Chloe woke up coughing and sat bolt upright. The bed she was on was huge and soft. It took her a minute to realize where she was at. She was in A.C's room at the clock tower. She looked down and realized she was still dressed in that airy dress from Atlantis. It wasn't a dream. She had really been there. She looked to the foot of the bed and saw her baby blue bathrobe with the yellow half moons and stars on it, she smiled. She slipped out from underneath his huge comforter, pulled on her robe, and found her huge fuzzy slippers on the floor at the foot of the bed. She slipped her feet into them and headed out of the room. She made her way down to the main level and the living room was dark. Her stomach growled and so that made her next destination easy, the kitchen. She stopped outside the door when she heard A.C obviously on the phone.

"No dad.....yes dad....I don't know, I mean...." Chloe entered the room and he turned to face her. Like a kid who just got caught in the candy jar, he smiled. "Uh dad.....yeah she is..." he laughed, "Ok." Before he could say goodbye or even hang up Chloe came up to him and grabbed the phone from his hand.

"Hey Tom, how are you?" A. C just shook his head and laughed. He went to the freezer and got out the huge tub of cookie dough ice cream then retrieved 2 bowls, 2 spoons, and the scoop. He set it all on the table. Chloe was still talking to his father. He scooped the ice cream and put it away and grabbed the chocolate sauce and returned to the table and sat down. He finally heard, "Ok I'll tell him. Bye" Chloe shut his phone and set it down on the table. A.C just stared at her, and she just stared right back. She then smirked and moved to sit on his lap and she wrapped one arm around his neck and smiled. "Hi." she smiled.

He looked at her suspiciously and smiled back, "'Hi, yourself." he spoke using his free hand to get his spoon and dip into his ice cream. He was about to take the bite when Chloe reached with her free hand and diverted the spoon to her mouth and ate it.

"Ohhh that's good." she spoke smiling as he took his spoon back and settled it into the bowl.

"I havta tell ya I was a little disappointed when I woke up in your bed."

"Is that so?"

"Oh yeah, you weren't in it." she spoke smiling. He shook his head and laughed.

"I would have been but my dad called. Apparently my cousin stopped by to see him; to talk."

"No way?"

"Yeah figure that. Speaking of which, you told my dad you would tell me, what exactly?" he spoke, his eyes full of mischief.

"Ohh boy our ice cream is going to melt." she stood and moved from his lap to a chair next to his. He only shook his head. He poured chocolate sauce on his ice cream and then began to eat it. Chloe just moved her spoon around making patterns in the softening cream.

"Come on Chlo, you get on us all the time about playing with our food, what gives?"

She smiled and sighed. She grabbed her bowl and stood and moved to leave the kitchen. She stopped at the door and turned to A.C, "You coming....Orin?" she winked at him and left. He shook his head confused and then got up and followed her. She was heading back to his room. He made it upstairs to the doorway of his room to see her standing by the bed, her robe down at her feet and she was still wearing that airy foamy barely there dress. He immediately stepped into his room and closed the door. Chloe was eating her ice cream and staring him down.

"Alright, Chlo. You have my attention, what is it? What are you up to?" she sighed and set her bowl down on the night stand and went to take A.C's ice cream bowl from him and set it down. She then stood in front of him and wrapped her arms around his waist and he wrapped his arms around her.

"I was thinkin'."

"Uh oh, here we go." he teased.

"No seriously! When I was shackled by your whack job relative, I thought, no I begged to finally have a relationship that wasn't tortured." she spoke. A.C looked at her confused not sure what her point was. "And I realized I have that, with you." she stood up on her tip toes and kissed him. She then pulled away from him and crawled onto the bed. She turned her head as she was crawling and winked at him. He took that as a cue to peel his t-shirt off and shorts and join her on the bed. "I have happiness at my fingertips if I just let myself enjoy it." She curled up against his side and he wrapped an arm around her. "My problem is that I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall."

"It won't." he interjected.

"I get that now, I do! You came for me, A.C. I mean I've been rescued before, OBVIOUSLY." she teased and he just kissed the top of her head, "But you came for me! You saved me. You fought for me, and that means a lot."

A.C pulled her onto his lap so she was facing him. His hands were blindly playing with the edges of the fabric of her top. "I always will, Chlo."

"And I get that, I made a promise or two to myself for when I got out of there. You wanna know the first one?"

"Lay it on me." he smiled as his hands drifted down her body to rest on her thighs. She was distracted by said hands. She bit her lip trying to maintain her composure. Suddenly really shy about what she was going to say, she buried her face in his neck, saying the words against his skin.

"I'm sorry honey, what did you say?" he asked kissing the side of her head.

"I said I love you." she spoke sitting up and looking him in the face. He blinked and didn't say anything. "Um hello? Please don't leave me hanging here! Just professed my l......" he leaned and gave her a kiss that made her toes curl.

He pulled back, "Say it again." he purred.

"IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou."' she smiled.

"That has to be the sweetest sound in the whole wide world." he kissed her again this time his hand slipping underneath the wispy top, he placed it just over her heart. "Baby I love you too. I have for a long time. I was honestly a little afraid of what you were thinking after what happened."

"I was afraid, but not for the reason you think. I was afraid that you wouldn't know where I was and that I wouldn't get the chance to tell you how I feel."

"That's just crazy talk. I knew how you felt every time you held my hand or you kissed me or you crawled onto the couch to snuggle with me. I was just waiting for YOU to admit it." he smiled.

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, but oh how sweet it is to hear you say it." he grinned. "But you said you promised yourself a couple of things, what was the other one?" She blushed and put her head down. He moved his hand to the left to cover her breast. He then flicked his thumb over the peaking flesh. She gasped and closed her eyes and tossed her head back. "I'm waiting." he whispered as his hand began to play with the soft flesh.

"You don't.....guh....fight fair." she whispered.

"Baby with you? If I expect to win, I have to cheat a little." he smiled.

"Ohhhh boyy.......I promises...er promised to just enjoy being happpp wow....." she spoke as he moved his hand to the other side.

"Sorry you were saying?" his voice was huskier.

"Ummm, yeah, that I would just BE happy. No matter what happens or where this goes I'm going to enjoy just being with you." Her head was down again and her breathing was getting erratic.

"Beautiful." he spoke moving his free hand to her face to raise her gaze to meet his. "It's about time." he leaned and kissed her warmly. His hands went to the tie at her neck to undo the top. It fell away like a whisper. His hands then wandered down the topography of her body to her skirt. He made short order of that. Next thing Chloe knew she was underneath him and he was gloriously naked. She was staring into his eyes.

"So where do go from here?" she whispered. He leaned and kissed her again.

"Just one day at a time? Okay?"

"Absolutely" she smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer....

A/N: Thanks for all who are still reading the Chlurry. Just a heads up, their story continues in a soon to be posted, "From Now Until Forever."