It was a fairly cool day, with a nice wind and a grey-blue sky. Perfect for rock climbing.
"Okay, you're kind of new at this so you-"
"Race you to the top!" Ariel sprang onto the crop of rock and began to climb up like she had been born doing it. Jim sighed, smiling, and used a nice wide hand hold to begin the climb. He climbed steadily towards the top, Ariel a few paces before him. Then, while he was pulling himself onto a ledge, she grabbed a hand hold much too fragile to hold her up, and began to fall. Instinct took over, and Jim scrambled over, catching her wrist in his hand. She hung there for a few seconds, breathing hard, before looking up at him, grinning sheepishly. Jim laughed, feeling light-headed with relief.
With his help, she climbed up to the ledge with him, and sat there, panting. Finally, she moved into a crouch, ready to start climbing again. Then she paused.
"Um... what were you going to tell me, down at the bottom of the rock?"
Jim grinned.
"Go slow"
"Right. Well… um…"
"Don't worry. You can go fast, because a. you're a great climber, and b. I'll catch you if you fall"
As the words left his mouth, Jim realised what he had said, and slapped himself gently on the face. He glanced at Ariel, and bit his lip. It was true, he realised. If she fell, he'd catch her. Because that's what you did when someone you loved was falling. He shook his head. Someone you loved? He looked at Ariel, preparing to begin again. Someone you loved? Maybe…
"Let's go!" she called.
"Jim?" Ariel peered around the house, checking for him in each room. He wasn't anywhere, his room, the kitchen, his private study. Ariel peeked around the door of his study. It was dark, and there was a large shape on the floor. Briefly she wondered what Jim was working on. What was so important that he had to work on every evening after dinner? Then she shook her head. Now wasn't the time to worry about that. She stepped outside, squinting through the dusk. After a couple of minutes, she spotted him, lying on a pier, just looking at the sky. Silently she approached him, and sat down, dangling her legs over the edge of the pier.
They sat in silence together for a while, both of them looking at the stars. Finally, Ariel broke the silence. She had never seen the stars this well before, and they intrigued her.
"What are stars?"
Jim glanced at her.
"Giant balls of burning gas. Why?"
She shrugged.
"I'm just curious. Do they have names?"
The smile he had at that moment was softer than any other he had shown her.
"Yeah, they do. That group there? You see that?"
"Yes"
"That is called the 'Lagoon Nebula'"
"That's a really pretty name"
"Mmm. And you see that one?"
"The big cloud?"
"Kind of. That's the 'Andromeda Galaxy'"
Jim sat up, tilting his head back to get a better look at the night sky. Ariel sneaked a glance at his face, and was stuck by how comfortable he looked. Telling her about the stars, he seemed a lot more at home than he ever looked in his small house by the beach. His voice was different somehow, and there was a distinct smile playing on his lips, and his eyes glittered. Ariel felt a warm rush in her stomach. She wanted to listen to his voice more.
"Tell me more about the sky"
Jim glanced at her, looking a little nervous, and a tiny bit sad.
"You want me to tell you about space?"
She nodded eagerly, then, leaned forward impulsively and rested her head on his shoulder. She felt him shiver slightly, take a deep breath, and then launch into explaining to her about galaxies and stars and planets, and she realised that she had never felt happier.
A/N: OMG I really love this chapter. SO FLUFFFFFFYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY AJKSBHDLSDV
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.
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