Dark Paradise

Chapter 14 – The River in Reverse – Part 1

••• ••• •••

As Klaus pulled to a stop outside of the house Mara shared with her twin sister, Emmalin, he looked over to Mara as he said, "I have something that belongs to you."

She took her seat-belt off and looked over at him in question.

Pulling her cell phone from his pocket he handed it to her and she let out a small sigh as she rubbed her thumb over the cracks spanning the screen as she thought of how Marcel now owed her a new cell phone.

He watched her silently for a moment before saying, "When I found it outside near the road, the screen was still on… open to my number."

"Yeah," she remembered blowing out a heavy breath, "I was trying to call you about Hayley being taken and then everything just went black… woke up with a cloth bag over my head in the back of a moving car."

"Mara," he said, getting her to look over at him as he shut the car off and turned slightly to face her to make sure she understood how serious he was when he said, "If I'd known where you were being held, I'd have gotten to you as soon as I could."

Nodding she agreed, "Yeah, I uh, I kind of know that now."

"Only now?" he questioned.

"I cloaked my location so Emmy couldn't find me, I was afraid she'd walk into a trap trying to save me and end up getting hurt or worse," Mara explained, swallowing hard as she admitted, "There were a few times when I was so scared and in so much pain that I almost lifted the spell to let her find me but I'd think it over and decide against it, but then I had this moment where I thought if Emmy didn't find me that no one else would."

His eyebrows raised in surprise as he asked, "You didn't think I was trying to find you?"

"I knew that Hayley was taken by someone else and that all the focus would be on her and the baby and…" Her voice trailed off.

"And what?" he pushed.

"And… I sort of thought that after you found Hayley and she was safe that you'd cut your losses when it came to me. You know, I'd end up being more trouble than I'm worth."

The words stung her tongue as she spoke them. Words that she'd heard from her dad on several occasions over the years when she'd manage to mess things up, was mean to Emmalin or got into trouble.

Swallowing hard she closed her eyes and she could still see her dad standing with his arms folded across his chest, slowly shaking his head back and forth and letting out a sigh as he'd said, "Mara, I don't know what to do with you… more trouble than you're worth."

She knew he didn't actually believe that, or at least she hoped he didn't actually think that lowly of her but neither of her parents had ever said that or anything like it to her sister.

When she didn't look over at him, he reached over and took her chin in his hand as he made her face him and quietly said, "You are worth everything, Mara. Don't ever forget that."

Her heart skipped a few beats in her chest with the way he was looking at her- like she was the only thing on earth that mattered to him in that moment in time. No one had ever looked at her like before.

If anyone else had said that to her, she'd have probably rolled her eyes at them but she was pretty sure he actually meant it. When he brought his face to hers, she leaned over the console farther to deepen the kiss. She knew it was wrong, being not only what he was but all of the bad, monstrous things he was known for –she considered maybe Rebekah was right that she should have grabbed Emmalin and fled town.

Only now, it seemed like both sisters were finding reasons to hang around the big easy; either way she selfishly was glad they'd stayed.

As she got out of the car and started for the door, she turned around when she heard his door shut too.

"What are you doing? She questioned.

"The last time I let you out of my sight you got yourself kidnapped," he reminded her and she shook her head but didn't protest as he walked her up to the door.

After they'd left the woods, she'd told him she couldn't go home until she was cleaned up. Her sister couldn't see her in the state she was in with a blood-soaked shirt. So they'd made a relatively quick stop by the plantation house so she could shower and he offered her one of his shirts after, she accepted it.

Looking down to the dark shirt she was wearing, she looked back at him and questioned, "What happens to Marcel now?"

"I'll deal with Marcellus," he asserted before adding, "After all… he took something of mine."

Her eyebrows lowered some as she repeated back, "Yours?"

"Mine," he said with a nod, and a smirk toying at the corner of his mouth like he was trying to bait her to argue with him. And if her sister wasn't right on the other side of the door, needing to see her as much as needed to see Emmalin too, she probably would have taken the bait.

"I gotta get inside." She nodded to the door as she spoke, "You should probably get out of here, Emmy's had a rough day and seeing you won't exactly help calm her down."

"You were abducted and held against your will… yet your sister had a taxing day?" he questioned a slight look of astonishment in his eyes.

Stepping closer she raised up and kissed him once more, needing to lock the feeling to her memory and feel the safety of his arms wrapped around her once more to help her get through the night.

"See you tomorrow, love," he quietly said with his face mere inches from her when the kiss was broken.

It wasn't until he'd take a few steps away that it registered what he'd said and she asked, "Why? What's tomorrow?"

"We're writing my memoirs, remember?"

"Klaus!" she exclaimed with raised eyebrows, "You realize I almost died today, right?"

Giving her a smile he pointed out, "My memoir won't write itself, Mara."

She shook her head and tried to act like she wasn't looking forward to spending more time with him, but then something happened. For the first time all day a smile spread over her own lips and the conversation even earned a small laugh on her part.

Turning back around she opened the door and walked inside where she saw Kaleb moving candles and other various objects they'd been using to work spells all day from the table and Emmalin's voice soared through the house as she called out, "Is that her?"

But before Kaleb or Mara could answer, Emmalin ran into the room and came to a stop just in front of her sister with tears starting to run down her face. Once Klaus had found her, Mara called her to let her know she was okay and would be home as soon as possible. But it wasn't until she had her sister right in front of her eyes that she could finally breathe and knew her twin was safe.

Without wasting another second she flung herself forward and wrapped her in such a tight hug Mara struggled to catch her breath, but she didn't mind as she clutched onto her equally as tight with tears running down her own cheeks.

There had been so many times through the day that both sisters were terrified and plagued with thoughts that they may never see the other one again. Growing up, Mara had always watched out for Emmalin but being as different as they were they weren't ever as close as they had been since they lost their parents.

After being through so much, the thought of losing the other was crippling.

"Are you okay?" Emmalin asked, her voice hoarse and broken through tears.

"I'm fine, Emmy. I'm home, I'm with you… I'm fine," Mara replied as she stepped back from the hug and swatted at her tears.

"I worked so hard all day trying to find you but you we're cloaking yourself," Emmalin cried wiping her own tears as she asked, "Why did you do that?"

"Because I knew you'd come looking for me and I couldn't risk you getting hurt, Em," she admitted with an apologetic look on her face.

"Yeah, but, Mar-"

She started to say, her voice abruptly cutting off when she realized the shirt her sister was wearing not only wasn't the one she'd last seen her in, it was a men's shirt and too big for her.

Her brown eyes shot up to where the tips of Mara's hair was still wet from her shower and Emmalin asked with a hurt look, "You showered? Why wouldn't you come straight home? I've been freaking out!"

"I couldn't come straight home-" Mara tried to explain, but Emmalin was too upset to listen as she pointed out again how scared she'd been.

"Emmy," Kaleb said as he stepped up beside her, not wanting to get in the middle of what was happening but he immediately understood what had happened. Reaching down and taking one of her hands in his own to calm her, he said, "I think your sister was just trying to spare you of seeing her in the state she was in."

Mara nodded and Emmalin reached up holding onto her own shoulder that she'd been having sharp pains in as more tears welled up in her eyes and she asked, "How bad were you hurt, Mar?"

"Bad enough that I didn't want you seeing me like that, but it's okay. It's all over now. I'm okay," Mara said stepping closer as she repeated, "We're okay."

Emmalin nodded, knowing her sister was only trying to protect her from the reality of what she'd been through but it still hurt and even though they were safe for the night, she was starting to feel like tomorrow was always going to hold some new threat.

"Are you okay now? Do we need to get you to the hospital?" She gasped, still holding onto her own shoulder so clearly remembering the terrible pain she'd been in and could only imagine what could have caused it.

Seeing her sister's breathing was labored and she was still almost frantic from everything, Mara pulled her in for a hug as she looked to Kaleb and said, "I think she'd feel better if you stayed with her tonight."

Kaleb gave a small smile and a nod in agreement, he'd wanted to stay with her anyways but wasn't sure if once Mara got home they'd want to be alone for the night. But he remembered how Emmalin told him her sister liked being alone and he could see that's what she needed was to be on her own right now. Emmalin, however, needed someone to stay with her after everything –she needed him and he was going to be there for her.

"Are you sure-" Emmalin started to ask as she stepped back from the sisterly embrace.

"Emmy, don't make me say 'I'm fine' for the hundredth time since I got home."

The comment earned a weak smile from her sister. She did feel completely exhausted from the day so she didn't argue with Kaleb when he wrapped an arm around her, pressed a kiss to the side of her head and softly said, "Come on pretty girl, let's get you to bed."

"Kaleb!" Mara called, stopping him in the doorway, she added, "Thank you."

"I'm glad you're safe." He nodded with a friendly smile, knowing she wasn't just talking about taking care of Emmalin now, she meant for helping her sister help Klaus find her.

A smile spread over her lips as she saw him being so gentle and caring to Emmalin, she was happy for her sister and knew Kaleb was exactly the kind of guy she needed around.

Then her mind drifted back to Klaus –she couldn't deny there was something between them anymore and she didn't want to.

Once they were out of sight she pulled her shirt away from her shoulder, trailing a finger over where she'd been hurt. There was no sign of it ever being there- like it never happened. Only she knew it had happened and a part of her wasn't sure she'd ever feel the same as before.

••• ••• •••

Emmalin grabbed a set of clothes, changing into a pair of shorts and a tank top to sleep in, then walked back into her room, finding Kaleb laying in her bed, with his back against the headboard.

As soon as she walked in; he quickly jumped up from the bed and pulled the comforter back for her, wanting her to rest.

Emmalin paused near the bedroom door even though her sister was home now, she was still worried about her. During the spell, she picked up some of her emotions and saw glimpses of the things she went through.

She bit her bottom lip for a moment in thought, before saying, "Maybe I should check on-"

"She's fine," Kaleb interrupted. Knowing she was thinking of her sister. He knew she was still concern about her, but he knew Mara was the type that wanted to be alone. Plus he knew she agreed with him on the fact that Emmalin needed to rest. Those spells really drained her earlier. Even now she still looked a little pale and was swaying on her feet.

He made his way over to her, coming to a stop in front of her. He lightly grabbed her hands and took a few steps back, pulling her with him toward the bed, "You need to get to bed, pretty girl."

Emmalin didn't pull away as he led her to the bed. She sat down, then laid out on her side, feeling any bit of energy she may have had leave her body. She softly smiled as he pulled the covers over her, tucking her in, then tenderly kissed her forehead.

As he went to take a step back, she quickly reached out to grab his hand as she whispered out, "Please stay."

"Of course," Kaleb said, looking down at her, surprised at her request. He had no plans of leaving her tonight.

He walked over to the other side of the bed, kicking off his shoes, and laying down beside her. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her back toward him to hold her close. He looked at the back of her head for a moment or two, before asking, "Did you really think I would leave you?"

"I'd hope not, but I wasn't sure," Emmalin said. "I know you were mad at me earlier-"

"I wasn't mad at you," Kaleb interrupted. "I was terribly worried for you, but I was never mad." He lightly kissed the top of her head, keeping his lips pressed against her as he added, "I don't think I could be mad at you if I tried."

Emmalin smiled at his words and laid her hand on top of the hand he had wrapped around her, intertwining their fingers. "I'm sorry for worrying you. I just-I had to find her." She felt tears fill her eyes as she softly said, "All I could think was; I just buried my parents, I can't bury Mara too."

Kaleb raised up on his elbow to look down at her, "You're not going to bury Mara." He brushed her hair from her face as he added, "I'm going to make sure you never bury anyone again."

"I hope you're right," she whispered as she rolled over on her back to look up at him. She reached up to lay her hand on the back of his neck, pulling him down toward her for a gentle kiss.

The two kissed a little longer, before he pressed his lips against her shoulder, leaving light kisses wherever his lips landed, causing goosebumps on her skin.

"How's the shoulder?" he questioned, keeping his lips against her skin.

"It's fine," Emmalin breathed out as she tried not to moan at the way he was making her feel. Any time he touched her it was like everything was heightened, it was unlike anything she had ever felt before.

He kissed her shoulder a few more times before raising his head to look at her. He ran his fingertip over her bare shoulder, moving the strap of her tank top aside. He could never stop touching her.

"That's good," he said with a smile, glad to hear her shoulder wasn't bothering her. He could tell she was in a lot of pain before.

"Yeah, it feels completely fine. Like nothing happened," Emmalin said. "I don't know how that is possible. The pain I was feeling, it wasn't like a tiny scratch, it was a major cut, but now... nothing. It's like she's healed and I'm healed, but there is no way she could have healed that fast."

"Maybe she's just good at hiding it," Kaleb suggested. He laid a hand on the side of her face, caressing her cheek as he added, "Either way; she is home and she is fine, but you're not. Those spells took a lot out of you and you need to rest, pretty girl."

"I am tired and very drained, but I dunno, it's like I can't sleep," Emmalin said, rolling onto her side to face him. "It's like, when I'm with you, I don't want that time to end. I don't want to say good night."

Kaleb smiled at her words as he laid his hand on the small of her back and pulled her toward him. He gave her a sweet kiss on the lips, then rubbed his nose against hers as he whispered, "We won't say goodnight then, love, we'll say good morning."

Emmalin grinned against his lips, giving him another kiss, before saying, "I like the sound of that."

Kaleb pulled back to look at her, a chuckle on his lips as he said, "But you have to sleep first before we can do that." He laid a hand on the side of her neck, "So how do we do that? How do we make you sleepy?"

"Hmm..." Emmalin began to say. A grin appeared on her face as she whispered, "Fairies."

"What?" Kaleb asked with a laugh.

She laughed with him, before saying, "It's what my mom use to do if I couldn't sleep."

"Right," Kaleb said, remember she told him about her mother telling her stories. "The fairy stories." He gave her a look, "You're not going to ask me to tell a story, are you?"

"No." She chuckled. "I was kidding. I don't believe in that stuff anymore, remember?"

"You should never stop believing in things that once made you happy," Kaleb said, running his thumb against her cheek.

"That's good advice," Emmalin said with a smile. "What did your mom do?"

"What?" he asked surprised.

"When you couldn't sleep, what would she do?" Emmalin asked, wanting to know more about his past.

"She uh, she... She gave me warm milk," Kaleb answered. "Warm milk and a freshly baked cookie."

"That's sweet," Emmalin said with a smile as she began to feel sleepy finally. "I bet you miss your family, huh?"

"Yeah," he softly said.

"I want to hear all about them..." Emmalin sleepily said. Her eyes closed for a moment before she opened them to smile at him, "I want to hear about your family, I want to hear about you. Your past... everything... every single story."

"Another time, pretty girl," Kaleb whispered, seeing her close her eyes again. He pulled her close to him, kissing her forehead, he whispered, "But first sleep."

••• •The next day• •••

With a heavy sigh Mara looked up from the typewriter Klaus was having her use to record his memoirs. What had started out as a productive session, quickly went south when he went from telling stories of his past to drinking heavily and getting stuck on the topic of his siblings betraying and conspiring against him.

"They have all forsaken me. My siblings are as deceitful and diseased as my parents ever were," he said as he crossed in front of the doorway in his constant pacing, stopping only long enough to take a drink and pull in a deep, breathing before continuing, "Accusing me of using my baby for my own gain. Trusting others before their own blood."

"Ugh!" she exclaimed as she made a typo. He turned around to see her opening a bottle of white-out to cover up the error.

Seeing he was watching her she asked, "Why can't I just use my laptop for this? Hitting backspace is a lot quicker than using this crap." With the cap back on the bottle, she dropped it to the table where it bounced off the floor and she left it.

"That typewriter was good enough for Hemingway," he stated, crossing the room to pour himself another drink.

"What?" Mara questioned with wide eyes, "This… this was Hemingway's?"

He looked over his shoulder and nodded at her.

"Wow…" She breathed, lightly trailing her fingers over the aged keys. If he had Hemingway's typewriter, now she couldn't help but wonder what else he'd managed to acquire over the course of his life.

"Let's continue," he said, walking back over to where he'd pacing for well over an hour.

"Alright," she agreed as she pulled the paper from the typewriter and loaded a new sheet, "Maybe we should move onto another subject…"

"Elijah and Rebekah have cut to the quick with their vicious lies about me" He spoke loudly over her, motioning for her to keep typing.

Reloading the sheet she'd removed moments prior, her fingers scrambled to type and keep up with what he was saying, "When all I've done is try to win this battle of wills over Marcel's control over the quarter in order to reclaim our home."

When the clicking of the keys stopped, he turned to see she was sitting with her head resting in her hands instead of writing.

"Type, please!" he insisted, annoyance in his voice. Though truthfully, she was about the only person he wasn't currently annoyed or angry with.

"There's no point."

"What?" Asked loudly causing her to roll her eyes knowing even though her voice was muffled he heard her perfectly clear.

"There is no point for me to keep writing. Klaus, do you even realize you just keep repeating the same thing over and over?" she asked, her voice raised but not nearly as loud as his was.

With an almost stunned expression, he walked closer and she gave him an example, "Rebekah is out to get you. Elijah is out to get you. Everyone is out to get you, they're all conspiring against you. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you thought I was conspiring against you as well."

"If the daggers weren't missing, I'd put one in each of their hearts. Rid myself of the burden of my siblings for a couple of centuries," he said, his words a little slurred as a twisted smile spread over his lips at the thought of it.

"Okay, I'm just going to call it a day here because we're getting nowhere."

"Maybe if you'd type like I've paid you to do-"

"I'm not talking about the memoirs, Klaus. Normally I'm all for a healthy case of paranoia, but this is nowhere near healthy and FYI, repeating the exact same destructive patterns over and over again; it gets you nowhere. Trust me, I'd know and that has a lot to do with you being miserable. I mean what happiness has daggering any of them before ever brought you?" she said, shaking her head as she started to get the pages from that day into a neat pile.

"Funny, I don't recall asking for your advice," he shot back at her.

Giving up on trying to get the stacks of pages looking tidy, she stood up and faced him, "Really? I mean that's what this is all about, right? That you want what everyone else wants… someone to actually care enough to listen to them and to be understood."

"What I want is for memoirs to written, which is what I paid you to and you're not doing it," he replied, his jaw tensed in anger.

She stared at him for a while before she said, "Then why am I here? You know how to type and you could do this all yourself, but instead, you've got me here listening to your life stories. I think that's because you care more about someone listening to you and understanding more than you actually care about it recorded down on paper."

Downing the last of his glass he sat it down with a clank against the table as he said in a condescending tone, "Think what you want on your own time but while you're here and I'm paying you-"

Her face twisted into a look of fury and she cut him off as she loudly yelled, "What are you so afraid of?"

"I am afraid of nothing!" he yelled so loud it hurt her ears and started to instill the fear back into her that she'd had upon first learning who he was, but they'd gotten past that. She'd moved past that and she wasn't going to let a slightly drunken outburst make them take a few steps back, not after how he was with her the night before after coming to her rescue.

"Aren't you though?" she asked, her voice soft as she reached down and picked up the pages she'd been typing, "It doesn't matter who the typewriter belonged too, Klaus. You have me writing on it instead of my computer for the same reason you count every single page I've typed before you let me leave here, because you're scared to trust."

He was silent, swaying somewhat as he stood and watched her closely. Part of him amused at how she spoke her mind and wasn't afraid of him and the other part outraged for the same reason.

"I need to go," she stated, walking over to him as she said, "But just so you know, you don't have to pay me to spend time with you, okay? You're so convinced everyone is conspiring against you that you probably won't even believe this, but I care enough to listen to you on my own time and not time that you're paying me for. I'll give the money back… every single cent to prove it. I'm going by the bank after this anyways to draw money out for a new phone."

Leaning down she started to pick up her bag but when it turned on its side, some contents spilled out –including a small recorder which landed at his feet. Which she didn't notice until she'd picked up her other belongings and stood up to see him holding it.

"Klaus… I can explain," she cringed as she spoke, knowing he was probably going to be fuming either way.

Without a word to her, he looked at the buttons as he played what was on the recorder, looking up at her with a raged filled expression when he heard their conversation from just a few moments ago.

"What is this?" he asked, his voice almost had a growl to it.

"I can explain," she repeated, but he didn't give her a chance as he walked up to her and said, "Explain what? What you've been doing with these recordings or about how I should trust you?"

Swallowing hard and starting to wonder if she'd even get the chance to explain at all, she took a step backward.

"I know how it looks but…" Pulling in a deep breath she continued, "Yes, okay? I have been recording your life stories when you're telling me them but it's not for some bad reason."

"You mean to tell me that you're not saving these, saving everything I've told you so that one day you might be able to find something to use against me?" his voice was steady, which was honestly more terrifying than if he'd been screaming at her.

Her eyes widened as she watched him crush the recorder in his hand before letting the broken pieces rain onto the floor.

"I would never do that," she argued, offended that he'd even think that of her, but she wasn't sure why it surprised her. He honestly thought every single person he met could be conspiring against him, and so far her case wasn't looking so good.

She took a few steps back, but for every single step she took –he took two more towards her.

"Am I going to get to explain what's going on or are you just going to rip my head off before I get the chance?" she asked, and he stopped directly in front of her. There wasn't fear present in her voice, there was sadness.

"I haven't decided yet… but in the meantime, if I were you I'd start talking."

Pulling in a shallow breath, she said, "I've been taking the recordings home and listening to them, but only because you never tell me anything in order. We jump from things that happened five hundred years ago to what Elijah did to upset you yesterday. From ancient Europe to the '20s in America. It's a mess and all I have only been trying to keep it organized and rewrite it because I know it's a disaster on paper too."

"You really expect me to believe that? That you've… what? Been working on my memoirs in your own time? That there's not some ulterior motive here?" His voice was harsher than his words, and despite the way he was looking at her- like he really could end her life any second, she started to walk past him until he roughly grabbed her arm and brought her to an abrupt stop.

He'd thought she was trying to not only walk out in the middle of the conversation but that she was leaving without the real explanation he felt he was owed.

Her eyebrows furrowed in pain as she looked at him and said, "Let go of me, I'm just trying to get my computer to show you."

His hand instantly left her arm and she saw him look down to it as if he hadn't even meant to grab onto her like that.

Pulling her computer from her bag she held it in one arm as she put in her password and then set it down on the coffee table next to the typewriter and sat down in front of it as he sat down next to her to see what she was trying to prove.

Bringing up the program she'd been using to both organize and rewrite the memoir, she typed the password when prompted and quietly explain, "I've got it password protected so no one can access it… it's something even Emmy couldn't guess."

Once she was into the program she sat back and watched him as he opened up everything she'd saved. There were different folders for years and countries, an in-progress timeline. It wasn't until he opened up word documents and started to read that he believed what she'd said. They were the stories he'd told her –only different. She'd turned the recordings of him rambling on about himself and everyone who'd betrayed him into a work of art on the page. Even though it was his own story, he still had trouble pulling his eyes away from it.

"If you hadn't broken the recorder, you'd have seen today was the only thing on there because once I get it typed out I delete the recording and I have never just left it laying around for anyone to find," she said, her words true and her tone confident.

He looked over at her with an unreadable expression and she blew out a sigh as she shut her laptop and handed it to him, "Alright, go ahead… crush it with your bare hands. But just so you know, if I live –I'm taking the money for a new one out before I give you your money back."

Looking down to the computer in his hands he was silent for a while before he placed back in her hands and softly said, "I think it would be a tragedy to destroy this. You certainly do have a way of turning the written word into art."

"Does this mean you're letting me live too?"

Her tongue was sharp as she spoke and he knew he deserved far worse.

"Mara-"

"Great, well… if I'm getting to live to see another sunrise I'm getting out of here. I've got things and I need to do and I'll drop your money off later."

Standing up she dropped her computer back into her back so roughly she wondered for a moment if she'd broken it herself, but she didn't let the thought slow her down as she started for the door but he stopped her. Taking hold of her arm again only this time he was gentle about it.

"Mara, you have to understand-" He started to say, but she was done with hearing his side of things.

"I do understand. Most of the stories you've told me have been about others betraying you and we've still got well over nine-hundred more years to go. I get why you immediately assume the worst about someone… but I deserve better than that because I have been nothing but loyal to you. Even when Marcel had me, I could have told him about Hayley and the baby… about how I know you are without a doubt trying to take over the kingdom here that he swears he built. But I didn't, I told nothing but half-truths to give nothing away and strategic lies and that was only after he threatened Emmy."

"You're right," he said over the very end of what she was telling him, "You deserve better… you deserve the best. Still, even knowing that doesn't stop me from wanting you."

Her breath caught in her throat as she looked at him, his words sinking in and as he stepped closer all she managed to breath was, "Klaus?"

"Even though you deserve far better than me… that doesn't mean I could, or would ever let you go," he continued, his voice barely over a whisper with his face just mere inches from hers.

"I don't think I want you to let me go…" She whispered back, the part of her that was constantly reminding herself that he was dangerous and the way she felt was wrong was getting taken over by the part of her that was feeling like she couldn't live without him.

As he put his hand on the side of her face and started to lean in to kiss her, she didn't pull back or push him away. She wanted him too and for her to have him she knew she'd have to accept the parts of him that no one else could. The darkness, the paranoia – he wore his demons the way others wear their hearts on their sleeves and she knew better than anyone that demons will always be there. Even on the brightest days, he'd still have darkness. In the happiest moments there would still be pain. But once his mouth was against her parted lips, she started to realize that she was okay with that. She could handle his broken parts because many of those demons, were also her own.

It took everything she had to finally break the kiss and step back, she wanted to stay there with him but she couldn't. Not only did she really have things she needed to get done that day, but a small part of her was still upset with him.

••• ••• •••

A/N - Thanks for reading. Please take just a few moments to leave a review, the support goes further than you know. :)

Thanks to NicoleR85, SmellYourScentForMiles, Osen-san, xxxRena, Guest, Guest, Shades-Soul, BeaAdriana, and xxXWolfsLullabyXxx for reviewing since the last update.