So sorry this took so long! It was really hard to write for some reason.

As always, thank you so much for all your reviews! They're lovely to read and I will try to reply to as many as I can.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Wondrously Waiting

I woke up the next morning alone.

As the golden light streamed across my bed, I saw where he must have been last. The chair's cushions held the imprint of his body, where he must have sat and watched me sleep. I rubbed my eyes and sighed, pushing myself up to sitting position.

I tried to remember him. His voice, his smell, the feel of his skin. But it was hard, because I couldn't put a face to it all. There was nothing visual to link all the sensory information into one clear picture of who this person was. It was a little unnerving.

I shook my head and slid out of bed, hardly surprised now to find a bowl and jug of water to wash my face with. I turned around and there was another outfit, laid out neatly on the now made bed. The dress was red, with floral patterns around the hem and a sweetheart neckline, white wedges placed neatly beneath. Looking around I shouted out a 'thank you', the words echoing back at me, before slipping on the dress.

After dressing, I made out to the courtyard, where a breakfast of pastries and fruit was set out, looking very candid. I settled down and began to eat, humming to myself to fill the silence.

The rest of the day was really not that exciting. I wondered about a sketchpad and pencils, as I wanted to start drawing again. I found one on one of the tables in the library, a beautiful leather bound sketchbook and a box of 2B and HB pencils. I smiled in secret joy and took them out to the garden. I pottered about, explored the gardens, the sun warm on my back, as my hands delicately brushed over the luscious flowers. I spent a good amount of time by a sparkling fountain, while inhaling the intoxicating scents of the flowers around me. I sat in a whicker chair, sketchbook on a marble table, as i sketched out the scene in front of me. Midday, I had a craving for strawberries and raspberries. The bowl materialised by my hand, filled with the crimson fruit. I smiled as I crushed a raspberry between my tongue and the roof of my mouth, while thinking 'a girl could get used to this'. I had never felt so relaxed in my life. For once I wasn't worrying about something: schoolwork, what my parents thought of me, what my friends thought of me, that I'll die a spinster. Such problems seemed kind of pointless in a place like this. Especially when whatever I wanted appeared out of thin air just as the thought formed in my head.

I waited though, in eager anticipation for the night to come, so I could talk to Alex again. He seemed to break through the mould I was so used to: rich boys and men wanting to own me as a pretty doll. He liked me, obviously, in some shape or form, not because I had a pretty face or a nice figure.

I was so absorbed in my drawing, I didn't notice the sun seeping away from the horizon. As old-fashioned gas lamps lit the garden, I didn't hear him approach me, his footsteps masked by the tinkling of the fountain.

"You like to draw?" his velvety voice came seemingly out of nowhere. I gave a yelp and nearly toppled into the fountain, I was so close to it. One strong arm caught my waist and pulled me back, lifting me to my feet.

"I've got you," he murmured, holding me tight to his chest, lips to my ear. I had my back to him, so I still didn't know what he looked like. He was warm though, the smell of lemons and mint wafting around me.

"You like scaring the crap out of me?" I teased him, once my heart settled back in the place it should be.

My world blackened when I felt the silk band covering my eyes. His lips pressed against the side of my neck and her murmured, "I apologise, how can I make it up to you?"

"Let me see you," I challenged him.

A warm wash of breath spanned across my neck as he sighed, "you already know the answer for that."

I echoed his sigh and said, "Well…you did say anything…"

He chuckled, brushing back my hair to rest his chin against my neck, "Well…anything but that."

"You really are a cryptic bastard," I accused him, "it's really annoying."

He only laughed again, increasing my frustration. "Well it keeps you on your toes now doesn't it? You'll never be bored."

I stuck out my tongue at his general direction but it only made his laughter worse.

"May I have a look at your drawings?"

I was playing at being too angry to respond but I nodded curtly, tongue in my cheek. I heard the rustles of pages as he brushed through the doodles of the garden, the flowers and what I imagined he looked like. "You're very good."

"Thanks," I murmured, "I don't usually get to draw as much as I like."

"I'm glad for that. C'mon, I'll take you for a walk."

He took me by the waist and guided me away from the burbling fountain. "I told you about myself last night, now its your turn," he said, in a smooth honeyed voice, "Who are you?"

"I'm not that interesting," I said, shrugging lightly, "I've got two parents, two sisters with sprogs and…I go to school and…yeah…I…"

I trailed off and he filled the silence for me, "Did you like it?"

Startled by the question it took me a moment to process, "I'm sorry?"

"Did you enjoy your life? Did you enjoy living with your parents, your sisters? Did you enjoy going to school?"

"Uh…" again, another long pause. It was one of those questions that you usually give pretty answers to. Answers where you simper and sigh about your life even though it is clear that you're lying. But no one really gives a shit and they eat it up like chocolate cake. I didn't want to lie. I didn't simper and sigh anymore. I wanted the truth. The ugly, messed up, revolting truth. And I wanted some to give a shit. "No. I hated it. I fucking hated it." I just swore, in front of a man. Gods, aren't I rebel? "My parents drove me insane. My father only took interest in me when I was dating some rich boy with a platinum smile or hanging out with the right girls. My mum was always pushing me towards these boys with the platinum smiles while whispering into my ear about how they could take care of me, in the same way my dad took care of her and my sisters' husbands with them. And my sisters? Gods! They pop out babies like its all they're good for and worship their husbands as if they rule the world, when in reality they are a couple of sodding twats who, whenever we have family reunions, stare at me like I'm some two-bit hooker. And while they do this, my sisters sneer down their noses at me for not being as attractive or as fertile as they are. I hate school. My friends only like me because they get all of the boys that I reject because I happen to have standards. And everyone else…stares. They stare and stare and stare and stare until I want to scream at them."

I paused in my rant, breathing heavily, clenching my fists so hard that my nails bit into my skin. But it felt so goddamn good. He didn't say anything, his breaths brushing against my neck, making wisps of hair dance and tickle my skin. It was like an encouragement to go on. Quiet and unspoken.

"I felt like I was in a room full of people, screaming, thrashing, dancing, singing, beating my fists against the walls, and no one was even glancing at me. And the more I screamed and danced, the less people noticed. People thought they cared. People knew they didn't care. I was just another pretty girl and it was choking me."

My blindfold felt wet. I reached up with a free hand and touched the tears that had slipped out under my blindfold. His hand suddenly closed over mine and he brought it to his lips, kissing the salty drops away from the tips of my fingers.

I took a shuddering breath and murmured, "sorry...no one's ever asked the question, wanting a truthful answer before."

"It made the floodgates open?"

"Exactly."

"Understandable," he pushed my hair back and took my chin, tilting it upwards, "it must be hard, being the beautiful girl behind the glass wall. You're admired, but no one takes you seriously, so no one listens and no one dares to come any closer."

The world twisted onto a new angle and my breath froze. It took me a moment to say something an when it did, it didn't make me sound very intelligent. "Ahh...yeah...something like that."

He only laughed, kissed the tip of my nose and we continued to walk. My hand brushed over the flowers, the sweet scents swirling around us as helper me close to his side. Something brushed softly across my back and I swore I felt the filaments of feathers tickle my spine. "So what do you enjoy?"

"Drawing," I said, brushing away the earlier anger, "you saw..."

"What do you like about it?"

"Well...I feel like it doesn't matter who I am or what I look like. When I'm drawing, it's just me and the paper," I shrugged, smiling easily.

"Freedom through art," he said.

"Yup," I said, nodding slowly. It scared me how much he seemed to just...know. And the way he was touching me...I knew I shouldn't be letting him or that they shouldn't feel this comfortable. But they did. It all just felt so right. "Can you mind read or something? You just...seem to understand quite a lot about me. And these touches. Why do they feel so...right?"

He took a deep breath and guided me to sit on what felt like a marble bench. "If you knew who I really was...you wouldn't put me down for being a man who lacks attention. Sometimes I get too much of it. But I suppose, like you, I get a bit...tired of it all." He took my hand, tracing delicate patterns on my skin. "And...one day...I saw you. I saw that when you smiled, it didn't quite reach your eyes. But I see you here," I could almost hear the smile in his voice, "you are going to flourish, like the flowers around us."

That was too sweet for words. Guessing where his face was, I tried to kiss his cheek in gratitude. But I ended up kissing his neck. He laughed again, easy and deed. He then guided my face towards his cheek and I pressed a small delicate kiss on his slightly scratchy skin. "Thank you. I may not know how you are but...thank you."

There was a silence but we listend to the hush of the trees and the singing of the crickets. His fingers threaded through my hair, twisting curls around his fingers. "Tell me more," he murmured, "tell me everything."

And I found myself doing as he asked. The words tumbled out of my mouth as I told him every single insignificant detail of my life. I swore a hell of a lot more, partly because swearing felt and tasted so good after restraining myself for so long and partly because I felt like I could with Alex. I told him about my classes and favourite childhood memories and even my opinions on current affairs.

He listened with an intense quietness as I talked, still playing my hair like he could do it for hours. When I finally had nothing else to say, he pressed his lips against the curve of my neck and whispered, "dance with me."

I laughed, "But I can't see. And there is no music."

Soft music lilted through the evening air and he murmured, "remember what I said: I will never let you fall."

He took me by the waist again and stood me up. Spinning me around, he took my left hand in his own and placed my right on his shoulder. We then began to gently sway and turn. "Multi-talented man, huh?" I asked, as he lead me smoothly in wide arcs, spinning me around every now and then.

"I suppose," he said evenly, a smirk skirting his words, "but I don't think you have quite seen all of my many and extensive talents."

I rolled my eyes at his innuendo and shook my head in apparent disapproval. Any other man, and I would slapped them. But not Alex. Definitely not Alex.

But the next moment I squealed in surprise when I felt my feet lift off the ground. I clutched at his body and he clutched my back tighter, pulling my body close. "You can fly?" I gasped breathlessly, looking up into the direction of his face. I heard the gentle thumpthump of wings beating and was shocked at the thought of wings on Alex. I put it down as another clue of who or what he was and only endeavoured to hold on harder.

"Yes," he said nonchalantly, as if it was nothing. He twirled me around, so that my back lined his chest and held me firmly by the waist, "Look," he murmured into my ear. The blindfold fell away and I gasped as I looked out over the garden that stretched out in a large circle. The gas-lamps glowed soft gold globes in the night, casting out over the plants and grass, the colours soft in the night. The bubbling water of several fountains glittered in the moon and starlight, while the roof of my home gleamed like bleached bone. Beyond the walls of the garden was a circle of forest, humming with the sounds of insects and animals and beyond that a huge expanse of dry desert, silvery gold in the moonlight, the smooth expanse of dust and sand never broken my trees or shrubs. The stars were scattered amongst the navy silk of the sky the moon hovering silently amongst them.

It was beautiful.

"This is your home now," he said, his lips brushing my ear, "this is where you stay."

My breath was coming out in gasps, heart thudding away in my chest. "Its beautiful."

I felt him smile against my neck. "Only for you."

I know this is really short and more of a filler but the pace is going to pick up a bit in later chapters, I promise!

As always please tell me what you think!

Till next time!

Bones

Xx