on anybody that wasn't him. She knew that he was really sensitive about his sister and family stuff, but she'd said it anyway. Looking back now, she knew the argument was more about the feelings that they'd been denying between them than anything else. Add that to the fact that they had never had a truly negative moment between them, let alone an explosive argument and things were sure to get out of hand. She remembered leaving and feeling so angry that he would think so little of her. That whole scene dominated her thoughts and when her best friend boyfriend had come over to talk…..well if he was going to accuse her of being that type of person, and then…..To make matters even worse, he had practically gave her his blessing to date the guy later on. She had never felt so unwanted before, so going into a relationship with someone- anyone at that time had seemed like a good idea. That relationship had been the only thing that she'd had for a while and when her best friend finally relented and the ice slowly began to melt, she had been so grateful, but it would be a long time still before she reconciled things with the man that she looked at now. They were always cordial for the sake of their mutual love of his sister/her friend, but gone were the meaningful conversations wrought with weighted words and profound meanings of possible futures. College had been a welcome respite from the constant reminders in a town that seemed to be filled with only memories of a non-relationship that only she seemed to be aware of. Luckily they had found their way back to one another through the same means by which they had met. It had been a birthday wish for them to sit down and just try, for his sisters' sake that neither of them could deny. They were both glad that they'd agreed. Things had started out slow and stilted, but they developed a tentative pattern that each nurtured and allowed to grow.

"I thought that we took care of all that," she searched his eyes for the reassurance that he always gave so easily.

"We did. It's just that whenever I think about what happened between us, I hate the things that we said to each other." His eyes mirrored the concern in hers. "We hurt each other because we couldn't admit to what we felt."

"But we worked through the pain and found each other again."

"Yeah."

She laid her head on his chest and both became reflective on their past for a moment.

"It's odd that people have written all of these stories about us and the people in our live though."

"Maybe…..but cool too. At least most of them get it right though…..they mostly get that you love writing…"

"…..and your passion for music," she added absently.

" and most importantly, we usually find our way to each other, in one form or another…"

They looked at one another once again grateful for the love that they shared and both were reflective on how their lives had touched others, even on the small screen and an old cartoon…..