"I came out here with you, because if something happened to you, I'd never be able to forgive myself." He said simply.
She found that she couldn't move, his hand still held her coat, and his eyes were begging her to understand, to respond. She thought that if she said his name that he'd misunderstand, that he'd pull away, but she also knew that this was not an appropriate place to finish this conversation the way she wanted to finish it. "Aiden." She whispered, her eyes just as intense, filling with tears. "Aiden, I don't… I…"
"It's okay." He nodded, his hands letting go of her coat, he took a step back. "I'm sorry." He said, his eyes looking down as he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry." His eyes were defeated, and for the first time that night, he looked absolutely exhausted. "I'm an idiot, I'm sorry." He shook his head.
This time, it was her turn to grab is coat, pulling him toward her, they were face to face. "No." She shook her head. "You're not an idiot, and I'm not an idiot. I know why you're here." She whispered. She was just about to move into him, when not too far away from them, in the distance, there was a loud crashing sound that seemed to echo through the woods. She pushed herself into him out of fear, burying her head in his chest as she wrapped her arms around him, letting out a small squeak of fear, her body trembled.
She could feel his chest rumbling with deep laughter at her reaction, but her arms remained around him, breathing in his scent, she closed her eyes, and he wrapped his arms tightly around her. "What was that?" She whispered.
He laughed a little, and ran his fingers through her hair for a moment, unsure if it was alright, but happy that she didn't move away. "I'm pretty sure it was a tree falling somewhere." He sighed. "Just a tree."
"Sounded like a big tree." She said softly, looking up, she could see the smile on his face and she pulled away from him with a playful glare. "What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing." He chuckled. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah." She said, sighing as she moved out of his arms completely. She could feel the hard, cold, winter wind pushing against them as the snow began to swirl angrily. "We should probably go." She said softly, looking up at him he gave her a friendly smile. "To be continued." She said, taking his sleeve in her hand, he laughed and allowed her to pull him along back toward their cars.
Antonia packed the field bag into her SUV, ensuring the evidence was labeled properly. She spent several minutes focusing on what she was doing, she almost didn't notice Aiden standing behind her. She looked over her shoulder at him, as he stood, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked down at the dark emptiness of the pond, and the snow stuck to his hair and eyelashes. "You don't have to wait around for me." She said softly, watching his eyes flick to hers. "I appreciate it though." She said, and he smiled.
"Are you sure you're awake enough to drive?" He asked, feeling tired himself.
"I'm fine. I don't typically get much sleep at night anyway. I never have." She said, sliding the bag into the back of the SUV, she closed the tailgate, and turned around.
"Are you a vampire?" He asked, playfully eyeing her as she stepped closer to him.
"I guess you'll just have to wait to find out." She said, winking at him, she leaned against him slightly and leaned up to kiss his cheek. "Thank you for being here, for protecting me."
She couldn't see the blush in his cheeks, but the look on his face showed his mild embarrassment. "No problem." He said, brushing a stray hair from her face, he watched her eyes sparkling. "You look exhausted."
"So charming." She said, giving him a playful pat on his chest, she moved away and walked toward the door of her car. She turned to look at him again, and he gave a little wave. "Drive carefully." She said softly.
"You too, I'll be right behind you the whole way." He said, watching as she climbed into the driver's side and closed the door. He turned for his own car, climbed in and started it up. He backed out, careful to not move one way or the other off the gravel drive and waited for Antonia to back up as well. She made it off the gravel drive, and onto the road, and Aiden followed behind..
They started down the road together, Aiden several yards behind her as the snow began falling in thick squalls, swirling and swinging through the air. Antonia found it hard in her sleepy hazed driving to concentrate fully, but soldiered through anyway. The snow on the road wasn't too deep, but the constant snow flying at the windshield made it appear like she was driving through space, disorienting and dizzying. She put her brake on slightly, and kept her eyes on the road as best as she could. She was just turning a corner, when she saw the tree in the road, though it took her a moment to realize what she was seeing, that a large tree was stretched over the entire road. She gasped as she slammed on her brake. Her car slid and skidded, coming to rest just inches from the tree, her heart pounding for several seconds as suddenly she heard a sickening crunch behind her. "Oh, shit. No. No. No." She said, slamming the car into park as she ripped her seatbelt off and swung her door open, jumping from the car. Aiden had slammed on his brake as well, his SUV sliding as he tried to readjust and not hit Antonia's car or the tree. Now his SUV sat nearly on its side in the ditch beside the road, lights pointing into the sky as the snow and wind swirled around them.