I was sprawled out on my stomach across the foot of my bed, utterly naked and utterly exhausted. So pleasantly exhausted. My eyes kept threatening to close for good for the night as sleep beckoned me but I forced them to remain open as I watched Mark stood at my door to my attic bedroom, cracking and peering out, listening to the rest of the household chatter downstairs on the first floor. My eyes ran down his bare back, watching the muscles contract and relax in his shoulders and lower back. His jeans hung loosely around his hips. It was four o'clock in the morning and he was looking for an opportunity to sneak out of the house, but everyone gathered downstairs was making it exceedingly difficult to do so.

"Why do you have to live in Meredith's attic?" Mark muttered, keeping the door cracked and his back to me.

"Because I decided to give Lexie my bedroom when she moved in, so she didn't have to sleep next to Christmas decorations." I yawned. "And it's always warm up which helps my hypothyroidism."

"How am I supposed to sneak out of here with that frat party going on downstairs? Don't you kids ever sleep?"

"They're cleaning the house for Dr. Shepherd's mother." I muttered sleepily followed by a yawn. Mark closed the door and slowly turned to me, eyes wide.

"Mrs. Shepherd's coming? To Seattle?" I giggled at his sudden change of character. He was always so confident and cocky and now he looked so unsure and out of place. My eyes scanned his torso as he spoke. From his molded chest to his carved abs and all the way down to his beautiful V that disappeared below the waistband of his jeans.

"So?" My eyes flicked back up to his.

"So that woman practically raised me, taught me right from wrong, and if she found out that I was… with you, that we were… you're Meredith Grey's little sister. You are forbidden fruit. You are twenty-six. You're a fetus." If I was even half awake, I might have been offended but I just laughed.

"Twenty-five. I skipped third grade."

"I feel dirty." That brought another giggle out of me. He turned back to the door as if he were listening to the indistinct conversations from downstairs for a quick second before turning back to me. He crouched down next to me and I brought my arms up to rest my cheeks on the back of my hands. His blue diamond eyes cut through me as they traveled from my face, down my neck to my back. If I wasn't so exhausted, then I would probably had found some energy to shield my scars from his prying eyes. "Third degree burns… two…three years old, give or take. What happened?" I smiled sweetly at him and ignored his question, gazing up at him through hooded eyes.

"You could just stay." Something flashed in his eyes as if he wanted nothing more than to stay the night.

"I have an early surgery. Rhinoplasty. Come on. You're going to be sore in the morning if you sleep like that. The least you can do is get a couple hours of sleep in a decent sleeping position."

"One, it's already morning. I have to be up in three hours. Two, I'm already going to be sore. So pleasantly sore." His low laugh rang through me, echoing through every single one of my bones.

"Come on." Groaning, I managed to crawl back up my bed and slide underneath my covers, nestling my face deep into my pillows. Mark sat down on the edge of the bed, but I could no longer keep my eyes open to look at him. I felt his eyes on me though, all the way until I drifted off to sleep. He was gone by the time I woke up at seven.

GA

"What's the problem?" Callie asked Chuck Ruben who was laying in the bed in front of us with his blanket covered legs propped up on stirrups. His brother, Gary, stood to the left of him while I stood cattycorner to Callie as I filled out his chart and took notes.

"I have a little infection from a little surgery I had done." Chuck announced vaguely.

"Yeah, in Hong Kong." Gary added. I paused my writing and looked to Callie. This was already starting out bad. People who had surgeries done in Mexico or China hardly ever ended well. Their methods were barbaric and unsanitary. "My crazy ass brother went and got crazy ass elective surgery in Hong Kong. Who does that?" Chuck sighed heavily.

"Short people. Desperate short people. I had my legs lengthened." I cocked my head to the side and once again, glanced over at Callie. I didn't know that was possible. But it was China. Anything could happen there. The look on Callie's face told me that she'd heard of this kind of surgery before but was not a fan of it. "I couldn't find a surgeon who would do it here."

"Look, it's barbaric, okay? They—they broke his legs and they hooked him up to some sort of medieval torture device."

"Yeah, that's to pull the bones apart." Callie explained, unamused by where this was going. "That's the lengthening process. It's a controversial procedure. I don't perform it myself. Could I take a look?" Chuck waved his hand at her and she took that as enough indication to pull back to the blanket and Gary looked away in disgust. If I weren't a doctor and didn't have an ounce of professionalism, I probably would have gagged and looked at him in disgust. But my face remained neutral as I peered over Callie's shoulder at the wreckage. Both legs were in a metal cage with rods going through them and into his tibia and fibula.

The wounds themselves where they had opened him up were wet and moist and had no signs of healing at all. It was red and swollen with blood drippling out of the wound. The outer edges were wrinkled with yellow pus and green with infection which was were the smell was coming from. It smelled like leaving spoiled food in your fridge. The muscle inside the leg was so swollen and profound that you couldn't even see the bone. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see what kind of damage was done to the bone. Callie had her work cut out for her, not to mention Mark who would have to go in and debride the infection.

"They said it'd give me two whole inches." Chuck panted. Callie and I stared at him in shock. This agony was not worth two whole inches.

GA

"You look ridiculous." I told Meredith as I was walking back from the cafeteria after getting a refill of my coffee. Meredith walked to the left of me, her dirty blonde hair in an alarmingly high ponytail that made her look like a schoolgirl. She looked like a deer in the headlights, eyes wide and full of alarm. "And you're going to give yourself high blood pressure if you keep worrying."

"Says the person who has a chronic anxiety disorder." She snapped at me and I frowned at her.

"Okay, I'm going to let that slide because you're going through something right now. Just relax, breathe and smile and you'll be fine." I eyed her ponytail again. "But seriously, you look ridiculous with that ponytail." Before Meredith could say anything else, Derek's voice sounded in front of us and Meredith froze as we looked ahead to see Derek and an older woman walking towards us. The woman had snow short white hair with beautiful warming brown eyes.

"Uh, oh, perfect timing." Derek smiled at us as he guided his mother towards us. "Um, Mom, this is Meredith, and this is Meredith's sister, Mazikeen." I threw a smile on my face and held out my hand for her to shake. My fingers curled around her soft palm and I gave it a firm, but gentle shake.

"Call me Mayzie, Mrs. Shepherd. It's a pleasure to meet. You've raised a wonderful son." When I spoke that statement, I wasn't sure if I was talking about Derek or Mark since Mark told that she practically raised him as well as Derek. "I would love to stay and chat, but I have a patient to check on. I'll see you later, Meredith. Again, it was a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Shepherd." Leaving Meredith alone, I walked a little way away to the nurses' station to where Alex and Izzie were leaning against and observing that conversation between Derek, his mother and Meredith.

"Mer looks weird." Izzie muttered as I approached her. "Does she look weird to you?" I looked back over my shoulder to see Meredith crossing her and uncrossing her legs and dancing on her toes, all the while keeping a fake smile plastered on her face.

"She looks like she's gonna pee her pants." Alex observed, filling out his charts.

"Oh, crap. I made her hydrate."

"Meeting the family always blows. I'd never make you do that." Alex closed his binder and set it down on the desk before walking away. Izzie and I kept watching Meredith as Cristina walked up to us.

"Who's that lady touching Meredith?" Cristina inquired as Derek's mother placed a gentle hand on Meredith's shoulder.

"Derek's mom." I informed her.

"Oh, that's why she looks so weird."

"She does not look weird." Izzie snapped. "Okay? I've got it under control. Mer is doing…great."

"Looks like she's gonna pee." I snorted trying hard to hold back a laugh as Izzie glared at me while Dr. Owen Hunt, Head of Trauma Surgery, walked up to Cristina and set down a stack of binders. Izzie and I pulled our focus from Meredith to observe Cristina and Owen who had this on again, off again weird relationship going on. Was never sure if the two was legit or just pulling each other's legs.

"Dr. Yang, you mind checking on some of my post-ops?" Owen asked her. "ER is swamped with traumas. Also, would you like to go on a date with me?" My coffee stopped in mid-air as my eyes grew wide with shock. He was not subtle at all. Cristina stared at him dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry?" Owen looked around nervously before clearing his throat.

"A date. You said not to play hot and cold with you. So, um, I'll pick you up around eight. Oh, and make sure Mr. Kenner in room 2-2-1-2 gets that enema. He's been holding on to it for days." Owen cleared his throat as he turned and walked away, leaving Cristina in shock. Izzie and I snickered.

"Yeah, because that wasn't weird." I laughed and Cristina glared at me before picking up the stack of binders. Izzie joined in on the laughter as Cristina threw us one last glare and walked away

GA

"The infection's made its way deep into the bone so we're gonna have to take the rods out of your legs…" Callie explained to Chuck after going to Mark for a consult about the infection that Chuck had going on. I stood off to the side, completely out of the way, taking notes.

"And clean out the dead infected skin and bone." Mark added, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his lab coat. Chuck looked from Callie to Mark and back again in utter shock, as if he couldn't believe that going to China to have surgery would give you an infection.

"You mean, I don't get my two inches?" Chuck exclaimed. "All that pain for nothing?"

"Mr. Ruben, at this point, you're lucky to keep your legs at all." Chuck sneered at Mark, his eyes like daggers.

"Yeah, that's easy for you to say. What are you? Five ten? Five eleven?" Mark continued to stare at the patient, unamused by his retort.

"Leave the doctors alone, Chuck." Gary snapped at his brother. "They're just trying to help." Chuck directed his anger back at Gary.

"Oh, shut up, Gary. You are over six feet tall. Do you have any idea what's it's like to have everybody you know literally look down on you? Or how humiliating it is to have to ask for help from a teenager at the grocery store cause you can't reach the top shelf? I've gone on two dates in the last six months, both with women I met over the internet and hey, no one wants to see me again because no one wants to date the short guy." If I were any other person and not a professional doctor, I would have told that the reason no one wanted to see him again wasn't because of his height. It was because of his attitude, but I kept my mouth shut like a good resident.

"Chuck—"

"I wanted those two inches, Gary. I wanted them so bad."

"It's two inches. I mean, wh—what's the difference between five three and five five?" Chuck clicked his tongue before answering.

"Five five you can say out loud."

GA

I walked into the cafeteria and instantly spotted Mark sitting alone at a table in the middle of the room, finishing his sandwich and drinking water. Much healthier than the coffee that I used to keep me going instead of just eating a meal. As much as I wanted to go sit next to him and eat lunch with him, I knew better and instead, I walked past him to the table that Lexie was sitting at caddy corner from him with her fellow interns. As I approached the table, I looked to each of the interns in turn, excluding Lexie.

"Scram." I barked and they grabbed their trays and left the table without another word. I sat down to the left of Lexie who never took her eyes off me, taking a bite of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I locked eyes with her and kept them there in fear that if I looked away then I would glance in Mark's direction and I didn't want to seem like one of those desperate flings. I took a sip from my coffee, the sweetness of the sugar countering the bitterness of the espresso.

"Shouldn't you be eating lunch with your man?" Lexie whispered to me and I scoffed taking another sip of coffee.

"He's not my…man. Just a…person…I'm sleeping with." I muttered. "And besides everyone in this hospital knows that you don't eat lunch with Mark Sloan unless he says so." Lexie gave me a sympathetic smile.

"Well, just be happy that you're not Meredith." Lexie looked past me, and I half turned in my seat to look in the far corner of the cafeteria where she was eating lunch with Derek and his mother. She still looked like a deer in the headlights with her grey eyes wide and full of fear and nervousness.

"Oh…my…goodness. She…looks…miserable. Should we go rescue her? Come up with some medical excuse?" Lexie rubbed her hands together to brush off the crumbs of her sandwich.

"She ate my twinkies last night as well as the new bottle of Tequila I just bought." I laughed as I stood up.

"Well, I have to go check on my pudding leg guy and get him prepped for surgery. I'll talk to you later Lex." I took the same path going out of the cafeteria as I did going in, forcing myself to still not look in Mark's direction.

GA

After sending Chuck off to surgery with Mark and Callie, I stood at the nurses' station and began to fill out his chart and discharge papers as well as his post-op instructions. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement coming towards and as a reaction, I jumped and turned quickly to my right. I clasped my chest and sighed heavily, trying to slow my heart rate when I saw that it was just Derek's mother.

"Mrs. Shepherd." I breathed, closing my eyes for a second before opening them again and giving her a warm smile. "Can I help you with something? Were you looking for Dr. Shep—" I couldn't finish my question because she walked up to me and clasped my face between her soft silken hands. I instantly froze and didn't dare move a muscle, let alone breath. In that moment, I regret making fun of Meredith for being nervous. This woman was intimidating but not in a scary way. More of a protective mother kind of way.

"Are you a good girl?" She finally asked, still holding my face. My brows furrowed in confusion. What the…

"I—what?"

"A good girl. I don't mean perfect. I mean…relatively speaking." I continued to stare at her as if deciding whether this was a joke or not. "Are you?"

"Yes. I mean, I think so. I mean, I like to think so. Yes." She tilted her head back a little but continued to keep her brown eyes locked on mine.

"How many sexual partners have you had?"

"One…two. Well, almost two but one… but almost two…" I let out a shaky breath. "Just one, ma'am."

"Criminal record?"

"Seatbelt ticket." She stared at me hard for another second before letting go of my face and taking a step back.

"Now I don't suppose you can tell me…" She was quiet for a second, never taking her eyes off me. "Where the gift shop is?" I swallowed hard as the elevator bell dinged from down the hall.

"First floor, east wing." She nodded and began to turn away from to leave but not before giving me another hard look over. I stared in shock after her as she walked to the elevator and disappeared.

GA

"So, we had to shave off about a quarter-inch of leg bone in order to save the legs." Callie explained to Chuck during the post-op examination. Chuck's eyes grew wide with horror as he propped himself up on his elbows and stared at Mark and Callie with bewilderment.

"You mean, I'm shorter?" He exclaimed. "I'm a quarter of an inch shorter?!"

"It's a quarter-inch." Gary said, sighed heavily. "It's not a big deal." Chuck rounded on his brother, the shock in his eyes now turning to anger and angst.

"Yeah? I am under five three. I am five two and 3/4s? Oh, no, but, hey, uh, maybe I could still just squeeze over that height requirement at the amusement park."

"Oh! Do you know why I never played varsity basketball?" Chuck's anger faded to confusion as I threw a quick glance in Callie and Mark's direction wondering if we should stay for this. They made no move to leave so I kept my position by the door.

"Cause you didn't make the team?"

"No, no, no. I-I didn't try out for the team because I didn't want to make you feel bad for being too short to play."

"Wh—"

"Even now, if I have a bad day, I can't even talk to me own brother about it, because maybe you had a bad day, and you're short. I couldn't even get depressed about Lori leaving me because you don't have a girlfriend and you're short! And by the way, the reason you don't have a girlfriend—it's not because you're short. It's because all you ever do is talk about being short!" Gary paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, and centering himself before speaking again in a calmer tone. "No one knows how short you are except for you, dude. No one cares." Chuck gazed at his brother for a second as if he were trying to come up with something to say.

"I'm an ass, aren't I?"

"Yeah. And you're short." The corner of my lip twitched up into a small grin as Callie finally managed to finish giving out the post-op instructions. Callie and I walked side by side out of the room with Mark behind us.

"You got his prescription sent to the pharmacy, ready for pick up?" Callie asked as she handed off the chart to the nurse at the desk. I felt my phone vibrate in the pocket of my lab coat.

"Ibuprofen for swelling, kanamycin for infection, prednisone as a steroid and Percocet for pain." After giving me her nod of approval, I began walking back to the resident lounge to change clothes and go home. I pulled out my phone from my pocket and involuntarily smiled when I saw that it was a text from Mark.

First floor, south elevators. Twenty minutes. I have a surprise. Picking up my pace, I got to the lounge and changed out of my scrubs, putting back on my skinny jeans with my black Bear Claw boots and a loose-fitting tank top with my black leather jacket over it. Stuffing my keys, wallet, and phone into my back pocket, I looked at my reflection in the mirror in my cubby and eyed my low tight bun that I always wore at work. Deciding between a high ponytail or leaving it down, I opted to let my blonde hair flow freely around my shoulders. I made it to the south elevators on the first floor with five minutes to spare. I began to pace back and forth, wringing my hands together. The elevator bell dinged, and the doors opened to reveal Callie and Mark inside. I smiled at him. He was wearing a black leather jacket that was zipped up three quarters of the way with a blue button up shirt beneath it. Callie and Mark exchanged glances.

"Walk tall." I heard Mark tell Callie as he began to walk out of the elevator.

"What?" Callie questioned him and he turned back around and leaned against the elevator doors to keep them from closing.

"All you can do is be brave enough to get out there. You fought. You loved. You lost. Walk tall, Torres." Mark took a step back to let the elevator doors close and before they shut completely, I could see Callie smiling. Mark turned me and we began to walk out of the hospital to the parking lot. We didn't say a word, each other's presence speaking loudly enough.

"So, what's the surprise?" I finally asked him after we climbed into his car and he drove out of the parking lot. He laughed, a rough, sultry sound.

"If I told you then it wouldn't be a surprise." I frowned at him and turned to look out the window to see that we were driving out of the city, in the complete opposite direction of home. I watched the buildings fade to nothing until there were only trees and wilderness and nature on all sides of us. I could have fallen asleep watching the tree whiz past us in a blur until Mark slowed down to turn onto a side road, that went up…up…up… The road twisted and curved not really cutting through the land but rather moving with it. When I thought we couldn't go any higher, the road leveled out and Mark drove past a trailer in a clearing and pulled up to a rather larger clearing. He threw the car in park and turned off the engine before getting out of the car, slamming the door shut. I continued frowning, confused on why we were at Derek's trailer. My heart hammered in my chest as I followed Mark out of the car. "No, Derek's trailer is not the surprise. Don't worry. He won't be here tonight." He walked around the front of his car to me and held out his hand for me to take. I eyed it suspiciously like it was going to jump out and bite me.

I clasped my hands together close to my chest, shifting my weight from one hip to the other. I was still very confused on why we were here. Was this another place to have sex? Was this something more? Was this a…date? Does Mark Sloan go out on dates? Questions ran through my mind at a hundred miles an hour as I continued to stare at his hand. "Trust me, Mayzie. You trust me, right?" I lifted my eyes to his and in the darkness, I could still make out his blue diamond eyes. I did trust him. Even though it was just sex between us, I trusted him.

Something inside me pulled me to him, yielded to him like a tether. I kept telling myself that it was just sex between us yet, I still trusted him more than anyone else in my life. Still reluctant, I slipped my hand into his rough, calloused palm and his fingers locked around my small hand as he began to lead me further into the clearing. The clearing was surrounded by trees on three sides, the farthest side being open that overlooked the city. It was beautiful how the city lights gleamed against the stark sky. It was oddly clear tonight for Seattle. "Though the view is nice, that's still not the surprise." He took his hand back to check his watch. "Shouldn't be too much longer." Now I was completely confused and lost. Mark stuffed both his hands into his jacket pockets and took a couple steps away from me and began to walk in a circle around me, looking down on the ground his walking on. I followed his silhouette in the darkness, watching his every move.

"I was raised by parents who weren't very interested in having kids." I cocked my head to the side. "They had friends, they had lives. They weren't around much at night." Now I was starting to get concerned on who this person was because this wasn't Mark Sloan. But I still crossed my arms over my chest and listened intently, hanging onto every word that he said. "And before I went to bed, I'd turn on all the TVs… every light in the house, even in the house. Still couldn't sleep." He stopped his circling and faced me. "It's hard to sleep when you don't feel safe in your own house, isn't it?" Even though, I knew that he couldn't see, I narrowed my eyes at him, my frowning deepening.

"I don't kn—" I began to say but he cut me off.

"The twenty hour shifts you work, hoping that when you go home, you'll just pass out from exhaustion? The way you drink coffee like its water hoping that it will keep you awake. You don't sleep." I scoffed at him and turned my back to him, walking to the edge of the clearing that overlooked the city. My eyes burned as tears began to form. He wanted to know about the scars on my back. I mean, of course he did. He was a plastic surgeon. Any plastic surgeon would want to know about the scars. Could I tell him?

I mean who was he going to tell? If he told anyone then it would reveal that we were seeing each other. And…I trusted him. Despite him sleeping with married women in the past and using other people for his own agenda, I trusted him. I bit my lower lip, peeling the dead skin and letting it sting as it began to bleed.

"In my first year of med school, I met a guy. Miami University in Ohio. It was a typical cliché love story, you know? Thinking that he was the one. Thinking that you would spend the rest of your lives together and be doctors together at the same hospital. But he was pushy when it came to sex." I swallowed hard and cleared my throat, my face heating despite the chill breeze blowing throughout the clearing. The grass crunched behind me as Mark walked up to the left side of me. I took a deep breath and let it out loosely as I crossed my arms tighter against my chest. "I wanted my first time to be with someone that I felt…connected to or whatever.

"I don't know. It sounds stupid but I just didn't feel that connection with him but yet I stayed." I cleared my throat again. "I stayed despite that because I thought if I give it time then that connection would form. But it never came, and he kept pushing and I kept saying no and he would get so angry." I let out a shaky breath. I clasped my sides as my hands began to shake. "Why he didn't just say screw it and leave me, I will never know. Maybe he just like the challenge. I don't know.

"But he would get so angry and so pushy, I didn't sleep. When he was home, I didn't sleep and during the few hours that he was gone, I still couldn't sleep in fear that he would come back while I was sleeping. So, yes, Mark, I do know what it's like to not be able to sleep when you don't feel safe in your own home. Final year of med school came and after we took our final exams, he invited some friends over to have a bonfire and drink and celebrate. I didn't have any friends. He was controlling that way." I turned and walked the edge of the clearing, hoping that the movement would keep me strong and prevent me from breaking down as I had to relive my past. "Once again, he pushed and of course, I said no and he…" My voice hitched my throat as I began to panic but I kept talking. "He pushed me, and I tripped over the fire pit that still had hot coals in it. I burned right through the subcutaneous tissue."

I closed my eyes as I forced myself to remember. "I could hear sizzling and I knew that it was coming from my own flesh. The smell was nothing like anything I ever smelt before. It smelt worse than spoiled food. And the pain…" I shook my head as if that would send all the thoughts away. "I never felt pain like that before and I don't think I ever will. And while I was struggling to get out, he just laughed and left with his friends." It wasn't until the next breeze came through the clearing and the cold chill on my cheeks told me that I had tears streaming down my cheeks. I was grateful that it was dark so Mark couldn't see me crying.

I whirled back around to face him, my hair cascading around my shoulders. "He left. He left me like it was the easiest thing that he ever had to do in his entire life. He left. So, I got myself out. I drove myself to the emergency room and by the time I got there, I had septic infection and hypovolemia. I had burns over eighty-five percent of my back. I loss mobility of my right shoulder and it took months for me to be able to use it again. Even now, I still get twinges and pains from the nerve damage." I swallowed again and straightened myself, clearing my throat.

"So, I moved across the country to start over beginning with my internship at the hospital and I still can't sleep because every time I close my eyes, I see those scars. I hear my own skin burning. I can't sleep because I don't think I could ever feel safe again." I wiped furiously at my eyes. "So there. That's how I got the scars on my back. Are you happy?" I stopped breathing as I watched Mark's shadow walk towards me. My heart stopped when he gripped my face between his hands with heartbreaking gentleness and forced me to look up at him. He lowered his face down to mine, pressing his forehead to mine.

"Hey, just look at me." Staring into his eyes was like staring into two calming pools of water. "Breathe." I inhaled deeply and let it out slowly, feeling my muscles and mind relax. "I'm sorry." That was all that he offered but it was enough. The tone of his voice said it all. He pressed his lips to mine and it was as sweet as taking a bite of cotton candy. I sighed heavily, leaning into him, and reveling in the fact of how perfect my body molded against his. I pulled back slightly, my lips brushing over his as I spoke.

"Please tell that this isn't the surprise." He let out a heartfelt chuckle as he let go of me and took a step back, checking his watch again.

"No." He pointed up to the sky. "That is." I tilted my head back and looked at the stars. All I could see was ordinary constellations. Things you could see almost every night when it was clear enough. There was the Little Dipper… the Big Dipper… Orion's Belt…

"Mark…" I began to protest but then I saw it. A star vaulted across the sky, brighter and closer than any I'd seen before. I leaned further into Mark, feeling his heat, and savoring his scent. Another star crossed the sky, twirling and twisting over itself, as if it were reveling in its own beauty. It was chased by another, and another, until a brigade of them were unleashed from the edge of the horizon, like a thousand archers had loosed them from mighty bows. The stars cascaded over us, filling the world with white and blue light. They were like living fireworks, and my breath lodged in my throat as the stars kept on falling and falling. I'd never seen anything so beautiful. And when the sky was full of them, when the stars raced and danced across the world, when I was completely hypnotized by them, arms wrapped around my waist and lifted me up into the air. I couldn't stop the squeal before laughing, gripping Mark's shoulders for support as he walked back over to the car and set me back down on solid ground with heartbreaking gentleness.

He reached into his car and put the top down before climbing into the back seat and signaled me to follow him. Smiling, I climbed in with him and as he pushed his back against the door, I nestled down between his legs and nestled back into his chest. He pulled a blanket off the floor and wrapped it tightly me around me. It was beautiful. I tilted my head back and watched the stars. They were burning. They were on fire and they were beautiful. Mark pressed his cheek into my temple, and I leaned into him and the last thing I saw before I drifted off to sleep was starlight.