"But everything inside you knows there's more than what you've heard
There's so much more than empty conversations filled with empty words

And you're on fire when he's near you
You're on fire when he speaks
You're on fire burning at these mysteries…

…You are the hope I have for change
You are the only chance I'll take"

- Switchfoot ("On Fire")

She opens her mouth to protest, she can take a cab or the subway. There's no need for him to escort her home. But the words fail her when he entwines his fingers with hers. She marvels at how a simple touch, a tiny gesture can send shivers down her spine. She wonders if she will always feel like this whenever he is near. She cannot deny that she still feels butterflies in her stomach whenever he looks at her with her favorite lopsided smile. Like the one he is giving her right now.

He grins widely as he tugs her arm, swinging it gently between them. Are you coming, Montana, he chides her. Or is he going to have to carry her majesty Sleeping Beauty back to her castle?

Though he is lithe and no ninety pound weakling, the image of Danny carrying her on his back with two laptop messenger bags thrown across his torso causes her to burst into laughter. She never said that she was tired, she reminds him as she wraps his jacket tighter around her petite frame, just that she better call it a night.

Danny loosens his grip on her hand and takes a small step away from her. He is silent as his eyes drop to the pavement. She senses his body suddenly stiffen and tense. She can see that questions play at the tip of his tongue, but he will not voice them. She knows that he cannot wait for her forever even though he promised that he would. She is eventually going to have to take a leap of faith and put her trust in him. In them.

Lindsay tightens her grasp on his fingers and pulls him back, facing her. She cups her hand on his cheek and gazes deeply into his eyes, reading all of the pain and anguish in them. She is tired of being afraid. She is tired of hurting – both herself and him. She knows that there is no one else in this world, in this lifetime that can make her feel the way she does when she is with him. She takes a step, closing the gap between them. Stop overanalyzing, Danny, she whispers before kissing him softly on the lips.