CHAPTER FOUR

"Did I say something wrong?" he asked after a few minutes, pulling her from her thoughts.

"No," she replied, looking up into his eyes after their plates were removed from the table, "I was just thinking of the last time we saw each other."

"Hmm. Not one of our best moments," he replied, wiping his mouth and placing his napkin back in his lap. Realizing the time had come to have the discussion that prompted him to take the trip to see her, he held his hand up to delay their delivery of dessert. T'Challa called his assistant over and spoke softly in his ear. Minutes later, the room was cleared, leaving him alone with Ororo.

Turning his attention back to her, he took her hands in his. "I know there are no words that can express the sorrow I feel at how things were left between us. I was young, trying to deal with one of the worse moments in my life and I took it out on the one person who I knew would be in my corner. I suffered thoroughly for what I did to you and I have not gotten over how I treated you.

"I have considered what I would say to you after all this time to express my regrets at my actions toward you. Saying I am sorry does not seem to suffice."

"But it does," Ororo replied, gently squeezing his hands.

"Excuse me," he said, not believing he heard her correctly.

"You saying I'm sorry does suffice," she told him, "That's all I ever wanted to hear."

"So you forgive me?" he asked, not believing how well the conversation was going.

"T'Challa, I forgave you a long time ago. I had too because I needed to move forward with my life. I could not allow the hurt and pain from our breakup to prevent me from loving again."

"So you are in love?" he asked.

"I am," she told him, breaking their eye contact and looking out the windows at the falls. She returned her gaze to him. "But he does not know it."

A smile played at the corner of her lips but did not completely spread across her face. He took in the look on her face and felt sad that he may have been the reason behind her reluctance to share her feelings with the guy.

"Did you keep your feelings a secret because of me?" T'Challa asked, loosening his hold on her hands.

Looking at him, Ororo could see the sadness in his eyes. Sensing that he felt responsible, she knew she had to explain. "No, our past was not the only reason why I kept my feelings from him. It may have played a small part but there were many others," she told him, standing and pulling on his hand to encourage him to do the same.

Walking over to the windows, she allowed their conversation to fall silent for a few moments so that both of them could recover from their confessions. Sighing gently, still holding his hand, she turned to him.

"So. Enough about me," she said, shaking his hand playfully, "I get the impression that our meeting today was not a coincidence. Am I right?"

Releasing his own sigh, T'Challa turned to face her.

"You are. There is something I need to tell you that could only be done in person," he said.

"Alright," she replied.

"It took me a while to build up the courage to speak to you. I felt that I did not have the right to come to you after what I did but I have missed what we had, especially our friendship. I hope that we can still be friends after what happened between us."

"Of course, T'Challa. You are still my friend," Ororo replied.

"I was hoping you would say that. The other reason I came to the states was to speak with you about this," he told her, handing her an envelope.

Looking at him with questioning eyes, he nodded to the envelope, encouraging her to open it. Opening it and she read the card.

"I would be honored to attend your wedding," she replied glancing up at him before turning her eyes back to the invitation to reread the message.

"Congratulations, your highness," she said before hugging him. He returned the hug, enjoying it more than he should have.

"This is great news. I take it that you are happily in love with your betrothed?"

"Yes, I am. She is a wonderful and loving woman who will grow to be a great queen and mother of my children one day," he told her, "Though I had hoped that the woman to be all those things would be you."

"Many years ago, that was my hope as well but things changed. Though it may seem your actions that day was the sole reason why our paths traveled in two different directions, I believe that things happened the way they were suppose to. During our time apart, we changed as did the person who occupied that special place in our hearts," she replied, taking his hands in hers as she had so many times in the past whenever they shared matters of their hearts, "I am sure we will continue to love each other as friends, but it seems that our hearts has chosen others. I know you have chosen well for yourself and it is my prayer that you and your betrothed will have a long marriage, filled with love, happiness and many children."

He smiled at her last statement. "I had heard that you may have had a thing for your teammate Logan. Is he the one you are in love with?" he asked, a sly smile on his lips.

"Yes. That's the reason for my trip. He left the mansion before I had the chance to tell him. So, I'm on my way to tell him," she replied, looking down at her watch. Three hours had passed.

"My apologies. I have taken up too much of your time."

Ororo smiled up into his handsome face. "No, we took the time that was needed to do something that we should have done a long time ago. I am glad we spent time together today," she replied, looking up at him. Gazing into his eyes, Ororo leaned up and kissed him. When he returned her kiss, she deepened the kiss, prolonging the connection.

Pulling away, he wiped the tears from her eyes and gathered her in his arms for a farewell hug. They both knew that the kiss was not one of desire but one of closure.

"You will always be my first queen," he whispered to her.

She squeezed him gently in response, not trusting her voice at the moment. They held each other for a few moments. Though it broke his heart to do so, he released her from the embrace. Looking up at him with a sad smile, she squeezed his hand before turning away.

Ororo went over to get her purse. Turning back to him, she held up the invitation. "I will see you in four weeks."

He smiled and nodded. "I hope that you will make sure to bring your plus one."

With a nod, she walked to the door and stepped out. Had she had looked behind her she would have seen the tear course down T'Challa's face. Aware of the approach of his staff, he wiped his face quickly and awaited their arrival.

Leaving the building, surround by his security team and staff, T'Challa could not help feeling sadden by his friend's departure. Though his heart had found another, he felt that no one could take the place of Ororo, the love of his life.