I am a huge ETHINA fan and I have to say I don't own any of these characters of General Hospital.
It had been about a week since the whole misunderstanding of "The Dominican Disaster".
It seems that Ethan and Kristina had been walking around blindly. A text here and there, but they both had been busy. Kristina had been helping out with Sam and Jason's wedding since she was the maid of honor. Molly was at summer camp, one less distraction for her. Ethan had been working at the Haunted Star trying to keep it going in Luke's absence.
It was a Friday afternoon and Kristina was sitting at Kelly's reading a book having coffee when the bell above the door rang. She didn't even glance up. She was thinking about how her mom had called her about twenty minutes ago telling her that she was heading out of town for a long weekend with Mac. She wanted to make sure that she would be ok. She was just going to hang around the lake house or maybe catch a movie.
She noticed that there was a presence behind her. She turned around and Ethan was standing there.
"Mind if I sit?" he asked moving over to the other side of the table.
"No", she said looking back down at her book.
"Kristina?" he asked looking confused.
"What is going on? We haven't really spoken since we came back from the Dominican. Do you think that we could go somewhere and take a walk and talk?" he asked looking her in the eye.
"Actually Ethan, I was heading back to the Lake house to get some stuff done. Your more than welcome to come by in a bit if you like", she said laying a few dollars on the counter and standing up.
"Kristina, as much as I think we really need to talk, I am sure I am not one of you mom's favorite people right now, so that might not be a good idea." he said smiling awkwardly.
"Ethan, my mom is gone for the long weekend she call me about a half hour ago and told me she left, but suit yourself that is where I will be", she stated as she was turning away.
"No, no, no, I will come over as long as it is ok with you", he said standing.
"I invited you over didn't. I will see you in a little while", she said as she walked out of Kelly's.
Ethan stood there shaking his head, wondering what he had just gotten himself into. He needed to talk to Kristina, but now he was afraid that she was going to go home, and start going through her closet trying to find some seductive outfit .Afraid she would be walking around the house lighting candles and waiting to pounce on him.
Either way he had to talk through what had happened, he couldn't stand not spending time together like they had been or talking on phone, or watching movies.
As he drove over to the lake house, he had been holding his breath for what had seemed like forever. Walked up to the door and knocked. She showed up answering the door in cut off shorts and a tank top on with her hair still wet from the shower pulled up into a high ponytail. She smelled so clean and looked so beautiful with no makeup.
"Are you going to come in or stand there and stare at me?" she asked opening the door even further.
He walked in the room and scanned the room. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing romantic. This was unusual. As much as he had tried to push them away, her seductive attempts always gave him a good chuckle.
She came out of the kitchen holding 2 beers and handed him one, he looked at her puzzled.
"Are you the beer police now?" she asked kind of snappy.
"Nope, if your mom left you alone in the house for a long weekend knowing there was beer, who am I to say anything", he finished as he took a sip.
They sat down on the couch, not too close, which also was shocked Ethan. He had no idea if he had fallen and hit his head and was dreaming this.
"Kristina, I wanted to talk to you and find out what has been going on with you, we haven't spoken since you were pushed into the Limo after we had gotten back from the Dominican", he said as he turned to face her.
She was staring down at the floor when she started speaking," Ethan, I had a great time in the Dominican with you. Hanging at the beach, dancing, I just wish it didn't end the way it had. I admit I was hoping that you would finally see the real me. The one who was head over heels in love with you. Not some schoolgirl with a crush on you.", she said looking up at him.
His heart was racing and he had no idea where this was going to go, but he moved closer to her and took her hand in his. Looking at her with a big smile he said, "That was the best divorce I could have ever possibly imagined. I know I was hard to deal with at first, but I had a good time before Sonny and Alexis showed up. I know that you had wanted more and were hoping that things had ended up differently. I wasn't on the same page as you and for that I am sorry if I led you into believing that it could have been more."
They both sat there in silence drinking their beers.
"Krissy, can you tell me why you have been avoiding me since we have been back ?" he asked staring at the floor.
"Ethan, I have always been honest with you, and you know how I feel about you. I figured you were tired of my school girl crush following you around, having everyone talking about it. I was actually embarrassed, so I just figured I would ease away", she says with a tear rolling down her eye.
He quickly took her into a hug, smelling her sweet shampoo, he felt little shocks running through his body, and he wondered how long he was going to keep denying this.
"You have nothing to be embarrassed about. I have missed you very much!" he said as he looked at her.
He leaned in and cupped her face in his hand causing her to freeze and he kissed her cheek.
"You are my best friend, can we just get back to where we were please?" he asked almost begging.
"Well, since we talked about it , I think that can be arranged", she said as she smiled at them.
"Do you want to watch a movie", she asked looking at him.
"I would love nothing better than sitting here with you watching a movie", he chuckled as he got up and went into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl of popcorn and 2 more beers.
She put the movie in and had decided on My Best Friend's Wedding. She turned off the lights and sat on the couch, when he came back he put the beers and the popcorn on the table and he sat down right next to her. There was a spark that had ignited between the two of them that they both recognized as he put his arm around her and she leaned into them. They sat back and laughed as they seemed to be back where they belonged. The movie was over and they sat there giggling between the two of them.
"Is that what I am going to have to do when you run off to get married", she asked.
"I am so sure, Kristina that you and I will always be best friends, but I don't think you need to worry about me getting married anytime soon." He laughed.
"Kristina, I do believe you were the one who told me that you were going to marry me someday. What would you have to worry about then?" he asked her somewhat seriously.
She avoided the question and she started picking things up. Looking at the clock it was after midnight.
"It's getting late", she said as she walked back in the room.
"Right, right he said. You want me to go", he said standing up.
"Are you crazy? You could stay as long as you want, I just figured you had a bar or some girl waiting for you somewhere." she answered him staring at the floor.
"I would rather stay here with you if that is ok", he said.
She smiled and they put in another movie. As they sat next to each other on the couch, Ethan had his arm around her again, and she could feel him breathing on the back of her head. Neither of them paying much attention to the movie. I am sure they were wondering what the other was thinking. Kristina was drawing little circles with her finger on Ethan's thigh. He was having a hard time suppressing the desire that was overcoming him now. He kept shifting a little he felt his jeans getting a little tighter.
"Are you ok?" she asked with a seductive smile.
He cleared his throat, "I am fine", he said knowing that she was now playing games, and he was afraid this was going to get out of hand. He decided to call her bluff.
He shifted the arm that he had around her shoulder so that he could run his thumb up and down her neck. His body was on fire by this point and he could feel her body starting to shake. She had no intentions of stopping this and he knew at some point he was going to have to. All of these new feelings he was having for her, he wanted to test the waters.
"Are you ok, Kristina, you are shaking are you cold", he asked trying hard not to smile too much.
"I think I am going to grab a glass of water", she said as she stood up and walked into the kitchen.
She got into the kitchen and splashed some water on her face and started drying it off. She knew that he figured he had scared her off; she had other tricks up her sleeve. Ethan sitting on the couch smug as could be, also realizing his jeans were very tight, he was getting hard and didn't know how to fix that one in his current situation.
She walked back into the room and set the water down on the table, she turned around and looked at Ethan as he just stared at her smiling a big smile. She leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Are you going to call my bluff again", she says as she moves closer to him and before Ethan knew it she was straddling him on the couch as he let out a very throaty moan.
Now there was no way around the fact he was about to split his jeans. So he was just going to go with it knowing soon he was going to have to put the brakes on. He reached behind her grabbing onto her ass and standing up; she quickly wrapped her legs around his waist and held onto his neck. She began kissing his neck. He lied her down on the couch and slowly slid on top of her. This was the moment she had been dreaming about for so long. He leaned down and let his lips brush against her, as she let out a soft whimper. He leaned in and kissed her now with all the desire he had in him, slipping his tongue against her bottom lip as if asking permission. Permission granted as their tongue started searching for each other. She could feel him hard as a rock pressing against her and her breathe kept getting caught in her throat. As much as he wanted to pick her up and carry her upstairs and ravish her body, he knew better. He slowly started to pull away and finally ended up kissing her forehead before he sat up.
"Did I do something wrong", she asked looking hurt.
"No luv, believe me you were doing everything just right" he answered trying to catch his breath.
"We can't do this", he told her as he stood up.
She stood up too she reached out to his hand. He took it and put it up to his heart.
"This is how you know you were doing everything right." he said gazing at her tenderly.
She could feel his heart racing.
"I don't want it to be like this, us fumbling around on the couch. You deserve so much more than that. I would never do that to you. I need you to know how I feel about you. To be honest with you, I need to sort some things out in my head. Please just give me a little time", he asked and they headed to the door.
She just nodded knowing this wasn't going to be awkward, that she finally knew that he had feelings for her, and she would give him the time to sort them out. He leaned down taking her face in his hands and kissed her softly on the lips.
"Goodnight, luv", was all he said as he turned away and walked to his car.
She closed the door, locked it and turned out the light as she sat back down on the couch rubbing her fingers across her lips and thinking about what had just happened.
She lied down pulled the covers over her and whispered softly out loud, "I love you, Ethan".
As he drove home he finally came to terms that he loved her. Now he had to figure out a way to let her know.