Hi! I'm back with another update! It's time for M and John to talk so let's see where it leads.

The Talk

M watched them go, then turned hesitant eyes to John.

There was so much John wanted to say to her, but just being close to her scrambled his brain. How should he start? What if she didn't listen? And for goodness sake couldn't the shaking in his hands stop? His body wanted him to go to her, to hold her tightly and never let her go and holding himself back was taking all of his willpower.

He moved over to the balcony railing, grasping it tightly in his hands, and looked out at the ocean. If he could just get his mind to calm down for a moment, maybe he could manage to talk to her.

"Would you rather just leave?" she asked sadly.

"No," he replied immediately, still not looking at her. "I just … need a minute. I wasn't expecting this and … I'm trying to … figure out how to say what I need to say without … tripping over the words. I'm sorry, I know you hate waiting."

"You're right, I do, but I can wait, for you," she replied softly. "I've waited 8 months already, a few minutes aren't going to kill me. I just didn't want to make you be here if you didn't want to be."

"It's not that," he assured her. "I've wanted to talk to you for a long time, I just didn't know where to find you. I guess if you were at the pentagon that makes sense. They don't exactly advertise who works there."

"I haven't actually been there long," M replied. "I've been keeping to myself mostly, travelling a bit, getting used to being … this now. It hasn't been an easy transition."

"No, I don't imagine it has," John replied. It was hard for him to adjust to it would have been far more difficult for her.

She didn't speak again for a while and he figured she was giving him the space he needed to collect his thoughts. When at last he felt as unjumbled as he could he finally spoke.

"I'm sorry, M, I know I pushed you away and I know I was a terrible friend and a terrible CO. I never thought about how my actions would affect you and I should have, what I did was unforgivable. It was never about you though, I know you didn't believe me when I said that and I can understand why, but it wasn't. It was my issue and I tried really hard to get past it, but I couldn't." he finally managed to turn and look at her.

"It's not an excuse and I'm not making one, you didn't deserve what I did to you. I should have just talked to you about it, but I didn't and I will never forgive myself for that. I never wanted to make you feel bad, and I never wanted you to leave. I thought I was doing what was best for both of us, but that wasn't a decision I should have been making alone and all I can say is I'm sorry. I understand if you're angry at me, or if you hate me, I deserve that, and I don't expect you to forgive me, so I won't even ask. All I will ask is that you come back to Atlantis and I will do whatever you want me to do to make it easier for you, even stay completely away from you if that's what you want," he finished, looking down at his hands.

She was quiet for a long time and John didn't dare look at her for fear of what he might see in her eyes. When she did speak, her words surprised him. "I don't hate you, John, I've never hated you, could never hate you. You mean more to me than anyone I've ever known. I didn't leave Atlantis because I was angry at you or because I hated you, I left because you pushing me away hurt. I tried to just go on about my work and let you get over whatever was bothering you, but I couldn't. You've been my best friend for so long, we were always together, and then suddenly you were gone and I couldn't understand why. If you want me to come back, I don't need anything from you except an explanation. I miss you and I care about you so much. Please, just tell me why you don't want to be around me anymore. Do you just … not like me? It's killing me not knowing."

John closed his eyes, fighting back tears. It hurt so much to know that she'd been suffering that kind of pain because of him. He'd never wanted to hurt her and he knew he had to tell her the truth, whatever the consequences turned out to be.

"It's never been about me not liking you, M, you matter more to me than … anything. I didn't push you away because I don't like you … I pushed you away because I like you too much." He looked over at her, and for the first time in probably his entire life, he didn't shut his emotions away behind an easy smile, he let them show plainly on his face and in his eyes. She studied him closely for a moment as if she couldn't understand what he was saying, then he saw the moment she read the feelings for what they were.

"Since when?" she gasped, wide eyed.

John looked away, "Since … a few months after we met," he admitted and he heard her breath catch. "Thing was … I'm straight and you were a man. I felt so much for you, more than I've ever felt for anyone. I hated watching you with Katie and Jennifer, it broke my heart and I wished more than anything that you could be mine … but just like Jennifer wasn't attracted to you as a woman, I wasn't attracted to you as a man. And don't get me wrong I tried to be, even though I knew it was pointless. Being completely in love with someone but not feeling anything towards them physically is confusing as hell, and in a lot of ways it would have been easier, at least for the logical part of my brain, if I were … but I wasn't. So, I squashed down my jealousy and I did everything I could to be a good friend to you without giving away how I actually felt."

He squeezed the railing under his hands, trying to stop the shaking. Again it did nothing, so he pressed on. "And then, suddenly, you weren't a man anymore and the moment I saw you I completely lost my mind. All those years of wishing I felt something physical for you came back to smash me in the face and I … couldn't be around you without wanting to touch you, hold you … god … drop down on my knees and beg you to be mine. That first day in the infirmary I ran away like a coward as soon as you left the room because I knew I was going to do something stupid if I didn't and I knew you were bound to be mixed up enough without me adding to it. I wanted to be there for you, but every time I was close to you it took every ounce of strength I had to keep from … saying or doing something I couldn't. I took the weekend before your return to active duty trying to get myself back together, telling myself that you probably weren't straight anymore, and that you were already messed up enough, to keep myself from doing something stupid. I was doing better, almost, then we went off world."

He stopped, thinking about that day and how he'd felt. "I kept my distance from you because I thought it was for the best, but then I began to notice something, about you and Ronon, you seemed to be getting … closer. At first I thought that was a good thing, it meant that you were straight and maybe I had a chance to convince you to be with me; when you'd adjusted properly. Then, as I watched, I realised that actually it wasn't a good thing at all, because Ronon had all of that attention, not me, and there was no way I'd ever match up to him. Watching you with Katie and Jennifer had been torture, but watching you with another man … I couldn't do it. That night you came to talk to me I wanted to beg you to be mine instead, to tell you that I loved you so much it hurt to breathe without you, but just like with Katie and Jennifer, I loved you enough to want you to be happy, even if it wasn't with me. I didn't want to hurt you and it killed me to see you cry, I just … thought it was the best thing I could do for you. I didn't realise how many missions I kept you away from, until Elizabeth spoke to me about it the day she told us you'd left, I was so wrapped up in my own world of pain I couldn't see anything outside of it. I felt terrible and I wanted to come and find you to apologise, but you were gone and I had no idea where."

He finally looked at her again, his heart hurting at the sight of the tears in her eyes. "I never wanted to hurt you, I love you more than anything in the universe, and I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I didn't just tell you. I just thought it was better that you didn't know." He turned back to look out at the ocean, not even bothering to fight back his own tears anymore.

"Oh, John, I'm so sorry, that must have been horrible for you," she said tearfully. "You should have told me, straight or not I never would have been cruel to you about it and you were still my best friend. If I'd known I would have been more sensitive to your feelings."

John shook his head. "It wasn't up to you to protect my feelings, Mere, they were my problem not yours. You were just living your life and I wanted you to be happy. Besides, I knew you could never love me back and I didn't want to ruin our friendship by confessing my feelings and making things awkward between us. I never wanted to lose you."

"You seem pretty adamant that I could never love you back, but you've not once stopped to ask me how I feel, have you?" she asked and he looked at her surprised, realising she was right.

"No, I haven't," he admitted.

She moved closer to him, her eyes searching his face. "You were right about me being straight. I never felt any sort of attraction to you while I was a man, but I always felt more than friendship for you, I just never stopped to analyse it because … I think the prospect of what it could mean scared me," she admitted. "But I'm not a man anymore, I'm a woman and I'd say I'm … about 80% straight -women seem a little more liberal about things like that, maybe because men feel it as a threat to their masculinity, I don't know, but it's not important- the point is I'm still mostly straight. You were right when you said I felt some attraction to Ronon, but only in the way that a woman has an awareness of a good looking man, it was never anything more than that and it couldn't be because we would make a terrible match. You and I on the other hand are different, we're already friends and I love being with you, you are also … quite possibly the hottest man I've ever seen, so I'm definitely attracted to you. Do I think I could love you? I don't know, maybe, I've never really stopped to think about it."

She looked down and sighed. "Look, I want to come back to Atlantis, I miss it and I miss everyone here, but I get the feeling that if I can't be with you like you want me to be, it's going to be impossible, for both of us, if I come back." She looked up at him again, and he waited with baited breath to hear what she was going to say next. "The people from the pentagon are going back to Earth tomorrow and I have to go with them. I have to give them notice, I can't just drop everything I've been working on and leave, they'd never let me get away with that. So I'll go back with them and I'll give myself a chance to think about all of this, how I feel and what I want; whether I could make the transition from friendship to a different kind of relationship. I know it's probably not what you want to hear and I really don't want to hurt you, but I need a bit of time."

John cringed internally at his own words being echoed back at him, but he knew this wasn't an excuse or a line from M, she really did need time, and he understood.

It didn't mean it was easy to take.

He nodded, pushing back the tears that were trying to choke him. "I understand," he managed to say.

She nodded back and looked down at her hands. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," he replied, he couldn't deny her anything right now.

"Can I hug you?" she asked hesitantly.

He was both terrified and thrilled by the prospect. He turned away from the railing and held his arms out to her, hoping she couldn't tell how much he was shaking. She walked into his arms and he closed them around her, biting back a moan of pleasure as her hands slipped around his waist and she melted into him, leaning her face against his shoulder. He held her as tightly as he dared and buried his face in her hair, breathing in the scent that was so uniquely her. Tears slipped from his eyes, but he kept the sobs at bay, not wanting to upset her any more. It was so incredible to hold her, her body felt beautiful against him and he wished so badly that he didn't have to let her go. For a moment he toyed with the idea of letting himself believe that she was his, just for a moment, but he knew how devastated he would be later if he did.

"John," she said softly.

"Yeah."

"I missed you."

"I missed you too," he replied, knowing it barely did his feelings justice. He didn't think it would be right to say he missed her so much it felt like his heart had died.

"Tell me when you want me to let go," she said softly.

"Mere … if it was up to me, I'd never let you go," he confessed, figuring being honest about that wouldn't be a bad thing.

She didn't say anything back, but her arms tightened around him.

XX

Saying goodbye to everyone on Atlantis the next day was the hardest thing M had ever done. After breakfast they all came down to the gate room, where the representatives from the pentagon were waiting for her, to see her off. As they dialled the gate she went along her group of friends, bidding them goodbye individually. Teyla and Ronon were two of the hardest and she gave Ronon a long hug and Teyla a very long Athosian parting. "Whatever happens, I'll be in contact with you soon and you know where I am now, you can visit me any time you get a chance," she told them all with a bright smile which they returned.

John was the last one and she looked up at him sadly, knowing how much he was struggling right now. Letting his feelings show wasn't a luxury he had as chief military officer, he had to put up a strong front. "I'll talk to you soon," she promised and he nodded. She reached forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly and fighting back the tears as he hugged her back.

All too soon she had to let him go and she gave him a soft smile before pulling away and picking up her bag. She moved over to stand beside the pentagon representatives, who thanked Elizabeth for her hospitality, then turned and headed out. She stopped at the event horizon and turned back to wave goodbye to the people gathered to see her off before forcing herself to walk through the stargate.

She stepped out at the SGC, trying to ignore the feeling of emptiness that immediately filled her. The private jet was waiting to take them all back to the pentagon, so she followed the representatives out of the base to the car that was waiting for them. She ignored everyone for the car ride and the flight back to the pentagon, thankful that they were busy with each other and didn't want her for anything. When the jet landed she waited for the two men to get their things and get off first, before collecting her own baggage and moving out of the plane.

She smiled when she walked down the stairs to the tarmac and saw her friends waiting for her at the bottom.

Dr Carlos Diaz, a tall Columbian scientist with long, dark hair, and beautiful brown eyes, Dr Sacha Kovtun, a tall Russian scientist with porcelain skin, ice blue eyes and long platinum blonde hair and Dr Maugan Harper, the stereotypical blonde bombshell who also happened to be a very clever British scientist with long, long legs and gorgeous hazel eyes. They waved to her excitedly and she smiled as they came up to encase her in a tight, group hug.

"Darling you were gone far too long," Maugan said and as happy as M was to see them, the tears started to get the better of her almost immediately.

"M, what's wrong, honey?" Carlos asked worriedly and M pulled back, shaking her head and wiping the tears off her face.

"I have a lot to tell you about, but not here. Let's go home," she said and they agreed easily, Carlos taking her bag and Maugan and Sacha ushered her over to the helicopter that was waiting for them. When they got back to her friends' property, Carlos took M's bag up to her room while Maugan asked one of the servants make them all tea and Sacha got M comfortable in the den.

Soon they were all sitting around her, listening to the story about her trip to Atlantis.

"Wow, that sounds really full on!" Carlos said sympathetically.

"And John loves you, that's just … I never would have expected that to be his reason," Maugan added.

"Yeah, it was certainly a shock to me," M replied, hugging a pillow. "I'd never thought about him that way, you know, he'd always just been my friend, but then he told me he loved me and … I don't know what to do now. I want to go back to Atlantis so much. I mean I love you guys, you know I do, but Atlantis is my home. I miss everything about it, the city, the people … John, god I miss John. As soon as I walked through the gate I wanted to go back, it was like … part of me was missing." She closed her eyes, tears slipping down her face. "But what if I go back and I can't love John the way he loves me? What if we try and … we end up just not working out? Things were bad before I left, imagine what they'd be like if that happened. How do I know whether I can make that transition to a different kind of a relationship with him? I don't want to hurt him."

"Well, you said that you already knew you felt something more than friendship for him before, but you were afraid to analyse it while you were a man. You also said you were attracted to him and when he held you it felt amazing. You're here right now crying over the fact that you miss him and you feel like a piece of you is missing. It sounds to me like you kind of already do love him," Maugan said gently.

"Of course I love him, he's my best friend, he means the world to me. This would be a different kind of love though, what if I can't get there?" M asked, worriedly.

"I want you to do something for me," Sacha said, looking at her seriously. "It's something I did before I started dating Carlos, to work out whether I could see myself in a relationship with him. You know of course that before him I had never dated a man. I had a pretty good idea that I was bisexual, but before he came along I had only been with women and I didn't know whether I could be with a man physically or feel the same way I did about a woman. It turns out I don't feel the same about Carlos as I had about the women I'd dated because he actually means far more to me than they ever did, but this helped me sort out my feelings a little," he explained.

"All right," M agreed, willing to take any help available to her

"Okay, close your eyes," he directed and M did as he said. "Now think about the last relationship you were in, Jennifer I think you said her name was. Think about her and what that relationship was like, what you did together, when you were intimate together, all the things you imagined in your future with her, what you felt for her."

"Okay," M replied, doing exactly that.

"Okay, now swap her for John, imagine that you're doing all these things with him instead, and I know it will be different because you're a woman now and sex is different, but intimacy is otherwise pretty similar. Think about all the hopes you had for your future with her, all the feelings you felt for her, all the dates you went on, then imagine John in her place and tell me what you feel," he directed and she did as he asked.

He was right things were different now, she was the woman and John was the man, but intimacy was intimacy and wanting a future with someone was still pretty similar. She imagined waking up beside John in the morning, with those incredible arms wrapped around her, like they had been the night before. She imagined John kissing her awake and those kisses becoming more intimate, then she swapped their roles for the next part, imagining she was Jennifer and John was her and imagining them coming together. She had no idea what that felt like yet, but she could at least have a go at imagining it. She imagined them spending a day together and all the fun things they could do, this was actually far better because she and John liked a lot of the same things and she'd always had more fun spending time with John than anyone. She imagined their hanging out to be more intimate and romantic though, with soft kisses and hugs and declarations of love whispered to each other as they did those things.

Then she went on to imagining a future with him. She imagined them getting married, the way she'd always imagined it with Jennifer, only again with their roles reversed. She imagined them having a life together, children even, which she'd never overly wanted but it was part of the whole having a life together thing for a lot of people. She imagined meeting John's brother and John meeting Jeanie again as her partner. She imagined as many other scenarios as she could, all the scenarios she'd imagined with Jennifer and through all of them she paid close attention to how she felt about it all.

At the end of it all she opened her eyes and looked at the others who were watching her intently.

"I think I have my answer."

XX

John sat in the cafeteria with his head in his hand, cursing the universe for this particular turn of events. It was one thing to have SGA1 come to Atlantis from another reality, he could handle that, and it had actually been really nice to see Rodney as Rodney again. It didn't seem to matter which reality they came from, Rodney was still very much Rodney and listening to him talk made John smile, which was rare for him these days.

M had been gone for a week and without any indication of how long she needed to make up her mind or how much notice she needed to give the pentagon, he had no idea how long he'd be waiting for her answer. Before she'd come back he'd hardened his heart and as much as her absence killed him he could still manage, for the most part, to do his job. When he'd seen her again that lump inside his chest had sprung back to life and now he couldn't get it to give him a moment's peace. He ached to have M back with him and every moment she wasn't around just made him want to cry. This was bad enough, he was barely keeping it together as it was, but then the people from the other reality came through the gate with SG2, and along for the ride was a scientist named Cherry Lawson.

She was rude, obnoxious and had far too much interest in John. When he'd asked his alternate self about her the man had explained that she was new to Atlantis and the mission they'd been on when they'd stumbled into the device that had sent them to this reality had been mostly to give her a chance to have some off world experience. Apparently, they'd tried to talk Woolsey out of sending her with them, but it hadn't worked. John had asked McKay why he'd hire someone so painful and he'd explained that he hadn't, the IOA had assigned her to Atlantis and he had a theory that they were just trying to drive him crazy, -either that or she was the daughter of someone high up in the organisation-.

The woman would not stop talking, and it was either bad jokes, insulting barbs -particularly at Rodney and that got John's back up far quicker than anything aimed at him- or suggestive comments. More than once she'd invaded his personal space and he'd been hoping when they all sat down to eat she might stay in her seat and he'd avoid any more contact from her.

He'd been wrong.

She'd just sauntered over to the chair beside his and he refused to even look at her. "Hey, Colonel hottie, how about showing me where your room is. I bet I can rock your world as well as your bed springs," she cooed and revulsion swept through his body so quickly he was lucky to keep his food in his stomach. "Come on, you know you want to, after all, I am very hot," she said, reaching out to stroke the side of his neck.

"Don't touch me," John snarled, itching to pull out his sidearm.

"Oh really, why not?" Cherry asked coquettishly, still stroking his neck.

John was about to blow up at her when another hand grabbed hers and pulled her fingers back in a way that made her yelp in pain. "On Earth decent men do not attack women out of propriety, so John will not cause you harm. I however have absolutely no problem with snapping every finger on your hand if you do not keep them to yourself. Am I clear?" Teyla snarled and Cherry yelped out an agreement before Teyla let her go and she dropped to the floor whimpering. "Get up!" Teyla snarled at the woman who scrabbled to her feet and ran back over to the other side of the table, dropping into her chair and whimpering some more as she held her fingers.

Teyla had been visiting her people on the mainland when the others had arrived so that was her first time meeting Cherry. She put her tray down next to John's and gave the rest of the table's members a friendly smile. "Good evening," she greeted calmly. "I heard we had some unusual guests arrive today, I didn't realise they brought an undomesticated animal with them," she said, shooting Cherry a glare.

"Hello, Teyla," John greeted her with a grateful smile. "How are your people today?"

"They are very well, John, they send their greetings. I have shown them how to set up and use the devices M designed for their protection and they were very grateful and excited to receive them," she said with a warm smile that john returned. As hard as it was to have M gone and as badly as he missed her, he was very happy for Teyla and very proud of M, as he always had been, for what she had achieved.

"That's good, Teyla, hopefully they won't need them any time soon, but if they do, at least they'll have them," he said with as much optimism as he could muster.

"You know you could have just told me you had a girlfriend," Cherry grumped from down the table.

"I am not John's girlfriend, I am his friend, and I am fairly certain you could have simply listened when he asked you not to touch him," Teyla snarled back. "Being a woman does not entitle you to invade a man's personal space, particularly one you are not invited in to; have some respect for other people."

Cherry glared down the table at Teyla who met her glare with a fierce one of her own. When Cherry looked away first Teyla turned her attention back to the other people at the table. "How was everyone else's day?"

They went around the table discussing what their days had entailed and John finally felt like he could relax a bit. Teyla took his hand gently under the table and he squeezed back, grateful for her intervention and support. When they were all finished eating alternate him asked whether they should all go out onto the pier for the evening. John really wasn't in the mood for socialising, but he took the opportunity to be close to Rodney, even if he wasn't John's Rodney. Being around him had always lifted John's spirits.

They all headed out to the pier, but while Sheppard and McKay sat down with their feet over the edge, John didn't sit with them, choosing to remain standing a bit behind McKay. Jennifer sat down not far from them with Carson. Cherry sat down as well a few feet away from them, while both versions of Ronon and Teyla chose to stand further back. The two Teyla's were swapping information about their realities, the two Ronon's decided to see who was the better fighter.

John watched and listened to Jennifer talking to Rodney and wondered if it was weird for her. She'd lost Rodney a while ago now and she seemed happy with Ronon, but surely it would be odd for her to suddenly be talking to her ex in his original body again. John didn't really join in the conversation, preferring to listen to everyone else talking around him. As much as he tried to focus on other things his mind constantly took him back to M, wondering where she was, what she was doing, what was she thinking about and whether she thought about him as much as he thought about her.

God he missed her so much.

He looked out over the water thinking about all the times he'd sat out here with Rodney and felt tears burning his eyes. Why did this have to happen to them? Rodney could have stayed Rodney and John would have been perfectly happy just being his friend and loving him from afar. Now he may never even have M back on Atlantis and he wanted to scream at the universe and demand to know why it had done this to them. They spent their entire lives helping people, didn't they deserve some happiness? Was this karma for failing in his last marriage? Was he being punished for that?

He closed his eyes and wiped the tears away as they fell. If this was Karma then why was it making M suffer? What had Rodney ever done to deserve having his body taken and replaced with something different? He doubted Rodney would have ever chosen this for himself.

He really should go inside before someone else noticed how messed up he was feeling, the last thing he needed to be doing was explaining to people from another reality why he was bawling like a baby.

He sighed, about to call out to the others that he was heading to bed when a hand slipped gently into his. The breeze carried a soft, feminine scent to his senses and he recognised it immediately. John slowly glanced round, his breath catching as M's beautiful face came into view beside him.

She was dressed up in a way he'd never imagined he'd see her. She was wearing a long, sapphire, satin gown that hugged the top of her body, highlighting every delightful curve, then flared out slightly at the hips and fell in beautiful layers down to the floor. Her hair was pulled back at one side in three sparkling blue clips while the other side flowed down in waves, framing her face. She had a large sapphire pendant around her neck to match the dress and hair clips and just the tiniest hint of colour on her lips but no other makeup. She looked so incredibly beautiful, and he couldn't help thinking of the day he married Nancy and how she'd never looked this breath-taking to him. It wasn't what she was wearing or how her hair was styled, it was how much he loved her that made her so beautiful.

He'd never loved anyone like he loved M

His mind went blank and he held his breath, wanting so badly to reach out and touch her, but knowing he couldn't until he knew what she was going to tell him. She looked at him with an expression of tenderness that made his heart race, and he gasped as her hand came up to gently caress his cheek.

"Hello, my love," she greeted him with an adoring smile and he bit his lip to keep from sobbing as tears ran slipped from his eyes. Nothing he'd heard in his life had ever sounded so beautiful.

"Hello, my love," he breathed the words back to her, gliding shaking fingers across the silky skin of her face.

Tears sparkled in her incredible blue eyes as she wiped his away, and for the longest time they just stood there gazing at each other.

"I don't know, you should ask Sheppard from this universe. Hey, Sheppard have you been to M3j997 yet?" McKay asked, but John barely noticed. He also didn't notice the way all eyes on the pier turned to look at him or the surprise, curiosity and delight that filled them.

"Who's she?" Alternate Sheppard asked.

"That's M," Carson replied, the smile obvious in his voice.

"Oh, so it's okay for her to be all over Sheppard but not me?" Cherry griped. "Why aren't you ripping her fingers off amazon woman?"

"Shut up!" Ronon and Teyla snarled together in a tone that only someone with a death wish would question.

"Well, I guess that explains a lot," Ronon said.

"It does indeed," Teyla agreed.

"At least it doesn't look like she's going anywhere in a hurry," Ronon noted, the grin evident in his tone.

"No, I would say not," Teyla agreed sounding delighted.

M's smile widened and she leant forward kiss John softly, her hand releasing his and sliding up into the back of his crazy hair. She pulled away after a moment and gave John a loving, desiring look. "No, I'm definitely not," she whispered.

Knowing his emotions were going to get the better of him soon John slipped his other hand up to cradle her face and pulled her into a longer, deeper kiss which she eagerly returned. He didn't get too carried away, aware that they had an audience, but it was so deliciously perfect. When they parted she wrapped her arms around his neck and melted into him, snuggling her face into his shoulder. He held her back, wrapping one arm tightly around her waist and slipping the other one up into her hair, leaning down to kiss the soft waves.

"Awww, it's a Kodak moment," a voice he didn't recognise said from behind them, but neither of them paid it any mind.

For the longest time they just held each other, blocking out everyone and everything else except the sound of the waves lapping at the pier.

M was back, and she was finally his, nothing else mattered.

XX

Awwww, they're reunited! What did we think? Did we like it? I've been writing like mad lately, there is so much of this story written now. I got a little obsessed with this pairing and came up with some fabulous ideas for that to do with them, it was quite exciting. For anyone who doesn't want to read a long story at the moment this is a good place to stop, if you do keep reading though there will be more to come and I hope you like it. Please let me know what you think and I'll see you again soon.