Hope you guys like this chapter. Review of the first is at the beginning.



"Hi." I said smiling. She looked at the rose in my hand, and then turned her head, blushing. "Hi." She replied. I smiled as I stood and stepped across the small stream, sitting next to her. This would be interesting.

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"Ray! What are you doing out this late?!?" Mariah exclaimed. "I should ask you the same thing. It's a two hour walk from here to the village." Ray said, settling on the pebbles along the stream. "Well, I asked you first." Mariah retorted, not wanting to tell him her reason. Ray sighed. "I guess I just couldn't sleep. But I was just about there, when you came along." Ray said simply.

Mariah just stared deep into the reflection of his eyes. "Your sleeping out here?" she asked after a moment of silence. "Yeah, no where else to go. I was going to stay with Angel, but decided not to." He replied staring off into the distance. "Why stay outside though, you know you could ask Lee or Gary or," she paused a moment, wondering if she was daring enough to say it. "Me." She ended.

"I didn't want to be a bother any of you guys." Ray said, smiling. "Why not go and live with your Mom then?" Ray stiffened. 'I knew is shouldn't have said that.' Mariah thought. "She lives too far away. I miss her and all, but, she would never be home, and she's starting a new job in Africa soon." Ray said. Mariah looked over at him; he seemed to be in a trance. "Being a doctor isn't all I thought it to be." she said quietly. Ray smiled. "No, it's just, she works for a clinic that travels around helping homeless people." he said. "Like you?" Mariah joked.

Ray thought about that for a second then said "Hey!" He turned and saw she had gotten up, and took a few steps back. He stood up to then lunged at her. She ran off laughing. He stated laughing and followed after her. "Come back here Mariah!" he tried to yell, but was laughing too hard. "Not a chance Ray!" she called over her shoulder.

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After about fifteen minutes, Mariah had slowed down quit a bit. Ray stopped a second and the took a quick sprint and grabbed her around the waist, but they both fell down. They rolled a bit, and started to laugh. After a moment they stopped laughing, and the tension around them suddenly grew.

"Um." Ray started, and then remembered something in his hand. "Here, you put this in the water." Ray said giving her the white rose, trying to forget he was still lying on top of her. "You still have it." Mariah said amazed as she took it. It was still in perfect condition too. She looked up at Ray and smiled. "You have it." She said putting it in his hand and gently closing his fingers around it. "But." He started, remembering what the white rose meant in their village.

Mariah silenced him with a gentle kiss. She pulled back blushing. Ray could feel the blush creeping it's way to his face. If there was tension between them before, it didn't amount to how much was between them now. "Ray." Mariah started, but never finished, as she and Ray kissed again. 'I knew this would be interesting.'

Ray thought. He suddenly broke the kiss and motioned Mariah to stay quiet. He stood up, leaving her to find her own feet. "Whose there?" Ray called. Lee came out of the trees Mariah had came out from earlier. "Ray?" he said, obviously surprised. "What are you doing out here?" Ray asked. "Looking for... Mariah!" Lee practically yelled seeing Mariah getting to her feet behind Ray.

"Lee, what are you doing out here?" Mariah asked, disappointed that he had ruined Ray and her special moment. "I was looking for you. You parents were getting worried, I said I would go get you, so we wouldn't have a big search." Lee said walking up to the two. "I left a note." She put her hand in her pocket, and pulled out a note. "Well I thought I left it." Ray and Lee sweat dropped.

"Well, come on, I left about an hour ago, we should be back in about another hour if we run." Lee said. "Okay, but Lee." She started looking at Ray. "What?" Lee said a bit annoyed. "Ray, you're coming right? You don't want to stay out here all night, do you?" Mariah asked. Ray sighed; there was no way he would get out of this one. "Give my a second to grab my bag." He said walking back over to the bolder. This was going to be a longer night than expected, followed by a very long day.





That's all for now. Ten reviews till I put up the next one. I except all flames, just keep it to a minimum of ten curse words please, other wise I'll send you flames. Please review, and read Fiery-chan's 'Childhood Sweetheart', and if you like CCS read my 'A Fair Queen'.