The ride to her apartment was silent, and Mara dared not interrupt his thoughts. She herself had no problem with the thought of death, but she knew that he was having difficulties with the thought of letting her go.

Finally they reached her apartment, and he stepped inside behind her. Rain began to pound loudly against the windows outside, sending an eerie, yet comfortable music throughout the room. He stood in front of the window, staring out at the rain as though he were trying to find some kind of answer to their problems.

" I... I don't want to loose you. I'm so scared Mara." his voice was unnatural, and shock hit her as she realized he was trying not to cry.

She strode across the room to where he stood. Gently cupping her hand on his cheek she gazed into his wild blue eyes with a fierce sense of calm radiating from her own.

Mara pressed her lips to his softly, before intensifying the kiss. Her arms wrapped loosely around his neck, as did his around her waist. She could feel his fury and frustration melt away, just as she could feel something boil within her blood. A strange sensation knotted in her lower abdomen, and she grew shaky with his touch.

He pulled away from her and met her eyes, his hand caressing her cheek lovingly.

" We can't... You're just a baby." he smiled sadly, laughing to himself.

" You wouldn't say that with any other girl. In fact, from the rumors I've heard, you would never pass up a girl." she smiled at him, laughter dancing in her green orbs. But he was much more solemn. He bit his bottom lip and continued.

" I just... I don't want to hurt you. I don't want you to hate me, or hate yourself in the morning. You're important to me." he said quietly, his words strained. Mara brushed her fingers across his lips, a smile playing on her own.

" And I won't hate you or myslef, not if it's you." she finalled her decision by pressing her lips to his. The surroundings of her room dissolved, and it was just the two of them in their own world. Slowly, his hands began to unzip the front of her shirt, and she let the gray material slide off of her arms and onto the floor. They somehow managed to walk closer to the bed, still kissing. Her hands fumbled and shook as she tried to unbutton the front of his shirt, and she finally had to pull away to look down. He laughed and pressed his hand over hers and then removed it when she smiled.

At last, he let the shirt fall to the floor as well. Her eyes met his, and he could feel the nervousness radiating off of her. She tried to cover herself with her arms instictively, since her bra covered very little of her torso. Luke gently pried her arms away from her body, pulling her closer to him. His hands slid down to her hips, feeling the outline of her baggy sweat pants before pulling the draw string and letting them fall into a pile on the floor.

Luke pulled off his own pants then, before pushing her gently onto the bed. Mara was tense as he trailed kisses down her neck, moving lower across her chest and down to her stomach. His hands slid underneath her back and unhooked her bra, slowly pulling it off of her arms when he finally was kissing her mouth again. She trembled beneath him, her eyes averting his own in embarrassment, her face beet red. He disguarded his boxers on instinct, and his fingers lightly began to trace the outline of her underwear. Mara shifted her weight to make it easier for him to pull off her underwear, her pulse quickening when bare skin met bare skin.

Desire flared through both of them, and it was as though a wave of passion had ensnared them both. Everywhere he touched her left a trail of fire on her skin.

Her hands roamed across his body, feeling and remembering every curve of his form. She shifted beneath his weight to be more comfortable, a startling fact that made him blush when he met her eyes.

A quiet moan escaped her mouth, and her breathing became more labored, weaving out of rhythm with his own.

And then she saw stars as an explosion of ecstacy errupted in her body. Her body sagged against the pillows wearily, and she fell asleep in his arms, a slight smile still etched on her lips.

000

He watched her the whole time she slept, never taking his eyes off of her face, wanting to remember every feature of her body, every line and scar and freckle on her beautiful face.

Luke didn't know what had come over him. An emotion was gripping at his heart so fiercely it was physically painful. He had heard this same effect described before in books, and only once before from the lips of his father speaking of his mother.

It was still just so hard to process that this was what it felt like. That this pain and longing was associated with such a beautiful and charismatic emotion. But he could not deny that it was exactly what he was feeling.

He was in love.

A/N: OMG! I was blushing the whole time I did the Ahem! scene. So you had better be proud and give me a break. It was so hard for me to go through with this.