Kate, Jeff, and Toby left for Jeff's parents' house at 6:00 PM, leaving Ashley only 2 hours to prepare for her evening with Ellie. After they woke up, Ellie stayed home to do her chores while Ashley left half way through helping her with them to get what she needed for later. Since they had already discussed what was going to happen that night, Ashley wanted to make everything absolutely perfect. She wanted to show Ellie, in a visible sense, how much she loved and appreciated Ellie's presence in her life.

Earlier, Ashley had stopped to make a list of the things that Ellie loved or always wanted. When her family left, the list was narrowed down to the following:

the colors black and red
rubber bracelets
Ashley's music/singing voice
roses or any kind of flowers (although that was never to be repeated)
incense/candles
the smell of sandalwood
back rubs

She stared at the list until it felt like she could see right through it. No instant ideas came to mind, and she considered that a bad sign. She wasn't willing to settle for mediocrity, not now. She took a moment to reflect on everything that Ellie had done for her. Prior to her relationship with Ellie, so many people - Spinner, Paige, Hazel, Terri, Craig, Jimmy, even her own parents - commented on her constant uptightness. She knew that her pessimistic demeanor caused her to lose the respect and interest of many of her friends, but after all she had been through with her parents divorce, adjusting to a step-family, dealing with her father's reasons for leaving the family, the ecstasy incident, struggles with Jimmy, Terri's hospitalization, and Craig cheating on her, she didn't see any way possible for her to unwind and relax. Ironically, when she needed her friends the most, they abandoned her because she was weak. But, through all of the tears, pain, and emotional craziness, Ellie was always there as a friend, a best friend, and now a lover. No, there was absolutely no way mediocrity would do.

Recapping all that Ellie had done for her began the creative process, and Ashley only hoped that 2 hours would be enough time to get everything arranged.

Ellie finished all her chores for the day and left a note for her mom on the table saying that she was staying the night at Ashley's. Prior to their current situation, Ellie never would have even thought about "telling" her mom she was doing something rather than "asking" her mom if she could do something, but they both agreed that part of the conditions of Ellie living at home again was that she was allowed to do what she wanted and needed, within reason, that would keep her happy and away from cutting or any other self-destructive behavior.

On her walk over to Ashley's, Ellie kept checking her appearance in every available reflective surface, which was so unlike her - but, tonight was different. She wore the outfit that Ashley liked best, an all-black (surprise, surprise) ensemble, and Ellie wasn't sure if Ashley genuinely liked the outfit for what it was, or simply because it was the outfit Ellie wore the night they made their relationship official, but either way, she knew she would like it. She used her "special occasion make up" and perfume, also letting her hair hang down, subtly braided in the front. She had stopped by the drug store on the way to buy Ashley a card and her favorite candy, and also brought a CD she burned while doing chores of the many songs that the couple deemed as "their song."

Right as Ellie was about to ring the doorbell, she noticed a sign on the door that said "Come on in… if you don't have your key, ring the doorbell."

Ellie did have her key to the Kerwin-Isaac's residence, which she had possession of unbeknownst to Kate and Jeff. While Ashley's mom and stepfather had known for months that Ashley and Ellie were a couple, the girls had a feeling they didn't know exactly how serious they were, which was probably for the best. But either way, Ellie proceeded to use her key to open the door, and was almost overtaken by the atmosphere. The air smelled of sandalwood, which was emanating from the candles that lit the otherwise blackened house. From the doorway, there was a trail of flower petals to the stairs. Each stair had a petal and every 5th stair had a sandalwood scented candle. Ellie began to collect each one and took a closer look. It was a pattern of rose petals - red and black! Ellie vaguely remembered a conversation she and Ashley had a while ago in which she said how cool it would be if there were black roses. Her heart warmed knowing that Ashley had remembered and somehow made it happen. Suddenly, soft music from upstairs brought her out of her reverie, and she realized it was Ashley's own piano playing, and making her more anxious to getting upstairs. She gathered as many rose petals as she could, which trailed all the way to Ashley's bedroom door, and as she reached for the doorknob, she felt a slip of paper covering it. It was a post-it note reading: "This is Our Night… I love you, Ellie Nash."

Ellie felt the tears come to her eyes, but she blinked them back and folded up the note and put it in her pocket. She opened the door to Ashley's room, to find the room smelling of incense and lit by 4 candles in each corner of the room. The rose petals, still in the red and black pattern, led all the way to the bed, but Ellie's eyes first fell upon Ashley, who looked stunning, and was sitting at her keyboard and playing soft accompaniment.

"Hey, you," Ashley spoke softly as Ellie walked in, "You look beautiful."

"Ashley, you are beautiful. I can't believe all that you've done -" Ellie began.

"Shh, wait. Before you go on, I wrote you a song. It's not too long and it's not my best, but I wanted to write something specifically for tonight. So, I hope you like it."

Ashley began to play the introduction to the song she wrote, and Ellie walked over and stood behind her, wrapping her arms around Ashley's waist and resting her head on her shoulder while she closed her eyes and listened to the beautiful music that was written just for her.

"Anywhere"
Ashley Kerwin

I have dreamt
Of a place for you and I
No one knows who we are there

All I want
Is to give my life away to you
I've dreamt so long
I cannot dream anymore

Let's run away
I'll take you there

We're leaving here tonight
There's no need to tell anyone
They'd only hold us down

So, by the morning's light
We'll be halfway to anywhere
Where no one needs a reason

We're leaving here tonight
There's no need to tell anyone
They'd only hold us down

So, by the morning's light
We'll be halfway to anywhere
Where no one needs a reason

(Vocalization)

When Ashley was done singing, Ellie turned Ashley around in her chair and immediately kissed her, knowing that the only thing that mattered at that moment was loving Ashley. She let her hands move from Ashley's hair to her shoulders to her breasts, and Ashley pulled Ellie so that she was sitting on her lap, facing her. When the intensity of their kissing almost knocked Ashley's keyboard off of the stand, the two broke their kiss to laugh, and then Ellie tucked Ashley's hair behind her ears and looked into her eyes.

"Now you've managed to be even more beautiful than a few minutes ago, which I wasn't sure was possible," Ellie said, choked up by the tears that were trying to slip out before. "You couldn't have made this any more perfect."

"I'm glad, Sweetie," Ashley smiled, "I didn't do much, though."

Ellie's eyebrows raised. "Didn't do much? Ashley, black roses!"

Ashley laughed. "No - red roses, black food coloring. It was the least I could do after everything you've done for me."

"Well, I hope you don't think I made any big sacrifices. You're just my girl, you know?" Ellie asked, massaging the small of Ashley's back.

Ashley's eyes began to mist over as well. "Yeah, I know."

Their lips met again, but before they got lost in the rapture of another kiss, Ashley paused to remember something.

"Oh, Sweetie, give me, like, 2 seconds. I need to go put out the candles before the house burns down."

Ellie laughed. "Good plan. Okay, I'll see you in a minute."

They kissed quickly once more before Ashley left the room, and while she did, Ellie reached into her bag and found the CD she had burned. She put it in Ashley's stereo and set it to a comfortable volume. She then blew out all but the brightest candle, and moved it to the nightstand, sitting down on the bed. When Ashley returned, she immediately noticed the song. "Aww! Our song! Did you burn it?"

Ellie nodded. "Yes, along with 18 more of 'our songs.' Ellie paused. "Dance with me?"

Ashley smiled and moved towards Ellie. Ellie wrapped her arms around Ashley's shoulders, and Ashley's arms were around Ellie's waist. It wasn't long before they began to kiss again, becoming devoured in a desperate need to be close to one another. Ellie was the first to break the ice, her hands going to the fly of Ashley's jeans, pulling them off of her and discarding them. Ashley did the same with Ellie's pants, and then they went for one another's shirts, their hands exploring one another's bodies to compensate for the brief interruption of their lips while trying to get their shirts over their heads. When they were in their underclothes, Ellie led Ashley to the bed, climbing on top of her and running the tips of her fingernails from the curve of Ashley's breasts down to her bare stomach, causing goose bumps to cover her body. Ashley began to kiss and gently bite Ellie's neck, knowing how it was one of her more sensitive areas. In the process, her hands traveled to Ellie's back and unhooked her bra, which soon led to the removal of both of their underclothes. Ellie and Ashley began to experiment with and enjoy the feeling of their bare bodies creating a friction and rhythm between them. Ellie leaned over to the bedside table, blowing out the final candle, which was the last light the girls saw before morning.