Author's Note: So here's chapter 2. I got so many favorites,thank you very much! Usually,my stories are a little longer in chapter length,but I'm just writing these as I go. Yes,I know I used most of the courting scene,but not all of it. You're just gonna have to deal :)
Mark Reynolds paced a few steps back and forth that evening,his mind refusing to rest. Being that close to her was almost more than he could take. He knew what he wanted to do,but he knew he needed to do things right. Madelyn Elisabeth Shannon was not a girl to just do what he chose with,not forgetting that her father could shoot him where he stood,her mother able to stitch him back up.
"You seem nervous." the voice shocked him,and he turned to see his "sister" Skye walk into the same room. Both teens were taken in by Commander Taylor not long after their parents' demise. Skye's parents couldn't survive when the sickness rolled through the community,while Mark's father died in the war with the Sixers,his mother,well,he didn't know where she was. He now relied on his new "family" of Skye,Commander Taylor,and Washington.
"I was just thinking."
"About Maddy?" Skye asked,taking a seat in their "father's" chair.
"Maybe. Were you out with Josh again today?" Mark couldn't help but chuckle as a light pink tinted her cheeks. He was happy for them,though he felt bad that Josh couldn't let Kara go.
"You like her,don't you?" He just sighed,sitting on the floor,leaning against the wall beneath the window.
"So much,but I don't want to rush things." Skye nodded at him,leaning back in the chair.
"Have you asked dear old dad?" she grinned,using their nickname for the Commander.
"Not yet,though I've thought about it. What do you think?"
"She's definitely beautiful,and you two look cute together. I just say do what feels natural to you."
"I don't even know how to approach it though. I'm anxious just at the idea of holding her hand."
"You want to know how to ask her out." Skye figured out,as Mark nodded. He was just a few months younger than she,though he'd spent more time in Terra Nova.
"Ask him,see what he says. But overall,stay true to yourself. It's what she's attracted to most of all."
"Really? You think she likes me as well?"
"Are you kidding,Reynolds? Her smile is bigger than the moon when you're even mentioned." It was Mark's turn to blush,thinking that the girl who was so highly intelligent and beautiful was so giddy over him.
"I gotta go,Josh and I are still finishing our punishment." Skye groaned,ruffling his hair as she exited,stopping to say hello to the Commander as he walked in.
"What's eating at you,son?" Nathaniel asked,seeing Mark's chest heave with another sigh.
"Well,sir,there's a girl..."
"By the name of Maddy Shannon?" Taylor teased,watching Reynolds' eyes fling wide open in amazement.
"Does everyone know I like her?"
"I believe its almost common knowledge that you are over the moon for Miss Maddy as she is for you. I do commend you for taking things slow,by the way."
"That's actually not by accident. I don't really know how to approach..."
"Asking her on a date?"
"As a starter." Mark added,implying just how much he felt for his favorite dark haired girl.
"Have you asked Jim yet?" Taylor asked,earning a nervous chuckle from Mark.
"He warned me about his gun skills."
"Ah,but he didn't say no. Mark,you just need to be up front with the girl. Let her know you're trying to court her. Invite her out to an outing that might please her."
"That just seems so..."
"Right?" The older man answered,
"Antiquated. I want to take it slow,but I don't know how she'll react to me saying 'courted'."
"Won't know until you try,right son?" Taylor challenged,as Mark gulped.
"I guess you're right."
It didn't take long for Mark to spot Maddy in the market,helping pick out groceries for her mother. The way her braid swung across her shoulders was almost as quick as his beating heart. It took a minute,but he got her attention,but instead of what he wanted to say,he just started rambling back what the Commander had said.
"I want to declare my intentions for you,Maddy Shannon." Maddy's spin on her heels,the way she scrunched her nose,Mark was sure he'd blown it.
"You want to do what to me?" She didn't run from him,and he stepped a bit closer,his voice still unsure,
"To...court you." A small thought seemed to bubble in her head before Maddy got flustered herself.
"Court,you mean like...date?" Mark Reynolds felt small for the first time in his life. Maddy's reaction could squish him like a bug.
"Yes." And just like that,a smile began to creep across Maddy's face.
"Well,why didn't you just say that?" Mark's brain couldn't think of an answer,so his mouth continued to spit out Taylor's rhetoric.
"According to the Commander, I have to address you in a certain way, and then speak with your father, and then call at your house, and then have the honor of escorting you to a planned activity or event outside the home that might please you."
"Mark." Maddy answered,causing his frantic heart to all but stop.
"You don't have to do all that. Dad already likes you."
"And you?" he asked,his whole being needing her to say it out loud.
"And me? I've been waiting for this day since I met you,Mark Reynolds." Reynolds exhaled as much air as he had pent up in his lungs as he offered Maddy his arm. She linked hers within his,leaning against his bicep. His mind was silently cheering as his body was reacting to finally having her so close to him. It felt so right.
