EPILOGUE

"Have I mentioned how sweet it is, you taking me all the way back home? I know, you've probably been at my house enough times that you could find it walking backwards…" Shana chuckled, striding along beside him, up the long driveway to her home. Her father's car was out of the garage—which was good; the explanations were going to be hard enough as it was without her walking up with a masked man dressed all in black at her side. She waggled a playful eyebrow at him and drew on her favorite Southern-Belle accent. "Why, Ah do declare, good sir! Mah daddy would have a right fit, a gentleman sneakin' into our house to see li'l ol' me! Ain't it right roman-tic?"

He gave her a sideways look that was about half amusement, half eye-roll.

"Oh, shush; never mind the terrorists and plot to blow up Chicago. You're missing the big picture!" she grinned back at him. "You know it's your fault I say things like that, right?"

This time, he stopped, cocked his head, and planted both hands on his hips. She could definitely read the "Oh, and how is that my fault?" in his posture.

"It is!" she insisted. "What can I say? You must be doing something, because I definitely say things around you that I normally pretty much keep to myself! I'm telling you, I'm normally a very quiet girl!"

This time he did laugh his silent laugh, and reached over to drape his good arm over her shoulders, giving her a brief squeeze.

"I know you don't believe me, but I'm serious," Shana murmured, feeling the smile fade from her lips at the solid weight of his arm over her. "I can't believe how much I talk around you. You just feel so… comfortable. How do you do it, buster?"

You disarm me, Snake-Eyes. You catch me off-guard, she thought—but she didn't say it. She didn't dare; the words were written on her soul with something that felt like pain. It would be a long time before she saw him again… if she ever did. You really do, Snake... and, somehow... all without saying a word.

Scarlett continued their one-way conversation with a brief shake of her head, as they started walking again. No. Not now. Not… "You know, I wish you didn't have to go back to the Pit so soon," she mused, shaking her head. "I could have showed you around Atlanta some."

Snake-Eyes nodded, slowly, pulling his arm from her shoulders again—she gave him a quick sideways glance. He didn't look like he was all that ready to leave, either… maybe?

She glanced down at the gravel of her driveway; it took a few steps before she realized that he was no longer walking beside her. "What's wrong, Snake?" she turned, looking at him over her shoulder with a worried frown. She took a step back towards him. "Tell me."

As he pulled out his notepad and reached for the pen clipped to the spiral, she placed both hands gently on his—and snatched the notepad out of his hands with a gleeful cry. "But not with this!"

She smirked, dancing back with his notepad and pen hidden behind her back; taunting him was fun… but, well, then again, she had to wonder if he'd let her take the pad out of his hand.

Snake-Eyes blinked down at his empty hands, then back up at her, a little stunned. Most people kept their distance from him, careful of his boundaries. No-one he knew would ever even think of snatching something out of his hand like she did. But Snake-Eyes smiled: he wouldn't have let anyone else get away with it the way she did.

Things were funny that way. So simple, but… complicated.

He crossed his arms and mulled over the situation, tapping his foot, obviously, on the driveway—he saw her gaze flick downwards. Then he shrugged with both hands up, as if to ask, "Are you suuuure?"

She was silly—so playful. It was stranger still, that she made him want to be just a little playful, too—if only to see the delight in her eyes.

Shana giggled at his mannerisms. For someone who can't talk, he really is very expressive when he wants to be. "Yes, I'm sure! Oh, give me a little credit, Snake-Eyes," she scolded, cheerfully. She locked her hands behind her back, straight-armed, twisting the toe of her shoe in the crunching gravel road. "Maybe I've been studying up a little, maybe I haven't?" she teased, playfully. "How'll you ever know?"

He shrugged again, then nodded a quick 'okay.' She could tell he was going slowly, when he raised his hands—she'd seen him signing to the other members of his team—but every little bit of stalling was one more moment before he left, again…

Shana stared intently at his hands, his body language, focusing and following along, muttering the words as he signed. "We really… need…" Shana narrowed her eyes, struggling with the last word. Snake signed it a second time—all his fingers spread, hands moving towards each other in front of his chest. "Wait—wait, I know this one… um…"

Snake-Eyes threw both hands up into the air, as if he'd given up on her, and turned away, starting to walk back down the road. Maybe someone else would have thought that he was just frustrated, but… she knew better, she could see the laughter in the way he'd cocked his head at her before he'd turned, the playful way he was holding himself. She grabbed his arm and giggled, "You're not going anywhere, mister! Just give me a second—I know this one, I do, it's…"

She wracked her brain—she knew she'd seen that particular sign before, but not often, and it wasn't anything to do with military or guns or anything like… "Oh! A vacation! I got it, didn't I? It's 'vacation!'" she pumped a fist into the air in triumph. Then the realization hit of just what he'd said. "We really need… a vacation?"

He studied her for a long moment—then nodded, and continued signing.

"Mountain… lake… cabin… you… " her eyes widened as he made the sign for ownership. Her heart fluttered in her throat. "Wait… what are you saying? You've got a mountain cabin, by a lake? Is that what you mean?"

He nodded. Then pointed to her, and to himself.

Her voice almost gave out from the force of her pulse beating in her ears. "Are you… Snake-Eyes, wait, what are you saying?! Are you… you want me and you to go on a… vacation? Together?" her voice rose into a squeak, and she had to take a deep breath to make herself sound less like a mouse. "You mean… just the two of us? I… I…"

Shana stared at him, wide-eyed. She couldn't. She couldn't go with Snake—but—why not? It wasn't about her father. She could tell her father she was off visiting friends out of town; a small lie, but she couldn't tell him the truth without tell him how she and Snake knew each other, could she? And, truthfully, she was nineteen; most of the time, he let her do what she wanted. She'd had to grow up faster than a lot of girls her age. So… why not?

She was attracted to Snake—so much more attracted to him than she should have been, but she was. Yes, she was young, and yes, she didn't know him all that well, but this was her chance. He was Snake-Eyes; maybe she could trust him not to take things… too fast? The thought made her feel flushed, funny, and… hopeful. Oh. Maybe they could lay out some kind of… ground rules, or something.

Did she even want ground rules? Oh, Shana, don't go there.

But… she really wanted to go with him, didn't she? Maybe she'd regret it if she went with him, but… but she knew she'd regret it if she didn't—

He took a step towards her. Another. Shana held her breath. Wondered if it was okay for her not to move towards him—it had to be, because she didn't think she could have forced her feet forwards even one step. But the thought of stepping back never even occurred to her.

He was close enough for her to touch. Close enough to press both her palms to his chest, if she'd wanted to. Close enough for her to push him away, if she'd wanted to.

Shana found that, well… she didn't want to.

His hands flickered, slowly; she forced herself to concentrate on them.

[Joking,] he signed.

There was a brief moment of incomprehension, and she wondered if she'd read that wrong.

Then Snake-Eyes reached out and flicked his notepad out of her slack fingers, darting a step away—and waving it jauntily at her. She thought if he could have, he'd have winked right through his mask—as it was, his shoulders were shaking with what was pretty sure was laughter. [Gotcha,] he signed.

Suddenly, she could breathe again.

"Oh! I can't believe—Snake-Eyes! That was horrible and underhanded and mean," Shana grumbled loudly; she thought she could see him smirking right through the mask. "Just you wait, Snake-Eyes, even if it takes years, I'm going to—"

Shana wondered if that weird feeling in her chest was anger, or disappointment, or relief.

But as she whirled, with every intention of stomping her way back to her childhood home, darn him and his teasing and her attraction to him anyway… he was holding her wrist. And he was pulling her gently, and forcefully, back towards him.

He pulled her all the way into his arms, against his chest—in any other circumstance, she'd have loved the feel of him pressed against her, his hard planes, his arms encircling her. Shana scowled up at him, but… she didn't struggle.

Yes, that had definitely been a mean trick for him to play on her, but if this was going to be the last time she saw him… she did want one memory of being held in his arms, like this, embraced by him. Just one.

To Shana's surprise, he reached upwards with his good hand, and started to pull the base of his mask upwards—just enough to reveal his mouth. She blinked, her lips parting in surprise. She'd never seen his face, but his lips were firm, full—twisted along one side with two stripes of scar. She had a brief moment to realize that despite the way those old, white lines turned his mouth, she didn't find it unattractive.

Then he dipped his head and her breath caught on a gasp as he kissed her.

Shana couldn't breathe—and it wasn't because he was holding her too close, or kissing her too deeply; she'd thought that moments like these were the kind left to storybooks. Never—never in a million years—had Shana O'Hara thought she could be standing in front of her house, being kissed—so carefully, oh!—by the man who'd saved her from death so many more times than once. She'd been kissed before, of course—wet little pecks, or a classmate trying to swallow her mouth; she'd wondered if she'd ever see the point of it.

But Snake-Eyes held her closer, and his kiss was gentler—teasing, barely touching her, his lips closing in almost unbearably soft touches over hers. He was treating her like a princess, maybe—this way, without speaking a single word, all of it in his touch and the careful way with which he was cradling her against him.

But… but she didn't want to be a princess.

Shana heard herself make a soft sound, and when she closed her eyes and breathed him in, tiptoeing against him to try to search for something more, she felt Snake-Eyes smile—and slant his mouth more fully over hers.

He didn't try and stick his tongue in her mouth, the way some of the boys in her school had… but it didn't matter—with those firmer strokes of his lips against hers, her legs were instantly weak, almost buckling out from under her. His arms shifted around her, though, and he pulled her against him—holding her so tightly that she couldn't possibly fall, his fingers massaging gently against the nape of her neck. Oh… oh, this could make her crazy; she understood that, but Shana wasn't at all sure she cared. And when she kissed him back, and let her tongue dip carefully against the outline of his lips, she felt him shiver, once, his fingertips digging just a little into her skin.

Then Snake-Eyes gently drew back from her, their lips parting.

Oh. Shana blinked up at him, feeling dazed. So… that's what it's like to be kissed.

He licked his lips, just once. Then Snake-Eyes reached upwards and, she thought, rather reluctantly nudged his mask back down.

Shana watched him put himself to rights, chewing her lower lip. Her hands were still resting on his strong, muscled shoulders—she glanced down, traced them inwards, over, trailing down his iron-hard chest, her fingertips skimming the smooth surface of his suit, brushing the warm straps and bands of his gear. His chest moved, slowly, as he breathed under her hands.

Even if there wasn't any mountain vacation—and she was going to get him for that, she really was!—Shana knew that things had moved just… incredibly fast. She couldn't help it: she just felt so drawn to him—attached to him. When she looked up into his eyes, through the visor, he was watching her.

She gave him a shaky, happy little smile, and he nodded, once, and gently released her from his arms.

Then he patted her gently on the arm and turned away.

The knot started in Shana's throat; she swallowed it, and found it sour, hard. So that was what a kiss like that meant. Not 'hello,' but… 'goodbye.'

It was Georgia. It was summer. The sun was setting, but it was still nearly ninety degrees out. And yet, with him taking those steps away, down the driveway, she felt cold and soft and lonely. Shana bowed her head. You better slow down, Shana, she told herself. You know you're being a silly girl with a silly crush, and that he probably doesn't feel the same way.

She knew that. She really did. But she knew, too: This one's gonna be a heartbreaker.

She kept watching his dark silhouette walk away, determined not to move until he drove off on that motorcycle of his. And no-one was more surprise than she was when he stopped, and bowed his head, bringing a hand up to… something. One of his many pockets?

Her heart started pounding again, too rapidly, when he turned on his heel and started walking firmly back up the driveway towards her, his posture determined. She barely noticed that his feet barely made even a crunch on the gravel.

But she noticed when he was close enough, again, for her to touch. And close enough for him to reach out and take her hand.

Close enough for him to draw a little shape across her palm with his fingertip—she gasped a little at the way her hand suddenly felt so sensitive, the warm, smooth material of his glove so strange tracing across her skin, sending goosebumps up her arm and past her shoulder. What was that… wait… a heart?

Close enough for him to raise her hand, and press his lips, through his mask, into her palm, before he folded her fingers closed around… around… what was that?

Then he stepped back, and Shana glanced down. Unfolded her fingers from her tingling palm—found a carefully folded piece of paper, torn out of his notepad.

913 Bernina Avenue NE; 8:30 PM

Inman Park; cross-street N. Highland Avenue.

Take the side entrance; go up to the roof deck.

Underneath the address and directions, one word:

Dinner?

Shana O' Hara blinked down at the piece of paper in her hands, and raised her head. She hadn't seen him writing anything—he hadn't stopped for that long. So he must have been carrying it around with him in his pocket. Which meant… she started to smile... "Snake-Eyes, you—"

She blinked, stopping, her mouth still open on the words. The driveway was empty.

She glanced down at the paper in her hand again.

8:30 PM

Shana felt the disbelieving smile spreading across her lips widening to a silly, giddy grin.

She might not see him again for a long, long time... if ever again. It was a very uncomfortable thought, one that she would try not to dwell on.

But at least it wouldn't end tonight right here, right at this very moment. No. She would see him again… at least one more time.

She carefully folded the bit of paper, put it into her pocket… and went inside to get ready.

~fin~

*Authors Note: Thank you for taking time to read this story! I hope it was as enjoyable to read as it was to write. With any luck, I'm working on a sequel and have made a lot of headway (set in the same AU) but there is still much more to go; I anticipate it being much longer than this current story so it will take quite a while to put together and release. But I'd love to hear any and all ideas for the next part!

Also, something important I have to say: While TiamatV has been a tremendous editor, she contributed a lot of brand-new and unique parts to this Epilogue, as well as several other chapters before this one that I really should have mentioned her on (a lot of character development parts, including Snake, Scarlett, and many others). This particular epilogue dialogue is much better than what I originally had. If you liked the story, please make sure to thank her too for all of her contributions and corrections! This wouldn't have been nearly as exciting and descriptive without her...

And of course thanks goes out to Larry Hama and his team for creating such a wonderful story and developing wonderful characters to go along with it! Let's just hope the movie is as good as his storylines!

-D