Ben and Ciara fell asleep wrapped in each other's arms. Ciara has refused to let Ben out of her sight knowing that he would be able to keep her safe despite all his own self-doubt. Ciara knew deep down inside Ben would never hurt her and was determined to prove him wrong. Although she would never let him know, Ciara was still nervous about being left alone after everything that had gone down with Jordan and Claire. It was one thing to have Jordan try to kill her, but it was something else to have her own flesh and blood try to kill her. Over Tripp, a boy who barely even registered on her radar since she fully committed herself to making things work with Ben.

Ciara woke up in the early hours of the morning, realizing it would still hours before she needed to actually wake up, she snuggled closer to Ben and tried to use the steady rhythm of his breathing to fall back asleep.

"Ciara get away from me...let me do this," Ben said.

"Look at her!"

"You hurt her, you almost took the one thing that matters to me in this world."

Ciara had not fully fallen asleep when she heard Ben words and quickly realized that Ben was reliving what had happened a few weeks ago.

"Ben!" Ciara said as she gently tried to wake him.

When Ben still had not woken up, she tried again a little more force. Ben finally started to move around searching his surroundings with wild eyes. His breathing and heart raced as searched desperately for Ciara , but then let out a sigh of relief when he realized she was right next to him.

"Are you okay?" Ciara asked

"No, I am not."

"Ben, please don't start this again, not now."

"If not now, then when?"

"How about never?" Ciara said trying to lighten the mood.

"That is not even funny."

"I know, its not but I just don't want to have this discussion right now it is not even three in the morning."

"I promise we can have this talk tomorrow after I get home from work, but I just can't right now." Ciara said as tears threatened to fall.

"Pease don't cry." Ben conceded as he ran his hand across Ciara's cheek and into her brown curly hair.

"You know the last thing I ever want to do is hurt you."

Ciara could help the thought that popped into her head "yet you are," but decided it be better left unsaid. Ben felt guilty enough without her adding to his pain. Ciara tilted her head slightly to kiss Ben one more time before they settled back to sleep.

The warmth of their intertwined bodies woke Ciara up first. She took Ben in while he slept. He looked so peaceful with his lip parted ever so slightly. Ciara not able to contain herself carefully tracing his lips with her finger and then slowly moved up to his soft brown hair. The muscles on the back of Ben's neck and shoulders tightened in response to Ciara's touch. It was easy for her to forget how strong he was because of how gentle he always tried to be with her. Ciara got so lost in her thoughts that she had not noticed that Ben had woken up and was looking at her.

"Good morning" Ben said

"Good morning," Ciara said as a blush came across her cheeks feeling like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't. It's okay."

"What time is it?" He said

"It's almost nine in the morning."

"How about you jump in the shower and get ready for work while I make you some pancakes and then I will walk you to work."

Ciara could not help the smile that spread across her face as she said, "That would be great."

With a quick peck to Ben's check she got up out of bed and scurried over to the bathroom. Ben watched as Ciara left the room and shook his head fighting off the thoughts that maybe this relationship could work. He had made up his mind last night that she would be safer without him around but was determined to at least not ruin her day. Ben was almost done with the pancakes when Ciara walked out of her room and sat at the counter.

"That smells so good, thank you for making them for me."

"You are more than welcome, now eat up while I take a quick shower and change. I don't want you to be late to work."

"My family owns the place remember," Ciara said with a mouthful of pancakes.

Ben couldn't help but laugh as he said, "Trust me I remember."

Ben had dropped off Ciara with just a few minutes to spare. They both walked in silence all the way there appreciating what could possibly be one of the last few moments they would spend together while Ben worked through whatever demons he needed to work on. It wasn't until Ciara cleared her throat that Ben snapped back to reality.

"Will you pick me up after my shift today?"

"Yes, I will."

The smile on her face made Ben heart skip a beat. She then reached up on her tippy toes to hug him goodbye. They hugged for what felt like too short of a time and then as Ben turned to walk away. It wasn't until Ciara called his name "Ben" that he turn around and looked at her.

"Yes."

"I wanted to say thank you for keeping your promise."

"What do you mean?"

"For waiting for tonight to talk."

Ben face dropped as he remembered his reason for wanting to end things with Ciara. And without a word he just nodded and bent down to place a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you Ben." Ciara said as she let out a breath she had not realized she was holding.

"I love you too Ciara, now go to work before you are late. I will pick you up after your shift is over and we can talk then."

"Have a good day" He said as he turn again to walk away…To be continued.