Reid froze, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

"Talia," he breathed.

Suddenly she was in his arms, and he held her tight, convinced that if her let go, she'd disappear, just a figment of his imagination. After a moment, he pulled back to look into her face, his arms still clutching her to him.

"Are you real?" he asked, sounding every inch the little lost boy he felt without her.

"Yeah," she smiled, reaching a hand up to cup his face. "I'm real." She watched as his inky-black eyes slowly returned to their normal shining blue. He dipped his head, kissing her deeply, feeling his desperation returned by her.

"How? We thought you were dead," he said after a moment of drowning in her.

"So did I, for a minute," she said with a wobbly smile. "Will took me to Alex's cousin in Boston. It took half the time of getting to a healer, but it was still a close call."

"She healed you?"

"Not exactly. Her specialty is plants, she…charmed…the wood out of me, and knew enough herbal healing to keep me alive long enough." She shook her head. "I was damn lucky."

He suddenly stiffened, "Why didn't you call? No one heard from you! Not even Jess!"

"Someone ratted out Ophelia for helping us, and Council agents working for the witches picked us up. They were pretty pissed, they kept us locked up, wouldn't let us call anyone. Wait 'till Jacob gets finished with them! They had no call to keep us like that, although they did give me access to a good healer." She lifted the front of the plain loose t-shirt she was wearing, showing him an angry but already healing wound, much smaller than the original had been. She made a face. "They say I've gotta be careful or I'll pull the stitches."

He looked again at her face. He skin was paler than normal, and the skin under her eyes was faintly bruised, and he realised she was still pretty weak. He led her over to the bed and sat her down, joining her. He kept touching her, feeling the need to make sure she was solid, real; despite what she already told him. He suddenly realised how Caleb felt with Sarah, why he was always so attentive.

He needed to hold her close, needed to tell her how he felt, but before he could open his mouth to speak, he watch started beeping frantically. He met her wide grey eyes, seeing the apprehension there.

"Stay with me?" he asked.

She nodded, moving to straddle his lap, wrapping her arms tightly around him. He buried his face in her neck, breathing in her scent as it began.

While Talia had snuck in round the back, wanting to speak to Reid first, Will and Ophelia had gone in the front, greeted at the door by an older woman who wouldn't let them in until Jess came barrelling at Will, drawn by the sound of his voice.

Once he had managed to peel a crying Jess off of him, he had explained what happened, how Talia had survived. Tyler had needed to physically restrain Jess from running upstairs to find Tal, but had been Will that had surprised everyone by quietly saying, "Give them some time alone, Jess."

She had looked at him surprised, but nodded, sitting back down without complaint, although her eye kept flicking towards the stairs. Rena and Garret were there also, as well as the other woman, who turned out to be Caleb's mom. She seemed a little confused about everything that was going on, but was genuinely happy to hear that Tal would be okay.

As he was about to start explaining about what happened with the Council, multiple watches started beeping, and a few seconds later, the lights began to flicker.

"Happy birthday Reid," Tyler murmured, eyes looking above.

Talia held on, using every drop of strength she had, feeling Reid holding her back just as tightly. Somehow, impossibly, there was a storm raging inside his room, sending his already broken possessions flying, drowning out the music that had been playing softly.

She felt the power coursing through him, and even through her closed eyelids, she could see the blinding light. She felt Reid convulse in her arms, then collapse, sliding them both to the floor. It only took a few seconds, but seemed light an eternity, and then just like that, it was over.

Blinking away the bright after-images, she sat up, looking into Reid's face. Her searching eyes met black filled ones, gazing up, but not focus on anything.

"The power…" he whispered in awe, and she knew that the addiction was calling to him.

She tugged his face, forcing him to look at her and meet her eyes. Then she told him something she had tried to tell him when she was lying in the forest and he was stroking her hair. She didn't know how it would work out, she didn't know if they'd get their Happily Ever After, but at the moment, she'd have to settle for Happily Ever Now, because there are some things that just need to be said.

"I love you Reid," she told him solemnly, then leaned down and kissed him, willing him to come back to her.

For a second, he didn't respond, and she feared he was lost to it, but then suddenly he was kissing her back, and it was him.

Then the lights flipped back on and the stereo started playing 'Paint It Black' again, miraculously undamaged. When Talia raised her head, it was Reid's eyes that looked back, sparkling with joy.

"What is it with you and this song?" he asked as her pulled her gently to her feet.

"Are you kidding? It's our song!" she grinned.

He shook his head ruefully, then asked, "How did you pull it off?"

"With help."

"Jess," he sighed.

"And Baby Boy," she smirked.

Reid's eyes narrowed.

"TYLER!"

A/N: Oh, come on! You didn't actually think I'd kill her did you? I'm not that sadistic! -K