Shout out to my one guest reviewer! You rock and your review, though short and sweet, helped motivate the want to write more chapters. I would love to give more shout outs, but that requires more reviews, so please review! Thanks and enjoy this flashback that dives a little deeper into the Alek/Chloe relationship at the end of the TV series.

Ten Years Ago: Chloe's House

At first I was furious. Then I was stressed and worried sick. Now I am just relieved. To our astonishment no one had caught that I had spent the night in Chloe's room. I think everyone was focused on the fact that Chloe was conscious and well. And that's when they broke the news to us. The Executive Mai Council had demanded an emergency meeting of the members with Chloe as their special guest. The council was a board of fifteen Mai pride leaders from around the globe, representing all the different regions. As pride leader Jasmin was the only one of us o go with her and that was it. Hence my anger.

The meeting location was top secret and only essential personnel were allowed to go. They wanted to keep the participants to a minimum to decrease risk of exposure, and thus only Jasmin would escort Chloe. I was in total up rising mode trying to plead and fight my way to the meeting, only there was little time since they left hours after Chloe awoke. And Jasmin had them drug me so they could leave in peace.

But the icing on the cake was the fact Brian was considered essential personnel. As a willing suspect to give up secret Order information he was allowed to accompany Chloe and Jasmin. Meredith King went as well because she refused to leave Chloe's side until all her questions on the Mai were answered. So basically the only person who did not go was me.

I took most of my aggression out in training in the moments the healers weren't forcing me to rest because of my bullet wound. After my realization about my connection with Chloe, that I deeply cared for her, (on the verge of in love) being without her was liking missing a lung and my heart, totally empty inside. I was ready to fight Jasmin upon their return for putting me through such pain, but that all melted away once I saw Chloe.

Our hug was too brief when she walked in the door to the apartment. I wanted to hold her longer but there was a mad whirl wind of information exchange and then Chloe and Meredith wanted to go home to sleep off their jet lag. Apparently they had gotten very little shut eye between all the council sessions. Which is why I am now on Chloe's roof listening to her heart beat, a dearly missed sound over the past week. The steady thumping of her heart crashed over me like peaceful waves.

Then I heard a call from inside the house, "Alek!" I swung over the edge of the room and rushed into Chloe's room with remarkable speed. It was dark but my Mai senses adjusted to see Chloe tossing and turning in her bed, trying to break free of her own covers twisted to be restraints. Instantly I was by her side, shaking her calmly awake.

"Chloe, Chloe. It's ok. I'm here." I said as she opened her eyes. Tears were streaking her cheeks and her hair clung to her forehead.

"Alek." She whispered again, reaching out to affirm by existence.

"You're ok Chloe. I'm here. You're safe."

All she would choke out between gasps was "Stay."

"Are you inviting me into your bed Ms. King?" I asked with a playful smirk. My hope was to get her to smile and ease whatever terrors were plaguing her. That, and I had to double check that she actually wanted me in her bed again, for I was falling for her more and more. Chloe was trying to get her breathing under control, but she nodded her head, though the look on her face told me no funny business. Once again, she rolled over to allow me to hold her from behind and I felt at peace.

"Thank-you for being here Alek." Chloe finally spoke after several moments of silence. "I had these nightmares for the past week. They've gotten so bad I haven't slept for three days straight. But with you I feel like I might."

My heart pinged with pain at her sleep deprivation and I pulled her closer to try and soak up all the aching she was feeling. Her sweet vanilla scent filled my nose, sending pleasant shivers down my spine. "Then sleep, Chloe. I'll be right here whenever you need me."

And that was a promise I kept for the next several nights. At first she would call out for me in the night, but then it got to the point I would just sneak in after her mom had left. There was not anything more physical than sleeping in the same bed, not even kissing, but every night we fell asleep in each other's arms.

When the nightmares hit I would pull her my closer to my chest and stroke her hair while whispering reassuring words until she came back from where ever the darkness had taken her. Some nights were worse than others, but the nightmares came relentlessly causing her thrash about and shout. Sometimes it was a word or a location. Sometimes it was a name. As much as I loved that I was present in the world she entered in her dreams, it hurt when she would awake yelling my name and crying, scared from something I was helpless to fight.

After another week and a half, Chloe started to resist our little arrangement claiming she would have to eventually sleep on her own. I couldn't help but feel wounded since my name was becoming more and more frequent in her mumblings, like it was my fault.

At first she had me back on the roof, hoping the distance would help her learn to sleep on her own. Only, the nightmares continued and I was climbing into her window every night to hold her while she slept. And thus the circle continued. The compromise finally became me sleeping in her bed, but without touching. That way if she woke up in the night, she would be able to just glance over and find comfort in my presence. Her words, not mine.

Only, more often than not her form found its way to mine over the course of the night. Soon enough her head would fit perfectly into the crook of my neck as her arms would grip my torso. We were like the positive and negative side of two magnets, constantly being pulled towards each other. I don't know if Chloe felt it as strongly as I did, but I just didn't feel complete without her there.

Present Day

I didn't realize how calm those memories of sleeping in the same bed made me, but they must have since they put me right to sleep. The next thing I knew I was waking up to the distressed sounds of the Uniter next to me. She was tossing a bit with her wild, still wet hair from the shower spread out all over the pillow. The noise was half way between a growl and whine.

Instinctively I reached out and slowly stroked her back and instantly Chloe started to relax beneath my touch. Still asleep she rolled until her body was pressed into the side of mine, just like old times. No matter how many times she claimed we wouldn't touch, we always wound up back in this position. I smiled inwardly to myself at the fact that despite how much she tried to deny it, we fit together like two pieces of a puzzle.

And in that moment when her vanilla scent flooded my system and I heard the quiet sigh of content escape her lips, all the work I had done trying to forget Chloe King was washed away. I could never lie to myself again and say for a second that I stopped loving her.