Chapter LI Trouble in Paradise

The couple walked in silence for several minutes before Ben stopped and took Cara's hands. Surprised by such a gesture in public, Cara glanced around nervously. Content that no one was watching she returned her gaze to the man holding her hands.

"Why do you do that?" he asked suddenly, annoyed by her actions. Cara frowned.

"Do what?"

"Every time we're together it's like you're embarrassed." Ben dropped her hands.

"Embarrassed?" Cara crossed her arms. "Ben, what are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Realizing he was shouting, the man reeled himself in. "Is there something wrong with this?" he motioned to the air in between them. As Cara opened her mouth to reply, Ben continued. "Because it's like you don't want to be seen with me… like I'm just a game to you." He repeated the phrase Richard had told him less than an hour before.

"A game?" Cara cried. "Are you kidding me, Benjamin? Do you have any idea how hard it is for…someone like me to let people in and now that I finally have, you downplay it to me toying with you?"

"Me?! I'm the one downplaying it? You're the one who can't even look at me outside of the bedroom!" Ben yelled back. Cara scoffed and turned her back to walk away. "No!" he grabbed her arm and yanked her back towards him. "You can't just walk away from this, from me."

"Yea?" Cara raised an eyebrow. "Watch me." she pried his fingers off her arm and continued to hurry away.

"It's that easy for you?!" he called after her. "I tell you I love you and you can just forget about it? Just like that?!" His words caused the woman in stop in her tracks. She lowered her head in shame and he knew that he had her. Slowly, Ben approached her from behind and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I love you. You said you loved me too. Was that a lie?" She hesitated a second longer than he hoped.

"I don't know." Cara finally replied causing Ben to rock back on his heels as if she had struck him. She turned to face him and took in the hurt look on his face. Realizing the effect her words had on the man, she raised a hand to cup his cheek. He allowed it but it wasn't greeted as warmly as it normally was. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" he asked without looking at her.

"Being what I am. It's not your fault. You deserve someone who gives a damn, someone who can tell you she loves you at every corner no matter who's there. I just…I just don't know if she can be me." Cara admitted, ashamed.

"I love you for who are Cara. I wouldn't want you to change for anything in the world. If it means we pretend not to be together in public then that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." Ben gazed his icy blue eyes into hers and Cara immediately saw the potential for disaster.

"No. That's not fair. I'll…I'll work on it okay? Promise." She told him. "It's just…hard."

"I know. I'm sorry for getting so upset." Ben wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close.

"You have the right to be upset. I guess I'm just not good at this. Never was." A shadow passed over the woman's eyes as she recalled the last time a man had professed his love for her.

"We'll work at it. Together." Ben smiled at her and she couldn't resist but smiling back. Pushing herself up on her toes, she sealed the agreement with a kiss, not a passionate and lustful kiss, but a sweet one, one she did not even know she was capable of. When the two parted, neither spoke, afraid to shatter the illusion around them.

"What did you want to tell me?" Cara asked, breaking the silence.

"I, uh, don't remember." Ben admitted and blushed an adorable shade of pink. Cara chuckled and dug her face into his neck as they rocked one another. Inhaling his scent, Cara was completely lost in the moment and didn't notice the two women standing besides the couple, waiting for the two to part. Once they did, they nearly jumped at the sight of an audience.

"What?" Cara asked gruffly, annoyed that she hadn't sensed anyone watching her the entire time. Her sisters knew about her relationship with Benjamin but that didn't give them the right to snoop.

"We just wanted to see Dahlia." Raina said innocently. Berdine just smiled.

"I'll take you to her." Cara said. She turned to Ben and gave him a weary smile. Apparently her lessons began here. Slowly, she gave him a peck on the lips and told him goodnight. Surprised at how quickly she had adapted, Ben just stood there with a hand to his lips. Long before the women were out of sight did he finally whisper 'goodnight' and make his way towards their bedchamber.

"Shut up." She ordered her sisters as they approached the room Aria and Dahlia were in.

"We didn't say anything." Berdine whined as Raina struggled to hold back a chuckle.

"Yea, you weren't saying anything real loud." Cara huffed sarcastically causing the two women behind her to burst into a fit of giggles. "We're here." Immediately, the Mord'Sith's moods changed, a somber expression coming across their faces. Their sister was hurt and there was nothing amusing about that. Cara opened the door slightly and saw that the cots and meals Kahlan had sent already arrived. Aria was sitting on the bed wiping the sweat off of their sister's face and neck.

"Has she awoken?" Raina asked the girl. Aria shook her head.

"She just keeps mumbling. I can't understand what she's saying though." Aria turned a concerned look towards her sisters. Did Dahlia have some sort of permanent brain damage caused by the multiple blows she had received? Mord'Sith were strong women but inevitably, still human.

"We'll see how she is tomorrow." Cara arranged herself on the other side of Dahlia's bed and stared at the woman.

"Are you two staying here tonight?" Berdine asked, noticing the bedrolls. Both nodded. "Then so shall we."

"There isn't enough room for all five of us Raina. We'll wake you if anything happens. I promise." Cara told the woman without looking away from Dahlia. Berdine opened her mouth to argue but stopped when Raina placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Goodnight." Raina told the room signaling that the conversation was over. Berdine sighed and opened the door for her lover after muttering a 'goodnight' to Aria and Cara as well. After their sisters retired for the night, an eerie silence took over Aria and Cara. Aria desperately wanted to comfort the blonde but was at a complete lack of words. Cara was lost in thought, recalling the countless memories she had shared with Dahlia. Dahlia had been there since the beginning; from the moment little Cari began school until Darken Rahl's death separated the friends. Cara had been there for Dahlia after she had taken a beating from their former master and vise versa. Nothing happened in one's life that the other wasn't aware of. Dahlia even knew of Cara's unborn sibling that was murdered along with her mother. Sighing, Cara remembered the look on her sister's face when Dahlia had discovered that Cara 'betrayed' them by helping Richard. It took a long time for the two to reconnect and for Cara to prove that she did what she did to protect the Mord'Sith.

"She's going to be alright, you know." Aria's voice snapped Cara out of her flashbacks. She smiled at the green-eyed teenager and nodded.

"I'm sure. Nothing keeps Dahlia down for too long." Cara reassured herself. Swiping a hand through her braid, Cara stood and sat on one of the cots the guards had brought in. "We should get some sleep. We don't know when she'll wake up." The 'if' left out of Cara's statement told Aria everything she needed to know.

"Eat first." The Confessor instructed expecting defiance. Cara simply nodded. The woman was too emotionally drained from the day not to mention the physical toll running across the city had taken on her. She sat cross-legged and picked up the stew and spoon and began to swallow the food as if it was torture. Satisfied that Cara was helping herself, Aria sat next to her and copied the woman's actions. Before long both women's eyes started to close and they were asleep before their heads hit their pillows.


Soooo, I'm getting the feeling that we're almost done! :( God, clicking that complete button is going to hurt.