Here's the resolution! TA-DA! and the fluffy chapter. Thank you for all the reviews, I love you all so very much.
To my dearest beta, thank you so much for doing this, you rock like forever and ever.
Enjoy and don't forget to review!
This has become my daily routine; ice cream and a movie. There's nothing else that can take away the misery my life has become, and the sadness that always tries to creep up on me whenever I'm alone. I could have invited Maggie but she mentioned something about a date with some guy she met. She said something about me being surprised. I don't even want to know.
Just when I'm about to get settled in front of the TV, there's a knock on my door.
Who might be at such a late hour? I'm certainly not in the mood for a conversation with anybody, at least not right now.
I catch my breath at the sight before my eyes as I see Steve standing right in front of me.
"Hi…" I barely whisper.
"Hi. Can I come in?"
I nod and he steps in, looking at his surroundings. I don't remember the last time he had been here; I guess it was when the whole Delano thing happened. He stopped by with Danny to check up on me and make sure I wasn't having a break down. We had lunch here a couple of times after my suspension, which was almost a year ago.
"What are you doing here?" I ask him, closing the door and walking towards him. "I thought you were packing with Catherine."
"I was, but I'm not anymore," he says, turning around to face me.
"Done so fast?"
"You could say that…" he whispers, taking a few steps towards me. I back away a little bit, the conversation we had the other day, the one when he finds out about me loving him, floating in my head.
"Aren't you excited about LA?" I ask him and he stares at me, I swallow hard because the way he looks at me is not the way a man about to move in with his girlfriend should be doing it.
"Not really, no," he says, more honest than I could ever be.
"I'm guessing you're nervous, but if you see the bright side you and Catherine are going to be very happy."
"I don't think happy is the right word," he speaks softly, taking two more steps towards me, W broke up."
"You… did?"
"Yeah. Catherine thought I didn't have my mind set on her."
"Did you?"
"Not really," he smiles and suddenly I feel my palms sweaty and the air thick. This whole conversation was escalating to a whole different level. "I had my mind set on someone else, to be honest."
"I hope you didn't tell her that," I joke and he smiles once more.
"Oh she knows; there was no need for me to say a word. I guess she knows me better than I thought."
God, he was breaking my personal space, he was so close to me I could feel the air leaving my lungs at his proximity. He has no idea the effect he was causing to my body.
"That's what girlfriends do…"
"Ex-girlfriends," he corrects me.
"Yeah, details."
"You know what that means, right?"
"No, not really," I say, seeming nervous which I really was but I was trying to play cool and calm.
"I'm not leaving," he whispers, and I nod slowly. "I thought I could, for a minute, leave it all behind and start a new life. But then I thought about the team, about my family, about all the memories. And I thought about you."
"You thought about me. Why?"
"Because I thought I could move on, that I could be happy with Catherine but then I saw she's not you." He moves a few steps closer, our bodies inches apart. He's breaking my personal space again and I don't know how to react. "She will never be like you…"
"Steve…"
"I thought I loved her, I really did but then something in me changed. I saw you. I finally did…"
I'm so shocked by his words, so totally and completely shocked I find myself speechless. Was he being serious or was this part of some twisted bizarre dream of mine? Did I fell asleep on the couch again?
"Steve, please stop."
"Stop what?"
"All of this! The only reason why are you talking to me this way is because need to make an excuse not to leave."
"That's not true."
"Yes it is. You know Catherine is the right woman for you, she will make you happy…"
"I love you."
He interrupts me and I freeze. He speaks with such honesty and determination I can really tell he's being truthful. He's not playing jokes, he's not trying to shut me up and he loves me.
"What…"
"I love you Kono," he speaks, moving impossibly closer to me. "That's why I'm not leaving. Because Catherine knew the only one who could stop me from doing this was you, because she knew eventually I would see it. I love you."
He takes my face between his hands, caressing my cheeks with his thumbs. I close my eyes at the contact of his warm hands with my cold cheeks. It brings shivers down my spine.
"I don't understand. Days ago you told Danny you loved Catherine. How am I supposed to trust you when I heard you say it?"
"Because…" he sighs heavily, breaking contact with me and moving away. He paces around the room, frustrated. "I didn't see it. I didn't. Not until I just couldn't stop thinking about how wrong it was for me to leave, not Hawaii but you. And I closed my eyes and I heard your voice and I saw you, then I knew it. I just did."
"God, Steve…"
"I love you Kono," he pleads. "I love you more than I ever thought I could."
"You… you love me?" I whisper, his confession finally sinking in and tear runs down my cheek. He wipes it away with his hand, kissing my cheek.
"Yes," he whispers, his face so close to mine I could feel his breath and then there was no more space, no more distance.
His lips barely brush mine in a very gentle kiss, and my arms instinctively move around his neck. He presses his body closer, and the kiss intensifies by the minute. I moan against his mouth, he wraps his arms around my waist, one of his hands brushing the skin underneath my pajama shirt. He lifts me up, my legs wrap around his waist and he moves towards somewhere. I remember he has no idea where my room is, so he walks towards the kitchen instead, I could have laughed about it but my brain is so busy with the wonderful things his mouth is doing to my neck. I sit on the kitchen counter and we break apart for a second just to look at each other, he smiles and brushes a rebel hair off my face.
There's so much love in his eyes it amazes me. There was no way I could have predicted our relationship was going to end like this. Steve loving me the way he's doing right now, hands everywhere, lips brushing every single part of my body, whispering sweet loving words in my ear, telling me he loves me over and over again.
This is such what I needed, just what I wanted.
THE END!
