AN: Well, as the two love birds return to their hotel room, they reflect on their past together, which was not all crystal clear and happy.

Chapter Four: The Sweetest Liberties Revisited

David and Alex were laughing and throwing snow at each other as they returned. David threw off his coat and jacket and watched them landed on the chair in the room. Alex stripped down to her only clothes that she brought with her on this trip, and fell on the bed beside David. She let out a relaxed sigh, and looked towards him.

"Man, that was relaxing." Alex said. "You know, until you hit me with a snowball."

"Payback from this morning." David answered. "Just what were you thinking when you did that to me?"

"Well, I just wanted to have a little fun, and I wanted to get you up for the day, of course, it worked." Alex smiled.

"Ha, ha. My girlfriend is a comedian." David laughed. Alex smiled warmly at him, and wrapped herself around him. She sighed constantly, and wondered what was on his mind.

"Who would have thought that we would end up as a couple, let alone lying here together in Paris during Christmastime?" Alex asked in a sleepy tone.

"I sort of did." David said. "I always had some feelings for you, and what really made me actually think about love was when Merlin took you hostage. If anything had happened to you by his hands, I would have killed him with my bare hands."

"That was a really scary time that I don't want to think about ever again." Alex stated, pulling closer to David.

David looked down at Alex, and realized that she fell asleep. David just kissed the top of her head, and fell asleep himself, flashing back to the time when every thing changed for the two of them.

TWO YEARS EARLIER...

Alex found herself in a dark basement, tied to a pole with some type of rope that was draining her magic powers. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying for a long time, and her face hurt and was bruised from when Merlin slapped her hard a few hours earlier. Speaking of the devil, Merlin left to go and heckle her parents about he having their only daughter in his grasp. What he was going to do to her was the main question. She saw two other demons looking on, watching her like she was a piece of meat. She knew what they had in mind, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

"Well, what do we have here? A really pretty little girl all tied up?" One demon said, running his claws through her black hair. Alex flinched away, and the other demon yanked her head hard, and forced her to look in their eyes.

"Since Merlin is going to be gone for a while, let's have a little fun, shall we?" The other demon laughed. Alex began to kick wildly as they began to unbutton her shirt, exposing her bra. Just as they were making a motion for her pants...

BOOM.

"What in the hell was that!" One of the demons screamed. When they looked around, a metal bat came into contact with their heads, and they fell to the ground with a loud thud. Alex's eyes were met with a familiar pair of brown ones.

"Hey, pretty, sorry it took so long. Let's get you out of here." David, her long time friend said. As soon as David untied her from the pole that she was tied to, Alex threw her arms around him, and cried.

"Don't worry, things are going to be alright." David said smoothly. Now all he had to do was figure out how to get her out of here...

Alex snapped awake, and realized that she was sleeping in David's arms. She shook off that terrible memory of what happened to her a few years earlier, and snuggled closer to David, wondering what he was dreaming about...

It was springtime in New York, and 10 year old Alex was sitting outside her home, watching various people walk around her home. She looked up at the orange sky, and thought about her friend David. He had a really hard life growing up, but the one thing that she really liked about him was that he always had a smile on his face about something. As she was deep in the thoughts in her mind, David strolled up, and sat next to her.

"Hey, sunshine. What's up?" David smiled, placing his New York Yankee hat on her head. Alex smiled, and placed the hat back on his head.

"David, how are you feeling?" Alex asked.

"Fine, all things considering." David answered. Alex crossed her legs, and continued.

"I was just wondering, you know, because you have been feeling really down lately." Alex asked.

"Louis has been going on about my mom and dad a lot lately. It has gotten so bad that I had to get out and walk around to clear my head. What do you know? I ended up here." David said with a slight smile.

"David, I am sorry for what happened to you, and I am here when you need to talk, okay?" Alex said.

"Sure." David said. "Today was mom's birthday, you know. It just get's to me sometimes. I am grateful for Louis and Villo, no question about it, but I just miss having a normal family and a normal family life sometimes, you know?"

Alex looked at him, and saw a tear rolling down his cheek. Alex just leaned in, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. David just blushed, and hugged his friend tightly.

"Thanks, I needed that." David said with a smile.

"No problem." Alex said, returning the affection.

AN: A sweet ending to the chapter. Keep reading for more!