Very sorry for the time between updates! My laptop broke a while ago, and I'm not the most well-off guy out there so getting the money to fix it took some time. Tried to reach out on the subreddit, but not sure it actually reached anybody.. regardless, I'll try to update more frequently!

Gabriel's breakdown wasn't something that had been a long time coming; it wasn't the culmination of years of stress (you couldn't be in his business and be unable to handle the pressure) nor was it due to any underlying health reasons.

It started with, of all things, the realisation that he didn't want to die.

Now for most people it was a perfectly normal and sane desire; his problem, however, was that he had more or less been working towards his death for years now. Not that he was suicidal; his end goal wasn't his own demise, but rather his wife's return. Even in their ultimate ability though, the Black Cat and Ladybug miraculouses required balance – therefore if he wanted to awaken his wife from her coma, he needed to offer something in return; something he was quite certain would be his life.. And what husband wouldn't give his life to save his wife? His son needed his mother more than he needed Gabriel, and frankly she'd be much better at caring for Adrien than he could ever be. So, while he wasn't exactly eager to die, he accepted it as the price he might have to pay if he completed his quest to obtain Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculouses.

That being said, his life had become.. different these last few months. After the fiasco with the lying menace in his home a few months ago, Adrien and Marinette had started dating and it had done his son a world of good. He hadn't expected Adrien to drop his always-polite-and-reserved behaviour so soon, but it seemed he could be himself around her.

…..

Marinette had proven to be a remarkable girl, showing talent beyond her years and a work ethic he'd never expect from one with her innate gifts. Gabriel himself had eschewed taking an apprentice or protégé for years; they either had the talent but no inclination to work hard at refining their skills, or they would be willing to work themselves to the bone but simply not have the talent needed and as such disappear from the world of fashion in their despondency.

Marinette, however, had shown herself to be both gifted and willing to work hard at improving her designs – taking his critique to hart, yet never letting it break her. He had almost offered to take her as an apprentice several times in the last few months, but stopped each time when he considered the time constraints. Being Hawk Moth took up too much time, and it was unlikely that he would be able to complete her training before he was able to awaken Emilie.

It rankled him that he had finally found someone of her talent and skill at a time when he couldn't do anything for her, but he made his peace with it.

…..

A few weeks later, Marinette had been over to have dinner at their house, and offered his son silent support when Adrien told him that he wanted to quit modelling after school and get a degree in business. He and Adrien had been mending their relationship after the whole Lila Rossi debacle, and for a moment he had worried that one of the few activities they still did together - working at and for the Agreste business - would come to an end. Yet what his son had said had surprised him; he wanted to be part of the company started by his parents - just not in the way Gabriel had expected - he wanted to learn to run the company's day-to-day business and maybe even diversify the company a bit further than high end fashion (and recalling how successful the Adrien - the fragrance campaign had been, he decided the idea had merit). So he agreed, and made a mental note to have trustworthy people on standby to advise Adrien after Gabriel himself is gone; he knew Nathalie loved him like a son (for all that she struggles to show her emotions as much as he himself does) but he wouldn't ask that of her.

It vexed him to know that he would have to rely on others to teach his son when it came to running the business, but he made his peace with it.

…..

Perhaps the strangest of the recent developments caused by the relationship between his son and Marinette came about when Adrien had convinced him to invite her family over for dinner. Gabriel had nothing against her family as such, he just always felt vaguely uncomfortable whenever strangers came into his house (granted, his general apathy towards social events and meeting new people generally meant most people remained strangers; he valiantly ignored the problem this presented with the ease of experience).

Regardless, he had been curious to meet the people who had raised such an impressive daughter, and it hadn't taken Adrien nearly as much convincing as it might have otherwise.

The dinner had gone well - better than any of them had expected, to be frank. Gabriel himself still wasn't quite sure how it had happened, but he had found himself befriending Tom Dupain. They didn't have that much in common; hardly anything if truth be told. That hadn't seemed to matter much, and for the first time since meeting Emilie and Nathalie during university he had found a forming and maintaining a friendship easy, rather than something exhausting. It helped that Tom himself had an almost disturbingly large repertoire of puns. It had been a strange sort of night already, but when he had laughed out loud at one of Tom's puns (about the whisks of being a baker), the room had seemed frozen with shock. It had come as a great surprise to both him and his son that the other enjoyed both making and hearing puns; Emilie had always told him his fascination with 'the worst form of humour' was the most contradictory thing about him - he had responded by calling her a homophonic.

It irked him that throughout his life he could count on one hand those he considered friends rather than friendly acquaintances, only to form a strong, if somewhat surprising, friendship at a point in his life where it very soon would mean only one more chair at his funeral, but he made his peace with it.

…..

Contrary to what many would have expected from him as Hawk Moth, he had a certain amount of respect for Ladybug and Chat Noir. They were the biggest obstacle in his path to getting his Emilie back, and that frustrated him, but he was intelligent enough to realise they were merely doing what they believed was right. It wasn't as if they knew why he wanted to use the ultimate power that came from combining their miraculouses; in their minds he was a villain who was misusing a magical artefact to try and obtain the most powerful magical objects - he couldn't blame them for believing he had the worst of intentions for the wish.

His very first attempt to obtain their miraculouses with the Akuma Stoneheart had been going well for him; they were clearly novices at using their powers, and he even suspected it was the first time either of them had used their transformations. Afterwards, when Ladybug had rejected his demands while simultaneously bolstering the confidence of the city's civilians, it had angered him more than anything in recent memory. It had felt like his goal was already within reach, only to be ripped away by her hands. As time went on and they defeated more and more akumas, and he developed a grudging sort of respect for them.. It was hard not to admire the courage of someone who'd jump into the mouth of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, or the self-control of someone with the power to destroy anything and instead chooses to protect their partner in battle rather than avenging them.

He had done his best to research the heroes, but the secretive nature of miraculouses in general meant there simply wasn't that much to find; to his immense displeasure the closest thing there was to an information source on them was a blog run by a teenager in his son's class. Nevertheless it was a source of information, and he kept an eye on the website.. which had the unfortunate consequence of familiarising him with the ongoing debates about whether or not the two heroes were in a relationship (personally he felt they either were in a relationship, or they were fraternal twins with a semi-psychic connection - Gabriel had seen strange and unbelievable things on the expedition where he and Emilie had found the Butterfly and Peacock).

It bothered him that he wouldn't ever be able to explain to the heroes that despite everything he has done he respected them, but like everything else.. he made his peace with it.

…..

His improved relationship with his son was something new to the both of them, but they had found an online 'How-to' list for improving father-son relationships (though they had sworn to never tell anyone about the list) and the awkward silences that sometimes came about during their conversations grew less and less frequent as time moved on. Their mutual enjoyment of punning had even lead to the occasional games of verbal one upmanship; his son was good, but Gabriel had years of experience on him and though Adrien could speak Mandarin and English better than him, he himself could also add Japanese, Greek and Italian to his repertoire.

Despite this, it had still surprised him that his son had come to him asking for help in obtaining a gift for Marinette; he already had the idea for a necklace with two charms added - one in the shape of a slice of cheese, the other in the shape of cookie - which had honestly confused him, but his son had sworn it was an inside joke that she would love.

When Adrien further justified the gift by showing him the good-luck charm bracelet she had given him, as well as explaining about the one he had given her (how had his son taken this long to realise his feelings for the girl, or hers for him for that matter!?) he had agreed. Adrien couldn't find a necklace or the charms that suited his needs (though why he expected to, Gabriel would never know) and so needed to have it made.

His son had been worried about coming to him due to the expensive nature of the gift, but Gabriel had a flashback to the first edition Pride & Prejudice book he had bought for Emilie at an auction for their first wedding anniversary, and waved of his concerns. When it was done, he had it engraved with the words For The Life I Saw..

When his son explained that to him, the life he had seen with Marinette the day they started dating, it hit him like a freight train - he would not be there for most of this. Granted, Emilie would likely be, but he couldn't tell his son that without risking his identity.

It saddened him that he wouldn't be able to see the two of them grow into a family or meet any grandchildren, but he made his peace with it.

Or so he thought.

…..

That night, in that final stage between wakefulness and sleep, the realisation hit him..

He didn't want to die.

Everything he had convinced himself he was fine with losing, with never seeing, suddenly hit him again and for the first time since he discovered the way to get Emilie back, he wavered on his path.

It made him ill to admit.

He felt like he was betraying his wife for even that single moment of doubt; he knew she wouldn't have hesitated to give her life for his (though he doubted she'd go as far as he did; she was not the type to hurt others to get what she wanted - it was one of the things he loved about her) and yet despite this he just couldn't manage to stop thinking about what he was really giving up. If he was honest with himself before these last six months, he didn't have much of a life to lose, but now..

It kept him abed for almost 3 days; he had developed a fever, he couldn't eat and only slept fitfully. He had seen the worry in the eyes of everyone who visited him, though ironically Marinette and her family stopping by had only made his inner conflict worse.

In the end, it had passed as soon as it had come. His inner conflict had reached a point where any further debate would have been without purpose, and so he decided to leave himself with an ultimatum. One more chance; one more akuma.. and as a consequence of his desperation, he did what he had been refraining from doing these last few months; despite the act now filling him with loathing - both for himself, and for her.

He akumatised Lila Rossi.

The akuma had come as both a shock and as a relief; at least initially. Hawk Moth had been sparse with akumas for months, ending with a period of no akumatisations that lasted almost two weeks.. chillingly similar to the time preluding the Scarlet Moth battle. Both Adrien and Marinette suspected he was trying to build up strength for another big play - they just had no idea what it would be. Compounding this was the surprise that even after all her lies had been revealed and she'd been withdrawn (or expelled, the rumours vary) from school, Lila Rossi hadn't been akumatised.

Until tonight that is.

'And what an akuma it is.'

This battle had been different from the start - Lila had taken the moniker of Maledicta with an appearance he could only really describe as a cross between Maleficent with her Volpina colour scheme and Jafar's whole snake theme. She had a snake-minion-thing that was large enough to capture adults by coiling around them; Lila then used a staff to hypnotise (before he had realised the seriousness of the battle, he had quipped that Hawk Moth was going to be sued for copyright infringement).

They knew what a terrible person Lila was; they should have taken the fight more seriously at the start. The battle had already taken more than 3 hours, and they were in something of a stalemate - Queen Bee, Rena Rouge and Carapace had already been called in but were stuck trying to contain the destruction the hypnotised people were doing, as Lila had ordered them to capture any civilians and bring them to her to be further added into her growing army - and they couldn't split up again to get more heroes, not after what happened the first time.. not with the stakes being that much higher this battle.

…..

Chat was vaulting across the rooftops towards where his Lady had last been keeping the akuma busy; they had decided he would be the one to go get the other heroes as he'd be harder to spot in the dark, and Lila always was rather focused on Ladybug. He had gotten Chloé, Nino and Alya their miraculouses, but on the way back had sent them to try and distract/contain the enthralled civilians.

When he finally got back to where the fight was happening, he was momentarily frozen by a scene that terrified him. The snake had somehow caught Ladybug off guard and was currently constricting her while the akuma monologued at her.

"..Moth was a fool to keep trying to steal your earrings when he clearly just needed to kill you to get them."

The words reverberated in his head, and that moment of hesitation actually allowed him to hear what followed between Lila and Hawk Moth; even seeing the glow indicating that Hawk Moth was speaking to his akuma he couldn't hear what he told her - but he could draw his own (somewhat surprising) conclusions from her response:

"I don't care! I will kill her, and then I'll take her miraculous for myself! I'm done taking orders from you, so just sit back and watch me do what you've been too weak to do from the start" and with that she shook her head wildly, seeming to break his control.

Then she turned to where Ladybug was still captured and sneered with an expression of such open hate, it snapped him out of his daze and he was already moving by the time he heard her say 'crush her' to her familiar-snake-pet-thing. She heard him and laughed at his desperation, addressing him in a mocking tone:

"You won't get her free in time to save-" was as far as she got before freezing with eyes wide in shock and (he felt vindictively pleased to recognise) fear.

With good reason; when he had started moving, his first thought had been to immediately try and free Ladybug, but something.. stopped him. He didn't know if it was instinct, a sub-conscious hint from Plagg or some other reason, but he had instead leaped towards Lila (and he would not refer to her as an akuma anymore; the conversation earlier had proved she was doing this of her own free will).

Before he even realised what he was doing he had a hand around her throat and his cataclysm aimed at her heart.

…..

That had been the turning point he knew; Lila had proven she would kill to obtain Ladybug's power (and possibly his own, though he doubted she knew why he wanted both), and he had in turn shown that the moment she did he would kill her as well.

It had been a tense standoff, but everyone had made it out alive; Chat didn't know what the akumatised object was, and Ladybug needed to recharge Tikki before they could continue. That had been about an hour ago. The next two hours had been a stalemate of close calls and bare misses.

The other heroes were almost ridiculously outnumbered, and he had no hope of any of them coming to their assistance; it would have been a perfect time to have either the Snake or Dragon miraculouses help them, but neither he nor Marinette was willing to leave the other alone to go and retrieve them.

"Buginette, not that I'm not enjoying our game of dodge-the-snake-and-whack-the-Lila," he quipped while doing exactly that, "but I'm not sure how much longer the others will be able to contain the people she hypnotised, and if they start to join our fight.." he finished a bit darkly.

"I know that, Chaton, but I can't figure out what the lucky charm means! It's been the same thing the last three times I've tried, but the most I could figure out is it seems to be some kind of fruit branch. How does that help?!"

Chat looked towards her with the intent to ask her to show it to him again, but the question got stuck behind his terrified gasp; because there standing on a rooftop a few feet behind Ladybug was both Hawk Moth and Mayura - worse than that, his Lady was so focused on the battle she didn't notice the amber coloured akuma settling on her earrings.

It was only as he lunged towards her with his arm outstretched in a vain attempt to save her, that he noticed the second (or was it third, including Lila?) one landing on his ring.. and just before the voice of Hawk Moth entered his thoughts, he had one last thought:

'I wonder why these akumas looked so different..?'

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

As the magic spread through the city, fixing all the damage the battle had done; technically it wasn't the most destructive one they had ever been in, but it was the most dangerous.

'Not to mention absurd' she couldn't help but think, as she turned towards where Hawk Moth and Mayura were recovering.. from fighting with her and Chat against Lila. When she and Chat had been hit with his akumas, she had initially thought they had completely failed; until she heard his voice telling them that he would be assisting them in this battle, and that he would explain afterwards.

She wouldn't have trusted him, except.. well. It seemed that when the Butterfly Miraculous uses its power to akumatise someone, the link went both ways - she could feel his sincerity, and frankly they had little choice at that point.

It had calmed her down even further when the realisation of what her lucky charm was struck.. an olive branch.

"I propose we take this conversation.. elsewhere. The authorities haven't noticed myself and Mayura yet, and frankly I'd rather not have them interrupt our conversation" and without even a backwards glance, the two villains leaped away into the direction of the Eifel Tower.

She shot a glance at Chat, who merely shrugged and followed after them; they had been together long enough that she understood the gesture to mean that he knew it might be a trap, but that they couldn't exactly just let them leave either so they might as well follow. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at how blasé Adrien could be sometimes, she nevertheless swung her yo-yo after him.

When they arrived at the tower (after making a short stop to recharge Plagg and Tikki, which was so much easier now that they knew each other's identity) they found Hawk Moth standing with his hands behind his back while gazing down at the city; Mayura stood next to him, though she had her weapon out and was looking towards her and Chat.

Without a word, the two of them took a position they had become familiar with - Chat crouching to her right and slightly ahead, while she stood upright but balanced on the balls of her feet. It made them look relaxed, but had them ready for any sudden attacks; She would strike high, Chat would go low and she would pretend not to notice that he stole his 'stances' from Spiderman.

"So is this the part where you attack us? Because I gotta tell you Moth Head, I kind of want to high five you.. In the face. With my baton."

"Now, now Chaton, they did help us defeat Lila.. even if he was the one who caused it. So tell me; is this the part where you apologise for creating a monster before going back to terrorising innocents? Frankly, I'm not sure why we shouldn't just try to take your miraculous for a change; we may be tired, but so are you and thanks to your persistent akuma attacks we have a lot more battle experience."

She could tell by the way Mayura tensed up she was worried about a possible battle, yet she hadn't moved into a defensive position, nor had Hawk Moth even turned around. As she had spoken, her hand had drifted to rest on Adrien's shoulder, so she could feel the minute movements in his muscles as he relaxed his readiness slightly - yet her attention had been diverted when Hawk Moth finally took a deep breath, before speaking with his back still turned to them:

"Tonight.. was a mistake on my part. I should not have akumatised Lila Rossi, and I would never have granted powers to someone with a desire to kill. Even I have certain lines I won't cross, and this has proven to me once and for all I.. need to abandon my quest for your miraculouses."

Her surprise at the sincerity in his words was slowly replaced by confusion at the almost.. heartbroken tone in which he said the last part. Her eyes narrowed at the flash of.. something that flashed across Mayura's face at Hawk Moth's words.

He seemed to shake himself out of his stupor, and continued on:

"I ask that you allow me to speak my piece in its entirety before asking any questions," only pausing long enough to glance back and see them nod in the affirmative, "I realise what you must think of me, but that is not a line I ever intended to cross..-"

He was interrupted by Chat's snort of disbelief.

"Then why the hell would you overcharge her akumatised form that much?! Heck, she was the first akuma in weeks; how long did you have to prepare to make her that strong?!"

"I had no part in overpowering her form; she wrested control of the akuma from me and empowered it herself - likely with her own life-force, as she doesn't wield a Miraculous herself. It is going to cost her dearly, as you know magic always demands balance and she will need to pay off her.. 'energy-debt' for lack of a better word. I initially assumed she would fall into a coma for several years in order to recover, yet the fact that she was awake after being detransformed implies I was mistaken. She may instead develop a magically enforced form of hypersomnia.. or her coma may just occur at a later date, it's hard to say without analysing her - something I have no interest in doing. Regardless, she is no longer a concern to any of us."

At first Marinette felt ashamed at herself for not feeling any concern for Lila's well-being, but then she recalled what Adrien had almost had to do to save her from Lila, and suddenly it was gone. She didn't think less of him for what he had threatened to do to her (she knew she would easily have done the same for him) but it didn't change the fact that he was at his core a kind-hearted and caring individual - he didn't need something like that on his conscience.

"My.. hiatus wasn't some ploy to build my power, or time off to plot a master plan. It wasn't even a forced break due to time constraints in my civilian life. No - it was because I had been considering retiring - quitting - giving up; whichever. Lila Rossi's akumatisation was to be the last; an ultimatum to myself. Success, or permanent.. failure."

And here he turned towards them for the first time, and the look on his face was the strangest blend of melancholy and acceptance that she couldn't help but wonder..

'Did he really want our powers for something malicious, or is there something.. more?'

"That being said, I will not be giving up my identity. Events in my civilian life have convinced me to give up being Hawk Moth, but make no mistake, I do not regret my actions nor do I believe I was wrong. I feel fully justified in what I have done, but I have.. come to care for both Nooroo and Duusu, and would reunite them with their friends if possible. So I give you a choice - allow myself and Mayura to remain anonymous and go unpunished, or take the risk of us escaping during battle with both our miraculouses still in our possession."

Marinette narrowed her eyes in concentration as she went through the different possibilities. She and Chat were younger and (conversely) had more experience, but Hawk Moth and Mayura had both proven to be cunning and had powers more suited to helping them escape.. It irked her that they might go unpunished, but she knew if she had to choose, she'd rather they go unpunished and know with certainty they'd be stopped than to take a gamble and risk them continuing to terrorise Paris (Hawk Moth seemed to imply he'd stop regardless, but well.. super villain).

"Even if we were to accept your terms, how do we know we can trust you? You don't exactly have the cleanest track record, as you must well realise."

He nodded like he had expected her question, and answered while gesturing to Mayura:

"Mayura will stay behind while I leave; both as reassurance to you and to ensure I am not followed. Her civilian identity has been akumatised with powers similar to that of Vanisher, and so 15 minutes after I have left she shall detransform and return the Peacock Miraculous. Using her akuma abilities she shall then leave, and if she arrives at our rendezvous unharmed I will set Nooroo free to take his miraculous to the guardian tomorrow at noon. Be warned though, I care deeply for her and if you harm her.. the repercussions will be beyond belief."

Chat tensed at the threat, but Marinette saw the same drive in his eyes to protect Mayura that she sometimes saw in Adrien's eyes when it came to her, and judging by the way Mayura had been silent yet ready to leap into battle that drive was likely mutual.. which oddly gave her comfort as to his trustworthiness, at least when it came to this.

She looked into Chat's eyes, the two of them sharing a thousand thoughts yet vocalising none.. and then Chat suddenly stood, his posture relaxed as he rested his chin on his crossed hands which were balancing on top of his baton. He smirked at them, and then said the two words which accomplished what they had been trying to for years, ever since they had first become heroes.

"We accept."

Adrien sat comfortably on a mat at Master Fu's residence with Marinette cuddled into his side dozing, sipping his tea while he watched the Guardian thinking through everything they had told him about last night while they waited for the appearance of Nooroo.

He had seemed to be as surprised as them at this sudden about turn in the behaviour of their enemy.. at least until they had handed over the Peacock miraculous. The moment he had touched it, his eyes had gone wide and he had brought it closer to his eyes while chanting something unrecognisable under his breath.

Master Fu had then shared what he thought was the likely cause behind the change in Hawk Moth:

"You said he and Mayura seemed close, yes? He cares for her? Then I believe the answer to our curiosity, surprisingly, lies with the Peacock Miraculous. It seems to be damaged.. not irreparably so, but somehow its bonding magic has been corrupted - this miraculous would keep a constant energy drain on its users, even when untransformed. Hawk Moth needed Mayura's help if he wished to continue battling with you on even footing; now however, it seems that he wasn't willing to risk her life, whoever she may be. As.. almost disturbingly fairy-tale-like it may seem, love seems to have triumphed over evil."

Adrien had to bite down on his lip to keep down the laugh at both the sentence and the mock-serious way Master Fu had said it; his girlfriend looked adorable while sleeping, not to mention she was downright grumpy when awoken.

"It is fortunate he returned it; regardless of the fact that it had been lost for ages, the only way to repair it is to seal it within the Miracle Box and allow Duusu to reconstruct it entirely. The Miracle Box will also cut off any magical connection between its contents and the outside world - the severity of the detrimental effects the Peacock has had on its user will also slowly decrease.. I estimate within a period of six months, any connection will be completely removed. Now, how about a game of Mahjong while we wait for Nooroo, hmm?"

Internally Adrien winced; ever since Master Fu had learned he could play, he had asked Adrien to face him whenever they had the time.. it wouldn't have been so bad, except he had about as much of a chance at beating Master Fu in Mahjong as he had at beating Marinette at Ultimate Mecha Strike III..

'Which is to say none at all.'

He could rarely beat Marinette in the game if he surprised her enough by kissing her.. but if he didn't surprise her enough, she kissed back. If she kissed back, the game was generally forgotten and they tended to lose 2-3 hours.

'Not that I'm complaining. If we weren't still in school I'd have already proposed several times over.'

…..

Adrien could still hear his blood rushing through his ears; he could feel the cold of the stone floor pressing into his skin, see the shocked and wide-eyed look his Lady was giving him. Everything else was deathly silent, none of the bystanders moving yet all unable to turn away from what had just happened, not until they saw how it would turn out.. and in between heartbeats, he couldn't help but think about what had led to this moment.

A year since Hawk Moth had given up his Miraculous; his identity a secret still.

Nine months since his father and Nathalie had openly started dating.

Six months since his mother had returned; his father admitting she was never missing, but in a coma under a fake name to preserve her privacy - him kept ignorant at her request.

Three months since Marinette had been accepted into Institut Français de la mode and he had been accepted into École des hautes études commerciales de Paris and they had found an apartment roughly between the two; an apartment shared with Alya and Nino.

Two months since the significance of his mother's return and her newfound relationship with both his father and Nathalie 6 months after the sealing Peacock Miraculous became clear; even if he and Marinette never acknowledged it aloud.

A month since he had started planning what was supposed to be the perfect date.

Fifteen minutes since they had stopped at a seemingly random spot on an otherwise unremarkable street; unless you knew it was where Ladybug and Chat Noir had first met each other.

Seven minutes since her eyes had softened with recollection, and she had smiled at him with so much love he thought he'd melt.

Two minutes since that expression had become frozen, when he messed up the most important question of his life with a pun!

"Would you meow-y me?"

So there. That is the story of how Adrien Agreste loses the love of his life because of an inescapable urge to pun at the worst possible moment.

Before he could even get up to apologise (although knowing his luck, he'd likely pun again) her arms were around his neck and she was kissing him like it was both the first and last time they'd ever have the chance.

"But if there are any puns in your wedding vows I will skin you alive," she mumbled into his lips, while he just nodded dumbly.

As she pulled back slightly to look him in the eyes, speaking softly, yet changing their lives forever with a single word..

"Yes."