Valentine's Day*

It was Valentine's Day, a day dedicated to love. Love had never really been his thing, and at times he had wondered if he had even been capable of that emotion. She had changed all of that when she had come into his life. He didn't handle it well, hurt her to push her far away from him. She was just like him now, but today, he didn't want to push her away, he wanted to pull her close to him. He wanted to tell her how he felt about her.

She was still in rehab, it was her last week there, and hopefully when she left she would be healed from the wounds that he inflicted on her. She probably wouldn't be able to return his feelings, but he had to tell her. He walked into the visiting room and saw her curled up on the couch reading a book.

"Happy Valentine's Day beautiful," he said as he placed the bouquet of roses on her lap.

"Thank you Todd, they're beautiful," Marty said as she placed the roses on the table, stood up and hugged him.

"It's crowded in here, take a walk with me, there's something that I want to tell you," Todd said as he took her hand and led her outside.

They walked in silence for a few minutes until he reached a bench by the pond. There were two swans swimming with some ugly ducklings in the pond.

"This is my favorite spot in this whole place. I like to watch the ugly birds grow into the beautiful swans. It gives me hope," she said as she sat down on the bench.

"It gives me hope too," he said as he sat by her side and squeezed her hand. "Marty, you don't have to say anything back to me, but I need to tell you how I feel about you," Todd whispered.

"I know how you feel about me," she said.

"You do?"

"Yes, you told me that night you apologized to me. You told me that you fell in love with me that first night that we made love, but then you left because you were scared of your feelings for me. I was hurt so I rejected you and then your love turned into hatred."

"I don't hate you, you're right I did, but I don't anymore. I love you Marty and I will spend the rest of my life trying to make up for the pain that my hatred caused you."

"I loved you too, it's why I was so hurt when you left me. Ironically, I was hoping that we could be a family. I was looking for you to tell you how I felt at the party, but your hatred ruined everything. It turned something so beautiful and turned it ugly. Now, there are times that I hate you, but there are also times that I feel the love that I had for you before."

"That's understandable, how do you feel about me today?" Todd asked her.

"Today, I only feel Love," she said as she kissed him on the cheek.

"Dance with me," he said as he stood up and took her hand and placed it in his. He wrapped his hands around her waist as she wrapped her hands around his neck, as they danced to the beat of their own hearts.