Ring... Ring...

"Whaaaaat..." he sounded tired.

"Um... Quil?"

There was a lot of movement in the background. "Oh. Claire I- didn't know that was you... How, are you?"

"I was wondering if maybe you had any recommendations for stuff to do around here."

"Sure! Well cliff diving is something, but I doubt any of us will be able to do that for a while..."

Laws? No way. "Who has to know?"

"You're a bad influence."

I nodded in approval. "What's wrong? Can't get around an order?"

He huffed a sigh. "That's not it-"

"And here I thought I'd found someone who knew how to have fun..."

"Fine. You want to go cliff-diving? I'll take you cliff-diving."

"Right now?"

"As long as you promise not to barf on me." I heard him chuckle.

"I'm not making any promises."

"That's a long way down." I stared at my impending doom.

"You wanted to do it." he folded his arms.

"Has anyone ever died doing this?"

"Probably." he was painfully truthful.

"What?"

"Shh!" he laughed, pulling me back over.

"What if I drown?"

"You're not going to drown," he rolled his eyes.

"But-"

"I'll go with you. How about that?"

"But-"

I saw him coming toward me from the corner of my eye. "Don't even think about it." I pointed a finger at him. "Quil!"

He smiled devilishly.

"No!" I screamed as he grabbed my by the waste. "Help! I'm being attacked... Uh, RAPE!" I cried, but it was too late. Seconds later, we were plummeting to our certain death. The falling was definitely the scary part. It was like a roller coaster; until we hit the water that is. I shot out of the ice cold utopia, spitting the saltwater out of my mouth. He appeared next me, laughing.

I frowned at him, "You, bitch."

"You should have seen your face!"

I moved over, trying to smack the crap out of him, but he dove under the water. He emerged seconds later, and I grabbed on to his arm to keep afloat. We sat there for a second, our a ragged breaths the only sound. When my eyes met his, he kissed me. This was no ordinary kiss. This was a KISS. His warm lips felt good on my frozen face.

"You're freezing." he frowned, pulling me closer to him.

"N-not r-really." convincing him otherwise was an utter failure.

When we got to the shore, I lay down in the sand next to him. "I missed this."

"What? The beach?"

"Everything." I rolled over to look at his face.

"Me?" he smiled at that.

"Being with you is different from an ordinary relationship. I feel- a belonging? Like I already have strong feelings for you, even though we've only known each other for a day and a half."

"But I've known you all your life, Claire. I dreamed about the day you came back." he moved his gaze away from mine shyly.

I shook my head. "Don't be ashamed, Quil. You can't help it, I know."

He nodded. "I'm not rushing anything. I want you to know that. I won't do anything that makes you uncomfortable. Hell, I've waited this long, what's a little bit longer going to do?"

I laughed, drawing circles in the sand with my finger.

He looked up at the sky. "It sure is beautiful out."

I nodded, following his gaze. The clouds, a fluffy cumulus, were scattered across the sky. "Do you like what you do?"

He knew what I meant right away. "It has its ups and downs."

I bit my lip. "How-" I couldn't think of the words. "Do you feel different now?"

"Than before? A smidgen. I'm not completely different, but I'm not the same person I was."

"What kind of things have changed?" I hoped I wasn't being too personal.

He shrugged. "I definitely feel more mature. Like I grew some balls after I phased the first time. I definitely wouldn't have just walked up and told you everything like I did."

"I'm intimidating, am I?" I teased.

"Not in the slightest bit." he winked, laying back down in sand.

I laughed, laying my head on his shoulder and snuggling into his side.

"Are you still cold?"

"A little," I lied.

He wrapped his arms around me in a loose, comfortable embrace. "Better?"

I just smiled.

"Get a room!" a voice yelled from a ways away.

I sat up to match the voice to a face. "Jake! I see Sam let you out."

"Yeah, finally."

"Dude-" Quil muttered as he sat down with us.

"Oh hey, Quil."

I giggled as Quil huffed some curses under his breath. "It's fine, babe. Two space heaters are better than one!"

He just sighed, giving in.