Remember last chapter when I said I loved typing up that chapter? Well I absolutely LOVED typing up this chapter. I think this might have been my favorite chapter thus far to type, so you know it's going to be good. I hope you enjoy it!

Reminder: This story is rated M for sexual situations and scenes of torture.

Just had to throw that in there for disclaimer purposes. Now you can enjoy! :)


Chapter 46

She smiled and kissed him again as the firemen behind them yelled that the fire was under control. They both turned around and the building was barely even on fire. Allison turned back to him and he smiled as she took his hand and led him past the crowd of people and to a row of cars. She got her keys out of her pocket and let his hand go as they got into her car. He got in the passenger's seat as she started the engine.

It only took a few minutes to get to her apartment. She lived right down the street from the hospital and they held hands as they drove. When they pulled into the parking lot of her apartment, she drove past a few of the apartments, and then pulled into one of the smaller parking lots. She parked the car and they both got out. They walked up to a door and they went inside where there was a set of stairs. They walked up them and there was a door to the left and one on the right. Allison got out her key and unlocked the one on the left, which led into her apartment.

It was a small two-bedroom apartment and they walked into her living room when they came in. There was a couch against the right wall and a coffee table in front of it with a few magazines and a vase of flowers on it. There was a small T.V. against the left wall and the kitchen was further back into the apartment. There was a hallway that led further into the apartment beside the T.V. going off to the left side of the apartment.

"It's not much, is it?"

"No, I like it, it's nice; it's more than I have, I still live with my dad." She smiled and laughed and he said,

"Speaking of my dad, do you think I could call him? I need to let him know that's going on."

"Of course, there's a phone in the kitchen."

"Okay, I won't be too long."

She nodded and he went to the kitchen and picked up the phone and dialed his number. He had called his dad when he had first gotten to the hospital five months ago and told him that the base had been attacked and that he was in the hospital. He had called him a few more times and updated him on his recovery and this was going to be the first time he had talked to him in at least a month. It rang a couple of times and it rang some more until it finally went to the machine. Ben hung up the phone, not bothering to leave a message; he would try again later. He put the phone back on the counter as Allison came into the kitchen,

"You already talked to him that fast?"

"No, he didn't pick up. He's probably still at work, I'll call him later." She nodded and he smiled and walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She smiled, too and put her arms around his neck.

"I love you." He whispered. She smiled,

"I love you, too, Ben." He leaned in and kissed her and she put her arms on his neck, bringing him down to meet her.

They kissed in the kitchen for almost five minutes before she pulled away and reached for his hand. She led him through the living room and down the hallway to her bedroom. He smiled as they walked in,

"This is nice."

"You like it?" He nodded,

"Yeah, it's very cozy." She smiled,

"I'm glad you like it."

"I love it."


She smiled again and lifted her head and, without another word she kissed him, brushing her lips softly against his once, then twice, before meeting them for good. His arms moved up her back as her mouth opened. She brought one of her hands to his face, smiling as she felt his rough stubble beneath her fingers. She then traced the stubble with her lips and Ben responded by moving his mouth to her neck and kissing it softly. He brought his lips to hers again and kissed her passionately. They kissed for a few minutes before she began to tug at his shirt. He felt her touch on his bare skin as she pulled off his shirt and goose bumps covered his stomach. He lifted her shirt and she unbuckled his belt. She took off the rest of her clothes and they met again on her bed.

They made love slowly and passionately, the three and a half years they spent apart slowly being erased from both of their memories. Throughout the night, Ben whispered to her, his fingers always intertwined with hers, as if trying to convince himself that she was real and he was really there with her. He kissed her lips and her neck and she ran her hands up his back and against his neck and pulling him down close to her, making sure the distance between them was minimal.

When they were finally finished, he held her in his arms, whispering in her ear how much he loved her. They made love a second time and, afterwards, they lay awake, simply staring at each other. He smiled,

"You need your rest." She smiled and ran her fingertips over the stubble on his cheek,

"I don't want to go to sleep yet. I want to lay here beside you."

"I'll still be here when you wake up."

"Do you promise?" He smiled and kissed her forehead softly,

"I promise."


They spent the entire next day lying in her bed, wrapped in each other's arms. They kissed and laughed throughout the entire day and into the night. They also talked about the real reason he had broken up with her. He already told her but he explained the letter he had written to her mom and the response he had gotten back from her. He told her he had gone back and forth trying to decide what he was going to do and how he had kept the letter for almost a week after he had written it and then finally sent it. He told her it was the stupidest thing he had ever done in his life and apologized to her again, swearing that, after this term, he would never leave her again.

They made love again that night and fell asleep in each other's arms. They woke up early the next morning and he lied beside her and watched her as she slept. He watched her for about ten minutes before her eyes fluttered open. When she saw him staring at her, she smiled,

"Good morning." He smiled and kissed her forehead,

"Good morning." She stretched her arms and then snuggled up beneath his rm. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her.

"Despite how much I want to, we can't stay in the bed all day again." He heard her say. He pulled away to look at her,

"And why is that?"

"Because I need to stretch my legs and get out of this apartment. I need the fresh air and I'm not going to get any lying in this bed. Plus, I haven't peed in hours."

"Well, go pee then." She smiled and flipped over on top of him. She put her hands beside his head, on both sides, trapping him. She looked down at him,

"I'm going to do that, I'll be right back."

He smiled and, as she went to get up, he grabbed her by the waist and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back on the bed. She laughed and he kissed her neck as she flipped her over on the bed, now on top of her. He looked down at her,

"I don't think so." She smiled,

"Ben, let me up, I have to go to the bathroom."

He smiled and shook his head and leaned in and kissed her. She smiled and brought her hands up to his cheeks and pulled him down to her. While they were kissing, he started tickling her sides. She immediately pulled away and started laughing,

"Ben, stop, you're going to make me pee on myself!" He laughed and put his head down and snuggled up to her neck, trapping her. She continued to laugh and he stopped tickling her and pulled back to look at her,

"How are you doing?" She smiled and laughed,

"I'm good, how are you?"

"Oh, I'm doing good." She smiled again,

"That's good."

"Mhmm." He smiled and leaned in and kissed her. They kissed for a minute before she pulled away,

"Okay, I really do have to use the bathroom." He nodded and moved off of her,

"Oh, yeah, sorry."

She smiled and gave him a quick kiss before getting up and going down the hallway to the bathroom. He smiled and lied back down and closed his eyes for a minute. He said a little prayer, thanking God for keeping them safe while the hospital was being attacked. He also thanked God for bringing Allison back to him. He finished praying and then felt someone crawl onto the ed. He opened his eyes and Allison crawled on top of him and laid her chin on his chest. He smiled,

"I love you." She smiled and leaned in and kissed him,

"I love you, too."


They lied in the bed for a few more minutes before they forced themselves to get up. They went in the kitchen and he helped her cook some breakfast. He got out her griddle and cooked some pancakes while she put some bread in the toaster. Ben only had on his jeans and, while he was standing over the griddle, grease popped off of the griddle and onto his bare chest. He immediately yelled and stepped back away from the griddle. Allison turned around and came over to him and put her hand on his shoulder,

"What? What happened?"

"Some grease popped on me"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said, looking down at his chest. She looked at him for a minute, then laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I missed you, I'm so glad you're here." He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist,

"I missed you, too. You have no idea how glad I am to be here with you again. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about you. You don't know how bad I wanted to write or call you and tell you how much I love you."

"You should have; I would've flown anywhere to see you."

"I wanted to, but I didn't know what was going on in your life or if you would even talk to me." She smiled,

"You know I love you." He smiled and nodded,

"I know, I love you, too."

They finished cooking and ate on the couch, snuggled up beneath the blanket and watched T.V. while they ate. When they finished eating, Ben went and took a quick shower while Allison got him some clothes. When he got out of the shower, he went to her bedroom and she was laying the clothes on her bed. She turned around when she heard him come in.

"He always left clothes here when he would spend the night." She said, sitting down on the bed. He put on the jeans and short-sleeve shirt and sat down beside her.

"You never told me why he gave you all of those bruises."

"No, I didn't, did I?" He shook his head and she sighed,

"I would cancel our dates to come and spend time with you after my shifts. I always told him that I had things I had to work on, but he eventually found out that I was lying. I came home one night and he was here and he asked me where I had been. I told him that I was working on something and helping more of my patients and he- he hit me, right out of the blue. Since then, he would just get into these mad, jealous rages and he'd take it out on me." He shook his head in anger,

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" She laid her head on his shoulder,

"Because I knew you would be angry and I knew you would go find him and kick his tail." He laughed and nodded,

"You're right, that's what I wanted to do." She smiled and then raised her head off of his shoulder and looked at him,

"Why did you save him then?" He looked at her,

"Well, I couldn't just stand there and watch him die. Despite the anger I was feeling towards him, I couldn't let that outweigh what I knew was right." She looked at him and then smiled,

"You have the biggest heart of anyone I know."

"I do, don't I? It's ridiculous." She smiled and laughed and leaned in and kissed him. He kissed her back and then pulled away,

"You know I have to go back the day after tomorrow."

"Then I guess we better spend as much time together as possible, huh?"


They ended up going on a mini road trip that lasted nearly six hours. They put in her Paramore C.D. and jammed with the volume turned up for the most part of the day. They ended up just driving all over, admiring the scenery and singing at the top of their lungs. They drove down long and winding roads. It was unusually cold, especially for California, so they rode with the windows up and the heat on low.

They drove for nearly six hours, stopping to eat lunch at a Burger King for about thirty minutes. They ended up getting back to her apartment at about 4:30. By the time they got back, they had listened to every one of Paramore's C.D.'s except one. When they pulled into the parking lot and parked the car, she smiled and said,

"Well we managed to listen to five C.D.'s full of Paramore."

"Yeah, that was fun."

"Too bad we didn't get to Brand New Eyes." He shrugged his shoulders,

"Well, we can listen to it while we cook dinner; I saw a radio in your kitchen earlier, right?" She smiled and nodded,

"Yep, good idea, let's do it."

He grabbed the C.D.'s and they got out and raced each other up to her apartment building. He got to the door first and opened it and closed it really fast and held the doorknob so she couldn't get in. The door was mostly a big window so he laughed as he saw her trying to open the door. He smiled and put his nose up against the door as she yelled to let her in. He shook his head and she held up the keys,

"You can't get in without me!"

"Just slip them under the door!"

"Oh yeah, very likely."

He smiled and let the doorknob go and she rushed inside and up the stairs. Before he knew what happened, she was already up the stairs and unlocking the door to her apartment. He ran up them behind her but, as he got to the top, she had unlocked the door and she rain inside and closed the door, locking it.

"Oh, you're hilarious, come on, unlock the door."

"Nope, I don't think so. I think I'll let you stay out there for a while. Do you see how it feels?" He smiled and nodded,

"Yeah, I see, will you open the door?"

"Nope." He smiled again and shook his head and looked through her peep hole, but didn't see anything.

"Allison, come on! I have your Paramore C.D.'s and it wouldn't affect my conscious at all if I just happened to toss them down this huge flight of stairs." The door immediately opened,

"You wouldn't dare." He smiled,

"No, I wouldn't. I had to get you to open the door somehow, though."

"What makes you think just because I opened the door that I'm going to let you in?" He raised her C.D.'s in the air,

"Because I have these." She looked at him for a minute and then smiled,

"Fine, come in."

"Thank you." He walked inside and put her C.D.'s on the counter in the kitchen and, when he turned around, she was leaning up against the kitchen wall,

"You wouldn't have thrown my C.D.'s down the stairs." He smiled and shook his head,

"No I wouldn't' have. You wouldn't have kept me outside." She smiled and walked over to him and slipped her arms around his neck. She shook her head,

"No, I wouldn't have."

"Good."

She smiled and rolled her eyes and he laughed and leaned in and kissed her. He brought his hands to hold her face as his kiss became less playful and more demanding. She pulled him with her as she leaned back against the kitchen wall. His hand fell to the small of her back, where he pulled her in closer to his body. They kissed for a few minutes before she pulled away and smiled,

"You know, people might get the wrong idea if they see you staying here with me again tonight." He kissed her neck and whispered,

"Then tell me to leave." She smiled and shook her head as he brought his face back to hers and claimed her lips once again. They kissed for a while before she pulled away again and whispered,

"I never want you to leave me again." He smiled as he kissed her forehead,

"I never want to leave you again."


They cooked dinner together and, like they had planned, listened to their final Paramore C.D. They cooked spaghetti and corn on the cob with French bread and sweet tea to wash it all down with. They sat across from each other at the table, avoiding the subject that was obviously on both of their minds.

After they ate, they washed the dishes and then went and cuddled up beneath a blanket on the couch and watched T.V. for a couple of hours. After they watched T.V., they had still not talked about it and as they went back to her bedroom to go to sleep, she said she had to go to the bedroom. He nodded and went back to her room and took off everything except for his boxers and crawled into her bed.

While they were watching T.V., her phone had rung at it was his father. Allison answered and handed Ben the phone and, as soon as he said hello, his father exclaimed,

"What are you doing with Allison?"

He told his dad about everything; the hospital being attacked and him going in to save the two nurses and Jeremy. He told him that he told Allison that he still loved her and that he had spent yesterday and today at her apartment. His dad was surprised, but congratulated him and was glad that he was happy again. His dad also told him that he had gotten a letter from the Air Force saying that Ben was scheduled to return back to his old base in Afghanistan on November 3rd, which was tomorrow. He would go from California to Wilmington International Airport and then to Afghanistan.

Since it was a connecting flight, he wouldn't be able to see his dad. It had been almost ten months since he had seen his dad and it would be another nine months before he would see him again. He missed him a lot and was sad that he wouldn't be seeing him again until his term ended. He decided to write more letters to him while he was gone and told him, before hanging up, that he loved him.

While he was thinking about all of this, Allison came in and changed into her pajamas and crawled into bed beside him and asked,

"What are you thinking about?"

"Just about my dad. By the time I see him again it will have been nineteen months since I've seen him last."

"Wow, that's crazy. I know you miss him, I miss him, too. He was so nice and welcoming." He nodded, but for some reason, he remembered the first time he told him about her and how against the relationship he was.

"You know the first time I told him about you, he didn't want me seeing you?" A curious and sad expression came over her face and he quickly said,

"No, no, it wasn't you; he didn't want me to be in a relationship, period. He didn't want someone; in this case you, being in a relationship that was so difficult. He didn't want you getting hurt with me being away for nine and even eighteen months at a time." She nodded,

"He was right." He looked at her and she continued,

"It was difficult; it took a toll on me emotionally and, at first, I couldn't sleep at night." He looked away and nodded and she scooted closer to him. She put her hand on his cheek and turned his face towards her,

"But I can't imagine living my life without you. The past three and a half years without you were harder and filled with more pain than the months we spent apart when you were away. I made it through those months because I knew that I would see you again. I read your letters every night while you were away and that's what kept me going. But knowing that I wouldn't see you again and not knowing if you were dead or alive? I'd rather go the rest of my life, just getting letters from you, than relive the past three and a half years without you. You told me you wanted me to be happy and to not be in pain anymore. Ben, you were the thing that made me the happiest. Living without you brought me more pain and sadness than the months we spent apart. The past five months with you have been the happiest months in three and a half years. Just talking and being with you made me happy and now that I'm with you again? I don't ever want you to leave again; I love you too much."

He smiled and stared at her, knowing he loved her more now than he ever did if that was even possible. He leaned in and kissed her softly and held her close, whispering how much he loved her. After he held her for a while, he pulled back to look at her,

"I'm going to miss you. Do you know that this is the longest amount of time we've spent together the entire time we've known each other?" She smiled and nodded,

"I know. I've loved every second of it; I'm going to miss you, too. But, just think whenever these nine months are up and you come home, me and your dad are both going to be waiting for you; I'm moving back to Wilmington." He looked at her and then got a huge smile on his face as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. She laughed and, though he was happy he pulled back and said

"I don't want you to go back to Wilmington and leave your home in California just for me."

"California's not my home. You were right; there were tons of things left for me in Wilmington. I want to be in Wilmington with you and your dad and I want to sing with the church again. This was the place that I ran to when I was running to get away from everything. I'm tired of running and I want to be in Wilmington, waiting for you to come back." He smiled and leaned in and kissed her. She smiled and then asked,

"What time does your plane leave tomorrow morning?"

"10; we better leave here at 9. You said it takes about fifteen minutes to get to the airport, right?"

"Yeah, I'm going to set the clock for 8:00, okay?"

"Okay." She rolled over and picked up her alarm clock off of the end tale and set it for eight. She then rolled back over to face him and smiled,

"I love you, Ben." He smiled, too, and kissed her forehead and then her lips,

"I love you, too."


They fell asleep in each other's arms and, though Allison had set the alarm at 8, he ended up waking at 7:30. He couldn't go back to sleep, so he quietly slipped out of the bed trying not to wake Allison. He went down the hallway and went into the bathroom and took a shower. He got out and put his Air Force uniform on; he didn't have any other clothes at the time. He went in the living room and sat down on the couch and watched T.V. until he heard Allison come down the hallway. She was still half asleep and her hair was wild. He smiled,

"Good morning." She yawned and came and sat down beside him,

"Good morning, did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah, I woke up about thirty minutes ago."

"Okay, well I'm going to get in the shower."

He nodded and she gave him a quick kiss before going back down the hallway to the bathroom. She finished getting ready at about 8:55 and they left precisely at 9. There was more traffic than they expected so; instead of taking fifteen minutes to get there it took twenty five. By the time they parked and walked inside and sat down, it was already 9:35. They sat beside each other and held hands, not really say anything. At about 9:45, he looked at her and she already knew what he was thinking.

"It's time for you to go, isn't it?"

He nodded and they both stood up as she sighed. He opened his arms and she put her arms around his neck. He put his arms around her waist and held her close, whispering how much he loved her. He felt her begin to cry and he pulled back to see tears falling down her cheeks. She laughed, sadly,

"I told myself I wasn't going to cry. I don't think it's possible when you're saying goodbye to the person you love, though." He gave her a sad smile and held her close again,

"I'll write you more than I ever did, okay?" She nodded and he leaned in and kissed her. He put his forehead to hers,

"I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Ben. I'll be waiting for you when you come back."

He smiled, too, and kissed her one last time before forcing himself to let her go. He picked up his bag and turned around and walked through the terminal, already ready for these nine months to be up.


:) I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed typing it. I thought it was adorable... anyway, the next chapters/parts of the story are going to be very interesting. Excited to get it typed up! Until next time! Please review!