Author's note: I'm pretty sure you're going to have a newfound appreciation for the color green by the time I finally get to blue. Just look at how many of them I've got so far...and I've still got two more in store before blue becomes a possibility in this story! Anyway, I open this chapter with a flashback of Bella and Sebastian's "secret agreement" that I can't hold in any longer. Let me know if it doesn't flow right. And I've finally decided to go and up the rating to M. I think I'm on my way to earning it with this chapter. And just to let you know...this is a long one, people! Even by my standards lately.

Music Suggestions: 'Hold the door' by Armor for Sleep, 'Use me' by Hinder, 'Someday' by Nickelback, 'Falling for you' by Jem.

Disclaimer: No Dark Angel ownership rights for me this year.

Forest Green

Sebastian almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation as he shifted from foot to foot impatiently waiting for Bella to open the door to the rear entrance of the converted New Age store she shared with her mother. He'd shown up, even though she'd given him no explanation as to why she needed a secret meeting with him. He'd shown up early, no less, and now he was still waiting in the rain at the back doorstep without a clue. And she was late. Personally, he hadn't even thought they were that great of friends for such requests.

It had to be a female thing. Because there was no way he'd do something like this for Mason.

He frowned down at the ground and pushed his dark brown hair out of his eyes as it fell down his face in drenched clumps. Personally, he'd rather chop it all off and keep it to a minimum. The last time he'd done that, however, Pandora had pitched a fit. For some odd reason, she liked it a little shaggy, so that's how he kept it. He kept telling himself it was just because he didn't want Pandora to throw another episode and that he was just keeping the peace.

You wouldn't hear him saying otherwise anytime soon.

The door creaked open and Bella peered from behind the door warily. Checking the alley in both directions, she then motioned furtively for him to come inside.

"What's with the cloak and dagger, Bell?" Sebastian joked after she motioned him through the back door of the shop.

"This is more for your benefit than it is mine." Bella practically hissed as she shut the door quietly behind him.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Sebastian returned sarcastically as he followed along behind Bella to the counter in the store level. "What's up, Bell? Seriously." Sebastian queried after he sat down on a stool by the counter.

Bella sat down wearily on the opposite stool and looked at him with a tired expression. It looked as if she hadn't slept in days. It must be something bad if she went through all this to get him here and still hesitated to talk about it. He knew he was going to regret prodding her and being all sympathetic, but he'd already admitted to himself that he was a masochist years ago.

He reached over and placed a hand over Bella's, stilling the nervous twisting as she stared at them on her lap.

"You know I'm good at keeping secrets, Bell." Sebastian said quietly, pushing her gaze up with his free hand to meet his eyes. Her jaw was locked tight and her eyes were full of tears that she appeared to be fighting with all her strength to keep from falling.

"Jeez, Bell. Don't cry." Sebastian ordered gently, catching a tear with the pad of his thumb. "Tell me what's wrong. I'll do whatever I can to help you out."

"I don't wanna get pregnant." Bella said in a barely audible tone after she nodded resolutely.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Sebastian asked in a confused tone. "Shit. You're not...you don't think you are, do you?" Sebastian asked, almost fearfully. He didn't know who it could have been or when it could have happened, but whoever it was had better step up. Is that why she was upset? Did this guy abandon her when she found out? That would change real fast if he had anything to say about the case.

"Oh, God no." Bella said, sniffling and laughing a little. Then she looked away at the opposite wall. "You remember how Eve hooked up with that one guy, the one who isn't affected by female X5 pheromones?" Bella asked, leading into her request.

"Yeah, Jack." Sebastian replied slowly, pulling away from Bella and leaning against the counter. "That was a few months ago, wasn't it? Wasn't about any real feelings or anything but rather something about a controlled heat, that's the rumor isn't it?"

"Well...?" Bella trailed off questioningly, turning her gaze back to his hopefully.

"What?" Sebastian asked in a surprised tone. "You're joking right? Are you seriously asking me to have a no-strings, sexual relationship with you whenever you go into heat?"

"Kind of, yeah." Bella replied quietly, running her fingers through her hair and pushing it off her forehead.

"Why me? Why now?" Sebastian asked, leaning his arms down on his knees and tilting his face up to look at her speculatively.

"One, because you're the only one I'd trust to not gloat all around town about our exploits." Bella replied. "Two, because I've seen how you are with heats. You're just like Jack."

"I wouldn't say exactly." Sebastian mumbled. Jack kind of liked to talk and if there was one thing Sebastian believed, it was that matters of that kind were not for public knowledge or display. "And the timing?" Sebastian prodded, gesturing for her to continue.

When Bella's gaze returned to his, there was something different in her eyes. Something a little less inhibited and a little more closely related to lustful. It was something he'd never seen her direct at anyone ever before.

"I think I'm going into heat. And I can't hold it back any longer." Bella replied in a husky tone. Biting her lip, Bella then stood up from her stool and stepped up next to Sebastian's. Sebastian visibly swallowed when she climbed up on the stool and straddled his lap.

"You do know that Pandora's gonna have kittens if she ever finds out about this, right?" Sebastian stated matter-of-factly as his resistance crumbled.

Damn girls with heat cycles and his archaic chivalric attitude.

ooozooo*ooonoo*oowo*oooeoooo

Sneaking in late after one of his encounters with Bella never got any easier. Taking into account that sneaking around transgenics was hard enough but with one that hardly slept at all and another that had sleeping patterns as unpredictable as the weather, it took an exceptional amount of skill and stealthiness. About a year and a half and three heat cycles later, neither he nor Bella had the heart to break the news to Pandora. How does one go about that kind of conversation, anyway?

His thoughts were distracted as he walked down the hall past Pandora's bedroom. His steps halted as he listened intently to the sounds coming through the door. Was she crying? He opened the door and crept inside.

Silently closing the door behind him, he then focused on Pandora. It didn't look like she was awake, yet tears were leaking down her face and her knees were hugged tightly to her chest as she lay on her side. And then another wrenching sob that he'd heard before he entered escaped, making her whole body shudder and his heart stop. He leaned down and placed one hand on her shoulder in a light, comforting gesture. Her eyes then shot open and sounded as if she'd swallowed a scream, sitting up violently and almost knocking him on his ass in surprise. The only thing that stopped him from doing so was the death-like grip Pandora put on his forearm when she'd sat up.

"Sebastian?" she asked in a scared tone, looking up at him with fearful eyes. She hardly ever used his full name anymore. "You really here?"

He nodded his head in response. He then tried to unsuccessfully pull his arm away. Her grip didn't waver.

"Stay with me?" Pandora asked quietly, her lower lip quivering slightly.

"I've got your back." Sebastian replied gently, sitting down on her bed and coaxing her to lay down.

Facing each other, Sebastian eased her hand down his forearm and laced his fingers with hers. She smiled placidly and closed her eyes.

He was going to hell...because what he was doing was wrong on so many levels. He was glad he'd decided to take a quick shower on the way back.

ooowoo*ooouoooo*oooonooo*oooxoo

When Pandora rolled over during the night, she noticed that something was different. It took her a moment to place the feeling and scent, and then her eyes widened. What exactly was Sebastian doing in her bed? What was he doing spooned up against her back, arm wrapped around her middle securely?

"Bastian?" Pandora asked groggily, her voice still thick with sleep.

"Shh, sweet pea. It was just a bad dream. Don't worry, I've got you." Sebastian replied reassuringly, still mostly asleep as he tightened his arm around her slightly.

So she had that dream again. It was some horrible nightmare that she just couldn't shake. She could never remember what it was about when she woke up, but the cold sweat, sobbing, and fearful shaking that took minutes to subside told her that it was never anything good. And even though she never remembered it, she knew it was almost always the same. She could feel the same lingering pain and sadness deep in her bones. She almost always woke up screaming. Apparently it was so bad this time that she'd woken Sebastian and he'd come to stay with her.

It gave her a safe and comforted feeling at the thought of Sebastian staying with her...if only to try and protect her from her dreams. However it was more likely that he'd gotten too close and she'd reached out, yanked him down, and refused to let go.

But still, the thought that he'd stayed meant a lot.

ooozoo*ooomo*ooowoooo*ooosoooo*

"Bastian! Look out!" Pandora shouted as she lunged towards him. He turned quickly with wide eyes as she tackled him. She understood the startled expression as they went tumbling over the edge of a steep hill.

Pandora felt Sebastian's arms lock around her protectively, one around her head with the other around her back, as they rolled down the seemingly never-ending decline.

Sebastian grunted as they landed hard at the bottom, him absorbing most of the impact. Pandora laid there silently for a few moments, a little shell-shocked by what her simple little preventative measure had caused. Sebastian had been scouting the horizon and had his back turned to the camouflage transgenic, for some reason completely unaware that he was about to be taken out of the game only fifteen minutes in.

Most of the transgenics were enjoying a little game aptly named "War". More or less , they were paint-balling the hell out of each other during the few precious hours of away time they got every year in a lovely secluded forested area about forty-five minutes outside of Seattle. While the ordinaries' viewpoints and prejudices had tapered down some and transgenics were technically allowed to come and leave as they pleased from Terminal City, it was understood that people only really tolerated the normal looking X-series in their day-to-day life and routine. So for the most part, the anomalies and otherwise "freakish-looking" transgenics hardly ever left TC's boundaries.

Needless to say, Max had been upset with that "implied and understood but never spoken aloud" rule and negotiated for some "recreational away time" that could be cashed in whenever she wished. Basically it came down to the Seattle government sending over a few buses that would take them to any destination the transgenics chose. It was rather ingenious of her mother to pull the "we're genetically engineered super soldiers that could kill you before you can blink if you upset us" card.

Anyway, it all led up to her current predicament.

Pandora finally decided to sit up, pulling her pinned arms from between them as Sebastian relinquished his hold on her.

"You know, forest camo looks great on you." Sebastian teased, reaching up to pluck a few leaves and pine needles out her now loose ponytail.

Pandora looked up, blowing a errant lock of hair out of her eyes before huffing out impudently.

"I could say the same to you." Pandora countered, shifting minutely to brush his hair off his forehead on her way to pick at the dead leaves that had collected in his hair.

Pandora fell silent at the strange expression that flitted across his face and how his body tensed up slightly beneath her. That was when she noticed how exactly they'd landed and the position they were now in. In all the years of knowing him and physical altercations, she could honestly say that this was the first time she'd ended up with Sebastian straddled between her legs. She really didn't know what to think about that.

And apparently, he didn't look very comfortable with the position either.

"Bastian?" Pandora asked softly, lifting up and settling back down on him a little further back as she found she was sitting on his stomach. She gasped and her breath hitched when she settled against something she'd never felt before. Never felt before on any man.

"Bastian?" she asked again, this time with a mixture of confusion and worry when his eyes screwed up and his fingers dug deep into her thighs.

She heard the footsteps approaching the same time he did.

"Ah hell, here we go again." Sebastian said reproachfully as he yanked Pandora back down to his chest and over another precipice that Pandora hadn't even realized was there.

This time when they landed, Pandora was crushed between Sebastian and the ground. Sunlight filtered through the trees with a prism-like quality, momentarily blinding her until Sebastian lifted his head up and blocked it from view.

"Are you alright?" Sebastian asked gently, trailing his fingertips down her face softly.

Pandora nodded in the affirmative, unable to speak with the revelation that was still spiraling through her brain. Sebastian was turned on by being between her legs. And when she realized how her legs were situated around his and tightened their grip imperceptibly she realized that she was aroused by him being there as well. She liked the pressure he was expending at the apex of her thighs and began to imagine how it would feel if he began to move. Would she like the way it felt? Would she say yes if he wanted to do more than that?

She didn't like where these jumbled thoughts were leading. Sure, there were times when she wondered what it'd be like to have a boyfriend, but sex was a little much right now. Besides, friends weren't supposed to be like this...feel like this. It wasn't right.

Even though it felt as if it was.

Pandora saw the bashful and almost vulnerable expression cross his face before his ducked his head down to her neck, seemingly to hide it there.

"This is way too much action for one day." Sebastian mumbled against her neck, the double meaning not lost on Pandora, resting on his elbows above her but otherwise not trying to get up. He laid there for a few more moments above her before she felt him try and roll off of her. Instinctively, she tightened her legs around him, effectively trapping him as well as flexing her hips forcefully into his.

She gasped again in surprise as he pulled her head to one side with one hand and felt his teeth repeatedly nip at the skin at the juncture of her shoulder and neck, his hips rocking into her.

She heard him inhale sharply as he jerked his head away. He then turned his eyes to hers and looked at her fiercely.

"Let go of me, Pandora." Sebastian ordered quietly, almost threateningly.

"Oh. Right." Pandora squeaked out, her vocal cords constricting shut at Sebastian's dark gaze as her legs unwound in a lightening fast motion. Sebastian rolled to the side, breathing heavily.

Both laid there shoulder to shoulder in an uncomfortable silence, staring up at the sky until they heard voices calling out for them. It was time to leave.

ooouooo*ooonoo*ooosoo*oooowooo

So...how many of you all guessed that heat was the secret between Bella and Sebastian? I'll explain it a little more in the next chapter (I hope). And I kind of wanted to do more with the last scene of this chapter, but I was like "Good God! Just end already!" so I ended it there. About the last scene...was it hot or was it not? Too abrupt or confusing? Do you think it deserves the M rating or am I overshooting it? I've always wanted to write a scene like that and I always pictured it with Max and Alec in a real-life attack scene. But I thought that this worked just as well. On a different note, does it sound like Sebastian's getting around too much? And Mason was nowhere to be found in this chapter. I'll make sure he gets some more of the spotlight in oncoming chapters, promise. I'm thinking that's about it for now. Until next time...