A/N : Hey, y'all. Please tell me you haven't forgotten about me? I'm so sorry about yesterday, I really meant to update, but then I finally got home and was informed that my ride to the concert was there and we were to leave immediately. (grumpy)

The concert itself – wow, amazing. It was pure hard rock! And then a few slow songs thrown into the mix...Perfect. Ryan Adams, people!

Let poor little me know you haven't forgotten...

XO

Spinnin' so hard

I can't stand

Shadow of a shadowy man

Hold me up hold my hand (1)

Michael

Smiling, she leaned into him and pressed her lips firmly to his. "Glad you're back."

He looked at her in wonder and tipped his head to the side, cupping her face. "I've missed that."

"What?"

"You,...your smile." He gestured widely around them, "this place..."

"Aww." Sara made a face as if he'd just said the cutest thing ever. "You missed me?" She smiled at him.

He kissed the mock frown out of her eyebrows and pulled back to look at her sweetly. "Of course I did...Why, didn't you?"

She scrunched her nose and looked away. "Nah. Not really..."

Damn her! He laughed. Well, two can play this game.

"Oh?" She shook her head. "Not even a little?" More headshaking, her soft hair floating around her face, covering up the smile he knew was there.

"Then look me in the eyes when you say that." She slowly turned, and he could smell the victory near. But her face was made of stone as she repeated the words, looking straight into his eyes.

Was it supposed to hurt?

Sara

And then the look of complete heartbreak on his face is more than she can bare. She laughs and hits him up the head. "You idiot."

His sad eyes stare back at her and she kisses his full lips. "Of course I missed you!" Raining kisses all over his face, she continued in a sing-song voice. "I – I missed yo-ou...every day," a kiss pressed to the side of his neck made him shudder underneath her lips. "every night.." A gasp escaped from his lips as her lips touched his, only to pull away again. "with every breath I took." She concluded, then let him go and walked away, throwing him a challenging look over her shoulder.

He regained his composure and went after her. "Oh, you're going to pay for that."

She laughed and ran away from him, using the chairs and couches, plants and tables as her defense. And he let her believe that she was smarter than him, if only to hear that laugh. But when she stuck out her tongue at him and looked so darn beautiful, he couldn't take it anymore. Driving her over to the couches, he claimed her. She collapsed into a heap of giggles as he hovered over her, keeping her on the couch.

Looking into his eyes, she fell silent. Pushed herself upwards and pulled them both down. Like a blanket, he lay there, covering her. And she didn't mind. She loved every second of it. The soft candlelight turned the opposite wall into a scenery, and it was a beatiful thing to see, as his shadow became her shadow became their shadow. Their lips never disconnecting – their need for eachother too great.

"Michael..."she softly moaned against his lips and he could feel them tingling, driving him insane with desire. He loved her. So much.

It was here. She knew. The moment she'd been dreaming about ever since he... She can't rememember a time when she didn't love him. Should it scare her? Yes. Did it? Maybe. But she was too busy loving him, too far gone to climb back up.

And it was here. On the very same couch where they had spent their first moments being together. Her head on his chest. Their bodies, moving together, taking them to a place neither of them had been emotionally.

It had never meant this much. Never been this real before.

The candle had gone out and the darkness covered them. But the one sole shadow remained.

Hello to the world below

watching the world spinning

this night seems so unending

I follow to a place I know

that's only the beginning (2)

The next morning.

Michael

She'd gotten cold at one point during the night, and had cuddled deeper into him in her sleep. He had grabbed the blanket and covered them. Them – together. In this room, in this place so different from where they'd been before. Had they ever thought they'd be this way? Dreamt about it, yes. But ever thinking of it as a possibility? You had. He hadn't known if she would be able to forgive him. You'd hoped. Hope's a dangerous thing.

Well, he decided, whether or not I'd anticipated it, right now – everything is perfect. Watching her in his arms, softly breathing in the heat radiating from his body...it was wonder.

Would you tell me, how could it be

Any better than this?(3)

Sara

Sara didn't think their was any feeling better than the one she had experienced the last twelve hours. Being able to physically tell Michael how she felt, and then falling asleep in his arms, waking up in them again – it was enough bliss to last a lifetime. She smiled to herself. Bliss that she'd be experiencing many many times more.

Because she wasn't scared of what the future would bring. Yes, he had upgraded from being a con to being a fugitive, but she knew that in the future, it would all be just a distant memory. The basis of their relationship.

She nuzzled his chest. It's only the beginning.

Ah, you have no idea how relieved I am to have written a chapter once again. This day of abstenence has been hell for me. Yes, I am obsessed, I admit it.

Tell me if that's a bad thing.

The songs :

(1) Ryan Adams - Bartering lines

(2) Lifehouse - The beginning (on repeat while writing this chapter)

(3) Lifehouse - Everything (one of the most beautiful songs ever written. Please, if you don't know this song, listen to it. It's amazing. Warning : takes breath away.)

Love to you all.

XO