AN: So it's been awhile, and I apologize with all my heart. This past week has been very hectic, but now that it is passed, I hope that this week promises more leisure time to do what I love the most. Enjoy and don't forget to review!

Chapter 10. Lakeside Lament

Morning comprised of Leah waking up to find she had failed to set her alarm. Jumping up, she tossed back her hair and ran out of her room in black pajama bottoms and tank top. Walking downstairs, she went into a closet to grab shoes and was about to go outside before Ethan walked through the back door.

"What are you doing out?"

"You were sleeping in, so I went to feed the horses for you."

"You didn't have to," Leah told him. "It's my responsibility."

"I wanted to help. You need your sleep."

"I can't believe that I didn't set my alarm," Leah sat at the kitchen table, running a hand through her head to think. "I'm usually not this out of it, I promise. I don't know what got hold of me."

"Nothing happened to be ashamed of."

"I feel like such a wreck," Leah laughed as she said it. "I mean, I can't even remember little things anymore. How bad is that?"

"You look beautiful today."

"You don't look too bad yourself, you know." Leah smiled, looking at how she sat in her pajamas and he stood in his new clothes, ready for the new day. "I never thought that I would see you again."

"Never?"

"Never."

"I thought the same," Ethan admitted. "But I'm glad that I was wrong."

"You know what?" Leah stood up, going to the counter to grab her keys. "I was just going to have us bask here and find something to do, but I think we should go out somewhere. How about it?"

Will had not been reluctant to meet Jay at the park, but when Jay mentioned Leah, he knew he wouldn't hesitate a moment to hurry over. Jay sat at a bench that was concealed in the shadow of a large tree, her dark hair blending in with the shade.

"Looking lovely as usual, Jay." Will complimented before he took a seat.

"Do you think the red lipstick is too much?" she puckered her lips.

"Red lipstick has always worked for you."

"I'm a colorful person, I can't help it." Jay shrugged, her arms spread out across the top of the bench. "Life is far too great to go about it bland and dull. It's bright people that have all the fun."

"I'd believe it." Will crossed his arms over his chest. "So what is happening with Leah?"

"You know that guy… the one she was deathly in love with in high school that made her the wreck I found her to be?"

"Of course."

"He's back."

"Back?"

"Yeah," Jay smudged her lips together. "Not sure if it'll be good or bad for her, but I want to make sure he doesn't go and break her heart again. You understand?"

"I understand just as much as you do," Will nodded. "Leah doesn't deserve that again. Especially when she's been such a wreck lately."

"She tell you what's wrong?"

"No. Did she tell you?"

"Nope," Jay frowned. "I wonder if she told Ethan."

"What happened?" Will asked. "Why is he here?"

"Not exactly sure," Jay answered. "I just ran into them at the café in the mall yesterday morning. They were there just having a lovely breakfast together, and my God Will, the man is pure perfection!"

"That sounds reassuring," Will said bitterly. "Why did you call me here, Jay? I don't really need to know about the man of Leah's dreams finally coming back into her life."

"Well, you love the girl, right?"

"I'm surprised you still ask me that question."

"Exactly," Jay nodded to herself. "And I think you deserve to know."

"Then why the park? Why not just tell me on the phone and save me the driving?"

"Because," Jay put her hand above her forehead, like a sailor scanning the horizon. "They are at the park right now together."

Leah and Ethan walked around, side by side, across the paved sidewalks of the park. Many unspoken things were not yet presented to one another, and neither seemed to be in a rush to let those things be recognized. Rather, they were prolonging it, enabling them to walk around blithe and carefree, with no thoughts passing through their mind but the contentment they had recently begun to experience at having one another back in their lives.

"Such a gorgeous place," Lead commented, her eyes shifting to the tall trees that surrounded the park and much of New Albany. "Surprising that this is my second year here and I am just discovering this. Or maybe it's just because you're here."

"I've discovered things too, Leah." Ethan ran a hand through her hair. "Like the fact that it is possible to be just as happy as I used to be."

"Used to?"

"Before we left and went our separate ways."

Leah stared at Ethan then, knowing nothing would seem appropriate to end this conversation unless it was a kiss. Ethan, with the same thoughts rushing through his head, felt himself go red and grinned when Leah's face turned just as bright. Before they had gathered enough courage to perhaps do so, the moment had passed, leaving Ethan cursing himself inside and Leah sighing before dropping down to sit on the ground in front of the lake.

"What make us think we could go on like this without each other?" Leah hugged her knees, watching the sun reflect across the glassy surface of the water.

"Fear… uncertainty." Ethan joined her on the ground, his arms draping over his knees like a bored teenager, despite his enthrallment. "We were still kids, Leah. We had plans. Family. To completely give all of that up was a scary thought. And one that seemed too overwhelming to do anything else but what we did."

"I missed you so much," Leah said. "I know it must sound cliché by now, considering I say it so often, but it never grows old to me. It wasn't so bad in the beginning, but when I settled down in college, I realized that maybe I never would see you again. That you were probably starting your new life just as I had, and that all we had of each other were memories."

"I missed you too."

"But Ethan, I wanted so much more than memories." Leah lowered her head, her hair falling slightly forward so that it covered one side of her face. "And it seemed that was all I would ever have."

"I thought that I would settle back down fine after I left," Ethan explained. "But nothing seemed the same. I seemed as disconnected with my home as if I had been like Eli and just left. In many ways, it seemed almost worse, since I was surrounded in a society I felt I was no longer a part of."

"Why would you do that to yourself?"

"I wanted to believe this was where I belonged," Ethan replied. "That I would find contentment in living my usual life. Doing what I had always planned to do. But I couldn't. Not without you. My future seemed just as bleak as yours did when we separated, except that I had been in denial for so long that I believe it truly would work out for the good. I guess it just took me all this time to figure that out."

"And how did Martha Dewberry feel about this?"

"She was a reason that made me continue," Ethan frowned in sadness. "I wish I could be all that Martha wishes I could be, and promise her everything that I know she desires, but I can't. She has been so patient. One of the most patient I have ever met. But I'm not for her. I never will be."

"You have a lot of respect for her."

"Very much so. She is not so much the ingénue she makes herself out to be at times. She knows, Leah. She knows that I can never be with her, no matter how much I try, or how much she waits. But she does wait. She waits for me to come home and announce that we will never marry because I could never love her the way I loved before."

"Ethan…" Leah closed her eyes.

"How I loved you…"

"Please Ethan."

"I think I might love you like that still."

"I never stopped." Leah whispered, her eyes seeking refuge in the lake when tears came to sting her eyes. "Please don't hurt me again, Ethan."

"I've made a victim of you…" Ethan's pain had Leah crying, and he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer. "Never in my life, Leah, would I purposefully come out to cause you harm. I only wish for your happiness."

"I know, Ethan. I know." Leah sucked on her bottom lip. "I just cannot believe that we have gotten together again after so long."

"You called for me, did you not?"

"I felt so sick and out of everyone's reach before," Leah's tears were macerated by her sudden joy. "But now it seems like you coming here was just the remedy I needed."

"I needed you just as much, Leah Lewis-Hall." Ethan declared. "It is just that you beat me to the first step."

A tranquil moment of serenity took hold of the fraternization and Leah smiled, realizing that silence had become an active participant during their conversations.

"Do you think we would have lasted?" Leah asked, her eyes never leaving the lake.

"I would like to think that we would," Ethan responded, resting his head on her shoulder before they stared at the lake together, its depths as dark and enigmatic as the answer to the question neither one of them could discern.

AN: So begins a set of chapters that will be the happy-go-lucky kinda stuff before the true drama comes in. Dun DUN DUN! But I hope that you all enjoy it. :D