Chapter 35: The Next Step

Waking up the next morning, Bryce sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He looked at his clock and realized he had slept in a little later than usual. Fortunately, it didn't matter today because his team was moving in. That wasn't the first thought that crossed his mind. The first thing he did each morning was find Violet. As he got up from the bed, Bryce heard the door open. Violet stood in front of him, soaking wet.

"What happened to you?" Bryce asked.

Violet ignored his question. "Good morning Bryce!" She said with a mischievous smile on her face. She slowly walked toward him, arms extended. Bryce took a step back, smiling as well.

"What, you don't want a hug from me?" She asked.

"It depends," Bryce started, "will I get a bigger hug if I resist or if I give in?"

Violet continued to walk to him until she was nose-to-nose with him. "I think you already know the answer to that." She giggled.

Bryce smiled as the two embraced, soaking Bryce's clothes. Whether Violet had intended it to be romantic, silly or annoying, he didn't care. All that mattered to him right now was Violet.

"Bryce…promise me that even though we'll have other people here, that we'll still have time to ourselves."

"Of course. I'm your soul mate first and foremost. Nothing is more important to me than you, and that's how it will always be."

Violet kissed him softly. "I love you."

"I love you too." Bryce responded, holding her closer. Even if his clothes were wet and cold, Violet's embrace made him feel warm, as if he was supposed to be there for all time.

"Well, now that I'm soaked, I'm going to go take a shower for real." Violet laughed.

"Ok, I'll take one after you." Bryce replied, taking off his now wet t-shirt. Violet walked towards the door, but stopped, turning around with a mischievous grin.

"I've got a better idea."

"What?" Bryce asked, completely unaware of what she was implying.

"Come on." She giggled, grabbing his hand and dragging him into the bathroom. She turned the shower on and turned to face him as the water was warming up. Before Bryce could say anything, she leaned forward and kissed him passionately, and Bryce immediately kissed back. After the water had warmed up and a fog-like aura filled the room, Violet slowly lowered her paws to Bryce's waist, and in one quick motion, Bryce was suddenly in his boxers.

Blushing heavily, Bryce tried to talk, but he just started saying gibberish. Violet just giggled again before kissing him again. As she broke the kiss, Bryce finally snapped back to his senses.

"Violet, maybe we shouldn't do this."

(I would like to take a pause here to reinstate that this is rated T, so there is NO explicit scenes. Sorry weirdos :P)

"Why not? We love each other."

"Yes, but I don't want to do something that we might regret…and if we're in the shower…you know…not clothed, then I might not be able to control myself."

Violet smiled. It wasn't a mischievous smile like earlier, just a genuine smile. "Well, I'll tell you what: how about we take the shower, but you keep your boxers on."

Bryce sighed. "All right. It's not like I could win a fight against you anyway." He stepped into the shower and held his hand out to help her. She gingerly placed her paw in his hand as she stepped inside as well. Putting her paw against the wall, Violet opened up a tray with soaps and shampoos on it, as well as a built in speaker with music.

"What the heck is that there for?" Bryce asked to no one in particular. "That's a bit…eccentric."

Violet laughed. "Maybe it's for people who like to sing in the shower."

This brought both of them into hysterics. "Might as well make use if it I guess." She scrolled through the options to the right of the speaker.

Boys Like Girls- Two is Better Than One (Slow Tempo) (1)(2)

Violet leaned against him as the song played. The two slowly waltzed back and forth in place in a slow dance. Leaning her head against Bryce's shoulder, Violet sighed happily. Bryce closed his eyes, as if he was in a dream. The song progressed and they had long since been soaked from head to toe. After the second verse, Bryce looked down at his Lucario soul mate. Her eyes were closed, a big smile on her face while her arms wrapped around him.

"Violet?"

"Yeah?"

He gulped. "I want to promise you something."

"Sure, what?"

"I don't know what this job is going to be like or what to expect from it, but I promise…when we're a little older and once my job settles down… or once we can support ourselves without any outside help…I…I want to get married and start a family."

Violet's eyes widened. "Do…do you really mean it?"

He took in a breath and let it out slowly. "I do. I love you, and I know I won't find anyone else."

Violet was ecstatic. Even though Bryce had been with her a long time, she wasn't sure if he wanted to make a commitment, not because he didn't love her, but he never had anyone before her. "Of course!" She smiled, her tail wagging happily. She leaned forward and kissed him lovingly before breaking away and giving him a big hug. Bryce held her back, tears in the corner of his eyes. He was glad she felt the same way as him and that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Knowing Violet, Bryce knew that she would say yes, but he was still scared to ask. After all of this time, Bryce was amazed at how far he had come…from being a loner, closed off from the world because he felt rejected by it, never wanted anything more than to find something…but now, he was with the most beautiful girl in the world, able to support her, had friends, learned more about himself, trusted people…and he was proud of himself.

Violet broke the kiss and saw the tears in his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…it's just…after all that we've been through, I just saw the changes it brought in me, and…for the first time, I'm proud of who I am."

This made Violet start to cry to. That was one of the biggest things she had tried to help him accomplish, and now he was proud of himself, believed in himself. "I'm proud of you too."

"Yeah, but always have been." Bryce smiled.

She smiled back. "True. Come on, let's actually get cleaned up now."

The two finished their shower and Bryce redressed. As both emerged into the living room, Rio looked over at them.

"Where have you two been?"

"Sorry captain." Bryce said apologetically.

"Don't call me that. I'm still Rio."

"Okay, but still, it won't happen again."

Violet looked up at him, smiling slyly. "It won't?"

Rio laughed as Bryce turned a shade of red. "No wait, it wasn't like that…ah forget it."

Violet smiled, kissing him quickly. "Oh, I doubt you'd want to forget it either."

I'll be doing this for anytime I want a song in my story without breaking the rules by posting lyrics. Basically, it would just set the tone better if you listened to it while reading.

There isn't a slow tempo version, so if you want it, then download Audacity (it's free) and import that song from Itunes or wherever into it. Then go to "Effect" and "Change Tempo". Pretty self-explanatory from there.

Author's Notes: Hopefully due to my new schedule, updates will be quicker. The better schedule is a funny story, and since I haven't talked to you in a long time, I'll tell it. Our school is like college, you can take some classes there and some at home or with another teacher outside of school instead of going full time. One of my friends is a senior, and she asked if she could still go across the stage and get her homeschool diploma. Originally, our principal said yes, then changed it six weeks before winter break. She was upset and posted, "Our principal needs to make sure he's telling us the right things so we can plan our stuff." (That is the actual quote). Several other kids (myself included) agreed, because he has made many bad decisions in the past, and doesn't listen to any parents because they can't say anything and there's nobody above him (school is too small for a district supervisor or anything). So all of the kids who the principal likes said that we couldn't say anything bad about the school's decisions, AND they told the principal and he got the senior girl expelled, which is total BS because we have 1) 1st amendment (freedom of speech), 2) Consumer Rights (if you are paying for a product or school or anything, you have the right to complain respectfully, which our comments were), and it was on facebook, meaning it was outside of school. So most of the kids who defended her either also got expelled or quit before that could happen (fortunately, I sent in my withdrawal papers before getting kicked out), so now I don't have class Monday or Friday. Talk about a HUGE weekend. My classes are: Tuesday- History with my mom, Algebra 2 with a teacher who USED to work at the school I USED to go to, Wednesday- Homework for those classes and English with another teacher who USED to work at that school, and Thursday- Algebra 2, history, and Advanced Biology with a few friends, and it's just watching videos and writing synopsis (what the plural is, I don't know). I also take Psychology online. So basically my weekend is from Friday at around noon to Tuesday at one thirty. Yep :D.

Anyway, moving to the actual summary… what will Bryce's teammates be like? What will be their first mission? Will Bryce and Violet get married eventually? Most of all, will I ever get better at updating? Find out next time!

PS: Keep sending in comments and reading. Thanks for being cool about not updating a lot.