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Holding on to her arm was strange. He'd always liked Cordelia, not as he was currently liking her. She was always his sister's friend which in a way made her his friend and to him this meant she would always be off limits. It wasn't that he ever thought of her that way either. He'd always pictured Grace being the one he'd be walking with. Her holding on to him and smiling, Grace he pictured introducing to his parents and planned to marry.

He tried hard not to think about her. It was hard and he didn't want to compare Her to Cordelia. There was nothing to compare, they were so different. Cordelia was warm and reminded him of summer, she was timid around people she didn't know but made an effort to get to know them. Grace was like ice, she was frozen and alone like he had once been, she was like a true English rose in which she was beautiful and her kisses were soft, but beyond those petals there were thorns. He could only love one of them and he made his choice.

"James?" Cordelia looked up at him her dark eyes looking into his and making him lose his train of thought. Her cheeks were pink from the cold winter air that swirled around them. "You look beautiful." He said not knowing what else to say. when he was around her that was his go to line these days. Her cheeks became an even brighter shade of pink and it was not from the cold. He looked at where they stood in front of the institute. He wondered if they should go inside.

They'd been walking through the streets of London all day just talking, him making her laugh and deciding he liked making her laugh. He knew what was happening now, he was falling for her. He knew it because he knew what it was like. Some glories high that made his heart speed up whenever she was near or even at the mention of her name. He wanted to ask her if she felt it too. He was afraid of it, like it was all happening too fast. He wanted to slow it down, he felt if they went this fast they would burn out.

James looked down at his feet and then at Cordelia. He offered her his arm and lead her inside. Once inside he didn't want to go their separate ways even if it only meant them going to different rooms and anyways they would see each other at dinner. "I had a wonderful time." she said looking up at him. There was a loose curl hanging over the side of her cheek and he didn't even try to fight the urge to brush it away. He looked right at her when he did it. He wanted to kiss her, right here where someone was more than likely to see them. He was going to kiss her. He was now leaning in to kiss her when...

Someone had cleared there throat interrupting the moment. He looked in the general direction behind Cordelia to find Lucie standing in the main hallway with her arms crossed glaring daggers at him. Cordelia was looking to her as well, guilt washing over her face. "Oh don't mind me. I was just was on my way to the library." Her teeth were clenched as if she were holding them back from snapping at either of them. "Actually I was looking for Jamie. I was hoping to talk to you about something." James swallowed suddenly afraid talking meant something more like killing him. He stepped away from Cordelia smiling at her one more time as he walked away.

He followed Lucie down the corridor stopping in front of their father's office. She turned to face him her arms crossed over the book in his hands. "Luc?" He said wanting to know what this was about. She didn't look upset at him anymore, just scared. "Shes my best friend." Lucie whispered just loud enough for him to hear. He raised his brow at her not understanding. Lucie looked down at her feet. "She's one of my only friends and she's my parabatai." He cleared his throat. "I know." He said uneasily. "I just-" She began "I need to know if you love her or not. You're my brother and I should be happy that you two… I just want you to know that you're both important to me and if any one gets hurt I .." "No ones going to get hurt." He said interrupting her. "You don't know that." she said finally looking at him. "I don't want to end up in some weird situation where I have to choose. And if anything goes wrong I would choose Her." He ran his fingers through his hair trying to think of what to say next. "I wouldn't." he said. She was looking at the floor again.

"I understand." he said suddenly reminded of a story his father told him once about a pair of parabatai who had fallen in love with the same person, and how one allowed the other to be happy by letting them be with that person. How whoever they were, one of them allowed the other to be happy while he or she… well thats the part his father left out. He understood because he knew if it were Matthew he would do the same thing, He wouldn't want him to get his heart broken even if it were Lucie or some other girl. Just like Matthew had tried to protect him from Grace.

"I… I would never hurt her." He finally said. She smiled and turned to leave as if that was all she needed to hear.

A/N: Requested by Magicandsparklez :) Sorry I've been gone for a long time but with school and Final exams and everything I haven't had time to write. anyway I also feel really bad because I haven't been PM people back in the reviews so I'm going to start doing that again. With summer getting closer I'm going to be able to update a lot more. I still need to work out a schedule thats fair and not to crowded so I will get on that ASAP. Any way as always it means so much to me how many of you have stuck around so Thank you as always for the wonderful feedback and reviews.

~~RowanWhitethorn22