Chapter 20

Author's Note: Sorry this took so long guys. For the many of you missing out on the infrequent (and often wrong) updates from my twitter account, this chapter has a bit of a citrus flavor at the end, so that was fun to write. I want to give special thanks to my good friend, Wol5fe, for helping me with it, and I want to thank all of you for being patient with me. This isn't really something I'm experienced with, so I'm sorry it took so long. Anyway, I hope it was worth it.

November 2, 2024

Seth refused to move. He didn't respond when I brought him food. I tried, so many times, to talk about what had happened, and he acted like I wasn't even there. It was late at night when I went downstairs to get something from the forge, and, when I came back up, he was gone. I sighed. I'd gotten used to the fact that he needed space when he was trying to cope a long time ago, but that never meant I had to like it.

I noticed the window was open, on the far side of the room, and went to it. I peered out, looking down at the empty street, then up, just in time to see one of his boots snake over the side of the roof. "Seth?" I called.

"Come up here," he said in a soft voice. "The air feels nice."

I sighed again, and stepped up onto the windowsill. His hand stretched down, I grabbed it, and he pulled me up. I settled against the roof of our home, our legs dangling off the edge. I shivered in the freezing air (It was November, after all), and he shrugged off his jacket, wrapping it around my shoulders.

"Are you okay?" I asked. He leaned back slightly, looking up at Floor 48's ceiling, the stars there almost seeming real.

"I don't know," he said, his voice disturbingly hollow. "I just feel…so lost. Guilt, sorrow, all of it, just…tearing through me, leaving me…lost."

I moved my hand, covering his, and squeezed it. "You still have me," I said, and he moved his arms were around me, pressing me to him.

"That's right," he said. "My little anchor." And suddenly his voice was choked, and I could feel hot tears spilling onto my shoulder. "Please don't leave…I need you. I can lose everything…Stay in this game forever, it doesn't matter, just please. I can't lose you. Please, god, not you."

"I'm not going anywhere," I said calmly.

"That's what they thought about Yui," he said.

I hugged him. "That wasn't your fault."

"Yes it is!" He hugged me closer to him, until we were cheek to cheek. I could feel the tension in his jaw as he clenched his teeth. "She shouldn't have had to come back for me! I should have been strong enough! I failed her! I failed everyone…James, Diabel, hundreds more have died! All I ever wanted to do was honor those people."

"You honor the dead by fighting. And you're not done fighting, you hear me?"

"All I've done for two years is fight. And I'm so tired…"

"I know, Seth, I know. But it's still not over. So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know."

"Neither do I. But I do know two things. One. You're not alone. I'm still here." He squeezed even tighter, clinging to me.

"And the second?"

"I know that I believe in you."

He sighed, all energy leaving him, and he slumped against me. "Sometimes I wonder if it's all worth it anymore," he said, his voice muffled against my skin. I could feel his lips moving against my collarbone, but he barely had the strength to sit up anymore.

"What do you mean?"

"Our bodies are being propped up by machines. Our families probably gave up on us a long time ago. I just wonder if we should go back to that cabin, and just…Wait it out."

"You can't just give up. If this game is never cleared, than Yui's sacrifice means nothing." He tensed, but I continued. "All those people will have died in vain! The people in Beginnings are waiting for you to finish this game! What would they say if you told them you were giving up?"

He still didn't say anything.

"Now, we're going to go to bed, you're going to get some rest and clear your head, understand? You're not thinking straight."

"How do you know?" he asked simply.

"I don't. But if you were honestly willing to just give up, and leave 6,000 people to die, then you're not the man I married. You aren't the man I love. And right now, I'm just hoping that you'll find him."

"I don't know if I can fight for them anymore…I do everything I can for them. And still they treat me like a monster."

"Then don't fight for them. Fight for me. Fight until you clear this game, so that we can find each other. And we can fall in love all over again, okay?" Strength returned to his limbs as he lifted his head, sitting up once again, and I met those eyes. "Are you ready to fight?"

He sighed, then leaned back again. "You and me, huh?" He chuckled. "You and me against the world." He looked at me, and I saw the fire light up in his eyes again. "I like those odds."

(X)

November 4th, 2024

I couldn't sleep.

It was ridiculous. I had all the ingredients. Comfy bed? Check. Even comfier husband? Extra check. Being wrapped up in a cocoon of warm blankets in a chilly room? So many check marks.

So why couldn't I sleep? I dunno.

I lightly poked Seth in the cheek, and enjoyed the way his nose crinkled as he was dragged from sleep.

"Wha is it?" he sleepily mumbled.

"I can't sleep," I whispered. His eyebrows furrowed in concern, and he sat up, pulling me over into his lap. He wrapped his arms around me, one massaging the back of my neck, and the other one rubbing my back. God, I just melted when he did that. And he knew it, too…Romantic bastard.

"And why can't my little Liz sleep?" he mumbled.

"Just can't," I said into his shirt.

"You wanna talk?"

"About what?"

"What are you going to miss about this world when we leave?"

"Hmm?"

"I know carrying things again is gonna suck. And people being scared of me is pretty fun. What about you?"

I thought about it. "I like owning a business. Maybe we should open a shop when we get back."

He nodded. "I could see it." He moved his mouth close to my ear, his voice dropping low. "But you're gonna keep the uniform, right?"

I laughed, then moved close to his ear as well. "Only for…special occasions."

He sighed, a growl coming from deep in his throat. "You know me so well."

"Well, I am the best."

"Damn right."

There was a pause.

"And I'll admit, not having a period's pretty cool, too."

He paused again, and a flicker of worry crossed my mind. 'Too far?'

He moved his head to spare my ears and laughed, hard. "Can't say I expected that."

"It's true," I said. He sighed, then he was moving, and we were back on our sides.

"Talking doesn't seem to be putting you to sleep," he said.

"I'm just stubborn," I said. He smiled, then tilted his head and planted a kiss on my forehead. I sighed in contentment. "You're just pushing all the buttons today, huh?"

"Sleep," he said simply.

"Can't," I replied reflexively, but I could already feel drowsiness tugging at the edges of my mind.

He smiled, then planted another kiss on the tip of my nose. "Sleep."

I smiled, and then my eyes slid shut.

(X)

November 6th, 2024

We were arguing again.

It broke my heart whenever we argued, but he was too damn stubborn sometimes.

"You are not going!" I shouted, blocking the door as if he were leaving tonight, not the next morning.

"I have to!" he replied, the fire blazing in his eyes. "You're the one who told me that I had to fight!"

"There's fighting, and then there's suicide! Twenty people went in, and no one came back! You're going up against a floor boss with zero intel!"

"I am going because they need me. If I sit this out, it's all the more likely that everyone dies. If I die, at least I'll be doing something!"

"If you die? If? You can't just put that out there! That feeling you get, when I'm in danger, you think that's a one-way street?! You think if you disappear, I can just throw up my hands and say 'Oh well'?! Those weeks you were gone, I barely found the energy to get out of bed! I couldn't breathe! I…" I tried to continue, but my voice failed me.

He was across the room in a few strides, his arms surrounding me, and one of his hands absentmindedly stroking my hair. I sighed, trying to relax into him, but the nagging sensation in my gut wouldn't disappear.

There was a long pause where we both just tried to relax.

"Let's go get some food," he said.

"Excuse me?" I asked once I'd gotten past my confusion. We were arguing about a life-and-death fight, and he wanted food?

"I said, let's go get some food. If tonight's my last night, I'd rather not spend it arguing." I heard the sound of his menu opening, and his leather jacket appeared around him. "So I'm taking you to dinner."

I paused. '…Well, can't argue with that.'

"Alright, fuck it," I said, opening my menu. "Where are we going?"

"I'm thinking about that place on floor 57."

"What, you want to go to a café?"

"Something wrong?"

"You hate coffee."

"And you like it. C'mon, I'll get some tea or something. Let's just get out of here."

I spotted an old item in my inventory, and grinned.

"Oh, shit," said Seth.

"What?" I asked, feigning confusion.

"I know that look. You're being evil."

"I prefer playful." My grin spread wider, and I waved him off. "Wait downstairs, I'll catch up in a bit." He rolled his eyes, and left the bedroom.

I walked over to the dresser, looking at myself in the mirror above it. I changed into the item, and smiled as the dress from the masquerade ball slinked onto my shoulders. I hadn't worn it since the dance, so I was hoping it'd surprise him.

"Liz," came the call from downstairs. "What kind of dastardly scheme are you plotting up there?" I smirked, then entered the stairwell, and started going down them quickly.

"Sorry, I just couldn't decide between this, and my work uniform..." I met his gaze, and internally punched the air as I saw his throat muscles bunch, then swallow hard. I passed him, and he didn't seem to react. I turned around, and he was standing as still as a statue, his gaze lingering elsewhere. I put on a look of fake innocence. "Something wrong?" I asked.

"Why do I get the feeling you have ulterior motives?" he asked, rubbing his jaw.

"Moi?" I asked, keeping up the innocent pout for as long as I could, before smirking. "C'mon, let's go." He sighed deeply before following me out of the shop and towards the teleport gate.

(X)

Seth tipped the last of his third cup of tea into his mouth, then, after ordering another one, started eyeing the group of rowdy soldiers in the corner of the café. "Wish they'd leave," he growled. "It's too warm in here for this coat."

"You know the solution," I said, smirking slightly, as I already knew the answer. He let out a deep hum, which I took as an unappreciative acknowledgement of the sarcasm. "Not even with me here?" I asked, giving my best puppy-dog eyes.

He tentatively reached up a hand, and pulled back the hood to where I could barely see his eyes, looking seriously into mine. "No." He let it fall forward again.

"Are you happy with us?" I asked.

He paused for a second. "Excuse me?"

"I asked you a question. Are you happy?"

He smiled. "Of course."

"I'm being serious," I sighed. "You just seem…uncomfortable lately. Even when we go to bed, you just never relax, you know? So, if you're unhappy, I want you to tell me."

He quickly shook his head, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "It's not you, it's…Nothing."

"What's nothing to you isn't nothing to me. If something's bothering you, I want to help. Is it the boss fight?" Another casual shake of the head. "Are you worried about Kirito and Asuna?"

"A little. Any word from them?"

"Asuna sent me a message this morning. Kirito finally accepted that they need to get back to the front-lines. I can understand wanting to stay, but we can't afford our two best warriors falling behind on leveling. Not this late in the game."

"Yeah…This late…We'll probably be back in a few months, now, huh?"

"Hmm? Yeah, what about it?"

"Nothing, just…" He hesitated, and what little I could see of his face curled into a grimace.

"You don't want to go back, do you?"

He took a deep breath. "Honestly, no. Not entirely." He sighed. "At least here, people respect me."

"What happened to you?" I asked incredulously. "What happened to you out there that could make you miss this place?"

There was a moment of silence, broken only when the soldiers started leaving. Seth watched them go, dropping his hood the second the last one was out the door.

"Out there…They value the normal. People that can quietly follow the herd. I don't know if you noticed…" He gestured to his skin, his face. "But nothing about me is part of the status quo. And my fellow classmates didn't miss a chance to remind me of it. They spoke to me like I was a five-year old. They'd casually toss out insults, and they didn't care if I was standing 5 feet away. But…It didn't really sink in what they really thought of me until I was around 10.

"One of them, Tomioka, I think his name was, brought in a practice model of…What're those things called, the knives people flip a hundred times when they open them?"

"Butterfly knives?"

"I don't know, maybe. Anyway, he just brought it in to show off to his friends, and it didn't have a blade, so the teacher didn't care. I remember that he flipped it open, looked me in the eyes, and told me…" His eyes dropped, hollowing as he lost himself in the memory. I said nothing, waiting for him to come back. He looked back up, and I could tell he was biting the inside of his cheek, like he always did when he was trying to control his emotions.

"He told me that he didn't care if there wasn't a blade on it, and that he'd use it to take my red eye."

My gut dropped as I was flooded with disbelief, pity, rage. I forced them down, and was about to find my voice, when his hand slammed down on the table, rattling our cups.

"I was ten!" he shouted, the hollowness back in his eyes.

The NPC's at the counter hadn't reacted to the outburst, and his shout echoed throughout the empty café.

"What had I done?" he asked no one in particular. The software of the game formed tears in the corners of his eyes, and his grimace grew tighter as he tried to control himself. His voice betrayed him, though. Despite the tightness of his control, it had broken as he had finished the sentence. "Why did I deserve that?"

I tried to reach out to the hand still on the table, but he yanked it away, placing his elbows on the table and covering his mouth with his hands. I could see the torment in his eyes, and just wanted to help him through it. But here he was, separating himself from me.

"And why did I let him?" he asked, still staring into oblivion.

"What do you mean?" I asked tentatively. His eyes were yanked back into reality, and they bored into mine.

"I was ten," he said like it was obvious. "I was halfway to my second black belt. I could've broken every bone in his body…Showed him that some people, you just don't fuck with…Why didn't I?"

"Because you're not him," I said simply. His eyes softened, fading into the distance again.

"It would've been so easy…" he said almost wistfully. "Five minutes, and no one would've dared…" I couldn't take it anymore. I reached out, pulling his right hand away from his face, and cradled it in mine.

"You didn't touch him, didn't even threaten him, because you are better than he was. You are so much kinder, and nobler than he ever could hope to be. You didn't because you are the man I fell in love with."

He paused for a long time, what felt like hours, but what was probably minutes. Then, ever so slowly, he began rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb.

"What did I do to deserve you?" he asked softly, a gentle smile curling his lips upward.

"I'm not entirely sure," I said, grinning. "But it must've been pretty good."

He finished the smile, then brought my hands up to his lips. The contact sent an uncharacteristic shiver down my spine, and he slightly narrowed his eyebrows in concern. "Everything alright?"

I let out an unconvincing laugh. "Yeah, it's fine."

"Liz…" he said warningly, and I silently cursed myself.

"I had this…this stupid plan," I said, already trying to dismiss it.

"This have anything to do with that dress?" he asked, taking a sip from his new drink as it arrived.

"Not at first, but…On the way over here, I realized that…You were right."

He sputtered, eyes wide in surprise as he choked down the rest of the tea. "Say again?"

"You heard me," I said, rolling my eyes.

He punctuated his next words with a slow nod. "Okay…So I was right. I'll be fighting tomorrow. Anything else change?"

"I…God, this is gonna sound really corny."

He smiled like I was being silly. "Just say it."

The words came spilling out, like a dam had just burst. "You don't want to die a virgin, do you?"

He froze, and the air practically crackled with electricity.

Then his face cracked into a smile, and his laugh broke the tension. "You were right, that was corny." He suddenly realized I wasn't laughing, and his eyebrows narrowed. "You're serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"We talked about this months ago. I thought you wanted to wait until we got out," he said cautiously. "You said you wanted our first time to be in the real world."

"A girl's not allowed to change her mind?" I tried to diffuse the tension with a shaky laugh, but he just kept that concerned look on his face. I tried to continue. "I just-..."

Seth caught the hesitation, and tried to offer support with a physical squeeze of my hand, still within his grasp. I tried to continue, but the words failed me.

"I know that you're worried about the boss battle, Rika…" My name. My actual name. Not a pet name or cute variation; he had used my actual name, which meant he was being serious. Well, there goes the mood. "But I don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with."

The way his eyebrows were raised and the crinkle in his forehead, however exaggerated by the system, was an expression of honest concern. Concern for what, my own virginity? Then came another squeeze, one that made my heart feel like it had been kicked, and I understood what he was saying.

If we were to 'seal the deal' tonight out of fear of losing the other, it might be considered a goodbye. In a way, by remaining abstinent, he was giving his solemn word that he would be safe, and he would return like all the times before. There was a slight awkward pause, which I promptly broke with haste.

"I-I didn't mean it like that. I was just wondering if...you know..." Seth took a deep, stabilizing breath, and started brushing my knuckles with his thumb again.

"Yes."

"Huh?"

"I do. I mean..." My lungs filled with air I hadn't realized I'd been neglecting to permit. A second chill ran down my spine, but it wasn't due to the frigid weather. I grinned, and stood, using his hold on my hand to pull him up as well. He looked down at me in surprise, and I leaned up to kiss him.

"Take. Me. Home," I said, punctuating each word with another kiss.

"Yeah, okay," he said weakly.

(X)

The following contains graphic sexual context. If you're not comfortable with this, please stop reading. There is another warning in bold after it is done.

(X)

Practically breaking down the door blindly with my free hand, the other securely around Liz's lower back, I lead our intertwined bodies inside the sleeping house and barely managed to close the door before we crashed into each other. Understanding the significance of this moment, I did my very best to keep every action slow and deliberate, but the excitement building between the increasingly narrow space of our bodies was Hell's pure temptation.

I pressed Liz up against the counter, not daring to open my eyes for a second and risk breaking the spell of the kiss we were both busy getting lost in. Unfortunately, however, our air was running short. I broke to gulp down air, and when I moved in again, the smooth skin of her neck proved too much of a temptation. Her throat vibrated in a moan under my lips, and I pulled back.

"Liz, if you keep making noises like that, I might not even make it upstairs."

She gave a little sultry smile that I'd never seen before, but immediately promised myself I'd see again. "You'd better. I'm not letting our first time be a quicky against the counter."

I didn't reply except to hook my hands under her knees, and, with a little surprised gasp from her throat, lift her up, moving quickly towards the stairs. I carried her up the stairs, kicking open the door to the bedroom, and moving in. I turned, moving her against the wall to bring our lips closer together. She wrapped her legs around my waist, and I moved my hands to her back, keeping the pressure from becoming uncomfortable.

I let my hands roam gently over her body, caressing her shoulders and back, when I reached the little sash around her waist. I tried to feel my way around it, looking for the end of the knot I could tug on and undo it, but it was evading me. I grunted in frustration, and Liz pulled back for a second.

"Just break it," she breathed.

It was the most erotic things I'd ever heard, that she was so impatient with desire that she wanted me to literally rip her clothes off, rather than waste time in the menu screen. I got a better grip on the sash, my shoulder muscles bunched as its durability swiftly ran out, and the sash shattered, freeing the dress from around her hips.

Something in my chest roared with desire, and I tried to get a lid on it. I would not ruin this. 'Just a few seconds away…' I gently removed her legs from around my waist, setting her back on the ground. I backed up a few steps, just until I could see all of her.

"Take it off for me."

It was a command, not a request, and something she normally would've bristled at. Now, though, she smiled that smile again, and, bunching her hands in the dress around her hips, drew it over her head, and tossed it across the room. The dress dematerialized as soon as it hit the ground, returning itself to our inventory.

My breath caught in my throat. She was just…perfect. The months of tantalizing glimpses hadn't prepared me for the smooth skin of her stomach, or the peppering of freckles on her shoulders and chest. "God, I love you," I breathed, and she visually relaxed.

"Your turn," she said, and I quickly slid my jacket off. I grabbed my shirt just behind my neck, and shucked it in one smooth stroke. I went for my pants, but she held up a hand. "Allow me," she said, sinking to her knees. That smile now branded on her face, she slinked, almost catlike, across the room, settling back on her knees in front of me.

'Oh, I am so fucked.'

I struggled to keep motionless as she tentatively reached out, biting the corner of her lip as she unbuttoned my pants. She slid the zipper down, purposefully as slow possible, and slid them down to my ankles. I managed to step out of my shoes, socks, and the jeans in one go, and that required a moment of internal congratulations.

"Filters on 3?" I asked, and she silently got to her feet, nodding. "1." We both opened our menus off to the side.

"2," she said, and we both opened the settings portion at the bottom. The filter sat there, at the bottom. Just one switch…Our fingers hung over our respective buttons, and our eyes sought each other.

"3," we said, and tapped the switch.

'That's it. I'm done for. Brain=gone.'

I reached out, pulling her to me, and backed up until I was sitting on the corner of the bed, and she was raised up on her knees above my lap. She was wearing a nervous smile, so I brought a hand up, rubbing my thumb against her cheek.

"What do you think?" she asked, a nervous giggle escaping her.

"I never thought…I just never thought I could love something so much."

The smile on her face could've lit the entire floor. She replied by sinking into another eager kiss, crushing her body against mine as her mouth became more insistent, and my breathing grew shorter.

We were like magnets. Every move was natural and right. I was drowning in her beauty, and the monster in my chest was roaring with desire again, but I didn't care. She was a drug, and, fuck, I needed more. I was vaguely aware of her fingers digging into my shoulders, urging me to go on, but I had to be sure. I pulled back, a fraction of an inch, those beautiful eyes staring into mine.

"Are you sure?" I started to ask, but she cut me off at "you".

"If you stop kissing me again, I may have to kill you," she said, a little out of breath, and raising herself a little higher in preparation of the next step.

I held myself still as she pressed herself down, my muscles shaking slightly with the strain. There was a building pressure, and for a wild, frantic second, I thought she might rise again…and then I felt my head slip inside her.

'Fucking…Christ. Fuck!' I sucked in a large breath to try to calm myself.

"Oh." She was breathless, a smile tugging on the corners of her mouth.

We stayed like that, both trying to retain control before moving forward.

Her face held an expression of intense concentration, biting her lip as she slowly let herself slide further down. My breath caught in my throat, and I tried to keep myself as still as my shuddering muscles would let me.

After what felt like an eternity of sweet agony, her thighs touched mine, and I groaned involuntarily. "Liz…" It was the only word I could say.

She'd closed her eyes in ecstasy. "Fucking hell, Seth."

I wrapped my arms around her and brought her lips down to mine again. I knew that I needed to give her time to adjust, and that I was trying to make this perfect for her, but I couldn't stop the involuntary buck of my hips, some primal part of me just trying to drive farther inside her. She gasped into my mouth, but pressed harder into the kiss. I took this as a cue to start gently rocking my hips, barely moving inside her. She threw her head back, and moved her hips with mine, lengthening the strokes and increasing the friction for both of us.

Her hand dropped down between us, fumbling with her clit, and her movements became looser and more wanton, her chest heaving with each gasping breath. Her head was still thrown back, and a dark red flush was rising up her chest. I lowered my head and sucked one of her nipples into my mouth, suckling and teasing it with my tongue.

She bucked on top of me, letting her entire weight rest on the arm I'd curled around her back. "Ohhh, fucking…shit!" She sat up straight and clutched at my shoulders, burying her face in my neck, but didn't stop riding me.

A string of profanity ran through my mind. I was so goddamn close, but I couldn't. Not yet. She hadn't even cum yet, I could not…

She still hadn't stopped moving, taking me deeper and deeper, moaning in a way that made me swell almost painfully from base to tip. I was getting too close. "Liz, I can't…" The words fell from breathless lips on deaf ears. "Need to stop, or…"

She shook her head, her face still burrowing into my neck. "Don't stop…don't stop…"

It was pure agony. I was supposed to be the responsible one. I needed to make sure this was one of the best nights of her life. I needed to fuck her. God, I needed to fuck her. "Liz, I don't…"

She slammed her hips down onto mine, and the last thread of control I possessed snapped.

The monster in my chest burst forth like a dog slipped of its leash. There weren't any more thoughts of consequences or her comfort. My mind went blank with desire, and I thrust up into her with everything I had, burying my face in her neck and digging my fingers into the round globes of her ass to pull her down onto me.

I was vaguely aware that her fingernails were raking across my shoulders and bucking against me wildly as I was moving, lost in the throes of her own pleasure. Sweat dripped from our bodies, slick flesh sliding against slick flesh as I drove myself into her and she took it like she wanted to swallow me whole.

"Don't stop, don't fucking stop, Seth…" her voice sobbed into my ear. A hazy part in the back of my mind wondered if I even could stop, even if I wanted to. "I'm…I'm gonna…" She moaned so sweetly as she came that I went wild. It only took a few more thrusts for me to reach my limit, a deep groan tearing itself from my throat as I twitched and jerked inside her, all the energy I had surging into her with my release.

We were still like that when I came back to my senses, holding her body close and resting my forehead against hers while we tried to catch our breath.

My face stretched into a grin. "Fuck me."

She giggled. "If I'm not mistaken…"

I tipped back onto the matress, bringing her with down with me. "Oh, shut up," I said, laughing. I let out a deep sigh as she curled up against my chest. "I love you. Have I said that recently?"

She laughed again. "I don't know, a few minutes ago?"

"Too long." I lowered my head, kissing the top of her head. "I love you."

"I love you too."

(X)

End of lemon

(X)

I had to get up early to make it to the boss battle meeting on time.

That was, of course, the theory.

But if you ever have to choose between getting up on a cold morning, and cuddling, getting up has a snowball's chance in hell.

I reached for Liz and drew her in close, and brushed my lips against the back of her neck as I prepared to go back to sleep. Despite a small giggle escaping her throat, she pushed my head back, eliciting a groan from me.

"You have to get up," she said.

"Nope," I said.

"Go," she said, driving her head back into her pillow. "I'll be here when you get back."

I let out a deep sigh, and rolled myself into a sitting position. The chill air hit my skin, and I shivered, quickly putting on my gear. "I'll be back in a few hours," I said, getting out of bed.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, waving a hand. "Go kick that bosses ass."

I reached for the door, and her head popped up again. "And Seth?"

I turned back, and my eyes softened. Even with her hair messed up and wearing nothing but a sheet, she was still the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. "Yeah?"

"I love you."

I smiled. "Love you, too."

And then I was gone.