(Playlist: Iris- Goo Goo Dolls, Broken-Seether,Lullaby- Nickelback, Landing in London-3 Doors Down, Snow Patrol-Chashing Cars, You and Me- Lifehouse, The Crow And The Butterfly-Shinedown.)

Warning: If you do not mushy scenes: SKIP THIS CHAPTER AND READ THE BOTTOM A/N!

Beautifully Dark Places
Chapter 7
Remembering

I was standing in the tiny kitchen of Nolan's house, working on breakfast and attempting to stay warm. I had no idea how to work the thermostat in his house, and I was freezing half to death. The kitchen had rich, dark wood floors that did nothing but suck the heat out of me. It took me forever to figure out how the stove worked. It wasn't electric, but it also didn't run on gas. It was similar to a wood stove, without the wood. There was a long, slender metal pipe that ran through the middle of it, behind some tiny iron work doors, and to the stove eyes. That metal pipe was apparently combustible and roared to life as soon as a flame came near it.

The pans here were also tricky. They almost moved on their own, and would if prompted to do so. I hummed one of my favorite songs as I watched the pan flip the eggs. I was leaned up against one of the blue-green sea colored counter tops that lined the stove. The counters had tiny bits of seashells in them. They resembled waves so closely that I wondered if they had been charmed to wave like them.

I glanced at the window above the stove. The sun was barely peeking out over the tree tops in the distance, turning the sky a pink-purple color that faded into a deep blue. I couldn't help but wonder if my parents were watching the sun rise too. They should be up at this hour, enjoying their morning coffee and buzzing about how well Emma's latest audition went. I slept poorly, and was sure to have dark bags under my eyes. I gave up on sleep at about four and got up.

"That looks tasty." I jumped so hard I jarred my teeth. My body spun around to find Nolan leaned against the counter opposite me. His head was cocked in what appeared to be a question, but he said nothing more. We stood there for a few minutes; my hands were clasped tightly around the counter's edge.

"You weren't supposed to awake for days." I stated, bewildered. Nolan swung himself up onto the counter to sit facing me. His hair was messed up from sleep, and his t-shirt was wrinkled. He looked at me with a face similar to humor.

"I recover fast. I have a long line of theurgist blood in my family." He winked and then chuckled to himself.

"Oh," I whispered, relaxing now that I was sure he was back to normal. A question stung the back of my mind. "How much do you… remember?"

"Well," He paused and looked up at the ceiling, "I remember you flirting with me."

"I wasn't flirting!" I said defensively, wrapping my arms around myself.

He smiled, and continued, "I remember you fixing the crystal, and then you got sick." He closed his eyes as if he was in deep thought. "We were supposed to port to Professor Wu. We didn't and I asked…"His voice trailed away from him. He looked back down at me. "I… I asked..."

"Why I ran away that night." I finished for him, avoiding his gaze. Honesty bubbled up in my throat, burning my eyes as I attempted to hold it back. I couldn't tell Nolan all that. I couldn't make myself look that vulnerable.

"Yeah," He whispered. The room was silent for a few moments. "Then something black came at me and I couldn't control myself anymore…" He paused as I looked back up at him. There was pain on his face, like a living thing that distorted his expression. "It was like a flashback; I knew what was going on, but I couldn't change anything. I couldn't control anything."

"I knew it wasn't you." I lied through my teeth. I thought it was him until I was told otherwise. There was no point in making him feel worse than he already did.

"No, you didn't." I looked up at him as he spoke. Unwelcomed tears stung my eyes. "You can't control you telepathy as well as you think you can."

Oh, crap. "Well…" I sighed, watching the pan continued to flip the now overcooked eggs. My vision was foggy, but I didn't want to cry in front of Nolan. That would be too embarrassing.

"I'm sorry, about everything." He whispered, as if all the pride had been knocked out him. I couldn't keep myself from looking at him. He was so forlorn, as if someone had just murdered his family. I started toward him; I needed a hug as bad as he did. He pushed himself off the counter in time for me to wrap my arms around his neck. He pulled me closer to him and wrapped his arms around me.

"I'm sorry about your bow." I breathed as a tear trickled down my cheek and onto Nolan's shirt. He pulled away from me for a moment and shook his head.

"I don't care about that damn bow, Kym." He whipped off the tears that were streaming down my face. I couldn't hold everything in anymore. I couldn't keep being strong for everyone because I couldn't handle breaking.

For once in my life, I deserved to break.

"I'm so sorry about everything I said." He whispered, pushing the messy hair out my face and behind my ear. "…about everything I did."

"It was a hex; you couldn't help it."

"I… I had to watch the panic in your eyes…" He shook his head, "I had to see the fear written all over your face. It makes me sick to just remember it."

"Nolan-" I started, but he cut me off.

"And you know what the worst part is?" Tears lined the rims of his eyes, threatening to spill over at any moment, like a dam pushed to its limit. "There was some part of me that almost enjoyed that."

"Nolan," I grabbed his face, forcing his back to reality and shutting him up. "It was a hex. No part of you enjoyed that, no part of you wanted to hurt me or say any of the things you said, that was all part of the hex." Tears spilled down his cheeks, forcing mine to start up again. I sighed and leaned my head back against his chest. We stood there for a while, just hugging each other.

The kitchen was totally silent. Nolan and waved his hand and forced the pan to stop and made the stove go off at once. There wasn't much light, except from the window. He didn't say anything for a long time, just held me against him as if he had been asleep for months instead of a day.

"I didn't feel like I deserved it." I whispered. He pulled away from me and raised an eyebrow at me. His face went rigid again; he looked like the Nolan I had met my first day in Wizard City, all angles and eyebrows and questioning looks. It was odd how slowly he had changed so that I barely had noticed it. His face was much softer now, and his eyebrows stayed more relaxed instead of shooting up every time someone spoke.

"What?"

"Why I ran away that night… I didn't feel like I deserved it." His face softened back into the Nolan I had grown accustomed to. His shoulders relaxed a little bit and he shook his head. I continued, knowing I would have to sooner or later, "And… I didn't want to hurt you, Nolan. You mean a lot to me… But Malorn…" I sighed and bit my lip, it was a nervous habit of mine, "Malorn means a lot to me too, and I don't want to get confused and hurt one of you."

He took that with more grace than I expected, but it did manage to break our embrace. He leaned back against the counter; arms folded and stared me down expectantly. I was unsure of what else to say.

"Well?" He asked. When I gave him a blank look, he rolled his eyes and went on, "Do you love him?"

I froze. Do I? How could I? Maybe? I could feel my mouth drop open. "How am I supposed to know that?"

"That's fairly simple," Nolan's blue eyes were dark with what appeared to be anger and his voice was laced with venom. Typical Nolan. "Could you imagine spending the rest of your life with him? Do you want to kiss him? Would you stay here for him and him alone?"

"I…" I gawked at Nolan, "I don't know."

"I'll tell you right now, Kymma Dawn-"

"That's another thing," I sighed, "My last name is really Richardson, I just wanted to be someone different than the lame Kymma Dawn I was at home." I looked down at my feet as the truth spilled out of me. "I didn't want to be the ugly sister of a movie star anymore."

"Kymma," He whispered, voice gone all soft and quiet again, as he pulled my face back up to look at him. "You're not the ugly sister of a famous movie star. You're not the ugly sister of anyone. Everything that kid said to you was because they were jealous. They envied you because you had everything they didn't. They took the only thing away from you they could: your self-esteem." I gawked at him, bewildered that he knew all of this. He sighed and dropped his hands back down to his side. "I know that care about Malorn, and I know that you're confused because you like both of us. I'm not going to try to persuade you or anything."

"Nolan…" I whispered, shaking my head gently, "Don't do this."

"No, you need to know." His voice was still empathetic, but it was stern. I was going to hear this even if I didn't want to. "I know more about you than Malorn will ever care to know about you. Look at how he is with Susan. He cares, yeah, but he doesn't know anything about her." He paused, and pulled me closer to him. I couldn't help staring into his eyes. "Kymma, I know everything about you. I care about you so much; this is killing me."

"Nolan," I whispered, he didn't allow me anytime to talk before he started again.

"But, I want you to be happy. So, if Malorn makes you happy, then for Bartleby's sake, be with Malorn." He stopped for a moment to brush another strand of hair from my face, "But if there's ever a single doubt in your mind that I might can be the one you pick…"

"Nol-"

"Then at least tell me so I can try. I just want to make you happy, Kym. And I know I'm not the show-stopping gorgeous Malorn Ashthorn, but-"

And I kissed him.

It wasn't the fairytale storybook kind of kiss. More of a shut-up-and-listen-to-me kiss. I couldn't help wrapping my arms back around his neck. It wasn't my intention, but it just sort of happened. He pulled me closer to him and held me tight. It was hard to imagine that my first kiss was in a different world with a wizard that could win a stare down contest with a snake. It was hard to imagine my first kiss at all. It took my brain while to process everything that happened. His right hand was on my lower back and his left hand was knotted into my hair. My hands were in his pretty black hair, twirling it around my fingers. He leaned closer against me, practically bending me backwards. Someone we had ended up beside the stove, where I originally standing before he walked in, and he had pushed me against the counter. He was gentle, but not painstakingly so. Nolan wasn't as careful with me as Malorn was. Malorn annoyed me when he acted like I might break at any moment. Nolan knew I was stronger than I appeared. He pulled away from me for second to breathe, but I pulled him back. He muttered something against my lips, but I didn't care enough to stop and ask what he said. Nolan pulled away from me first, breath a tad ragged and fast. He did his trademark eyebrow raise in question. I couldn't help smiling.

I kissed Nolan Stormgate.

"What," He started, still attempting to catch his breath, "Was… That?"

I honestly didn't have an answer for that question. So, I just continued to grin at him. He stared at me, obviously not moving until he got an answer. So, I said the first thing that came to mind: "You said you wanted to make me happy." I paused, knowing this was going to sound stupid and sappy. "And you're what makes me happy, Nolan."

He held his hand out; I took it without much thought. He pulled me closer to him, closing what space was still between us. He didn't smile, but he actually looked grim. "You know we can't do that again, right?"

"Why?" I was a little taken aback. Was he not the one who tried to kiss me first? Is he rejecting me? My heart sank.

"No," He laughed a little, "I'm not rejecting you. It's just that you can't pick between me and Malorn if we're… kissing. And, I don't even want to talk about how we're going to have to even out the playing field here."

The thought of kissing Malorn made my stomach knot up. I didn't really want to kiss him. I sighed and looked at the ground.

"Hey," He whispered, forcing my gaze back up to him. "I'm not saying we can't ever kiss again… Just not until you decide. It would be unfair."

"And since when do you care about things being unfair?" I laughed a little, earning myself a smile from him. He sighed and laid his forehead against mine. It was so strange to me how easy this was. It was like I had known him my entire life, not just for a few weeks.

"I'm trying to be a better person," He smiled, closing his eyes. "Don't tempt me." I closed my eyes too, comfortable with just standing there with him forever. But, I knew that Boris and Malorn would be here in a few hours to bring me to Ambrose. He wanted to try to tap into my magic today. I couldn't imagine being able to focus on magic. Not after everything that had happened this morning.

"Was that really your first kiss?"

I glared up at him. "How can I make you not read my mind?"

"You can't." He smiled and kissed my cheek. I rolled my eyes at his attempt to get an answer out of me.

"Yes, it was. Happy now?"

He sighed in thought. "Well, that was a sucky first kiss. I was supposed to kiss you, not the other way around."

"Do I get a redo?" I grinned a little. It was odd how I felt like a different person now. I felt like how I did when Emma and I were little, and she was just my sister, and we were just the Richardson's kids. I felt like me again.

"Maybe in a few weeks." He whispered. My heart sank. What if I'm not here in a few weeks?

A/N: Just a little recap for anyone who didn't want to read the mushyness, Nolan really cares about Kymma, she told him that she liked Malorn too, and they kissed.

So, how'd you guys that read this like it? R&R people :D