You'll be the death of me. And I'll be waiting.

Bobby had long since stopped paying attention to class. He was sitting at his desk, a small bundle of papers in front of him, a pained expression on his face. He knew what the pages were—it had been the second journal that he had started on Ibara, when he thought the war was over. Everything that had happened, up to when he had left to finish the battle for Halla. And then, another note, written on the same paper as the others, but in a drastically different script, and addressed to him.

His hands clenched, and he fought back a strange mixture of emotions fighting to break through to the surface. It couldn't be real. It couldn't be true. Ibara had been a trick; yesterday's events had been a trick. It was revenge for his victory, attacking where he was the most vulnerable. Right?

He thought of the look on Andy's face when Nevva had arrived. He had seemed so broken, so... genuine. He thought of the way Andy had been acting. That, too, seemed so very genuine. If it had been a trick, it was a damn good one. And then he thought of Ibara. He thought of that day on the beach when Dane had kissed him and, without even thinking, he had kissed back. Had that been a trick? It hadn't seemed that way at the time; even if the war hadn't truly ended, their time on Ibara had been... companionable. He thought of the way Andy had kissed him the day before, the way that afterward they had just stood there for a moment, like the sudden surge of feeling had surprised both of them.

Bobby flipped back through the journals, reading and rereading his own words. He had written most of these pages—hadn't those been genuine? Even if this was one of Dane's tricks, wasn't it still true that somehow, against all odds, Bobby had developed feelings for the tall, pale man? It had certainly felt real.

If it's a trick, I don't think I mind falling for it. Falling for him.

He had written those words. Not Dane, not anyone else. And he had believed it, too; he fell for Dane, and he had fallen hard. There was no denying that, even if he wanted to. He stared at the page, lost in the conflicting turmoil of his own thoughts.

"School ended five minutes ago, you know."

Bobby jumped as the low voice spoke directly beside him, only then noticing Andy sitting in a chair right next to him. The delinquent was watching him with a solemn, almost apologetic expression, which shifted quickly to pained as Bobby gathered his things wordlessly and moved toward the door.

"Bobby, please."

He grabbed the Lead Traveler's arm, a quiet desperation in his eyes. Bobby turned to look at him, and Andy could see the distressed look in the teen's eyes. "Dane. Don't do this. I can't... I can't do this."

The blue-eyed demon tightened his grip slightly. "Then what? I had a chance to change something on Ibara, and I'll be the first to admit that I screwed up. We could have... it could have ended then and there. But I couldn't bring myself to say what I needed to say, and that almost killed me. I don't know why I didn't die on Third Earth, but you know what? I'm not going to make the same mistakes this time."

"Stop it," Bobby whispered.

"It wasn't until it was too late that I realized how I felt. I wrote that letter in your journal thinking it would be the last thing I ever did, even though I knew you'd never see it. And now we're back here, and I feel like if I don't tell you how much I love you now I'm never going to get the chance."

"Dane, don't." Bobby was on the verge of tears, his hands visibly shaking.

Andy grabbed the other teen by the shoulders, attempting to keep his voice from trembling with nervous energy. "Bobby Pendragon, I love you. If I could change everything I tried to do, I would, if only just for you. I'd give up all my powers, all the plans I'd had for Halla, if only to prove to you that what I'm feeling is real. I love you."

Bobby averted his eyes, gently pulling the hands off of his shoulders. "I can't." His voice was choked, pained. "I just can't do this, Dane. Too much has happened for it to be that simple." He looked back up and met the icy blue eyes, hesitating for a moment before again looking away. "Back then, on Ibara... I really did fall in love with you. It happened so fast, and I was caught off guard. It was surprising, and confusing, and for some reason it made me feel so happy. And then it all came crashing down around me, and I felt like such an idiot for ever thinking that the world could work like that. We can't have some fairy tale ending where everything's fine, where I never think about the things you did. I can't forgive you for what you did, any more than you can forgive me for not saving you on Third Earth." He paused, sniffing lightly and wiping his eyes with the back of one hand. "But, you know, I can't really say I don't want you around. When I saw you the other day, I couldn't even remember the war and I was still happy you were alive. I spent the whole day smiling like an idiot. And then you kissed me, and I... I've never been that happy in my life, and I didn't even know why. What I'm trying to say is..."

He hesitated. What was he trying to say? Andy was watching him, his bright blue eyes cautious and concerned and softer than they had ever been during the war for Halla.

"I think..." Bobby took a deep breath, the words which had been flowing from him so easily a moment ago trapped in his throat. "I don't think we can be perfect together. But I think I'm willing to try."

He attempted a shaky half-smile, and Andy smiled back. It wasn't perfect, not by a long shot. But it was definitely a start.

[So, that's the less-than-perfect conclusion. I actually forgot what I had originally planned, and I've spent the last day staring at my computer thinking of what to do with this. Hopefully it makes sense. This is the last thing I'm going to be able to post for a while, since when I go to basic I literally can't bring anything at all, not even my phone, and I'll probably be busy with navy stuff anyway. I should be done with training in January, and hopefully when I head to nuke school they'll let me have my laptop again so I can start writing some new stories!]

[Thanks again to pitchpearlgirl and alphaonefourzero. You guys are great friends, and that going-away present will be the highlight of my year!]