Erin felt Uncas' muscles relax slightly as he observed all about him, now reassured he had contained her clamour. His hand loosened upon her mouth, but he didn't remove it completely, only half trusting her to keep silent, the brass bangles on his wrist ringing like tiny bells in the darkness.

His arm was still around her waist, holding her in place, and she felt rigid in his grasp, terrified she had ruined their very chance of survival. He was unnervingly still, listening, waiting, as seconds ticked by. Then he slowly turned back to her, seemingly satisfied that there was no incoming danger. Erin's eyes still darted around them, unaware of his change in demeanour, until finally Uncas caught her in his gaze, stilling her frantic efforts with a sudden profound lull.

The rushing water seemed somehow further away, the cold stone ground softer, his eyes molten and dark, like bittersweet chocolate. The thought came to her, humorously, that he had dared call her a witch when he was always the one doing the bewitchments.

She could feel the warmth of his hand still softly covering her mouth, his skin was beaded in a light sheen of spray from the continuous descent of the falls as it gathered in a fine mist around them.

He moved his hand away haltingly, his movements unsure for a moment, his thumb grazing languidly over her bottom lip.

"Uncas." Her remorseful benediction of his name was soft, no more than a whisper of weak warning, and as the word escaped her, his lips pressed against hers, sudden and needful. Soft at first, pressing and parting, and then returning with more intensity, and Erin found she met each entreaty of want with her own.

They embraced, hands clutching bodies, touching, searching, and then holding each other once again.

He enveloped her in his warmth, his scent, his lips, his weight upon her flaring her own desire, which mingled muddily with the foreboding of their current situation. It seemed they had so very little time and so they grasped for it, finding each other in the darkness, urgency spurring them onwards.

His hand moved under her disarrayed skirts, curling around her lower thigh in an intimate caress, coming to rest at the crook of her knee, his touch like hot brands against her exposed cold skin. Erin flinched back suddenly, as if his fingers had indeed scorched her.

"Wait... wait... wait." The word was chanted with the same disquiet invocation as his name had been only moments before.

He pulled away, eyes promising both damnation and reverence at her request.

"We can't do this," Erin continued breathlessly, now determined to dispel whatever this frantic feeling was between them. The very atmosphere they found themselves in seemed to be demanding their participation in abandoning all common sense. "Not here, not now..." She didn't really think there ever would have been a 'good' time to usurp one of her favourite literary characters' romance, but now really felt like the worst point possible.

Erin knew this wasn't like him either and he had been caught up in the exhilaration. Uncas had forsaken his post for the folly of one moment, uncaring if it brought doom upon them, and she had felt the same blasé attitude to the real peril that lay at their very threshold. The threat of their future, what was to be, had compelled them both in this instant.

Now the thrill of it was over and Erin had poured verbal cold water on the situation, they parted with a self conscious jerk of movement, suddenly unsure in each others company.

She couldn't help the thought flashing through her head, that in the novel, when Alice and Uncas had supposedly made love right here, was the same force compelling them also? Was she as much a puppet in all this? The notion made her feel unnerved and afraid. What if she had no control over her destiny either? The thought was as galling to her as she could only assume it had been to Uncas.

She brushed anxiously at her nose, trying to get her composure back. She glanced up at Uncas who looked a little thorny and disgruntled.

"Sorry." Erin hated saying this same word to him over and over again.

He laughed, a flash of teeth, an insincere sound. "Always sorry." He moved back to his original position, the silent vigil beginning again, the walls coming back up to rebuff her, now the fevered moment had passed.

"This really isn't the time to get snippy with me!" Erin said, through gritted teeth, trying not to be angry with him or the whole damn situation. "It's not that I don't... want you. I do. But-"

He glanced at her, knowing what was ready to spill from her tongue and he silenced her with his own voice. "But my life is another path?"

Erin knew he was unkindly mocking her logic and only graced him with a slight incline of her head.

He sighed deeply, his own defences finally lowering. "I'm not a possession, a thing to be done with as you will." His dark eyes narrowed with the words and Erin felt them like an arrow to her chest. "I am a man, I am my own master. My destiny is not the same as my choices, and my choices are my own."

Erin looked down, ashamed and distressed by all the meaning he held within his gaze, his words. Even after everything that had happened she was still treating him like a hero in some far flung future novel that had no agency. Yet here was that very same character she thought she knew, flesh and bone, soul and heart, calling for her to finally acknowledge him as the man he truly was.

When she found the courage to look up, he was staring at her, his gaze confronting and real.

"I do see you," Erin said, hoping he'd detect her earnest tone. "I'm sorry if it feels like I haven't." She took in a deep breath. "I don't want to tell you what to do with your life... I know I was trying to do that, but... I understand I was wrong."

He glanced away with a huff of humourless laughter, his actions clearly agreeing with that statement.

"I know what I thought you and Alice had, it never happened here, and I understand that and I'm not trying to push you together, but it doesn't make any of this easier. It's like knowing someone your whole life only to find out they were never who you thought they were." She knew this wasn't really making much sense to him, "I wish I could explain and make you understand, but I don't think I can."

Uncas didn't move from the watch and Erin feared she was losing him all over again.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for it all okay?" She was beginning to sniffle once more and tried to hold herself back, pressing her palm over her mouth, but it was too late. He'd heard the emotion in her voice and when she looked back, his gaze held a glimmer of compassion.

"I know," he said, his tone a rich mellow lull, "but, I am not sorry."

This statement caught Erin quite off guard and her emotions stilled.

"I chose to enjoy talking to you. I chose to laugh with you." He spoke the words with a cadence as if he were reciting an often spoken prayer. "I chose to kiss you. I chose to want you."

Erin felt her whole body pulse with the low thump of her heartbeat.

"If it isn't the same thing you wish for, then tell me and I will stop choosing you." He looked away, hesitating. "I do not know what lies between us, if it is anything more than a fleeting moment-"

"Then what is the point? What is the point if I will leave?" Erin said, feeling on the verge of distressed exhaustion that he wasn't quite understanding.

"What is the point of living?" he asked, his voice gentle yet plain. "In this moment I do choose you. That is what matters, my freedom to choose." His eyes fell away from her, his gaze once again watchful upon the dark night, already accepting whatever her answer would be.

Erin leaned back, her hands supporting her weight as she looked at this man before her, knowing in her heart they were already doomed, just as much as the tragic couple in the novel. Not by death, but by a certain parting, and yet... his courage revived her own. How long had it been since she dared to try anything that had risk? How long since she allowed herself to believe she could feel something for another person? That they would return it with the same devotion, without it being for only their own selfish gains and manipulations? He wasn't asking her to stay, or be any more than just Erin, here, now. Her fear of the future, of being hurt once again, had made her build a castle around her wounded heart. The walls thick and repelling anyone that reached out, fearful they would ask for too much. Yet here was someone asking for nothing more than the time they had together. It seemed such a small and beautiful request.

She rose and went to sit beside him, her hand finding his forearm in a gentle squeeze of fingertips.

"I can't offer you anything," she mumbled, her cheek pressing into the damp material of his shoulder. "Only this moment." She squeezed again, hoping he understood. "But in this moment, right now, I do choose you. Is that enough?"

He didn't look back, but reached for her hand, enclosing it in his own large palm.

/

They sat watching the glittering sky, Uncas never truly resting from scanning outside. They had spoken so little in that time and there seemed still so much to say. Their hands were still clasped, that connection physical and real, with no foreshadowing of any predestined fate to come. There was no tethered thread linking hearts, just a truth that spoke to them both in this moment, whatever the reason or outcome, they needed each other right now.

"I know you haven't asked me to explain myself," Erin whispered into the still dimness, knowing he would hear, "but I feel I owe you a reason. Why I can't just stay here. Why I can't stay with you."

She felt him move, his hand came to rest upon the back of her neck, thumb softly caressing the fine hairs at her nape.

She moved to look up at him, cheek still against his shoulder. "How many times have you faced death? I mean really faced it?"

He huffed a smile, obviously finding it a redundant question. "Many," he said in his velvet baritone.

"I've faced it three times in my life." Erin paused and pulled a little away, sitting up to her full height, no longer leaning on him, wanting him to fully understand her. "All of those times were here, in this time, with you."

He was still for a moment, eyes scanning their surroundings in contemplation.

"Before I came here I was never in that kind of danger. My life was safe and happy most of the time. I had... have... people that love me. I had a job, I had a life. In my time, I can be whoever I want to be, do whatever I want to do. Do nothing at all if I want, as long as I make enough money for rent and food. I have so many choices, choices women don't have here... choices even you don't have." She didn't really know if this would make any sense to him but she had to try. "Sure, there were hard times, there is illness, violence and death, but it's not like here. If I stayed..." Erin paused, not quite having the courage to meet his eyes. "I would be staying for you. Only you." She felt the pull of his gaze and finally looked at him, eyes flicking to each of his, ardently craving his understanding. "I could never ask anyone to be my only reason. I won't."

He remained silent, taking in her words.

"We've known each other a week maybe? I get asking someone to give a relationship a try is standard practice when you first meet and like each other... but right now, I know I can go home if I go soon. I don't really understand how I know it's true, but I do. I know it as I know we are sat in this cold, wet cave right now. But I don't know if I'll be able to go home in another week, in a month, a year. I might get stuck here and that would cause a whole lot of problems if we didn't... you know... work out," she ended, rather lamely.

Uncas was still silent, eye line divided between her and his guard duty.

Erin knew she had to continue, he had to understand everything about her and this choice, but it felt raw and intensely uncomfortable, exposing all her vulnerable thoughts to someone else, it was something she hadn't done for a very long time. "If I decided to stay, that has its own issues too, even if I was sure it was what I wanted."

She took in a lungful of air, paused, and then let everything out, her emotions deflating with the weight of defeat. "Your brother told me, no matter what we did, we'd never really be safe. No matter how many times you can come to rescue me, to be my knight in shining armour, how strong you or our feelings are, I would never feel safe here." She bit her lip fretfully, still unsure if any of this was making sense. "Because I know what that word means in my own time, 'safe' means acceptance, tolerance and the agency to control my own life. I... we... can't have any of that here. Because of who you are and because of who I am." She paused again, eyes going to the shimmering water.

She frowned, her breath hitching with distress and he reached out, hand finding her shoulder in comfort. "And... maybe I could bear that, maybe I could bear it for you, for us, if we even became an 'us'... I'm scared of you getting hurt or killed because of there even being an us..." She had begun to ramble and once again he caught her in that deep warm lull of his reassurance, giving her a moment to pause and regain her senses. "But, my biggest fear is that I would start to hate you, or you me... for my choice in staying if we couldn't find that safety, that happiness. I'm not just gambling my own future, but yours too!"

Their eyes held for a moment, his thumb stroking her shoulder in an empathic rhythm.

"Does that make any sense?" The tears wanted to bubble back and her voice sounded a little strained from the effort of keeping them at bay.

He pulled her gently back into his arms, face pressed into her hair as he held her close, not saying anything for what felt like a long time.

"I don't know your world, so I cannot fully understand," he said very softly into her ear, his breath warm against her skin. "But I think I understand your fear. I would fear it too. Leaving everything I know, my family, for the want of another, for another world that is not my own." He paused, pressing a fleeting kiss to her temple. "I will never ask that of you." His hand softly caressed her damp braid, a soothing gentle gesture for her distress. "But, even knowing this, I still choose you."

Erin did cry then, leaning into his strength and holding on to him in sorrow and relief, because he did understand, and he cared for her anyway. He still held her, and hushed her, and whispered consoling endearments in his own tongue, allowing her to experience all the facets of grief these truths brought, while he stopped her falling apart. In turn Erin felt she finally truly acknowledged Uncas for all he was, not who she'd wanted him to be.

Erin took respite in the dark, cloaked in his embrace, understanding that this revelation also meant letting each other go when it came to the end of this story. There was never going to be a happily ever after, and somehow, in the dark, wrapped up in him, it seemed fair for that to be true.

It was a fearsome and freeing feeling to just live for each other in this one moment.

/

A/N

Another Friday, another hello.

Happy Spooky season to all those that celebrate.

I hope this was an enjoyable chapter. Is it going how you expected? As always your thoughts are welcome, just keep it cordial ;)

Those wanting a song, yes, yes it's Meg Myers again. I wrote this whole chapter while listening to Tourniquet.

This chapter was a hard one to upload for a few reasons. I always feel self conscious writing romance, even though I enjoy it a lot. But I guess we are all our own worst critics and it is what it is.

Also, the site has gone a bit nuts and that has hit my writer's ego hard, as I cannot see how the readership numbers are on this story due to the issues on FF. I am thankful to those that review, (you really DO keep me going at this moment, I'm so grateful) but not being able to see the number of people stopping by to just read a new chapter, is a hard one to swallow. This is not a popular movie and my story, being what it is, is even less popular, so the reader numbers helped me feel a little better that there was some extra interest even if people didn't review. It's been at 0 for many weeks, along with all my stories, I know this is the same for other users too. I'm trying to suck it up buttercup, and taking it as it is. Again to those stopping by, thank you even though I can't see you and my heartfelt thanks to Flowangelic and MohawkWoman for giving this story your precious time.