Title: Lovely Discovery

Pairing: Owen x Angela

Disclaimer: I claim no rights to anything belonging to the Harvest Moon franchise. Please only credit me for the fanfic itself!

Rating: T

Author's Note: Almost done with the main plot! Bonus chapters are up next, so stay tuned! I also have some fluffy plans, muahaha! So, please enjoy this chapter!

-START-

Angela dropped her hammer and ran to Owen's side. She cradled his limp head in her lap and started to cry. Then, like something from a horrible dream, her face flushed red and a pang echoed through her chest. Heart throbbing, she tried to stay composed while she cast her wary gaze over to her friend. "F-Finn…what time is it…?"

"A little after midnight!" he squealed in a panicked fashion, trying to hold back obvious tears. "A-Angela, it's the seventh day! You can't be here or else you might faint! If you faint up here now, you might run out of oxygen!"

She knew Finn was right. Now, the effects had gone beyond blushing and acting foolish. She was now in horrible danger. The fumes made it impossible to work in Owen's presence without feeling faint. In a mine, that was almost certainly fatal.

In their current situation, it was absolutely fatal.

Angela had no choice but to put Owen aside and focus on getting Chloe out. She managed to put his body out of the way while retrieving her hammer from the back of the room. Angela raised the tool high above her head. Just as she was about to bring it down she felt a numbing sensation run through her entire body and bring her action to a total halt. The hammer fell from her hands and back into the dirt. For a moment, she thought she was going to faint. Finn watched her as she staggered to pick up the hammer again. When she touched it, the woman crashed to the ground and held her hands over her mouth like she was about to vomit.

"A-Angela!" he cried, rushing to her side and using his small arms to nudge her shoulder. She continued to hack and cough awfully. Finn was terrified to see that there was blood on her palm. "T-That's blood! Angela, there's blood on your hand!"

He watched her seethe in pain and realized that the effects of the fumes had done more than make her feel intoxicated and have hallucinations. They had actually made her ill. If she exerted herself in the same way Owen had, it looked as if she could die.

"We need to go get help!" Finn said, grabbing her arm and straining to pull her to the staircase. "Let's go downstairs and get Dr. Jin! He'll know what to do. You're going to get sick if we stay up here much longer!"

The oxygen towards the top of the mine was incredibly thin and, because of the cave-in, all three of them would suffocate. If Angela went to get help, it would probably be too late for Owen and Chloe. Picking up her hammer, she went towards the boulder and started pounding, knowing that breaking the boulder was their only way towards safety. Three pounds in and Angela dropped to the ground and threw up. Finn was sobbing and wailing when she stood up again, wiping her bloody mouth with a soiled glove.

"It's not worth it," the tiny sprite cried loudly. "Angela, let's go!"

"I'm not leaving!" she cried with determination. She looked at Finn over her shoulder. Her face was pale, her cheeks were red and her body was weak. Yet, on her face, she was smiling through tears. "If Owen, Chloe and I can't leave at the same time, then none of us are going to go!"

Finn watched her as she turned away and started hammering, choking and sputtering with each swing. The small fairy heaved a great sigh and saw that there was no other choice. He nodded and flew towards Angela. He may have not been a full-fledged Harvest Sprite, but Angela was like a sister to him. She was his best friend. He had to help her no matter what. "Angela, do you have any water in your rucksack?"

"W-What?"

"Water! Maybe I could use it to wake Owen up and have him help you! You can't get through this rock by yourself."

She smiled dully and remembered her first meeting with Owen. Laughing to herself, she stripped the bag from her body and sat it on the ground.

"Yeah," Angela muttered, remembering the day so vividly that she felt as if she could feel his arms around his waist again and see his smile. "I…always carry water with me."

She went back to hammering while Finn retrieved a bottle of water from her rucksack. Thankfully, she hadn't drunk all of it on her way up. Finn took the bottle over to Owen and poured the cool liquid onto his face, hoping to shock him awake. Still, he was completely motionless and showed no signs of revival. Angela was about ready to give up and go to help when she heard whimpering from the other side of the boulder. "C-Chloe?" she stammered, pressing her ear against the stone and hearing another cry. "Chloe! It's me, Angela! Are you there? Please, answer me!"

There was no reply for a few seconds. Finally, after a tiny cough, there was a response.

"A-Angela…" a weak voice came. "A-Are you r-really there…?"

It was Chloe. She was alive.

She sounded so awful. Her voice sounded like it was faded and lacked the usual peppiness others knew her for. Tears came to Angela's eyes and she pounded the rock with her fists, frustrated that she was unable to do much else. She decided the best thing to do was to keep Chloe talking. She swallowed and tried to keep her voice low and calm. Hopefully her fake cheerfulness would make the little girl feel better.

"Yep, it's me!" she cheered, wiping the corners of her mouth. "Hey, you're going to be okay, alright? How do you feel?"

"F-Fine…but it's so hard to breathe," the voice said, and panic was reignited in Angela's gaze. Just as she thought, the little girl was suffocating to death because of the lack of oxygen. That had to mean that the top of the mine was also sealed off. Their only means of escape was gone. For a quick moment, hope was so lost that Angela felt like collapsing and giving up.

But that wasn't an option. She had to keep going. Angela retrieved her hammer and kept asking the little girl as many questions as she could to try and find out her position and how much danger she was in.

"Chloe, are you hurt anywhere?" she asked, afraid of what the answer would be. To her dismay, the little girl told her that a rock had fallen on her leg and that she couldn't move. She said it didn't hurt too badly, but it wasn't possible for her to move it or lift up a hammer. The farmer felt the urge to start crying again, but knew that she couldn't let sadness win. She was an optimist. Angela knew that she could make everything okay if she tried harder. There had to be a way out. There just had to be a way for all three of them to get to safety. If there wasn't one, she'd die trying to find it.

"F-Finn, how's Owen doing?"

She looked over to see the little fairy buzzing around his face and trying to wake him by every means possible.

"I can't get him to wake up!" the sprite cried, pouring more water onto his face and into his mouth. Nothing seemed to be working. "Angela, he's completely out. There's no way that I can get him to do anything!"

"N-No!" Angela screamed, realizing the loudness of her voice too late. Chloe had already heard her scream. She knew it was too late to take back the words when she heard the little girl's frightened squeak from the other side of the rock.

"A-Angela…is O-Owen okay?" Chloe asked hesitantly, her voice almost incoherent from sobbing. Angela almost told her a lie to keep her comfortable before a horrifying wail silenced her. "Please save Owen! Even if you have to leave without me, please save him! He deserves happiness so much…all he ever did was take care of me! Please, I love him! Please get him out of here! D-Don't worry about me!"

Those words horrified Angela.

"Please save him, Angela! PLEASE!"

There was a rumble from within the mines. The scream had made the rocks from above unsteady. One by one, she head small parts begin to collapse. Chloe screamed from the other side and, suddenly, it fell quiet.

"Chloe! Are you still there?"

No reply came.

There had to be something that she could do. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied a few rock and glass structures that had survived the storm. Suddenly, an idea popped in her head. Finn watched her curiously as she ran to the other side of the room and started pounding on the stones. They didn't have any time to spare, so she went as quickly as she could from rock to rock.

"What are you doing?" Finn asked with alarm, still trying to recover. He raced over to her and got right up in the farmer's flushed face. "Chloe needs our help! Why are you wasting your strength on smashing those rocks? If we can't get to her now, she'll die!"

"I know that!" she said, managing a smile. Finn was incredibly confused until he realized her motive. "Just keep an eye on Owen! I have an idea, but I need to totally hurry up if I want it to work!"

There were many gasses in the mines. Most were harmful, but a very select few were helpful. She was looking for a structure filled with healing gas. Finn was suddenly watching her keenly as she broke open each rock, only to find nothing. Finally, she raised her hammer high and, with a frantic prayer to the Harvest Goddess she'd done everything to assist, she busted open the rock.

Green smoke erupted from within and filled the room.

Within seconds, Angela felt her nausea dissipate and her stamina return. More importantly, healing gas neutralized the effects of all the other gases. The effects of the amorous gas slowly faded, like her flushed face and mind, intoxicated impairments. Her normal state was completely restored.

Finn cheered merrily and saw the fumes flood the room and eventually wash over Owen's limp body. Both watched in anticipation and frantically hoped that her idea had worked and revived the man.

It took only a few seconds for Owen's eyes to open again.

He was incredibly weak, but he was awake enough to manage a few powerful swings. Angela screamed in joy and bent down to embrace him briefly. "O-Owen, you're awake! Oh, thank goodness!"

"Hng…" he moaned, sitting up and gasping at the pain he felt. His body was still sore from his frantic work earlier. It looked like he was in too much pain to even see straight. When he saw Angela, however, his whole face seemed to take on a new life. He got to his feet and stared at her. "A-Angela…you came all the way here?"

"Yes!" she shouted, remembering their dilemma and picking her hammer back up. "But there's no time to talk about that! Remember, Chloe is still trapped!"

Owen was surprised by her words at first. Passing out had disoriented the young man more than usual, especially considering the lack of air. Then, as if thanks to a miracle, he remembered that his little cousin's life was still in danger. Anger was manifest in his visage as he took up his tool and struck the boulder. He yelled for Angela to help him, to which she complied. The effects of the gas that had plagued her for so long were gone. It was because of that she could now pound at the rock that trapped Chloe. If she hadn't been healed, she would have still been at the mercy of a weak psychical state and unable to help Chloe. They could have died. Angela never thought she would ever say such a thing, but she silently thanked nature for the existence of fumes in mines.

"Angela!" he cried, wiping some sweat from his brow and casting a sideways glance to her. "We've got to hit this thing at the same time. If we both do it with all we've got, I'm pretty sure we can break this thing, okay? Are you…going to be okay?"

Angela nodded and did something she hadn't been able to do for a week. She turned to her friend and winked at him with her usual confidence in full bloom. Owen noticed instantly and smiled back at her. He knew she was finally better again. "Well, let's not waste any more time," he said through a hardened grin. "Let's do it!"

She nodded and stepped back, throwing the hammer over her frail shoulder and building her swing. Owen did the same until, finally, both charged towards the rock ferociously.

Both hammers collided with the colossal rock and sent it crumbling to pieces.

"It's breaking!" Finn remarked as the rock fell in jagged shards to the ground. Both adults hurried into the next room and were horrified to see the little girl buried under a sea of dust. No rocks had fallen on her, but the ceiling was starting to bulge inwardly. They dug her out quickly and removed the rock from her small leg. Owen put his hammer away scooped the small girl up in his arms in a protective manner and held her tightly. He heaved a heavy sigh of relief when he realized her heart was still beating. Chloe's leg was badly bruised and her face was dusty, but she was alive. Not wasting a second, Angela pointed to the stairs, urging them to leave as the room continued to buckle. They raced downwards so quickly that even the best sprinters couldn't have outrun them.

After running for what seemed like hours, they finally emerged from the dusty mine. The cheers of spectators were drowned out as the top levels splintered and erupted in another explosion of dirt. People fled from the falling debris which, thankfully, didn't last more than a few seconds. A few more tremors passed before everything settled down again.

Dr. Jin, having heard the news of the collapse, was right on the scene with Irene to take Chloe in the clinic for medical attention. Angela was so happy to see that she would get proper treatment and would probably recover even after her awful ordeal. Angela watched the small girl turn her head and smile lovingly at her.

"Thank you…" she mouthed out, waving to both her and Owen as she was taken away. Beside her, Owen looked down and Angela and took a long look at her. Jin also looked back at her, but didn't say anything. He could tell that she felt better simply by the way she winked at him. Hiding his glee, he whisked the girl away.

The woman didn't notice Owen was studying her and was instead talking with a very thankful Ramsey who, for once, was actually praising Owen directly. The blacksmith chuckled and claimed it was Angela who had been the most heroic. She blushed and disagreed heartily. Ramsey was impressed enough to ruffle her hair and muster a slightly enthusiastic tone.

"Angela, please stay for the night," Ramsey said, noting how weak and exhausted she was. "You can sleep in Chloe's room. I know she wouldn't mind, after what you did. I would like to thank you for everything you've done, and I don't think you're in a condition to walk home."

That was one thing the farmer could not disagree to.

"Aww, that sounds great!" she said, laughing as Ramsey showed her inside. "I really appreciate that, Ramsey. Home feels like a million miles away right now, you know?"

"I'll make you both a quick dinner, so relax. You both deserve a nice drink too!"

That sounded incredible to both of them. Neither objected and thanked the elderly man for his incredible kindness. It was almost a little frightening how nice he was being, but then again, the farmer couldn't blame him. His granddaughter was alive and well.

Owen followed and, before they went inside, he requested to talk to Angela in private. Ramsey barked at the man to not keep a lady waiting long, to which Owen replied with a flustered nod. Finn also flew off and followed Ramsey inside so that the two adults could chat alone. The door shut moments later and they were left alone on the dark step of the smithy. He didn't even have to open his mouth before Angela had started speaking. She knew exactly what was on his mind. She knew him all too well.

"Owen…I'm fine now," she said with a small blush. "That's what you were wondering, right?"

"Angela…"

"The healing gas must have cured me back there. That's why…I'm not acting…weird anymore. I'm normal again."

Just the memories of how bizarrely she acted made her look at her shoes in humiliation. She nervously kicked a rock and felt herself tense when she didn't hear a reply from Owen. Not looking at his face, she decided to continue on in a hushed tone, "These past few days have been awful. I was so scared of not seeing you, but when I did, I always hated myself for acting so stupidly. I couldn't help it."

"I'm glad," he chuckled, stepping a bit closer to her. He reached down and stole her small hand into his, bringing it to his lips and kissing her fingers gently. "I was starting to really miss the old you. The normal you is the one that I like the best, Angela."

"Why are you so nice to me?" she asked him with a playful laugh. "After all of this, I don't deserve it. I thought you'd be so freaked out by me now that you'd be running for the hills."

"I guess I know you too well," he said, stroking her hair and wiping a smudge of dirt from under her eye. "Besides, I don't think I'd be able to live without you. If you hadn't com, I might be dead…and so would Chloe. I owe you so much."

"No you don't! Believe me, it was worth every second."

"Same here," he declared sincerely, unable to take his eyes off her. "You should be running from me! I'm an awful mess and you still look as beautiful as ever."

Angela never knew that she could blush so much until those words left him. Then she remembered what Luke had said a few days before. Angela wondered if she should bring it up. Swallowing, the farmer decided to take a risk and ask him. After all, their time along together was slowly ticking away with every second Ramsey waited inside for them. "Owen, now that I'm back to normal, I need to tell you something…"

Owen raised a brow and Angela saw him smile for a split second. She closed her eyes and opened her mouth to speak.

"Owen, I love…"

Her sentence was cut off by him kissing her lips passionately.

The kiss lasted about a minute. Owen's hands went to her arms and he held her body against his. Angela's eyes shot open and she stood, frozen in time until he backed away. He was smiling at her so warmly that she lost the ability to form words. Instead, he finished her sentence by pressing his forehead against her and mumbling the words Angela had always wanted to hear.

"I love you, Angela."

It took her a few seconds to process his words. Finally, she looked up at him through hopeful eyes. "W-What? What did you say?"

"I love you," he repeated, now becoming nervous. "E-Even if you don't return my feelings, I still wanted to tell you. I needed…to tell you."

He backed up and scratched the back of his heck nervously. She didn't answer him for a few seconds. A deep sigh escaped him and he simply opened the door to let her inside. Just before they stepped inside, realization hit her. She closed the door in front of them and gently whacked Owen upside the head. "O-Ow!" he said, looking at her with like a kicked puppy. He rubbed his sore cheek. "What was that for?"

He has absolutely no idea, she thought with a loud giggle. She had managed to keep her secret. He lifted a brow and Angela wiped a tear from her eye. "Owen, you silly goose…you have no idea how long I've wanted to hear you say those words…"

He reddened and watched her smile up and him. She took another step towards him until their bodies were touching intimately.

"So…" he stammered, looking towards the ground and shutting his eyes. "So…do you…not like me back? I guess I could understand, but…"

His sentence was cut off by Angela wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a searing kiss. It was Owen's turn to be shocked and surprised. Angela pulled away briefly and, blushing sweetly, muttered against his throat, "I love you too, Owen..."

Finally, she could say those words. It was so long overdue.

That was all he needed to hear. He gripped her shoulders and pulled her lips back against his in a way that was kind, yet desperate. Apparently he'd wanted it just as much as she had. The kiss continued on in the midst of the blackness on the porch of the smithy. Angela fingers knifed through his hair and pushed her body against his, feeling how he was bending his head and tilting his head further into the kiss. His hands slowly traveled down the back of her spine and to her round bum, squeezing it tenderly to pull her further into the kiss. She moaned against his lips and pulled him closer, never wanting to be apart from him again.

They only broke apart when they heard the door creak open to see Ramey standing in the doorway. He chastised Owen for keeping a young lady out in the cold and told them food was ready. Owen listened to his uncle, but as soon as Ramsey turned his back, the young couple reached out to intertwine their fingers.

"Owen?" she asked, following him inside. "Thank you for being patient with me."

He chuckled and blushed, making sure Ramsey was turned away before her reached down to peck her temple.

"I would have waited for you forever."

For the first time, Angela felt like everything was close to being normal in her life. They'd see Chloe in the morning, but until then, all she would spend time with the man she loved.

-END-

The main plot is done…but what about Chloe? Is she alright?

Well, we'll see in the next chapter, won't we? R&R and I'll see you guys again soon. See you later! X3

Oh, and don't worry about Kathy. I have a plan for her, so she won't be without love for long! She's a good character and, even though I didn't involve her, we have to address her dilemma, right? Haha!