T-minus 3 chapters left! Trying to finish this before school starts so there may be quite a few updates in the next few days.

He would have given the world to fall asleep just then, but his side was quickly renewing the stiffness he had felt that morning and the wooden table they were lying on wasn't helping his case. He lifted his head from her breast, running his stubble along her nipple and making it tighten beneath him. "Let's go back to bed, I'm exhausted."

"We've both slept enough, I think." Lillian chuckled, propping herself up on her elbows.

He sent her a teasing look and ducked his head back down to her neck. "Oh, I only plan on sleeping for a little bit." He mused as he worked his way downwards, his lips pressing against her nipples as she began to twitch beneath him.

"Ash!" He had never heard her say his name in such a way, a high pitched squeal so unfamiliar to his ears. He fully intended on hearing it again, his hand reaching out to pull her back down to the table as she jerked out of his grasp, a little pink about the cheeks. "I have animals the need feeding. And your mother is probably wondering where you are."

"Let her wonder another 20 minutes, I'm not done with you yet." He reached for her wrist as she slipped off the table but for once she was too fast, her fingers sliding through his as she crossed the room in search of clothing.

"Not done with me yet?" She scoffed, sending him a look over her shoulder. "After all that, what is there left to do?"

He slid off the table to follow her as she extracted a rather frilly pair of white panties from her wardrobe. "I'm sure we could think of something." He grinned, pushing her back into the dresser.

"Ash..." She tried desperately to keep her tone stern but he could see the smile fighting its way to her lips. He tilted her chin up to meet his kiss but she pulled back to quickly for his taste, ducking past his arm and crossing the room to step into her underwear. "I'm serious Ash. I have a farm to tend."

She was back to avoiding his eyes and he nearly cried out in anguish, wanting to throw something but settling for collapsing, still naked, onto her dining chair. "Alright, spit it out. What did I do now?"

She flinched at his tone but still insisted on staring at the floor, moving to a pile of clothes in the corner and grabbing a rather crumpled sweater and a pair of pants, the very outfit he had traveled to Konohana with her to get. "You didn't do anything."

She pulled the pants over her thighs and began to loop a discarded bra around her chest. He wanted to grab her, shake her, demand some answers, but settled on running a hand through his hair, making it stand up on end even more so than it had before. "You know, regardless of what you may think I'm not stupid. I can tell when something is bothering you, Lillian."

She tugged the sweater over her head, emerging with frizzy hair. "It's just... You've never said it."

It took him a moment to realize what she meant, and he nearly let out a laugh as he watched her fuss with the bottom of her sweater. "That's what this is about?"

She clicked her tongue at the grin on his face and turned her back on him, angrily trying to smooth her hair back into place. He chuckled as he collected his own pants from the floor. "You're kidding. That's it?"

"Well… You haven't. Implied it, sure…" She muttered, glaring at her own reflection.

He came up behind her in the mirror, still zipping up his trousers. "You're ridiculous. You haven't said it either!"

She seemed to consider his reflection behind her, and like many times before he had half the mind to run; she looked like she would have liked very much to hit him. After a long and rather hostile look she swallowed thickly, her cheeks reddening. "Fine. I love you."

He chuckled and leant forward, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "And I love you too. As if you didn't already know."

"Shut up." She hissed, shrugging out of his kiss to grab her jacket off the hook. "Are you going to help me with the cattle or not?"

He grinned as she hurried out the door and decided to give her the extra few moments to soothe her cheeks. She had meant it, of course. And he supposed he had meant it too. Without knowing it, he had picked his shirt up off the ground and thrown it around his shoulders; he felt much lighter than he had in weeks, and now even the cold outside seemed less important. They were in love. Maybe they always had been; but for once it mean no more awkwardness, no more questions, and most importantly no more time apart-

He fumbled a button as his eyes fell to the letter on the table. No, no. She was on her way back to Mineral Town and he was, as always, bound to Bluebell. How long would she be away? A few months? A year?

He had the letter in hand before he realized what he was doing, glancing at the door. She would be expecting him soon. But there was enough time- his hands shaking slightly, he flattened the folded letter against the table.

Dear Lily,

Winter has hit Mineral Town a little harder than I expected. Hopefully things aren't as bad as where you are.

As I said in my last letter, Mom is doing fine and you don't have to worry. She's still a little shaky from the bug she had in autumn, but the doctor and I both think she'll make a full recovery yet. I will admit that it took a lot out of her though; sometimes she forgets you're gone. But we have May watching the store for us in the afternoons and the extra bed rest is going to do her some good, I'm sure.

Send a reply back as soon as you can, I know post is slow in this bad weather so happy Starry Night if I don't hear from you before then. Expect presents in the New Year.

Love,

Dad

He read the letter twice and supposed there was enough in the letter to worry Lillian. Even without reading between the lines he could see it: her mother had been ill for a while and still was, was becoming forgetful, had stopped working. There was no question, she was needed at home. But undoubtedly, he needed her here as well... He felt a spasm of guilt flicker through him- How could he be so selfish? But after everything that had happened, how could he not… He refolded the letter and found himself staring at the place he had tossed it, his vision out of focus.

His heart was pounding hard against his ribs as he forced himself out into the cold, goose pimples erupting on his arms as he jerked the barn door open. He had never been in Lillian's barn but took no notice of the structure, his eyes ploughing through a mess of cattle and one lonely sheep, searching for her.

She jerked up from brushing a cow at the sound of the door slamming behind him; her cheeks still a little pink. "There you are. What took you?"

He found at once he couldn't speak, and hated himself for it; hated his habit of choking when it came to this sort of thing. She watched him warily for a moment, her eyes raking him as he struggled to breathe evenly, his hair still on end from his hands.

She patted the cow in dismissal and allowed it to jostle her slightly, her eyes beginning to narrow as she struggled to read his face. "What's wrong? What's happened?"

He took a deep breath and felt it catch slightly in his throat. "What's happening now? I mean... With us."

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean." He had to put his hands in his pockets to stop himself from touching her, from holding her down and refusing to let go. "What's happening now? You go back to Mineral Town and... What? What about me?"

She seemed to struggle with herself for a moment, her teeth picking at the chapped skin on her lower lip. "I don't know, Ash. I don't know how long I'll be gone... We can write letters. I'll be back before you know it, okay?" He felt a rush of anger fly through him- she wasn't even considering taking him. More to avoid looking at her than anything he began to kick the snow off his shoes.

"I just... You run from things, Lillian. When things get hard or too much to deal with you make plans to pack up and leave. I don't want to be something you can't face."

He risked a glance up and saw a flicker of anger find its place in her eyes. "You know why I have to go home." Her tone had dropped down an octave, her voice dangerously even as she fought off the invitation to a fight. "I'm not running away from you, Ash. I never would."

"Really?" He caught himself snarling and struggled to pull himself back. "Because you've tried to before."

"It was different before. We weren't in love-"

"I was in love with you!" He lost himself momentarily, his voice so loud that a few nearby cattle began to rustle nervously. He let out a hiss of breath which promptly fogged up in front of him. She needed to understand, he was so tired of having to hide things from her. "I don't want you to leave, Lillian. I can't be alone again."

"It's not up to you."

"Yeah, but shouldn't I have a say?"

She took a breath and seemed to be willing herself to stay calm. "I'm not saying it won't be hard, okay?" She was speaking to him in low, soothing tones that despite her efforts only made him more riled up, his heart still pounding against his chest as she took a few steps towards him. "But I need to go home-"

He cut her off and grabbed her roughly about the elbows, determined not to drop her gaze as he spoke. "Then I'm going with you."

"No, you're not. You have a farm to look after-"

He cut her off again, shaking her slightly. "You're more important."

"What about your mother? And your sister?"

"They'll be fine. No, listen." He insisted as she began to look skeptical. "Let me come up with you for a month. Just for the Spring, okay? A lot of the cattle and sheep get shipped off at that point for breeding anyway; Cheryl and my mother can look after a couple cows and some chickens for a little while, they're not hopeless. Just let me take you up there and help you get settled."

Lillian was looking at him like he was a bomb threatening to go off at any moment, still maintaining the strange soothing tone she usually reserved for nervous cattle. "And what about my animals? I was planning on dumping them with you when I left."

The answer came to his lips before he had really finished processing it. "Temporary care. That's what they would do if you moved over to Konohana, right? I know someone at Town Hall will care for them. And when I get back I'll take them in with mine."

She shook her head and continued to look at him with an exasperated expression on her face. "There's not a point in even thinking about it Ash. Your family will never allow it, how could they-"

"It's not up to them anymore Lillian!" His voice broke slightly. "It can't be their choice anymore, don't you get it? I couldn't stand not being with you these past few weeks, how am I going to stand you being in Mineral Town? I can't do it. I just can't."

She looked rather touched by his speech but still took a half step back, as if distance between them could stiffen her resolve. "Let's say you do come along. What are you going to tell them? It's a long way to go for just some farm girl."

"You're not just some farm girl." He said fiercely. "Not to me anyway. And anyone who has seen the way I look at you knows as much too."

"Ash-"

"What? You don't think that's enough?"

She paused, biting her lip, her hands burrowing into her pants pockets. "Honestly? No, I don't. Not for them."

He sighed, running his hands through his hair, but no arguments came to him. "Fine. Fine, you're right. I get it."

"Good." She looked rather relieved to be at the end of the fight and at last sealed the distance between them, stretching her hands to meet the collar of his shirt. "Now be still and let me fix your buttons, you've done them wrong."

He glanced down as she said it, suddenly becoming aware that his shirt was sitting lopsidedly on his shoulders. Having been in such a rush to find her, he had skipped several button holes; she sighed as she undid his wrong doings, her fingers looping the buttons through the correct holes.

"Look, all we can do is enjoy the time we have together now, okay?" She said soothingly, smoothing the creases in his shirt. "We still have Starry Night, and New Year's Eve-"

"What if we got married?" He blurted out the words before he really had time to process them, his eyes still on her fingers as they froze.

There was a long and awkward moment of silence, Lillian's fingers flying from his chest when she finally spoke. "Absolutely not."

"What?"

"No. We're not getting married." She was looking at him as if he belonged in an insane asylum, her lips pursed tight.

He half laughed at her appearance; it was as if she had recently suffered an electric shock, her hair on end and every part of her suddenly twitchy. "Well not this second, obviously-"

Her cheeks rapidly went from white to red. "And you can't just propose to me! That's not- we're in a fucking barn, Ash!"

He laughed as she began to pace the room in a flustered manner, his hands reaching out to grip her elbows and pull her against him before she worked herself up to the point of madness. "I'm not proposing, Lillian. But this fixes everything! I'll tell my mother that we're courting-"

"We aren't courting! We're just- just-"

"We're as close to courting as we can get, Lillian. We might as well make it official." He said flatly. She opened her mouth to argue but he raised his voice, not eager for her to interrupt him when the plan was forming so smoothly in his mind. "I'll tell my mother we're courting and that I'm going to ask your father for permission to marry you-"

"You don't even have my permission, good luck getting my father's-"

"And that I'm trying to convince him and your mother to come to the wedding here in Bluebell." He was on the verge of yelling again, trying to contain Lillian as she began to thrash against him, trying to escape his grip. "That's the plan whether or not you like it."

"Of course I don't like it, how could I- I don't want to marry you!" She hissed, finally succeeding in shoving him off of her. "Ash this is ridiculous! Stop!" He had taken several steps towards the door when she grabbed him again, trying to prevent him from leaving. "This is insane! We're not getting married, and you're not coming with me!"

She pushed back against his chest, her heels digging into the dirt floor in an attempt to slow his progress. He nearly laughed, his arms reaching around her waist to hoist her up a mere inch off the ground, forcing her to be still. "Listen to me for once Lillian. This is for your own good. I've said it before- let yourself get taken care of okay? It's good for you."

"I don't want to be taken care of-"

"Do you want to be with me or not?"

She looked as if she wanted to clock him about the ears but settled on banging her toes pathetically against his calf, barely causing him pain. "Yes." She hissed.

"Then we're getting married. Eventually." He added, seeing the look of alarm on her face. "Come round my house on Starry Night, okay? My mother will want to hear it from both of us."

She glared at him but allowed him to kiss her once on the lips, her teeth dragging along his lower lip so hard he was sure she was trying to draw blood. "Fine." She hissed as he pulled back. "I bet Laney will be excited."

He nearly dropped her.

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