A/N: Going to be a little evil here and leave it on a bit of a cliffhanger in a not really cliffhanger but kind of is way. Sorry had a bout of insomnia and got the next two chapters finished but only this one edited...now my melatonin is kicking in and I am going to crash. I am sure I will be back at it in a few hours. Anyways I hope you enjoy. It took me a while to write this in a way that I didn't feel the need to take a steel brush to mind for. And by that I mean making it into a complete cliched sap fest. Sorry I just apparently am not very romantic. Hopefully this is believable! :D

Soundtrack to the Chapter list for this one: Nina June 'For Love' Seriously obsessed with that song, Red 'Your Again', Tove Lo 'Thousand Miles', Gabriele Alpin 'Please Don't Say You Love Me', One Republic 'Let's Hurt Tonight', X Ambassadors 'Unsteady' and Gorgeous, and because I am weird apparently G Easy 'Let's Get Lost'

Chapter 11

Eric walked back up to the house with the two boxes stacked on top of each other. He went to put down the boxes so he could open the door when he noticed something hanging from the door.

With a frown he pulled it from the handle and noticed it was an envelope with his name on it. He opened it and pulled out a picture that had his heart speeding up. Because the picture was of Kira and him just after she went to live with them. It was one his mother had taken of them without them knowing. They had been watching movies on the couch and had fallen asleep sitting up but at some point he had pulled her to him and she had wrapped her arms around his waist. They had slept like that, with her head on his chest and his arms around her. It was truly the first time he had known his feelings had changed for her from protective surrogate big brother and friend to wanting more.

His heart was speeding up because of the words on the other side of the picture.

'In the end you always you go back to the people that were there in the beginning.' This is the memory of the beginning for me. Follow the path of memories….

The boxes were forgotten as he opened the door. Eric's heart was still beating almost out of his chest and he wanted to scowl at himself because here he was a fucking grown man. A trained soldier and his palms were as sweaty as when he first thought about this same woman when they were both still kids. Thought about her and kissing for the first time. He felt like that 13 year boy again.

The next picture was of them again. He found it closer to the kitchen in the walkway that led to what he assumed was a bedroom. He could see two more envelops on the ground like the one in his hand and the one from the door.

This picture was before he had finally admitted his feelings. Before that dance he had barged into and dragged her out of because he couldn't stand the thought of her even dancing with another guy.

In this one he was about 16 and she was 15. He remembered the day it was taken because Shay had been taking pictures of all the friends as they had decided to take their study projects to the courtyard. They had almost made a picnic of it with baskets of food and drinks, blankets and everyone all spread out either reading books or working on laptops.

Eric and Kira had decided to take a break and found that someone had brought a chess set. So they had set it up and then laid across from each other on their stomachs. They had been laughing and talking as they played. Shay had gotten the picture just as Eric had moved closer to reach over the board and tuck some of Kira's hair behind her ear. He hadn't seen this picture in a very long time. It had disappeared after everything had happened and he had been sure Kira had taken it to destroy it.

Because there was no way someone that saw that picture didn't see the love they had for each other as they looked into each other's eyes with the smiles on their lips.

She had kept it though. Gods this made him happier than he could say because maybe it meant she could heal from the shit he did to her. Taking a breath he turned the picture over to read the words he knew he would find there.

'I guess when you're young, you just believe there'll be many people with whom you'll connect with. Later in life, you realize it only happens a few times.' For me it was always you Eric. Then and now there is no one I connect with like I have with you.

He was starting to see where this was leading. It wasn't just about doing something nice and romantic for him. It was going beyond that and it was also such a Kira thing to do. He couldn't help the smile on his face or the fact that his breathing was a little bit stuttered as he moved to the next envelope.

This had a picture from just after they had finally admitted their feelings for each other. He was 17 and she was 16. This one they had taken of themselves with a tablet phone. They were laying down in their secret spot and had been facing each other. He had made her take pictures of themselves and this was another that had gone missing. The others had been silly or of them with their foreheads pressed together. This one had their lips just above each others and had captured the restrained passion they felt for each other.

He let his fingers move over the picture, his forehead furrowed in trying to calm himself. He slowly turned the picture over for the words on this one.

'I was playing back a thousand memories baby, thinking about everything we've been through.' Good and bad Eric, all the best and worst memories are with you. I realized that I would take a thousand more of the worst if it meant I could make one more of the best with you again.

He couldn't even take time to reflect because he was already moving to the next one. His heart was beating as fast as The Pit in the middle of a raging party.

He practically tore the next envelope open and almost fell to his knees because she had kept them fucking all. All those moments he had cursed himself for losing when did what he did. The evidence of them all had gone just as surely as she did from his life.

It was of them again in their secret spot and this picture was one no one had ever seen but the two of them. He had been stunned when she had suggested it at all because of how intimate it had been.

The night they had planned to come together Kira had talked him into taking a picture. It wasn't racy or dirty but it did capture the beginning of them coming together. It had started out innocent. They had wanted a picture of them facing each other and looking into each others eyes with the full moon in the background.

So they had set up the camera they had borrowed from his Mom on the tripod she had. They had programmed it to take a bunch of frames because there were some pictures they had seen in the archives where if the shutter was left open and the couples moved just slightly it created tracers or cool effects.

Kira had settled herself in his lap, her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. His arms had been around her waist and they had sat there, holding each other's eyes. Until that night they hadn't said the words they loved each other. Just that they wanted each other and to be more.

She had said it first. That night as they looked at each other and holding one another close, she had smiled softly and said she loved him. He could still remember the feeling that radiated through him at hearing her say it and seeing it in her eyes. He had barely gotten his own words out before they were both crashing their lips together.

The picture though was of them when they had come up for air. Their shirts had been lost during all of that and they had paused long enough for the picture to be captured. The two of them entwined and pressing their foreheads together. The full moon seeming to reflect on the bare skin of their bodies and making them almost glow.

It had been the only picture out the hundred that were set to take that was clear but they had both loved it. He hadn't thought to ask for a copy because he hadn't thought there was a need. It was a private picture that they both decided to keep but only take out years later to reflect on that night.

Of all the pictures he believed would for sure be destroyed, this had been at the top of the list. How could he not expect her to want to get rid of the memory of the night they had professed their love for each other and then lost their innocence together in an ultimate act of love? She hadn't though and it was blowing him away completely.

He was almost afraid to turn over the picture and read the words there but he took a breath and did so.

"I'll be looking for you. Will, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we'll cling together so tight that nothing and no one'll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you …. We'll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams… And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won't be able to take one, they'll have to take two, one of you and one of me, we'll be joined so tight…" [Phillip Pullman, His Darth Materials Trilogy] - Every single moment I looked for you Eric. We joined in this moment and I was never able to break apart from you. You held me then as you hold me now, as I hold you. With every atom and fiber of my being I cling to you.

One more envelop is waiting at the door and he whips it off and rips it open. It is a picture he didn't know even existed but then again he hadn't noticed much but Kira that night.

Someone had taken a picture of Kira in his lap that night on the roof. Again they were looking into each other's eyes and it captured his love but her struggle. He could make out in her eyes the struggle she must have been feeling in that moment on whether to take that leap and risk losing him again or fighting it.

He turned over the picture and realized she couldn't have chosen a better picture for the sentiment she was trying to reach.

'Sometimes you heart needs more time to accept what your mind already knows.' You have given me the time to accept what both have always known. Time to be able to give you the words that I couldn't….until now….

He was outside of the door. She could hear his breathing and she knew he would be walking in soon. She tried not to bolt for the bathroom, to let her knees shake in nervousness or let the butterflies get to her.

She was standing by the tall windows that had a perfect view of the mountains and lake in the background. She had thought of laying on the bed, in fact it was suggested she do so being dressed as she was. She just couldn't do that. So she stood by the windows with the sun setting behind her and waited for him to come into the room.

She could see his outline and turned to face looking out to try and give her a moment to breathe and steel herself. To say the words she is bursting to say and he deserves to hear.

She hears his intake of breath and knows it is now or never.