One Single Step - Chapter 7: Don't say goodbye.

Disclaimer - not mine

Notes - thank you for being patient. Please review.

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There was a tapping on her bedroom door, but Beck ignored it. Tears ran down her cheeks and she refused to brush them away. It had been years since her mother had made her cry, but this, the events of the day, a day that was suppose to be a happy occasion, was making her cry like a little baby.

Beck didn't know what hurt more, the fact that her mother did not approve of Fulton, or the fact that she was leaving that afternoon. Although it was hard to gain her mothers approval, Beck had hoped that her mother would accept Fulton. That she would look at him and see him for what he really was, a great, caring, loyal guy who would go to the ends of the earth to make her happy. And He did make Beck happy, and now, this…

The soft tapping on the door continued, but this time there was a voice as well. "Beck, its Fulton, can I come in"

Beck opened the door, and then went back to packing four years of her life into the two suitcases that she had. Fulton closed the door behind him, and came up behind her, resting his hands on her shoulders. He saw that tears in her eyes and hugged her against him, kissing her softly on the neck.

"Hey, hey, don't cry" he whispered. That just made Beck cry more.

"I hate her" Beck muttered as Fulton turned her in his embrace and gently wiped the tears off of her cheeks. "She is an old, no talent bitch who lives her life through me. She thinks that it is my fault that she is old, mean and bitter."

"Yeah, I think I hate her to" he mumbled, and then pulled her tighter against him, resting her head on his chest "Come here"

Beck burrowed herself as deep into his strong arms as she could. When she spoke, her words were muffled by his shirt, but he understood her well. "I am sorry if she offended you"

"Nothing I have never heard before" He pulled away, pushing his hand softly into the masses of her hair so that he could gently angle her face to his, making it possible for him to look into her eyes. "Except for maybe the word 'Riff Raff' what was with that"

"I know." She whispered. "I am sorry"

"Don't apologise" He mumbled, pressing his lips to her forehead. "It is ok"

"No, I meant, because I have to leave today instead of on Sunday." She told him, carefully stepping out of his arms and sitting on her bed. She had sat down on a pile of her clothing, but she could honestly not care. "We were going out to dinner tomorrow night, remember"

"Yeah" Fulton smiled, kneeling in front of her on the floor. "Its ok though"

Beck reached out to run a hand through his hair. "It is not ok, I hate this, it sucks"

Fulton smiled and rested her head on her knee, she continued to stroke his hair. "Don't give yourself a coronary over it darling" he muttered, and then paused when he realized that Beck was laughing. Looking up at her, he asked. "What?"

"You called me Darling" she giggled softly. Fulton turned red.

"Well, I realized that you have been calling me Babe a lot lately, I should have a little pet name for you" he replied as an explanation.

"So you chose Darling" she asked, her fingertips brushing over his blush heated cheeks. "out of all the…no, wait, I like it"

"Good" He grinned, and then sat back a little so that he could lean forward and press his lips carefully against hers. "And good, you are smiling"

Beck, her eyes still closed from the chaste kiss, whispered. "What did she say after I left"

"Its not important" He informed her, not really wanting to get into the details of it all. Not if he didn't have to. It was bad enough that their last weekend together was marred by the fact that she had to leave early, but talking about the wicked Bitch of the south was not going to make it any better.

"Did she threaten you?" Beck asked.

"It really isn't important" he told her. Beck sighed.

"Shit. She did, didn't she?" Beck growled. She knew that her mother would have threatened him as soon as she left. God, the old woman made her so angry.

Fulton could see that she was about to explode with anger, so he leant forward and pressed his lips to hers again, this time, however, there was nothing innocent about the way their lips met, and their tongues duelled. "I am not scared of her"

"I know you are not, it is just…" Beck trailed off.

"Has she always been like this?" Fulton asked. He knew he was risking getting her angry again, but he was curious. If she had grown up in the same house as the bitch, he had to congratulate her on turning out so normal.

"Yeah, since I can remember" she whispered. Fulton ran a soft hand over her cheek to collect one lest tear that had fallen.

"Kind of scary with the whole 'Men are evil' thing" he joked, trying to lighten the mood. Standing, he lifted Beck off of the bed, sat in her spot, and then pulled her into his lap. Beck smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. "I thought she was going to cut my manhood off with a nail file or something"

"Your manhood?" Beck asked, smiling. Fulton blushed a little, and then shrugged. Beck smiled and ran her hands through his hair, pressing their foreheads to each other softly. "You are going to need that one day"

"Not if I am not with you" he told her. Beck smiled.

"That is really sweet" she grinned and kissed his nose. Then, the clock on the bedside table caught her attention. They were running out of time. "Shit, look at the time, I have to pack my shit"

"Pack what you know you will definitely need, and I will arrange it with Jules to post the rest of it to you in New York" Fulton informed her. Beck grinned and stood from his lap.

"Thanks Fult"

Fulton stood from the bed also. "Need any help"

"Yes" She smiled, handing him one of the suit cases and then sending him in the direction of the chest of draws on her side of the room. "Keep busy, other wise I will just want to hold you and not let you go"

"Yeah, me to" he whispered, kissing her softly and then moving to the other side of the room. He pulled open the first draw, and his eyes almost popped out of his head. Beck had sent him to pack her underwear draw? Wow, you know you are comfortable with some one when you can do that.

After a few minutes for silent working (Fulton, of course, trying not to be a hormone driven male while packing his girlfriends unmentionables) he jumped when he felt a hand on his back. Fulton turned to see Beck standing nervously behind him. "Fult, did you invite me to dinner to…"

"To what?" he prompted. He then realized that he had a pair of his panties still in his hand. Blushed, and threw them into the suitcase by his feet.

Beck took a deep breath and replied. "Try and seduce me?"

"Would you have been seducible?" Fulton asked her.

"Yes" Beck blushed. Fulton blushed also.

He reached out a gentle hand and stroked Beck's arm. "It wasn't my intention to seduce you. But I think I may have given it a try"

Beck could not help it when tears filled her eyes. The one thing that she had been dreaming of experiencing with Fulton, and she would miss out on it because of her stupid mother. "Shit"

Fulton sighed as he saw her tears. "Oh great, are you crying again, come on"

"This is so crap." She shrugged him off of her and then stared at her open suitcases on the bed. "Fult, lets run away"

"We cant" Fulton whispered. As much as it was a great idea, he knew that there would be no way he would let that happen. He loved her to much then to let her just throw away Julliard. "I cant really afford your college tuition. I was bluffing when I said I would pay it for you"

"It was a very romantic bluff though." She whispered. It had. It had almost been the most romantic thing some one had ever said for her. "Thank you"

"You are welcome" Fulton grinned, and then zipped closed the smaller of the two suitcases, that he had just finished packing. "Now, come on, shit packing time"

Together they worked on taking things from the closet and putting them into the other suitcase that was still open on the bed. It seemed that there were loads of things that would not fit, so quite a lot of it would have to be sent to her. Both knew that Jules would not mind taking care of that for her.

Fulton stood before the open closet, that was now so much emptier then what it had been when he had first entered, and he had to admit, that he was holding back tears. Beck was leaving. She didn't want to, but she was leaving him. He had hoped that they would have just a little more time. Enough time to say a real goodbye, but now, time was slipping away from them. Minutes were clumping together, and soon, he would have to let her go.

A hand pressed against his back again, but this time, Beck's warm soft musician hands pressed against the flesh of his lower back. She rested her head on his arm and rubbed soft circles in his smooth skin. She knew what his silence meant, and it meant exact the same to her also. She didn't want to leave him.

When they had realized that New York together was not an option, the point where they would leave each other had felt like it was a decade away. They thought that they would have the summer to be together, but now, she was leaving in less then two hours, and who knew when they would see each other again.

Beck's hand on his back became firmer as she pushed him carefully so he was standing before her, and then stood on her toes, stretching so that she could place a soft kiss on his lips. Fulton's arms wrapped around her as he pulled her closer, lifting her to kiss him. Their height difference was a slight problem, but as they slowly made their way across the room to the bed, they realized that the problem would be easily fixed.

He sat when the backs of his legs hit the side of the bed, and he pulled Beck down onto his chest, their lips still softly exploring. He was going to miss this. He was going to miss all of her, but he was going to miss having contact with her the most. Touching her, holding her, kissing her.

Hands explored bodies, as they often did when the pair had let themselves experiment with their more, primal earges. Fulton's fingers disappeared under Beck's shirt, tracing the line of her spine as she laid against his chest. As always, his rough hands made her shiver. It was something that Fulton loved to see, the way she would shiver in pleasure, just like that. He felt powerful when he would do that.

Beck felt powerful to as she gently ran her hands along the small expanse of exposed skin. Fulton's skin was pale and perfect, soft over muscle. She felt even more powerful as she reached down and took in her hands the hem of his shirt, and carefully pushed it up, over his head and threw the piece of clothing to the floor.

Beck rested her weight on her hands as she looked down at her boyfriends bare chest. And what a nice chest it was. She had told him many times that he had a very impressive chest, and each time he would reply that it was not as nice as hers. Beck disagreed. Her chest was just a normal chest, where as Fult's, it was a work of art.

After a quick, wicked smile, beck lowered her head to Fulton's chest and began pressing light, almost non-existent kisses to the skin. Fulton allowed himself to sink back into the pillows and relax. He still held her tight around the waist, but really, there was nothing more that he could do as Beck drove him mad.

She made her way slowly back up his chest and kissed his lips with such a passion that Fulton knew that if he was standing, his knees would have collapsed out from under him. Beck was an amazing girl, and an amazing kisser, but he also knew that as much as it was going to hurt him, he would have to be the one who did all of the thinking.

Pushing her away gently, Fulton pressed a finger against her lips. Beck grinned and kissed his finger softly before Fulton managed to stop her again.

"Beck, wait" he whispered. Beck nodded to herself.

"What, you don't…"

"Don't go off on your 'You don't want to?' thing again, because you know that I want to" Fulton blushed, and Beck smiled at him. "We just…cant"

"Why not" She asked, running a hand through his hair and pulling his lips beck to hers for one more kiss. "Fult, I leave in about an hour"

"Exactly. Our first time should be romantic, not just jammed into an hour because we can fit it in" He replied. He knew that he was really girly to hop that his first time would be a romantic occasion, but he also knew that if they took advantage of the fact that she was leaving, then he would live to regret it. "I am sorry"

"No, you are right, I guess" she collapsed onto her side beside him and wrapped an arm around his chest. Fulton smiled and kissed her forehead. "But we are never going to find the time to…"

"We will." He replied truthfully. There was a lot of stuff that he did not know, but one thing he did know was that they would one day have as many chances as possible to do this. "We have the whole summer, I am going to come visit you in New York, and you can come visit me in well, where ever I am. We will have millions of other opportunities to do this. I promise."

Beck sighed. "Why do you have to be so right, about everything."

"Because I am." Fulton grinned, then looked down at her. "I am sorry, I know you want to"

"I do, but if you are not ready…" Beck whispered.

"I am ready, I just…" Fulton paused, not sure how to explain what he was thinking. "Want it to be special. I guess you think I am some big sissy for that"

"No, not at all." Beck whispered before kissing him once again. And once again, Fulton pulled away from the kiss, breathless. It was impossible to be the gentlemen if she insisted on kissing him like that. "I love you, and it will happen one day"

Beck rolled so that she was laying across his still bare chest. Fulton smiled and wrapped an arm around her back. "I know"

After a few minutes, the door opened, and Beck and Fulton jumped apart guiltily." Beck" Julie called and then paused when she realized what she had interrupted. Dean, who was standing behind her, smiled at Fulton and gave him a thumbs up. Fulton rolled his eyes. "Oh, sorry to interrupt. You disappeared, we were all going to go out to celebrate…"

Beck stood from where she was, made her away across the room and hugged Julie. "Jules, it is awful, horrible"

Dean looked at Fulton. "Dude, are you that bad?"

"Not me you moron" Fulton stood, trying to reduce his blush as he picked his shirt up off of the floor and pulled it over his head.

"What's going on?" Julie asked, holding Beck away from her a little so that she could look into her friends eyes. Beck had begun to cry again.

"My mom, she is making me leave today" Beck explained.

"What?" Julie exclaimed. Beck sobbed and the girls embraced again. "We thought we would have one last weekend to do the whole girly girl best friend thing"

"I know" Beck whispered into Julie's hair. "I am sorry"

There was really only one thing that Julie wanted to say to her. "You are my best friend Beck"

"You are mine to Jules, you know it" Beck replied, taking a step back, but the girls remained close, still even holding hands.

"Call me tonight" Julie asked her. Beck nodded.

"I promise" she replied.

"And write, and Email, and remember, I am only in Connecticut" Julie smiled sadly, then pulled her into yet another hug. "Right next to New York ok."

Dean crossed the room and pulled Julie away so that she could hug Beck. "Yeah Beck, don't be a stranger"

"Dean, I don't think I will miss you at all" she smiled. Dean laughed and kissed her cheek before leaving the girls to continue their goodbyes.

"Sure you will" Beck replied, poking her tongue out at Dean.

"I am going to come and see you at the symphony, ok" Julie told her as she hugged her again. Beck grinned despite her tears.

"definitely" she smiled. "And when you win the noble prize for finding a cure for cancer. And when Fult designs some fantastic building, and when Dean…well, when Dean does whatever the hell he plans to do with his life, I will be there." Beck promised as she hugged all the others again. "I love you guys"

There was a pounding on the door. "Rebecca…"

"That is my mother" Beck told the others. "Say goodbye to the ducks for me"

"We will" Julie whispered, wiping her tears on the back of her hand and then kissing Beck on the cheek quickly. "They will be bummed they didn't get to say goodbye"

"Tell them next time" Beck smiled, and then, once again, threw herself at Dean, wrapping her arms around him, and whispering to him. "Promise me you will look after Julie. Treat her right"

"Of course" Dean grinned. Dean let her go and Beck turned to the last person that she had to say goodbye to. The person she had dreaded saying good bye to.

"Fulton…" she whispered, hugging him tightly.

"Dean, lets…" Julie began, taking his hand and pulling him from the room. Dean nodded and followed her out.

"Good-" Beck began. As much as she hated the word goodbye, she knew that she had to use it.

"Don't say it" he whispered, and then kissed her quickly. "I love you"

"I love you to" Beck mumbled. "I will call you as soon as I can"

Fulton cupped her face in his hands and wiped a stray tear away. "Today, I don't care how late it is"

"Love you Baby" Beck whispered. Outside, her mother was banging on the door. It was time for her to go.

"Love you to Darling" Fulton nodded.

The pounding increased, and Beck pulled herself away from Fulton, picked up her bag, and left the room, just as her mother was about to scream. "Rebecca, now!"