"Mom… I found her."

"Well, yeah, I guess you did." I could see that she thought I was talking about how I found her in the forest a couple hours ago. I didn't know if I wanted to correct her. Surely it would be better to keep it to myself until Maisee understood what I was to her? It was unfair otherwise, that my mom would find out before her. Knowing I wouldn't be able to lie to her, I simply hummed in response, not trusting myself to provide an answer that would keep the truth hidden.

After that, we both stood in silence, no conversation between us really necessary. She must've known that I was worried about something (mainly Maisee) due to the colour of my aura, but she didn't comment on it. I gazed off into the tips of the trees, wondering how I was going to keep going now. I couldn't just spring it on Maisee that we were soulfinders, especially after her rude awakening to the world of savants. She had more than enough on her plate already. But I didn't want to keep her in the dark either, this was her life, I couldn't just hide it from her. We were destined to spend our lives together – how the hell was I supposed to tell her that?

"Right, I'm gonna go back inside, you should probably too. It's kind of cold out here." She rubbed up and down her arms quickly as she marched back inside, not waiting for me to follow her. She could probably tell that my mind was too preoccupied to do much of anything apart from staring off into space. I'd be lying to myself if I said that that was the only reason I was still here – I wanted to wait for Maisee so I could get another chance at talking to her.

After an hour though, I'd more or less given up. I had homework to work on and it seemed like Maisee enjoyed the birds' company more than she did ours. With how scared she was of people, I couldn't really blame her. So I walked back inside, my mind made up to try and focus on my school work. Even still, when I started writing up an English essay, my thoughts kept drifting to the beautiful girl with the lost gaze.

I was trying to focus, I really was, but my mind kept searching for the smallest of excuses to think about other things. The view out of my window reminded me that she was still out there, in the cold and wandering around with no indication on how to get home – that was distraction number one and stayed at the forefront of my thoughts for a good 10 minutes. Distraction number two was the birds chirping in the background: were my family faring well cleaning up the living room? Maybe I should go help them? Distraction number three was Maisee again, but, this time, her doll-like face and light blue eyes, rather than the state of her health. If I kept going like this, I'd never get it done. Shutting the laptop down, I sighed into my hands. At this rate, I'd get a detention tomorrow for sure.

"Oh, Maisee, you're back! God and you're freezing too, here let me go get you a-" I stopped listening to whatever my mom was rambling on about, hurrying down the stairs to make sure she was really home. In fact, I was hurrying so much that when I jumped down the last few steps, I didn't see the blond who stepped in front of my path, crashing into her and sending us both flying.

"Oof." All the air in my lungs seemed to escape all at once as I flipped us over, trying not to get her hurt. If it was my mom, I'd get killed by her later. If it was Maisee, I'd kill myself later. Either situation led to my demise, making me flinch as we rolled across the floor, the soft carpet cushioning our fall.

"Oh my god I am so sorry." I said this without even looking up - I was too afraid to look up and see who it was, but judging by the electricity that was running down my arms, I was willing to bet that it was Maisee. Every part of me felt alive.

"Oh gosh, are you two ok?" Mom's frantic voice was heard. Which meant it had to be Maisee underneath me.

"It's- It's ok." As I heard her soft voice, I realised I was right. Damn it. My gaze met hers. She didn't really look like she was in pain but I started a quick search, wanting to make sure that I hadn't caused her any pain. If I did I'd be willing to kick myself over and over for this.

"Gray, when you both get up, get Maisee some warm clothes alright?" Once again, I didn't bother looking her way, just sent a telepathic 'alright'. My thoughts had been jumbled up by Maisee, and I couldn't even care enough to untangle them.

"Are you sure? Are you hurt?" I think I fired off a couple more questions about her well-being but I wasn't even aware of what I was saying anymore. I was overcome with illogical worry. She wasn't hurt, I could see that, but every fibre of my being was telling me that if I could cause her pain this easily, I wasn't fit to be her soulfinder. I was meant to protect her, not be the thing she needed protection from.

"Gray I'm fine. But could you… Could you maybe get off of me?" That snapped me out of it quickly enough. I'd been so focused on the crash that I hadn't realised I was still lying on top of her, and that her cheeks had reddened considerably. Quickly scrambling to my feet, I offered her a hand up, like I always did. And, again, just like always, she avoided it and got up on her own. If she was this opposed to contact, me staying on her must've been horrible for her. Once more I'd let myself be overwhelmed by emotions caused by her to the point where I ended up hurting her more. I couldn't do anything right.

"Wow Gray, if this is how you get the ladies, I'm not surprised you've never had a girlfriend."

Hi :)

So here's the chapter on time - surprisingly enough, considering I've actually been having to do quite a bit of coursework. But that's ok, I love Maisee and Gray too much, I could never abandon them :)

Anyhows, I loved all of your reviews, they put a big smile on my face, no matter how much homework I have XD So I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter too!

Bye bye =^.^=