Jupiter's_Magic: Sorry for the delay, I have been busy and so has Kok. Anywho, I don't own the original cast, I only own my OC's. Please review?
"When are they going to call our flight?" Valon whined, folding his arms and pouting.
"Quit your moping! It shouldn't be too much longer," snapped Alister irritably.
"We don't even speak French. How are we going to know when they call us?" moaned the other teen, either not hearing or ignoring Alister's comment.
"Can't you two go for fifteen minutes without fighting?" Raphael mumbled, sitting down across from the two and reaching for a book to pass the time with.
Skye rolled her eyes as she began passing out drinks. "Here's coffee for Tweedle-Dum, and I got Tweedle-Dumber Sunkist," she said flatly.
"Thanks Skye!" Valon exclaimed, taking the drink and chugging it down instantly. He clearly had not noticed the fact that he had responded to her nickname; Alister had and refused to take is coffee until Skye said an annoyed, "Oh fine, here's your coffee, Alister."
Valon tossed his bottle into his backpack just as their flight got called, and as he rose to his feet he looked to Skye. "I've been meaning to ask. Why Lola isn't flying back with us?"
"She's seeing her family in Spain again. Something about her aunt," said Alister with a dismissive shrug.
When everyone looked at Alister with surprise, the redhead rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, I'm the one who's dating her. Skye isn't the only one who knows what's going on all the time, you know."
"Finally!" Skyler exclaimed, pumping he fists in the air. "You finally admit it!"
"Shut up!"
"Skyler?"
"Yes?"
"What did you do to Valon and Alister?"
"Whatever do you mean, Raphael?"
"Don't play innocent. We haven't even been in the air for five minutes and they've already fallen asleep. What did you do to them?"
"It wasn't me! Jet lag got to them!"
"…You don't honestly think I'm going to fall for that, do you?"
Skye shrugged. "It was worth a shot," she said with a small laugh. "I put sleeping pills in their drinks. Valon didn't bother checking his bottle and didn't notice that it was open."
Raphael shot a concerned glance at his out-cold friends. "Should I be worried that they're going to die in their sleep?"
"Oh come on, what do you take me for? I put enough in there to last for the next seven hours. I just wanted some peace and quiet on the plane ride," she explained, rummaging in her purse. "Besides, I wanted to give you your birthday present."
"I thought this trip was my gift."
"Yeah, it is," she smiled. "But I also wanted to give you something a little more memorable."
"This trip was memorable, Skye," he replied, arching an eyebrow.
"Just take the gift and quit giving me such a hard time," she said in exasperation, shoving the wrapped package at him. He chuckled but complied, opening the box; when he saw what was inside it the previously amused expression vanished to be replaced with an openly shocked one.
Inside the box was a picture frame with a variety of spaces for pictures. In the upper left corner was a picture himself as a child, (he suspected Skye had gotten it from his aunt) and in the lower right hand corner was a picture of Skye at about the same age.
Along the left hand side, there was a picture that was taken a recently. It was a sunny day and the two of them—along with Valon, Alister, Lola and Ember—hanging at the park. He had been giving Skye a piggy-back ride when the picture had been taken and they both had huge smiles on their faces. He was looking up at her, while she was giving a peace sign to the camera.
On the opposite side of the piggy-back ride picture was a picture that he didn't recognize at all that have been taken of the two of them. It was a picture of when he first kissed her on her birthday. Along the upper and lower horizontal part of the frame were just little pictures of moments captured between the two (he really suspected that Alister had contributed to these, as he'd no remembrance of having these pictures taken).
What really grabbed his attention was the photo in the middle.
The two of them were sitting in Raphael's armchair in the lounge. Skye was on Raphael's lap, leaning back into his embrace; he had wrapped his arms protectively around her waist, but they both still had gentle smiles on their faces.
On the bottom of this frame was a quote from Andrew Tanney: "We have something special that no one, no distance, no time can take away...we have each other."
He looked up at her with genuine surprise. "Skyler, this is…"
"Wait! There's one more for your nightstand," she giggled, tapping the frame in the box.
He brought his attention to the smaller picture frame resting on the tissue paper in the box. This one was an oval shaped and silver; the photo inside the frame honestly warmed his heart.
Raphael had lifted Skye into his arms, one arm holding her up while the other was supporting her back; Skye's hands were resting on his shoulders, her legs dangling over his arm. They both were looking at each other with identical loving expressions on their faces.
On the top and bottom of the frame, there was an inscription also; this one said, "It is so rare...to find a complete person, with a soul, a heart and an imagination; so rare for characters as ardent and restless as ours to meet and to be matched together, that I hardly know how to tell you what happiness it gives me to know you."
"Do you like them?" Skye asked hesitantly. "I didn't know what to get you specifically, since you are a hard one to shop for and I wasn't—"
She didn't get to finish because Raphael gently tilted her head towards his and gave her a kiss that honestly made her legs feel like Jello (she had never been more grateful to be sitting down).
"Does that answer your question?" he inquired with a smile on his face when he moved back.
"Maybe," she replied, a goofy smile spreading across her face.
"How did you find all these pictures, Skye? I know you talked to my aunt about my childhood photograph, but not all of these came from her."
"Lola and Alister," Skye said simply, turning her attention back to the two sleeping bikers, just to be sure.
A couple months passed, during which the bikers resumed normal life (well, as close to normal as they could get). Alister and Valon continued with their pranking and their small arguments, though Alister's jokes were made half-heartedly due to the fact that Lola was still visiting her family in Spain.
That particular day found Raphael playing referee to yet another argument between Alister and Valon. Skye had completely vanished and, after wandering the house trying to find her, Raphael decided to ask his friends if they had seen her.
"For the last time, Raphael, she is most likely at her parent's house or the mall," Alister stated boredly, managing to get his hands around Valon's throat.
"Get him off Raph!" Valon gasped, struggling under the lanky man's grip. "F'r the love o' God, Raph, get 'im off!"
Raphael stared at his younger friends for a moment before disappearing from view. A moment later he returned with a small squirt gun and aimed it at Alister. "Bad Alister. No attempted murder in the house," he chided as he pulled the trigger a few times.
"That was completely unnecessary," Alister snapped indignantly, releasing an incredibly grateful Valon as the boy rubbed at his neck. "And besides, we aren't your girlfriend radar. She randomly disappears from time to time and you know that."
At that precise moment, Skyler came flying down the stairs. "Hi guys going to the mall see you," she said quickly and all in one breath as she bolted out the door.
"Told you she was upstairs," Alister said smugly.
"…In my defense, I looked up there."
"Sure," Alister said, rolling his eyes.
Skyler did not return to the house until the sun went down and she assumed that everyone was asleep in bed when she walked in the door at almost midnight; all the lights were off and things certainly pointed that way when she walked in.
She should have known better, really.
As she closed the front door behind her a lamp in the family room turned on. "And where have you been?" demanded a deep voice imperiously.
She jumped in surprise, turning to look at the room with wide eyes. A few seconds later she was trying to withhold her laughter.
Raphael had moved his armchair so that it faced the front door and so that it was positioned next to a lamp. Misha was currently sitting on his lap and he was petting her absently; the scene reminded Skye all too much of an evil villain confronting the hero for the first time and she sighed with exasperated fondness. "Really?"
Raphael looked at her expectantly, setting Misha down on the floor as he rose to his feet. "You can't just vanish for nearly eight hours and not expect me to do something. Where were you?"
"Out," she stated, trying walking past him.
This short answer clearly wasn't going to cut it for Raphael. As she was going upstairs caught her by the waist and then hoisted her over his shoulder. She let out a squeak of surprise as he carried her back to the family room and deposited her on the sofa. "A better explanation, please."
Skye arched an eyebrow, rising to her feet again. "And if I don't tell you? How do you plan on stopping me?" she challenged.
In reply Raphael merely lifted her back onto the couch, laying her flat before this time pinning her hands over her head and sitting on her legs. "Does this answer your question?" he asked with amusement, looking down at her with mirth twinkling in his eyes.
Skye struggled. "Get off of me," she said with fond exasperation.
"Not until you tell me where you were," he replied. Raphael paused, eyeing her for a moment before a smirk appeared on his face. "And besides, I rather like this position."
"Jerk," she said, nonetheless giggling. "Fine. I went out to get party supplies."
"For what?" he asked, getting off of Skye before joining her on the sofa.
"Well, tomorrow is the Fourth of July and that's Valon's birthday, unless you forgot."
" No, I didn't forget that. And actually, today's the fourth."
"Don't get technical. Anyways, I need my beauty sleep," said Skye, sticking her tongue out at him petulantly as she got to her feet, heading for the stairs. Raphael followed after her, but not before he turned the lamp off.
There you do. Please Review! =3
