~Thanks to everyone who followed and commented, I really appreciate any support! Here's Chapter 2 for you. 3

As Dani sat there watching Pele start to yawn and wake up for the day, an overwhelming chill ran through her body. What was that feeling? She wondered. Fear? Depression? Anxiety? So many things could and should be running through her. But with the physical shake she made to get them off, the feeling itself dissipated and she was able to focus back on Pelle.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes and looked over at her sheepishly.

"Good morning Dani." Dani followed Pelle's eyes as they traveled from her face down the curve of her neck and down to rest on her chest. His eyes were only there for a second, but Dani definitely caught it and she smiled a little to herself. She liked when he noticed her. It made her feel beautiful and seen. It made her feel like when Pelle gave her that first portrait. Like someone was finally seeing her.

"Good morning Pelle." Dani smiled. She looked down at the floor to see where her shoes were. But when she looked up again Pelle was there putting his hands around her face and pulling in for a deep breath taking kiss. Dani's lips tightened around his and pulled them in closer.

"Mmm", Pelle moans and pulls his lips towards her ear."It gets better every single time." Pelle whispered the words so softly and she could feel his breath with every word glide around her ear. Until the feeling of his words consumed her.

She looked back up into his eyes once he pulled away and just stared, enamored. This person has actually saved me.. she thought.

As people start to wake up and walk around, Dani become more aware of how thin her pajamas were and people could probably see exactly how she was feeling through her shirt. She pulled her blankets up and grabbed for her bag, but not before Pelle noticed and smirked.

Dani grabbed her clothes and went to change. She looked around in the dressing room and realized everyone else had changed and she was alone. She couldn't really remember the last time she had real privacy.

It all had just happened so fast, one thing after another and the drugs and the death and the choices. Dani felt herself slide to the floor.

The choices.

Dani was taking quite a long time to get changed. Pelle was already dressed and waiting on his bed for her to come back out so he could talk her through the day and everything he had planned. He started to tap his fingers against the bed when he decided it had been too long and got up to go see her. He wondered if he was overreacting just because he really just wanted to see her. To be around her. Pelle walked around the corner to the dressing area and saw Dani slumped on the floor with tears slowly falling onto her chest.

Pelle walked quickly over and knelt beside her.

"Dani? Dani, what's wrong?" He asked urgently.

Dani's water glazed eyes looked over at him. She shook her head and just folded into herself.

"What did I do Pelle? What did I do?" Dani was crying harder than ever.

"You gave a sacrifice for this community. You honored the Gods and now you can belong here with us. Our May queen. Our reason to go on another year. Yes, you made a hard decision. But because of that," he paused to grab her hand,"because of what you did, we can now grow together."

Dani sniffled and looked shyly up at Pelle.

"This is not how I would have wanted you to choose me Dani." Pelle closed his eyes and for a moment she thought he was going to cry as well. "I wanted you to choose me back in the states. When I saw you at that party for the first time."

Dani couldn't believe his feelings had gone back that far.

"How well do you remember meeting me?" Dani asked.

"It was all I thought about every time you were around me." He said softly. "Anytime I saw you again after that night all I could think of was you in that short orange shirt that showed your stomach, and those pants that fit loosely against your hips. What I wouldn't give to see you in that outfit again" Pelle followed the curve of Dani's body with his eyes. "But mostly, I remembered how sad you looked. How sad you looked when you were trying to get him to notice you were there. I didn't put it together until he introduced me to you, but that's what the sadness was," Pelle traced his finger around the side of Dani's face and down her neck."being invisible to the people who matter most to you."

Dani had never felt so exposed. Exposed in so many aspects, her emotions, her relationships, and not to mention her clothes.

"But you noticed me?" Dani asked quietly.

"The second I saw you, I couldn't look at anything else. You became my sun and all I could do was try to get closer, but had to keep a distance."

Dani let the words sink in to her. My sun. She could feel the warm rays of light that the words brought to her. She looked down at his hands on her hips holding her to him. She liked the feeling. The feeling of support. That's when she noticed he had pulled her into his lap.

She looked up at him and their eyes were level to each other and only inches away.

"I see you too Pelle." Dani ran her fingers through his hair and let her fingers flow down his neck tickling his skin and down to his muscular shoulders and across his chest. Although he had clothes on she remembered the time she had seen him without a shirt on when they had all gone to the lake. The memory filled her with warmth that moved down below her stomach.

"What are you thinking about?" Pelle asked as if he knew she was thinking about him.

"How much I want to kiss you again."

They were interrupted. One of the adults, Dani thought her name was Lucia, was sent to see if they were coming to eat with everyone. Pelle had told her that she was not feeling well and that he would take care of her for the day and not to expect them to be around. Lucia nodded and went to tell the others.

The interruption had halted the pent up feelings they were starting to release between them. However, Dani was looking forward to Pelle taking care of her all day. Whatever that meant here because nothing seemed to be the same as she knew.

"So how exactly are you going to be taking care of me today?" Dani asked slyly, sending a subtle but suggestive look towards Pelle.

He smiled, "Today we are taking a short hike to a very secret place that I have never showed anyone." Pelle gently lifts her and sets her on the ground and stands up. He offers her his hand to help her to her feet.

"A secret place you say? Hmm." Dani said laughing and taking his hand to get up. "And you're taking me? I feel so special."

Pelle grabbed her waist and leaned her in so his lips were against hers and whispered, "You're most special to me."

Dani mooned and went to finish changing.

After getting all of there stuff together they started to head out of the room when Pelle grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers. Dani looked down at their hands. His were so much bigger than hers and they felt strong and rough against her smooth hands.

The sensation of the friction between them made Dani smile and thoughts of everything that had happened in her life began to fade to the background as Pelle led her through a winding trail of breathtaking scenery and all the colors she had ever thought to exist.

She had never seen anything so beautiful.

After the hike, that included a little off trailing to get to Pelle's place, Dani felt more relaxed than ever. This place had that affect on her. She looked around, there was a small pool of crystal clear water where the moss was so green and the tide would make all of the individual pieces swirl in all directions. Everything was so vibrant from the water, to the trees, to the rocks. She felt like she had just been existing in grey forever and suddenly she had upgraded to a higher quality existence.

"This is the most beautiful place I have ever seen Pelle." Dani couldn't stop staring at everything, finding new things to see. She noticed a deer walking in the trees on the other side of the pond, two birds chasing each other and a small snake gliding out of the water and into the grass.

Pelle laid out a blanket and motioned for her to sit.

Dani sat, and even at this new angle she found something new in her environment to be amazed at. This time however, it wasn't the scenery. It was Pelle.

He seemed to shine in the sun, his pale skin aglow on the warm sunny day.

"Can I ask again what you are thinking?" Pelle asked Dani nudging her with his shoulder.

Dani smirked, "I was wondering how I got here.. To this place with you. This is not at all what I thought my life would become."

"We often have to deal with that reality throughout our life."

"Do you regret anything..?" Dani asked with a broken tone in her voice.

Pelle who was picking at some grass broke his attention and looked over at Dani.

"I do not." He said it so strongly and with such confidence Dani forgot for a moment the decisions that had led them here. "I don't regret anything that has led you to be in this place with me."

Dani let out a breath she had been holding in since she had thought of the question. He was in this for her. She was the center of his universe. And never had she felt that, and never had she been so drunk in the feeling of being seen by someone who mattered to her.