Chapter Thirty-Nine

Pogue came out of the bathroom to see Victoria sitting on his bed, in dry pyjama bottoms and one of his Spencer sweat shirts. She had her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around them. He walked across the bedroom and when she noticed him coming towards her she looked at him and smiled.

He felt like he was finally getting through that threshold. Figured it would take a day similar to an emotional roller coaster to get there. He was still upset about the Reid/Kate thing but that was a whole mess of emotions. Mostly he found himself upset at Reid, whether it was right or wrong, he couldn't help it. He was mad that Reid had hurt Victoria, mad that the person Reid decided to sleep with was also his ex-girlfriend. But in his heart of hearts Pogue knew that the anger was only fleeting in the grand scheme of his life. It was hard cause everything was happening so quickly but really, it was sort of a good thing, he couldn't help but think selfishly. Kate and him were done, and although it was a dick move, Pogue couldn't be that mad about it. They had been broken up for months now, and even though he had been originally pissed, he knew Reid wouldn't have taken advantage of Kate in any way. And it had been the catalyst that set Victoria free from Reid.

Pogue was not oblivious to the fact either that he didn't feel like he needed to hold back with Victoria any more. Knowing how things had ended with Reid had given him a clear perspective and he didn't want to waste any more time. Like kissing her on the front step he hadn't weighted the risks of doing it.

"How ya holding up?" He asked slouching onto the bed beside her, already in his sweat pants, he pulled a white tank top over his head.

Victoria reached over and pushed his hair, which got messed up as he pulled his shirt on, out of his face, like it was the most natural thing in the world and Pogue found himself craving her hands on his body. But instead he shifted closer to her on the bed and took a deep breath.

"Fine," she answered shrugging. Victoria blinked at Pogue, "What did you want to talk about?" She asked looking at him expectantly.

He cleared his throat, it was now or never. "Yeah, so... I have been thinking about it since Sunday." Victoria raised an eyebrow but didn't interrupt him at all. "About University,"

"Ah," She did a good job of masking the sag in her shoulders, with an overly bright smile, but he saw it all the same.

Pogue couldn't help but smile, "So I am thinking I am going to go to Columbia."

Victoria blinked, "Columbia?"

"Yeah,"

"In New York?"

"One and only,"

She blinked at him confused, "So...not Harvard?"

Pogue took a deep breath, "Harvard... Harvard is a part of my life that is over. It's not going to be what I thought it was going to be. Not any more. Too much has changed." Victoria's eyes looked sad and Pogue moved closer to her on the bed, reaching out he found his hands on her hips pulling her too him and she came willingly, letting her hands rest on his arms, as she met his eyes. "I want us to start fresh." Victoria smiled at him but her brow furrowed. Pogue pulled back leaning over the bed to his side table and stretching, he reached into the drawer and pulled out the pamphlets. "And I was thinking," He twisted back sitting in front of Victoria again. Brushing his hair behind an ear he handed her the pamphlets. "Maybe you could check out some of these Academy's." Victoria looked down at the flyers for The Alvin Ayle Dance Theatre and Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. She blinked as she turned them over in her hands. "I mean I don't really know, but I contacted them both," Victoria looked up at him, "They start auditions in late summer, end of August, beginning of September. So I figured we could be in the city before then if we wanted."

Victoria was very still as she watched Pogue. She blinked, "You want me to come with you to New York?" She said quietly.

Pogue couldn't help but scoff, "Well, yeah." He leaned forward reaching for her again, "I wonder when you are going to really start to get that."

She swallowed, her eyes darting over his features. "Seems kinda to good to be true, at this particular moment." She said breathlessly, her eyes going back down to the pamphlets that were still in her lap.

Pogue let out a soft laugh, "Better pinch yourself then Danvers."

She looked back up at him, "You really want me to come with you? Because if you want to have the whole University experience on your own, I would get that."

Pogue shook his head, simply looking into her eyes, "I have you, I'm not letting you go. I came to close to letting that happen. I can't leave you here on your own anyway, the trouble you would get into." Victoria let out a breathy laugh, her hand coming up to her mouth, "Besides, I was thinking New York would probably be the best place for us to start looking for more information on Catherine."

Victoria's eyes snapped back up to Pogue, "My..." her voice trailed off.

Pogue just held her gaze and nodded. "Yeah,"

She just sat and looked back at Pogue, her blue eyes dark and stormy looking. She was quiet and so still, Pogue was starting to worry he had said something wrong. But then suddenly she leaned forward, her hands reached up and gently she rested her palms on his neck. Tears welled in her eyes as she looked into Pogue's as he heard her voice in his head, 'I love you.'

He smiled back at her silently, 'I love you too.' With that Victoria closed the gap leaning over his lap, her lips coming down over his. She pulled herself into his lap, holding on to his neck, before wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into her. Pogue shifted on the mattress and Victoria's hands came down on his shoulders holding him down as she straddled his lap, her legs wrapping around his body.

He wrapped his arms around her, and pushed them both up and rolled them over, coming down on top of Victoria. She gasped as she pulled back from the kiss to pull his shirt off over his head. Pogue pulled it the rest of the way and threw it over his shoulder, his hands found the bottom of the big sweat shirt and Victoria sat up to kiss Pogue before he pulled it up over her head. He pulled her close to him, his hands running down her back. Pogue looked into her eyes, hesitating before kissing her again. 'You're my everything,'. His hands came up and traced down the side of her face. "You know that right?" He said out loud, softly to Victoria.

She met his eyes and smiled back, "Well, I certainly won't get tired of hearing it." She said cheekily, the Victoria Pogue was used to shining through. But all the same she pulled him close and spoke, only a breath away from him, so her breath just danced over his lips, "You're mine." She whispered back.

Pogue tightened his hold on her in his arms and brought his lips against hers. Electricity shot through both of them, but as they clung on to each other it radiated. Most intense were their skin touched, like a million explosions over the surface of their skin. Victoria pulled them back own on to the bed, her hands tracing down Pogue's torso, her fingertips exploring his body. Pogue kissed her deeply before pulling back to look at her again, "Promise we will be together forever."

Victoria looked up at him, her eyes shining, "What?"

"Promise me right now, it's you and I, no matter what. This is it."

She blinked, "Of course," She said simply, "Forever. No outs, no running. Just us. Always."

Pogue nodded, "Always."

Victoria's hand reached up to the side of his head and slowly brought him back down to her, "Always,"