Chapter Thirty-Four

"Where are you?" I asked nervously into my cell, glancing shiftily around the room. The far off sounds of Mouth and Kylie reassured me.

"Mom's," said the voice slowly.

"How quickly can you get to your apartment?" I asked.

"Ten minutes," promised Luke, laughing.

"Be there, okay?" I said, hanging up. We didn't both to talk where talking wasn't necessary.

We met in exactly ten minutes at the now familiar bedroom of the penthouse suite.

His lips made contact with my neck before they briefly reached my lips, pausing slightly before exploring my body.

He was satisfying. He was handsome and muscular and even sweet in some moods. He was as lost and hurt as I was, and our meaningless sex helped us to express our feelings of loss. We both loved other people.

"I should go," I said, an hour later after we lay, exhausted, in each other's arms.

"No, stay," he protested.

"Hey, that sounds like borderline commitment," I teased.

"Ah, right, back to your family now?" he suggested.

"Mouth and Kylie, yes," I replied.

"Do you love him?"

"Yes," I answered truthfully.

"So why are you here?" he questioned.

"What, haven't you seen you?" I responded jokingly. He wasn't fooled.

"If that's all you wanted, you would have stayed with Antonio. But obviously it isn't. So what do you want?" he asked.

"I want to be happy again," I said softly.

"When were you happy?"

"With Mouth," I told him, standing and beginning to dress.

Kylie greeted me at the front door when I arrived and I hugged her happily. She was remarkably adaptable. Mouth kissed my cheek and asked about my afternoon, supposedly spent with Peyton. I lied easily and the three of us proceeded into the kitchen.

I was reading in the room I occupied when a knock sounded.

"Come in!" I called into the hall.

My daughter ran in and jumped up on my bed, soaking wet and wrapped in a towel. Mouth followed her, wet himself with his shirt off.

"Did you guys have a bath?" I asked.

"Yup. He promised to buy me an ice cream if I did," she said solemnly, sticking her thumb in her mouth.

"Only way," he defended himself.

"Oh, I know. Kylie sweetie, it's time for bed," I said, hugging her. She kissed me and regretfully toddled off to her room.

"She's great," said Mouth, watching her leave. My gaze flicked to him, and I held in a gasp.

Mouth wasn't exactly Lucas Scott yet, but he was surprisingly built. His frame looked naturally slim instead of just skinny, his stomach muscles were prominent and noticeable. He had a light tan, and his arms were bigger than I'd ever seen them. He caught me staring.

"You look great," I said.

"You look… different," he said finally.

"I looked better as a teenager," I agreed.

"No," he promised.

He came to sit down beside me on the bed.

"We're officially getting a divorce," I said, as casually as I dared.

"It'll be good to be free of him."

"Will I ever be?" I asked, looking into his eyes.

"In some ways, yes," he responded slowly.

"I should have married you," I said, as I'd said so many times before.

"I always thought so," he said. I looked at him again. He looked tired. He'd had a full life.

"Why can't all guys be like you?" I asked.

"Sometimes I wish I could be like all those other guys," he said, quoting a line from so long ago. I smiled.

"Why? I'll be your date tonight," I promised.

I leaned forward and kissed him and our lips met for the first time in twelve years. The love flowed back to us. The unexpected, plentiful love that had surrounded us for years and still did. And always would.

With more practised movement, he climbed on top of me while we kissed. I reached to unbutton his pants, and he reached for the lace of my shirt.

But his hands stopped, and he pulled away.

"We can't do this," he said.

"Yeah, I know," I said, rolling away from him and propping myself up on an elbow, letting my still long hair flow down.

"I want to. I love you," he said.

"I love you too. But you're right, I'm still married," I said.

"Yeah. And one of us has to go tuck in ou… your daughter," he said.

"Let's both of us go," I suggested, slipping off the bed and taking his hand.

Kylie quickly feel asleep as we read her a bedtime story and helped her into her pajamas.

"Hey, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow," I informed him.

"You went last week," he said, confused. I blushed.

"Yeah, it's just that… never mind, it's not important. I'm going to bed," I said.

"Okay. Good night," he said, kissing me quickly before I departed.

Author's note: Short again, I'll try to work on that. But anyway, the episode tonight! With the weird messed up world, so good! And did you guys see the trailer for next week's? Looks even better! Now I have to stop being so disgustingly girly and go to bed. But you know this story is now longer than Sacrifice? But Sacrifice only took me a week… remember the good old days? Thanks for reviewing, and keep at it!