AN: finally after a long time without inspiration I could continue this story. I've received some messages from people who wants this story to be about Olivia and Stephen instead of An EO, and some others that want the EO to happen now! So I'll try to please you all, (and myself because I like Stephen and Olivia as well) but it is mainly EO... I THINK.

Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy it.

D: L&O SUV and it's characters belong to nbc.

ETERNITY

After the storm, the sun rises.

The snow continues to fall covering the entire forest with a thick white blanket. Stephen runs away from humans starting to put his sense into action in order to find Olivia hoping that she hasn't gone to far away. He remembers seeing her run towards north and wonders if, perhaps, she continued running long enough to reach the periphery of Addirondacks. He is really afraid that in her attempt to get as far away as she can, she had continued to reach the next nearest human population. He begins thinking about running to the Canadian border when his nose captures that familiar scent, hers. Stephen picks up his pace and soon he discovers where his nose is leading him; so he rushes to reach the big white stone wall but, before he could jump to the top, Megane appears to stop him.

"She has asked to be alone." The blonde tells him. "Stephen, what happened?" She asks with obvious concern in her eyes. Stephen walks toward his friends who is refuging under the nearest large trees.

"I'm not sure how, but she found... someone and..."

"She killed him?" Mario appears asking what his friend's words makes him think.

"No." Stephen is quick to clarify. "But she was close to attack."

"I can't believe it." Mario says with evident surprise. "Her first time facing a human and didn't attack?That's too much of a self-control."

"It's not her first time." Megane thinks aloud achieving the two vampires' doubtful looks. "She asked me not to tell you." Megane clarifies before deciding to continue. "It seems that yesterday she was exposed not only to a human, but to fresh blood, and instead of going straight for the blood she ran away from it. " The expression of both vampires is soon full of surprise and doubt at the same time.

"Impossible." Mario whispers trying to remember he had ever seen something similar but there is nothing in his perfect memories. "I have never seen anything like that, like her."

"Me neither." Megane ensures having already thought about it before. It is the one that has lived the most of them and she can't remember seeing a neophyte so in control.

"Maybe it is a second gift." Stephen dares to deduct. "It might be a consequence of our experiment." And so the three remain thinking for a few hours trying to find an explanation for the new information.

Meanwhile at the top of the great mountain Olivia stands at the edge of it watching the snow fall over the white forest. The frenzy is over by now and the burning in her throat is bearable, but her thoughts are what keep her frustrated. They are numerous and run from side to side of her mind; She can remember Elliot lying in the snow watching her with awe as his heart beats frantically, but the fear in his eyes is not what concerns her but the evident hope that they reflect; Hope that gave him enough strength to put aside his survival instincts and instead of running from her he approached to touch her.

The 'what ifs" attack her mercilessly. What would happen if she hadn't gone for Elliot? What would happen if she hadn't had the strength to control her thirst? Would she have controlled if Stephen hadn't shown up unexpectedly? Thousands of questions and possibilities keep running in her head; but there is one that sounds more clearly, and it is not a question but rather a statement, a latent and strong regret.

'I should have gone with Raymond' her inner voice says loudly as she thinks about the risk that she has put Kathleen and Elliot in. It wouldn't have existed if she had put aside her selfishness and had accepted Raymond's invitation. She can't stop thinking about his previous speech, in the fact that perhaps now a part of her wants to go after that aroma that has poisoned her lungs. Go for them. So she lets the time pass by immersed in her thoughts until the storm has completely stopped and the clouds begin to disperse leaving a pair of stars begin to shine.

A couple hours later Stephen decides it's time to keep company to the confused vampire. He walks over to the mountain and, without thinking twice, gives a great vertical leap climbing to the top where the wind moves her sweet fragrance. Indeed, there is her, standing at the edge of the mountain, all still, giving him her back, almost fully cover in snow. Stephen is sure on sinking his bare foot in the snow to warn her he is there, but Olivia doesn't move a muscle, she remains as still as a statue watching the dark night sky. Stephen smiles at the image recalling the first day at her side and the melody he has composed about it immediately sounds in his mind. He moves cautiously up to her, not saying a word and simply observing the horizon, he uses his inner voice to try and communicate with her hoping not to be ignored. 'Olivia.' but she doesn't answer in any way.

Stephen can't keep his mind from keep working itself while he is still thinking how to win her attention. So be decides to think about what happened after the encounter with the man to let her know that Elliot is not seriously injured and that he has put him safe with other humans. Olivia can't help viewing Stephen's thoughts and finally turns to him. "Thank you."She whispers without much encouragement.

"Are you okay? Want to talk about it?" Stephen asks cautiously not wanting to push her. "Megane told us what happened yesterday." He lets her know.

"She wasn't supposed to tell you." She complains immediately. Feeling a strange anger toward the blonde vampire because she had understand that all the ice skating thing hasn't been plan to distract the guys but rather the opposite, it has been to distract her from what happened with the necklace.

"She's worry." Stephen tries to explain. Olivia decides to ignore the comment and let him know the decision she had made.

"I can't keep my promise." Olivia assures him without removing her gaze from the white forest. Stephen stands still trying to find the real meaning to her words. Immediately recalling the last promise that he has seen her making, to Elliot, and wonders if that is the promise she is talking about but soon discovers that it is not. " Sorry, but I can't stay with you."

"Olivia don't be mad." Megane's sweet voice is heard and the blonde woman soon appears at her side. "We're trying to figure this out together." Olivia turns to her with an evident annoyed look.

"Together? Megane, if you had only told me what happened then maybe we'd solved it together, but you were trying to hide it!" Olivia says with a tone full of anger and soon Mario is next to his beloved.

"I was waiting for the right time." Megane explains without much success.

"Don't lie to me! I could see the whole plan in your mind, you wanted to hide it." Olivia says sure of her words.

"I wanted to think on a good way to tell you!"

"None of this would have happened if you had share it with me!"

"No, in fact it wouldn't have happened if you had not been snooping in my mind without permission!" Megane complains to the unfair words. "I don't intend to make thing more complicated than they already are." Olivia is speechless knowing Megane's words are true, her intention to conceal the information was simply to avoid her additional concerns.

"I can't control it." She says referring to her gift.

"Clearly you can." Megane says with obvious discomfort. "In case you haven't noticed, Olivia, you have much more control over yourself than you should is not an excuse."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have entered your mind without permission." Olivia accepts and apologizes with real remorse. Megane let out a heavy sigh and taking Mario's hand she finds the tranquility required; she gives her a little smile and nods her head slightly accepting the apology.

"I'm sorry I tried to hide it. But my intentions were never bad." She apologizes.

"Hey ... The sun is coming out." Stephen announces turning toward the horizon.

Mario turns to see Olivia with an expression full of seriousness as she seeks for Stephen's gaze. The four vampires remain motionless waiting for the big star to appear; waiting to see if there had been any change in the neophyte, or if, indeed, the experiment had worked.

A few minutes later, when the sun finally catches up, Olivia is again the focus of attention in the place. She keeps her eyes on Stephen's golden eyes trying, without much success, not to enter his mind. Soon the image is clear to her; elderly Megane and Mario still holding hands with that surprised looks fixed on the motionless young woman.

"You haven't changed at all." Stephen is the first to say without hiding the surprise in his voice. "The sun doesn't curse you." Olivia takes her gaze to her hands to find that smooth, white pale skin she had found the first time She was exposed to the sun, but this time she no longer find the dark lines that used to be her veins.

"We did it." Megane says letting her perfect white smile appear on her old woman's face.

Olivia says absolutely nothing and is dedicated solely to observe her skin, while playing cautiously feeling the sun slightly burning it. As if it was fighting hard to fulfill his curse on her without success. She remembers Raymond's words from when he expressed how much he would like to see her exposed to the rays of the sun and as he said she nit being cursed by the sun would open thousands of possibilities. It is clear that neither he nor the vampires present have witnessed something similar during all their years of existence and she wonders if it is true that it is due to being ripped from the hands of death or, perhaps, everything has an explanation much more complicated. Something within her tells that the second option is more likely to be true. She goes back to the thoughts that she has had a few hours earlier and finally moves her gaze to Stephen.

"I can't stay here." And with that the vampire decides to let herself fall from the edge of the mountain. Stephen watches her until she disappears into the white forest and, instead of going behind her, he remains motionless trying to understand the woman's words, deciphering their meaning and trying to understand the feelings it causes him. "... She wants to go back... To hit." He whispers to himself.

Mario, seeing no movement of his male friend, decides to go after her and Megane soon follows her beloved. Olivia runs straight through the white forest to the cabin and rushes to get to the tree house. Once there, she is dedicated on finding an old bag Megane has given her in order to put in there her mother's old wooden jewelry box, the book that she likes the from Stephen's collection and a notebook she've been using as a journal.

"Olivia, wait." Mario says once he reaches the little house, but the vampire doesn't stop and continues to walk from one side to another in search of her stuff. "We can think about this together?" Megane keeps silent in the doorway leaving her beloved try to reason with her and Stephen soon reaches them.

"No." Olivia says while observing the small place in case there is anything else she wishes to be take with her. She remembers an old sweatshirt that Stephen has given her in an attempt to impersonate the gray sweatshirt that he used to distract the rescue dog, without thinking that she wanted to keep it; and for some reason she wants to take it with her. She reaches the small table remembering that it is the last place she had seen it and, indeed, she finds it at the table beside the chessboard. And something catches her eye. A piece is missing; the white queen. She tries to remember when was the last time she saw it but Mario interrupts her again.

"Olivia, what are you planning?" He asks gazing at her. Stephen restless waiting for an answer even though he had already guess it back in the mountain, she wants her life back. Olivia turns to see Mario with obvious discomfort but let out a big sigh thinking that telling only a part of her plan will not make her change her mind.

"I'm getting out of here. I can't be near the people I love." Stephen is surprised at her answer. It wasn't what he expected to hear. His assumptions are not just incorrect, but the truth is quite the opposite. Olivia wants to get away from there.

"Where do you plan to go?" Mario continues his interrogation in search of more information.

"I don't know," Olivia says looking for some smarter answer without having to tell them her real plan is to go for Raymond. "Somewhere depopulated."

"Olivia, what if you find another vampire? You have to cross several human populations before reaching somewhere safe." Megane interferes.

"I think I can control myself." Olivia says not sure of her own words, while putting the sweatshirt in the old bag.

"That's exactly why you should stay." Mario declare causing everyone to turn to him with doubt. "I have a plan."

"What is it?" Stephen is the first to ask for an explanation.

"Think a little. Which is the best way for a vampire to go unnoticed by others?" Olivia watches him with doubt and can't avoid getting into his mind for an answer and when she finds it her expression is completely change from doubt to one full of surprise. Mario smiles knowing that she has already read his mind. "Olivia, you must return to your human life."

To be continue

AN: what about that? Next: Mario's plan. ...