Author's Note — So, my attempt at writing a multi-chapter story? Fail. Massive, massive fail. I'm a one-shot kind of girl; anything longer and I lose interest. That's what happened with "These Broken Dreams", unfortunately. Any outline or plan that I wrote for this story is long gone, and I honestly don't even remember how I'd intended to end it. However, I did find the beginning of the second chapter on my computer, and I felt like it provided at least a semblance of an ending. Perhaps one day I'll be inspired to finish this story, but, for now, this scene is the end. :(
He's very quiet. She can't hear him; rather, she senses him, senses the tentative steps he takes toward her, his great care not to send clumps of sand flying through the air at her with his large feet. It's eerie, how she knows these things.
"I'm not going to run away," she calls out into the cool morning air, filled with miniscule drops of sea. Behind her, he drops his silent charade, sighing softly. He continues to trudge toward her, and drops to the sand beside her.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asks, gazing out to the glittering blue waters, the golden sun rising high above the whitecaps breaking far off the coast. "It's... peaceful. It's truth. You can tell yourself, when you're safe inland, caged in by the tall, tall trees and buildings, that you're big, powerful, in control. But here," she whispers, staring far away at the dark line where ocean and sky meet, "you know exactly where you stand. You know that you're small, insignificant."
He shakes his head, eyes fixed on her profile. "Is that why you ran? Because I made you feel insignificant, somehow?"
She laughs, only the noise is low, like a bark, rather than the light, airy sound that he's grown to love. Leaving him where he sits, she moves to the edge of the ocean, where she allows the cold water to rush around her ankles. "You don't understand," she whispers, focusing her gaze on her feet, sinking further and further into the sand.
Suddenly he's by her side, taking her arm into his hand. "Then help me understand." He sighs. "Do you not love me? Is that it?"
She turns to face him, disbelief shining bright from pale blue eyes. "Not love you? Luis, I've been falling in love with you since you carried me out of the catacombs. I've wanted to hear you say that you love me for so long... but you don't. You think you do, but Luis, look at me." There are tears blossoming in her eyes, threatening to cascade down her cheeks; he moves to wipe them away, but she pushes him back. "I'm blonde, blue-eyed, and tall. My last name is Crane, and people used to mistake me for Sheridan's sister all the time when we were younger. I remind you of her. I'm just a rebound fling, and I'm spoiled and shallow and selfish and nothing like Sheridan at all, really..."
She's silenced by his hands gripping her arms, forcing her to look up at him, meet his eyes. "Only when I'm with you," he begins, "am I able to forget about Sheridan, and what happened between us. For five years, I've been so miserable, longing for her, for Marty... you make me happier than I've ever felt, Fancy." He strokes her cheek, and she starts to cry; she's melting before him, slowly.
"We haven't even been home a month, Luis," she protests. "You can't just end a relationship and three weeks later decide that you're in love with someone else."
"We were together for two months in Rome," he reminds her. "You were there for me when I was feeling down about Sheridan, about Marty, in ways that no one else has ever been there for me, and... and I guess it just took that final "the end" with Sheridan to make me see what was right in front of me." He cups her face with his hands, wipes the tears from her eyes, and whispers, "You loved me enough to get me through the darkest time in my life, and you loved me enough to help me keep going afterwards. You fell in love with me when I saved you, and I fell in love with you when you saved me."
They're both crying now, salty tears plummeting into the swirling ocean waters, and she knows that she's falling, fast. "I can't take another broken heart, Luis," she whispers, pulling her feet from beneath the pounds of sand burying them. "Not so soon."
He nods, pushing a golden strand of hair behind her ear. "Breaking your heart is the last thing I want," he assures. "But we can take it slow, make sure we don't rush into anything."
She gulps. This is it. "If you break my heart, you know I'll send my brothers after you."
He laughs, wiping his eyes. "Understood."
And she lets him hold her.