Kate,

I woke with a start.

I was in a large King Size bed that was the softest bed I had ever and probably ever would feel. Everything was a shade of crème, and it was the perfect amount of darkness for sleeping. The sheets were perfectly cool and sweet, and my pillow was the perfect pillow that thousands of ads promised you would find in their product, though you never actually did. And there was a scent in the air that I couldn't truly place.

It was so tempting to just slide back into the sheets and sleep again, but I was reminded of my dream that Hypnos showed me.

I couldn't stop thinking about it. I hadn't gotten to complain to Hypnos about showing me something so sweet and taking it away because, after talking for a second or two, he snapped his fingers and I woke up here. I knew I now would not be able to because I wouldn't be alone with Hypnos.

I wondered what it would be like to see Noah again knowing that we were no longer married in New Rome with two kids and madly in love, especially considering that never happened to anyone but me. I wondered if we would talk about it, if I could.

I began to question who he saw.

Noah had always wanted family life. If anything, he wanted it more than I did and always had. We had talked about it a lot when we were younger. Noah had a little plan, though I wasn't sure he still had it now. He wanted to be married by the time he was about twenty-seven. He wanted to be a father by the time he was thirty, and he wanted to live in a family area (if not the suburbs) by the time he was thirty-four.

I had never made a timeline because I always thought life wouldn't cater to it, but Noah had trust in his timeline. I had always found that cute about Noah.

And I knew that, even if he didn't keep the timeline, he would still have that all…

I wondered who he had it with. I wondered if I knew her. I wondered what she looked like, what she acted like, and what she had that I didn't have.

It was enough to drive me crazy thinking about it.

I couldn't stop wondering about a girl that didn't even technically exist! It was a dream. He could have dreamed of Kate Upton, and it wouldn't really mean anything other than he was like many other guys who wanted to marry Kate Upton.

But, at the same time, it did mean something. It meant something that it was Kate Upton he wanted instead of Kate Moore. It meant that the mother of his children was someone else. It meant that, if he wanted me in his life at all during that stage, I was to be Auntie Kate.

I suddenly felt like crawling into bed and never coming out.

But that would leave me to sulk, and, if I faced everyone, I would have to pretend nothing was wrong. And, as I had learned before, if I pretend long enough, I might just be able to fool myself…

I slid out of bed to find that I was in a pair of soft crème pajamas, and, surprisingly, the only thing not of the white or crème colors was a dress waiting on me in a chair.

Well, no, it did have white. It was a Grecian maxi dress with white on the top, a braided brown belt, and a tan color on the bottom. It was flowy, and it fit me perfectly. I didn't see any shoes nearby, nor would I have probably worn them given how soft the carpet was.

I nervously walked out of my room and found that I was in a home on the clouds. The floor to ceiling windows and glass roof let me see everything around me, and it was beautiful. It was morning, but the sky seemed subdued and sleepy instead of energetic and cheerful.

I began to walk towards the grand staircase that I could see from my room, and it was even more amazing on the level blow.

For one thing, there were no walls. There probably was something to keep you from just walking off, but you could see everything around you. For another, there was no floor.

It was just clouds.

I could walk on them fine and everything, but they were just clouds.

I slowly made my way through the home, looking at everything in awe before I found the dining room where the grand breakfast was set out. Hypnos smiled up at me, sipping at his coffee. He seemed almost to have a shared secret with me, as if knowing my dream was an inside joke. I didn't like it, and I honestly didn't like anyone knowing, not even Hypnos.

I looked around to find Charlie sitting there, mindlessly stirring her cereal as she was lost in thought. We were wearing the same thing, and it looked amazing on her. But she seemed less rested and much more conflicted than me.

Sam was up, wearing a similar color scheme of a white shirt and tan pants, and he didn't seem in the best mood. But he wasn't as sad as Charlie. Swift looked pissed, though I wasn't sure if it was over her dream or the fact that she was being forced to wear a dress by an immortal being again.

Noah was also here, and his eyes were undoubtedly completely on me. I knew that I should sit by him. We were friends after all, and we had been sitting together for the last few days. Yesterday, I fell asleep on him, and he basically carried me into Waffle House. But now things seemed to be different. No, now things were different.

I sat on the opposite side of Charlie instead of beside him.

And he noticed.

I was watching my plate fill up with pancakes, bacon, and all of the other delicious breakfast treats when the last two members of our party arrived.

Aiden looked handsome today, even I had to admit. His smile was warm, and his face was rested. His features, which had recently seemed stronger and much more intimidating seemed softer and sweeter. His look of trying to figure out everything, of worrying for everyone, had been dialed down, and he was even smiling. The New Rome soldier in him was gone for now, and it had just left Aiden.

Chester was also handsome but in a different way. His hair was ruffled and not done in his typical style. He seemed upset about his attired, and I could almost hear him wondering where his band tee shirts had gone. He looked somewhat tired and definitely more stressed.

We all wished each other a good morning, but none of us except for Aiden seemed to be in a good mood. And even his friendly disposition of the day faded as he watched Charlie.

She refused to look at him.

I wondered what Charlie saw. Before, we had never really spoken of it.

I guess, in ways, we did. We did the normal talks. I told her that I wanted a little girl and a little boy and that I wanted the little boy to be older since it seemed to be a custom in our family. She told me that she also wanted two kids one day, but we never went into detail about it. She wanted to be a marine biologist, but it was never something we discussed at length. And I knew that she would probably one day move to the safety of New Athens.

But we had tried not to talk about it. We didn't know that Charlie would live long enough for any of it, and it hurt to get our hopes up like that for something that might never happen.

I suddenly felt guilty for not knowing what Charlie's dream was. I knew Noah's. I knew Sam's. Charlie knew ours. But not one of us knew hers. I wasn't even sure that she knew hers until now.

"Hello, everyone," Hypnos was smiling as he sipped at coffee, and he looked at everyone with that knowing look as if he knew all of their secrets. I guess, in a weird way, maybe he did.

We all managed weak hello's and good morning's to each other. None of us wanted to talk. We all seemed just as afraid as I was about Hypnos sharing our dreams. I wondered what the others were.

Sam had always loved soccer, and he had it. I knew somewhere inside of him wanted more than his womanizing ways, and I assumed that he would one day give it all up and have a few kids. Maybe he would get married out of the deal, though Sam swore he was never getting married.

I didn't really know Swift, and I didn't know Chester. And Aiden was certainly mysterious.

It wasn't until I was sitting at this table that I realized I didn't know much about the people around me, not even Charlie. I had known Charlie her entire life, but I didn't really know everything about her like I said I did. I only knew everything about Noah, and there were still things I needed to know. There was still time in his life I knew nothing about.

For all I knew, Noah was a different person now. Maybe he had a different dream. Or maybe he had a different girl in that dream…

Noah's eyes met mine, and I blushed and wanted to look away. But I didn't. For a second, we had complete eye contact, and it was as if there were no fears, no suspicions, nothing bad. I felt complete bliss looking at him, the same happiness I had felt in my dream…

Noah,

After breakfast, Hypnos told us to relax and to stick around while he took a "well needed" nap. I accepted this and took a look around the mansion in the sky, especially since only Aiden with his wings could have gotten away from here.

It was getting to be afternoon now. The sun was higher in the sky, and the clouds reflected it back into the home, illuminating everything. The sky seemed to be empty with just Hypnos's mansion sitting on the clouds. But, despite the more direct sunlight, things still felt sleepy. There wasn't much noise. Just a soft sound of the whistling wind that you easily adjusted to. All of the crème and white was relaxing, so relaxing that it seemed to be slowly lulling you to sleep.

We were in our own little world. It was just us on the clouds.

It was a peaceful serenity that inspired being close to one another, relaxing, and maybe even taking a nap.

But that would have been if Hypnos hadn't just changed everything by showing us our dreams.

Now we knew what we wanted, even if we didn't want to admit it. We also knew that our friends knew what they wanted out of life. This should have been nice. Like knowing if Sam was really devoted to his plan of never getting married or not.

But that would have been without Charlie's awkward silence and avoidance of Chester and Aiden. Or Sam's chronic crush on Swift that was driving him insane and questioning everything he thought he knew about how to get girls. Or how Swift "hates" him so much that it begs to question if she actually likes him.

Or given the greatest fact of all that I had been in love with Kate basically my entire life.

And I didn't know who was in her dream.

She was in mine, I wanted to be with her forever. I already knew that, though this had given me the shaking suspicion that I might not ever be able to settle for less. I wanted her to be my wife who I would spend the rest of my life with. I wanted her to be the mother of my children. I wanted to spend beach days with her watching after our kids and teasing my little sister who wasn't so little anymore.

But I wasn't sure who was in hers. I didn't know who she wanted to spent the rest of her life with. I didn't know who she would want to father her children. I didn't know who Kate would smile at and tell that Charlie loved her boyfriend and would marry him. I didn't know what her dream was like.

And I desperately wanted to know.

But, at the same time, I didn't. I didn't want to hear that I was not her dream. That there was someone out there who she did want and that it would never be me.

I suddenly felt like throwing up all of my breakfast as I sat on the crème sofa looking out to the clouds.

We had all separated. Charlie didn't seem to want to be around anyone at all, and she went to bed. I probably should have gone up there and talked to her, but I knew she wouldn't want to be bothered. Sam had disappeared. So had Swift. And Aiden wanted to get some fresh, high-altitude air. Chester was lying in the living room with a pillow over his head. And Kate was hugging her knees as she looked out to the clouds.

We were so close that it felt as though we should go over and join each other's company. But there was also this space between us that was clearly there and reminded you that it must have been there for a reason, and I knew that reason.

I wanted to break the space so much. I wanted to go back to yesterday. I wanted to go back to when we were comfortable enough for Kate to fall asleep on my shoulder in the car. I wanted to go to back to when Kate and I had just gotten comfortable with each other after Vegas.

I closed my eyes tight as I thought back to that moment in Vegas. It was really nothing I suppose, just a drunken kiss before our alcohol-full bodies fell asleep. But it wasn't "nothing" to me. It was driving me insane. It felt amazing, it was a perfect moment where Kate loved me and I loved her, and I had to feel it again and again. It was like I was addicted to it, and I was going through the worst withdraw ever.

"Are you alright?"

My eyes flew open to see that Kate was standing in front of me, looking down at me like she used to look at me when we were little kids and I got hurt when we were playing. Her eyes were sympathetic, but it wasn't the strong sense where she would run to me and almost be crying when I really got her.

She was so beautiful.

It almost killed me to look at her. The little scar right below her eyebrow that you didn't notice unless you were close that she got when we were little and she fell down the stairs at school. Her beautiful grey eyes. Just every single thing about her was perfect.

I didn't answer, I was just staring at her. She was so just beautiful…

"I got hot chocolate," she sat down beside me, handing me a hot mug.

"Thanks," I smiled, turning to where we were looking at each other, and I took a small sip of the hot chocolate.

"So, what's up?" Kate asked, taking a small sip of her own drink.

"Nothing, what do you mean?"

"You've been sitting here with your eyes shut and a painful look on your face for the last half hour."

"Oh," I looked down, blushing.

"Yeah, oh," she smiled.

"I, um, was… I was just thinking," I smiled weakly. I wanted to add, about the night we kissed in Vegas that you don't remember where my love for you got even stronger.

"About what?" Kate brought her mug to her lips.

I froze.

"Oh, if you don't want to talk about it," Kate looked down, blushing, "you don't have to."

"It is nothing really," I lied.

Kate nodded, her eyes focused on her drink.

I decided to try to lighten the mood.

"So, what do you think is up with Charlie?" I asked with a small smile.

Kate was happy for the change of subject, and she smiled back with the adorable shrug I loved that she did.

"I don't know. I assume boy troubles," Kate smiled, teasing me.

"That felt great, thank you. Perfect moment for that."

"She's growing up. She's going to get a boyfriend," Kate smiled even wider, "And she will get married. And have kids!"

I put my hands over my ears, "Stop!"

I suddenly realized that we were almost having the same conversation as we did in my dream. Only we didn't have a kid swimming, our daughter wasn't playing with my sister, and we weren't going to kiss right now. It almost broke my heart, to be honest.

Kate laughed, and I even found myself laughing, too. But it was weak now…

And, when the laughing had died down, we smiled together.

Kate looked down, and she pushed her hair behind her ear.

"I feel guilty about that…"

My eyes shot up to her.

"About not knowing about Charlie. She knows everything about us. That has always been basically our little girl. And we don't know what she wants out of life," Kate was staring at her hot chocolate.

"It was easier that way…"

Kate looked up at me, her eyes watering.

"We are almost there."

There was a silence.

"We're standing by her, we're going to be there for her," I took Kate's hand and squeezed it. Kate nodded.

"Always."

Charlie,

We had plans to spend another night with Hypnos. We all wanted to put off California, and we had no intentions on rushing to see Aphrodite either. I had never truly really liked Aphrodite like most little girls did. Most everyone loved her, wanting to be beautiful and represent love and all that stuff when they grew up.

I guess it was because of my parent's stories. She was the villain in them. She was trying to keep them apart but giving them such a strong love. She was playing with them for her own entertainment. By the time I was four years old, I did not like the goddess.

And that was before I entered puberty, where she seems to play with you the most.

Now, with Aiden and Chester (not to mention the Kate and Noah thing going on), I was on the verge of hating the goddess. Then meeting little Weslin who never saw her mother when I knew that she still saw Piper was the icing on the cake.

I had no problem with not going to see her. And I most certainly had no problem with getting in the car with everyone and having to sit there between Chester and Aiden.

If I thought about it long enough, I was almost transported back to the dream. I could feel the smile on my face as my children hugged him. I could feel the love I had for him as he kissed me hello. And I could feel his arms wrapped tight around me.

This was what I wanted, wasn't it?

To have a sign to just tell me.

But, now that I had one, I wished it away.

It wasn't that I didn't feel something for him, I did. It was that I didn't think it could be true like that. The more and more I thought of the logic of it (something I had not done before), I could not see how it could happen. I could see how we meshed together, but I could not see how it worked out.

I couldn't see how it would ever end up with the two of us getting married. Of settling down in the same place. Of buying a house. Of having two children who I picked up from school every day!

I couldn't imagine how the two of us would end up with that little slice of suburban dream, not us. I mean, with someone else, I guess I could. I had never seen him show any inclination to want to ever settle down or get married.

It was hard to picture us turning into my parents. Getting married. Having children. Changing diapers. Making lunch for school. Making pancakes on Saturday morning. Him holding me to keep me from crying when our child went to camp.

I knew it could be. We were so young, we couldn't show all of that just now. I knew that there was time before that could happen. That it would work out eventually. But it just didn't feel right at the same time.

I thought I could handle it, seeing everyone at breakfast. But I couldn't.

As soon as I could, I retired to bed. I missed lunch, and a servant brought me some. And I was not going to dinner.

Kate came to me after lunch. Though I wanted to, I did not tell her. I knew I would later, but I still didn't want to face it now. She left soon afterwards, and I tried to find things for myself to do. I read for a bit. I watched a movie. I talked to Emily-Rose.

But nothing was soothing me.

I was still trying to read, but my mind kept wondering. The words went through my mind but never seemed to actually register. It had taken me ten minutes to get through a page when I finally realized that it was not going to work. I put down the book, and I did the only thing I felt like I could do.

I slid into my bed, and I let myself think.

I analyzed everything about him. I thought about his personality, all of his faults and all of his strengths. I thought about his appearance to the man in my dream, double checking it. I compared myself with him for similarities, and I questioned even his conduct towards me to see if maybe he could be that person I saw in my dream one day.

I was in the middle of comparing his nose with the man in the dream when someone knocked on my door.

"Charlie?" it was Kate.

"Come in," I called out to her, wanting someone to take my mind off of everything.

She entered, and I saw from the glass windows behind her that it was now night.

"Dinner is in an hour," she smiled as she closed the door.

"I'm not going."

"I know," she sat on the edge of my bed.

I sat up to look at her, and our eyes were glued to each other.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I shrugged, and she looked down.

"I was married to Noah."

"Does that shock you?"

She looked up at me, and she shook her head.

"We had a little girl, and she was so precious," she smiled, almost crying, "I just loved her right then. And we had a little boy who was just like Noah. He was so stubborn. And-And we were just so happy, the four of us. We were just so happy…"

Kate bit her lower lip.

"And he wants all that. I know he does, he has told me before. But I don't know who he wants it with. I haven't talked to this guy in years. Maybe there is a girl. Maybe there is a girl in his life that we don't know about that he loves and wants to marry, and maybe she will have his kids and that'll be their house and she'll be the one he kisses…" Kate looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown.

She was already crying, and I lunged to hug her.

"He loves you, Kate. I know you don't believe me, but he does. Anyone can see it," I whispered, and she shook her head.

"You see it like that because you want to. He loves me like a sister. And, if you want to see it as more, you do," she smiled.

I tried to tell her otherwise, but she was sticking to the same argument.

"None of us are talking about it, you know. Not our dreams. Only freakin' Chester has seemed slightly happy about his dream, and he has been napping all day," Kate let me go and rolled her eyes, which I noticed had cried, "After you left, Aiden disappeared into the library. I have no idea where my brother is. Or Swift. You're not the only one MIA."

I smiled at that.

"And I feel terrible," her eyes let out another tear, "I don't know what you want in life. You know everything about me. But I don't know everything about you. I was always so scared to get my hopes up because you might not live to do that stuff. But I want to know. I want to know what you want out of life."

She put her hand on mine, and I smiled weakly.

"Well, I don't know…" I smiled weakly, looking down, "I want to be a Marine Biologist. I think I want to live in New Athens. Life just seems… easier there I guess. I don't really think that New York is my place. I mean, I love it. I loved growing up there. But I think I want to have my kids grow up with a yard. A proper yard with a fence and a swing and all that."

Kate was smiling at me, and I found that I was smiling, too.

"Oh, and kids. I want kids. I don't want an only child to get lonely. And I don't want to have too many kids that I can't enjoy them. I think I want a little girl and a little boy…" I looked down, "I want to get married. I want to be in love, I want to spend the rest of my life with someone."

"Did you see who?"

My eyes shot up to Kate, and she took the look in my eyes as something bad.

"What?"

"I-I know him…" I was almost crying.

"Why are you so sad? It isn't like it is Kia."

Kia was Emily-Rose's "true love", and everyone knew about it, even Kate.

"No, it wasn't Kia," I smiled weakly.

"Well then, anything can be better from there. Who was it?"

"It wasn't a bad guy. It just… I can't picture him packing lunches for school and picking up hot pink backpacks for the school year. I can't see the logic of how we would settle in the same place or have people so dangerous like us get married and have kids! I just can't see it, there is no logic!"

Kate smiled, almost laughing as she pushed my hair behind my ears.

"Honey, it is love. Not logic."

"Marriage requires both."

Kate shook her head.

"Look at your parents. There is no logic to show why on earth they are together today. There is no logic behind your mom leaving Henry and coming home to New York. There is no logic behind them falling in love and dating again. There was no logic behind your dad deciding to risk everything and have your mom move in when they had only been dating for, like, a month. There was no logic behind your dad proposing so soon either," she smiled, "And there was no logic behind them getting married after all they had been through and having a child."

Kate smiled even wider at me.

"It was love. It was a lack of love with Henry that made her leave him. It was love that made them date again. It was love that had your father ask her to move in and become such a big part in your brother's life so soon. It was love that had your father proposing, and it was love that made them get married and have you."

I watched her, letting her continue.

"We grandchildren of Athena, we trust logic. But logic is not the only thing in the world. You were born of love over logic, and yet you question it!" Kate laughed, "You can love this person, despite whatever it is that you think would stop you. Now, for the love of the gods, tell me who it is!"

I smiled at her a little, and I decided to stop telling her what was wrong with him and tell her who he was.