Anders slowly turned to source of the slick and smooth voice, which he was certain was the only one that could produce such anger in him. The crowd had died down which had made him much more visible.

"I know that you don't love her, Gerald, because you admitted it to me yourself that you didn't. Just those four months ago." Anders' voice was quiet and controlled, yet laced with loathing of this foul creature.

"How do you know that my feelings haven't changed since then?" replied Gerald with that infuriating, innocent yet smug smile, breaking across his face yet again.

"Because I've seen your type before, easy charmer, smooth talker, unable to feel any proper feeling of love, never able to make a commitment last, and hurting the ones closest to you in the process."

Anders was clenching both his fists, and jaw. Caroline had never seen him dislike someone so much. She was so confused, she had no idea what she felt, or who indeed she felt for.

"Well DuPlessis, I can see clearly that you are still head over heals in love with my Caroline. You must know how much this pleases me. Because it makes my victory of her that much sweeter, and much more impressive. I have Caroline, and she will be mine forever once we are married." Gerald could see how angry and deeply wounded Anders was, but he wasn't finished with him yet.

"Tough luck Dup, but it might reconcile you to know that Caroline and I are very happy together, and that if you had been a better man altogether. That is, in looks, personality and behaviour, then you might have been able to hold on to the woman you love. But you weren't able to, were you? Oh well, she's mine now, and I think it is safe to say that I will make her much happier than you ever could, because I am ten times the man you could ever be."

Anders couldn't restrain himself any longer. That had pushed him over the edge.

He suddenly lashed out at Gerald, and pinned him to the wall, pummelling Gerald and making him yell out in intense pain, unable to stop.

All that rage that he had built up inside of him was coming out for the first time and it was long over due. He wasn't fighting for himself, he was fighting for Her.

This had been a long time coming, and he was going to make Gerald suffer the same amount of pain that Anders had suffered for so long. The pain of knowing that the woman he loved would never love him back, and was with a man who didn't love her and didn't care about her.

Anders punched Gerald at every inch he could hit, stomach, shoulder, ribs, chest, anywhere. He was far stronger and a more experienced fighter than Gerald, so beating him up was relatively easy.

But Gerald then threw a few punches himself; knocking Anders off his feet, but Anders bounced back almost immediately.

Another crowd had gathered, mostly men, to watch and yell encouragement at both men. You could feel the excitement of the crowd radiating from them as they chanted,

"Fight, Fight, Fight!"

Suddenly Caroline yelled, "Both of you STOP!" Her voiced was laced with emotion and desperation. At hearing this Anders immediately let go of Gerald, a moment ago about to punch him again, and turned to Caroline, a look of concern etched on his features.

Gerald, however, did not stop. He grabbed a metal post that had been wedged into the ground as part of a railing, and with his deep hate making him become almost insane, he ran at Anders with it, using it to strike him, full on, with a blow on the back of his head. Smack!

Anders fell to the ground on his hands and knees, his eyes rolling for a second. He shook it off however and attempted to turn and face Gerald. But when he did, Anders took another blow from the metal post across his face, making his face bruise, and his forehead bleed flowingly.

Caroline gasped and her hand flew up to her mouth in shock, her eyes wide and frightened. She ran forward and tried to stop Gerald, who was about to strike Anders yet again, his madness evident in his wild eyes. But as she tried to stop him, Gerald fought against her and pushed her aside forcefully, making her fall and injure her shoulder.

That was it. That had done it. That was going way too far.

Anders, with all the strength he could muster, pulled himself up to his full height, faced Gerald, and struck him with all his might. Gerald fell to the floor unconscious and bleeding. Fully and finally receiving what he deserved.

Anders stood there looking down at the pathetic man for a few moments, and then ran over to Caroline and knelt down beside her, terrified that she had been hurt badly.

"Caroline? Are you alright?!" he asked, sounding scared.

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Caroline pushed herself up from the ground and sat upright. She looked at the scene that surrounded her.

Gerald was sitting upright, having regained consciousness, not even looking at Caroline to see if she was ok. He didn't seem to care if he had hurt her or not.

Then Caroline looked up at the man kneeling beside her, holding her hand gently and staring at her with terrified yet adoring eyes.

How could she have been so blind? She had been so focused on getting away from Leopard's Den, and on convincing herself that she hated and was constantly annoyed by DuPlessis, that she didn't fully allow herself to look beyond her trivial prejudice of him, and see him for what he truly was. She hadn't even done that with Gerald and she had agreed to marry him.

Suddenly it dawned on her. She had never actually hated Anders at all in the first place. Sure, he could be annoying, and there were times when you actually did loathe him. But she had always admired him and respected him for who he was.

And more often than not she had found herself being furiously angry with him to his face, for something he had said or done, and then going to her room and laughing with utter joy and amusement as she reflected on it again.

Had she mistaken something else for hate? Was it possible that she actually…no…it couldn't be that. She knew he feltthat for her, and she wasn't going to assume that she should feel the same way just because he felt it. Not again.

But she did feel something. Something that was strong, intense, and burning. But it was far from hate. If it wasn't hate, then she must be…there was no other explanation, and certainly no other way she could interpret her feelings to be anything else…than her having fallen in love with Anders, and being in love with him the entire time without realising it.

How had she been so blind? Of course she loved him. She always had. How could she have not noticed it before? He had always been around her everyday, never demanding anything from her, never forcing her into anything.

He had just waited patiently by her side, just as he was now, encouraging her ever so gently to respond to him in any way that would give him hope that she had come to her senses. He had always been there and he had been a small part of her life, but she realised when she was deprived of him, the effects on her were astronomical.

---------------------

"Caroline? Are you ok?" Said Anders again, still holding her hand, as he tried to gently coax her out of her thoughts, and back to reality, back to her senses. He was scared that she might have a concussion. She had not spoken a word to him yet. It had only been a few seconds, but she hadn't responded to him when he asked her if she was alright, the first time.

Caroline looked up at him again, his voice had broken into her thoughts. She stared for a few moments at his bleeding and bruised, but nevertheless adorable and lovely face, with those familiar, warm and intense, coral blue eyes.

"Never better," she smiled at him as her hand crept up to cradle his cheek. Anders hitched his breath at the feel of her gentle hand against his injured face. He smiled shyly at her and placed his hand over hers. Caroline hitched her breath now. This confirmed her feelings, and she felt overwhelmed with happiness. She wanted to say so much to him, she wanted to apologise, to make right all the wrongs she had caused.

"Anders I'm so sorry…I can't believe how blind I was. You were right about Gerald…about everything. I want to say so much to you right now, I just don't know how to say it," She said with emotion becoming laced in her voice.

"You don't have to say anything," he said reassuringly. "You made a mistake…I'm just relieved that you realised the mistake you had made before it was too late."

Caroline just started at him. Why wasn't he blaming her or getting angry with her? "How can you dismiss me from all blame when I was the one that caused you such agony? I was the one that left you. I broke your heart again and again. And yet…you don't see me as the one who was hurting you." Caroline actually wanted him to be angry with her. "I don't deserve you after what I did to you."

Anders just smiled at her and placed a kiss on her forehead, which made her forget to breath.

"Caroline, I don't blame you, because you weren't the one who did this to me. Gerald did this. He took you away from me; he made damn sure I knew that he didn't really care about you, and that I would never see you again. He forced all of this on you, and he lied to you to get you to do what he wanted. All you ever did was let me fall head over heals in love with you. You don't think you deserve me? It's me who thinks that I don't deserve a woman like you. Well…Gerald thinks that too…And some other people, but since when have I ever listened to anyone who tried to separate me from you, and tell me that I'm not good enough for you? Never… Not even if it is myself."

Caroline laughed at the latter, the first genuine laugh she had produced in months. He had always had that gift to make people laugh even in the toughest of situations. Most of the time he didn't even try to be funny and you would just burst out laughing at something he said. It was just him and his bizarre, vibrant, and heart meltingly adorable personality. That was one of the main aspects that was attractive about him, one that had caused Caroline to fall in love.

Caroline sighed and said, "I missed you so much Anders. I thought about you all the time when I was with Gerald. I didn't know why I did then, but now I realise how simple the answer was. It had been there the whole time just staring me in the face and I didn't recognise it before."

Anders looked confused, "What do you mean? What's the answer?" he queried tilting his head to the side, which resembled strongly a confused puppy. Caroline laughed, as her hand reached around his neck, pulling him closer to her, and when she was kissing him she heard him take a sharp intake of breath.

Anders felt like electricity was flowing through his veins making him respond to her, and causing him to fall even deeper in love with her. He had never felt anything so exhilarating.

When Caroline drew back she cupped Anders' face in her hands and said, "The answer is…I love you Anders." Tears of happiness began to fall from her eyes as relief and love glistened in his. He had been waiting so long, and had suffered so much, just to hear her say those words that made all that pain disappear completely.

Anders reached out, and with his thumb, he lightly wiped away a tear from her cheek, and said gently, "I love you too."

Caroline flashed a radiant smile at him, and accepted his hand, as he helped her up from the ground. Just as they got up Gerald jumped up suddenly, and tried to get at Anders and start another fight, but just as he did this, a fist came out of nowhere and struck Gerald to the ground again. Gerald looked for his attacker and saw Danny standing there, looking rather proud of himself.

Anders laughed and called out, "You look pretty pleased with yourself Trevanion!" Danny turned to him and stated, "Couldn't let you have all the fun, besides I hated the git too." Both men burst out laughing as the crowd cheered and gave a round of applause, as if they had just seen a very amusing and drama filled play.

After a couple of overly dramatised bows, Danny turned to the newly formed couple and said, "Let's go home,"

As the crowd began to disperse, and the three family members began to leave, Caroline suddenly blurted out, "Oh wait! I almost forgot."

She released Anders' hand, with which hers hand been entwined with refusing to let go of him ever again, and ran back to where Gerald was still standing, utterly defeated.

"You can have this back!" She stated defiantly, as she pulled a ring off her finger and shoved into his hand. "Oh and by the way, Anders is a million times the man you could ever even dream to be."

And with that she drew back her arm, clenched her fist, and punched Gerald straight on the nose, making him fall backwards. A few crowd members were still there and had seen this wonderful spectacle, and cheered louder than ever before. Their fists raised in the air.

Caroline turned back to Anders and Danny, who eyes were wide with shock, mouths agape. Caroline smiled broadly and took Anders' hand again and pulled him in the direction of home. Anders, still in shock said, "That was bloody brilliant," He let out a puff of laughter as he said, "I love you,"

Caroline turned to him and laughed gently as she said, "I love you too, and I have to tell you that punch felt liberating. Perhaps I should do it more often" she smiled coyly at him.

Anders laughed nervously and said jokingly, "Ok, but punch Danny… not me. My face is too handsome to ruin, Danny's is already ruined,"

Caroline burst out laughing, and she laughed even harder when Danny defensively shouted, "Hey!"

Right then Caroline knew that she would be happy and laughing for the rest of her life, just as long as she had Anders. She wasn't going to mess this up again, she loved Anders, and he loved her. And that was all that mattered now.

But still she wondered, would they have been together, and acknowledged their feelings sooner, if things had been different?

END!!

Pretty please R&R!