A/N: Warning: This story will contain graphic depictions of violence, mature language, abuse and lemons in later chapters.

Chapter Twenty

-Partners-

Masen watched me with warm unyielding affection and want as I stretched my aching bones beside him. I felt...bendable, full of some golden simmering liquid that flushed through my cheeks and poured deep into my chest, lazily circling my heart.

I had never felt quite so...me. Healthy, happy.

The sensation of being held, of being protected and loved made me feel safe. But my strong and able body kept me assured that I was indeed whole. I was not a broken doll to be kept protected, or shrouded in finery in efforts if seclusion. I was equal to any, without caveat or hesitation.

The way Masen looked at me...full of heat and love...told me that this new life with him was mine alone to do with as I pleased. He would follow me into the darkness, and hold my hand as I found my way out.

I rolled over on the chair-cushion-mattress he had assembled, my bare chest facing upwards, only illuminated by the moonlight drifting in through the frosted windows. Masen reached out to me slowly, as if to savor each inch of exposed skin. His warm fingertips passed over the slope of my shoulder, then skimmed to my collarbone and dragged gently over the peak of my nipple with the curve of my breast. My breath held in my throat, and gently released as the fingers raised up to my mouth. His thumb tracing my lower lip before pulling me into a kiss. Once. Twice.

When we parted, his green eyes were glittering with lazy male satisfaction. I smiled up at him, and his lips mirrored mine as he kissed my chin.

"I love you." He murmured. "Finding you that day was the most important moment of my life." His hand smoothed my hair behind my ear, and I shivered.

I moved my face to look up at him, to take in the face I had craved for so long, too afraid of my own body to reach out and take what I had so desperately coveted. I was quiet for a long moment, watching him as he reverently skimmed my face.

"Masen?" I whispered.

The abandoned gas station he had set us up in creaked with billowing wind and shadows fallen over linoleum floors. It wasn't a place destined for quiet romantic explorations, but a pit stop of convenience shrouded in isolation. But in this moment with him, I could've been across the world in the most luxurious of beds surrounded by the height of splendor and elegance. All we needed, all we wanted, was each other.

He didn't respond, just lifted his gaze to mine.

I reached for his jaw, stroking the stubble and paused in thought for a moment.

"What would you have done? After Rose? If we hadn't found each other?"

He looked surprised, considering. His bare back shifted with controlled corded muscles as he adjusted himself, propping up on one arm. His fur dusted chest tickling my side as his hand continued to roam over me.

I knew he had been traveling that day. On his way to scatter the ashes of not only his best friend, but the life that she had been attempting to bring into this world. I had seen the small silver urn in his pack, but had respected his privacy enough to let him mourn in peace. I was so new, we were so new. We had admitted our affections, and I let him peak into the most private places of my heart. But that didn't mean he owed me any explanations for a life I had never known with him.

His brow furrowed, then let out a low breath. "I don't know." His voice was quiet. "I wanted to be out of reach… I think I would've tried to build something nearby, in the woods. Stay low."

I cupped his cheek, and gently steered his eyeline back to mine, watching his eyes warm softly. "I love you, too." I whispered.

He tasted my mouth again slowly, letting our tongues move together in a slow, healing dance. He held me as if I was made of glass, and I gripped him with the fervor and intensity of a woman starved for the flavor of his breath.

When we parted his eyes were smoldering once more, and I caught his heavy gaze lingering on my swollen lips. "Doe… you are the only thing that matters to me. Our life together, your happiness… I don't want to think about what I would've been if I hadn't met you. Loved you."

Tears pricked my eyes and I let out a small shaky sigh as he kissed a fallen droplet on my cheek. "When it's time, when this is over…I'll take you. We…we can let her go together. And then I want to go home with you. To wherever that is." His voice was gruff and I wept openly and silently as he kissed each and every sparkling droplet away.

We were quiet again as I calmed, resting together as the moonlight warmed into dawn and we both let ourselves drift in and out of slumber. Only awakening to make love once more, or to trace the scars we both bore in quiet reverence.

The sun rose behind the panes of tinted glass, and beams of light gently coaxed us into a reluctant awakening. We dressed each other in silence. Me, gently fastening his leather belt with lingering fingers, and him following suit by pulling my sweater back into place, kissing each sliver of skin on my belly as it disappeared. By the time we were dressed, we were whole again. The horror of the day before a bitter tang on our tongues, but our lips too busy on each other's to allow in the despair.

I scavenged for a couple cans of soda from the broken vending machine and Masen had managed to gather some beef jerky to nibble on while we sat behind the counter and began to plan our course of action.

Our supplies would last us two days in the city, and a two day ride back.

"I think we start with the clinic," I bit my lip, thinking. "It sounds like the last broadcast from any kind of radio signal was last transmitted from there. That's what Ephraim heard, right? We can check for survivors…and…if not, try to grab as much as we can in the way of supplies." I pointed to the map sprawled out on our thighs. Masen had found a few sealed copies in one of the aisles, as well as the flash light we now used to illuminate the downtown area.

Masen nodded and trailed his finger from the clinic to the small hardware store and grocery outlet that neighbored the residential housing. "Alright. We can stay the night there. It's going to be an all day hike from here into town. Tomorrow we can double back for Ace Hardware and Red Apple." His finger moved again, tracing back towards the church.

Our last stop would be the police station. Our last hope for a working radio, or a flare of some kind.

"We should try siphoning the abandoned cars too for gas."

He nodded and we got to work, first raiding the small gas station for any additional supplies and loading them onto Leah, who Masen had set up in the small carport in the rear. We climbed atop her, taking our usual positions with Masen behind me and a warm broad hand resting on my lower belly as we stepped back out into the chilled morning.

The ice was thinner now, and the slosh of mud and dirt echoed against the soft howl of icy wind moving through the treetops. All three of us could see our breaths ahead of us, and the pale sunlight almost penetrated through thick white clouds cloaking the horizon.

We made good time, stopping only once to relieve ourselves and grab a snack of canned sardines, before getting back to it. The highway crested to the east, and a small town began to become visible over the skyline.

Masen's hand on me tightened as brown wooden cottages, all in various states of disrepair, emerged from blankets of hardened ice. We saw not one vehicle on the road. Not one set of tracks, not one pillar of smoke from a chimney.

Utterly still.

I leaned back into him, my free hand falling to the side of Leah's neck, grounding myself with her warm fur as we entered what felt like a ghost town.

"You okay, little bird?" Masen murmured into my ear as we neared Main Street. Cottages and stores littered either side of the road. Mailboxes had tipped into driveways, roofs caved in from the weight of snow and pieces of torn luggage scattered with the wind. The chaos of a swift departure, now left to fill space with no one to clean up.

I swallowed and nodded a little. What had these people run for their lives? What had caused such a…communal sense of dread? My eyes searched the empty homes for signs of movement.

"Hey. You're safe, okay? I promise. We won't be long." He soothed my neck with small kisses. "I've got you."

In the center of the road, a red tricycle lay on its side. One wheel helplessly spinning with the wind. The horrible sound of rusted metal grinding against itself shrieking like a ghost.

"All those people…" I let out a breath. How many corpses now lay brittle and cold on the other end of the highway? How many empty homes, empty cradles and long abandoned meals left waiting on the tables? My heart ached as we passed the tricycle, and I was reminded again of Ephraim's despair.

These were his parish. His family, his friends. This small mountainous community. And all were lost. All were gone. The awful silence of wind blowing through hollow homes was something I never wanted to hear again.

Masen continued to ride slowly through the center of the empty street, his breath warm against my temple as he reminded me with his presence, once again, that we were strong and healthy and alive.

Eventually, after following the memorized route in the bitter cold, Leah trotted towards the small clinic. The roof displayed worn tin tiles, rust pooling in each indentation and bowed slightly in the center. "GreenTree Clinic" was written in block letters across the old wooden sign hanging above the front door, and swayed in the wind with small squeaks. I attempted to peer through the windows as Masen brought Leah to a slow stop.

Shadows echoed behind faded blinds, but no movement. The darkness behind them seemed to beckon, to reach out and tempt those foolish enough to explore its chasms.

Masen dismounted, then held his hands around my waist to help me down. I tore my eyes away from the windows to look up at him as he placed large warm palms on my shoulders. His viridescent eyes scanned mine for a moment, and a lock of wildly unruly burnished copper hair fell over his brow as he moved a hand to my chin.

"We stay together. No risks, no leaving each other's eyesight. If you need to walk away, you tell me. If you see something suspicious, you tell me. I'll do the same for you, okay?" His tone was low, serious and unwavering. The fur on his flexed jaw jumped upwards as a muscle underneath the skin tensed.

I studied him for a moment. "You're worried." My voice was a low whisper.

All this time he had been careful, but Masen was my pillar. My immovable mountain of faith. I had never once seen him rage or cower in fear. He taught me to slow down, to think then react. But if he was scared… My eyes moved back to the clinic.

We still didn't know what had happened here. We didn't know what had caused the initial uproar or the mass exodus. Was the answer lurking in one of these abandoned homes or shops? Would we find gnarled bodies and gore hiding-

"Doe."

My eyes flashed back to his and he held my face in his palms. "Listen to me. You are safe. We are safe. Do you think anything in this world could take you away from me?"

My heart began to stutter as suddenly all of the months of tension, painful healing and excruciatingly slow waiting for action crashed over me. This was it. Answers finally started here.

Masen pulled my chin farther upwards, tilting my lips toward his and forcing me to focus on him. I looked at the face I loved, looked at the man that was my best friend, my constant companion and the gentlest of lovers. I couldn't lose him. I couldn't lose this…

"I. Have. You. You are mine and I am yours. You are my first and last priority and no matter what we do or do not find in this godforsaken town, I'm taking you home and I'm going to marry you. Nothing will ever touch you while I'm breathing. Understand?" His breath was coming hard, puffs of breath ghosting across the wisps of hair revolting from my braid.

My mind froze mid thought.

The spinning stopped.

"Wha…What?"

His eyes were wide as he realized what he'd admitted. What he'd asked.

He cursed under his breath and shook his head, holding my cheeks a little tighter. "Damn it. I didn't…I wanted this to be… you deserve flowers and a ring and, fuck I have nothing to-"

I kissed him.

I kissed him hot and long and deep. I kissed him for our future, for my past and for his. I kissed him for the safety and warmth of his arms and for the way he watched me heal. Pride and affection as I grew stronger, faster. I kissed him for the man who saved me in the woods, and then every day since as he'd helped me save myself.

Tears fell from my eyes and over our joined lips, and I felt him pause first from shock, then meet my enthusiasm with a husky laugh. His hands fell down my face as he cupped the nape of my neck.

"Ask me. Ask me." I breathed into his chin as his kisses moved around my face, hopefully joyous and a little frantic. Peppering my eyes, then my nose, then my neck.

His smile was radiant, eyes crinkled in the corners and silver rimmed. He moved back up my face before standing in front of me once more. Never breaking eye contact, he moved to one knee.

I let out a choked laugh as he took my hands in his.

We weren't alone in a decimated town, about to trek into the dangerous and unknown, hopeful to survive and maybe even find help for our dire situation.

We were home. We were in a bubble of warmth and sunlight and effervescent air.

"Doe, I have loved you more deeply than I thought humanly possible. I want to be your husband." His voice broke on the last word, and a tear now fell from his eye, landing in the snow.. "I will fight for you, I will support you and I will be yours for the rest of my life. Please, please marry me."

I dropped to my knees next to him in the snow and let the joy sing through me. We were level now, and although my knees felt the icy chill of snow beneath me I felt light as a feather. The breath he let out as I nudged my nose against his was one of relief and awe.

"The day I met you was the most important day of my life." I whispered, echoing his words back to him and I saw that handsome soldier's face soften with crushing gentleness. "I will marry you. We will find help, we will leave this place and I will take back my independence."

Pride, deep pure pride welled in those intense emerald eyes.

I moved our clasped hands to my lips, kissing his trembling fingers tightly secured over mine. "And then I will share it with you."

We embraced, whispering promises of love in each other's ears and kissing away every last shred of fear in our hearts. For when we rose, looking to the dark and foreboding shuttered medical bay, we were a team in every sense of the word.

And we would not fail.

A/N: I know, I know. It's been a long time and I had promised chaos. I promise, that is all coming. This chapter was starting to hit crazy lengths so I decided to split it into two. Shouldn't be too long till the next update as it's mostly finished. Thanks for being so patient.

This story has two main points of inspiration. The first is "The Long Dark" by Hinterland Studios. There are some elements of this story I am borrowing, but the premise is mine alone. This is a gorgeous, gripping and enchanting game. I highly recommend you play it.

The second is "Washed Up" By xrxdanixrx. I loved this story and the idea of amnesia came from reading. I encourage you all to read this wonderful story.

Stephanie Meyer is the sole owner of the Twilight Franchise, and she owns all related characters you may see here. This is merely a fanfiction of her work.