Chapter 38

Surprise chapter! No need to wait two months for the next one!

xXx

Karlee took off after Dean, not seeing which direction he went in but going towards the door anyway. The door that lead outside was surrounded by low walls and beautiful light and flowers. Beyond that, it was dark and the only thing she could see was the darkness leading into the forest ahead. She had no idea where he had gone. Tears continued to stream down her face as her stomach knotted, making her feel sick. She threw her hand up in exasperation before running them over her face. She had to stop crying for a start. She had to man up and face the consequences of her running away. She was about to give up and turn around when she saw him, sitting on the wall to her far right with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, the smoke billowing in the wind. Karlee sighed, at least she knew where he was and that he was safe. She knew he would be far from okay but all Karlee wanted at the present moment was a chance to explain herself. He heard her coming and gritted his teeth, putting pressure on his temples. He didn't want to see her, nor hear her explanation. He couldn't deal with whatever she was about to tell him.

"Dean..." She started and he stood up, holding his hand out to her.

"I don't want to hear it."

"Ignoring me is only going to make me go faster and away for longer. You have to hear my explanation. You weren't meant to find out like this..." She began but he cut her off and stomped towards her, stopping right in front of her face and making her suddenly feel extremely scared.

"Were you even going to tell me? Or would you just have left and left me in the dark?" She shook her head and more tears started to fall. She felt so guilty but she would have felt the same regardless of however he found out. His eyes were red, showing he had been crying as well. Karlee sighed as she sat on the wall, waiting for Dean to join her but after a few minutes decided to start her explanation.

"I went to Stephanie after the whole Sofia ordeal and I just asked to leave. I didn't want to hurt anyone and I know it's selfish to run away from everything but I need to clear my head. I know that this is the best thing for me right now. Please, don't hate me."

"Are you serious? You are leaving your newly-wed friends, who are just about to have a baby. You are leaving Alice, who needs your guidance. And you're leaving me. So don't try and act like this is a good thing."

"Look, I know I'm being selfish, I've already admitted that. But if I stay here, and dwell on what I can't have, I'm going to go insane! It will break me!" He sighed and went to sit beside her, her eyes following his every move.

"It already has broken you though, hasn't it Karlee?" Dean asked in a monotone voice whilst he played with his hands. Her mind bubbled as she hated to admit that he was right. Everything that went from the attack onwards had slowly but surely left her a broken woman. He saw her realisation and carried on, keeping his voice low and laced with hurt.

"But don't you dare act like this hasn't affected me." He growled towards the end of his statement. Karlee squeezed her eyes shut to try and hide the fact she wanted to run away and cry. That was all he wanted to do, hide under a blanket, cry and forget about everything.

"We've both had a rough few months Dean, and I'm not like you. I'm not as strong. And after everything Sofia put me through, I decided that I couldn't do it any more. I couldn't keep whatever I had with you without hurting you further."

"Whatever we had? I thought we agreed that after we dealt with Sofia, we could give each other another chance? Does none of that matter any more?" He suddenly spat as he launched forward and back onto his feet. He couldn't believe she was using him as an excuse to run away. Dean was hurt and wasn't looking at the bigger picture. At the present moment, he just wanted them back together.

"Get back together? How the hell was that meant to happen?" She raised her voice a little and stood up herself. Arms were flailing and voices were raised. This wasn't ending pretty.

"You said once we dealt with our problems, everything could get back to normal!" He shouted.

"We can never go back to normal!" She screamed, her chest racking with sobs. This was going to hurt. Badly.

"Oh yeah Karlee? Give me one good reason why!" She yelled back, coming closer to her and looking down at her as she lowered her head.

"Because I don't know if I love you any more." She whispered. Dean stumbled back. She couldn't even look him in the eyes. God, she couldn't even believe she had said it. She heard him try to say something but they words wouldn't come out. Dean felt the tears drip from his eyes as he realised what she was doing. He nodded, adhering her words and turned on his heel and left, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Karlee watched him leave. She didn't even realise she was on the ground sobbing, her make-up wrecked, until she felt herself being picked up. She fell into the arms of Alice when Roman let her go. He was off to find Dean and calm him down as asked Alice if she would stay with Karlee.

"C'mon babe. Lets get you sorted."

xXx

Karlee sat, wrapped in her duvet in the room she had to share with Dean that night. Nobody was budging on the idea of swapping and believed that maybe if they were together for a while, Dean would change her mind and Karlee wouldn't leave. At least that's what all her closest friends thought. Alice had fixed her hair and make-up and left to go back down to update Kaitlyn and Karlee promised to be down within half an hour. There had been no sign of Dean and Roman had text to say he hadn't found him which made Karlee panic. She was about to get up and go and find him when the door opened, Dean entering and shutting it again. His jacket slung over his shoulder and his hair a mess. He hadn't noticed Karlee until she stood up and he looked to see what had moved. They stared at each other in silence. Complete and utter silence.

"Dean, I'm sorry." Karlee murmured. She was looking at the floor, desperate to avoid his steely gaze. Dean sighed and grabbed her arm pulling her into his chest. She was shocked at his gesture but didn't let him know so.

"For starters, I'm sorry for shouting. In fact, no, I ain't. You've hurt me Karlee, badly and I don't forgive you for it. And I certainly am not happy at your statement before I walked away. I have known you for 10 years Karlee and you know as well as I do that you only said that so I wouldn't feel so hurt about you leaving." She looked up at him, her bottom lip trembling.

"I have to go Dean. You know I do." She was hurting. She didn't want to leave him but at the present moment, she didn't know how she felt about him. She couldn't figure out if she wanted to be with him for the rest of her life. Her head was a mess.

"Promise me one thing?" He asked, putting his hands on her face and making her look at him. He wiped a stray tear away with his thumb. Karlee nodded, she could promise him one thing.

"Lets forget that your leaving. Be my girl for one more day." They both closed their eyes as he leaned his forehead on hers. He grabbed her hands and wrapped them in his, holding her closer, flush against him. She nodded.

"That's only going to make it worse." And more painful.

"We never truly understood what we had Karlee. We were two people who were never meant to fall for each other. And when we were good, we were real good." he grinned and both their minds flooded with amazing memories.

"One more night." Karlee whispered.

"One more night."

xXx

Dean and Karlee returned, hand in hand minutes later, just in time to witness the first dance between Kaitlyn and Seth. The whole room circled around them as they held onto each other, whispering into each other's ears. 'Amazed' by Lonestar was softly playing in a rather smooth slowed down version. Karlee allowed herself to lean her head against Dean as he wrapped a hand around her waist. She traced his hand with hers and slid her fingers against his. As their song ended, and Elvis song came on and Karlee's heart raced. It was the song she wanted as her first dance and the look Kaitlyn was shooting her said that she remembered that fact too.

"Will the bridesmaids please make their way to the floor with a partner." The soft voice of the singer came and Roman walked out onto the floor, trailing a very flushed Alice behind him. The two held onto each other as they danced next to Kaitlyn and Seth, having a laugh as they did so. All eyes were on Karlee as Dean moved away from her and held out his hand. She blushed put took it and he pulled her up against him, hands on her waist as she slowly placed her arms around his neck, softly laying her head against his chest.

The moment was bitter-sweet. This was how they should have been, dancing in each others arms in a peaceful bliss. But instead, in reality, it was their last dance. She closed her eyes as they swayed to the beat, soaking up the atmosphere of the wedding.

When the song ended and the song changed into a more up-beat tune, the bridal party retreated to their seats. They guys went to the bar and that left Kaitlyn, Karlee and Alice at the table.

"Right, spill." Kaitlyn quizzed.

"Karlee, what on earth happened? You went from a crying mess to basically back together." Alice added. Then her eyes lit up.

"Are you staying?" She asked excitedly. Karlee shook her head and decided not to tell them anything.

"We agreed to be friends. That's the end of us." She stated simply but there was a slight silence behind her voice and her two friends quickly picked up on it.

"Ah. I see." Karlee knew there would be no other questions because they didn't want to upset her. She was quite happy about that. Dean and the other two came back with a drink to themselves and a drink for their ladies. Karlee graciously accepted her drink and the six of them sat and chatted, occasionally stopping to dance and speak to the guests.

"I've had the best wedding day ever!" Kaitlyn muttered as she laid against the back of her chair, her hands settling on her swollen stomach. Seth grinned in agreement and whispered something in her ear which made her blush and nod.

"When's the do finishing? I have a bridesmaid's dress to decorate my floor with..." Roman asked, getting a sly punch from Alice.

"You guys can go, there's lest than an hour left. But honestly, we've had the best time." Seth thanked them all personally, complimenting them too. Everyone was exhausted. Karlee curled her feet up beneath her, massaging them gently from where her shoes had been rubbing. Dean saw her and used it as his excuse to get her away from the crowd, but Roman and Alice, and even Kaitlyn bet her to it.

"Right, Ladies and Gentleman. Me and my new wife would like to thank everyone for helping us celebrate our magical day. We truly could not have had a better time with all the people we love. Thank you for the gifts, especially the baby ones because I'm sure Kait would agree we don't have enough." The crowd laughed and gave him a round of applause as the newly weds said their goodbyes and exited the room, hand in hand.

"Care to leave?" Dean asked Karlee and she nodded, taking his offered hand and grabbing her shoes and shawl. Dean waved them goodbye as they too left the room hand in hand, small smiles on their faces. Karlee was tired and thankful that Dean had noticed.

He swept the key-card through the slot and the door beeped open. They both sighed as they entered, kicking off shoes and taking off jewellery. Karlee fell back onto the bed and let a breath escape her lips. She was knackered. Dean was silent as he watched her, her body in that dress was making it hard for him to explain himself. Karlee saw him and sat up, walking over to him, grabbing his shirt.

"I'm sorry Dean, I know you have the right to hate me. But thank you." He smiled but crooked his head.

"Thank you? For what?" He was genuinely confused.

"Dean, you made me feel like I was the only woman in the world. You made me feel special and loved and for the rest of tonight, I felt like I had nothing to worry about." He smirked and brought her face up to his, planting a small kiss on her lips. The softest he had ever given.

"You could feel like that, if you would just stay..." She shot her hands up to hold his, pleading with him.

"Dean... Don't..." He stopped and apologized.

"I'm sorry. That wasn't fair." He wanted to keep her here. In his arms. It hurt to know this would be the last time she would be in them. His heart gave a pang as he watched walk over to the balcony and open the big doors, music flooding the room.

Grant my last request,
And just let me hold you.
Don't shrug your shoulders,
Lay down beside me.

Karlee walked towards him and circled her arms around his neck, prompting him to put his hand on her waist. The song playing was all too real considering the situation and the lyrics made her chest heave as she tried not too cry.

Sure I can accept that we're going nowhere,
But one last time let's go there,
Lay down beside me

Dean hushed her as he felt her start to tremble. His hand smoothed her hair as she calmed own. It shouldn't be her that was crying. He broke away from her and she chose to sit on the bed while he rustled through his bag for something. Her heart wanted to stop and everything slowed down to slow motion as her eyes scanned over what he had on his hand. He saw her reaction and kneeled in front of her.

Dean had a box.

And he opened that box.

A ring.

"Dean... Please don't do this..." she started to panic as her mind went into overdrive. This was cruel. Why was he doing this to her?" Tears fell freely as he slipped the ring out of the box and held it out for her.

"Listen to me Karlee. This is hard for me too." She tried, her breathing trying to return to normal as he spoke, explaining the situation.

"I bought this months ago and I've been waiting to propose ever since. I've never found the right moment to explain to you how much I loved you. Then you go and do this." Karlee was gob smacked.

"Were you going to propose to me tonight?" She asked through exasperated breaths. He took a while to answer but he eventually looked up at her and her look explained everything. Her hand shot to her mouth as she started to sob. Dean was going to propose. She kept shaking her head and searching for something to grab. Something to take her stress out on.

"Karlee!" Dean yelled and she whipped round, slightly shocked as to why he was shouting.

"Just listen to me." She nodded and wiped her tears away, sniffing her nose. He took her hand and slipped the ring onto her finger, making her gasp and tremble.

"I ask you to do one thing. Wear this ring until I see you again. Go and do whatever you have to do but if you don't want to be with me after you clear your head, you have to return the ring to me, in person. And maybe I'll be lucky and you may still want me." Karlee was confused.

"So, we aren't engaged?" She asked. He shook his head sadly.

"Think of it as a...promise ring? Whatever you decide after you come back, you have to come and see me either way. I'm not letting you walk out of my life. She smiled, touching the ring gently as she admired it. It was beautiful and everything she ever would have expected from Dean. She gazed at him as he held her hand.

"I promise, I'll come back to you. But I can't promise we can get back together Dean, I'm sorry. He nodded but stood up, pulling her up with him.

"Of course." He pulled her into him and kissed her soft but passionately. His hands went to the back of her dress, pulling the zip down slowly. She gasped but retaliated by unbuttoning his shirt. He took her face in her hands and made him look at her. It was then she saw the tears in her eyes and he saw them in hers. They held each other as they just looked. They savoured the moment, just holding each other.

"One last time?" Karlee gasped.

"One last time." Dean agreed.

Xxx

Hmmm... Do I leave it here... or do I carry on...

You decide! There will be NO Sequel to this story. Soo I could leave it at this, for the readers to decide or I could carry on with some more chapters to find out what happens to our beloved couple...

Leave a review, I love reading them! Amanda Xo