Disclaimer: I don't own Shiver or Linger by Maggie Steifvater, all rights belong to her and so do the characters. I'm just borrowing them for my stories.
Summary: Love is what you make it, it won't just appear from nowhere, you have to find it. When you find, you can't let it go. It's not a homing pigeon, it won't come back. You have to find it all over again. A few drabbles- Sam/Grace, Isabel/Cole, enjoy.
Title: Love is what you make it
A/N: Hey, its Isabel/Cole time! Whoop, whoop, enjoy!
Every Hello ends with a Goodbye…..
Her deep eyes traced the trees that jutted from the forest, full of empty promises of a summer that had long since passed. A twig snapped behind her, harsh and loud noise but she didn't twitch. Her hair fell onto her shoulder like a perfectly cascading waterfall. She was a beautiful specimen and she fascinated him but he would never tell her. He was too afraid. He knew what his future held, a lifetime of loneliness and heart wrenching want. He couldn't help himself. He had to touch her once more. Slowly, his hand reached out and touched her shoulder.
"Cole… come sit down?" He flinched at the soft tone of her voice. For once she wasn't being harsh with him. His breath held as he sat and the infamous image of a purple cartoon character too afraid to breathe held in his imagination.
"Isabel, what are you doing here? It's the middle of winter?" Isabel's slow but steady glare met him.
"What are you doing here? Well, actually no, why are you human? Like you said, it's the middle of winter. Shouldn't you have changed into a wolf by now?" Cole reached out to her and her fingers smoothed over the soft texture of his frozen skin. She stared at the small patch of skin that stretched from under his glove to where his coats started.
"I have my ways." He smirked and pulled his arm back to rest next to his many layers of padded warmth. "I must have about seven coats on." He chuckled and moved so he was facing her face and not the side of her. "So what are you doing here?" Isabel shrugged off the question and brushed the freezing log with her hand.
"I just came to think." Cole nodded, a thoughtful glance settled in his eyes.
"'Bout what?" Isabel fell silent before answering.
"We should get you into the warmth, I want to keep you human for as long as possible and it's a surprise you've stayed like this in this weather." Her hand took his gloved hand and dragged him out of the forest into her house. No one was home… were they ever home? He quietly sat down in the natural toned living room while she stepped into the cold, monochrome kitchen. "Drink?"
"Something warm and tasty." Isabel rolled her eyes and nodded. A long pause of silence played its scene here and it was in that calm serenity that Cole smirked at the shadowy outline of her in the doorway. His eyes searched the walls. No stuffed animals, no horrific displays of cruelness or barbaric nonsense. All that was left for the hallway where the cold walls stretched through the house lined by death and anger. Soon after, Isabel appeared in the living room and handed him a hot chocolate, in her hand she held a coffee. The fire burned in front of them, warm flames that would allow Cole to grip his humanity that little while longer. Isabel sat beside him on the floor and crossed her legs before reaching for a blanket and throwing it at Cole.
"It'll keep you warm so you don't have to look like that thing off Ghostbusters." Cole grinned and unzipped his coats. The four layers gradually thinned out the closer he got to his t shirt. "Are you wearing the entire 'Go Outdoors'?" Cole giggled at her and tossed half the blanket to her and wrapped the other half around his thinly clad shoulder. Isabel scooted closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. Aromatic tones of blossom and flowers rose from her hair. She grinned sweetly. "You're not too bad." Cole smirked once more.
"Yeah? Neither are you. Isabel? Will you do me a favour just in case I don't make it through winter as a human?" Silently, she nodded and looked at him with calm, innocent eyes. "I don't think I could go all those months without seeing you again, just please, please kiss me?" There was no need for debating, she reached up and joined their lips. Every sense of caring about anything but each other rose from their shoulders and Isabel didn't care if any one walked in. Her lips felt warm against his, warm smells of pine and earth evaded her nose and she wrapped her arms around his neck. His arms slid around her waist and he pulled her closer. Time seemed to stand still. All that mattered was that Cole was human and Isabel was in his human arms. He pulled away for need of air and reluctantly looked away. Slowly, he pulled to his feet and pushed the blanket away.
"Cole, where are you going?" He looked over his shoulder and picked up his coats but threw them back again. They landed with a soft thud on the lightly toned carpet. "Cole!" He clasped her by the shoulder and squeezed a tear from his emotionless eyes.
"I can't stay here. I have to go. I know you don't want me to go but summer will be here soon, I promise." Isabel smiled and pressed their lips together. Her hand lay on his chest and softly ran over the contours of his chest. "I love you."
"Love you too." She grinned and gave him a final squeeze before he headed into the cold. The frozen air made him shiver madly and twisted his skin. Human eyes in a wolf's body stared back at her and he blinked before bounding into the woods.
A/N: I know it's horribly terrible but it's the best I could do. Thanks for the reviews as well! :- ) I wrote this while listening to 'Catch Me' by Demi Lovato. I'm not a massive fan of hers but I recommend that song because it's so, so, so beautiful and describes love so perfectly.