Pure Intentions? Chapter 32
Warning: Please note you must be 18 years or older to read parts of this chapter as it is for Mature audiences only.
Continuing to hold Teela's gaze, He-man excused himself. Walking alone into the Palace, he headed towards a private alcove to transform back into his natural form. Adam then walked to the kitchens, stopping by to pick up a sandwich. This way he had evidence to support his lie regarding his whereabouts. Walking slowly toward his office, he formulated answers to questions he knew Teela would ask. He knew she wasn't a fool. Adam contemplated his actions. Due to the urgency of Skeletor's attack, he didn't give himself enough leeway to transform and re-appear as Eternia's Champion. Whenever the need for him to transform arose, Adam always disappeared in one direction and showed up as He-Man from another. But not this time. This time, he re-entered his office after quickly calling on the Power of Grayskull from right next door. He was sure that Teela would start gluing the pieces together. Especially, now that she had regained the memory of who her mother was. Which would be something he would need to address with her when she saw him again as He-Man. That was the predominant reason why he decided to return to his office as Adam rather than the 'hero'. The other reason was because he wanted to…no needed to spend more time with her as Adam to aide him in his cause of winning her heart.
Stopping directly outside of his office, he took a huge bite of his sandwich. Chewing, he realized he was famished as he hadn't eaten since last night's dinner in Arcadia. Entering the room, he noticed the frenzied activities of several Palace staff who were already clearing away the rubble. His gaze landed on the Palace's lead architect who was busy measuring the gap in the wall. In the time it took him to walk inside the Palace, transform, visit the kitchens and come upstairs construction workers had already began mending the broken wall. Nodding to him, Adam let his eyes roam the rest of his office. Skeletor rendered his office useless. There were broken pieces of sheet rock strewn throughout, some even embedded in the ceiling. Adam thanked the Ancients that none of the broken pieces impaled him or Stephania. Smirking inwardly, he compared the amount of work and resources that would be needed to fix his office as compared to those Skeletor would need to mend the Collector. He concluded that the damage he caused to Skeletor's ship was far worse than that of his office. Feeling somewhat vindicated, he peered out of the missing wall to the courtyard below. He could see Man-At-Arms was still there directing guards and more construction workers as they cleared the mess he left below. To his horror, he noticed that rows of media vans and paparazzi now lined the streets. It was obvious that they had come to snap pictures of the new carnage bestowed upon the Palace by Eternia's greatest nemesis. Within minutes, news of the attack would appear on national television, pictures of his destroyed office traversing all corners of the planet. Following would be headlines of how Grayskull's Defender had once again appeared out of nowhere lending his aide. He wondered if the these headlines would depict him as 'Prince' in a kind or malicious manner. Typically, they were malevolent depicting him as a coward. He wondered if the media would forgive him this transgression, as it was his office that fell victim to Skeletor's schemes this time. Adam highly doubted this. In actuality, the media's coverage of his 'cowardice' helped him keep his secret.
Looking away from the battered wall, Adam thought about Lord Teary, pondering if anyone had informed him that his daughter was now missing. Then he remembered that the potbellied aristocrat was not Stephania's father. Adam wondered if Lord Teary would care about his 'daughter's' abduction. The Prince made it his responsibility to ensure that the Viscount was made aware of today's events and vowed to go after Lady Stephania personally.
Finally, his gaze landed on the redhead.
Teela had taken it upon herself to sit behind his oak desk, knowing that either He-Man or Adam would return. She sat leaning back against his chair, legs propped upon his desk, trying very hard to appear nonchalant. However, inwardly she was fuming. Seeing the Prince, a look of surprise crossed her face. She really was expecting He-man. All of a sudden, she felt awkward sitting behind the future king's desk. Dropping her long shapely legs to the floor, she stood up to address her friend. Walking around the desk, she met him midway.
With hands on hips, she stared him straight in the eyes as she asked, "Where did you run off to?" Teela tried to keep her voice from sounding too accusatory. She really was concerned about where he had disappeared to as her job was to protect him. When he ran off like he did earlier, it was always hard for Teela to do her job. She often battled with herself about whether or not she should give chase after him or remain and fight. Most of the time, the choice was taken from her as their enemies always attacked full force necessitating she remain behind. After the first few years that Adam started disappearing, Teela would quickly refocus her energies on the fight at hand. However, Teela often questioned if her decision not to go after him was the right one. Sharing her concerns with her father, he assured her that she was doing the right thing, reminding her that as a member of the elite fighting team known as the Master's, fighting evil came foremost. In those cases, her position as Adam's bodyguard came second. Her father's reasoning exonerating her feelings of guilt; however, they did not take away the feeling of abandonment she always felt when the Prince disappeared. Having received the majority of her military training alongside the Prince, Teela felt that they should be fighting together.
Once again, Adam noticed the tone of concern in her voice. As he walked into his office, he was mentally preparing himself to handle her anger. Problem was, Teela didn't seem angry. Before answering her question, Adam dismissed everyone else from his office much to the lead architect's dissatisfaction. Then he walked around his desk, taking the seat recently vacated by his former lover.
When completely, alone he answered her honestly, "I went to get help."
"As in finding He-Man?", she asked.
"Yes", he answered as he maintained their gazes.
"How is it you always know where to find him?", she queried studying his face for any outward reaction to see if he was lying. It wasn't lost upon Teela that He-Man had shown up in Adam's office, mere seconds after the Prince disappeared. In her mind, she had drawn a trajectory of where Adam had disappeared to and where He-Man had appeared from.
Tired from his ordeal and angry that he hadn't had a chance to get more answers from Stephania, Adam gave up trying to censor his responses. Angrily, he answered "I'm the Prince of Eternia Teela, lest you forget." "I need to know the hero's whereabouts at all times, as he protects us all."
"Touche", she stated as she turned her face from him to hide a smile. At least now Adam was giving her more believable answers than his normal bullshit to cover his absence or lack of fighting. Reestablishing eye contact she continued, "I'm glad you're taking your responsibilities as Prince more seriously, Your Highness." This time, she couldn't hide the sarcasm lacing her voice.
"Is that a complement, Tee?", he asked.
"No, just an observation." She wouldn't stroke his ego, by admitting that she was somewhat complementing him. "You've changed a lot since your birthday", she informed him finally relaxing her posture.
"I'm trying", he replied.
"When I came into your office, I noticed that you were protecting Stephania", she stated.
"I was", he replied confidently. Adam didn't need to lie about this. Not only did she see him as he shielded Stephania from the attack, but so did the guards that stormed the office with the captain.
"So why did you disappear as soon as I came through the door?", she asked.
"I told you, I had to go get help", he answered. "When you and the guards got involved, I knew it was safe to leave her with you all." Knowing he had to watch how much truth he was giving the sharp-witted captain, he decided to throw in a curve ball. "Which makes me wonder, where is she?", he asked. Adam had asked that particular question purposefully, as he had missed how Stephania was captured.
"What?", she spat.
"Where is Lady Stephania?", he asked.
"You don't know?", she asked totally perplexed. "Do you see what happened here?", she asked as she spread out her arms.
"Yeah, Skeletor blasted my office into smithereens", he stated. "What I don't know, is what happened to Lady Stephania?"
Teela couldn't believe him. Here she thought he was going to finally be honest with her. She didn't know why, but she could tell he was now lying to her. Squinting her eyes at him she asked incredulously, "So until I came through your door, you were good enough to protect her ladyship, then you disappear and have no idea what happened?"
"Yeah, I did my duty", he stated with a wink. "I protected her ladyship, until help arrived." "Now I come back to my office and find her missing", Adam answered. Then to throw her off course even more, he haughtily added "Now who was not doing their job?"
Teela realized his attempt to dissuade her from her reasoning. Taking a deep breath, she swore not to allow him to lead her astray from her line of thinking. Therefore, she answered, "You didn't think it was your duty to come back in here to help us?", she asked her voice growing in intensity at his now irresponsible behavior.
"You had He-Man", he answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "I knew he could handle Skeletor."
His words threw her attempt at calm and collected out the window. Leaning forward, she clutched the edge of his desk tightly as she brought her face inches away from his. With all traces of civility now gone she admonished him, "You always leave the heavy lifting to others, Adam." "Minutes ago you told me you are trying to be a more responsible Crown Prince, now you are telling me you felt comfortable relinquishing your responsibility to protect Stephania to He-Man?"
"And you?", he added sheepishly.
"So you leave and go where?", she asked him knowing she wasn't going to get anywhere with him when he blatantly admitted to shirking his duties.
"After I contacted He-Man, I went to get something to eat." "I was hungry", he replied without an ounce of remorse.
"You got something to eat", she repeated his words shaking her head at the futility of it all.
"Yeah, were you hungry too?", he asked. Then throwing oil into the frying pan, he held out his half eaten sandwich offering it to her.
Teela couldn't help herself. Stomping her feet on the ground, like a two-year old who wasn't allowed to get their way, she stormed around his desk to come stand directly over the seated Prince. Staring at the offered food, she grabbed it roughly from his hands and viciously threw it on the floor. Unable to control her rage, she then trampled it under her high-heeled boot, to the Prince's astonishment.
Teela was a spectacle in her rage. With her long red hair trailing down her back, she stomped and ground his sandwich into pulp. Adam did not try to stop her, knowing that at this level of uncontrollable fury Teela would be vicious toward him if he said or did anything more. He was tempted to goad her further by complaining about her actions to his food. However, he smartly held his tongue when she directed a death stare his way.
Teela knew she was acting over the top. He always infuriated her to the point of no control. Why did he always do this to her? She hated when he pushed her over the limits. She tried very hard to control her temper, but he always managed to enrage her. She had to get a handle over her emotions, knowing how close she was to blasting her own hole through the remaining walls of the Prince's office. Why was he stupidly evading her questions? Why couldn't Adam just be honest with her about his whereabouts and feelings? Teela contemplated these questions as she brought herself under control.
When calm, remorse over her actions started settling deep inside. She knew that there were people in Eternia that were hungry and here she was stomping on food. Instead of haphazardly discarding the food, Teela acknowledged that she should have been visiting the poorer sections of the Eternian villages, distributing food. Reaching over his office desk, she retrieved a tissue and bend down to pick up the pulverized food to throw it away. To appease her guilt, she avowed that she would visit some of these villages to bring them food and other necessary goods.
Teela also then realized her mistake. She tried to get answers from him covertly, but seeing that she was getting nowhere she changed her tact. Going with the direct approach she stated, "Alright Adam, let's forget about our hunger and the fact that you abandoned Lady Stephania." "My question is, how do you contact him?"
Because he had to push her buttons just a bit more Adam replied, "Contact who?"
"He-Man!", she yelled as she threw her hands up in the air. "How do you contact He-Man?", she stated a second time for clarification.
'Good question, Tee', he thought inwardly. He couldn't tell her how he summoned the Power of Grayskull to become Eternia's Defender, although he wanted to. Thank the Ancients that Man-At-Arms and he had previously come up with a plan to answer this particular question. Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew a small circular metal object about two inches in circumference. In actually, it was a miniature copy of the apparatus the Widgets used to call upon He-Man. Holding the disc out towards her, he stood up as she took it out of his hands.
"What does this do?", she asked.
"Point it out the window and depress the button", the Prince instructed her.
Teela did as he requested. To her astonishment, a white version of the Grayskull cross imprinted on He-Man's breastplate appeared in the now darkening sky.
Dumbfounded she stared at the Prince. Directing her gaze between the disc in her hand, the Prince, and He-Man's call sign Teela asked, "So does this mean He-man will come back?"
"He usually does", Adam answered.
"How do you notify him if it was a false alarm?", Teela asked.
"You don't", Adam informed her. "Once He-Man sees this call signal, he makes an appearance." "He knows that this sign means the Prince of Eternia needs assistance."
"So whoever summons He-Man, has their own device?", she asked assuming that is how her father may also call upon the hero.
"Something like that", he answered. No one else had this disc, Man-At-Arms had designed it for this exact reason. Adam had carried it in his pocket daily for the last ten years.
"May I get one?", Teela asked.
"Why?", he asked intrigued as to why his secret lover would request it. Would she want to use it for personal reasons or to use it in time of actual need?
"As Captain of the Guard, I should also be able to contact He-Man", she stated her tone all business-like.
"No", he answered. Well at least he had his answer. Had she been blushing, Adam would have betted that she had ulterior motives for asking for her own device.
Teela didn't expect an outright refusal to her request. "I see", she answered without really understanding why he refused her. After a few minutes, it dawned on her. Perhaps Adam didn't want her having a way to call on the hero because he feared that she would attempt to rekindle their affair.
Looking at him, Teela realized that that he seemed nervous. Now this picked her interest even more. Sitting on his desk, she directed her gaze towards the sky as she coyly asked, "Adam, do you mind if I wait with you until He-Man comes?"
Now this he couldn't allow to happen. He-Man would never show up, unless Adam got away.
Suddenly, Adam understood Teela's motives. Clearly, she was beginning to see through his bullshit. Perhaps, he showed too much of his true self to her within the last couple of months. This called for drastic measures. He really didn't want Teela connecting the dots about him and He-Man without first telling her about his feelings. This conversation had to stop now. What better way to do so, then by reminding her that 'He-Man' had ended their clandestine affair.
Closing the gap between them Adam stated, "It's over between you and He-Man."
Feigning innocence she responded, "What?"
"I said, it's over between you and He-Man." "You can't have a disc to call him for your own private pleasure", Adam stated heatedly.
"You think that I asked for a disc, in order to call upon him for sex?", she asked as she flipped her long red tresses over her shoulder. Teela decided to use a little seduction, knowing what she did about the Prince. If what He-Man told her was true, that Adam was in love with her, she could let her feminine charms do the dirty work for her. Mimicking actions she saw the courtesans employ, Teela began twirling bits of her long thick hair over her fingers. She knew He-Man loved running his hands through her thick locks. If her suspicion that Adam was her clandestine lover was true, Teela hoped the action would evoke a longing within him causing him to spill the beans.
"Yes", he answered his voice laced with desire and jealousy. Seeing Teela sitting seductively on his desk was having the desired effect. So was the notion that she would want to continue their affair. Clearly, her body language displayed this fact. If she continued, his own body would soon show the same reaction. He was already feeling himself hardening, as he recalled how her hair felt on his naked skin.
In a game of cat and mouse, one had to use all the arsenal in their disposal. Teela lowered her eyelashes demurely as she answered breathlessly, "I do miss his touch." Then to drive a nail into the coffin, she continued "I dream of him when I touch myself", as she gingerly trailed her hand down her neck, across her collarbone, and down her ample breasts. Closing her eyes, she threw her head backwards as she continued massaging her breasts, a soft moan escaping her parted lips.
Her words and actions stopped him in his tracks. Did Teela just share a masturbatory fantasy with him? Blinking rapidly, scenes of a nude Teela alone in her bed, rumpled sheets surrounding her curvaceous body with her hand between her thighs, flooded his mind. Suddenly Adam was hit with a deep desire, missing her naked body next to his. It had been more than three months since their last private encounter. This was the longest he had gone without some sexual release, since they had became lovers. Both of them had a voracious sexual appetite and Adam realized that Teela must be as sexually frustrated as he was.
Opening her eyes, Teela noticed Adam struggling with a decision. He stood frozen in front of her, with one leg slightly raised off the floor, in preparation to close the gap between them. Deciding to tease him a little more, she allowed her tongue to protrude slightly from her mouth as she ran the tip in a circular motion around her red lips. Teela faltered a little when she noticed him take a tentative step in her direction. Recalling the morning in Morainia when she woke up to find him in a state of arousal, Teela made the decision to give him a little show. Scooting backwards across his desk, she lay across it before slightly parting her thighs as her left hand trailed down even lower. Once again closing her eyes, she arched her back causing her breasts to rise higher.
Staring at her, Adam realized this was a dream come true. He often fantasized ravaging her body in this room, particularly over his desk. However, this desire always remained a hidden fantasy. As tempted as he was to join her on the desk, Adam struggled making the decision. He wasn't afraid of her rejection; rather, he contemplated other possible consequences. What if he joined her, only to be interrupted by someone barging into his office? If they were caught in a compromising position, she would be forced to wed him. Adam didn't want this. He wanted her to choose him.
Then there was the fact, that Adam wouldn't be able to stop at just once kiss. He knew that he would end up having sex with her. As much as his body craved it, his mind warred with him. He didn't want to just have sex with her, he wanted her to be his wife. He knew that sleeping with her now, would be a hindrance to his final goal.
Therefore, Adam did the only thing possible to save them both. Walking to a corner of his office, he picked up a large object carrying it safely to his desk.
Standing over Teela, he took one last look at her passion hazed face imprinting the view in his mind. Then with a flip of his strong hands he emptied the contents of a large vase over her, cold water and a variety of flowers cascading over her luscious body.
Teela went from hot and bothered to cold and wet instantaneously. Sputtering on the water cascading over her face and chest, she bolted upright as she opened her eyes to see the Prince holding a large porcelain vase over her.
"Wh…What?", she yelled.
"Hi, Tee", he drawled as he wiggled his fingers in front of her eyes. Proceeding to lay the vase on the floor he stated "You look like you needed a cold shower."
Adam expected her to respond with a witty jibe. What he didn't expect was for her to jump off the desk, tears flowing out of her beautiful blue/green eyes as she ran out of his office.
"Damn it", he spat as he ran after her. "Teela, wait", he called but she was already turning the corner away from the suites of offices toward their private living corners.
"Shit, I just fucked up again", Adam stated under his breath. Walking slowly, he followed her to her rooms. He could have easily intercepted her before she reached her rooms, but Adam knew that she needed this time alone. His fierce, strong, independent Captain never cried in front of men.
Reaching her doors, he squatted to sit in front of them as he rested his head against the wall trying to come up with a decent explanation to his actions. Giving her a half hour to compose herself, he gently knocked on her door "Teela, it's Adam." "Please let me in."
"Go away", he heard her state through a series of hiccups. Adam was puzzled. Could she still be crying?
"Tee, are you alright?", he asked.
"I said go away!", she yelled a little louder.
"I won't, until you open the door", he stated.
"I hate you", was her response.
"Can you please let me in to apologize?", he asked softly.
Adam heard shuffling movements moving away from the door. A few seconds later, he heard her unlocking her apartment door and saw the door slowly inching open. What Adam didn't expect was for Teela to abruptly pull the door completely open in the final moments and for her to splash him with ice cold water in his face.
"Hah", she spat as she stood triumphantly in his path. It didn't go unnoticed to Teela that with his hair wet, Adam had instantly become He-Man's twin, the water darkening his blonde locks to a deeper hue. "You also needed a cold shower, you liked what I was doing!" she stated as her breathing quickened at the now obvious truth.
Wiping the water from his face, Adam bestowed a wide grin upon her. "Even?", he asked.
"Not quite, I'm a lot more wet than you are", she stated before covering her mouth with her hands at the double entendre. Groaning, she turned away from him but without closing the door.
Adam took the chance to walk into her suite, closing the door behind him. Coming to stand behind her, he enveloped her in his arms laying his head over hers. Nuzzling her hair, he whispered "I did like watching you, Tee." "You are tempting."
Turning in his arms, but not moving from within his embrace she asked "So why did you stop me?"
Cupping her chin in his hand, he tilted her head upwards to stare into her tear streaked eyes as he answered, "Was that show for my benefit or to make me jealous over He-Man?"
"Does it make a difference?", she asked.
"What do you think?", he queried, quirking his eyebrows.
Stepping backwards, she disentangled herself from his arms. Walking slowly, she reached her bed and sat on the edge. Adam remained glued to his spot.
From there she answered, "I don't know." "You constantly confuse and infuriate me."
"What do I confuse you about?", he asked coming to stand in front of her.
"Everything." "You are so difficult to read", she informed him.
"Why not ask me outright?"
"Because you never give me straight answers, Adam", she answered as she wiped a tear from her cheek. "I tried the covert approach, direct approach, seduction, nothing works with you."
"If there is a specific question about us you are wondering about, I would answer it", he stated.
"I can't", she stated turning away from him.
"Why not?", he asked.
"I'm afraid of the answer", she said following a deep sigh. "Things have changed between us, Adam." "I'm struggling to deal with these changes."
"What has changed?", he asked as he picked up a piece of soaked hair and twirled it around his fingers.
His slight caress caused shivers down her spine. "Everything", she stated.
Continuing to wrap his fingers in her hair he replied, "Now who is being evasive." Then standing from her bed, he walked around her to kneel in front of her. Taking one of her shaking hands into his, he pressed his lips into her palm as he stated, "You don't have to hide from me." "Things have changed for me too."
Raising her eyes, she looked deeply into his azure ones to find him looking at her tenderly and assuredly. Nodding, he waited patiently for her next question.
Deciding she wasn't ready to disclose her new feelings for him, Teela pushed him away as she stood up from her bed. Adam fell backwards on the floor with a loud thud, his massive body colliding loudly with the hard wood floor.
"Ouch", he bellowed as he rubbed his derriere.
"Serves you right, for making me cry", she stated as she walked to her balcony. Opening the doors, she walked outside feeling the warm night air on her skin. Shivering due to her wet attire, Teela turned around to go back inside only to slam right into Adam's solidly build chest. He had followed her outside with such quiet steps, she didn't realize that he had done so.
"Ouch", she yelled.
"Serves you right", he threw back at her. Holding her in place, he continued "I'm sorry, Tee." "I was a jerk for wetting you", he stated.
Throwing her head backwards, Teela emitted a throaty laugh. "You have no idea", she stated once her laughter abated.
"How big of a jerk I am?", he asked her innocently.
Harrumphing she walked away from him, entering her rooms once again to lie down on her bed. Adam followed her back inside, waiting on the precipice between her balcony and her room. He watched her laying in bed, hugging her knees to her chest laying her chin on top of her bend knees. Quietly he prompted, "You didn't answer my question."
Shrugging her shoulders, she continued laying there mutely. When another ten minutes passed, Adam decided to press her for answers. He did this by joining her on her bed, pulling her close to him thus causing the back of her uniform to also become wet. Teela didn't object to his action, so comfortable was she laying next to him. Spooning her, Adam made a wish under his breath so softly, his words were hardly audible "Orko better not interrupt us this time."
His words had the desired effect. He heard her give a slight giggle as she pushed backwards to lessen the space between them even more.
"I'm truly sorry, Tee", he stated again.
Turning her head to face him she stated, "To answer your question it wasn't about He-Man."
Staring at her lips, he quirked his eyebrows at her.
Shifting her body around so that she faced him she clarified, "What I was doing on your desk, it wasn't about He-Man."
Brining his hand up between them, he caressed her cheek with his thumb as he queried "It was for me?"
Blinking rapidly, Teela quarreled with whether or not she should be totally honest with him. Finally, closing her eyes, she turned her face into his palm nuzzling the soft skin inside. Feeling her pliant lips on his skin, Adam felt her answer through her hot breath as she mumbled, "Yes."
Realizing that she was putting her fears aside, Adam's heart soared. Before Teela could voice any objections, he lowered his head towards her as he kissed her lightly on the lips. Opening her eyes, Teela remained immobile without returning the kiss.
Feeling her lack of response, Adam disengaged himself from her embrace as he jumped off her bed. "I should not have done that", he stated as he turned to walk out of her room. Reaching out to grab the doorknob he heard her calling his name. Turning his head around, it was his turn to be frozen in place.
To his utter and delighted surprise, Teela kneeled on her bed an elegantly muscled arm reaching in his direction, sans her wet uniform. His brave, fearless, confident best friend was calling out his name wearing only a pair of dainty lacy white undergarments. Adam couldn't believe his eyes but believed his ears when sultrily she invoked "Don't leave me."
Adam crossed her room in two long strides. Wrapping her in his strong hands, he pushed her back down onto the mattress ravaging her mouth with a brutal kiss. This time, he reveled when he felt her yielding to his touch, quickly opening her mouth inviting his tongue to delve within her honeyed recesses. Ancients, he had missed her taste. Bringing a hand between them, he cupped a nearly exposed breast wringing a moan from deep within her throat.
Teela couldn't believe how quickly Adam found himself in her bed. Gone was the clumsy prince, in his place was one she hardly recognized. Suddenly, he was a master of his body and hers. Adam kissed with her with a passion she found tantalizing. Never in her wildest dream would she have imagined what his kisses felt like. There were so different from He-Man's as Adam wasn't holding anything back. Teela registered that fact in the far recesses of her mind, something she wanted to explore further later on. Right now, she wanted to enjoy the feelings his lips and tongue evoked as she felt a fire spread throughout her body. When Adam's hand closed over her breast, pulling on her hardening nipple Teela saw stars. She couldn't help but begin to moan loudly. Teela wanted more. She needed to taste him further. Tearing her lips away from his, she brought them down on the sensitive spot beneath his earlobe. Suckling lightly, she heard his own answering moans. Panting, she whispered his name in a silent plea for more. "Make love to me", she found herself asking to her own surprise. However, now that the words were out, Teela realized how much she meant them.
Her words were like a second ice cold glass of water in his face. Opening his eyes, he pushed backwards bringing space between their wedged bodies. Shaking his head, he uttered "What am I doing?" to her puzzlement. Lifting himself off the bed, he grabbed her discarded uniform and handed it back to her.
Teela stared at him with a look of hurt and confusion evident on her face. Reaching out, she grabbed her uniform, clutching it protectively over her shivering frame. Tears threatened to leak out of her eyes once again.
Still standing by her bed, Adam stated "This isn't what I want."
Confused, Teela sat upwards. To her surprise, Adam didn't leave her room. Rather, he sat next to her taking one of her hands in his. Bringing it upwards, he laid it across his chest so that his rapidly thumping heart lay beneath her fingers. Intrigued at his actions, Teela did not pull her hand away. She felt his erratic heartbeat, knowing hers beat in the same rhythm.
"Teela I don't want to rush into things", he stated to her. Although they had slept with each other on many occasions, Adam wanted to treat this development in their relationship as Adam and Teela as something new, different, and cherished. He felt that he owed her this, to make up for all the times he couldn't tell her his feelings as H-Man. Turning to face her, he relinquished her hand to cup her face instead. Heartily he whispered, "I want to make love to you, but not like this."
"What do you mean?", she asked shyly intrigued by his honestly.
"I want to give you everything He-Man couldn't", he stated with conviction.
Teela stared at him in awe. Taking a deep breath to quiet her irregular heartbeat, she gave a silent thanks to the Ancients that Adam was taking the time to explain his rejection.
Interpreting her silence as encouragement for him to continue, he questioned "Do you remember when during my birthday dinner I told you that you deserve to be treated like a queen?"
Smiling at him, she nodded her head. Then her mind reminded her that was when she started suspecting that Adam was He-Man. Teela's heart began racing again. Forgetting to breath she waited for his next words.
"I meant what I said to you that night, Tee." "I'd like to court you, love." Teela's heart exulted at hearing the sweet endearment. Slightly pulling away from him, she folded her hands in her lap as she contemplated her response.
Shyly she questioned, "Me a queen?"
Reaching for one of her hands, Adam took hold of it as he answered "If at the end of our courtship you make that choice, than yes you will sit on the throne as my queen."
Still unsure that she was hearing him correctly she stated, "So you want me, you want an 'us'?", using air quotes around her last word.
Touching foreheads with her, he stared deeply into her unblinking eyes as he gave her his response. "Yes", he stated his tone leaving no room for misunderstanding.
Now it was her turn to cup his chin as she asked, "Why has it taken you so long to tell me how you feel?"
Adam couldn't help slightly reverting to his old habits as guiltily he stated, "He-Man told you."
"No, He-Man said you are in love with me!", Teela stated before realizing what he was truly saying. Adam was being totally honest with her. Finally. However, just to bother him she dropped her voice to a whisper as she stated, "It's not the same for him to say it."
Adam didn't need any more encouragement to state the words she waited her entire life to hear. Pulling her onto his lap, he kissed her gently before lifting his lips millimeters off from hers to whisper "I'm in love with you Teela."
To which she responded with, "Are you He-Man?"