A QUICK NOTE: If you haven't read any of my previous fanfics, you may want to at least gloss over some of the "Previously"-ies found in the beginning of some them for reference. This chapter has a lot of references to previous events that occurred in said fanfics. Now . . . ENJOY!

Chapter Two: "Heart To Heart"

The noise of the water lapping against the small cliff filled in the silence and it was soon joined by a nearby cricket. Teela looked at Adam in the moonlight and he looked right back at her. For the slightest second, it all seemed so very perfect. Two people, friends since birth, together again after so many years of separation. But so very quickly, the complications set in. The lies, the guilt, the love, the rejection, the frustration, the betrayal . . .

"So talk," Teela said.

"What do you want to hear?"

Teela sighed harshly. "Whatever you came out here to talk about, Adam."

Adam turned his back to her. For a moment, she was sure he was going to walk away. A part of her wanted to cry out and tell him not to. To come back and be her friend again. To be more than that. But there was no need. Adam turned back around and started to walk over.

"Mind if I sit down?"

"Your kingdom," she replied, trying to be witty. It didn't quite work.

The two sat there in silence for a shorter amount than it really felt like. The cricket had gone quiet, but another one up in the tree started up. Little fireflies blinked above the pond. Both insects wouldn't enjoy the warm Eternian Falls for much longer.

Adam opened his mouth. "I . . ."

"What?"

He lowered his head and rubbed his eyes. After a few long seconds of doing that, he looked back up. "Eleven years, nine months, three days, and . . . five hours."

"Since when?"

Adam looked to her. "Since I wanted to tell you."

Teela looked away. "Ancients . . ." she grumbled sardonically.

He looked out at the pond. "Your father . . . he and the Sorceress were friends back in the days of the Horde War. Horde War One, I guess. He was my father's emissary to Castle Grayskull. After Adora and I were born, it was learned that we were . . . we had a special destiny. Hordak learned it. It's why he kidnapped Adora. They tried to come after me, but your father - "

"Adam."

"What?"

"In case you didn't get it, I don't want to know about Adora. I don't have a problem with Adora being She-Ra. Not much, at least. What I have a problem with is you."

Adam gave her a stern look. "Listen, you want answers, all right? I'm trying to give them to you."

Teela didn't reply, but he knew that her looking away was a form of reluctant compliance.

He continued on. "You father, Duncan, came to me shortly before we were attacked by Skeletor that first time. Remember? When he sent me off? After he sent you to get my parents to safety? Well, he sent me to Castle Grayskull." Adam paused looked briefly up at the stars. "He sent me to my destiny."

Teela looked to him, a little startled by that. It was something she never expected to hear from Adam. He-Man, most definitely. But not Adam.

"I was transformed into He-Man," he said then with some pride in his voice. "And Cringer became the mighty Battle-Cat. I became not only the Prince of Eternos, but also the defender of the secrets of the Castle Grayskull."

Adam then pulled out the Sword of Power. "Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me, then. I became the most powerful man in the universe. Only three others knew my secret. Man-At-Arms. The Sorceress. And Orko. I was given a charge. A mission. To defend Castle Grayskull from the evil forces of Skeletor." He sighed heavily. "I was also told that no one must know of this secret. Orko found out by accident. My mother later discovered the truth during the whole incident with the Spirit of Evil."

Adam then put the Sword of Power back. "And that's that."

Teela just sat there, taking it all in. "I . . . since then . . ."

"Since then, I've played the role of the fool. The lazy Prince Adam who cared about nothing but doing nothing."

"And . . . and that's why you suddenly got worse when I was training you?"

"Yes. There was a great fear that Skeletor would uncover who I am. One more reason for him not to suspect me was for me to be the lazy Prince Adam. But really, I was He-Man. The entire time."

He looked at her and could see her reeling emotionally. All of those times she made fun of him. Taunted him. Made fun of him. She was wrong. The entire time, all of those years . . . she was wrong.

"DAMN IT!"

She threw her fists on the ground, then covered her face. She was sobbing like mad now. "Damn it!"

"Teela . . . hey . . ." he tried, moving towards.

"Stay away from me, Adam!" she yelled. "Don't!"

He pulled back and just watched as Teela tried to compose herself.

"You didn't know," he tried.

"I KNOW THAT! Don't you think that? Don't you think I KNOW THAT?!" She was looking right at him now, eyes pouring with tears, face red. "Don't you think that I've thought about that ever since I found out that you and He-Man are the same person!?"

"Teela . . ."

"SHUT UP! I can't listen to you anymore! I can't trust you anymore!"

"Please."

"NO!"

Adam closed his eyes and could feel small tears forming at the corners. "Teela . . . I don't want this."

"What do you want, Adam? For it to be a secret again? For me to act like a fool in front of you as He-Man while being your buddy when you're Adam? Is that what you want?! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?!"

"NO! It's not! Do you think I liked lying to you? Do you think I liked lying to everyone I knew? Do you POSSIBLY think that I enjoyed it when you thought I was a lazy coward?!" Adam stood up, full of anger now. "Did you maybe think that I liked being He-Man because I was able to get you to love me the way that I - ?!"

He stopped.

"The way you what? The way you WHAT?" she shouted, more curious than angry, though both were exploding right on top of each other.

He breathed hard and looked away from her. After brief second, he looked back to her. "Do you know how it felt, having you tell me that you cared about me? Kissing me? I had a crush on you, Teela! You knew that! But then, after you played with my heart, you rejected me! And for who? MY ALTER EGO! The better Prince Adam! And do you know how hard it was to hear it TWICE?!"

"You could have had me!" she yelled out. "As He-Man, you could have had me! Ancients, how many times did I tell you I loved you?!"

"And how many times did I tell I couldn't love you back?! How many times did I tell that it was too dangerous?"

She paused, her eyes filling with a deep smoldering anger. "You told me you couldn't. You outright rejected me," she said, each word filled with tension. "And then what did you do? You came up to my room and after breaking my heart, you acted like my best friend!"

"WELL YOU NEEDED A BEST FRIEND!"

She was struck by that statement. Her eyes went wide.

"Damn it . . . damn it, Teela, don't you understand?" he questioned her. "I was tired of not having you as Adam. I couldn't have you as He-Man because I was too afraid of what would happen if someone found out about us. So I wanted the next best thing. I wanted what we had as kids. I wanted a friendship! I wanted my best friend back!"

Teela started crying again. She sat back down in a heap. "You had her."

Adam nodded, tears freely going down his cheeks. "I know I did."

There was a long moment of silence between them. The crickets were gone. The water of the pond continued to lap.

"What about Kathryn?"

Adam looked up, startled by the question. He rolled his head and sat down near her, but not as close. She was at the edge of the small cliff and Adam sat just left of the tree trunk.

"I was tired of not having you, so I moved on. I liked having you as my friend and despite your throwing yourself at me as He-Man, I didn't want that." He stopped. "I was scared of something happening to you, yes. Most definitely. But I didn't want you to love me as He-Man. So . . . I moved along. Kathryn liked me for me. She . . . um . . . well . . ."

"Don't tell me," Teela said, wiping her nose with her hand, "she found out?"

Adam rolled his eyes. "All those years of being able to keep it secret from everyone but Orko. And what does she do? Walks right into the room. But it . . . it was different. She loved me before she knew about He-Man. And then, after that, she embraced it."

Teela shook her head, but not for any one reason.

Adam looked out across the pond. The lightning bugs were still at it. The crickets started up again, both of them now.

"It was . . . after what happened. Losing the baby that I didn't even know we were having. It put everything in perspective. After a while, after I had settled down on Primus and had a chance to work it all out in my head, I came to realize that I . . . I was more upset about losing that relationship than I was about losing Kathryn." He paused and sighed. "It wasn't love, I guess. But in some ways, it could have been."

Teela laughed a little. "I . . . I would think the same thing about John. Addison's father." She then paused for a long moment. "When you were gone. Both of you, I guess. I . . . wanted nothing more than to have you back . . ."

"I wanted to be back."

"No, that's not what I meant." She looked at him, lit by the moonlight. "I wanted you back. He-Man, yes, but the one I missed the most was you." Teela breathed out. "I . . . this isn't how I wanted to tell you . . ."

Adam scoffed. "The same here. But as long as we're getting it all out . . ."

Teela smiled. "Okay." She moved closer to him. Adam did the same to her. "I started to understand that it wasn't He-Man I missing more, it was you. I wanted He-Man to come home. I missed him. But the person I really missed? It was you, Prince Adam. It was you."

Adam nodded just a little. "I . . . I missed you everyday, Teela."

Teela offered him a small nod. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Adam readjusted himself, trying to get comfortable. "When I . . ."

"What?"

Adam looked at her. After all the arguing and the emotional releases . . . it just reinforced what he had known for so very long. The moonlight caused her skin to glow. Her eyes were still the bright, beautiful green that he had fallen for years earlier. He remembered what it felt like to kiss her. Not just in the Ice Mountains so many years ago, but just the other day when he first talked to her as Adam after coming home. He remembered the feel of her hands.

Just do it, Adam, his very will told him.

"When I . . . I was on Primus, I met a woman. Her name was Mara."

Teela expression turned negative. He shook his head and continued you.

"We hit it off at first, but we broke it off. She fell for me like you did. As He-Man. I . . . I told her the reason we couldn't be together was the same reason why you and I couldn't be together."

"The danger?"

"Yes. The, um, danger. But Mara said to me that that was crap. She told me that because I had feelings for another, I kept coming up with excuses to not be in relationship. Teela . . . she was right. Right before I left Eternia, when we were in your bedroom, I . . . it was like everything jump-started. All of those old feelings."

Teela looked down at the pond, the small, gentle waves swaying the reflection of the moons and stars.

"And then I left. I had a mission."

Again, Teela said nothing.

"Maybe . . . maybe I was wrong to tell you all this now. But I couldn't have . . . I couldn't hold it back any longer. I . . ."

"Adam."

"Yeah?"

She looked at him. Adam was now sitting next to her on the cliff.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I made fun of you. I'm sorry I threw myself at you when you told me not to. But I was never sorry about what happened between us. Our friendship grew. Those last few years you were on Eternia? They were the best. The qualities that made you He-Man were shining through in ways that I was too blind to see. Leadership, responsibility, integrity. I loved that. I loved seeing you like that. That's why, that last year after He-Man rejected me, I grew closer to you. That's why I was so upset about you and Kathryn getting married." She then paused and bit her lip.

"Now, here you are. Five years later and I find out that my best friend that I had a crush on when I was 14 is also the man I had a crush when I was 17 through 23! I learn that everything I loved about both people are in the same package!"

"Yeah."

And that's when she just up and said it.

"Adam, I love you! I loved for so long! That's why I'm so upset! Damn it, Adam, I love you and I was so mean to you! I never knew you were He-Man! But it was that part of you that Adam that I loved about He-Man!" She started to cry now. "I loved you even when I didn't know it was you!"

She lowered her head. Adam moved right up next to her.

"Teela."

"What?"

"I love you too."

He put one arm around her and pulled her close to him. His lips met hers. They kissed. They kissed. They kissed and knew that it was right. It was all right.

After a kiss that seemed to last a wonderful forever and terrible eye blink, they pulled back.

"I want this. I want you. I love you and I'm tired of all this . . ."

Teela nodded, smiling and with tears dropping down her cheeks. "I know. I know, Adam. I want to be yours. Will you have me, Prince Adam? Will you have me after all these years?"

Adam paused, leaving Teela to be held in his arms in suspense. After everything they had been through? After everything he had learned about his past relationships?

"Yes."

She started crying again, but out of joy now. She threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. They kissed again on the lips.

"I love you, Teela," he said to her under the moons.

"I love you too, Adam," she said to him under the stars.